Shhhh... It's a Secret

Knowing how much I like hexagons and tote bags, a few weeks ago Leona gave me this Charming Hexagons tote bag pattern by A Quilting Life.  Sometime later, Krista invited me to the Secret Tote Bag Swap on Lia's blog.  The two seemed destined to go together.  While Krista was doing her chemo last week, we picked the charm pack/fabric via text message (isn't modern technology wonderful?) and I cut the hexagons with my new {to me} AccuQuilt.  I'm not sure whether I'd use the AccuQuilt for simple squares, strips and rectangles, but for shapes like the hexagon, it is wonderful - accurate every time is awesome for machine piecing hexagons.

Since the topic at the ECMQG meeting on Saturday was hexagons, it was perfect.  I used the method Marcy demonstrated at the meeting to do all the Y-seams and it came together very quickly.

Marcy had some scraps up for grabs, and they came in pretty handy, too.  Anything you recognize here, Marcy?  I quilted down each row, and then came back to quilt each crossing line individually.  Honestly, it went more quickly than I expected.

The only thing I didn't like about the pattern was that it had no pockets.  I think pockets are an absolute must for tote bags.  Luckily, since I've  - ahem - made a number of tote bags lately, it was a simple matter to add a couple of pockets to the interior of the bag.  My favorite divided pocket on one side....

And a zipper pocket on the other side.  (Um, Marcy, do you recognize anything else?)  I really love scraps!

So, one more project ready to mail. But don't tell...

Shhhh....  It's a secret!