Tomorrow is Earth Day. I remember the first Earth Day in 1972 and since that day I make myself aware of my impact on my surroundings. I want to live in a clean environment and eat healthy foods so I constantly think about recycling, reusing and repurposing. Saying that, I feel plastic is public enemy #1. You can hardly buy anything that doesn't include some sort of plastic. I was glad to see on the Earth Day website that this year they are focusing on reducing plastics.
As I've posted on previous posts, I am pretty adamant not to use plastic shopping bags. I have made several of my own totes for shopping and use them. If for some reason I do not have a tote I leave the store with no bag at all carrying my purchase in my arms. Traveling around our country and other countries they do not offer plastic shopping bags - they are banned. I hope in the near future that my state of Michigan and other states follow suit and ban plastic bags.
With Earth Day in mind and being committed to help reduce our impact on Earth I've challenged our quilting guild to make a difference by making totes and reduce their use of plastic. One of the quilters was given boxes of fabric samples from a furniture store that was going to the trash. She came up with patterns for making totes and journal covers. We will use these samples to make fashionable totes at our May meeting. Also, we will be able to make journal covers with the lighter weight fabric samples.
Getting ready for the May meeting I made a tote and journal cover as samples for the ladies.
The tote measures 16 1/2" across and 15" deep. I did box the bottom 12" by 5". Adding a button and a hair tie as the closure adds a little style. I came up with the idea to use plastic from store display signs for the bottom. My daughter-in-law works for a beverage company. They constantly use corrugated plastic for signage. When the promotion is done they throw the signs away. She said that she would instead give the signs to me to cut for the bottom of totes. I will be sharing these discards with all my quilting friends. Here is the plastic bottom insert for this tote. It cuts with scissors, although I did us a box knife with a ruler and rounded the corners with scissors. The rounded corners will help keep the plastic insert from wearing through the tote.
My journal cover fits a 9 3/4" by 7 1/2" composition tablet purchased from any store with a school supply section. At dollar stores you can even find them for $1. These tablets slide in and out of the cover very easily. I added a stringed page-marker with a little bee charm on the end and the button on the front works with a leather string as a closure.
I love this bee journal cover. I even found a way to fuse images printed from my copier to fabric. Look at this adorable bee inside the cover.
I adore little bees and am concerned with their plight. I use no chemicals in my gardens and plant many pollinating plants for my little busy bee friends. I even have a worm farm that I compost all the fruit and vegetables for my garden. Here is a photo I took of a bee covered in pollen from my zucchini blossom.
The quilting ladies were encouraged to make their tote and journal their own. Use embellishments or layouts their way. I can't wait to see what these talented ladies come up with.
I feel good about this positive impact. I'm repurposing upholstery fabric and plastic corrugated signs, keeping both from the landfills. I've made more shopping totes to avoid plastic bags. Making my journal with the bee theme will keep these little guys plight in mind. I even have encouraged my quilting friends to follow suit. Not only making an impact, but doing it with style.
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