My placemats for the BTRS Swap. I'm extremely excited about how these fabrics are coming together, and I'm really hoping my swap partner doesn't mind pink. She didn't mention it one way or another on her profile form, so I think it's safe to assume she doesn't hate it.  Personally, I've been trying to wean myself off pink for the last few months now.  But it's been an obsession brewing for the last three years, so it's slow going.  

The first of the reusable grocery bags, currently in use for the pretend newspaper route the five year old has set up in the kitchen (apparently Curious George had a paper route on this week's episode).  I made this one based on the Morsbag tutorial, but did give it a square bottom, as several commenters have suggested would be handy for the grocery sackers who have to fill the things. 

This dress is nearly finished, but is nonetheless a bit wrinkly from being worn for several hours before the photograph.  I modified a shirt pattern in the current issue of Sew Simple.  Just adjusted the sizing a little, and it looks good.  Problem is, I overadjusted the size, and now it doesn't quite reach in the back.  It's supposed to have a simple button holding it together. Right now it has a safety pin until I can decide how to fix it.  I'm open to suggestions... 

I love this bag from Rosie Music. I'm not sure what I love most: the circular shape, the colors or the teapots. Those teapots are little velvet appliques.

This simple little bird from Paloma's Nest is nice.  I'm thinking it would look quite good perched on a coffee table. Reflecting on the Chinese Proverb every few days might even improve my outlook a bit.

Draw Flowers handmakes these lampshades (in Italy!) on PVC frames using vintage wallpaper. I would love to have this hanging over my dining table.

These pears come in such fun (and non-toxic) colors, and I love that they're hand formed by the Runny Bunny. 

Our new Whole Foods opened yesterday, less than two and a half miles from my house.  I was crazy excited and had to be there for opening day.  When we returned for another visit this evening, my mom expressed her surprise that I didn't yet have a whole slew of fabric shopping bags to carry my groceries.

I'm surprised myself, given that reusable grocery bags have been on my to-do list for about a year now.  So, this is the week...

Thing is, I haven't decided 100% on which tutorial I want to use for this project.  There are several out there:

Soft fabric ones ("prettier than the ugly plastic things you're using now") at Wisdom of the Moon

Based on the paper grocery bag (I like this one because of the nice square bottom) at Making Something

Then I also like the Morsbag.  The idea behind Morsbags is this:  Friends (or neighbors, community members, non-profit groups, potential-friends) get together in a pod.  They bring sheets, comforters, tablecloths, curtains, etc. to reuse as grocery bags.  The pod enjoys wine and refreshments while sewing a whole slew of bags, using the free pattern from Morsbags.com.  After the bags are finished, the pod does guerilla bagging--handing the bags out at local grocery stores to customers on their way in...for Free! 

It sounds like fun, especially the part with the wine.  And, maybe my motives aren't fabulous, but I'd love to see the smiles on some of those surly faces headed into our local grocery store.  If the bag sewing goes well this week, I just might consider starting my own pod.  All you localites, let's mobilize!

Ultimately, whether it's a morsbag or some other fabric version, these guys benefit when we use pass on plastic:

Motivated? We first need to start at home, which means I need a set of fabric bags to bring along to the store.  So do you! Let's get sewing.

Or, tune in Wednesday to win one from me!

This week I'm giving away the Lindie Bag, featuring a fun bird print (decorator weight) with a light blue cotton lining.  This bag contains my very first purse pocket.  Nothing fancy, but a pocket nonetheless.  You don't want to miss out on this fantastic giveaway. Seriously. More about this particular Lindie Bag, made from Craft Apple's free pattern, is here.

In related news, notice the snazzy new Win-It Wednesday button over there on the sidebar? Clicking that each week will take you straight to the current giveaway.  Not that you're here just for the free stuff, but just in case...

Leave a comment on this post before next Wednesday.  One lucky winner, chosen completely at random, will receive the Lindie Bag. Good Luck!

To Sarah and Patti!

 By now, you've probably caught on that I hate to leave one person out in the cold.  Therefore, I made another first aid kit.  This time, with a special bandage sized pocket:

This purse-sized first aid kit, along with the original one, will be headed off to the two winners from last week's Win-It Wednesday. 
Sarah has one of my very favorite blogs (and she's local...maybe we'll meet soon!)  And Patti left me one of the nicest comments ever. 

So, they both deserve a first aid kit to carry in their purses and keep little skinned knees feeling better.

At long last, I finished the Lindie Bag from the Throwback Thursday before last.  I used this bird fabric from my stash.  It's a decorator weight fabric that Husband picked up at a garage sale in the neighborhood several years ago.  Back then I didn't sew, but he wisely used it to make some nice pictures for the dining room.

I've been holding on to the remaining fabric, and decided the Lindie Bag would be a perfect use for it.  I had to adjust the size of the bag a bit to make my gigantic bird fit.  I made a few other changes along the way.

 
The tutorial calls for using one long piece (10 x 17) of fabric folded in half for the outside of the bag.  Unfortunately, I couldn't do that with my fabric, because one side would have upside birds.  So I made two pieces, roughly 12 x 10 each and sewed them together, making my bag a bit bigger than the original Lindie.

 
The pocket is supposed to match the lining fabric, but my lining is a simple light blue cotton (hard to tell the color here), so I went with a contrasting pocket.  Not a very friendly looking bird, though, is it?

My enthusiastic model does a better job of showing the blue lining.  I thought it would be a nice, simple accent for the bird fabric.  A lot of times I choose a flashy lining and a simple outer fabric, but this just felt better for this particular bag. 

You'll notice a bit of floppiness.  Turns out I didn't have any sort of interfacing or stabilizer on hand.  I really thought I had some heavy stabilizer for the bottom of the bag, but I didn't find any in my well-organized craft room.  Instead, I went with some wool felt.  It was a little heavier than just the fabric alone and does help the bag stand up a bit.

One last difference between my Lindie Bag and the tutorial...I kind of misinterpretted the handles.  I sewed them across the bag instead of along the same side.  So it pops open just a little when you carry it, especially if you carry it like this.  But, it gives the bag character, no?

This tutorial was great, Craft Apple is a genius.  The whole thing went together in about an hour or two this afternoon during naptime.  And, in a few short days, it could be yours.  Stay tuned for your chance to win the Lindie Bag this week on Win-It Wednesday.

Remember back when I wanted one of these:

 
because, I thought, how fun to have a Ladybug house.  At the time, Jamie wisely commented that ladybugs would also be quite useful in eating nasty garden pests.

Turns out, I could use a few ladybugs.  This weekend I noticed some unsightly lumps on my hibiscus buds, and upon further examination, also noticed ants.  According to my google search, that can really only mean one thing...

I have aphids.

This photo from Brisbane Insects reflects the state of my buds, sort of.  They weren't quite this bad, but they were getting close. Apparently the aphid problem can grow quite quickly.

I think I've cleared it up, though, for now.  A little soapy water in a strong sprayer dislodged most of the white round things (the aphids?) and killed most of the ants.  The helpful gardening sites out there suggest this approach will work, so we'll see. 

In the meantime, I'm thinking of ordering a couple thousand ladybugs, and a house of course.  But I just can't imagine having our lovely courtyard overrun with beetles. So I'm going to need to think about that a little more.

Lest you think I've become a gardening blog, I hope to have a few finished projects to share very soon.