Firstly, "Happy Thanksgiving" to all my American friends! I hope you have had a wonderful day.
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Yipee!!! I have three small finishes to share with you this week!
On visiting Amanda Jane's "Finish it up Friday" Party a few weeks ago I spotted someone had made some small drawstring pouches for carrying vegetables from the supermarket instead of using plastic bags (and, I'm very sorry but I don't know who that was).
As I am mad crazy about not using plastic bags more than absolutely necessary, imagine my delight, later, when I found a scrap of net curtain fabric I'd "inherited" from one of my stitching friends ..... well, I just had to make some pouches of my own, didn't I ?!!!
I couldn't believe how difficult it was to get a photograph to really show off such a simple pouch!
The fabric wasn't easy to stitch .... it wanted to fray all the time! Good job there's only a tiny bit left .... I can't be tempted to do too much with it! Tee, hee ..... wanna bet!
I trimmed the edges just before machine stitching each seam, and I've used French Seams which will stop them fraying further.
In the next view you will see that even when filled with potatoes, tomatoes and lychees, it was still pretty difficult to photograph the pouches!
Oh, and yes, that's a new game bag in progress in the background which was meant to be in another blog post, but, since I neglected to take a picture of the pouches on their own ..... here they be!!!!
The other side will say Rummikub. Hopefully it will make it easier/quicker taking our tiles from the bag rather than having to turn them over and spread them all out on the table. You can find the tutorial for the Game Piece Bag over at Patty's blog - Elm Street Quilts ..... HERE.
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| Don't look too closely! The backing is cotton wadding and I am afraid my needle pulled the wadding through with every stitch! |
After being disappointed with the lint all over this piece I'm going to use interfacing on the other side so the same thing doesn't happen again!
These three little pouches are my first entries into Patty's linky party.
Anyhow, this is Jenny's! I love the way she finished it by adding a fir tree branch. All those who have finished their pictures seemed to complete them in different ways, and I wish I had pictures to show you, but I don't always have my camera with me!
These three little pouches are my first entries into Patty's linky party.
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Finally today, I couldn't resist sharing a photo from my Handicraft group.
Last year a few of us attended a Goldwork Workshop run by one of our members. I still haven't finished mine, and in fact if you have a look at my left hand column you will see how far I've got ..... no, wait, actually I have done more, must update the photo!
Another project to finish! No pressure, eh!
Hugs,
Barbara xxx
18 comments:
The vegetable bags are a great idea! I try to avoid plastic bags when I can.
In Japanese supermarkets most vegetables are packed and sold in plastic bags.
At the local greengrocer's there are often small trays with a pile of tomatoes or beans (you have to pay by the pile). The greengrocer will then dump the pile into a plastic bag before he hands it over to you. There you would have your chance of asking him to use your bag instead.
In Sweden most vegs are sold in loose weight, so you pick how much you want, place it in a flimsy plastic bag and it is weighed at the checkout. Or there is a pair of electronic scales in the veg section, you weigh your purchase and print out a sticky label to put on the plastic bag, before paying at the check-out..
What kind of shop do you go to? Who puts the vegetables in the bag? How is the price calculated? Have you got any 'funny faces' when you show your bags?
The veg bags are a great idea Barbara. xx
Those bags remind me of the bags that I use to launder my delicates in the wash machine. They are CHEAP at the Dollar Store. Perhaps I found another use for them!
xx, Carol
England recently introduced a 5p bag charge for plastic bags so many people bring their own or reuse them which is fantastic. The 5p goes to charity too which is good for those time you need an extra bag.
Love the goldwork, looking forward to seeing your version!
The green bag was a good idea. It is so important to reduce the use of plastic consumption. Thank you for sharing the idea. The bag to the game piece was also a smart. idea. :-)
Rummikub and scrabble!! two of my favourite games :) Great idea to bag the tiles, it'll save a lot of time.
Great useful bag. Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts Bag It.
What a good idea to use a fabric bag for vegetables, I hate using the plastic ones - yours look ideal.
Thank you for asking that question, Carin, as indeed I had a similar reaction from ladies at my handicraft group!
As yet I haven’t actually used them, but I don’t expect a problem.
For years, DH and I have taken our own shopping bags, and when buying many of our vegetables I have put them loose into the shopping trolley, then at the till the assistant has weighed the items and passed them over with the rest of the shopping, and I have put them still loose in my shopping bag.
I aim to have my new veg bags to hand as the assistant passes the items over, after weighing etc, and put the veg in their new bags and then into my shopping bag.
Shouldn’t take any more time than others with their shopping..... we’ll see!
Smiles, Barbara xx
Hi Barb I think these bags will come in handy for lots of things,well done ,I love the Xmas bauble too xx
That's definitely a great idea to use that fabric to make vegetable bags. And they turned out so neat. I don't like plastic bags either so I always have a basket in the trunk of my car to carry my shopping home.
Your Christmas bauble looks very festive.
Wonderful idea for the veggie bags....I'd use them, but I know I'd never remember to take them to the store. It's hard enough to remember to take bags at all! Like the game tile bag idea too.
I love your veg bags, Barbara! I try to avoid plastic bags as well and have often wondered what could be done for fruit and veg. Yours is a great idea. A friend of mine tried making something out of those potato sacks but it is such a scratchy material it wasn't nice to handle.
Amalia
xo
Thank you Amalia!
When DH and I first started ordering large quantities of bird seed online it was delivered in that type of sack, and rather than throw them out I cut them up and made bags to carry our walking boots. It didn’t matter if they were scratchy as they live either in the car boot or tucked away in a cupboard!
Barbara xx
Those bags are great. Much better than plastic :)
I bring bags to shop with, but never thought about bringing ones for fruits and veggies - yours look great!
I love Jenny's finish, especially with the added branch.
What a fab idea! Soooooo much plastic - yuck! Great solution
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