Correspondence

One of the things I am not good at is keeping up with correspondence. Send me an email - even a business email, and you'll be lucky to hear back in a week. Something about writing those emails is challenging for me, especially if I'm supposed to give information or make an appointment. It's not a one-sided problem. I have the same difficulty writing emails to ask for things. Receive an email from me asking for a favor or information or an appointment and you can be sure I spent a good week or more thinking about who to write to and what to write. Most likely, that email has been appearing on my to-do list for quiet some time. These delays make no sense to me, I cannot explain them, but I'm going to try to do something about them.

So, from today until the end of the year, I am going to try to develop a correspondence habit: devoting time every day to dealing with correspondence promptly and completely.

Wish me luck!

Mama day

I just finished whipping up a double batch of homemade deodorant following this simple recipe. Over the past few years, I've been slowly working towards a more natural lifestyle and the deodorant was another step in the right direction. I made some for myself about a month ago and am very happy with it. Works better than my old bar and only has four ingredients: corn starch, arrowroot powder, coconut oil, and a dash of vitamin E. I still sweat, but don't stink, not even after a 45 minute bike ride. So, one jar will be a potentially grossly inappropriate gift and the other is for a friend who'd like to try. Can't wait to hear what they think of it.

Today's a mama day. I work four days a week and have one at home with Peanut. We try to keep our weekends free for family fun (this week we're going to Brimingham, UK), so that means that Fridays are busy. We do a couple loads of laundry, change sheets, get groceries, and cook a good meal (with leftovers for the freezer). There's also usually a project in there like deodorant today.

Sometimes I feel bad that we don't do kiddy fun stuff - parks, pool, outings - but there just isn't time right now. Then I try to remind myself that despite having a mama who works four days a week, Peanut eats only homemade food, usually wears pants made by mama, and even plays with toys made by mama. Going to the park sounds great, but if it had to be at the expense of homemade meals, I think we'll pass for now. He won't remember the park, but his body is thriving on the good food and he's learning to appreciate all kinds of tastes. Besides, does this look like an unhappy child?



I think that me and the happy Peanut will be OK in the backyard for now.

Project #4

I have a confession. I'm a bag addict. I love to make bags. I don't need a bag. I just love to make them! When I came across this post, I knew I wanted to make one too. The original tutorial by Larissa was clear and easy to follow. I just kept the laptop near the table and read it as I worked. The whole thing probably took about three hours to put together.

The linen is my old favorite from IKEA. The contrasting fabric is something I found at the thrift store and was rather excited about. It's a heavy linen (I think) and there were about two yards of it. It had a tag from G.P. & J. Baker Ltd, which I did a bit of research about. It's a British home fabrics company. They're described here as "Well known since 1884 for their 'Baker Birds' in floral and leafy designs on traditional chintzes and linens" The pattern is a bit overwhelming in one piece, but when I cut out bits and framed them with the neutral linen, it looked a lot less stuffy. I tend to have a penchant for stuffy fabrics and then want to modern them up. It's a challenge.



I added a couple pockets under the flap and one on the back. I stitched around the pockets twice and left the edges to fray. The idea was that they will eventually match the strap:



Which is some interfacing sandwiched between the linen fabric (also thrifted) and the linen and then stitched together in rough rows. The idea for this type of strap came from a bag tutorial on this page of the Make Good Books site. (I'm dreaming about Linen Wool Cotton, by the way. Just want to get to see the pictures!) I used the bag yesterday and it's perfect for carrying two or three books and my wallet and coffee thermos. It might become a good dissertation research companion.

Why is this Project #4 you ask? I'm having a fabric storage and project idea overload issue, so I promised myself to complete four projects before buying any new fabric. #1 was a cherry pit bag cover for someone living in a cold place. #2 was a container that's cute, but too floppy. #3 was a pair of Peanut pants from the sleeves of a very warm sweatshirt that I finally admitted I will never wear. He probably won't be big enough for the pants until next year, but they're done and ready now.

Any suggestions for #5?

Peanut Pants on Parade

Three pair of pants and three stories. These were Peanut's summer pants and he got great wear out of them. I was inspired this post over at SouleMama to make some light summer pants and they came out great. I used a pattern from Knippie, a Dutch sewing magazine. I love the detail in this pattern, especially the panel on the back, which gives the pants a tailored look.



The linen pair is my favorite and a real crowd pleaser (although that was probably the model more than the pants). I'm pretty hooked on this sturdy linen from IKEA, which has also featured here and here. They washed nice and soft. The patches are quilting material from my stash. I learned a lesson about the different qualities of cotton out there. The green is quite thin and the yellow nice and thick. Will be more careful when I buy material next time.

The blue aloha pants are from material that my sister sent me when she was living in Hawaii. We went to her wedding this summer and it seemed only appropriate that Peanut wear something that celebrated the place where she and her husband met and fell in love.



The bottom pair were specially made wedding pants using material recovered from a pair of thrift store pants. I was trying to go for a cute, classic look without getting into wool. These had a bit of stretch that made them easier to get over that cloth diaper bum, too.

All in all, the "make pants for peanut" summer project was a huge success. These were favored over all others in his wardrobe. I'm sad that the pattern isn't any bigger and that I'm not ready for pattern size changing on my own yet (but maybe someday soon). We're retiring them now, which means it's time to think about winter pants!

Iraqi Bundles of Love

One of the things I've been thinking about lately is the fact that I don't do as much giving back as I would like to. That means volunteering, donating, or generally supporting good people doing good things. One of my barriers if finding projects that I believe in. Imagine my happiness on finding this one yesterday.

It's a simple concept, put together a bundle of sewing supplies and send them to someone who needs them. Here's how the US Soldier who thought of the project describes it:

Iraqi Bundles of Love is a short-duration project, set to last about six weeks, originally intended to surge fabric and sewing (and knitting!) materials into the area around which I live in Iraq. It is timed to coincide with both Ramadan, and the departure of my units from Iraq. If you’re reading this, well — it’s kind of grown. It’s going to help a little bit more of northern Iraq than just the area around where I live.

After putting together my package this morning, I went to check his blog again in order to prepare this post. The pictures are so neat. There is a lot of enthusiasm for this project in the blogging sewing community. After looking at the pictures, I had a moment of guilt. My bundle is quite a bit smaller than the others - and the ribbons don't match. But you know what? I don't have loads and loads of fabric or ribbon. My bundle does, however, contain materials to make at least one piece of clothing: about 5 yards of cotton, thread, needles, pins, scissors, buttons, a zipper, and a couple other bits and bobs. So - it's going in the mail! Hope it makes someone happy.

Maybe one of you (or someone you know) will decide to send a package to! If you're in the Netherlands, the good news is that there's a Dutch mailing address for your package, too!

Train Observations

Yesterday on my train ride to work, I saw many interesting people - always do. Two of them, though, inspired the following:

I saw two way so for Dutch men to deal with their mid-life crisis today. One is the young look. Pink G-star t-shirt tucked into your G-star boxer shorts, worn peaking out over the top of your white cargo shorts. The bold fashion statement will direct attention away from your paunchy belly and thining grey hair.

The second look is the artsy look: tight white v-neck t-shirt to show off a little chest hair, cargo pants, and 'spensive white leather shoes worn with black socks. A nice long greying ponytail and reading glasses with red plastic frames help complete the look. Women love being able to see your nipples when you're sixty-plus.

This felt like it was worth a (brief?) return to blogging. Also I've been sewing up a storm but am too overwhelmed with vacation pictures to actually take pictures of any of my own work to post anymore. This much be corrected soon!

Healthy Crazy Food?

My post about the crazy spaghetti hotdogs has elicited a couple of hilarious comments. In an email response I had a brainstorm for a great healthy alternative for moms (or anyone else) who loves the idea but doesn't eat hot dogs: tofu and soba noodles. Construct the creatures following the hotdog idea and dress with a sesame peanut sauce (I'll put a recipe below). Garnish with some sliced green onions. If you only use the green part of the onions, they're fairly mild and kiddies probably won't mind. There you go - healthy crazy food!

Sesame Peanut Sauce

1 Tbsp peanut butter
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

Mix it up. Add oil to thin, soy sauce to salt.
These amounts are pretty much a shot in the wind guess, but it gets the proportions about right.

So - if you give this a try, please let me know how it goes! Of course, I could always consider trying recipes before posting them.