The earliest recollections I have are of my life in Buffalo, NY. I know my parents couldn't wait to get out of there, and I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for my mom, caring for two little ones by herself during the day with no car, not speaking English very well, no Chinese supermarkets, in the middle of winter blizzards and no school Snow Days. Not fun. But I have great memories of our house with a checkered tiled basement, attic bedroom, backyard with a climbing tree, pussy willows and a sun room.
Well, anyway, all this is to say that when Lynne asks for something for the people of Buffalo, I feel compelled to help in any way I can. For the last three (wow! You don't realize how time passes until you go back and look!) years my knitting guild and I have contributed mittens to her Hearts to Hands project, and this year her call was for drawstring bags for a women and children's shelter. I finally managed to find some yardage (I have a lot of fabric, but I guess I'm usually a half or one yard type of gal), and made these three bags in half an afternoon, using Lynne's simple tutorial.
The bags went off in the mail this morning, and my baby hats and the scarf I made for a local women's shelter were dropped off at my knitting guild to be distributed last week, and now I can concentrate on knitting, crocheting, sewing and embroidering for family and friends. I do so love this time of year. A tad overwhelming, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
The drawstring bags (of all different sizes) would be great for gift giving. I'm not going to buy any more wrapping paper from now on. Actually, I don't think I've purchased any for a few years now. I still have a few rolls left (Santa has to wrap stuff, I guess), but when those are done I'll just wrap with fabric or reusable bags. I might even make the recipients give them back to me before they leave the house, ha! I hadn't realized how big 18" x 24" was... Jessie could almost be stored inside one of those bags, don't you think?
He he. I bet they would like trying to get in one of those bags. I like your idea of asking for the bags back- HA!!
Posted by: regina | Monday, December 07, 2009 at 07:43 PM
Cute bags and your scarf is beautiful! My list of things I'd like to knit for people this Christmas is way too long. I'm glad I got a little done earlier in the year!
Posted by: Beth | Tuesday, December 08, 2009 at 05:27 AM
Buffalo is still a pretty great place to be. We are still waiting for a significant snow. Sledding here we come!
Posted by: Vicki | Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 10:40 AM
Thank you Michelle..your bags arrived and are already being used at Cornerstone! Bless you and your family this Christmas, all the way from cold and snowy Buffalo!
Posted by: Lynne | Monday, December 21, 2009 at 03:23 AM