Simple Frills Tote Bags

With two daughters, I loved making girls dresses. Simple cotton and ruffles with lace. They were elegant and yet could still go to the park to play.

Pansies are that simple elegance in flowers. The elegance of the innocent. The Joy of the Childhood, but in flowers.

My walks to the store are not always predictable. But it is a grid and point A is home and B is the store, ⁠so there are limited variations to be had. Do I choose a specific route? Well, during late winter and early spring, yes.

There is a neighbor, who loves pansies. She plants them all year round. For me, that is a small dollop of color even in the darkest parts of winter. White, yellow and purple line her walk all year. It is an inviting scene.

This winter was quite rainy and quite dreary. Weeks of overcast followed by weeks of rain. Who am I to complain? This is the Pacific Northwest and I chose to be here. But, February and March can be very long and very cruel. We also had a snow. A very late snow.

Snow does come to Portland. And it is something to celebrate. For a day. Then it thaws and refreezes and thaws and refreezes… Keep going until the stuff that is on the ground is ugly, mushy yuck, just now it is frozen, ugly, mushy yuck. Do not think White Christmas Card. Trend more towards puce slime- frozen.

So, after a week of the muck, there was a full thaw and my neighbor wonderfully immediately planted new pansies.

The small blooms of color reminded me that we can choose. We can always choose the amazing and simple joys.

Let's just say I love pansies. I love elegance that looks better in a child's hand.⁠

Our tote bags are perfect to have on hand for any occasion. The cotton web handles feature double stitched seams for durability. Dry clean or spot clean only.