I decided to celebrate the coming of summer by making a market bag to take with me to the farmer's market. I used a crochet pattern from Lion Brand Yarns; however, I just learned to crochet, so I went "off pattern" unintentionally, and sort of figured it out as I went along. The result is exactly what I wanted. Big, roomy and colorful. Can't wait to get to the Green City Market and try it out. Their pattern suggested recycled cotton yarn, which they don't sell in my area and I didn't feel like ordering it and waiting around for it to arrive by mail. So, I went with Lion Cotton-Ease, which is a cotton/acrylic blend. I know--you cringe at the thought of acrylic-- but it will last longer and wash with less shrinkage than 100% cotton.

I've also made a grocery bag from pink cotton ticking fabric that I get comments on every time I use it. It's a very simple, basic, boxy bag with very strong handles made of cotton strapping. I believe it took all of an hour and a half to make, and I've had it forever.

The environmental side:

We've all heard about the use of plastic bags and how damaging they are to the environment.

Just as a reminder, here are some stats, according to http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=4

"Introduced just over 25 years ago, the ugly truth about our plastic bag addiction is that society's consumption rate is now estimated at well over 500,000,000,000 (that's 500 billion) plastic bags annually, or almost 1 million per minute.

"According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. An estimated 12 million barrels of oil is required to make that many plastic bags.

[Kate's note: that is fully 20% of ALL plastic bags used in a year! And Americans are only 5% of the world's population.]

"Four out of five grocery bags in the US are now plastic.

"Plastic bags cause over 100,000 sea turtle and other marine animal deaths every year when animals mistake them for food."

[Kate's note: And don't forget how many of those bags wind up in the giant garbage patches in our oceans!]

There are some things, however, that plastic bags are good for. I will not hesitate to use a plastic bag to transport raw poultry or meat. I'll stick a dense plastic bag in my purse if I'm shopping on a rainy day.

3D Open-the-Box Graduation Card

Sure, it costs a little more to send, but my niece will love it! I made this on a whim last night for my niece, who is about to get her MBA from Ohio State University. Since I can't be there in person, I thought I'd send a little cheering section for her. This one's named Tamika. So, Andrea will open the box and there Tamika will be, cheering her on as she gets her degree. My niece will get a kick out of it.

Tamika was simple to make. I just drew her on cotton squares in a micron pen, cut her out and then colored her in using Crayola fabric markers. I ironed her for four minutes, front and back, to set the colors. Then I stitched her partway, stuffed her and stitched her the rest of the way. Using two-sided tape, I stuck her in the box with some felt flowers I cut out free form, put a greeting on the cover side of the box and shipped her off via UPS. It was that easy. The whole creation process took about 45 minutes. Going to the drugstore to pick out a card, actually picking out the card, getting back in the car and driving home would have taken half an hour. So, for an extra 15 minutes, my niece gets something goofy made by her Aunt Kate, and I had the fun of making it!