Sewing for the planet

It's been a sunny Sunday here in North Lincolnshire, so I have divided my time between indoors and outdoors. A walk to visit a friend. Tidying up in the garden. Wash hair. Dyson all through downstairs and half way up the stairs, couldn't be bothered to do any more. Wash pots. Sewing. And made a start on the decluttering. I cleared two shelves, and that's as far as I got. 

I need to sort the fabric into piles, from heavy to light. Then what shall I do with it? Put it all back in neater piles? I need to get rid of it, I need to use it up. and get it out of the house. So, I have a plan. 

What is easy to make? Yep, shopping bags. I am going to make lots of shopping bags, well, maybe not lots, but quite a few. Keep going til I get fed up of doing the same old thing over and over again. Then I am going to give them away. I am going to take them with me when I go shopping, and give them to random people outside Tesco who haven't brought their own bag. I am going to ask them not to take a plastic bag and to keep their new bag in the car for future use. I am not going to sell them as I don't need the money, and our cat rescue has enough at the moment. It's not about making money, the fabric cost virtually nothing, it's about getting the message across, doing my bit for the planet. 

So, making the bags is part of the decluttering. I've picked these four pieces out for the next bags. They are quite heavy fabrics, a bit like upholstery fabric or thick curtain fabric.   

Here's two I made earlier. The dark one on the left is very heavy fabric, I thought I would have difficulty getting the needle to go through it. Although bulky it was fine.

I have some sad news for you. My poor rigger boots have finally given up the ghost. After many years of protecting my feet from the harsh terrain of quarries, the mountains of mud on building sites, and the many winters of unloading lorries in slushy conditions after a heavy snowfall. They are now kaput, defunct, and not fit for purpose. 

I remember when me and RB met. I was working at Rugby Cement, I had searched everywhere for a pair in my size, but no one stocked small sizes. I went to the stores in the cement works and told them of my dilemma. Aha, said the man behind the counter, you might be lucky, and he went round the back and came out with a size 5. I tried them on, just like Cinderella, and they fit. Someone had mistakenly ordered them and they had been languishing at the back of the stores for a long time. How much I asked. He couldn't give them to me because I wasn't employed by the cement works. You can have them for £5, he said. I handed my cash over, and I was the proud new owner of my very own rigger boots. Now I was one of the lads, YAY :o))

So dear RB, you have served me well. You have been my friend for a long time and I am sad to see you go :o(( 

Before I go, I have read your comment on yesterday's post, Anon 'N', and will give it some thought for a future post. I see several people have replied, thank you everyone for your useful comments.
Catch you tomorrow. Toodle pip