Thank you for all the compliments and suggestions. I'm defintely going to do the X on the handles from now on. I also did not bind the inside of my Mothers bag, just the top, and from now on I will enclose those inner seams though because I already see fraying on my daughters tote that I made her.
OH - and she likes the wide straps. I don't think I'll make them quite that wide in the future, but she was very pleased with them. ;)