A Tote With No Handles = Almost Done

 Yesterday was warm, sunny, and somewhat windy. The high got to 27C (humidex 29C). This morning it is raining lightly and 19C. Today is supposed to be a mix of showers and rain. The high is to get to 22C (humidex 29C). 

Lifestyle

Yesterday morning I made a batch of ginger cookies. They don't take long to make as I have the process down pat. 

By the time the last batch is out of the oven, I have the kitchen cleaned up and have one pan to clean. The cookies are in the freezer. I am now looking to make a batch of brownies. Recipe is found and I need to get the ingredients. 

Once the cookies were done, I was off to the grocery store to get a couple of things. I was home in good time. 

I watered all the vegetables and they are doing well. Two of the cucumber plants are small but are growing. The others are taking off and growing very quickly. 

Sewing

I spent the afternoon in the sewing room working on the Market Tote. The pockets were sewn on very carefully and then the side seams done. Press, press, press to make sure all the seams laid flat. I then boxed the corners and we had a bag that still needed a lot of work. 

The next step was to cut out the lining and pocket. I made the pocket and sewed it on. I put it lower down than the directions said. I also sewed the pocket down the center so one half can hold a phone and the other half can hold keys etc. 

I sewed the lining the same way I sewed the bag. In put it into the main bag and decided to cut 3/8" off the top as it was too long. I did that and we have a nice looking lining inside the bag.

The next step was to fold down the top part, pin, measure, resin and sew the top part in place. I now have a bag with no handles. 

The fun part of making this tote was figuring out how to do certain things to make it unusual. I did enjoy that challenge. Doing a bag like this also had me fill 4 or 5 bobbins as it uses a lot of thread and had 4 different colours of thread in it -- white, blue, grey, and cream. 

I am still thinking about the handles. It is mainly about which direction to cut the fabric -- stripes vertical or cut across the fabric. Do I make my usual straps or do I make them with webbing inside them. A little experimentation is in the books. 

Knitting

I did knit again last night and got 8 rows done. I did notice the afghan is making me feel warm as I work on it. 

I will continue to work on it until it makes me feel too hot and then I will start something else and pick it up when the weather cools off. I am about half done at the moment. 

Thoughts

    I have had 2 nights where I have slept all night. I am feeling more relaxed and have way less stress on my plate. I have had less pain and have been more active which does help. The cool nights have been helping also. I hope this continues on as I am enjoying feeling more refreshed in the morning. 

    We are still under a rain warning but it seems to be down graded from when it was first put up. We can get up to 2" of rain and it is still supposed to last until sometime tomorrow. This rain is from a tropical storm. I am not complaining as we need all the rain we can get. 

    It was 3 years ago that we had the most intense thunderstorm system hit the province. In our area we had almost 1400 lightening strikes and 535 mm (21 inches) of rain fall in 6 hours. There was flash flooding and lives were lost. It is something that we remember as it was a night we will never forget. Though we still hate being awakened during the night with the emergency alert system blaring at least we will be warned if there is flash flooding and can stay away from the areas hit the hardest. 

Today

I am hoping to finish the bag today. I want to do a bit of housework if I have time. I am out tonight to help put the tables and chairs into their proper spots as the hall floor is finished. There will be no knitting tonight as I will be too tired when I get home to even think about it. 

Until the next time............................................................................