Christmas Gifting

December is upon us. I have 2 weeks to be ready for a road trip to celebrate Christmas with our family. So most of the shopping is done and a few projects remain to be completed, along with the packing.

If you are looking for a unique Christmas gift for a lady in your life, check out these purses and totes that I have crocheted and have ready to become a lovely Christmas gift.

 B2B : : Green mint tote with double straps and interior pocket

B2B : : Shades of Gray handbag with interior pocket

B2B : : Ombre sling strap purse with interior pocket

B2B : : Sunset sling strap purse with interior pocket

B2B : : Confetti sling strap purse

B2B : : Carnival double strap tote with interior pocket

B2B : : Cool Mint Handbag with interior pocket

Contact me for size / pricing /shipping

email Bags2Bags.repurse (at) gmail (dot) com

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Apples

Last year we had such an abundance of apricots, plums, pears  and apples.  With this fruit  I made – jam, syrup, fruit leather, dried apricots, dried apples, applesauce, a variety of desserts and canned dozens of jars of each of them. All but a few jars of applesauce were eaten through the winter.

This summer is quite different. Our apricot crop amounted to 3 dozen apricots. They were good, but gone so quickly. The few plums ripened while we were out of town, so they too are gone. The pear tree supplied us with 4 pears to savor. Our apple harvest is also minimal. We have less than I gave away to one person last year. But I do have enough to have a dozen jars of applesauce canned for the winter, have enjoyed fresh apples, some baked desserts, and still have a few in the refrigerator for an apple salad, pie or crisp.

All School Reunion

My hometown in northern MN is small and my graduating class was one of the larger ones—there were 30 of us!  Occasionally the town puts together an all school reunion. The last one I attended was great—some people were there who had graduated as long ago as the 1930’s. Many of my extended family went to school there too, so it was fun to see family and friends  of many generations.

Here is my favorite picture from the reunion.

That’s me with the red and white tote, my second cousin Eilie with the yellow tote, and my friend Madeline with the white and black handbag—all Bags2Bags creations.

After the evening program, we stopped at Eilie’s parents home. Mary Rose told me how she really liked the tote I had used during the day. It was the first time I used it, so, as it so often happens, I gifted it to her and left with my things in a paper bag.

Here we are with her tote and B2B snowman I gave her previously.

Yellow tote finds a home

My husband and I volunteer with the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief ministry. Yellow is our uniform color. I do much of the paperwork for our group and decided to make myself a yellow tote to use when volunteering. I worked on the tote while traveling and it was completed when we returned home, but I found it wasn’t large enough for what I needed. So it ended up in my inventory of completed bags and I wondered if I’d ever find anyone who would want such a bold yellow tote.

On a trip to MN, I brought along several completed purses and totes I had on hand. My family and I were hosted by my cousin Eilie for a few days. Her home is near the nursing home my dad was in, she works there, and she had graciously opened her home for us to stay many times while we visited my dad.

For work, Eilie often wears a very bright yellow pair of Croc-style shoes. She had noticed that many residents feared stepping over a threshold to a different type of flooring, thinking there was a step. She found she could calm their fears by standing in the threshold with one foot on each side. The bright color of her shoes helped the residents easily see and identify that they were not stepping to a different level. Since discovering that, her yellow shoes have become part of her uniform.

In thanks for her loving hospitality I wanted to gift her with one of my Bags2Bags creations. I let her select from all the purses and totes I had with me. She didn’t hesitate over which bag to choose. “You know”, she said, “I think I’d like the yellow one to go with my yellow shoes.” I think God’s hand was in making it for her. The yellow tote was the obvious choice! When Eilie selected it and shared her story, I was as excited about it as she was. That yellow tote now travels to Villa Vista with Eilie.

How fun that she chose something that would catch the attention of the nursing home residents. Now her shoes and her tote bag can be quite the conversation pieces at the nursing home.

Bags2Bags for me!

It’s not very often that I make a Bags2Bags purse for myself. Way back in March I decided I could use a new small handbag, so I started crocheting with black and white plarn. It took a while to finish because I ran out of white plastic bags with black print along the way, and, well, life happens. It is finally finished and it is so fun to have a new plarn bag.

Without further ado, here is the Black&White purse I made for ME!