Mosaic Monday - My Every Day Fabric Bag

I carry a small fabric bag when I am out and about. I'm still old school, so I use a pen and paper rather an electronic device so the bag holds a coil bound book. I make notes in the book for my errands, details about items I'm on the hung for, and anything I need on that particular day.  I always carry a small measuring tape (inset in the large photo).
I have been using a black reusable bag turned inside out to hide the logo.  I had resewn the seams on this one several times over the last couple years.
With my latest surge of sewing I decided to make myself a prettier bag.  I spent about 2 weeks thinking about this project.  I started by recording the measurements of the old one and made some adjustments to the design to make it work better. Adding a pocket for my measuring tape was one of those adjustments and I wanted better attached handles.
I chose a heavy navy fabric saved from an old pair of pants. I lined it with a wonderful yellow fabric and you can see that I created X at the top of the bag where the handles are attached, this will not come apart. I chose a fabric with sunflowers on red background fabric for my pocket.  I placed it between the handles. I added a small velcro closure on the pocket to ensure I don't lose my tape measure.
Learnings: I needed to make the pocket taller than wide because I need to finish the top and bottom edges.  Some of my seams are not as straight as they should be.  The navy fabric is a bit heavy for the project. 
The bag completely covers the book and you can just see the pen nib sticking out.  I did cut a piece of heavy plastic to keep the bottom square.  It took me over 3 hours to make. Some of the seams are not as straight as they should be but overall I am happy with it. I look forward to using this bag for years to come.

Sharing at Mosaic Monday #26 hosted by Maggie at Normandy Life.