CARRY-A-BAG

Carry a Christmas Shopping Bag

2009-11-09T09:38:00.000-08:00

Last week was a bit of a milestone for plastic bags as the Welsh environment minister announced her intention to make it law in Wales for retailers to charge customers between 5p-15p (maybe 5p for useless bags and 15p for really smart ones?) for every plastic bag they use. She gets my vote - even though I'm not eligible to vote in Wales. Reading Lucy Siegel's column in the Observer yesterday I detected that she has moved on to greater issues and was a bit dismissive about the importance of refusing plastic bags in a saving the planet sort of way. It would be a shame if now that 'ordinary folk' have taken the idea to heart it has loses some of its momentum - I hope I misread between the lines. She did however remind us that each bag takes 1000 years to bio-degrade so we should re-use the ones we have over and over again. I'm with her on that and I have no doubt that if its raining and I've just bought some presents I will want the waterproof properties of plastic - so I'll be carrying the best of the under-sink stash from back in the day with me when I shop this Christmas instead of saying yes to any new ones.
Six weeks to go!
love & peace
Sally
xxx

New venture for Autumn.

2009-09-22T02:15:00.000-07:00

I have neglected the blog for a very good reason - I've been writing a book - well not so much writing more 'putting together'. Three of us have formed a small publishing company called SeaSaw Books - because we live by the sea and this is what we saw. Our first book arrived back from the printers on Friday and we launched it last weekend at the local Seafood & Wine Festival. A whopping success it was too!
It is called the Little Hastings Fish Cook Book and it features more than fifty recipe contributions from family, friends, fishmongers and chefs with the focus being on the fish our local fleet brings ashore each day. They are not permitted to land any cod until March 2010 because of the EU quota system. It allows them to catch a certain amount of cod each year and because it is quite plentiful around Hastings they have already caught theirs! Now they have to throw back all the cod they catch - dead. How crazy and disrespectful is that?
Our idea was to encourage people to buy the less usual choices such as Gurnard, Huss, Squid and Coley as well as Sole, Plaice and even Lobster - which are all caught in these waters. We have had such fun reading and testing recipes and my husband Stewart has been doing the illustrations on the beach. Debi Angel our world famous designer has put all of this together to make a perfect little cook book for a fiver - Can't say fairer than that guv! Our website is up and soon there will be a Paypal checkout where you can get your copy - a perfect stocking filler. Oh I am SO proud of this! And dear friends ...on the inside back page I sneaked in a little message to ask people not to use plastic bags.

Happy Autumn
love & peace
Sally xx

SEAGULLS LOVE RUBBISH

2009-08-04T02:02:00.000-07:00

I love nature and wild creatures but its so hard to love seagulls when you live by the sea. Especially on a Tuesday.
Tuesday is rubbish collection day and people put bags out on the pavement when they go out
to work. Seagulls know this. As soon as one bag is spotted the call goes out "Come on down guys and let's see what's on the menu!" They circle, they swoop, they strut about screeching while one of them attacks the plastic bag - it only takes a well-aimed peck or two and the contents are spilled all over the street. There are no secrets anymore - we know how many plastic bags they throw away each week at Nº6 and how many cans of strong lager the chap in the upstairs flat doesn't bother to separate out for recycling. We know who throws out their bills unopened and so many other things we didn't want to know about our neighbours.
By lunchtime the seagulls will have devoured anything they can eat and the wind will have picked up the empty plastic bags and blown them into the trees - the tin cans roll about noisily on the street until crushed by a passing car. The lorry comes along eventually and the heroic 'binmen' jump out with brooms and sweep up what's left and the seagulls move away to another street where the bins are collected on a different day. And so it goes.

THE FESTIVAL & BEACH SEASON

2009-07-07T07:34:00.000-07:00

Followers of this blog will know by now that I simply cannot resist a long weekend in a tent in a field at a festival so I've been to Glastonbury and it was ....lovely. The family were with me and we all carried our bags, used sunscreen and wore wellies. If only everyday life was just a little more like Glastonbury where strangers smile and hold out a helping hand when you need help jumping over a puddle. The Love the Farm - Leave No Trace slogan is having an impact and there is far less mess than there used to be. Perhaps now that we recycle at home we are all more aware of the work involved
in collecting and sorting through litter. And when you've paid good money to live alongside 150,000 other music fans in a field you quickly realize the sense in keeping your space tidy.
I wish everyone on the beach would leave no trace. Instead they bring bottles and cans of beer that are lined up for pebble target practice, spare nappies that are thrown aside and polystyrene containers of fish and chips are abandoned to the gulls.

Perhaps our council should start a Love the Beach - Leave No Trace campaign.

love & peace
xxx
Sally

S U M M E R

2009-06-15T11:27:00.000-07:00

I love the sunshine, it makes the flowers grow. While we've been stuck inside waiting for
warmer weather I have been hard at work making a huge new batch of vintage floral bags.
The colours and patterns are scrumptious and I'll be loading them all up onto my website tomorrow. They are very limited edition - sometimes just enough old fabric for one big bag
especially when the pattern repeats are huge I can't bear to cut into them so the bag sizes
are adjusted accordingly.
Take a peep at the Specials on my website in the next day or so and you'll also get a glimpse of my garden which I have to say is looking ravishing!
love & peace
Sally

CONRAN SHOP LOOKING C-A-B FAB

2009-05-23T04:04:00.000-07:00

I've been super-busy making banners for The Conran Shop to use in their Summer Promotion called HOLIDAY AT HOME. It was the best fun job ever involving everything I love about vintage fabric patterns, printing and stitching.
And so rewarding to see them surrounded by great design.
I can't stop now and will be making banners to order from the website - so if you have a message that needs to be writ large like .......MARRY ME or DANCE TILL YOU DROP then email me sally@carry-a-bag.com and let's get this party started.
love & peace
xxx
Sally
via the website

Bags, Bottles and Bin Liners

2009-05-08T09:54:00.000-07:00

In my last post I made a rash statement about trying to live plastic-free and I have to say that until I actually tried it I'd have thought it was do-able without too many adjustments. Dream on.
The next day I got up and into the shower reached for the shampoo and wondered what the alternative would be...I used to buy a solid shampoo bar from Cosmetics to Go but I think they've gone (I'll check that). Out of the shower into the bathroom where I reached for my toothbrush ... perhaps I could get one with a wooden handle next time? and the tube of toothpaste (I will buy metal not plastic next time). Picked up my comb (change to metal or wood?) and then moisturiser, foundation, mascara, lipstick ...oh dear and then there's the hairdryer. Dressed and downstairs in the kitchen I took the milk out of the fridge..............

I think you get the idea and it certainly would not be a good idea to throw this lot out and replace them before they have been used up or worn out, so I'm changing my commitment to something more manageable. I will look for alternative non-plastic versions of these everyday containers and products and definitely re-use my plastic then ultimately recycle it. And whenever I find a replacement that is less plastic and more natural I will pass the good news on.
In the meantime I feel better for 'fessing up to my failures.

love & peace
Sally
xxx

CARRY-A-BAG on Vogue.com

2009-05-08T05:27:00.000-07:00

Had to share this with everyone.

Annecka Griffith, photographed by Aimee Farrell

30 April 2009, 07:00AM

Camden Crawl – Island Records Party

Annecka Griffith, 23, music PR

"My jacket is by Rag & Bone and my floral bag is from CARRY-A-BAG.COM. My boots are from Russell and Bromley. I would describe my style as being haphazard. I love the Fifties era, so I go to Old Hat on the Fulham Road quite often - it's a Fifties dressmaker. I like wearing dresses because I'm lazy and with dresses I don't have to think about matching everything."

WAKE UP CALL ON PLASTIC USE

2009-04-25T02:51:00.000-07:00

In my small world I had begun to think that the anti-plastic message had got through. Not everyone, but quite a good proportion of people at the checkouts seem to have brought their bags along and people walking in the street had their own bags...I was feeling optimistic.
Well I am not feeling good any more.
I have just read an article about the PLASTIKI expedition and urge everyone to go to the website and sign up to follow their progress. They are sailing a boat made from recycled plastic to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch where an island of plastic particles the size of France is growing bigger every day. Plastic bags are one of the key contributors to this pollution and we have to stop using them. Plastic water bottles are equally bad - they are the second worst polluter and we don't need to buy them. Our water is clean and delicious.
I'm committing to a great big effort not to buy any more plastic and out there in the oceans there are billions of tons of reasons why we should all TRY to live a plastic-free life - the stuff was only invented in the last century and it was never something we needed, just something convenient. For us perhaps but not for our planet.
love & peace
x
Sally
http://www.theplastiki.com

Happy Easter Everyone

2009-04-10T09:01:00.000-07:00

This may be one of the first weekends when families get out into the sunshine together ...actually it's raining already...but it may brighten up. I am making little Easter Egg bags with shiny fabric and will fill them with small chocolate eggs. It's a good time to support the Fairtrade and organic farmers by choosing Divine, Co-op or Green & Black's if you can find any at this late stage. Recycle the packaging too and when you're out for that Spring walk remember to take a litter bag and pick up as you go. Not everyone is on-message about not throwing their rubbish about and it feels good to leave a litter-free path behind you.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx
HAPPY EASTER
love & peace
Sally

TALKING RUBBISH

2009-02-17T01:46:00.000-08:00

I heard a story on Breakfast News today that supermarkets are still massively over-packaging despite claiming green concern with boastful anti-plastic bag initiatives. Our bins are loaded with plastic and cardboard boxes and less than half of this packaging is recyclable.
We are paying extra for goods to cover the cost of the packaging and then paying extra on our council taxes to pay for its disposal
Here is a pretty good idea.....
When you do the 'big shop' in your car take your own boxes along but don't take them into the shop - keep them in the car.
Then before you leave the car park
unwrap your goods and load them into your boxes
then leave all the packaging in the trolley. The supermarkets will have to clear the trolleys, store the rubbish and also pay to have it taken away. Ka-ching!!!!
If loads of us do this the message will soon get through.

love, peace & happiness
x
Sally

Tabloid News!

2009-02-13T02:12:00.000-08:00

A very nice article about making beautiful things from cast-offs.
with love
Sally Walton

BACK TO BAGS

2009-01-29T01:52:00.000-08:00

India is waking up to the health and environmental threat posed by the proliferation of plastic bags and they are not messing about with ASKING people not to use plastic bags ....this article from the Guardian tells how they are enforcing the ban....

Randeep Ramesh in Delhi
guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 January 2009 14.44 GMT
Article history

An open drain filled with plastic bags and other waste flows alongside a slum settlement in New Delhi, India. Photograph: Amit Bhargava/Amit Bhargava/Corbis for The Guardian

Carry a plastic bag in Delhi and you could be imprisoned for five years. Officials in India's capital have decided that the only way to stem the rising tide of polythene is to outlaw the plastic shopping bag.

According to the official note, the "use, storage and sale" of plastic bags of any kind or thickness will be banned. The new guideline means that customers, shopkeepers, hoteliers and hospital staff face a 100,000 rupee fine (£1,370) and a possible jail sentence for using non-biodegradable bags.

Delhi has been quietly filling up with plastic bags in recent years as the economy boomed and western-style shopping malls sprang up in the city. There are no reliable figures for bag use but environmentalists say more than 10m a day are used in the capital every day. Not only are the streets littered with them, but polythene takes hundreds of years to decompose and creates demand for oil, which is used to make plastics.

At first the ban will be lightly implemented, giving people time to switch to jute, cotton, recycled-paper and compostable bags.

Newspapers in India quoted city officials as saying that the authorities did not "want people to be harassed and no prosecution will take place immediately; [once they] understand that by using plastic bags they will be in contempt of court, they will start using other material". The first targets in Delhi will be the industrial units that manufacture the plastic bags in the capital, which officials say will be closed down.

Civil servants said that punitive measures were needed after a law prohibiting all but the thinnest plastic bags – no thicker than 0.04mm – was ignored.

Although the government had originally concluded that plastic bags were too cheap and convenient to be disposed of, the authorities appear to have been swayed by environmentalists who pointed out that used bags were clogging drains and so providing breeding grounds for malaria and dengue fever. There is evidence that prohibition of plastic bags can work. Countries such as Rwanda, Bhutan and Bangladesh have all had bans enforced.

I wonder how that would go down over here? I have been keeping an eye on shoppers at the tills and think a few big fines might sort this one out! The automatic response of the person manning checkout is still to peel off four or so bags as a customer passes through to load the goods. We still have a way to go.

love & peace

Sally

JANUARY 2009

2009-01-16T03:49:00.000-08:00

What's news on the plastic bag front?

Well M&S have a window display saying they have saved the world from millions of plastic bags - that's good. I do think that people who walk to the shops in this country have taken the no more plastic bag message to heart - but I'm not so sure about those who drive to big supermarkets. Maybe the walking shoppers understand the need for a strong bag that is comfortable to carry and the trolley-to-car brigade simply don't. If you do have plastic bags at home please take them along to your local charity shops who will really appreciate them.

Winter looks so drab unless there is a frost or better still snow, but most days are a dull grey.

Not good for lifting the spirits and business is far from booming, so what to do?

Make marmalade of course!

Its another seasonal must and well worth making even if you don't like the stuff - a gift of a jar of home-made marmalade is always appreciated and you will be quietly thanked every morning at toast-time until their jar is empty. Make it for the delicious citrus aroma when you boil the mixture for a couple of hours. It fills the house and is better than the most expensive perfumed candle because the result is something delicious to eat. And for me making the labels is all part of the fun - my letters are too big or labels too small so I make M.M.Lade ; M.mlade ; Seville or Mama Made.

All we need now is TOAST and TEA.

Love & Peace
x
Sally

Goodbye to 2008

2008-12-30T05:26:00.000-08:00

This year is all but over now and it is time to look optimistically forward to 2009. Listening to the news there are a thousand reasons not to expect happier times ahead, but that's just the news.
I have a garden filled with little birds, the sky is clear blue and one of my dear friends is getting married tomorrow. I'm going to put on some music, drink a toast to those who are no longer with us, those who are and we have still to meet.
Look forward to another wonderful year.
Love & Peace
Sally
xxxx

WORLD AIDS DAY

2008-12-01T03:17:00.000-08:00

Spare some time to think about how you can positively help.

Not everyone can make speeches, visit hospitals or donate large sums to charity but in December most of us do a spot of shopping.

Why not help by targeting your spending.

It may be that you buy a project red T shirt at Gap or a pair of
special edition Converse. Have fun holding a Tea Party to help South African grandmothers care for vulnerable orphans and send the money raised to Grandmothers United (http://africansolutions.org. If you have a baby girl or need to buy one a present look at this lovely
website http://justjo.co.za where you can buy exquisite little smocked dresses with profits going to care for the South African Aids Orphans. Use your buying power to help raise money and awareness of how this dreadful disease has affected millions all over the world, but most especially in Africa where children need so much help.

We can help in so many ways & we can't all be Bono
(wheww... that's a relief)

love & peace
x
Sally

Is it almost December and is Christmas really coming?

2008-11-27T04:30:00.000-08:00

Working from home its quite easy to lose track of the date - the week - dare I say ...even the month? It has suddenly dawned on me that it is almost December. Time is flying by and despite
the dire financial news I suddenly have a sense of excitement that soon it will be Christmas.
In a way I think all this financial gloom has been quite helpful in making lavish spending seem somehow inappropriate and rather vulgar. Excellent news as this fits right in with my budget! So Christmas can now down-scale and receiving any home knitted, baked or stitched item will not produce the usual rolling of eyes from the urban cool people - at last these offerings will have real value. Of course not everyone has time to produce these themselves but don't worry because shops now have lots of lovely "Church Bazaar" standard stitchery that you can pass off as your own. If you do have time to make someone a gift then do it - the pleasure is doubled, you get the enjoyment of spending money on materials and time on the making and they get something from you that took time, thought and effort. And if it looks a bit wonky then you all get a laugh as well!
Warm glows all round.

love & peace
x
Sally

A Great Day for the Planet

2008-11-05T03:54:00.000-08:00

Today is a day for celebrating President Obama's BIG WIN and the changes he is going to bring to the world.
I'll be sewing with a smile on my face.
love & peace
Sally
x

SO PROUD TO BE CALLED AN ECO HERO

2008-10-25T03:25:00.000-07:00

On cloud nine today having picked up a copy of the Saturday Telegraph magazine where my lovely husband Stewart and I feature as this week's ECO HEROES on page 77. It is specially wonderful when you work from home without the usual daily feedback from colleagues who remind you of where you are and what you're aiming to achieve. So today as I sit in my room surrounded by untidy piles of recycled fabric that await transformation into very desirable shopping bags I will be basking in the warm glow of recognition.
Thanks everyone
love & peace
Sally
x

Reality check

2008-10-02T02:06:00.000-07:00

This photograph was taken last week of the coast near Mumbai (formally Bombay) in India. Looking up and down the coast in both directions this is the way it was. The trees and bushes draped in shreds of plastic bags washed up by high tides and floods and left there to blow in the wind. The reason I find this so shocking is that I was beginning to think about the plastic bag message as something that had got through to people - I was feeling positive.
This is such a horrible sight and there must be so many others like it. Our plastic waste is shipped to the East, their waste is thrown into the rivers, the rivers flow into the seas, the tides carry it around the world. And all that plastic will never go away.
No amount of words can carry the anti-plastic bag message more forcefully than this image.
love & peace
Sally
x

MONEY RAISING TEA PARTIES

2008-09-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I read an article about African Solutions to African Problems, a charity that goes
right to the people who need the help and gives it to them ASAP - as soon as possible. It is often hard to know whether you are really helping when problems are far away and so many agencies are involved, but this is different. One of the main aims of this organization is to help the grandmothers in South Africa who have survived to care for their Aids-orphaned grandchildren. Please do have a look at their website http://www.africansolutions.org then arrange to have a Tea Party to raise money for Grandmothers United. I am proud to be a Grandma myself and am getting together with friends to hold a Fabulous Tea Party next month. It will be such fun with bunting, table cloths, pretty china cups and saucers, raffles, cup cakes and cucumber sandwiches. So if you are a Grandma please get involved and if not then tell your Gran and offer her your help on the day.
Love & Peace
Sally
x

NO MORE BLOGGERS BLOCK

2008-09-14T04:02:00.000-07:00

I have been suffering from bloggers block but someone has rattled my cage enough to get me out of it. I have been avidly reading all comments, interviews, opinions and (if only) gossip about Sarah Palin and am convinced she is more dangerous than all the conflicts in the world put together. My heart sinks and right now I'm hoping someone, somewhere will dig up some dirt that will stick because so far she seems to be turning all the negatives into saintly positives. Pardon me - concealing your pregnancy, being so fiercely ambitious that you fly across the continent to deliver a speech while leaking amniotic fluid, then having the baby induced and delivered a month early and returning to work within 3 days - when did these actions become laudable? Now she brandishes her Downs Syndrome infant and pregnant teenage daughter like must-have accessories. I'd imagine that in the US you criticize her at your peril. Well, she's scaring me and if elected she would be one side-step away from what the Americans describe as Leader of the Free World.
Please America - don't put her in a position to make any decisions about our planet.
Well - I've got that off my chest for now and will share some news about my other obsession - the pollution that is plastic! Courtesy of the Saturday Telegraph's Q.I. I can share that only 5% of the six billion tons of plastic manufactured each year is recycled - and even more shockingly most of the plastic that has EVER been made is still around. It is not biodegradable so it doesn't go away it gets buried, blown away or thrown into the sea where there is a soupy island
of it the size of North America floating in the North Pacific. It's too big to comprehend but the
very serious small message we have to take to heart is to make a huge effort to avoid adding to the problem. Small changes make a big difference so carry a bag or a basket everywhere and buy fruit and veg loose and local.

love & peace
Sally
x

Money too tight to mention?

2008-08-14T08:42:00.000-07:00

Well, let's try not mentioning it so much. I am feeling mildly hysterical about the overload of statistics about the economy that I am digesting at the moment. Yes, times are hard, bread and milk ARE more expensive than they used to be but I wonder if I really need to worry about the lower than expected profits of the Royal Bank of Scotland and all the other world banks? Too much financial information seems to be aimed at inducing financial panic - and its working. I was musing the other day about the credit crunch (the expression has now entered the dictionary) and whether shrinking household budget would mean a return to buying cheap deals rather than making ethical and environmental choices at the supermarket. I am not the only one giving this some thought as I have just read an article in today's Guardian that addresses the issue. It's really worth reading. There has been a fall in the rise ( if you get my drift) of people choosing to buy organic if you look at supermarket sales alone and Wholefoods/Fresh & Wild have discovered that there may not be the demand they were expecting at the luxury end of the organic market - well perhaps Waitrose and M&S already have that covered.
I wonder whether the huge rise in the number of people growing their own vegetables may be having an effect. Here's a nice statistic - the demand for vegetable seeds outstripped the demand for flower seeds this year! We have re-discovered our love of growing food and buying local, getting veg boxes, knitting, swapping, charity shopping and farmers' marketing and there are only so many hours in the day. Maybe that's why the organic shopper numbers are leveling off a bit - perhaps we simply don't have the time to waft about selecting from all that stuff anymore - too much choice is really exhausting.

My tip on how to avoid depression brought on by the credit crunch is to listen to music instead of the news - something uplifting.

love & peace
Sally
x

All these cotton bags

2008-08-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

In the past year or two this country has been flooded of cotton tote bags and we all think its a good thing - right? Not sure....I'm starting to worry that the cheap cotton tote bag is becoming a bit of an environmental hazard in its own right.
IF the cotton is Organic and Fair Trade then it truly is wonderful that people are using them instead of plastic bags.
Unfortunately a very large proportion of cotton tote bags are not ethically or environmentally produced. Cotton is responsible for major pollution and chemical contamination in the Third World and tote bags are a huge growth industry in India and China. At Carry-a-Bag I receive emails almost every day from the Far East offering to make and ship bags for me at an ridiculously low cost - even with economies of scale the prices are way too low. Perhaps its time to take a closer look at the labels and make sure that the cheap cotton totes we carry tick all the right ethical and environmental boxes.
I heard a report the other day suggesting that we are fooling ourselves about our diminishing carbon footprint. We have outsourced our manufacturing to the Far East and we should therefore be including their escalating carbon emissions in our sums.
That rings true.

love & peace
Sally
.

lovely latitude

2008-07-21T09:23:00.000-07:00

L A T I T U D E

I've just got back from Suffolk where we've been partying in the fields and woods with our family and friends at the very lovely Latitude Festival. There was a bit of everything and something for everyone and the site was ...
SO CLEAN. In fact the cleanest and greenest festival site I have ever been to.
We were encouraged to sort our litter and helpful stewards made sure that we put our plastics, paper, cans and food in the correct bins.
One of the biggest contributors to the lack of waste was paying a deposit of two pounds for a returnable pint cup with your first drink.
There was the opportunity to reclaim your money when you gave it back - a shrewd move because not only was there none of the usual mess but most people choose to take their Latitude cups home as souvenirs.
The £2 on return meant that any that were left around were soon picked up by smart kids who kept their eyes peeled for the chance of getting some free money ....ching! ching! Just like the good old days.
Helpfulness abounded and the campsite stewards offered help with taking tents down and packing them up so removing the temptation to walk away and buy another next time (not me of course!)
So what did we do?
In the Literature tent you could lie about on big comfy cushions while authors read you their stories; the Comedy tent had so many stars and was a bit of a crush - it could have been twice the size because everyone wants to laugh. There were plays, ballets, games, processions, poetry and food that was tempting and delicious. Waitress service to tables in the arena!!!!

AND there was music ....and best girl and best male in my selection are the sublime Beth Orton and masterful Nick Cave who stormed the main stage with his Grindermen. Best new band - The Midnight Juggernauts WHO ARE FABULOUS and my future big star has to be the extremely handsome and talented Johnny Flynn. Most wonderful random thing - Flamenco on a platform floating on the lake. Most awesome - the holographic lazer images hanging over the water - I still don't understand how they can do that.
Would I recommend you go next year ? Hell no! (well maybe just one or two of you but really there are mosquitos; the loo's are not very nice and you wouldn't like it at all.)
love & peace
Sally