Save The Bag!

Dear friends of Bags4Darfur;

~

I am entirely unsure what ransom amount is required to release me and put me in my rightful place in front of my beloved Bernina. The universe is a difficult captor to negotiate with. As it has conspired against me in the forms of soccer, gardening, work, yard sales, and sudden, torrential downpours that leak into my basement... I cast sidelong, wistful gazes at the stacks of wonderment that I call fabric. And I hope.

~

Meanwhile, faithful supporters cajole me with offerings of unfinished quilts, vintage thrift shop cast-offs, and church rummage sale plunder. Mop in hand, I whine my way past the delicacies and back down to my wrongful place in the dank, be-puddled cellar.

~

(insert dramatic sigh here)

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Who will save me? What can be done to redeem this thwarted lover of fibers and place her, scissors in hand, at the fount of the ancient poly/cotton blend?

Meanwhile, it appears that I may have dropped off the face of the earth, and relegated my love for all things sewn to the past. Not so. I mourn it deeply, and wait impatiently. There is NO immediate plan to cease bag making. I still have roughly a zillion plans for bag creations. I have promises to keep. I have addictions to fuel. I have supplies in store to take me roughly into my 70's.

~

Marketing and time remain my biggest challenges. How do I continue to put out a good product, support women in the Sudan, and keep interest alive? Meanwhile spinning a small mountain of other plates? How do I generate new interest so that funds raised somewhat matches my time invested?

~

Thanks to response to my "help" bulletin, I am considering a facebook option, that might be more user friendly. Instead of readers having to check back daily to see if there is any bag action, a notice would be posted to any fan's wall (or something like that. I may have all the terminology wrong here).

~

Right now I am working on a short list of "favours". People who appealed to my soft side and made me do what I pretend not to do- customs.

~

So, I'm not sure whether to apologize or just wave and smile. I found last spring/summer to be tremendously challenging as well, in terms of keeping up the bag production. Last year I chose to take a break for a number of months, but I felt as though I had lost a lot of people that way.

~

This project is dear to my heart. It pulls together so much of what I believe in- God of love, using old and discarded and making it wonderful, and most of all- supporting our sisters/mothers/daughters/fellow human beings in Sudan who have pretty much no choices in their lives. And plenty of trauma. (Just reading "A Thousand Sisters" by Lisa Shannon**)

~

I have no desire to stop.

Just waiting on that ransom, is all.

~

~

**I had a great life—a successful business, a fiancé, a home, and security. But in the wake of my Dad’s death, and soon-to-be thirty years old, I found myself depressed, camped out in my living room watching Oprah. It was there that I learned about Congo, widely called the worst place on earth to be a woman. Awakened to the atrocities –millions dead, women being raped and tortured, children starving and dying in shocking numbers –I had to do something.

Drowning Over Here

And guess what? This bag isn't even for sale.

This is for all you people who like to see a bag when you click over to Bags4. Not just hear a big, wild wind whipping over empty pages.

Turns out that I just can't keep my head above water right now, what with LIFE and all. Spring basketball ends this week. Soccer rages on.

Don't tell anyone, but I'm not even dragging Sam to soccer tonight. There are gale force winds out there and I'm a bad mother that way.

Actually, I'm a bag.

henna

My friend Ruth passed along a great tunic shirt detailed in machine embroidery.
Kind of reminds me of a henna for a traditional Indian wedding celebration.


Unusual buttons dance along its border.

One of my Monday to Friday cherubs donated their hand for this project.

Ok. Well, the tracing of their hand.

Don't get all technical on me.

The mom of another babe donated the excess of her living room drapes to create the body of the bag, and some pretty tie-dye looking fabric forms the back and the pocket.

Brian sacrificed two of his his striped shirts so that you could have a handle to sling over your shoulder. How generous was that? I think his grade six students will get quite a kick out of a bare-backed teacher. What a guy.

Here she is turned inside out.

Henna measures approx 10" wide and 11" deep.

Start price is $25- Canadian.

*

It's been two years since the article in the Winnipeg Free Press, and its resulting boon to this project. Over eighteen thousand dollars have been raised. That's thanks to a lot of people.

I feel in my bones that its time for a shift; a new way to "do this thing". I have an idea or two percolating in my grey matter, but I wondered-- does anyone have any insights? Ideas? Suggestions? I'd like to hear them. Leave me a comment, or if you'd rather- send me an e-mail at re-joyce@mts.net.

For today- another auction.

we'll start it off at $25- Cdn. Bids will close at 9:30 pm, cst.

Happy Friday, everyone.

Tied Up

Guess what season it is? Grab and go season, that's what!

Or, for persons similarily addicted to rooting through other people's trash; ie, the ubiquitous Yard Sale Season. I like having a little wallet bag like this so that my quarters, loonies, and fivers are conveniently slung over my shoulder at all times.

I've also heard tell that they are great for ipods, puffers, and cell phones.

In any case, taking a set of cast-off drapes, a few outdated neckties, and some random scraps-- voila! a bag.

It also gave me the perfect oppurtunity to use a great purple button that looks like some sort of bumble berry. I sewed a button hole into the necktie flap so that you can fasten the bag closed.

(inside out) When my eldest daughter was a toddler she said "side-be-down". I always liked the sounds of that, so didn't actually correct her. Turns out that at nearly sixteen, she says it "right proper" now. yawn. How boring.

5.5" across and 7" down.

Tied Up will remain available until tomorrow, May 19, 2010 at 9:30 pm, cst.

Bids begin at a minimum $20.00 Canadian dollars.

Garden Bags?

As much as I'm sure you'd all be fascinated by pictures of my garden.....
It is truly lacking in bag- iness.

And soooo not for sale.

How nice would it be if I could bury some scraps in the garden in spring, and then harvest a bumper crop of Darfur bags in July and August?!

Meanwhile, please be patient with me. I promise to have something. Soon. Like tomorrow soon. And I can say that because soccer in town-far-away just got cancelled for tonight. That means no ramdom long car trips to watch teens run and kick. Not tonight anyway. Tomorrow on the other hand, will be quiet a fascinating day- Brian and I need to be in five places simultaneously. That'll be fun to watch...

Maybe I'll just bury myself in fabric and avoid the whole thing.

Coming Soon to a Blogspot Near You...

Crazy Carpet- bid here.

Sold to Janice for a whopping $25.00!



Poppy-ular; Bid here.

Sold to Valerie Ruth for $50.00!



Poppets and Wheaties; bid here.

Sold to Anna for $32.00!

Crazy Carpet

I used to be really committed to travelling with my stuff packed in rough totes and plastic grocery bags.


Til one day Rosa gave me a sneer and asked how come the bag lady ferried herself in such mean estate?

The woman had a point.

So, I took me one of them weird wall/carpet thinga-ma-bobbies and turned it into a big old travellin' carpet bag.
We've travelled a few times to Rosa's country estate, and I've never much missed my rough totes and grocery bags.

So maybe you'd like a wall/carpet bag-a-ma-bobbie.

Just promise me you won't try sledding down a river embankment on it next winter, okay?

Four pockets on the inside to sort your coloureds from your whites.

That sort of thing.

This bag measures approximately 20" across, and 15.5" deep.

There's a velcro closure so you can maintain some sense of privacy in this crazy mixed up invasive old globe we like to call the world. (Not that it'll stop those carpet cleaners from phoning you right at dinner time....)

Start those bids at $25- Cdn.

Leave your bids and comments and colourless language right there in the comment box.

There.

Right there.

That's right. It's not so hard.

Auction concludes on thursday, May 13, 2010 at 9:30 pm, cst.

Poppets and Wheaties

Take your claws out, ladies.


A tote bag made from the remaining vestiges of the poppy and wheat tablecloth.

Seriously. I can't make more of these.

It is lovely. So delicate.

I turned it all inside out so that you get a good look at her pockets.

The tote is about 17" wide and 14" deep.

We martyrs here in Manitoba had summer already. It was about two weeks ago, and I spent mine in the back yard with my friend Karla, the neighbourhood children, and a picnic lunch.

It was wonderful.

Should summer ever come this way again, I imagine how perfect this tote would look slung over your shoulder as you make your way to picnics and parks.

All cynicism aside, please start your bids at $25- Cdn. Poppets and Wheaties (I had to get kind of creative on a name since last week's feeding, lying, cheating frenzy was called "Poppies and Wheat") will remain on the auction block until 9:30 pm, cst on thursday, May 13, 2010.

Poppy-ular

Well, last week's poppies made upright church ladies resort to hard hearted lying.
Big, bad, deception.

But the truth always wins.

The girl with the curls- that sweet, lovely, and generous Fancy saved the day.

Now, one has to ask- is it the good and generous in me who pulled the remains of that tablecloth out of the archives and set straight to work? Or is it the blood-thirsting spectator in me?

The body of the bag is fashioned from a burnt orange corduroy skirt that had seen better days. (not mine). Two large pockets beneath the flap wait for your giant bags of money.

Or keys.

Or pies.

And then there's all the fun in the shoulder strap. Did you know that a shoulder strap is an experience in artistry all on its own? Just a grand place to play with colour and texture.

Here's the poppy bag inside out. A pair of cargo shorts make two pockets on the one side.

The bottom of my shirt make another two on the other side.

For all you women looking for diaper bags, laptop bags, school bags, or just a big bag-- here's to you- Poppy-ular measures 16 inches wide, 14 inches deep. She's big.

Please begin your bids at $25- Canadian. This auction will last until Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 9:30 pm, cst. (if I forgot anything, leave me a comment. What the heck. Just leave me a comment anyway).