The one accessory I am rarely without is a flower for my hair~especially these hot summer days when I have to wear my hair up to stay cool. The twenty-some flower clips I own were a little hard to sift through quickly until I attached them all to bamboo skewers and put them in a vase. Not only is it the prettiest thing in my bathroom, I can pick a flower and run~I love efficiency!

I discovered the joy of sewing vinyl when I whipped out a few little bags to organize things in my purse. I have one for everything: receipts, gift cards, business cards, lip glosses. I even made one to hold little things I find while out and about.

How to make your own organizational pouch (“King Regent” pattern, shown above in upper right corner of pic):

1. Cut a rectangle of vinyl (5″x6″)
2. Choose  various colors of thread to embelish the outside, and sew lines or little pieces on
3. Fold three ways (along the 6 inch side) and pin down one of the folds (when you sew this will be the pouch part, the other part is the flap)
4. Sew up the sides to close in the pounch
5. For the flap edge, trim a curve and sew a decorative rim~or simply cut with pinking sheers
6. Sew a button on the pouch side, then dtermine where the hole should be on the flap
7. Cut a button hole with scissors or a blade
8. Repeat with all colors of vinyl and your purse will be cool and organized!

Until Tomorrow~Sarah

My Italian (flat) Parsley has grown totally wild in the garden. Time to pull it up. I love when the herb gets to this point because it means the roots are large enough to use for soup. Plus, Italian Parsley retains its fresh green color even when dry~that makes it a great herb to give as a gift. I pulled out huge handfuls and spent an hour trimming and drying enough leaves to share with friends and have enough to last the summer. For dinner I am making soup with hot bread. My husband will be psyched!

Pull parsley up by the roots. Trim off the leaves for drying, cut off roots and use for soup.

Put dried herbs in a pretty container and keep close at hand near the stove.

How to dry Italian Parsley:

1. Heat oven to 200ºF.
2. On a clean, dry cookie sheet evenly spread freshly trimmed parsley leaves
3. Place cookie sheet in warm oven for 15 minutes or until leaves are completely dry (They will be very brittle).
4. Carefully scoop leaves into a glass container to display with other seasonings. To give as a gift, simply add a pretty tag.

Until Tomorrow~Sarah

This printer’s tray has been knocking around in a closet for years now. Seriously, I am surprised I still have it. It was a gift from my mom when I was about 12. I kept all my miniature glass menagerie in it until I started high school. Well, let me tell you how happy I finally found a use for it. And a “pretty” use at that.

Keep your treads handy:

1. Buy a printers tray (search “antique printers tray” on Ebay or Craig’s List in your area) or a shallow shelf. Honestly, even this Bamboo Flatware tray at Target would work great.
2. Hang it on the wall near your sewing table. Not only is it handy, you can see all the colors better than when they are in a drawer and it’s pretty too!
3. Fill it up! I find the more colors I have the more creative I get with my sewing. I use a lot of the special stitches on my Viking sewing machine now and everyone is amazed. Really, the secret is knowing what I have and what my machine can do…but I don’t tell them that.

Until tomorrow~Sarah

I have been sewing a lot lately, and it is my tendency to trade up the colored thread on a minute-by-minute basis. You know~those of you out there who wonder about storing bobbins~that the more you handle bobbins the more tangled, lost and aggravating they become. Well, I have finally found a solution I want to share.

Keep Bobbins Neat and Organized On Bamboo Skewers:

Buy a bag of skewers at the supermarket and color a few (if you care to~I do!) from tip to tip with a permanent marker. I prefer about 5 bobbins per skewer.

Next you'll want to put a tape "stopper" to hold the bobbins toward the top of the skewer. Here I have my prescribed five bobbins on and tape stuck to mark where to begin.

Twirl the tape on until the mass is larger than the bobbin hole. This will stop the bobbins from sliding down to the bottom and falling off.

Once the bobbins are all on the skewers trim any loose threads. (Do this every time the threads get out of hand~it's that easy!)

Finally, put all the skewered bobbins in a narrow necked bottle and place on your sewing table. You'll be amazed how much simpler bobbin changing will be!

One last thing: I discovered I can take all my bobbins with me. Simply grab the whole shebang and lay them in your traveling case. A rubber band gently wound around the skewer tips can keep them from flying off. Happy sewing, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Until tomorrow~Sarah