Grocery Bag - Initial Prototype

I have completed my first "green" grocery bag. It's actually blue, but you get the point. I followed a pattern from Chica and Jo's blog pretty much verbatim. It ended up using a little over 1 yard of fabric and is 21" x 14". You can see how it folds down to a small, compact size which can easily be tossed in my purse or van.

There aren't a lot of great fabric choices in ripstop nylon, but it is supposed to be durable and very washable. I'd like to try some out of my "cool" new fabric, but I don't know how cotton would hold up in the long run. I put 2 full gallons of milk in here, and it was easily carried. Total weight was 18 lbs, but I think it could hold even more.

Some improvements I'm considering: add a little hanger so it can be easily used at the grocery store packing stations (see this example); and Doug thinks I should make one with a flat bottom to hold more stuff. I don't know how easily it would fold, then, and it would be a lot more time intensive to sew...

The New Me

I have a new look! Or two, to be exact.

First, I got new glasses. I usually wear contacts, but these are pretty "hip" compared to my old ones so you may see me wearing them more often:

Before:	After:

Secondly, I finally got my hair cut! About 6 inches chopped. I was starting to feel like a hippie:

Before:	After:

A Baby is Born

One of the hummingbird eggs hatched! Hopefully the other egg will hatch soon, as well.

Here's a picture:


You can see the body with a few stragley feathers and the head is face down into the nest. I'll keep you posted! Maybe I'll catch a video when it is moving more.

Another Sewing Project

Here's the nursing shawl I made for my friend Kristi. I love this fabric! The whole thing took about 2 1/2 hours. I think I could make the next one in less time than that. This is something I'm thinking about making for some craft shows. They sell on etsy.com for about $25. What do you think?

An Egg-stra Special Suprise

This post is for you, mom. Guess what I found in our tree?




For you non-bird aficionados, it's a hummingbird nest. Our neighbors are super-excited! I am looking forward to peeking in on them from time to time and see how two little birds will fit in there.

From what I read online, the outer part of the nest is covered with moss and plant fibers and/or lichens. The inside is made of plant down and spider webs. Too cool!

One Done

Here's the first apron I created. I made my own pattern, based on the Jessie Steele designs, which I love. Somewhere I read a tip about drawing your pattern out on old wrapping paper. That worked great.

The pocket was the hardest part of this whole thing. Actually, it's the hardest thing I've sewn, yet! Getting the bias tape to not pucker around the curve of the pocket was nearly impossible. The best result I got was when I used my hot iron to "pre-shape" it as best as I could. Then getting the corners to look nice was also difficult.

When I thought it was finally finished, I tried it on for Doug and realized that I'd sewn the pocket closed!

Yummy Fabric

I've got it in my head to try and earn some $ and save some $ using my sewing machine. My grand idea is to make some nursing covers (like the one I used with E), aprons and eco-shopping bags. I can give some as gifts and then try to do a craft show or bazaar and see how they would sell.

I stumbled across this great quilting store nearby that just happened to have a 25% sale last week. They have an awesome selection of designer fabrics, and I had a blast picking out a few to start with.

We'll see how it goes!