I am so very excited about a project I have been working on, but shhhh, it’s a secret. I do hope to unveil it all after we get back from our trip, around the first week in June.

Hope all the mamas out there had a wonderful day yesterday!

This is one of my go-to gift giving gifts. They are fun and easy to make and hugely practical. This is the tutorial I used. I modified a few things. I added a bit extra for the height of the pockets as some of the tea bags I use are a bit taller and I was having a few problems with them sticking out the top. Oh, and I didn’t use interfacing either, and I think it ended up thick enough, but if you were using really thin fabrics, you would probably want to add it. And lastly, I used one of the girl’s hair elastics instead of making a strip to hold the button in place.

Last year I made quite a few of these for Mother’s Day gifts, and I think they were really well liked. I always have one in my diaper bag, just in case. Now in a moment of desperation for a good cuppa, all I have to do is find a cup of hot water.

I really do love these, and as they use such little fabric, they are great stash busters as well. Have fun making some. I’d love to see them if you do try.

Well, at least the store bought kind. This month for our One Small Change we are going to make our own salad dressing. I’ve been making my own ranch dressing for a while, but I’m going to branch out and try a bunch of different kinds. We will finish up what we have in the fridge, but I won’t be buying any more this month.

Last month went pretty well, not exactly how I had planned, but well all the same. We have had so much snow (got more today, ugh) and so much wind that I have not been able to start hanging out clothes out yet. I also didn’t get any air purifying plants for the house, but I did make more string bags and we planted a bunch of seeds to get out garden started.

So it wasn’t exactly what I was aiming to do, but I still feel satisfied that we made some progress. Hopefully soon I will have an update on the string bags. I had started one that just ended up taking entirely too long, so it was abandoned, but I do believe that I have found my go-to string bag for produce. I’ll tell you more next week.

Hope the weather is nicer where you are.

Last year was the first year that we did any serious gardening. I really do prefer to have my hands in the soil, but there were a few jobs where it would have been nice to have a good pair of gardening gloves, so this year I bought some. I love them, they are so bright and cheery, and they are leather rather than that plasticy, rubbery stuff which I would imagine would make my hands feel all sweaty and gross. This year, dealing with the prickly raspberry bush will be a much nicer task.

My friend Deb tells me that there really is no such thing as greenfingers so I just need to get out there and do it (well, she put it much nicer, but really that’s what I need to do). So here we are, a new spring to start working with. I’m throwing myself into it this year and though I expect plenty of failures, I’m hoping for more successes as well.

Look, some of the seeds have sprouted and we are on our way. Not brilliant pictures, but I was so excited to show you that at least I haven’t managed to kill them off yet.

I must admit, I still have this knot in the pit of my stomach that somehow I will manage to wipe them all out, but I’m giving it a go. We should learn plenty in the process, and besides, it sure is fun.

Yesterday the girls and I started planting up some tomato and pepper seeds.We had a break in the cold weather and snow (though it was still chilly) and I decided that now was the time. Quite frankly I have no idea what I’m doing with gardening. Last year was the first year we tried to grow anything, and it’s a miracle anything survived. No seriously, the only plants that did survive were the ones that I bought from the plant sale, so they already had a good start in life by someone who knew what they were doing.

So this year I decided to take out a little extra insurance. We bought some trays with those plant-straight-into-the -ground-peat-pots and we planted quite a few seeds. I daresay, way too many, but I figure that when half of them don’t make it, we’ll still have a decent amount of viable plants.

We didn’t have any markers so we improvised and used tiny clothespins meant for their art wires. They worked well. So now we’ve got tiny tomato and pepper plant seeds buried in moist, nutrient rich soil, just waiting to start their productive, fruitful, delicious lives. Fingers crossed that some make it.

What are some of your favourite things to plant?

I made this string bag a while ago, but promptly forgot about it in shuffle of everybody being so ill. I used this pattern, which was a breeze to crochet. I did add some extra rows in the middle as I wanted the bag to be a bit bigger, but otherwise it is the same pattern.

I had lots and lots of natural cotton, but I am thinking of dyeing it a brighter colour now that it is done and my stash is almost gone. This is the biggest bag (though it’s not huge) I’ve done and I really like it. I have intentions of getting one more bag done before the month is out, and I hope I’ll be able to get to it.

I love making my own bags, and this has been such a fun challenge as it is not something I’ve done before. Even though I have not had luck in finding a pattern to match what I need for big shops, these smaller bags will definitely have their place. For one, they’ll be easier for the kiddos to manage. They will be perfect for produce bags and also little gift bags. Several different little handmade string bags would also be perfect tied up with pretty ribbons for a gift.

Well, it’s supposed to snow again today and tomorrow, I am thankful that we are having days of springyness in between the cold, grey weather, but I will definitely be glad when it is more consistently warm. No real sign of spring here in the form of buds or anything green, but I am keeping a keen eye out.

What are your favourite signs of spring?

I have been looking for some sewing bits and bobs and trims to work on some clothes for the girls this spring/summer and I hit the jackpot at the thrift store. Here are several yards of very girly knit trim.

A stash of red buttons, 27 yards of red crochet trim, and some really pretty red floral fabric.

Several more yards of an ivory crochet trim,

and several sets of buttons to cover with fabric.

I paid 50 cents for the fabric (almost two yards) and 50 cents for the 27 yards of red crochet trim. Each button set was 12 cents and everything else was 25 cents a piece, so all in all I came out with some fantastic deals. I do believe I am ready to make some cute things for the girls as the weather gets warmer, and don’t you love it when all of your purchases happen to be in the same colour palette unintentionally? I know, kind of weird, but I do.

Here is my second string bag, and in a much more cheerful colour as well. I used this pattern, and though I followed the directions precisely, I don’t really see the resemblance to the picture. I do like it, and though it is a pretty small bag, I think it will be very useful.

So this is my dilemma, see this bag? My mom brought it home for me from Marks & Sparks last summer after her trip to England. I absolutely love this bag, it is the perfect size, it holds tons of stuff, and the opening is really big. I love the dual handles as it is perfect to throw over my shoulder, or carry in my hands, and using the short handles, the kids can handle it really well as well.

I am having a very difficult time finding a pattern to match this type of bag. Each bag I have made has a fairly narrow opening and I think it wouldn’t be such a problem if I hadn’t been spoiled with my green bag. The big issue is that for the same style and size, I can buy one cheaper than I could make one, assuming that I could even figure out a pattern that was similar.

I’m all for making my own, but it is slightly frustrating to know that I am paying more to make one that doesn’t match the ease of use as the one I really love. I think what I might do is make more smallish bags like this red one as they would come in handy for produce, or the kids carrying them etc. and then just buy some of the bigger ones which I really do love for bigger shops, or plants etc. that need more space and a much bigger opening.

On a side note, Hubby and I had a good giggle while watching Did You Hear About the Morgans? It is about a New York City couple who are sent to Wyoming while in the witness protection program. There were some really funny parts, and though we don’t have bears in our back yard, they absolutely nailed it when they said the sky out here is like nowhere else.

I’m feeling much better after the receptionist episode yesterday, but we’ll see how it goes today. After 2 1/2 years of having these braces on, and the fact that they were supposed to come off last September, I’ll believe it when I see it. Wish me luck!

Oh, and the kiddos are doing much better now, there are a few slightly runny noses, but the awful coughing is over and the ear infections are gone. It has been so nice here these last two days, with the temp in the 60′s, that we have spent most of our days outside, which has really helped with the cabin fever.

Well, I’ve rambled on long enough. Once I get a little more energy back I’ve got lots of projects on my to do list, can’t wait to show you.

I am so excited to be involved in Emily and Dawn’s String-a-Long Challenge.

I finally got my first bag finished last night and here it is. I used the Econo-Shopper Mesh Bag pattern over on Ravelry. I must admit, that I used the pattern for the main mesh part and then tweaked the handles as I preferred them flipped on the other sides. It wasn’t too hard, I just kind of figured it out as I went.

I just recently found this pattern for the brooch, and can I just say I absolutely adore it (but more on that later). Once I got the hang of it, it was really easy to whip out.

I’m not sure which pattern I’ll use next, but I’m going to have fun figuring it out. If anybody knows of any crochet string bag patterns, I would love to check them out. Sorry these recent posts are kind of short and to the point, still nursing my family back to health. Knock on wood, but I think the end is in sight.

A couple of weeks ago, a small hole turned into a giant tear in my daughter’s sheet. Instead of mending it, I decided to save it to use for other projects. I figured I would use some of it to make summer pj’s for the girls. These past two weeks have been filled with runny noses, and the three boxes of kleenex in the closet ( they were given to us this past summer) had finally run out.

Normally we use hankies, but I just don’t have enough to deal with this kind of onslaught. So what do you do when you have four little noses that have decided they are running a marathon and you need a massive amount of hankies fast?

You take your trusty rotary cutter and cut the torn sheet into strips, then squares.

Then you toss them all in a 25 cent thrift store basket and call it a day. I made each hankie 5" square so it’s perfect for one big nose blow. I only used about half of the sheet and got 160 hankies out of it, so let’s just hope that lasts the day.

On a side note, we took the babe in yesterday as her cough had gotten worse. The doctor said that for lack of a better term he was diagnosing her with bronchitis. She is now on antibiotics, and holding steady.