Create: Picking Up The Trash

I typically have a long wait every night for my vanpool ride.  The area of town where I work is mostly business, but for some reason, there is trash everywhere.  Not so much around my building, but on Wednesday I found a ripped open bag of buns sitting in the driveway across the street where I wait.  Seriously.  Half the buns were still in the bag, the rest were scattered over the pavement.  I picked it up and took it inside one of the offices and asked if they could throw it away.

I've picked up pieces here and there when I had space in my bag or happened to have an extra bag with me.  But I don't have room for all the slimy dirty trash littering the earth.  So I made myself a bag. :)  (My friend tells me I have enough bags... I don't believe her.)

I've had these place mats hanging around my house for years now.  I thought I would use them for making napkins or something like that, but they just sat in my stash.  I didn't want to ruin them!  Now that I could actually use place mats, I cut one of them up for my bag...  Maybe I do have too many bags.

I based my pattern on a paper lunch sack type of bag and added a nifty handle idea I saw on Daisy Janie.  I cut up an old file folder rescued from the work trash can as my template so I can make more. 

1 - Cut out two pieces of for the body of the bag.  Mine are just a little smaller than a file folder.  The white in the image above was a lining in my place mat. 

2 - Fold over and iron the top edge of each bag to hem it.  Sew to keep your opening from fraying.

3 - Put the fabric right sides together and sew along three edges. 

4 - Fold a corner so that the sewn lines sit on top of each other. (Sorry, no picture) This should make a triangle at each corner.  Sew perpendicular to your previous line about an inch away from the corner.  This will give you a triangle and a flat bottom.  Repeat with the other side.

5 - Turn the bag rightside out and iron creases where the triangles end.  You are making 'pleats' for the bag to follow when it stands up and folds.  You want it to look like a small paper lunch bag. Press your bag flat, fold in thirds the long way, iron, and roll up.

6 - Cut out a 3 inch wide strip for a handle.  It can be however long you want it to be long enough to go around your rolled up bag when folded in half.  Mine ended up being thirteen inches because that was the width of my place mat.

7 - Fold strip in half the long way with rightside in and sew down the strip.  Turn rightside out, iron, and sew on each side.

8 - Anchor your strip on the inside of your bag on the center third.  Sew over the strips to anchor them in place.

9 - Cut another strip of fabric, this time half of what your longer strip was (See the Daisy Janie tutorial for better details.  I just coasted by the seat of my pants).  Repeat step 7 and 8 but anchor on the other side.

10 - Roll up the bag again with the longer handle surrounding the bag and being tucked under the shorter one.  Tadaa!  You have a bag!

Write: Today We Are Warriors

Today we are warriors,
healers, advocates
for our Mother.
Today we make words
into action, showing
a community, a planet
love and honor.
Today we are warriors
though the rest of the year
may find us sleeping.

Inspire: Our Blue Boat Home

Sun, my sail and moon, my rudder

As I ply the starry sea

Leaning over the edge in wonder

Casting questions into the deep

Drifting here with my ship's companions

All we kindred pilgrim souls

Making our way by the lights of the heavens

In our beautiful blue boat home

 -- Peter Mayer

Friday is Earth Day!  That wonderful day started by hippies in an effort to make people more aware of how fragile our huge planet is.  On this one day, people can try to do something for the planet even if they do nothing else the rest of the year.  I’m not advocating that, but even a small change can add up to a huge change. 

My son’s old school had one of the greatest programs I’ve seen.  On Earth Day, or near it, they would all go walk out to a different park in the city and pick up trash.  They would pick it up on the way and then scour the park for more of it.  They would have bags and bags of trash when they were done.  I went with them last year and it made me smile to see kids being grossed out and upset with all the trash that was thrown away.  I hope some of them remember what they said and saw the next time they are in a position to litter.

The theme this year for Earth Day is A Billion Acts of Green.  I learned about the UU Ministry for the Earth this Sunday, and their theme for the year is Sacred Waters.  Both groups want to encourage people to make small changes in their lives to benefit the earth.  The Ministry for the Earth wants people to make a commitment to the earth for forty days in ways that will help our water ways. 

I was quite happy to note that many of the things on the list of what I could do to make a small action I am already doing.

What are you doing for the earth?

Create: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Crafts

I've discovered in this month of stash busting that 1) I suck crafting without a deadline, nothing is getting done, and 2) almost everything I have made has been stash because I'm always broke. :)  Here are a few of the things I've made recently.

Here is the haul I made for my poetry swap partner.  Yarn out of my stash for the sun and clouds.  Beads from stash for the rain drop necklace (I need to make one of those for myself).  Magnet and candy wrapper stash for the swallows and card.  Cardboard, white paper (saved from the trash at work from printer screw ups), and fancy paper from stash for the handbound journal. 

Here is what I was working on last night.  The little pouch is for my converter drive so I can share pictures with you guys!  Made from a pair of my son's old pants.  The flower is made of used envelopes from work.  The jars are a pickle and salsa jar, painted with modpodge and food coloring.  They are supposed to be candle holders.  The idea for the jars came recently from a post on my feeder, maybe from Craft?  I don't remember.

Have fun and remember your three R's!

Write: Fresh Earth

At some point, I am going to have to go back through my posts and rethink what the Write posts are supposed to be.  Should they be an exercise that you, dear readers, can do with me?  Should they be a place for me to randomly wander about with words?  Should they stick with the theme for the week?  Of course, I also need to start planning ahead and getting things done sooner than the day of. :)

This month we are mostly focusing on poetry and will continue that thread until next week.  Then we will decide where to go from there.  Maybe I will sit down with index cards and write out exercises that we could do.

Here is this mornings offering, based on the joy I felt yesterday from planting my garden.  I think the only thing that beats having fresh earth in your hands is the smell of black, fertile earth moist from the rain.  Mmmm.

Enjoy!

The bare earth,
tilled by a loving hand,
is loosened from winter's grasp
and turned into a yielding bed.
Embracing each young soul
it sings a lullaby of
questing roots and strong stems.
Each grain whispers,
calling visions of the
riches of the underworld,
promising gems and precious things
in the form of leaf and blossom.

Inspire: Earth Day

Earth day is right around the corner, folks.  For us in the US, April 22nd is a day to celebrate our planet and take steps to make sure She sticks around for many more generations to come.  Earth Day was founded in the 1970s as a way to promote environmentalism.

I am going to be celebrating Earth Day this year with my son's class.  We are going to be picking up trash and helping to beautify a park, I believe.  Normally Earth Day passes for me without any big fuss.  After all, I (mostly) practice reducing, recycling, and reusing.  I think most people have figured out the recycling part, but I believe more emphasis should land on the reducing and reusing R's.  It's great to recycle, but if you are still buying things with packaging or things that can be recycled, you are still using energy. 

It's not that difficult to find ways to reduce your consumption or to reuse items.  Rather than buying a new bottle of water every day, but a filter and a reusable water bottle.  Or buy a regular bag of chips and some Tupperware to make smaller portions instead of single serving bags.

Even just a small change can make a big difference.

For instance, I have been using Tupperware in my son's and my own lunches this year, but I've been buying him juice boxes.  I didn't want to fill his aluminum bottle every day because it would be one more thing he might forget and it won't fit in his lunch box.  Most Tupperware/other-brand drink containers that I have tried have all leaked.  But a month ago or so, a friend shared an article about Rubbermaid litter-less drink containers.  It had great reviews so I went out and bought a couple to try. 

My son loves them.  When I showed them to him and said that for less than his previous drinks, I could use these and buy a large thing of juice, he was all excited.  His words, without any prompting from me, were that now he wouldn't have to have as much trash.  I love my kid.

Here are some sources for Earth Day and things to inspire you to do your part:
Earth Day Network
Earth Day Wiki
April Stash Bust
Craft Leftovers

Happy Earth Week!