Crochet bubble purse

I am relatively new to crochet. I started to learn in February of this year, and I've only made a few things. I made the same scarf five or so times, so this was only my second project. I started it in July, put it down for a while, and finished it last weekend when my mother-in-law was in town. I would crochet while we were sitting by the pool or in the apartment chatting, and it came together really quickly.

I got the pattern out of a book called Positively Crochet. My friend Natalie helped me figure out how to make the bubbles. I am new to reading crochet instructions, so her help was very valuable. I never figured out how to make them exactly the same as in the pattern, but they turned out OK. I made the bottom/side out of a bit of multi-colored yarn I had made a scarf out of already. I like the contrast. I also added a bit of that yarn to tie the bag together. I might add a lining (I think I'd use purple fabric to match the purple of the contrast section), in which case I can add a snap or something, but until then, the little yarn tie works fine.

The one thing I'm worried about is that the handle isn't attached all that well to the body, but it held up pretty well on the inaugural trip. One side (the one pictured on the left below) looks a lot dicier than the other. I'm not sure why it worked out that way.

In case you were wondering, the inaugural trip was actually later the day I finished it. We went to the ballet with MIL and another friend. Here is me enjoying my purse and the bad lighting on the balcony of the Wortham Center. (Bonus: I wore the relined skirt too!)

I was tickled by how enthusiastic my MIL was about me finishing the purse. She encouraged me to have Jon make dinner while I worked so I would be able to finish up before we went out that evening. It was nice to have a cheerleader.