Recycling 3 Ways

I love freecycle. We've unloaded a ton of stuff through freecycle over the years, and have received a good bit in return. I got a new-to-me sewing machine from freecycle today. I'm hoping it will hold me over until I can get my old one serviced eventually.
Anyway, I managed to squeeze in a few teeny sewing projects today.
I have been wanting to make some fabric gift bags for a while. We use cloth diapers, nursing pads, hankies, napkins, etc, so it always seems so wasteful to throw away a huge pile of wrapping paper after every holiday. I made these today, out of an old bed skirt. My son is into Spiderman lately, so I figured I'd use them for some of his birthday gifts. I've got 8 or 10 more ready to sew, as soon as I get a chance. As sewing projects go, they are a complete no brainer...just a couple of straight seams. I'll close them with ribbon, although you could also make them with drawstrings, if you wanted to spend a bit more time on them. I'd like to make a bunch of them in Christmas fabric in time for Christmas this year.



I also made this little tote bag. I got the idea here: http://wildonionstudio.wordpress.com/2008/06/01/tee-bags-a-tutorial-to-recycle-a-tee-shirt-into-a-shopping-bag/
I used a shirt that I had tie dyed a few years ago. It turned out very cute, and functional. I'll be making more.