Baggin' it!

I know. I know. One of my resolutions was to start backwards at the Christmas holiday and work towards January.  However, I got distracted.  It can happen to anyone.  Really.  No Wait.  Hear me out.  Okay..(deep breath).

This past summer I purchased a groupon for the Creative Sewing Center.  It is a wonderful shop here in Columbia.  It is one of those shops that you walk into and say, "I'll take one of everything!"  Seriously, it would be easy to drop several hundred dollars.  Needless to say, I jumped at the chance to get a groupon and save some dollars!  Regrettably, I did not pay attention to the expiration date on the groupon. Thankfully, the wonderful people at the sewing center honored my certificate for the amount I payed for it.

I walked around the store for at least an hour, trying not to drool on the beautiful fabrics they have there.  I am quite certain I picked up materials for 10 different projects over the course of that hour.  I stumbled upon Amy Butler's book In Stitches:More than 25 Simple and Stylish Sewing Projects.  Why settle for just 10 projects when you could have 25?  The book was a must.

Within the book there are, as it says in the title 25 projects, which are organized by rooms in your house.  The pattern that really caught my eye was the Laundry Bag.  When ever we travel my husband insists on having a bag for is dirty laundry.  While I don't necessarily see the need,  I pick my battles, this is not one of them.  We drag along a plastic garbage bag, or when I forget, we use the dry cleaning bags offered in the hotel, to hold our dirties.  Since I know several people who also sort laundry while on vacation, having a pretty bag to use seemed like a great idea for Christmas gifts.  (See I told you I would get to Christmas,)

Well, the holidays were hectic and I started second guessing myself.  Dirty Laundry and what you do with it can be, for some people, a highly sensitive topic.  While I would love a hand made laundry bag, I thought perhaps others might find it intrusive, a bit too personal.  So I "bagged" the idea (sorry I couldn't resist)

That beautiful fabric just sat there looking longingly at me, until I just couldn't take it.  This weekend I broke down and stitched it up.  I thought about stashing it for a gift for next Christmas, but that would mean it would sit unused for 12 months.  I couldn't do that.  Consider it a very early on very late Christmas present to myself.

It is a huge bag, with lots of room.  Look at it!  You could stuff a kindergartner in it! I love it!  The pattern called for lining the bag with canvas which makes it a nice heavy duty bag.

I knew I had sewn up a great bag when my high schooler said, "Is that going to be our new dirty laundry bag for travel?  Good because the trash bag is incredibly tacky."  We have a winner.