I'd Go Anywhere With You

Back in April, I'd picked up a cute pink leather Fossil purse with a long strap for my Mom's birthday. She'd been looking for something to carry a few small things in as well as her iPad and I thought I'd found something in the perfect shape. Well, after putting things in and taking them out and trying the bag on and then taking it off, all more than once, we decided it wasn't quite right and I returned it thinking we'd go looking for something else together another day.

Well, months have passed and the perfect bag never exposed itself.

A couple of weeks ago while hanging out at my mom's house, I raided her spare bedroom stash of fabrics. I don't think I was looking for anything in particular. When I came across a bin of untouched Anna Maria Horner Drawing Room prints which had originally been destined for pillows to spruce up her living room, my mind began running in creative little circles. I "owed" my mom a new purse and I suddenly had some ideas.

I'd been crushing on Anna's new Go Anywhere bag pattern and all of the lovely versions of it that had been popping up around blogland. When I spied those Drawing Room prints, I realized they'd be a perfect pairing.

 With 3 great pockets on the front . . . 

A perfect back pocket for displaying the lovely medallion on this Drawing Room print which mom loves . . . 

And a pouch just the right size for holding mom's iPad . . . 

The Go Anywhere pattern was the perfect fit.

Anna's directions were fantastic on this pattern. Her instructions were clear and perfectly easy to follow—even in the wee hours of the morning when most of my brain had already gone to bed without me. I did make some minor adjustments like lining the front and back outer pockets with fusible fleece for some extra padding and protection for that iPad and adding a magnetic snap to the back pocket. I also added a couple of extra pockets to the interior and lengthened the strap a bit so that it will easily slip over mom's shoulder as the fall weather gets cooler and she starts wearing heavier sweaters and jackets.

And, let me just say that while I am not one for wasting fabric by fussy cutting, I am very glad that I decided to go that route with this little project. I love how the outer pockets show off the medallion print and how the inner pockets line up perfectly with the lining. I might have to work toward this kind of perfection more often from now on.


Maybe . . .

Either way, this is definitely a bag I'd go anywhere with.

Now, hop on over to Celebrate Color and take a look around at all of the other amazing projects people are creating! See you there!