some travel necessities...

This is another all-day tote from Lotta Jansdotter's book Simple Sewing. I decided I needed it for our trip to Florida, so I sewed it the the weekend before we left. Lately, I love making bags with some practical and utilitarian fabric on the outside, like this denim, and something bold or pretty on the inside

It worked out just great for carrying books, planner, snacks and water bottle on the plane.

One book that came with me was my recently acquired 50 cent copy of Sarah Orne Jewett's, The Country of the Pointed Firs...
I am loving the story and can't believe I have never read it til now. I highly recommend it. This is one of my favorite passages~

"I went to the door of the bedroom, and thought how pleasant it looked, with its pink-and-white patchwork quilt and the brown unpainted paneling of its woodwork.

'Come right in, dear,' she said. 'I want you to set down in my old quilted rockin'-chair there by the window; you'll say it's the prettiest view in the house. I set there a good deal to rest me and when I want to read.'

There was a worn red Bible on the lightstand, and Mrs Blackett's heavy silver-bowed glasses; her thimble was on the narrow window-ledge, and folded carefully on the table was a thick striped-cotton shirt that she was making for her son. Those dear old fingers and their loving stitches, that heart which had made the most of everything that needed love! Here was the real home, the heart of the old house on Green Island! I sat in the rocking-chair, and felt that it was a place of peace, the little brown bedroom, and the quiet outlook upon field and sea and sky." from The Country of the Pointed Firs