Tag: tote bags

Bags Bags Bags

Okay so here is a tote bag (or two)…

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I am not sure where the past month or so has gone. I’ve definitely been overdoing it on making up for lost time on traveling and having visitors post 2020-pandemic and post full vaccination.

Keep meaning to start back on blogging; and catch up on reading my blogging buddies posts, but my continually putting it off until the next day has lead to my current situation of being super behind – ha!

image credit: Portland Tribune

I have lots of stories to share, things I’ve been making, and news even about a major life change (even if possibly temporary).

All those in future posts, but for now: how about some more tote bags?

A Little (Themed) Tote Bag Making Background

I continue to make tote bags using drop cloth canvas for the inner liner, handles and bottom (see my previous posts Ready for the Poker Tournament , More Adventures in Bag Making, and Tote, Tote, Tote Bags ).

Now that I can pretty much make these tote bags in my sleep, I’ve been enjoying making themed custom bags for people in my life such as the Wonder Woman (she loves WW) bag I made for my sister to tote around on her recent visit and our train ride to Glenwood Springs, CO (a future blog post); and the card playing bag I made for my partner John for his poker tournament (see post Ready for the Poker Tournament):

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Recently I sent my friend Wendy a floral bag I made. I cannot locate my photo but here is her photo from her Instagram post (@wendyquilter):

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Okay a couple more themed tote bags to share with you:

My friend Zachary is very eco-conscious and I made him a recycling/save the planet themed tote bag (one of my early drop cloth canvas tote bags):

My friend Michele loves a great craft beer like I do and I made her a craft beer themed tote bag:

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I have more themed/custom tote bags in queue for other long-time friends (Marla Jo and Torben: yours are coming!), I am just a little behind on making them right now…

The Irish Pub Tote Bag

Our friends Kathy and Matt came to visit us a couple months ago (Someday a blog post about their visit…I am so behind!) as one of their first “Watch-out-world-I-am-newly-vaccinated” vacation (smile). 

Kathy’s family is from Ireland and they’ve spent many a holiday/vacation in the Dublin and lots of time enjoying the wonderful pubs of Dublin and other areas of Ireland (where “everyone knows your name” or at least makes you feel like they do!). 

While they visited us, we went to a relatively authentic (at least for Colorado) Irish pub and enjoyed a pint (or two) of properly poured Guinness:

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Matt is a stickler for a properly poured pint of Guinness and he taught us all about the “no foam on the logo” standards!

I had already made his wife Kathy a tote bag before they visited:

I knew Matt needed his own tote bag, so when they returned home to California from their visit with us, I ordered some Irish Pub themed fabric from Spoonflower and made Matt an Irish Pub themed tote bag!

He was quite pleased!

Postscript

So if I follow your blog, you will see me catching up over the next couple of days (fingers crossed) as best I can (smile).

I’ve  got a backlog of ideas for future posts lots of news and updates; and I am committing myself to returning to regular blogging. Plus I am sure Mike the Miniature Schnauzer (Guest Blogger) and the tierneycreates Beastie (Beastie Adventures ) will be providing some updates on their adventures!

I’ll close out this post with an image of a sweet little pouch I picked up somewhere in my adventures that I use to hold my travel hand sewing – what is says it is so true!

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Bags Bags Bags

Tote, Tote, Tote Bags

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Yes there are a lot of very strange things going on in my country (U.S.) but I am only going to write about making tote bags.

Lots of tote bags…

It began with making a Christmas gift for one of my partner John’s son for Christmas who is very eco-conscious:

Next came a gift for our friends we golf with (in warmer weather) with some golf themed fabric I found in my stash:

Next came a craft beer themed tote bag for another friend for a New Years gift (more novelty fabric from my stash):

Most recently (couple days ago), I decided to experiment with more “artsy” fabric instead of novelty fabric and made this tote bag:

Here is one side of the tote bag:

And here is the other:

I’ve actually made a total of 6 tote bags since I began my tote bag making obsession in early December (2 of them are repeats of ones I shared above).

I am currently taking a break from tote bag making and moved on to other projects but I plan to make a fresh batch of tote bags in a couple weeks, this time for my (to be reopened sometime this winter I think) tierneycreates Etsy shop.

Each tote bag, except the first one I made, is lined with canvas drop cloth (yes the kind you use when painting to protect surfaces) from a home improvement store:

image credit: Home Depot

The canvas drop cloth (which I pre-wash before using), gives the tote bag a nice structure and is less expensive than buying canvas fabric from a fabric store.

Postscript

Here is Mike the Miniature Schnauzer riding through another home improvement store to pick up supplies for our next home remodeling project and some canvas drop cloth for more tote bags!

Addendum: I just realized from one of the comments, that Mike technically IN A TOTE BAG himself in the images above (smile)! He’s “tote-able”!