Welcome the New Year!

 To all of us, today is a new year.  To my quilting projects that have found ways to delay their completion, it's just another day. I realize I only have myself to blame, but it would be comforting to think it was their fault. :P
I tried so hard to finish this bag before the end of the year, but for the last 2 months it has managed to find ways to avoid being worked on. I have had a vision of what the completed project will look like locked in my head all this time. I walked by it on my sewing table several times a day and thought how I'd like to finish it; right after I finish the Christmas shopping, or the holiday baking, or the present wrapping, or the unending cleaning. Man, those pine trees can drop a lot of needles (totally worth it for the wonderful pine smell that fills the house, have to admit).

Front of the bag

Back of the bag with my daughters hand grabbing it

This is as far as got. I have the outer pockets, the straps, and the piecing all done. I also have the quilting done, and the inside of it almost finished. All I have left is the inside pockets, the zipper, and the final stitching to put it all together.
It's a pretty bright and happy bag. It has been fun figuring out the best way to construct it; there I go again preferring mind-numbing contemplation to figure it out over using a pattern that would probably cut the time in half. Oh well, it's all good. I'm sure I'm just keeping my mind sharp, right? Yeah, that's right; sure! I think it will be my first finished project for 2014.  Hopefully I can finish it soon; quickly. I must be optimistic! I can do it!