Quilted Bags I Made Through the Years

I haven't been able to sew the past few weeks, so I thought I'd take this chance to look back on the bags I've made through the years. 

I was in high school when my Mom taught me how to quilt. We started with piecing together squares. I got hooked because she said I could make bags out of it. One summer I made these three bags which I used as school bags.

It was two decades later when I started to quilt again. This was when I started to experiment and make different types of bags. All of these were hand sewn.

Made this for Audrey

2016

I also made bags when I started to collect Yoda figures.

2016

2017

Some I made as gifts.

For Carissa 

For Ate Joy

For Shirni

My "make a useful bag era" (still made by hand)

Huge tote, Google colors

Cat experiment 

For Mom

For me

My half-machine, half-handsewn transition era.

With embroidery 

Machine sewing era

For Ms. Myna

For Gab

For Anne

The bag that saved me

I used to just go into making bags blindly (haha), them I discovered books, magazines and YouTube videos. I still have a lot to learn. The last bag I made using Mom's unfinished project saved me from further injury. I'm still hopping around the house and hope I can get back to regular activities soon!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Achievement Unlocked: Tiny Bag Living

I'm horrendous at keeping things to a minimal, probably because I had a lot of room and closet space when I was growing up and things just kept piling up. That certainly extended to my daily bag which had everything I needed - my wallet, a set of meds and my inhaler, toiletries, powerbank, facial tissue and extra this, extra that. My cardio has been scolding me for many, many years about lugging around a huge bag. Carrying heavy stuff is bad for me, so since my surgery in 2013 I started to reduce what I bring around.

A few weeks back I read an article which basically said, "When you don't need it, don't buy it". For some strange reason it struck a chord in me and pushed me to try tiny bag living. I knew that I was bringing too much stuff with me and I don't really get to use everything in my bag everyday. So for a few days I did a survey of what I really used daily and here's a list of what I use -

some cash, a few coins
a piece or two of tissue paper
my MRT card
keys
phone
lip balm (I don't like using lipstick since it makes my chaps my lips)
Chinese balm (for headaches)
oil remover face paper
Ricola (one or two only a day)
iPod

I certainly didn't use the following -

comb (yeah I comb my hair just once a day!)
mirror
inhaler
alcogel (I wash my hands often since that's better actually)
powerbank
cables (I don't even know why I have cables in my bag)
big pack of tissue paper
pens in a pencil case
small notebook (I've been using Google Keep!)
and a gazillion other things

So from big heavy bag I drastically reduced it to this -

Honestly, I was really nervous about doing this since I was taught to always have everything you need on hand. I waited awhile before I blogged about this move because I wanted to do it for a few weeks first to prove to myself that I could do it and well a few of my friends were skeptical that I would survive (old habits do die hard!). But alas! I've been living daily with just a tiny bag for three weeks now and I'm really proud of myself (it's seriously an achievement!).

The last few days I've made a move to reduce unnecessary clutter in my room and desk here in Singapore. I discovered that I had too many supplies. I had too many pens on my desks! I had at least about 20 pens on each desk (office and home). The pens were mostly left behind by colleagues who'd use my desk whenever I was out. I was shocked to find out that I had about 7 Stabilo pens on my desk and I don't even like using highlighter pens (I prefer dermatograph, the crayon like thingy). I had about 4 cutters, 3 scissors on and several markers. At home the pens piled up from collecting hotel pens and giveaways. How many pens can you dry out in a year anyway?

My Dad lived his life without focusing on material things. He had what was essential and this was evidenced by the fact that his only earthly possessions were his clothes and his favorite law books. I realized that with just what he needed my Dad had managed to focus on what was essential and I would like to strive for that.

It's just a start and I know it's going to take time before I become a pinky of what my Dad had managed when he was alive, so tiny bag living is my mantra for now.