Thank You Teachers!

I might have been a tad ambitious with my teacher gifts this year.  Shocking, right!  This year I decided to make tote bags which wouldn't have been so bad except I needed to make 4 of them. 

I volunteer in the school library so I had planned to make our fabulous librarian a bookshelf wall hanging but when I saw this amazing idea I knew what I was going to do for my teacher gifts...

I started with this one using some leftover Punctuation scraps from the Family Traditions quilt I made with Dexter's class last year.

As I was digging through my scrap bin I found some Dr. Seuss fabric leftover from my valance and realized it would be perfect!!! I call them Bag 1 and Bag 2:-)  The "bookshelves" are quilted panels that I sewed on as pockets. 

Dex even helped out by fussy cutting all the book titles for me. 

After 3 bookshelf totes I was a little over these and I'd run out of black so I decided to switch gears for my final bag.  This teacher had loved the Amy Butler Love Roses on the back of my Chain Reaction quilt and I had some leftover so I used this fabulous Market Tote tutorial by Bijou Lovely.  I wish I'd read this before I made all my other bags!  I love the way her technique for using a double layer on the bottom makes these bags stand up.  I will definitely be doing this for all my bags in the future...  I hate floppy bags!  These were a great stash buster and I'll definitely be making some more... just not any time soon;-)