The problem with sewing cute tote bags is that I want to keep them all! We’ve been going on a lot of picnics lately, and this would be so much fun to take along. Alas, I can’t keep everyone I make. Details over at kundhicreative.etsy.com.
can you spare a square?
Our knitting guild is making squares and putting them together as a blanket for folks at the People City Mission. Our first blanket it being crocheted together by the very generous Jennifer. We hope to have enough squares by the end of the year to make a second blanket. My personal goal is one square a month. I made that goal and have six squares in this blanket. I’m going to work hard to do the same for the second one.
I know there are tons of knitting for charity sites around, but if you can spare a square (or a few), our guild would love to have them! All they need to be is 8 x 8 inches square and knit out of washable and dryable yarn (i.e., acrylic). Leave a comment if you are interested in helping out!
father’s day gift #2
When I was in college, I had an oversized barn jacket that I just loved. When T and I moved in together, he decided that he loved it, too. When the weather turned cold, I’d reach into the closet for my jacket only to find T was already wearing it. I figured the only way to get my jacket back was to get him one of his own. It worked. I gave it to him for his birthday and he started wearing it immediately. I got my jacket back!
One day, we noticed a hole in his pocket. It was pretty big and right in the middle. He couldn’t remember snagging it on anything. A few days later he had another hole. It was bizarre. He backtracked through his day, remembering when he was wearing it and what he was doing. Nothing special had happened all the way up to when he came home and put it on the back of the dining room chair. We went over and took a look at it. I examined the pocket, found a roll of mints inside and figured it out!
Chloe LOVES mint. She will do anything for it. Catnip pretty much does nothing for her, but mint? It makes her go crazy. Crazy enough to chew a hole through a brand new barn jacket pocket to get her fix.
T continued to wear the jacket, but the hole started to fray. Once it started looking ragged, he saved the jacket for weekends and outside chores. He was back to wearing my barn jacket the rest of the time. That was before we were even married. A lot of time has passed and he still only wears his jacket for things like shoveling snow, cutting down Christmas trees, etc. I decided to fix it for Father’s Day.
It wasn’t too hard, but it was time consuming. I had to rip all the double stitched pockets carefully, cut them up, rearrange to hide the holes, and then restitch them together. Then I had to do the same thing to the other side so it didn’t look weird. I tried to find complimentary or contrasting fabric, but had no luck. I am kind of bummed that the underneath fabric was so much darker. The jacket has seen a lot of sun and is really faded. Overall, though, I like the end result. He did, too, by the way. And he plans to keep it in the closet from now on.
mmm… homemade salsa
Tonight we stayed in and grilled up some salmon for dinner, along with some steamed asparagus and baked potatoes. Our menu seemed a little dull, so I decided to jazz it up a bit with some salsa for the salmon. I imagine this would also taste great on grilled chicken.
Tomato, Basil and Mandarin Orange Salsa
Adjust amounts to taste. I didn’t measure when I made this, so these are approximations.
1 large tomato
1 mandarin orange
10 chopped basil leaves
1 T finely diced onion
1 T white wine vinegar
1/2 t kosher salt
Cut and de-seed the tomato, then dice. Peel the orange. Using a serrated knife, thinly slice off the pith (the white, thread-like stuff attached to the inside of the peel). Then dice, cutting between the sections. Combine the tomato and orange with the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate for 20 minutes. You can whiz it in a food processor a bit if you don’t want it so chunky. Serve on grilled salmon or chicken. This would also taste good on bruschetta!
father’s day gift #1
T’s Dad already got his Father’s Day gift. Man, Priority Mail is fast! I just sent it Tuesday afternoon!
Last week I was cruising through my RSS feeds, found this cute tutorial for handmade hankies, and thought these would be perfect for my father-in-law. I used some brown and white cotton fabric from my stash. The rolled hem was easier than I thought it would be and didn’t take long at all. I hope it holds, though. This was my first try and I’ll be so embarrassed if they unravel!
I’m busy working on my other handmade Father’s Day gifts. Time is running out. I hope I don’t have to gift any works in progress!
tutti frutti tote bag
When I was little, we used to go to a snowball stand on Joppa Road called My T Fine Snowballs. I remember the tutti frutti flavor was this brilliant, saturated blue color—kind of like my latest tote bag. Details over at kundhicreative.etsy.com.
floral tote bag
Remember the daisy tote bag? I’ve been working on this pattern a bit. I wanted to give it a little more structure and eliminate the hand stitching on the straps. I’m also messing around with the gusset size. Here’s a look at number two:
I’m making my third one right now. The second one was 75% reclaimed fabric (I bought a fat quarter of the floral fabric. I couldn’t resist!) The third one will be 100% reclaimed fabric. Stay tuned for pics!
p.s. The floral tote isn’t for sale. It was a birthday gift for Lauren.