Bags Today

I had planned to blog yesterday after working two days of paid work. Unfortunately our eldest DD and her fiance came down with a severe bout of food poisoning and were unable to do anything for themselves for a while so I went to look after them and clean up. Thankfully they are getting better today and will be fine. They attended a friend's BBQ which seemed to have been the cause of the trouble.
Anyway yesterday before the home-nursing I managed to quilt 4 quilts, 2 of which were cot panels and it was good to get back into the machine quilting.
Today was very productive too with the bindings being finished on two of the quilts and making two bags from donated blocks. The bags will be needed when giving quilts to the homeless and they are fairly easy to make. I don't use a pattern and just make them up according to what bits and pieces I have on hand. I also made a fabric outer pocket for a bag that DH was given at an agricultural exhibit and I used the pocket to cover the advertising slogan. It's an easy way to get some good bags made quickly and another way to recycle. It's one of my pet peeves that displaced or homeless people usually only have plastic bags to carry their meager belongings and I find it very demeaning so I like to give out tote bags when I can. I remember reading about one elderly man who survived Hurricane Katrina and all he wanted was a cloth tote bag to carry his clothes in and that has stayed with me.

Those lovely people who regularly follow my blogs will realize that my photos are never works of art but are done quickly to show what I've finished before I get back to the machine. I know I should do better but it would cut into my quilting time so I doubt that they will improve much. I pin an old pale sheet to a hanger and pin the quilts to them which doesn't show them to their best advantage but DH was watching the cricket and I didn't want to disturb him.
We've just eaten our evening meal and cleaned up so I think I should be able to get a bit more done on putting a QAYG quilt together. With all the floods in NSW and Qld, I'm expecting that there will be many people who will be able to use a quilt or three so I'd better get some more done. Photos of the latest quilts I've finished are on my other blog at http://ozcomfortquilts.blogspot.com

More to come, Jan Mac