Sewing Room Sunday: Using Up My Seersucker Stash

Before I became a quilter, I sewed a lot of clothes- mostly dresses for my daughter when she was small. I stocked up on more cute seersucker fabric than one little girl could possibly wear. Now, as a teenager, she's not going to wear any seersucker dress that I make, and I'm not really that hot on sewing clothes anymore anyway. So, what to do with the seersucker stash?

It all started when Allison showed up for our usual Thursday night sewing date with some cute fabric and a free pattern she'd picked up at Jo-Ann Fabric for a Market Tote. I'm not sure that pattern is still available, but here are some links to loads of other free ones:

50+ Reusable Grocery Bags You Can Make

209 Free Tote Bag Patterns

PursePatterns.com (all free)

10 Free Tote Bag Patterns and Tutorials

So last night, I got to thinking about making my own market totes. I paired four of my seersucker prints with a large piece of  yellow and white cotton floral, which turned into pieces and parts for not one, but seven, lined market bags! I didn't have quite enough yellow for the linings, so I dug up another piece of pink seersucker for the lining and handles to go with the orange/pink print. I think this'll use up about 10 yards of stash fabric! 

Since my serger is grossly under-used, I can't wait to whip up these little bags. I'm not sure I'll be entirely thrilled with trying to get my "friendly Walmart associate" (NOT!) to load my groceries into these, or even if I would remember to take them with me, or if I even care that much about the plastic bags piling up in the landfill. Actually, I do... we donate ours to Micah's Backpack, an organization that sends easy-to-prepare food home with school kids each weekend. Anyway, if I decide not to use them, I'm sure someone else will love them, and the girly seersucker prints will be OUT of my sewing cottage! WIN-WIN either way!

By the way, I've noticed that blogging has made me comfortable with incomplete sentences (since it's supposed to be conversational), but to be honest, it's scaring me a little!

This has been a fabulous sewing week for me. In addition helping Allison with her market tote, I worked with another friend, Glenda, all day Thursday on a quilt for her expected grand-daughter. We had so much fun we forgot to have lunch! She has quilted a little before, but it's been a long time. So long ago, in fact, that she had never used a rotary cutter! I had so much fun acquainting her with our "new" techniques. She was so thrilled that she didn't have to trace templates and cut them out with scissors. We've come a long way, baby! I'll share Glenda's quilt with you when it's finished.