Bag Lady

Our daughter is coming to visit this week!  We are very excited.  She asked me if I could make her a holder for plastic grocery bags and I was only too happy to oblige.  I had made my own years ago, and it is purely purposeful, not pretty. (Sorry, but at times I really enjoy alliteration).  Instead of duplicating it, I went off hunting for some other ideas.  I found this idea page featuring 20 ways to make a bag holder.  I went with this one because I liked the open top.  I did look at the one by Moda Bakeshop, but I had yardage to use, not charm squares, but I'm going to keep it in mind, because as I mentioned, mine is merely mundane...

Our daughter is a cake decorator in a bakery and since cupcakes are really popular right now, not to mention cute and tasty, AND that she is decorating her kitchen with a cupcake theme, I decided to go with cupcake fabric.  I also had some scrap ric rac, so I used that to embellish as well.  Here is the result:

The only thing is this baby is huge!  It is going to hold tons of bags.  Here is a photo of the details at the top.

I really liked how the pattern used grommets on each side and a self made tie.  It is also open at the top to make it easier to stuff the bags inside.  The quilting makes it stiff enough to stay open. 

It was a fun project that took practically no time--maybe a hour.  I had to run to the store in the middle because (and I was shocked here) in all my room full of quilting/sewing stuff the only elastic I could come up with was really narrow or too fat.  Don't you hate when you think you are doing an easy project but something stymies you?  I do.  Of course, I spent another half hour looking through all my other drawers, even though I knew full well that my elastic was only in one place.  I just couldn't believe I didn't have any.  I actually thought I might have to make a trip for the grommets or else just sew the handle on the bag, but low and behold, while I was looking for elastic, I found grommets!

Let me tell you about the fabric shop.  Here in Hawaii we don't have a Joann's.  Or a Hancocks.  Or a Cloth World.  I suppose that the locals are glad that their fabric/craft options are still owned by locals, but you just cannot underestimate the value of a gigantic notions dept.  Our store has very few notions, especially thread, zippers, etc.  Now I only needed elastic, so I didn't have a problem, but one lady was looking for an 18" invisible black zipper and they were out.  I was trying to be helpful and suggest alternatives, but she was frustrated which made her downright hostile.  I felt bad for her because she was stuck.  Other than going across the island to another of the shops (there are 3) she was out of luck.    So, the next question is this:  Can a quilter/sewer go into a fabric shop and ONLY buy the hank of elastic that is required?  If you can, you have a lot more self-discipline than I do!  I found a really neat piece of ribbon that exactly matches a project I'm working on so I got some of that, and another hank of elastic, because I really couldn't believe I was down to so little, and one or two more things.

I got home again and before I finished the bag holder, I set the ribbon to soak in the sink, because it is some really rigid ribbon.  (Alliteration again.)

Aloha,
JoAnne