{i see london, i see france...}

Happy mail. Special delivery. A good post day. Whatever you call it when something that is neither bill nor junk mail shows up in the postbox, this is it. From the moment I caught sight of all those red stamps on the outside of the envelope, I knew it was going to be good.

Inside the envelope was a map. Not just any map. My first map. 

It's a beautiful map of Lyon, France, and the surrounding area, from the 1960s. Ooh la la indeed. It was sent to me by a generous reader, Sophie, (merci!) who had no use for it as the map didn't quite stretch to include her hometown.

One of my favourite details is the town of St. Etienne. Though Justin has already firmly vetoed the name, I've always loved 'Etienne' for a little boy. (He's more into naming boys after ferocious animals -- Bear, Wolf, Komodo Dragon). Ah, well, now I can enjoy it on a map. Whatever I end up making, you can be sure that this section will be used.

Notice that the roads are all marked in red? Perfect! Clearly, it's quite a bumpy, twisty mountainous area, and I'm imaging many of these roads running along crests of the Alps. Who fancies a bit of skiing? (And a nice hot pain au chocolat afterwards...)

So now, (well, once we're home again) perhaps some of our map projects can start to take shape. Although I'm finding that it's much easier to think about cutting the maps up when you don't actually have any... in person, this one really does look quite nice whole!

{ikea hack: forty-nine cent tea towel bags}

How excited would you be if I told you that you can make a drawstring bag from a 49 cent tea towel? 

Well, double it! Yes, hold onto your Swedish meatballs, because I'm about to show you how to make not one but two bags from a TEKLA tea towel. 

Materials: (makes two)

1 TEKLA tea towel

2 lengths of string, twine or ribbon, each 20" long

Natural-coloured thread

P.S. If you can't get to an IKEA, or your cupboards are overrun with tea towels already, this pattern will work for most towels -- the finished size will just vary based on the proportions.

First, fold your tea towel in half lengthwise, so that the red stripe runs along the unfolded edge. Pin along both long edges, and across the tea towel on both sides of the middle.

Cut across the middle, in between the two lines of pins. This separates the tea towel into two, one for each bag.

You should now have two rectangles, each pinned on three sides. The unpinned edges will be the tops.
(The rest of the instructions are given for one bag -- simply repeat to make the second!)

Sew along all three pinned edges, leaving a 2" gap at the top edge of one of the long sides. This will allow you to add a drawstring top. Backstitch at the beginning and end.

Now, to add the drawstring. Take a length of string (approximately 20") and place it along the top edge of your bag.

Fold over the top edge and pin it, trapping the string in place. With the TEKLA towel, there is a seam along the top of the tea towel, so it looks neatest to fold over the seam -- no more, no less. With other tea towels, fold over 3/4" of fabric.

Continue pinning all the way around, until you reach the edge where you left a 2" gap. This will be where your string pokes out and allows you to open and shut the bag. Sew along the folded-over edge, backstitching at the beginning and end.

Trim the bottom corners, cutting them diagonally.

Turn the bag inside out, and fill!

We love to use ours for storing sets of Tilly's toys, for holding wool for my latest knitting project, for keeping fruit and snacks safe when we go out, for storing supplies from pompoms to rubber stamps, and for keeping fresh veggies in the fridge. Yes, drawstring bags are taking over our house!

And, after getting so much practice with the TEKLA towels, I had a go with one of the vintage linen beauties. This large tea towel, with a map of Bermuda, seemed perfect to accompany Justin on his next business trip to keep worn clothes in, and, perhaps, to let him dream of more relaxing places!

(Rather than cutting it in half, I simply folded it widthwise and then followed the instruction above, to make a larger bag.)

As always, if you give this a try, please stop back and let us know how it went!

Tin Is In

After a wander around the Navasota thrift shops yesterday, and many a horrified glance at the price tags, it's become apparent that battered old cans and rusty old tins -- especially tea tins -- are worth their weight in gold. Lucky for us, loose-leaf tea still often comes in tins, so your local supermarket might trump the antiques shops when it comes to bargains.

(source)

I love these ideas for bringing tea tins to the kitchen -- the perfect height to grow herbs in, and you can find them in colours to compliment any bouquet.

(source)

With a little more work, tins can be reincarnated as candles (I wonder if they smell like the teas when lit?), or with a lot more work, they can be wired up as retro lamps.

(source)

Can't find any tins of tea in the supermarket? These Japanese beauties (below) are available from TeaNote online... and the tea doesn't look bad, either!

(source)

Well, off to gulp down another cup of apricot tea -- only 3/4 of a tin left to go!

A Christmas Forest

Continuing in the Start Now and Be Ready for Christmas series, today I've got a tutorial for you on making Dr. Seuss-esque Christmas trees. Start now, and you could have a whole forest ready by December!

There are tons of books out there on repurposing old woollen sweaters, or recycling T-shirts. But where are all the books about what to do with grotty men's polo shirts in dismal colours that have shrunk and faded? If, like me, that's what you've got an excess of lying around, then grab your scissors! (If not, then really any green fabric will work: felt, cotton, fleece, old shirts, old scarves, old tablecloths...)

Sorry, Justin, this one has been kidnapped from your cupboard:

What you'll need:

• 2 scraps of green fabric, one at least 10" square, the other at least 4" square
• stuffing
• buttons
• green and red embroidery thread
• a pompom

Start by cutting a pizza-slice-shaped triangle out of the green fabric. Mine were about 10" in length down each side, with a 45 degree angle at the point. Smaller angles make thinner trees, larger angles make squatter, fatter trees.

Fold the triangle in half, lengthwise, with right sides together. Pin the sides together.

If the bottom corners don't quite match up, trim along the bottom edge so that they are even.

Stitch along the long side, where the two edges meet, from the point to the bottom edge using running stitch.

Turn the tree inside out, and place on top of the second scrap of fabric (wrong side up). Draw a circle around the base of the tree using a fabric pen, giving yourself about 1/2" of extra space.

Cut out the circle.

Pin the circle (right side down) to the base...

...leaving about a third unpinned, so that you can stuff the tree.

Fill with stuffing. I like to use a knitting needle to get stuffing all the way to the tip, which will help hold up the pompom. A bit of squidging every now and then should get rid of any lumps and bumps.

Once stuffed, pin the last third of the base in place, closing up the gap.

Blanket stitch all around the base of the tree, joining the two pieces together. (Not familiar with blanket stitch? Tutorial here)

And finally, decorate your tree! I like the look of pompoms on top, but a bell, felt star, or favourite ornament could work well, too. You could go with all-white buttons, and use colourful thread to sew them on, or use coloured buttons. If you've got children (or husbands) eager to get involved, perhaps let them pick out the decorations for a tree!

Even Pumpkin is getting in the holiday spirit!

I hope a few more dull shirts out there will get rescued from the backs of cupboards and reinvented as little festive forests. And, if you're looking for another Christmas craft idea to get you ready for the holidays, there's a brilliant Felt Christmas Card tutorial over at The Fable of the Table today... enjoy!

Creature Feature

The menagerie is growing.

Yes, it's time to stand up and admit it. I'm Astrid, and I'm addicted to making small furry creatures out of my clothes.

They always start off as intended gifts for someone. I cut, I pin, and everything's fine. But then I add the face, and it all goes out of the window, because once they have faces, I can't bear to part with them. It's the eyes. The big round stitched eyes. Begging to stay.

Anyway, today I'm about to break my hoarding tendency. I'm going to give one of you-- yes, YOU-- the latest fluffy little beastie, who was just finished up yesterday. Meet Potato:

"Potato?" you say. "That's a bloomin' rabbit."

Correct. But Potato is named after the style of skirt he was cut from.

"A Potato skirt?" you say. "I've never heard of it!"

Let me explain. While I was sewing last night, Justin was interested to see what I was making, and I told him it was a rabbit, out of an old skirt of mine.

"Which skirt was that?" he asked.

"The one that looked like a potato sack," I said.

"Oh, I liked that one!" he said.

Now, perhaps it's just me, but if you can describe a piece of your clothing as "the thing that looks like a potato sack" and people know what you're talking about, then you should not be wearing it. And perhaps, if your piece of clothing has an elasticated top and bottom, and you can wear it at five months pregnant, and it's made of wool, and you live in sweltering Texas, then maybe it's time that garment became a stuffed rabbit.

Yes, he has a big round felted red tail. You know you want him.

So, all I'm asking is that you just take a second to leave me a quick comment, a "hello" or a link to your own page, or whatever you'd like. I've been inspired by this post on connections, and would love to know who out there is connecting with me through these posts, and to connect with you back. Because I love that you're here reading. I love that my dailyness and silliness and stuffed rabbits matter to you.

I'll give it until next Thursday afternoon, a week from now... let's say 2pm... and pick a random number for who'll be getting Potato. Sound fair?