Inspired by a New Friend!

When I visited my daughter in the Netherlands, I took a crocheting class at the "Haak In".  Corrie teaches how to "Up Cycle" plastic bags into usable items.  She inspired me to crochet again! Website - http://www.haakin.nl/ and Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/corriescreatie/timeline

I learned how to crochet in high school in my Home Economics Classes. My first project was a dish cloth and then we made shawls.  I made a pretty pink shawl and wore it to the high school dances.  When I was in college, I worked with fabrics strips and made crocheted rugs.

Over the years, I have crocheted afghans, rugs, and hot pads and table mats.  
Corrie inspired me to crochet again.

I have been making circular hot pads and table mats using fabric strips.
This is one I made recently and sold it on ebay.

I was so inspired, I even created a fried egg table mat from yellow and white fabric strips.

In the class, Corrie shared how to cut the plastic bags so they end up in one very strip of plastic.  I made a crocheted cover for a plastic bottle.  I displayed it on the plastic bag that I used for the strips.

Corrie refreshed me on stitches, that I had completely forgot how to do, when I learned how to make the small pocket purse.

I took photos in Corrie's classroom of all the crocheted items created from plastic bags. 

I signed the guest book at "Haak In".

At the end of the class Corrie draped her crocheted shawls on us for a picture. The shawls were made from plastic strips combined with black yarn.

Outside she has two huge plastic yarn balls on display. They were larger than a beach ball.

She has a large flower made from the plastic bags on display out front.

I speak only English and sometimes not very well. Corrie spoke Dutch and a little English.  It was a delight learning a new craft with a bit of a language barrier. And when I don't understand something, I tend to laugh at myself!
In the next photo, I was laughing and crying as we said our good byes!

We will keep in touch through emails and facebook and I will visit her when I return to the Netherlands to visit my daughter and her family.

During, the class we talked about our love of creating. Corrie creates with plastic bags and I create with quilted fabric.  I showed her my purse and pocket purse and checkbook purse that I made with my quilted fabric. Corrie asked if I would make a quilted pocket purse with quilted roses for her.

I quilted roses with a red thread on black fabric with a white backing fabric. I just sent it off to the Netherlands this week.

 Corrie asked me to quilt my name on the front of the purse with the year.

It is hard to photograph black fabric and to get enough light it makes the little fibers show up.

When I quilted the fabric, I quilted a large piece of fabric and made enough to create several pocket purses.  They make great gifts for friends and family.

Several years ago, I taught quilted tote bag classes and I also wrote a pattern for the quilted pocket purse.  My pattern is available as a PDF Downloadable Pattern at Craftsy.com in my pattern store. Click Here.

I am so happy I made a new friend in another country and super delighted to learn a new craft and rekindle my crocheting with plastic and fabrics.

I made this crochet mat from the scraps from ...

my "Up Cycled Grocery Bag" that I made from Project Quilting, while in the Netherlands. I made it from clothes and used a borrowed sewing machine. Click Here for that post. I added some green scraps to the crochet mat as my daughter loves green.

I love learning new things, 
I love creating and crafting with friends, 
and I love sharing my experiences!

Enjoy!

Marcia