Time to Retire My Favorite Tote Bag?

I hate to even think it, but my favorite bag ever is starting to lose its shine. When I first made my Nancy Drew tote, it stood up on its own.

These days it slumps and shows its age.

I can't complain -- this bag has been with me just about every time I left the house for  the past three years. That's a hundred and fifty some trips to the library (which means it's hauled a couple thousand books for me and the kids) and countless trips to the park and lots of vacations...

Don't get me wrong. I'm not about to toss my favorite bag. But I'm thinking it might be time to start planning a replacement for the Best Bag Ever. I love the size of this one and the strap is the perfect length to wear over my shoulder or across my chest.  But I'd like the next bag to zip across the top and for it to have an inside pocket to keep my phone from falling to the bottom. I can't find my phone under everything even when it's ringing.

I can take the lessons I learned from this bag and make another one that's the perfect size and has the perfect strap length and doesn't spill everything onto the floor of the car when I knock it over....but the new bag won't have that book spine fabric.

That's what's going to stop me. I've got lots of wonderful fabric, but I can't think of any prints in my stash that I'd happily carry every day for the next three years.

Weekly Stash Report

Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 4 3/4 yards
Fabric added this week: 0 yards
Fabric added year to date: 11 yards (+2 sheets)
Net used for 2016: 6 1/4 yards

Yarn used this Week: 800 yards
Yarn used year to Date: 3550 yards
Yarn added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn added Year to Date: 5526 yards
Net added for 2016: 1976 yards

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.