I'm Speechless. . .India bags. . .

I sent Vinod (from this post) of Less Plastic More Life some bags for him to distribute in India, here is his response. . .

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Dear Teresa,

Profuse apologies for the long silence!!!

But I've got some interesting pictures and an interesting story to make up for it.

As you know, plastic bags are the main cause of deaths of the sacred Indian cow. Statistics say that on an average, about 40 kilos of plastic can be found in the stomach of a stray cow. This plastic is a result of the cows feeding on food discarded in plastic bags.

It is ironical that the very hands that worship the cow, accept and discard plastic bags that go on to kill the cow.

I could have given your bags to anyone in the urban setting. Instead, I chose to give most of them to very people who've dedicated themselves to the worship of these cows and all other forms of life, for that matter. For these people, all life is sacred and inviolable. For them, killing of anything is sacrilege. Since the whole motive of promoting fabric over plastic is to reduce the killing of innocent animals, I thought these people deserved the bags the most. They're unlike anyone who've received your bags in the past. They're the sadhu babas-the holy men from the Himalayas. They've sent their blessings to you and your work.

Forgive the poor picture quality as they were taken using a mobile phone in the night.

I'll send you pictures of the other recipients soon.

Peace,
vinod











Gobble gobble!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I have been in the kitchen for 2 days. Our organic free range turkey from our CSA was yummy! Or so I'm told. As a vegetarian, the rest of the spread is perfect! I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful. . .

I am thankful for:

my family
my friends
my bagettes
my health
my home
my earth
my lack of anything burnt the past 2 days (fingers included)

teresa

Blogger Beach Cleanup


hi teresa --

here is a picture of my friend Sophie Fanelli who lives in Los Angeles with one of your bags at the Blogger Beach Cleanup on Oct. 24th!!

sorry that it took awhile for me to get them from her!
hope you are doing great

thanks again for your generosity!
Sara

Change Your Mind. . .


Ok, so we are coming upon the "season of stuff" as I like to call it. This is the season where we all cram more stuff into our already over loaded lives.

I challenge you to change your mind this season. Really, change the way you think. Watching THIS will help. Is all the stuff you are planning on buying really worth all the natural resources it takes to make it? Think twice or three times when buying. . .

1) How was the item you are buying produced? Is it sustainable, recyclable, earth friendly?

2) Does the person you are buying the item for really NEED it?

3) Is there an alternate item that would be more earth friendly, sustainable, locally produced, HANDMADE? Have you ever been on Etsy? Everything on the site is handmade. I have been thrilled by the items I have purchased from Etsy sellers.

4) How about giving gift certificates (even for services that YOU provide like mowing the lawn, babysitting, etc), consumables (either handmade or bought), or even giving something that you no longer use? I have a friend that gets hand me down toys in great shape from my kids and she wraps them up for her kids' birthdays/Christmas. The kids don't know the difference.

5) For the gifts you do give, please make the packaging/wrapping reusable or recyclable. How about wrapping presents in newspaper, dishtowels or fabric bags? Gift wrap bag pattern is HERE. Last year, Bagette April gave me local honey and homemade granola in reusable glass jars nestled in a beautiful green kitchen towel that is one of my favorites. I loved it. I love her too. :)

First though, let's give thanks on Thursday for all that we DO have already. Happy turkey day. Enjoy! Teresa

Brazil Bag!



Dear Teresa,
It took forever to send you pictures of my Greenbaglady Bag (and I’m sorry about it) but here they are.
Bag 5917 – Marina Carvalho - Leme – SP – Brazil

Hope all is well with you and your family.

Best wishes,
Marina Carvalho

Marina also did this project with kids and coffee bags!

This is Wonderful!


This is just a sample, go view all of the leaf illustrations HERE!

Have a great day--Teresa

Update from the Smoky Mountain Bag Lady


Teresa--

I just dropped off 12 quilts, 15 receiving blankets, 4 burp cloths and a package of diapers today at Gayle's house (our tireless president of the East TN chapter of NIN.) Attached is a photo of my cat Patch with the bags of goodies for NIN (Newborns in Need). Patch prefers to sit in my lap while I sew and reluctantly settles for a spot under my chair. I made the bags out of Gayle's old basement curtains, and NIN volunteers are using the Green Bag Lady pattern to make tote bags for the newborn take-home kits. The bags are a great use of the non-baby fabric that is donated to NIN!

Perfect timing on the fabric! (Green Bag Lady is sending Sara a box) Gayle said the blanket supply is running low because of the demand this time of year. I'll have plenty of off-the-road downtime during the holidays to sew. My goal is to sew my way out of my craft room :-)

All my best!

Sara

Smoky Mountain Bag Lady

This past Sunday. . .

I was dealing with a mountain of laundry last night so did not get to this post about last Sunday. . .

Bagettes Connie, me, Kathleen and Ann. . .

Hard at work. . .



Bagette April brought more birds to share. She is obsessed with making birds. I would tell her to quit, but they are SO adorable!

She is also making sachets. . .

Connie is obsessed with making Christmas wrapping bags. . . (pattern here)

What do my kids do while we all meet? Oh, they hang around. . .

Happy Tuesday! Teresa

Canada Bag!


Dear Bagette dad,
Sorry took so long for the picture, here u go; thx so much for sending the bag, it's very handy~
Rgds,
Daisy
Scarborough, Ontario
Canada

Congratulations Winners!

The winners of the Harmony Art fabric are:

Kate Treap

and

Danielle Limoge

Congrats! Bagette Dad will be contacting you soon!

Have a good week--Teresa

Happy Fall!


I hope you are having a great weekend! Teresa

Georgia Kid Bags!



Teresa and Bagette Dad -
Thanks so much for the two children's bags.  Attached are drawings they made of themselves with their new bags!  They took them to Lowe's to shop with Dad on Saturday and to music class on Monday.  Thanks for all you do.
E has bag #7374
A has bag #7375

Grace

Tennessee Bag!


Dear Teresa,

Thank you. You are such an inspiration. I love the bag, and the idea of using these fabric bags instead of plastic. I take this bag everywhere I go.. I also posted about Green Bag Lady on my website to spread the word....

Best regards,
Lynn Roberson
Lafayette, TN
Bag No: 6925

Harmony Art FREEBIE!



How would you like some super soft Harmony Art organic fabric? How about 3 yards? You can pick 3 yards of any of the above fabrics. You can have one of each color, 3 yards or one color, etc. The pink and aqua are solid, the light blue has small lines in it as pictured below.

How to win?

•LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS POST

•IN THE COMMENT TELL US WHAT YOU WILL DO WITH THIS GREAT FABRIC

•IN THE COMMENT LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN THIS FORMAT: name(at)something(dot)com it is important to spell out dot and at so you don't get spam, if you DO NOT leave an email address, we will not hunt you down to send you the freebie, thanks.

•DEADLINE FOR THE FREEBIE IS MIDNIGHT (CST) FRIDAY, NOVEMBER, 13, 2009.

•TWO LUCKY WINNERS WILL BE CHOSEN AT RANDOM FROM THE COMMENTS

I look forward to reading how you want to use this gorgeous fabric, good luck! Thanks Harmony, Green Bag Lady loves you! Teresa

P.S. I should mention that all the fabric is 110 inches wide! Yay!
P.P.S. Also, if you leave a comment and DON'T already have a Green Bag Lady bag, we will send you one!

nHabit Today!

We had a nice time this afternoon in beautiful weather at (n)habit. (n)habit is your environmental supply and design source in Nashville, striving to be a resource for anyone wanting to be more conscious about what they do and use in their lives. In addition to environmentally sensitive products for your home or business, they offer design, consulting, and contracting services

We gave out over 100 bags and enjoyed coffee from Bongo Java, food from tayst and a great crowd.



Bagette Dad and I gave out bags today.

Rachel and Edward of (n)habit were able to get us some fabric bags that plaster normally comes in. We turned these bags into Green Bag Lady bags by cutting off some of the top, sewing handles out of it and attaching them to the bags. They were a big hit!


Some happy bag toters. . .


Vic Lineweaver got a bag. . .

And this is the adorable Baby Henry from this post. He finally got his own bag at this event!

Have a great week! Thanks to all of you that joined us today. Teresa

Texas Kid Bag! (from the Kid Freebie!)


Teresa and Bagette Dad -

Elizabeth's bag arrived in the mail today; thank you so much! She has already filled it with her "treasures" and has been carrying it around the house all morning! She also asked when we can go to the library again, so that she can fill her bag with books!  Again, thank you for all that you do!

Amy and Elizabeth Grace
Plano, Texas

Pet Beds. . .

As many of you know from this post, we use the fabric that is too thick to make bags out of as pet beds. We then stuff the beds with all of our cutting and sewing scraps. We love that this makes the Green Bag Lady project virtually waste free. These are some photos of bagettes hard at work on pet beds!

Bagette Kathleen hand sews the opening with extra strong thread. . .


Finished beds waiting for a warm friend. . .

Some other photos. Bagette Dad getting fabric samples ready to sew by cutting off the labels and pulling the grommets out. He has been doing this for a couple of weeks as we got a lot of samples from an interior design school. . .

Bags that are marked, have a label ironed on and are now just ready for a wonderful bagette to sew the handles on. . .

Have a great week! Teresa

Nashville Bag!


Teresa,

Erik (20 months) wants to thank you for his new bag we got at Whole Foods today. Here's the picture of him I mentioned! He's 3 1/2 months. (Sitting in bag # 608)

Anna

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I first met Anna at the very first Green Bag Lady event that Bagette Alicia and I did at Ecology in Green Hills over a year ago. The bag in this picture is a very low number, 608. We are now over 7000. WOW! Teresa