Esther's Blog, "Eco-Practical Crafting"

Esther, my son's girlfriend, has been blogging since the beginning of the year.
Her focus is on needlework/crafting from an environmentalist perspective.
I am loving what she's doing!

Her first "unit"--or series of posts--was a phenomenal exploration of using plastic grocery bags in creative and useful new ways.

She gave me one of the totebags she made as a Christmas present, and I use it all the time when I'm traveling to carry my needlework projects. It has held up well.

She used a paper bag grocery bag for the "batting", and appliqued the outside plastic bag layer with the Macy's star and the stripes...there is an inner plastic layer, and all is machine quilted with clear thread. The top has cotton binding appliqued by hand.
Everyone who sees this bag loves it...she also experimented with spinning and weaving plastic bag strips...very cool. See it all here.

Here she is with one of her woven plastic totes.

She loves to crochet and has been figuring out different ways to chart her own designs for what she calls "Tapestry Crochet"projects.

Naturally I love this one, as it is of my son, Max.
She writes about different methods for creating patterns here.

Her blog itself has a very nice organized look to it...Max wrote her a little program (he's a software engineer) for grouping her posts that is so much more effective than the long list of labels on the side of my blog. I'm going to visit them in a few weeks and get some help to update my sidebar, for sure.
Esther is also going to lead me through the mysteries of PowerPoint...she was the one who created my "ants" title bar up top here, too. Thanks, Esther!

Her blog's next "unit" will be a series of posts on recycling socks--you know, the ones with the holes in the toes. This will start on April 2 (she posts on Thursdays), and I for one am looking forward to it...
So I invite you to check out her blog. Her environmental passion is compelling, and her talent is really rolling....