Posh Clutch Bag

My friend Kandy Newton developed the pattern for this lovely clutch bag. She runs BQL (British Quilt List - now in its 10th year.) This past year, she gave us a bag pattern a month. You can see the results here.

I only got as far as August, which is this one, and I just needed a bit more hand stitching on it to clear it from my "to do before the end of the year" list. So, I did that today.

I think the challenge was very forward thinking on Kandy's part. At the beginning of the year, she told us about how many plastic bags go into landfill, etc. So we got on board making bags...many choosing to use up fabrics in their stash. During the year, the supermarkets began to change their thinking about producing so many bags for landfill, and began to either charge for bags or to proactively provide reusable bags. They even started to do fabric bags, as they realised even the "Bags for Life" weren't sturdy enough.

Fast forward to the end of the year and the concept of reusing bags and recycling in other ways has developed to be more of a way of life. And now with the financial crisis round the world, more people are looking for ways to be more conserving in their spending...but not only that to think more about what our throw away culture will be doing for our children and children's children.

So, well done Kandy! One reusable bag in the hand is worth several thousand in a landfill!

What are you doing to recycle/reuse? I'd love to read your comments. Just click the comment link under the post and type in your message. You will have to fill in a little form, but it is to beware of spammers and weirdos.