Getting Green

I know that I'm not as green as I could be. But there's been a subtle and dramatic transformation in my awareness of "green" -- and more eco-savvy and responsible -- living in the past year. I've made small changes here and there, and I know there are more steps I could take.

No longer needing the cardboard sleeve for each and every coffee-shop coffee I buy may sound like a really small thing. But it has become an important thing for me. My barristas know that I almost always have my own coffee sleeve with me so that they can "save the cardboard."

We started making coffee sleeves last November. We spent a lot of time prototyping sizes and angles and templates to get a good fit on many major coffee chain cups. And since then, we've been selling our sleeves at the Camano Island Coffee Roaster in Washington.

The night we made the very first ones, they weren't perfect. The edges didn't totally match up. They were a bit shorter than we decided they should ultimately be. But... they were awesome. We were so excited, but we needed to see them in action.

My local Starbucks is, honestly, just down the (very steep) hill and around the corner. Unfortunately, however, it's only open until 7:30. We had just enough time to run out, buy three coffees, and give the new sleeves a try. It was an exciting moment in our collaboration - and a moment of us putting our vision for piecing and color together with something immediately useful and functional... and green.

The one problem with quilted coffee sleeves is that you have to be careful not to toss them out when you toss the cup into the recycling bin. It happens... and when it happened to mine, when someone accidentally tossed mine out and didn't realize it until much later, it was a sad moment. It had been my first one, my slightly imperfect but cherished prototype, the one with the perfect piece of dotted selvage in it. Such things happen, of course...

Now, Opal and I both have new ones (shown above).

For the holidays, I made and gave a number of coffee sleeves, even one very special one with a print of Matthew's Pokemon drawings. I have one I've been meaning to make with the logo of a company I work for embedded in the patchwork piecing. The ideas... are endless.

If you're looking for a simple way to go greener, consider a Here2There coffee sleeve. We don't have them at Etsy right now, but if you're interested, email us at here2thereart AT gmail.com, and I'll give you the info. It's a minimal investment. It makes a great gift for yourself, for a coworker's birthday, or for Mom for Mother's Day (with a sweet Starbucks gift card - the current design is even bird-themed).