Meet Ralph - My daughters messenger bag

So a few weeks (maybe 6 weeks....yikes) back I posted on Facebook a drawing of a messenger bag that my daughter wanted me to make.  

Well, as I predicted I would procrastinate, and during that procrastination her creation evolved (too much Pokemon, I guess), and became this, via her laptop paint software.

and then this.

Oh no!   *Note to self - Work as fast as you can based on the original draft, because the evolved version gets much more detailed. 

So after much procrastination, and constant questioning regarding "Where is Ralph?" (what she named her creature) the day before the first day of school I started the bag,

BUT our water heater had other plans for our day and decided to bust and soak our hoarders garage.  So the rest of that day I spent going through wet boxes.  Oh what fun!!!

That next week I slowly got around to working on Ralph.  I'll admit, initially, I was very happy with the start of the bag.  This is only my 2nd attempt at appliqué (my first time was on this purse), and I'll shamefully say the first thought to mind was how can I quickly get his face done?  Felt and glue?  Well, I'm glad I didn't go that route.  :-) Um...err...well I did use fusible fleece for the eye spots....and they are already coming off.  Blah!



However,  I am a bit disappointed on the final construction of him.  I measured....and measured and measured and it looked like it would fit together correctly, and it would if it wasn't for the flap.  I normally don't work with flaps.  I didn't once think to put into consideration the flap strap situation.  I think the flap should have been slightly smaller or the body of the bag should of been larger to accommodate the strap, because if I sewed the strap to the inside like I would  normally, with a purse/tote, the flap and strap would have overlapped some weird way, therefore the strap had to be sewn to the exterior of the bag, which now leaves the flap to awkwardly fold/bunch at the strap.  Arrrgghhh!!!

See where the flap bunches at the top by the strap?

*Sigh* Oh well.  I've learned a lesson, and thankfully I was somewhat able to figure out the situation just prior to me melting down and throwing in the towel.  It's not perfect, but my daughter LOVES him, and that's what counts....right?  It's pretty close, right?  She did want a tail....but then this would never get done.

She was even excited about the pen holder feature. 

Pen pockets.

Yay!  At least I got this off my list.  Now onto the procrastination on figuring out how to make a camel water bag backpack for the kids dad.  He's asked me to make one months ago.  What do I look like a custom shop/personal seamstress?  I have all the supplies though....it's just getting to that point to construct it is what's holding me back now.  Has anyone seen any tutorials or patterns on making one?  I've looked with no luck.  :-/

Oh, as for the name of the messenger bag, Ralph, well it's just a name she pulled from out of the air.  She has a purse with a squirrel on it and his name is Bob.  I don't think I've ever known a Ralph or Bob.