My perfect day would be the house to myself with a good movie and my sewing machine and delicious fabric to work on! I, (Tina), have never taken a formal sewing class except for a quilting class i took with Karen. From there, we started making beautiful quilts to give to all our family and friends.. but when we ran out of giftee's, we had to figure out something else that would incorporate our overabundance of material! So the tote bag business was born. Karen is very artistic and is branching out creating her own patterns. I am still too unsure and need the crutch of a pattern. I have always looked at the main staples (McCalls, Butterick, Simplicity and Vogue). But i started looking at some independent pattern makers for tote and purse patterns. I just feel a bit safer knowing that someone of some authority has made the item before and tested it out! I may be a bit too old and settled in my ways to take an actual sewing class to learn the right way to do things. Maybe one day I will!