Beachy Bag

My trip to see my fiance is coming closer now, and I've been trying to finish up some projects that I am determined to complete for my visit to Iowa. First being, my beach bag. Tyler is planning us a trip to the beach, so I have to have a bag to carry our towels and everything in, right? I've sewn a tiny bit waaay back in high school, but wanted to try making myself a bag. I couldn't find any I liked at a store, so I grabbed some summery looking dishtowels from Kohls, and started on this fantastic tutorial.

For my first little sewing project, I think it turned out extremely well. It's perfect and just the right size for an oversized Kohls beach towel, tanning lotion, bottled water, a book, cell phone and an iPod. It's even perfect for after the trip, whenever I have the urge to go down to the pool.

It's even got a super-cute pocket on the side. And, you can even see the towel in the bag in this photo. It's been hanging on my door handle for 2 weeks now with a towel in it and nothing has broken yet, so I must have done something right!

The sewing machine we had here at the house has been sitting for months (possibly even years), and was so terrible, just sewing a single seam took hours because we couldn't do the bobbin right. The needle kept breaking, the machine kept stopping... it was ridiculous. My mother had purchased it at a yard sale for really cheap, so we came to the conclusion that something was wrong with the machine. So, we researched and found a much better one (that was on sale at Joann at the time!), and ran out to purchase it so I can finish the project (and justified it by saying its for future quilting projects for my mother). I'm so glad we got that machine, it sews great, its easy, and so far, I haven't had a problem with the bobbin at all!