A New Meaning for Doggie Bag

I'll admit it: I'm a reformed cat lover.  I've always preferred cats, and was actually afraid of dogs until I was well into middle school (even now, the big dogs in my neighborhood give me anxiety), but now that we have Schnoz, I'm sorta into it.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I love dogs and dog-related things.  Especially things I can sew!

I sewed the dog bed last weekend--and meant to sew another this weekend, but buying fiber fill completely escaped me--and this weekend I made a little doggie bag.  Not to carry him in, unfortunately: Nick would definitely draw the line there.  But we plan on taking him to dog parks and he started obedience school yesterday, so obviously this kid has places to go.  As I'm learning, dogs need accessories.  They get into dirt, they piddle on the floor, they need constant entertaining.  Much like babies, dogs' parents need doggie bags to carry around all of this stuff.  (Just go with me here.)

Anna Graham just released her Super Tote pattern, and I've been trying to come up with a reason to make one.  I'm not a bag person and don't need a lot of totes or purses, but I was carrying Schnoz's stuff around in my old Spice Market tote.  Amazingly, I never blogged about this, but it was a basic tote, navy Kona as the shell and Melody Miller viewfinders as the lining.  The problem is I carried this bag back and forth to work for two years and it's showing.  It even got some bleach on it at some point and there are nasty holes everywhere.  I need to rip out the lining and salvage that Melody Miller for a cosmetic bag or something.  But that's what we were using and I was embarrassed.  I couldn't carry that around.  Judgment is harsh.

The Super Tote enticed me because it's big, has a lot of pockets, and has a recessed zipper, which is great because I'd learn a new skill and I could stash treats inside without a little Schnauzer nose sniffing them out.

I used Robert Kaufmann Essex linen as the shell and bought some piping.  I also lined the pocket, and I wish I had interfaced it first, because you can kind of see the lining through it.

The lining is two prints from Erin Michael's Uptown from Moda--circa 2007!  My mom and I went bonkers for this line and bought a lot of it.  What made me finally cut into this last untouched print was the fact that it's been re-released, along with Lush, this summer.  I'm dying for it.  I plan on buying every print and making everything possible.

Do you recognize the paint-by-number print?  This is a bad picture (it's so hard to photograph linings!), but I ripped apart my Anna tunic, like the second thing I ever made, and salvaged the paint-by-number print.  I didn't wear it often enough to justify keeping it in my closet, and I knew the birds would have a nice new home in this bag and in my stash.

I followed the directions to a T, minus one thing: the elastic pockets.  No matter what I do with elastic, it hates me.  Forget it.  I did everything else as Anna suggested, though.

Here's the bag full of Schnoz's things.  This includes puppy wipes, shampoo, itch spray, bandanas, and a bowtie.  You just never know when black-tie will be required:

This is a great pattern.  I'm already planning a second...or maybe another one of her totes as a summer bag?

In other news, I'd love to do a gardening update, but it's been so rainy lately that pictures definitely wouldn't come out!  But I was able to pick some of my Button Box zinnias and bring them inside!

It seems the only safe space in the house is my sewing room bookshelf.  I also planted Giants of California zinnias and I'm impatiently awaiting those!