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!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
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!
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!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
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...
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...
Friday, February 20, 2009
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:
Enjoy...
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:
- Measure the rooms, window and door placement and furniture or anything that takes up floor space.
- Use graph paper to make a scale drawing or floor plan of the room, windows and doors only.
- Place it in a plastic page protector.
- On a separate piece of graph paper draw scale drawings of the furniture to make a template. LABEL IT! Cut the templates out.
- 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...
Friday, February 6, 2009
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
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
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