Thank you so much for all the kind compliments! Boy, it really is nice to read! Makes a girl feel good! ;)
My Grandma ordered a tote after seeing my Moms, lol*, and I only ask family to pay for materials so I haven't really "officially" sold a tote yet, but it does feel really good to know I'm making something they like! I have had a number of inquiries though. I'm going to take a few to craft shows and see how they do. I used to babysit for extra fabric money but the lady I sat for is having a baby and going to stay home, and I've kind of got my hands full with a three month old and two other children of my own so it'd be nice to do a couple shows a year to help pay for things like Christmas and some other holidays. I also sell pumpkin rolls around Thanksgiving so that helps too.
To those who asked about the pattern - I didn't use one! I just sort of made it up as I went along. I quilted some pieced material, folded it in half, boxed the bottom corners, added straps that were lined with batting and stitched, then bound the seams. I DID reinforce the handles but will also start using the X reinforcement stitching in the future, which I did NOT do for these two totes. For my Mom's I added a pocket to the front but I think that I will start adding the pocket on the inside from now on, just because I like the way it looks a little better.