Nearing the end of the project

It is hard to believe that I have only three months to go of this Bag of the Month project. I have so many ideas and materials still waiting to be made into bags to give away! I finally tried out a pattern for a bag made from two quilted place mats. I had bought the place mats online: 4 pairs, each pair a different color, and very tightly quilted. They are made in Morocco and promised to make lovely bags. I made the first one with the dark blue place mats, using my own blue and black floral print for two outer pockets and lining, and using black cotton webbing for the handles. It came out very nice (Photo to come in my next post). I have plans to make three more bags with the remaining 3 pairs of different colored place mats. I am thinking of giving them to Rebecca to sell at her bookstore (In Other Words) to raise money since they are always in the red. I wonder if anyone would buy these quilted totes. I'll see what Rebecca says when she comes to visit next month. Then there is November and December and I don't have any ideas for projects to give away. Plus, I have the two farmers' market bags from September still sitting here after I rescued them from the flooded silent auction.

a big disappointment

I went to the neighborhood festival on Saturday, eager to see the two farmers market bags on display, brimming wit goodies.
It had begun to rain so I went to the park building, assuming the silent auction was indoors. It was not. I was very surprised to see a big set of tables outside on the sports filed labeled Silent Auction. And everything on them was getting wet!
I located my two, sopping wet and bedraggled bags. Luckily the cookbooks had been removed, but there was not mention that anyone bidding on the wet bag would also get a lovely cookbook to go with it, as well as the honey, pumpkin and squash, all dripping with rain.
I felt so badly to see my little creations suffering so. I cam home and told Michael, bursting into tears as I related the sad story. He gallantly returned to the park and rescued by bags and located the two cookbooks (they were damp as they had not been removed from the bags until after it had begun to rain). I wiped then dry and put the bags on my laundry rack.
So now I have two farmers market bags to donate somewhere else. Any suggestions?
Please let me know!

My friend Carol

The two September Farmers Market bags I just finished are dedicated to my friend of 33 years. I met Carol before I even moved to Minneapolis to begin graduate school. Back in those early years in the Twin Cities she was one of my first and most constant friends. I remember many evenings at her cheerful and colorful home eating homemade lasagna, bread, and cookies.

When I was pregnant with my twins, Carol loaned me all her hand me down baby clothes and paraphernalia since we had no money to buy baby things. She used to visit me often when I was home with the babies, offering friendship, support, and encouragement as I struggled to deal with parenting two difficult babies.

Later in life after admiring Carol's beautiful quilts for years, I was inspired to learn quilting. Carol has been a great teacher and mentor in this area ever since.

Carol is a gifted and creative quilter who is known for the brightly colored fabrics she uses and her gorgeous, one of a kind quilts. She has long been making house quilts such as this one which won a prize at the annual Minnesota Quilt show a few years ago. Whenever I see brightly colored fabrics I thick of Carol, and even have a big plastic bin of fabrics in my quilt studio labeled "Carol Colors."

Carol has a big heart and an incredible capacity to provide care and comfort to people through her friendship and endless supply of homemade chocolate chip cookies. Even when dealing with family and health challenges in her life, she remembers my birthday and anniversary with a beautiful hand made card and a plate of her famous and freshly made cookies.

When my husband andI were looking for a place to live and start a family, Carol suggested the Linden Hills/Fulton neighborhood that we now live in. She has sent her sons to the local primary school and High school and has taught and been involved in Southwest community education for many years. Therefore, it seems fitting to dedicate these bags to her, and I hope they raise some funds for our shared neighborhood, even if they are not made in Carol colors!

Two September bags

Here are the two farmers market bags for September. I am dedicating these to my good friend Carol (more about her to come). She lives in the neighborhood and these bags will be auctioned off at our neighborhood fall festival fund raiser.

These bags went together quickly. I had bought the fabrics earlier in the summer. Both have vegetable prints. They are lightweight and roomy and should be useful when buying produce at the farmers market. I went to the Mill City Market yesterday to buy things to fill the bags. For each bag I am using the things shown above: a nice organic pie pumpkin, an organic delicata squash, a jar of single source honey from a local farm, and a copy of one of my favorite cookbooks: Local Flavors by Deborah Madison. I have made many of the recipes in this book and they are fantastic. A great way to cook local fall vegetables.

Time to sew again

I can't believe September is here and I need to get going on the September bag. I have agreed (volunteered) to make TWO bags, again farmers market bags, for my neighborhood fall festival and fundraiser. I am going to make them quickly, and keep them light and functional, like the August bag. I have two cute fabrics to use, one for each bag. They should go quickly. Tomorrow I plan to go to my local farmers market to buy some things to put inside them: honey, maple syrup, wild rice, etc.

It feels like ages since I have used the sewing machine. I had to evacuate my quilt studio to have it painted (a lovely golden yellow) and now it is all reassembled and nicely organized. It looks too neat and tidy for me to start making messes again. I think I'll cut out the fabrics tonight and then start sewing this weekend, after I get bobbins wound and threads chosen and all that good stuff. I have been listening to great music on pandora.com while I sew. You create your own radio by selecting the artists you like. It is so great because you hear all your favorite musicians and you also hear others that you didn't know. Most of these I really like. But if you don't like a song being played, you can give it a thumbs down and it is stopped and a new one starts. Better than radio and even better than i-pod shuffle!

Right now I have created four stations and the one I play the most is a mix of Garbage, Ani d'Franco, Dar Williams, and the Cranberries. It also plays Edie Brickell, Alanis Moriseete and others that I was not familiar with but enjoy, and now they serenade me as I work in my quilt studio (where my computer is also housed). I think I will also set up an Irish music station to remind me of the wonderful time I spent in Ireland last month!
OK, now to cut out fabrics and get started.