Sewing Project - ReUsable Shopping Bag - Single Layer

Here's the second bag I created with one of the pieces I cut earlier from the beautiful navy microfiber fabric.

Fabric is cut 18 inches wide and 44 inches tall. The seams are encased to ensure no open fabric edges. 

I generally followed this video tutorial by Fabric Patch. Easiest Shopping Bag.

I will shorten the handles on the next bag which will give me more depth in the bag.  I should be able to make 2 bags with one package of bias tape. Works for me!

I was super happy to use some of my hoarded bias tape on the handles. Yellow on the outside and narrow navy in the middle.  

I had to scour my elastic collection to find some narrow elastic which worked for this project.  I will have to keep an eye out for more.

The bag measures from top of handles to the bottom edge - 21 inches.  The bag part measures 12 inches high by 16 inches wide. I used 7 inches of narrow elastic.

To store the bag you fold it in thirds making sure your button is under the folds.  Roll the handles down to the button and roll up the bag to the button and just wrap the elastic around the roll.  Excellent!

I will work on a few more of these bags. 

Turns out I need a full package of bias tape to make one bag.  That's okay I have plenty of them and they need to be gone.

Navy and orange I guess that's Oiler's colors.  I am really happy with these bags.  Not really small enough for purse I think but easy to manage. The colors defines the edges, are bright to help find them in the depths of the car trunk. 

I reduced the length of the handles by 2 inches which I don't think will make any difference to the handling and will make the bag part bigger.  It should hold more stuff.

I centered the pattern on my fabric which has been folded in half top to bottom and side to side.

I will have a few of these curvy leftovers as the left and right sides of the handles end up as scraps.

I made this one with aqua colored bias tape. I ran out of the black narrow elastic and thought I would use some gold elastic cord leftover from Christmas.  Bad Idea!

It is very hard and I broke my sewing machine needle trying to sew it in place.  I ended up hand sewing it on and well as the button.

With the process all worked it I figure I can make a bag in about 40 minutes. I think that is pretty good.

I still have enough fabric to make 4 more bags then I will have to keep an eye for another wonderful microfiber sheet so I can make a few more.

The double sheet I had would make 10 single layered bags.

I think that is very good value for fabric.  I will likely donate these to the group that my sister is volunteering for if they are going to be giving away bags.

It would hold a decent amount.

Update:

I removed the gold elastic and replaced it with a white one.  It was stitched with the machine which is stronger. Then I sewed the button back on.

Happier with that result.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I made an overlay cloth for my navy tablecloth.  

The fabric is 100% cotton and was not quite square.  

I squared it up to 23 inches finished size.  I hemmed it with a fancy stitch and white thread.

I finished this book - Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.  It is set in Paris, France during in July 1942 and Second World War is coming closer. When the knock came to the door Sarah locked her small brother in their safe cupboard and promised the come back for him later. Sarah and her family were part of the great round up at Velodrome d'Hiver, where 13,152 Jews were arrested. Jewish families were locked up there for days, in appalling conditions. Then sent to Auschwitz. Then gassed. 

Julia Jaramond in New York is a reporter assigned the 60th anniversary of the great roundup. The round up was performed by French policemen and not the Nazi soldiers.

This was an excellent read and hard to put down. The turns that take place to connect these two women are amazing. A story of love, hate, sadness, doing the right thing and being true to one's self. 

I bought myself a thermometer to test meat when cooking.

I started physio this week for my sore knee. 

I suffered a subluxation of the knee cap which hurt like crazy!! With elevation and icing the pain got better.  The knee cap (patella) returned to it's place but the muscles in the thigh need to be strengthened to keep that little thing where it is supposed to be.

I do my exercises every day and things are getting better.

Another great book - Mercy House by Alena Dillon.  This is set in Brooklyn New York where a renegade Sister Evelyn and her fellow nuns preside over a safe haven for abused and abandoned women. 

The nuns no longer need to where habits so they blend into society more easily which helps in their work. The word spreads that safety can be found at the door with the angel door knocker.  The nuns are street smart and deal with women who have lived a hard life. 

When Evelyn finds out that the house will be investigated by Bishop Hawkins which she has known early in her novitiate life she is determined not to have her life's work terminated.

Steps are taken to bring the house closer to the Catholic standards of the 1960's. The women's stories are touching, the love the nuns pour into their hearts to allow the girls to believe in themselves again, retrain, get work and move back into society is wonderful.

Sewing Project - ReUsable Shopping Bag

I've had several discussions with my sister about making reusable shopping bags now that single use plastic ones are not being handed out.  I have 5-7 grocery bags that I have used for years.  Those are the large boxed corner ones.  The original ones I bought are very good quality has have had to be sewn back together several times.

The more recent reusable bags are not made of such durable fabric and some of those have had significant reinforcements to keep them in service.

I decided to search the web for some DIY reusable shopping bags.  An organization she is volunteering with is considering give out reusable bags instead of the blue recycle bags they have used in the past.  With that goal in mind I thought I would give my hand to a bag and see how it went.  

I had purchased a really good quality microfiber sheet - double a while back which did not get used the way I planned so it was still sitting in the "to be used" fabric pile.  I thought that would work well for this project. 

There are many video tutorials on you tube so I check out quite a few until I found one that made sense to me.

This is the video I chose to follow: DIY Eco Shopping Bag is based on a plastic shopping bag. As you can see I used a Walmart bag as a very basic pattern.

We were hoping to be able to add a pouch to store the bag when not in use.  This bag as too substantial to act like a rip stop nylon one. 

I added the band on the front where I can fold the top up and tuck it in then fold the handles then another fold and tuck this layer on top of the previous one.  Pretty bulky to really store.  It is a gorgeous bag and will hold a lot and last a long time. I was grateful to have this thin striped cotton to lessen the weight.

I think the next ones I make with be a single layer with bias tape on the handles.

Card Exchange - Feb - Red Raffia

Used this beautiful screen printed designer paper on this set of cards.

I used a Cherry Cobbler card base for card number 1. 

Cut the DSP to 4.00 x 5.25 inches and adhered to card front.

I chose 2 pieces of left over card stock in greens and used the SU Eyelet Border Punch on the bottom edge of both of them. 

Layered them together and punched 2 one eight inch holes evenly spaced from the center.

I pulled the Cherry Cobbler Raffia through and knotted it on the front.  This layer was adhered to the card front about 1.5 inches down from the top edge. 

It was adhered with 3D foam tape. I unraveled the raffia to have the ties spread out.

For this card I used a Chocolate Chip brown card base.

I added a decorative paper layer leaving a small border. 

I used the light green card stock and punched both edges with the Eyelet Border punch.  

I wrapped a length of Early Espresson Taffeta Ribbon across the front and taped the ends to the back. 

Place 2 one eight inch holes evenly spaced from the center, pulled the raffia through and knotted it to the front.   This layer was adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.  White blank inserts and white A2 envelopes. 

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I brought these beautiful flowers home this week.  They are a sympathy bouquet with pink roses, freesia and lilies on the passing of our dear Mom on Sunday, January 22nd. Some of her girls were with during her final hours and she passed peacefully.

These flowers were given to my sister but she could not keep them due to lilies and the cats. 

I am blessed to receive them and enjoy them - it is a gorgeous arrangement.

I am glad Mom is now with Dad and no longer in pain.

I received this Anniversary Clock when things were cleared from Mom's room at the Lodge. We were blessed to have many hands to make light work of moving furniture, clothes, appliances, sewing machine and entertainment center.  She had been in the hospital since Dec 11th so we had some warning that she would not be returning to the Lodge.

I don't know the story of the clock and on my last visit with her she was not responsive so I did not get a chance to ask about it.  It must have been precious as she took it to the lodge with her.  Maybe Dad gave it to her for one of their over 60 wedding anniversaries.  I hope someone in the family will have the history.

It has been around for a long time I think.   It is battery operated and it chugging away keeping time on my shelf now.

I dropped some stuff at the ReUse Center this week and did pick up a few things.

There were some small glass ornaments - The Nutcracker on the left and mercury glass acorns on the right.

There was a good amount of the yellow pear fabric which came home with me.  Not sure what it may become - maybe a towel hanger for the oven door.

The Best Detective Stories of the Year - 1972 edited by Allen J. Hubin. 

There were several good stories in this collection.  They were short enough to finish in a half hour before going to bed.

Bizarre story about trying to photograph heaven as beings are being killed to achieve this goal.  Another about how man in a  large transport truck terrorizes a guy in a car on a lonely stretch of road. One story documents a number of financial deals which ends up with someone being hoodwink of lots of money in the end.  A turn of words makes the difference. 

Maybe it was not the best reading just before bed.

We are headed back into the cooler for the next few days.

I managed to get groceries and run a few errands before that arrived.

O is for Outlaw by Sue Grafton was another great book in the Kinsey Millhome series. 

This central figure in this one is her ex-husband Mickey Magruder who now lays in a hospital bed in very bad shape. 

She learns that the circumstances under which she decided to end her marriage to Mickey may not be quite what they seemed.  Now, she must investigate the situation to clear up if and what she misunderstood.  Time is precious as Mickey is not long for this world.

Mickey was a cop and lost the job he loved and took a downward spiral - let's say not always on this side of the law.

It was interesting to see Kinsey have to look at her life and maybe see things and do things differently.   She usually is so sure of herself and generally a straight shooter.  A great read.

Thank You Cards

I made some Thank You cards for the folks who gave me Christmas Gifts.

I was blessed with many less formal things this year such as tourtiere making with my aunt, a wonderful Christmas dinner with family, a Facetime session with Mom when she was in hospital.  Tea with my friends which gave us a chance to catch up.

I used a 9x12 inch sheet of water color paper from the pad I received from my sister. I taped it to a stiff plastic and used my Stampin Up Wonder Watercolor crayons to just smush it with color.  Once it was dried then I cut it into 3 inch squares.  

I selected my card based on the primary colors on that particular piece of watercolor.  In the top card I chose Perfect Plum as the base and printed some flag greetings to match.  I fussy cut the greeting. I adhered the piece of watercolor to the card, added the stitching and trees with a small brush, adhered the greeting with 3D foam tape then spattered the whole card with some of the watercolor I had used.

This card is has the same parts as the one above but I chose Really Rust as the card base, I use a marker to add a flower on the watercolor square, and the square was adhered on a diagonal. 

It's great to put together one large sheet of water color and get a bunch of different colored and oriented cards from it.

These could also have been placed in the tall or portrait orientation. 

Maybe the next set.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

My niece came up this week so we can take a trip to visit Mom in hospital.

My main nativity set is a White Matte Bisque Porcelain one by Avon.  I have a large stable to house them but of course all that is packed. She is always on the look out for additional pieces so she brought this 2nd Wiseman to me and the Angel Gabriel.  

Unfortunately, the did not come with their boxes so I will have to design a storage solution.  

I am still missing another wiseman, animals of every kind, and shepherds.

My sister called over the holidays as she had found some pieces but she thought they were Mary and Joseph so we let those go.

Another gift from my niece.  She bought a couple of these a long while ago when I was anticipating moving into a new place.  That did not happen and since I have gotten rid of the sofa (which I miss a lot!) she brought one of the chairs up.

Beautiful mid century lounge chair in a great yellow color.  It is vinyl upholstery in superb condition.  Dark wood frame in excellent shape. Comfortable.

It offers me a change from my glider chair so I am grateful she had room to bring it with her.

I finished this book - Katheryn's Secret by Linda Hall.  The story is set in Maine about a family cottage willed by Katheryn to her niece Sharon. 

Sharon is a writer facing a book deadline and taking time to visit Maine and the cottage is more important. Right?  She takes a couple of weeks with her teenage daughter tagging along. Her husband will join them a bit later.

Her aunt Katheryn Sullivan had not married and lived in this cottage with her sisters for many years.  She was eccentric, a dreamer, romantic and a storyteller.   Sharon finds a mysterious disappearance of a child and through the search for her resting place uncovers deep secrets. 

She finds folks who knew and did not tell but fortunately she was able to uncover the family history and bring closure to the events. 

I made a visit to the local ReUse Center as well.  I am working another version of essential oil diffusers/tree scent ornaments which features sewing thread spools. 

I was hoping to use wooden ones but only found a few.  Of course, the plastic ones are everywhere.  I will have to see whether I can achieve a look I am happy with using the plastic ones.

There were bits of velvet which should work wonderfully. Some colorful yarn and some wool skeins.

I will post when I have made a version I am happy with.

Another book completed - Iris and Ruby by Rosie Thomas.  This is my second book by this author and it was wonderful story based in Cairo Egypt this time.  The other was the Kashmir Shawl.

Her granddaughter Ruby from England appears on Iris's doorstep unannounced. She has run away and needs a place to stay. Can she?

Her quiet household with the houseman Mamdooh and Auntie the house keeper is disrupted by this young person and the friends she is making in the area. 

The novel moves between the years Iris was a young woman living in Cairo during the Second World War and her now at 82 years of age still living in Cairo but starting to lose her memories.  Ruby wants to help her grandmother preserve her beloved history so they start to set time aside to reminisce and capture the past.

It is a wonderful story which reunites 3 generations of women and helps Iris, Lesley her estranged daughter and Ruby the willful granddaughter see each other's point of view and life history.

Sylvia Simple Shots

I booked my 4th COVID Booster shot with health services and was given a pharmacy I had not been to before. I needed it done so I agreed.  I carefully walked the block and entered into a space with no one else in there.  Different for sure. I was quickly given my shot and waited my fifteen minutes. 

I limped home and all I had was a sore arm for a day.

I had been limping since the 6th of January but managing but not getting any better. 

After a urgent care doctor visit on January 12th, I headed for an ultrasound on my right knee/leg to check for blood clots the next day.

At home, on my way up the stairs I felt a pop in the back of my knee and the pain got 10X worse.

I spent the day waiting for ultrasound results, having a nurse assessment, a Zoom Medical Doctor visit and at last a call from my own doctor.  She confirmed no blood clots! Wonderful but what is wrong. After answering another ton of questions she had an idea what it might be. She did not a feel a visit to emergency was necessary and suggested icing and elevating and she would see me Monday, Jan 16th. 

In the meantime, I borrowed a walker and a cane from my sister who delivered it that afternoon. After icing the knee felt a lot better.

I have kept the cane, as physiotherapy has been prescribed but more about that later.

With some down time I finished this book - Sutton by J.R. Moehringer.

This story is centered around a real figure of Willie "The Actor" Sutton who was an American bank robber. So named for the disguises he used while committing his crimes.  During his forty-year robbery career he stole an estimated $2 million, and he eventually spent more than half of his adult life in prison and escaped three times. He did not kill a single person during these many robberies. 

He is pardoned Christmas Eve 1969 and he spends Christmas Day with a reporter and a photographer while they revisit the scenes of his crimes and other key events/crossroads of his life. I believe there were 17 marks on the map and they would have to be visited in chronological order.  

This book is very well written and a joy to read. 

Flickr Macro Mondays challenge was "shadows" this week. 

I took quite a few shots of several different things.  I was not able to decide and ran out of energy to actually post an image.

Here's one of the shots.

A glass bowl vase with a ripple edge. 

I am having trouble keeping track of all the stuff that has happened, no wonder I am exhausted.

Small Gifts - Car Cup Holders Coasters - Bunch 3

Another set of bespoke Car Cup Holder Coasters for nieces and nephews.

Top row - A new house for a niece who is moving in the new year.  A daisy for the wife of a nephew. An "D" initial for a nephew.

Middle row:   Yellow stars of a compass on navy with navy cotton and navy tabs.  I'm not sure I succeeded with my representation of a tire on the middle one. Red background, black tire and 2 tone grosgrain tabs. Black maple leaf on red for a niece with white tabs.

Bottom Row:   Airplane for the pilot nephew - ivory on black with grey cotton and ivory tabs. "T" initial for a nephew in orange and brown background, grey cotton and orange tabs.

Small Gifts - Car Cup Holders Coasters - Bunch 2

I made another set of Car Cup Holder Coasters.

These are for the guys in the family.

The first is J for the car he drives. A grey felt "J" on black fleece with black cotton on the back with two tone grey black grosgrain ribbon tabs.

The set on the right features the ocean and sunset in felt on teal fleece with teal cotton on the back. Yellow grosgrain ribbon tabs. 

Left again are 3 leaves in yellow, green and orange felt on green felt with orange grosgrain tabs.

Bottom right features an acorn designed with felt on black felt with black cotton on the back and brown grosgrain tabs.

Bottom left is the evergreen tree with sun and hills with yellow denim cotton on back with black grosgrain ribbon tabs.

Family Christmas

We celebrated our family Christmas on January 6-7-8 2023.

We rented a ranch house so most of the out of town folks could stay for the weekend.  

The weather was great for driving - the sun shone and the highways were dry.  The place was still decorated for Christmas.  There was a large tree and fire place mantel had seasonal decor.  The house has 6 rooms with their own bathrooms.  We visited, played outside, prepared and ate food, enjoyed our potluck supper on Saturday evening. There was enough time to touch base with my siblings that were there.

I believe we were just about 30 for supper which was wonderful. 

Mom was not able to leave hospital to be with us. She was close so with the use of Face Time and 2 Ipads we were able to each have a bit of a visit with her a few at a time so she could recognize those she was seeing.  Thanks to those who made that possible.

There was turkey, brocolli salad, pyrophy (perogies), holopchi (cabbage rolls), tourtiere (meat pie), brussels sprouts and asparagus. Homemade buns made by nephew.  Wild cranberry sauce which is what we grew up with.  Baked and mashed potatoes. Yummy gravy!

A chocolate torte, fruit salad and much more.

I brought my famous Caramel Popcorn for snacks.

It was a great weekend and the first with out Dad who passed in May 2022.

We have been so blessed to have our parents for so long and be so constant in our lives.

I received food gifts for Christmas which are always appreciated.  I  have come to appreciate linen tea towels so those will be great.  Watercolor paper will be used in my family cards this year.

The yellow sunflower bowl will live on the dining room table for a while.  The silver trivet fits in really well with  my silver tea pot and accessories. This beautiful teapot ornament was part of my gift with the sunflower bowl.

I was limping around that weekend because on my way to wash my car on Friday, Jan 6th something happened to my right knee but more about that later.

Set of Cards and Greetings

I made a set of cards for my niece as a gift.  I chose designer paper and coordinating card bases.

The first 2 are the paisley paper with Kiwi Kiss, Soft Sky and Chocolate Chip bases with strips of Early Espresso and Choc Chip.

The bottom left and right are Basic Gray card bases with a coordinating designer papers. Featuring punched white card stock panels.  The punch is the Martha Steward Arche Lattice.

The top right is Old Olive card base with a coordinating designer paper with a ripped white card stock panel.  

The right is Groovy Guava card base with designer paper in soft warm blues and a ripped panel matching the card.

The bottom left took a while to figure out but found the card base needed to be Summer Starfruit. The designer paper is the same with the left strip turned to the other side. 

Middle right is a burgundy card base with a coordinating designer paper with a ripped white card stock panel.

The bottom right is Old Olive card base with striped designer paper with a ripped navy card stock panel.

The greetings included birthday, thinking of you in the colors of the cards I had made.

I added a pack of 3D foam tape to adhere them where ever on the card front she decided to use them.

The shapes included tags, circles and banners.

I hope she and her family will enjoy giving these cards throughout the year when special occasions arise and time is short.

This allows for a handmade card on a quick turn around.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I went for a walk on January 01 2023 with my aunt who needed to get out of her house for a bit.

The sun was shining and the temperature was decent.

We met at the Grey Nun's White Spruce Park which has undergone a renovation which has included improvements such as a outdoor classroom, a wetland overlook and more.

We were out for an hour at about 1pm. There were quite a few folks with the same idea but I think we were just ahead of the warmest part of the day.

 

My aunt hosted a brunch on Jan 2nd for her sisters and husbands.  I was one of two nieces included which was really lovely.

We had traditional meat pies (tourtieres) and her delicious onion pie which were gobbled up very quickly.

It was nice to catch up with my aunts. I picked up some art from one of my aunts to be delivered to family at our Family Christmas Celebration next week. 

The day was nice and the drive over was good.  

I stayed after the others left and helped her out with a few things and then we sat and had tea.

It was dark when I was headed home.

I put up my Sunrise Stained Glass Window which has been stored since early spring.

It was great that the sun actually shone and I could enjoy it's color on the walls.

I have missed these passed several months.

Made my day!

Sewing Project - UnPaper Towels - Batch 1

I was working on reusable wrapping before our Christmas celebration.  I did not have the material I needed for tea towels so I discovered these.  UnPaper Towels made with flannel instead of terrycloth.  I had some flannel in stock so I set off to work it out.

Fortunately, the fabric I had was a quite dark grey in a herringbone pattern.  It was 100% cotton made in Portugal. Beautiful stuff. I decided to maximize the fabric I had so I cut my pieces 10 x 10 inches square. I zigzagged the edges as I only have a sewing machine.  A serger would be ideal for this task. 

They can be any size that works for wiping up messes.  I think that one should have light and dark ones for different kinds of messes.  I heard of a person who had color coded ones in her house.  One color for counters and another for floors and still another for pet messes. Whatever works.

The great thing about the flannel ones is that they just stick together so you can wrap them offset on an old paper towel roll.  The roll can just then be put where the paper towels were dispensed from before.  

I think a set of 10 works nicely which I hope gets one from one laundry day to the next.

I have purchased some light flannel and plan on making sets of 5 dark 5 light.

They could also be placed in a basket on the counter or in a drawer.  They should be individually folded so they are easily reached.