"Somebody Threw My Paper Bag Away!!!"

Kathy is my wonderful friend and coworker, and I adore her! Her son, Chad, had a horrible wake-boarding accident several weeks ago. He was doing some kind of fancy flip and when he came down on the board, his hip pulled out of its socket, then roughly slammed back in. There was excess "energy" that transferred to his femur and snapped it. Gawd...just the thought makes me shudder! Hell, I don't even really know what wake-boarding is, but it apparently involves jumping around on a board...in a lake...and "wakes"....I don't want to know any further details - it's not for me! The good news is that he's young (21) and those youngsters heal quickly. I'd be down for years...but then again, I wouldn't be wake-boarding, right!!!! He's able to be on crutches, but can't put ANY weight on the leg. That means he can hobble from his "command center" (a recliner in the living room) to the bathroom and the refrigerator - two necessary (and related, LOL!) destinations! But since he isn't able to bear weight on the bum leg, he couldn't carry anything, like a tasty snack! So he found some kind of paper bag laying around the house that apparently suited his purposes, and I guess it must have worked pretty well since he was able to fit a plate in the bottom of it. Next thing he knew, someone had accidentally TOSSED his precious paper bag! Horrors! Kathy was telling me his sad story the next day at work. I'm guessing it must have had handles so he could carry it while "crutching" - Kathy was a bit "lite" on the exact details, but my brain was immediately jumping to "Make the kid a new bag!" I went right home and traced a dinner plate, made it a square, cut out two right-sized chunks of foam core board and taped them together (for extra stability). Foam core is very lightweight and I thought it would be perfect for this purpose. Then I fashioned a bag to fit the foam core board into. I grabbed the first halfway-manly fabrics I could find laying around (space critters and eyeballs), and quick-sewed (don't peek at the stitching!) what I thought might work, complete with handles. Here's a picture of the finished bag:

And here's a peek at the foam core board bottom:

Here's a shot of the opposite sides:

Kathy was thrilled (and a little misty) when I brought her the bag the next day. She took it home to him at lunchtime and told me later that he clutched it to his chest, saying "Mine....all mine" or words to that effect. I guessed it's worked fine for him, and it made him happy, Kathy happy, and me happy that I was able to use my sewing skills to craft something that they might never have been able to find for this very special, specific purpose. And isn't that the great thing about knowing how to sew? Yay for us "Sewists"!!!!!!

Kathy took pics of him using the bag, but she's on vacation for a couple of weeks - I'll try to post a pic of him, with bag, when she gets back. Doing unexpected good deeds is certainly good for the soul, don't you think?