Its done!!!!

I finished my new diaper bag and all of the accessories to go with it a couple of days ago! I took the pictures yesterday, but just did not get around to posting. I've had a cold this week and I'm feeling a bit run down.

My mom took me shopping for the fabric while we were in Portland as her birthday gift to me. I had in mind what I wanted and was thrilled that is was actually quite easy for me to find exactly what I wanted. I made up my own pattern after thinking long and hard about all the regular things I will want to have in this bag. I'm very happy with the way it has turned out, and I think I'm going to enjoy using it. My guess is that I'll use it for about a year and then I'll be ready to design my "perfect" bag for the toddler stage when I will not need to carry as much stuff with me.

I made bibs, burp cloths, a wipe case, wipes, a changing pad and a nursing cover/blanket all to match the bag. I did not do this because I wanted everything to match so much as to help keep things

organized. When any of these things goes through the wash or is seen anywhere in the house we will all know that in NEEDS to go back in the diaper bag. That way I'll always have all those things with me when we go out (or at least I SHOULD!). I've been doing the same thing with the cloth diapers for over a year now, the white ones are for the diaper bag and it has worked out so well. I've ordered some newborn

sized white cloth diapers also. I was tempted to order some that would match the bag, but white is better since it will always look okay with whatever baby is wearing, and I'm already used to pulling out the white ones.

I'm planning to make myself a small purse/large wallet that will go in the diaper bag (there is a pocket inside all ready for it). It will be big enough to hold my wallet, phone, glasses and few other odd and ends, but will not take up too much room in the bag. It will be a while before I get to that though, I've got other projects listed first on my "to do" list.

Things I would have done differently-- I think I would have used more interfacing. As I was working on the bag it felt very sturdy and I truly did not think I would want it any stiffer, but once it was all together I realized that one more layer on the body would have been nice as well as in the inside pockets. I think the handles are a bit too long, but I'm going to leave them for now, I can fix them easily if I decide they need to be shorter. Over all I love the bag though and I'm looking forward to using it in about three months!!!!