I notice patterns...402

I notice patterns; it must be the artist in me. I think that is what I like most about making Jessie's Bags. We are sustainable & up-cycle donated fabric pieces. Most of our bags are fun funky colors and mix & match designs, Patchwork style.

I Instagram most days, I post bags we have finished. I post trips on the road when we visit locations with Jessie’s Bags. I post sights and inspiration in things I see around me.

One morning I noticed I lost a few followers. The day before I had 405 followers this was a new record high for me. I don’t need millions of followers I post for me. If someone sees & likes it ok great. The next morning it was back to 402. This happened all week. I got a few new followers each day I followed at least 50 more people that week and every morning it’s back to 402. I noticed the pattern. I wonder why…

Watch with me let’s see if it ever changes from 402.

Im stuck at 402… I think it’s funny… I notice patterns

Jessie's bags is a thread------ that connects the community.

Community connections are important even as we age. As we age Sometimes there is a bit of a disconnect. The young folks are busy with starting and raising their families while many seniors are for the first time without a lot of activities.

Jessie’s mobile community service helps seniors to feel useful and needed. Sewing is what Jessie loves, and this is Jessie’s medicine.  one proverb says” a joyful heart is good medicine” when Jessie is busy sewing and on the road visiting others is Jessie is happy. We have and share a sense of purpose for even one hour with our visits.

 No one is too old to participate and we find something for everyone to do. Last week we had a one woman volunteer in Paoli PA who was 102 years young and a few days later a gentleman in Havertown PA was 101 years young. This week we worked with a group of ladies all 90+  in Rehobeth Beach DE. All of these volunteers had a willing attitude and all enjoyed our activity making bags for others.

The Bible at Psalms 92 verse 14 says  Even in old age they will still be thriving; They will remain vigorous and fresh. Jessie and I see the truth in this when we work with the senior volunteers.

Sometimes we will count how much work has been accomplished during our time together. During a recent visit to a memory care location we re-purposed and up-cycled 400 fabric scraps into tags which will be used on our bags. We are not just filling time with busy work we are creating something useful. 

I appreciate the help keeping Jessie with things to sew. The pieces of the fabrics are like pieces of a puzzle we put them together. one of Jessie’s Bags is like a mini quilt , it may have been pieced together and created in several senior communities  by several people it comes together to become something beautiful. We are all connected in our caring; we are all connected in our sharing. One bible verse says there is more happiness in giving than in receiving. We are all happy to give the breast cancer survivors our bags. Anyone who receives one of Jessie’s Bags knows there is love sewn into Jessie’s handmade bags.              

Instagram to see the pictures #jessiesbagsontheroad

 A joyful heart is good medicine…@ Jessie’s Bags.

If you would like to add a piece to our quilt and become part of Jessie’s community of bag makers …

Contact:  Jessie & her daughter Joanne 

302-345-6709

Facebook Jessie’s Bags LLC.

Jessiesbags.com

corporate sponsors wanted... sponsor a Jessie's Bags Donation to a senior living location !

We posted this on our Instagram page today.
Hope you can help us spread a little cheer...

vacations are soooo necessary!!!

We had scheduled a vacation last month. We did not go away. I was not able to get any happy endorphin's built up.

 Reality of life is we had no money to take a trip.

 My hubby and I are full time care givers. This is sort of like being parents. The kids are always there and you never get a break.  From the time you get up in the morning till you close your eyes at night. It you have a good family they will step in and take the kids away for the weekend or for a week’s vacation. I realize now that’s why my mom sent me to my cousins house for a week during the summer vacations. We all need down time.

During our last vacation my husband and I spent the week building shelves and moving things around, things involving Jessie’s bags. We exist on fabric donations. So we have to take the fabric when it is offered. We spend our time making bags every day. So we need to be able to move between raw fabric never touched to pieces that have been sewn once to completed bags that need handles. all of these work stations need an area, and we had out grown our current space. I love that he was willing to spend his time off working for Jessie’s Bags. But I must say I had a bad attitude about this being a working vacation.

Finally………..This week is the down time. My kind of downtime!  The good endorphins are flowing freely. We are spending time Looking at the beauty around us.  Resting… eating our meals where someone else is waiting on us. Someone else is making my bed, someone else is responsible for taking care of the moms and all that entails.

Jessie’s Bags is on a vacation….  Jessie's bags is on the road..

Here are the pictures to prove it….

How to build an empire...2016

Building Jessie’s Bags …..

 an empire or a multinational corporation…

Jessie’s bags had outgrown its current location, the lower level of my home. We have spread into the man cave (not my space) on more than one occasion. This has caused tension and stress in my household. So to ease the tensions 6 months ago we moved a large portion of the stored fabrics and supplies into an outside storage facility. This was good in one way it gave us breathing room. This was bad because it cost us $200.00 a month. And not all of the things we would need to work on were easily accessible being off site. Jessie’s bags has never been a money making project for us. 

We have been doing this for 10 years and most of what we make is donated to breast cancer survivors. So to date there has been no real income. Recently we have tried to change that. We need Jessie’s Bags to become self-sufficient self-sustaining and have begun some creative ways to fund our program & workshops.

Our solution to the storage issue has been raise funds through go fund me.


While it was a good idea only a few 


donated so we raised $305.00.

 As we discussed the best use of these funds we came up with the idea of building shelving and my generous husband offered space in his garage area. He also offered us his carpentry skills.

We have an entire wall of shelves he built with Jessie’s bags specific needs in mind.

 So the hard work began. This has been physically demanding hard work. We had to move all of the storage out of the rented space. Thank God for friends, who volunteer and own  vans! We had to move all of the lumber for the project. We had to sort through and eliminate some of the fabric we have that will make the storage more manageable. And if we organize it along the way we can use the space wisely. Most of this work has been accomplished with the help of volunteer workers.

We spent an entire stay-cation week at home working on this. I was not happy about that! But now that we are ending the project I see the benefits of having done this building project in this way. .   Exhausting though it has been we can now have things at our finger tips and we can find the fabrics we need. Jessie has been sewing all during this time. We will post the bags some of which we will sell to raise funds for additional storage supplies. Now we need totes to help us shift and relocate fabric to the shelves. 

I’m thinking Jessie’s bags needs a truck or Van for transporting fabrics as part of our mobile community service program…  we would love a customized vehicle that had sewing machines to and storage space. In a perfect world we would have this… and we could travel all over with the program.

For now in the real world we need sewers to help us process all of the fabric and create bags out of these supplies. Who knows Jessie’s bags might just be a multinational Empire one day…. For now it’s the garage for us….

Thanks to all the volunteers 
for your support and help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See more photos of the build on

 Instagram & Facebook

#jessiesbags

Jessie's Bags LLC

Jessie's Bags is in ...Woman's Day Magazine JULY 2016

We are So excited to be included in this 
Kindness article.... 
my mom the movie star....
....next she will be signing autographs.....

Life without a car!

 

Because of recent unexpected events I am living my life without a car. This adventure took me to nearby Wilmington Train station. I had been past it never inside of it.It is a beautiful place . interesting textures all around. I am a visual  artistic person as you may have noticed in my Instagram, Facebook  and blog.  This is definitely reflected in the bags we create. I love the colors the combining of textures, this is what I enjoy. Hope you are enjoying the photos and bags...

Jessie's Bags on the road

life's lemons- Jessie's Story

When life hands you a mountain of lemons  Some people let the lemons take over their lives...

The lemons start to become over whelming and they curl up on the floor and just look at all the lemons that surround them. They do nothing.

Others look at the lemons and start cutting them in half and squeezing the juice out and making lemon aid. They are being proactive, And maybe a little reactive. But at least they are doing something.

Then there is the person who does all the research on lemons and finds out what can be done with lemons. Now starts the planning … lemon curd, lemon cello, lemon meringue pie, lemon cookies, maybe we should candy the lemon peels. Let’s take this opportunity and use it as much as possible and turn it into something we can work with. Let’s start a new trend. Let’s take pictures of all the lemons and sell them. Let’s make a skin moisturizer out of them. Let’s create hand soap, body wash. Maybe an organic household cleaner…The possibilities are endless. And so they begin to work never looking at the mountain of work just chipping away at the mound of lemons one lemon at a time. When you look around you will find that you have used up all the lemons and you enjoyed the process. And now you are an authority on lemons & you have a TV show all about lemons on the food network… who knew …

 Some people can be content with whatever is handed to them in life. Some people just go with the flow and keep it moving forward. Some are movers and shakers they decide to steer the boat of life and not let it just drift along taking them where they don’t want to go. They don’t spiral out of control they are survivors. And just maybe you start to realize the mountain of lemons is the best thing that happened to you.

 This is sort of what happened with us when Jessie got the cancer diagnosis 10 tears ago and we are still making  stuff with our lemons........

http://www.jessiesbags.com/

Living Well Magazine 6/2016

Our Story!

Jes Multidimensional - jes 4 kids

For 10 years now Jessie’s bags has been making and giving bags to breast cancer survivors. We look for volunteers in a variety of locations.  

As our program has become more mobile we have been spending a lot of time with middle school students. We enjoy interacting with the public. I especially like creating a spark for sewing & creating in young people. So I am looking to expand Jessie’s Bags into a new direction add a new phase.  I have been reaching out to a few people to join us partner with us sponsor us. We want to develop our mobile community service program with a view towards kids. We want to continue our work for breast cancer survivors. But add another dimension, a new Phase. We want to get kids involved in creating bags or other items using recycled supplies. These created items can be shared with kids who have cancer.

Jessie’s kids program will help participants apply the Golden Rule. “All things, therefore, that you want men to do to you, you also must likewise do to them.”—Matthew 7:12.  Just think if you were this survivor child suffering in a hospital unable to do what all the other kids are doing wouldn’t you love a gift. Wouldn’t you enjoy knowing some one cared about you?

(In my Opinion) The world we live in today promotes a focus on self. In social media there are some pages that all you see are Selfies. Anybody taking that many photos of themselves cannot possibly see the world around them.  The attitude today is me first, what I want, what’s in it for me. Maybe it’s learned behavior, learned from the bad behavior as seen on TV they are following. 

We want to help kids learn about real survival. Not made for TV survival. Many times consideration is not given to others. Jessie’s generation is one of giving & volunteering I’m not so sure the next ones understands this concept in the same way. Maybe we can help. Maybe this program will help a few young people think outside of themselves and help them work good toward others.

We will see if this Phase

of Jessie’s bags takes off. “Jessie’s Bags for kids” no… I like   “Jes 4 Kids” after all our blog is jesbags…

You can become a sponsor ...

Become a Sponsor –

@ Jessie’s Bags

We are looking for personal or corporate sponsors…

You can choose how much to spend & what you would like to sponsor …

-For example - $30.00 will give one bag to a

 Breast Cancer Survivor

-You can sponsor one summer class for a group of 20 kids this means your $600.00 donation will supply a creative up-cycling class & each child attending will go home with a bag of creative fabric supplies & one of Jessie’s Bags with your compliments.

You can sponsor a monthly event- for a breast cancer support group.

 This means a different group each month will be able to attend a Design a Bag event and the attendees will all receive on of Jessie’ s Bags with your compliments. (Supportive items to be included in bags may also be sponsored …i.e.…lotions, books, hats, blankets, snacks, things to carry to treatment) (The amount you spend will determine the size of the group and mow many months (you choose 1 month to 12 months) the events continue.

You can sponsor a monthly event …

If you want a different support group to have one of Jessie’s Bags events maybe it will be autistic kids, new moms…you tell us…

Become a sponsor……

302-345-6709

Jesbags@gmail.com

Follow us on FACEBOOK Jessie’s Bags LLC

See photos of our events on Instagram #jessiesbags

 Read about our activities Jesbags.blogspot.com

A day in my life - Jessie’s bags.

My day began around 4 am yesterday. 

I woke up early my brain was in gear.

I sent some emails worked on the computer and then went to work... 
making Jessie's Bags. 

I like early mornings my house is quiet. 

This is my time!

Jessie is sometimes up early too but she stays in bed usually reading her Bible. My husband and his mom are not morning people. That’s OK with me. This is my time!

Working on the bags is peaceful creative time for me.

I’m not taking care of anybody else, not my husband, mom, aunt, mother in law or the fish. Sometimes care giving gets overwhelming between doctor’s visits, care plan meetings & just cooking and making sure they eat meals every day…

Working on the bags is peaceful creative time for me. I hate sewing but love putting the pieces together.

We, I should say I over booked my day yesterday. One of the volunteers who sew for us was coming over to pick up fabric pieces. At the same time my husband wanted to go to breakfast and run a few errands. Sorry I Double booked. ..  

Jessie & I were scheduled to go on the road today.... To Newark for an after school program....

Since we were in the  Newark area and Jessie was with me, I took her to meet the students that are putting pink ribbons on our bags for us. She enjoyed that

We left there and went to do the 4-H after school program.

The kids loved it. By the time Jessie got their sewing machine running we had to leave. I would love to transport her work station and machine with us…maybe someday.

We scheduled an after school program at a new location in Newark Yesterday. This was the first time at this location. everybody enjoyed it...we'll be back!

 4-H after school program. 

 On the way home Jessie reminded me someone was coming over to finish sewing pillows.                I Double booked. ..  

A young friend  is getting married in 15 days & she wanted to fix up her existing sofa with some new pillows…Jessie is helping her sew them. They are beautiful …

Did I mention I started my day at 4 am… at 9 Pm… I am finally done. Oh not yet... I want to Instagram the pictures of the day. 

Time to crash….

it's a new day ....quiet   ....4 AM and I am up writing this starting another day …
I need a nap….