Another Tote ...

Recently I received an email from a quilt shop offering a variety of classes for the holidays. I scrolled down the list of Advent calendar's, candle mats, crayon aprons etc., then all of a sudden there was this wonderful Civil War fabric tote! It was like TADA, here I am! That kind of moment when The Griswold's tramp through the snow searching for the perfect Christmas tree and standing there, all alone in the wild is the perfect tree. It glows as if God has shed his grace on the tree.

 That was the moment I was having! I found a friend to join me and got the two of us registered.

Friday was the first REAL storm of the season and of course that was the day of our class. Not to be deterred we left very early and plowed our way south into the pouring rain. Flooded freeways and wind couldn't keep us away. We pulled into the shop parking lot a full 30 minutes early!

Like two eager little girls waiting for the gates to open at Disneyland we watched the door for any signs of life inside the shop. 

shortly before 10:00 we were let inside and quickly settled into our space.

We each received a decorated folder with our instructions, a cute jolly box filled our first set of fabrics and a burlap bag of treats, complete with a jingle bell!

Debbie has her machine up and ready to go. Still wearing our coats since it was chilly inside!

 And me, still not quite set up. I'm fascinated with all the little goodies!!

Within minutes  though we were set up and ready to sew. How is that when you look at something you think, "wow that looks simple, no problem." Then when you've been at it for 4 hours you realize, this is far more time consuming then I thought it was going to be! About that time we were offered some adorable as well as delicious designer cupcakes.

Isn't this the cutest snowman! Debbie had him and I indulged in an espresso flavored cupcake ... moist and so yummy.

 By 3:00 neither one us was near completion of our tote. We did manage to finish the pieced blocks for the outer pockets. We will need to gather in the new year to get it wrapped up. 

Here is what the finished tote will look like if we're lucky!

 This was such a lovely break from the holiday hustle. Doing what quilters love to do, sew, chat and eat wonderful things!