Made this reusable grocery tote for my friend Jen two weeks ago. This is for her birthday because she tries to be as eco-friendly as possible, from reusable shopping bags to cruelty-free beauty products. (Hi Jen! You’ll get this bag soon!) I hope to finish up the embroidery for the tote this weekend. The bag itself is made from muslin, which I have tons of from when I used lots of it as a backing for my quilt.

The embroidered little veggie people are iron-on sewing patterns from Sublime Stitching. They were so much fun to work with because you can interchange the faces! I can use the patterns up to eight times, so I’m thinking crafty dishcloths and aprons will give them a second (or third!) life.

The stitch I used to outline the figures is something that I’ve used since I was a kid, when I started to learn how to sew in the third grade. I’d come up with it experimenting with some needle and thread to occupy myself on boring weekend afternoons. I used to run these crazy stitches in random colors and ways on an old cloth table napkin and when my friends would squint at my handiwork and ask what it was, I’d get all huffed up and say, “Duh! It’s called a thread parade!” with a matching dramatic roll of the eyes. Truth is, I just called it that because I didn’t know those stitches’ names, or even what I was making. Haha.

For many years, even up till about six years ago, I honestly thought I had invented the stitch you see on the tote bag. (I’m laughing as I write this.) I used it a lot to outline designs because the thread really pops from the cloth since it’s raised from the surface (the thread doesn’t lie flat like a running or back stitch would). I would start with an outline of backstitches. Then I’d use another length of thread to “coil” around the backstitches. The thicker the “coiling” thread, the more prominent the outline would be. Don’t ask me how I came up with it. I must’ve been really bored as a kid to try something like that!

The discovery of a stitchery encyclopedia in a local library six years ago shattered my dreams of being the Inventor Of The Awesomely Cool Outlining Stitch. In embroidery lexicon, it’s apparently called the Whipped Back Stitch. Sometimes, the second thread is a contrasting color, which gives it an artistic twist (which I never thought of doing when I was “inventing” it, hee.) Photo below courtesy of www.inaminuteago.com.

The lineup of usual suspects on the tote bag also includes fruit like a sexy orange and a sour apple. My brother thinks the onion looks really funny because of the “things coming out of its butt.” Those are just roots, Manong! Hehe.

Hopefully, I’ll power through the rest of this project so I can give it to its rightful owner and it’ll fulfill its eco-bag destiny the next time Jen goes to the grocery. In the meantime, Tomato and Lemon say hi!

Happy weekend, all!