Bags, bags and more bags................

http://madcreekdesigns.etsy.com

The Old Bag...............or "what I did yesterday"

Well, my fingers are sore from hand quilting so I took the day off and worked on a new tote bag or two. I have a stash of old jeans, blue, black, tan, white, etc. Every now and then I make something out of a pair, mostly tote bags. They're so fun to make, I never make the same one twice. Just depends on what size those jeans were and what details the jeans originally have. I like to keep as much of the original detail as possible.

I hated to throw out the remainder of the jeans after making this big tote but there wasn't enough "jean" to make much so the mini tote was born. Might make a cute little girls tote or maybe it's just perfect to carry around 6 cans of your favorite soda pop, I don't know. Yes, it's a bit weird but have you seen some of the bags young women are carrying around today? All sorts of fun and funky bags. But I think the little one still needs some embellishing, don't you?

chris

Recyling those plastic bags..........

I just stumbled upon what I think is such a clever idea. How to recycle those plastic shopping bags we seem to hoard for some reason, or just throw away after we unpack our groceries. I know Pam has a stash almost as big as her fabric stash. I just read a tutorial at EtsyLabs here,

http://etsylabs.blogspot.com/2007/05/long-overdue-fusing-plastic-bag.html

and a very cool YouTube tutorial to actually sew a tote bag here,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB1mE8e35UY


It's all about layering the plastic bags, ironing to fuse them together and make strong and sewing a messenger or tote bag from them. I'm always forgetting my cloth grocery bags when I make an unplanned stop at the grocery store. Maybe if I kept several of these in the car, I'd have plenty handy all the time. This looks kind of fun to do, too. When I see things like this, I always have to hit myself in the head and say, "why didn't I think of that".