Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Library Wednesday

Wednesday is my favorite day of the week.  I get to go spend time in two of my all time favorite places on earth; the library and the coffee shop.  I always say, if I win the lottery I want to open a children's bookstore / coffee shop / bakery.  I'd be in my own personal heaven every single day if that were ever to happen.  For now, I just have Wednesday's to look forward to.

This week's library theme was Winter.  I didn't make Piper anything special because I had picked up the cutest fuzzy skirt at the end of last winter from Gymboree and knew she had to wear it today.


Sometimes it's hard to get a good picture because she can be such a goof, like this...




So, I didn't sew up a new outfit but I did make something for library.  For some unknown reason every time we went to the library I thought it would be easier to balance a half dozen books in my hands and chase after a toddler than carry them neatly in a bag (that was said with oodles of sarcasm).  I can't even begin to explain why it has taken me 2 years of story time to finally decide to make / bring a tote bag to carry our library books in.  I've seen plenty of other mom's and dad's do it.  Sometimes I can be a little slow on the draw.

Over the weekend I was just looking for a quick project to put together and it dawned on me that we needed a bag to carry our books in for library this week.  I had the perfect fabric for it, Cat in the Hat, I just needed the perfect pattern.  Where better to look than my favorite place on the internet for sewing, Oliver + S.  That's right, in addition to the adorable children's clothes, Liesl also designs bags, quilts, and other great items.  I used the Mother-Daughter Tote pattern that is free on the Oliver + S website and got to work.



If you know me at all, you know of my love and affection for all things Dr. Seuss.  So the fabric for this tote was easy to select.  I have been trying to come up with a good project for my stash of Seuss fabrics from Robert Kaufman and this was it.  Of course the tote is quick and easy to put together.  I did modify the pattern a bit.  Instead of using 4 different fabrics, I used 3 making the middle stripe a bit wider.  The inside of the tote is lined with a nondescript blue fabric I had in my stash.  I don't really know where it came from or what it's made of, but it's nice and sturdy so it works well.



I think today's nap-time project will consist of making a second tote for Piper.  She loves to carry many, many stuffed friends with her when we leave the house and we never seem to have a bag that fits her, they are either too small or the straps are too long.  That isn't the case with this tote.  I didn't measure mine, so I'm not sure what the dimensions are.  You can see in the pictures above where she's standing next to it.  It's not a huge tote, but it holds 8 library books without any problem.  The straps aren't too long either, Piper can easily carry the bag (when it doesn't have 8 library books, then it was too heavy). I did get a Bedazzler for Christmas (Thanks Mom!), so you can be sure Piper's bag will have some bling on it. :)

Oh, and we did go get coffee after visiting the library...


Wednesday, what a great day! :)





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