Presenting: The Maxine Bag

Named for my Grandma...wait for it...Nora. I know, confusing, huh? Her "real" first name is Nora but she's always gone by Maxine. Apparently it's not all that uncommon for her generation because I distinctly remember finding out at my other grandma's funeral that her name wasn't Helen, it was Martha.

I've always wanted to make one of these granny bags but I lived in fear of bias tape. Thanks to Jona and her apron pattern (I swear, I'll share more about that soon), I can now live in harmony with bias trim.

So, I whipped up this little number this morning. Wasn't sure whether I was going to list it for sale or keep it and now I definitely must have it. Lucky for me, it's not quite perfect so it shall live on my shoulder.

I really like the shape and size of the bag. The only thing I'm not too sure about are the skinny straps. I know some ladies like thinner straps but I prefer more bulky, webbing straps. We'll see how it works out.

I seem to have developed a bad habit of never cleaning out my purse and instead just making a new one. I know it's gross, but I have a whole pile of purses in the closet filled with receipts, old lipstick, and snack crumbs that I just never clean out. I would like to say that I'll tackle those today but realistically, I should just focus on getting the breakfast dishes into the sink and making sure we all have clean underwear to wear tomorrow. Baby steps.

Oh, and funny story. I took the pictures of the Maxine Bag in my front yard. I was facing my neighbor's yard and realized when I was finished that he was sitting in the middle of his yard smoking, directly in my line of view through the camera. I panicked and thought maybe he thought I was some weirdo hiding behind a chair taking pictures of him so I was going to say something but then I thought that might be even weirder. I don't want to be the crazy neighbor but I think no matter how you look at it, I am.