Russia Bags!

Hello!

Thank you for this fantastic Bag! I have recieved two bags: for me and for my mom. But I gave one of these bags to my sister because she really liked it.

So now we use both these bags alternately: me, my mom and my sister.

I think that in the nearest future I'll start to sew some more bags by means of your tutorial on site. And then Green Bags will displace Plastic Bags (at least in our family!).

Unfortunately I don't have photos of me or my mom using Bag. But this is my sister and she's really happy using this Bag!

Elena

Tutorial + Freebie = Travel Fun WINNERS!

Congratulations to the following lucky folks…

WINNER of the completed Happy Travels Wallet is:

    carriemak

WINNER of the pink Happy Travels Wallet kit is:

    Svetlana K, MOSCOW, RUSSIA

WINNER of the mint/peach Happy Travels Wallet kit is:

    Diane W, MD

WINNERS of the 9 vintage fabric shopping bags are:

    Olga S, VORONEZH, RUSSIA
    Evgeniya C, SVERDLOVSK, RUSSIA
    Samantha B, MA
    appleblossem4u
    cjantone
    craftmatesetc
    gaiana
    tkelley5
    Sara MJ, KY

Please look for an email from Bagette Dad. He will be asking for your mailing address so we can send you your prize. PLEASE CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER. We have issues with emails going to spam. Thanks and enjoy!

The emails will look like this:
Green Bag Lady, TravelFunFreebie_6_2012

Tutorial + Freebie = Travel Fun!

A few days away from vacation last summer, Little Girl was trying to figure out how to carry her spending money. Off to the sewing machine I ran! Not really, but I did make her a little "wallet bag." The requirements were simple, a strap long enough to go across her body (hands free), at least 2 pockets (one with a zipper) and an easy closure. Wallah! The Happy Travels Wallet is born! Hop on over the Sew Mama Sew! for the full tutorial. I hope you make one…

or two…

or three…

 or four…they are kind of addicting and super fun to make with vintage fabric…

So (sew) I thought I would have a fun freebie in conjunction with this tutorial unveiling. How about a vintage fabric kit to make your own Happy Travels Wallet? Here is the pink one…

And here is a vintage mint/peach kit too…

And, a completed (also vintage) Happy Travels Wallet made by yours truly WITH an adjustable strap…

AND, how about I throw NINE vintage fabric Green Bag Lady bags in the mix too?

That is 12 winners in all! Yippeeeee! 12 chances to win!

To enter:

•LEAVE A COMMENT, 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, you will not be entered in the freebie.

•In your comment tell us which of the following prizes you would like to win (we will do our best to honor requests and we don't want to send a kit to someone that does not sew!):

•pink vintage wallet kit

•mint/peach vintage wallet kit

•Completed Happy Travels Wallet

•vintage fabric Green Bag Lady bag

•12 lucky people will win fun things!

•DEADLINE FOR THIS FREEBIE IS 10pm(CST) Friday, June 29, 2012.(winners will be posted here & notified by email no later than June 30)

Don't forget to leave us your email! 

Many thanks to Sew Mama Sew! for posting the tutorial & all of you for entering! Best of luck--Teresa

International entries are welcome.

New to Green Bag Lady? Click HERE.
Like Green Bag Lady on Facebook HERE.
To make your own bags, super easy pattern HERE.

Pet Beds!

Teresa,

We love our new dog beds! Thank you! We use them in the sun and the shade. 

Best Wishes,

Molly Goldston, Meghan Flaherty and everyone here at Saving Grace (2 legs and 4)

Molly Goldston

Certified Dog Trainer

President, Saving Grace Animals for Adoption

www.savinggracenc.org

*******************************************************

Awww, we are more than happy to help! Thanks to Gaia for getting the beds to you! More to come in the future! Teresa

Argentina Bag!

Hi!!!
Thank you so much for the bag!! Here's a pic from today with the bag :)
Thanks again!!!

Mariana from Buenos Aires :)

Awesome Sculpture…

Photograph by Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters (via hungeree.com)

Photograph by Alexandre Macieira / Riotur

Photograph by Alexandre Macieira / Riotur

An art installation on Botafogo Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil shows three gigantic fishes made from discarded plastic bottles. The slogan on a sign beside the installation loosely translates to, “recycle your attitude”. The sculptures were created to raise awareness for the recently completed United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, dubbed Rio+20

At the Rio+20 Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, came together to try and shape how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to the future we want.

The seven priority areas reviewed were: Jobs, Energy, Cities, Food, Water, Oceans and Disasters. For more information and a complete summary of the conference visit the official site at: http://www.uncsd2012.org

From Twisted Sifter HERE.

Nashville Bags!

Hi, Teresa!

Here is Jerry and I and our just purchased at the West Nashville Farmers Market local produce (not pictured) in our lovely Green Bag Lady bags. It all fits together so well! We absolutely love our Les Indiennes bags to pieces; they are light, compact, organic, hand printed, super stylish and made with a conscious purpose.

While shopping at the market, I spotted your bags in use at the locally made salsa vendor’s booth (image attached). You can see this young vendor happily modeling one of his Green Bag Lady bags for me.

I also met a nice lady by the name of Corrine. I remembered her from the recent Green Bag Lady event at the West Nashville Farmers Market. We struck a conversation and I learned that she took her Green Bag Lady bag to Cuba and gifted her to someone there. Corrine told me that she thought that you wanted your bags to go far and wide, so that is what she did by taking it all the way to the Caribbean!

Thanks for everything, Teresa!

Hugs,

Gaia

Gaia Melkumova

Vice President of Operations

Holistic Pet Source

9 Simple Things…

Source

I've posted things like this before, but it is nice to be reminded how to help take care of Mother Earth…

1.     Eat wisely

2.     Be energy smart

3.     Get water wise

4.     Travel light

5.     Check your trash

6.     Join the movement

7.     Support and donate

8.     Buy smart

9.     Stop debating, start doing!

Read the entire article on Green Living HERE.

Teresa

Bobbins, bobbins…

As I have told you before, I'm not a big fan of winding bobbins. And, I go through A LOT of bobbins, especially if I am sewing handles on oodles of bags. I have many of them, but when they are all empty a deep sigh escapes from the corners of my soul. Too dramatic? I have been trying to figure out how I can wind bobbins from the BIG serger spools to help save on the cost of thread. Here is a comparison chart:

Serger spools from Joann's (Serge-Well brand, 3000 yards) $1.99

Coats & Clark from Joann's (large spools, 1200 yards) $5.99 see below

I tried many things to wind bobbins from serger spools:
plan A) holding the serger spool (not a good plan)
plan B) putting it on my other sewing machine that has a vertical spindle (see plan A)
plan C) buy one of those bobbin winders (it broke after 3 bobbins, returned it)

Then, lightening stuck, how about I leave the spool ON THE serger and just move my other machine closer. Kazzzammm! It worked! See…

poor quality iPhone photo

Can you see the thread stretching from one machine to the other? It was so exciting, I wound many bobbins in no time AND it was much cheaper! Yay!

Before pile:

poor quality iPhone photo

and after…

Look that happy bowl of pretty wound bobbins! Yes! Teresa

Idaho Bags!

Teresa,

We just received our bags in the mail, and they are SO cute! My kids are so excited! They can't wait to go grocery shopping with me and fill their bags. Thanks, again, so much. My kids' charter school does a Service Fair every spring, and my kids are now busily trying to figure out how they can make some of these bags for their project. We think it is such a great idea! You are brilliant!

Thank you,

Andrea Shuman

Betz White + Organic '12 WINNERS!

Congratulations to the following lucky folks…

WINNERS of the 11 Betz White fabric stacks are:

Ruth G, CO
Brooke C, SC
Christen B, MI
Lisa B, WI
Katie R, ID
Beth W, MA
Tanya B, VA
Kristin F, MT
Diane M, VA
Lalitha K, CA
Stephanie E, WI

WINNERS of the 22 Betz White fabric shopping bags are:

Emily T, LA
Lorena SP, CA
Patti V, MA
Natalia R, NIZHEGORODSKAYA, RUSSIA
Jo S, SOM, ENGLAND
Dmitriy C, LENINGRAD, RUSSIA
Ellen Y, MA
Jan Q, VIC, AUSTRALIA
Kelly O, PA
Laurie M, MA
Laurel R, VA

Nancy I, KS
Marie T, BC, CANADA
Tatyana E, LENINGRAD, RUSSIA
Angelika O, TYROL, AUSTRIA
Kristy S, TN
Barbara C, NY
Sharon K, AK
Gail PB, TX
Lynne S, CA
Stephanie S, OR
Jennifer W, PA

Please look for an email from Bagette Dad. He will be asking for your mailing address so we can send you your prize. PLEASE CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER. We have issues with emails going to spam. Thanks and enjoy!

The emails will look like this:
Green Bag Lady, BetzWhite_6_2012

THIS IS HOW YOU VOTED: 189 votes

34 ABZ-11896-238 GARDEN
31 ABZ-11896-71 LAGOON
17 ABZ-11898-238 GARDEN
10 ABZ-11901-71 LAGOON
10 ABZ-11902-238 GARDEN
 9 ABZ-11894-71 LAGOON
 9 ABZ-11897-238 GARDEN
 9 ABZ-11898-71 LAGOON
 8 ABZ-11897-71 LAGOON
 7 ABZ-11901-185 STEEL
 6 ABZ-11894-238 GARDEN
 6 ABZ-11895-238 GARDEN
 6 ABZ-11899-71 LAGOON
 6 ABZ-11900-4 BLUE
 5 ABZ-11900-71 LAGOON
 5 ABZ-11902-71 LAGOON
 4 ABZ-11901-8 ORANGE
 2 ABZ-11901-238 GARDEN
 2 ABZ-11901-43 LEAF
 1 ABZ-11895-71 LAGOON
 1 ABZ-11899-238 GARDEN
 1 ABZ-11901-16 BROWN

Betz White + Organic '12 Freebie!

I'm so excited about this Organic '12 freebie. First, Betz White is amazing! I was so excited when I first saw her Sewing Green book that features many repurposed and organic sewing projects. She even features Harmony in the book! Second, I adore this line of organic fabric she designed for Robert Kaufman. So pretty and the fabrics blend together beautifully.

Third, Robert Kaufman was kind enough to send us an entire YARD of all 22 of Betz's fabrics. Yay! SO, we have 22 bags to give away…

So pretty…

 And (drum roll please) 11 stacks of 4 fat quarters up for grabs…

Yes, that's right, 33 people will win this freebie! Thanks to the generosity of Betz and Robert Kaufman!

To enter:

•LEAVE A COMMENT, 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, you will not be entered in the freebie.

•In your comment tell us your favorite Betz White Stitch fabric. (mine is 11896-238 Garden)

•22 lucky people will win bags & 11 lucky people will win fabric stacks! 33 WINNERS!

•DEADLINE FOR THIS FREEBIE IS 10pm(CST) Tuesday, June 19, 2012.(winners will be posted here & notified by email no later than June 20)

Don't forget to leave us your email! 

Many thanks to Betz (her blog is great!) & everyone at Robert Kaufman for all their awesomeness! 

Best of luck--Teresa

International entries are welcome.

New to Green Bag Lady? Click HERE.
Like Green Bag Lady on Facebook HERE.
To make your own bags, super easy pattern HERE.

I love summer (part I)…

…because The Rouge painted my house!

And did a great job. Thanks guys! Teresa

Sewing as of late…

My sewing room is buzzing with projects this summer.

Party bags for my niece's birthday party this week. It is American Girl theme and she is staying with me for 3 weeks (yay!) while my sister is in France (bummer, huh?)…

Doll quilts for the above bags…

 A tutorial I'm working on…

A sneak preview of the HUGE freebie that goes up on MONDAY! Don't miss it!

What are you up to this summer? I hope lots of making too! Teresa

I. Can't. Stop.

One of you is going to have to come to my house and take all the string away from me. I can't seem to stop making macramé bracelets. What is wrong with me? I sent over 30 of them to camp with my daughters and give them to just about every kid I know and they keep reproducing anyway…

 I mean, who could resist this sparkly fun?

I also couldn't resist organizing my sewing pins the other day…

Clearly I have issues. Teresa

American Garbage…

So, hubby and I are watching episodes of Magnum P.I. on Netflix in the evenings. Yup, we are nerds. It's fun, the 80s clothes, the references to Hawaii Five-0 (the original one!), the beautiful scenery… What more do you want in a show. Besides, Tom Selleck…

So, we are watching an episode last night called "From Moscow to Maui, it is Season 2 Episode 4 in case you're in the mood. There is a scene were a Russian guy kicks over a garbage can and then he and Magnum clean it up. The Russian says, "American garbage, full of plastic." This was 1982 folks and it has certainly gotten worse. Sheesh! More plastic than ever. It doesn't go away. Think about it. Teresa

Belarus Bag!

Dear Teresa! Thank you so much for the bag, I really liked it, I use it daily. I wish you success in your noble cause! With best wishes, Maria. 


Maria--Soligorsk, BELARUS--Bag #19176
***********************************************
Maria won her bag from the recent Birch Fabric Organic '12 Freebie. Congrats Maria, glad you are enjoying it! Teresa

LesIndiennes + Organic '12 WINNERS!

Congratulations to the following lucky folks…

WINNERS of the Les Indiennes fabric stacks are:

Kris P, MO
Silke H, Eislingen, GERMANY
Natalia A, Moscow, RUSSIA
Bethany P, TN

WINNERS of the Les Indiennes fabric shopping bags are:

Gloria T, TN
CC L, Air Itam, MALAYSIA
Alla Y, Slutsk, BELARUS
Karina K, Vitebsk, BELARUS
Samantha G, Manly West, AUSTRALIA
Rhonda D, MO
Jo R, Exeter, ENGLAND
Svetlana K, Stupino, RUSSIA
Ruth G, CO
Gaia M, TN
antipkina, RUSSIA
Aspasia I, Thessaloniki, GREECE
Please look for an email from Bagette Dad. He will be asking for your mailing address so we can send you your prize. PLEASE CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER. We have issues with emails going to spam. Thanks and enjoy!

The emails will look like this:
Green Bag Lady, LesIndiennes_6_2012

Les Indiennes + Organic '12 Freebie!

I can't really say enough about Les Indiennes. Mary Mulcahy is a gem and the fabric is gorgeous, simply gorgeous. Les Indiennes first heard about Green Bag Lady on CNN and promptly offered to send fabric. Little did we know how much we would fall in love with it. All of us adore it. Take a look at their FLIP BOOK…go ahead, I'll wait…

And, the fabrics are hand block printed (scroll down) on organic cotton, even better! And, look at the loveliness we have for you…

12 shopping bags (some with pockets, can't waste the scraps!)…

 Pocket close up…

 And, 4 stacks of fabric, each stack contains about 2 square yards…

12 + 4 = 16 winners of Les Indiennes yumminess! To enter:

•LEAVE A COMMENT, 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, you will not be entered in the freebie.

•In your comment tell us your favorite Les Indiennes fabric. (mine is #52 Tilly)

•12 lucky people will win bags & 4 lucky people will win fabric stacks!

•DEADLINE FOR THE FREEBIE IS 10pm(CST) Tuesday, 12, 2012.(winners will be posted here & notified by email no later than June 13)

Don't forget to leave us your email! 

Many thanks to Mary & everyone at Les Indiennes for being such wonderful supporters over the years! Best of luck--Teresa

International entries are welcome.

New to Green Bag Lady? Click HERE.
Like Green Bag Lady on Facebook HERE.
To make your own bags, super easy pattern HERE.