Thanks, sister!

Finally... I was waiting for the perfect sunshiny day to take a photo of these. That day has arrived!

Here are the bags my sister made for my birthday present. Aren't they amazing? She is so talented. And a major perfectionist, which makes for very good handmade birthday presents!!!

I love love love love love them. I told her already that I now never have the problem of forgetting to tell the cashier that I don't need a bag. Any excuse to bust one of these out. Any excuse will do.

I'm not the only one who thinks they're amazing. I happened to stash them in another eco-bag before I left to meet the owners of Beanies Cafe (just in case I needed to buy some groceries while I was out) and show them some of my own handmade goodies. Karen picked one up out of the bag and said, "Ooh, this is cute". I opened it up (to more ooh's and ahh's) and told them about how my very talented sister made them. They said, "Those would definitely sell." Melissa? Wanna sell some bags in London? xo

{pay it forward} Heidi

I had so much fun making an eco-bag for Jenny that I decided to make one for Heidi, in the same fabric as Jenny's handbag (and Dhari's stacking rings, and Kate's birds, and my market stall money belt...).
I got word from Heidi that she got the bag, which she used on a picnic! So here it is:

I really like the idea of this bag going on a picnic in Texas. I'm really proud of it; the other side is made of the orange stripy fabric and I used French seams, for the first time ever. Her boyfriend, Joseph, even said it looked like I bought it. Yay! 

Heidi's an anti-plastic bag girl, so this was a good gift for her. She knows what murderous things plastic bags can do to sea-life. 

{pay it forward} Jenny

I was really excited to make a handbag for my friend Jenny. Unfortunately, it turned out much smaller than expected (but she insists that she loves it and has an outfit that will go nicely with it). I wasn't happy sending just that to her, so I made an ecobag out of the same fabric I used to line the handbag. I love this fabric. I found it in a crazy textiles shop in Jaipur called Malani and bought about 10 yards of it. I also ended up using it to line the crocheted bag I gave my sister for her birthday. I never got around to taking a picture of that one. Wah.