Larry's 5-Gallon Bucket Organizer

Darn it, darn it, darn it.  One of the reasons Erin and I started this blog is so we could take pictures of our creations and make an online album of sorts to memorialize them.  That hasn't prevented me from doing dumb things like making an awesome present for my father-in-law and then completely forgetting to take any glamor shots for the blog.  I even had the nice camera with me yesterday when we gave Larry the gift, but I was probably too busy stuffing my face with yummy tailgating food to take photos.  Lucky for me, I tend to do things like take iPhone pictures of my projects and send pictures to Erin with captions like "my entry for the best daughter-in-law ever award".  [Yes, I am Larry's ONLY daughter-in-law, but I still feel like I should keep competing, right?]

ANYWAY, although I made Larry this cool 5-Gallon Bucket Organizer, this is the only shot I have of it:

The bucket organizer/liner thingy is meant to help a handy guy carry all the tools and supplies he might need for a particular project.  The cover is removable (those are drawstring stoppers on the sides with some parachute cord strung through some grommets) and theoretically washable.  I did wash the duck cloth beforehand, but I kind of forgot to wash the Michigan State fabric that I used for the binding.  Eh -- a little dirt would make the cover look more manly, right?

I was tickled to find out that you can buy these 5-gallon buckets for only about $2.50 at the hardware superstores.  I chose to buy one from Lowe's because it was a pretty royal blue.  the one from Home Depot was a horrid orange that would have looked terrible with my color scheme.  Too bad neither of them uses a nice dark green for their branding scheme.

I added the grommet feature because the instructions tell you to wait until everything is finished to sew on some ties for the sides.  I thought that would look silly (shouldn't the tied have been incorporated into the binding seams?).  Good thing I am well-stocked in grommets from making the yarn bags!  It would have been kind of fun to make a padded cover for the handle as well (maybe one that used hook and eye tape so it would be removable/washable), but I figured that might be overkill.

We gave it to Larry yesterday at the Michigan State group birthday party and he loved it.  I'm already planning to make several more of these for the other handy men in the family for Christmas!  Too bad the Jo-Ann's in Michigan doesn't carry Arizona State University fabric . . .