www.flicker.com/photos/tkohandbags

I have posted a few things on flickr...check them out...

I also added 4 new tampon cases to www.tkohandbags.etsy.com check them out while you out and about.

enjoy the week...TK

I was a diaper bag-a- holic

That is the real reason that I got into the design business, I was picky! I liked my diaper bags a certain way, lots of pockets, plenty of room, not so large that it weighted me down, open top for easily accessible, and CUTE. During my son's first year I had at least 6. Yes 6! I had my favorites though. I made them, I washed them and USED them!!! Now I make them for other keeping in mind all of the things I loved about mine. I have added new bags to my etsy shop this last week and they have been a hit. I'm really excited about them. Take a look... www.tkohandbags.etsy.com or at my flickr page... http://www.flickr.com/photos/tkohandbags/

THE ONE WOMAN SEWING FIESTA

I had a fun filled day of sewing!! I called it my “ONE WOMAN SEWING FIESTA” I should have served salsa. I made two bags and a tampon case. It was great getting back in the groove of things I have been out for a while. Even though every so often I had to stop an watch/fix/help with something on Playhouse Disney dot com, it was a great feeling.

The two bags have already been added to www.tkohandbags.etsy.com . Check them out. I would love o hear feedback…

OOOOhhh I have a snicker doodle recipe I will share in a day or two…yummy…

tk

What a DIP!

I came from a dip family... instead of comfort foods we have favorite dips. As a child growing up we did not have many (or any) snack foods in the house. We were a family raised on goodness from our garden. So, on Saturday nights we were treated; we got to choose one thing, any thing, to make. We always choose some sort of chips and dip or appetizer. Now that we are all grown up. We have a competition on Christmas Eve, as to who can come up with the best new dip. We are always testing and so, I consider myself quite the connoisseur of these types of food. I have a picture of my sister at age four, with a freshly casted, broken arm trying to figure out how to maneuver her arm from the bag of chips, to the ranch dip, back to her mouth and keep her arm elevated all at the same time. We are hard core dippers! We probably need a twelve step program.

A friend of mine introduced me to this dip at a Christmas party.

AaaHaaa, new material to try on the family!

I had just a small amount of it, because I was having some medical testing that required a special diet and this was not allowed. What a time for a restricted diet! The last few weeks, I have had this dip on my mind. The past two weekends we have had company at our home, knowing my husband would not eat the dip, I waited to share the goodness. I prepared the dip both weekends with rave reviews. Try it out and see what you think...

Zesty Fiesta Sausage Dip

1 pkg. Regular Flavor Jimmy Dean Pork Sausage
1 cup chopped onion
1 jar (16 oz.) yellow banana peppers, drained, seeded and finely chopped
3 pickled jalapeno peppers, seeded, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)
16 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup finely chopped sweet red pepper (I used a green bell pepper)
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves (optional)
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onion tops (optional)
chips or crackers
Directions:
In a large skillet, cook sausage and onion over medium-high heat, stirring frequently until meat is thoroughly cooked and no longer pink. Stir in banana peppers and jalapeno peppers; cover and cook 1-1/2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, stir in cream cheese; cook uncovered until heated through (about 5 minutes). Fold in red pepper; add optional ingredients if desired. Serve warm in a chafing dish, with chips or crackers for dipping. Garnish with diced tomato and cilantro or green onion if desired.
Serving Size:
Makes about 5-1/2 cups

Eating Captin Chruch and missing my collage roomates...

I just finish up my lunch... a piece of fab pizza and mass amounts of steamed vegetables. I had a little sweet tooth and remembered I had some Cap'n Crunch in the pantry that I had bought my son. So, I grabbed a little handful and....

Blaauuu...Crunchberries are so GROSS.

Apparently, I picked up the kind with crunchberries...Ahhh Crunchberries (nostalgic eye fluttering)...crunchberries always remind me of Heidi and Natalie my college roommates. Our first year we lived in the dorm together, we would go to the cafeteria and have breakfast, lunch and dinner together everyday. For breakfast, in addition to our meals, we would all share a bowl of dry Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries. I would eat the Crunch and the others would eat the Berries. We had the best time and laugh, oh my we would laugh. Oh those were the days. I miss those girls! Isn't it funny that certain things trigger memories.

Here's another weird memory maker I have... The smell of cattle trucks (I was behind one yesterday)...AHEM....The smell of Big 18 wheelers loaded down with cows make me think of my wonderful dad. He ran a dairy when I was young and he often smelled like cow poop. Somehow, I don't really mind that smell. Funny Huhh?

Have a great afternoon...

Mudding and Tee ball and Oxiclean!

Every day is an opportunity to make a new happy ending. ~Author Unknown



Interesting Weekend...Busy Weekend...Until last night it had been 10 days since I/we had been home at night. I spent my Saturday evening judging a Beauty Pageant...excuse me a Scholarship Pageant. It was really a lot of fun. I was the only non-professional judge there. I have a background in fashion, apparel and textile design, I guess that is why I was chosen. I would like to do more of the pageant judging. One thing I found interesting...We were given a resume with the contestants activities, achievement, honors, etc for the interview section. More than one girl wrote mudding as an activity. What? These lovely young ladies...are doing what...



This is what I found...Thanks to Wiki...

"Mud bogging, also known as mud racing, mud running, mud drags, or simply mudding; is a form of off-road motorsport popular in Canada and the United States in which the goal is to drive a vehicle through a pit of mud of a set length. Winners are determined by the distance traveled through the pit or, if several vehicles are able to travel the entire length, the time taken to traverse the pit. Typically, vehicles competing in mud bogs are four-wheel drives."



I was afraid of that... Why on earth would these young ladies entered in a beauty pageant want me to think of them in a mud pit? Immediately that's how I saw them, covered head to toe in mud, beautiful eyes sparkling and brilliant white teeth glowing. What happened to beauty queen contestants longing for world peace? Nope now they are all in mud pit in their jacked up 4X4's.



I am generalizing there, but it still makes me laugh. Most of the girls were polite, well groomed, politely polished, well spoken and talented. It takes tons of guts to get out there and put yourself out like that. I admire them for that. The top three contestants left with over 5000 dollars in college scholarships. It was a great experience! And I brought something back for my classes to learn. "When filling out resumes, always make sure the event or activity makes you shine in the best light."



On the tee ball home front... My little boy's team is the youngest of all 7 teams. In this league returning members are placed on the same team as the year before. So many signed up this year that a new team was formed, my sons team. Therefore their are no returning members. So it is made up of all 4 and 5 year olds. Most of the other team members are already 6 years old. I'm not sure this is the best way to go about choosing up teams, but we love it and we are going with it. His team is just figuring out the basics...where is first base? ... How to put your glove on your hand, not on your head...Where the bathrooms are two innings into the game... you know the important stuff...Other teams are using strategy and getting double plays. So needless to say we have not won a game. We did have one tie, it was so darn cold half the kids were crying and the game was called at a tie 20 minutes into it. It is a learning experience and they all seem to love it. and HEHEHEH next year we will be the team to beat because we have the bigger/older/2nd year players.



BTW: OXICLEAN



This stuff works. I have always been apprehensive of purchasing the stuff. BUY IT! Here are a couple of the nonscientific test I have run on Oxiclean.



1. A Easter egg purple size 4T Polo (yes, little horse and everything) shirt: a little person used a red pen as a back scratcher and somehow red scribbles appeared in a...lets call it, a 2"x5" area. I used hottest tap water I could, put it in a large bowl, don't fill with water too high...when you add the Oxyiclean to the hot water it bubbles...a lot. Put the shirt in and left it to soak for about 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes most all of the ink was gone. I used an old toothbrush I have around for cleaning odd things and scrubbed the remaining ink. Most of the remaining came out. I left it to soak again for about 15 minutes. When I returned it was completely gone. I washed in the washing machine as usual.



2. Grass stains on baseball pants: I boiled water in a large pot about half full with water. Turned off the heat and added the Oxiclean. It bubbled again...a lot. As soon as I added the badly grass stained pants there were green particles left on the top of the bubbles. It worked that fast. Leave the pants to soak for about 30 minutes, scrub with brush, leave to soak, scrubb with brush...repeat till clean. I think I scrubbed and soaked three times. Most of it came out the first time. Then I washed as normal and the pants were good as new.



I have also used the Oxiclean just in the washing machine and mild grass stains came out, as well.



Have a great Wednesday...Enjoy...TK

Quotes of the Day:

**=**I'm a material girl - want to see my fabric collection? ~Author Unknown **+**

**+**Those who sleep under a quilt, sleep under a blanket of love. ~Author Unknown **+**

I have been experimenting with different cosmetic bags for the last few weeks. It has been on my brain (a lot)for,...hummmm much longer than that. I did not want the typical square, zip at the top, little bag. I have three ideas working and in various stages of production and use to insure it is a workable design. I also have a studio mess...what am I talking about...I was cutting new patterns in my living room floor the other night... so I was multitasking, RIGHT! ...family and designing, yet also spreading my mess. Yeeesh... yet our lives are filling up with things to do and more things to do and it's slowing my design process. I can't wait for a whole Saturday to SEW< SEW< SEW!!! Check my etsy shop at tkohandbags.etsy.com for the new cosmetic bags when they arrive, I'll also post here... Enjoy!

It's Hot, Hot, Hot, actually it's up to you...

Quote of the Day...

There is one thing more exasperating than a wife who can cook and won't, and that's a wife who can't cook and will. ~Robert Frost

This year in class I had my students make hot sauce, salsa, picante etc...We discussed differences and make several recipes in class. Then students were to add or take away from my basic recipe to develop their own. Some of them turned out great...Some not so great. Some students learned to add only the leaves of the cilantro instead of the whole thing, stem and all. It tastes a little like fresh mowed grass smells if you add the stem. So here is the basic recipe, given to me by my friend Lisa.

Lisa’s Hot Sauce

1 large can (or two small) whole Tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
1 jalapeno
1 teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons onion,
½ tsp dried red pepper

In a blender combine garlic, salt, red pepper and jalapeno. Blend. Add Tomatoes and onions.

Note: For chunkier salsa use a food processor (instead of blender) and leave out the juice from the canned tomatoes. I also like to add cilantro, and extra garlic, maybe a little cumin.

ENJOY!

Quote of the Day:

Our hearts are drunk with a beauty our eyes could never see. ~George W. Russell

Bonus Quote Today in honor of Baseball:

I'm convinced that every boy, in his heart, would rather steal second base than an automobile. ~Tom Clark

I love making bags, bags of any kind...I have been on a make-up bag roll lately, I'm trying to perfect my pattern. I'm getting there, slowly. Today I saw an adorable make-up bag of one of my students, very inventive. I found myself asking her if I could take a picture of it for inspiration. I need help...Next it will be stranger on the sidewalk or stopping a car going down the road just because I see a cool bag in the seat next to them. Ha ha. Have a great day! My little one has his first T- Ball practice today and we are all so excited. Enjoy your lives, the alternative is not as fun...

TIP of the WEEK: Are you a Re-Arranger?

Quote of the Day: He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I used to be a furniture re-arranger, I have kind of setteled down these days. I still move the bedrooms about once a year. In the beginning I used to get a wild hair and go to moving everything without much of a plan in mind. But, after several tries at eyeballin' it to see if something would fit, mostly it did not, I learned a lesson. Make a floor plan. I teach an Interior Design Class for high school students. They laugh when I tell them I have permanant diagrams I use to rearrage the furniture for every room in my house. If your a re-arranger READ ON>>>


On to the tip, here's how I do it:

Here's what you need:

• pencil and scrap paper to jot measurements down on
• a tape measure
• graph paper
• scissors
• plastic page protector
  

Here's what to do to make your own:

1. Measure the rooms, window and door placement and furniture or anything that takes up floor space.
2. Use graph paper to make a scale drawing or floor plan of the room, windows and doors only.
3. Place it in a plastic page protector.
4. On a separate piece of graph paper draw scale drawings of the furniture to make a template. LABEL IT! Cut the templates out.
5. Then place tape or sticky tack on the furniture templates and you can move your furniture all around on the plastic page protector without the muscle.

Enjoy...

The Genetic Connection of the Seamstresses

My thoughts of the Day...
Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel. ~Author Unknown

From the Mirriam Webster Online Dictionary-
Seamstress: a woman whose occupation is sewing

If the dictioanry only knew...Here's MY defination...

Seamstress: a creative, loving, artistic woman, who is good with her hands, good with her mind and good with her machine. She can tell stories with the gifts she had made, and she can love something so much she wants to give it away. She sees the blessing as being able to see people's eyes light up when they are pleased with her product. It is definately more than an occupation...

Sewing is really in my genes. I love to sew. When I go for a time with out sewing, I feel this need to create something. I don't sew clothing, maybe an A-line skirt or two, in my life. I just don't enjoy it. My mother and Grandmother were/are professionals in the sewing industry. My grandmother was a seamstress. She left home after high school in the late 1930 and moved to Dallas with an aunt that was barely older than she. My Grandmother taught sewing lessons while there and also worked at the Frito Lay plant, putting peanut butter crackers together. As a child I always thought that was funny. I cannot picture my grandmother doing this. I have always seen her working in her sewing room in her home. It was a place of wonder for me. I was always amazed at what she could design. She had yellowed newspaper clippings hanging around and could make a garment look exactly like the picture. She was a genius when it came to clothing. My mother owns her own custom drapery business. She contracts with interior designers, mostly, to make drapery. I love looking at the fabric she has received and the finished products in the homes. She is a master at what she does. All of her work is precise and amazing. My mother sewed a lot when I was young, then took a break and conqured other crafts. She returned to sewing professionally in her early 50's.

My sewing story began 20 something years ago. Simply, I was a toddler and my mother and Grandmother would make my clothing. I would hang around in the sewing room while they worked. I can remember them making my pagent dresses when I enterted our community's local pagent at the age of 3. The first thing I was allowed to sew was...drum roll please...a coloring book page. I had colored, if I remember correctly, it was Goofy the Disney Dog. My grandmother lined it with red fabric and I was allowed to use the serger to bind the edges together. After I conqured that, she cut up cloth and I made dish towels. My first pattern to complete was in a High School Home Economics Class. I made a shirt, something similar to a bowling shirt and shorts, WORN ONCE, thank you very much! In college I had a similar experience with a bowling shirt required for a class. Never worn! About this time I started experimenting with non-apparel patterns. Ahhhh much better, I love this kind of sewing. Fast forward a few years. It was in my first couple of years teaching I found a tote bag pattern online, we made it in a sewing class I taught. I altered the pattern and made a smaller purse. I bought another pattern, made a different bag. I experimented with different fabrics, linings and interlinings, closures and straps. I began making them for friends and family. Freinds and Family began to buy them from me. This was the begining of my obsession and my business. Bags. I like the whole process of designing the bag. Picking and laying out the fabrics and seeing the final product complete.

This is my first venture at blogging, so check back. I plan to include funny things from my life, (like tripping in the parking lot yesterday:), recipes, patterns, sewing projects, family fun and more. Enjoy ! ~TK