Bag lady...

Hello!

The sun is finally peaking through the clouds after a rainy night and morning, and I am so thankful it is because tonight is the big "Räbelichtliumzug" in our village. This is an annual event whereby the kids carve turnips, aka Räben, put a candle inside them and carry them on a stick through the village with their school class. It is kind of like carving a jack-o-lantern except it is taboo to cut entirely through the fleshy bits of the turnip. And I have to say, these turnips must have growth hormones or something because the one we carved this year is about the size of a small soccer ball! Needless to say, I wasn't looking forward to parading around the village in the rain, so am VERY happy to see the sun shining this afternoon! Below is an image from Google for other Räbelichtli since I haven't taken a picture yet of Miss A with her monster...

BUT, this post is not really about Räbelichtli!! I wanted to share a few of my recent bags that I was busy making on the weekend. I think I made 7-8 bags this weekend, along with a few key chains using some of my new key chain fobs that I got on our recent trip to the US. I do miss all the "stuff" from the US that is just so unbelievably expensive in Switzerland...

I found this cute box pouch on Pinterest (used this tutorial)

I love this gathered clutch also found on Pinterest (from this tutorial)

The flower print bag shown above is one I designed on the weekend and in spite of the work involved, I just LOVE IT!!  It uses the same concept of gathering the bottom but then I added a top piece to sew a little outside zipper pocket into (for keys, phone, etc) and it has 4 small pockets inside for credit cards, etc. It is also a bit larger than the other clutches to allow for a few more essentials that all women need to carry with them (and yes, we NEED our lotions and potions, dear men in our lives!). I'm thinking the next one I make like this will have a thin strap that one can hang on/across the shoulder. One of these days, I will get my act together and put together a tutorial for it...

Hope you are all having a good week so far! I'll be back soon with more sneak peaks at some of the things I'm making for our market!

J xx

Christmas is coming!!!!!!

Wow, time has sure flown by and I've been pretty pathetic about posting anything... Guess that's what happens when you go on vacation for a couple weeks, have a hobbling hubby who has two partially torn ligaments in his ankle and have two adorable (yet demanding) kiddos; oh and a house that needs cleaning every once in awhile!

So, this will be a short post to let you know I am back in action and BUSY preparing lots of goodies for our Arts & Crafts Christmas Market that we plan to have at my house at the end of November. My lovely neighbor and I did this a couple of years ago after determining that the somewhat larger Christmas markets were not as much fun (more foot traffic, but less purchases for the time invested). We are so excited to have five vendors this year, including ourselves, all selling handmade products from jewelry to paintings to handbags to scarves...and lots of other bits and bobs, too! I've been cranking away this week making cards and tags and will try to post some in the coming days. I seriously wish I could clone myself for the next 4 weeks!

Hope you are well and gearing up for the holiday season!
J xx

Fun with wax cloth - tote and zipper pouch

It has been a fun morning in the sewing room for me! I completed a tote bag with a recessed zipper top (first one ever made...!) and a small zipper pouch, both made from red & white polka dot wax cloth. I love that stuff but it can be a bit challenging to sew if one doesn't have the right footer on the sewing machine. I learned the hard way last year...fabric didn't move through the footer and ended up looking TERRIBLE! Now I have a good teflon-coated footer and all is well!

I love how they both turned out! I found a cute metal dragonfly in my stash of stuff  and put it on the outer pocket of the tote and stitched some little loops to look like it was flying. This pocket also has a magnetic close to help keep those little bits and bobs inside the pocket. I found this tutorial from the blog My Spare Time to show how to sew a recessed zipper. To be honest, I am glad the first one is done as I've been too scared to try it on any other bags. I'm happy to say it was much easier than I expected :-)!

Here are a few more close up photos:

Recessed zipper tote - size approx 16 in h x 15.5 in w

Inside of zipper tote bag

Zipper pouch with handle - size approx. 9in w x 5.5 in h

I have more projects in process and will post more soon!

Jxx

DIY Tag tree: 40 Reasons why you are...SPECIAL!

One of my dearest friends in Zurich celebrated the BIG 4-0 last week and because she is such a wonderful, caring person who would do ANYTHING for ANYONE at ANYTIME, we wanted to do something extra special for her to let her know how much she means to us.

Being the crafty one of our little group of gals, I thought it would be fun to make 40 tags stating all the reasons why she is so special to us (of course, we could have come up with more but thought we should restrict it to 40 for 40!). Over a coffee and chat, we had fun stamping, punching, stitching and gluing tags with what all we came up with. Then we rummaged through my house for the perfect vase (that just so happened to have perfectly matching sprays of fake flowers), added some curly hazelnut branches from lovely Nicole's yard, tied all the tags to the branches, added a bit of burlap-type fabric around the vase with some coordinating ribbons and VOILÀ, here's the result:

Yvette was so happy with it and she told me today (almost a week after receiving it) that she still hasn't been able to read all the tags because she gets too emotional! 

I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends here in Zurich since our families live more than 4500 miles away. Thank you to all my lovely ladies for your kindness, help in times of need, and also all those enjoyable coffee mornings that we couldn't live without!!!!  May God bless you all!

J xx

Handmade gifts featured on "The 36th Avenue"

As the rain and cooler temps return to Zurich, after what turned out to be a beautiful, warm and sunny summer, I am starting to think of the holidays... I know you must be saying to yourself that it is only the beginning of September (well, almost!) and there's 4 months until Christmas! Well, I have set myself a goal to make homemade gifts this year (yikes!), as well as holding a little Christmas market at my house in early December similar to what we did a couple years ago (see previous market post here).

When trolling through Pinterest (something I do on a daily basis...often multiple times a day... yes, call me an addict!), I came across the following photo and link to The 36th Avenue blog. Oh boy, does it have some amazing DIY ideas from handmade gifts to DIY furniture makeovers. I do believe that I will be following this blog on a regular basis!

If you are up for a bit of DIY Christmas presents or think you would like to do something special for your home, I highly recommend checking this blog out. I've put the links for the handmade gifts, parts 1 and 2, below for your convenience.
Link to: 25 Handmade Gifts part 1
Link to: 25 Handmade Gifts part 2

Let's all get creative this year and make something special for our loved ones!

J xx

Discover - Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap

I'm finished! Here's my postcard that will be sent tomorrow to another swap participant in South Carolina! I had to incorporate a few Swiss mountains into it :-)! If you are interested in seeing other swap cards for inspiration, you can check them out on the Great Big Stitched Postcard Flickr page.

Have a great day!
J xx

Recipe: Quinoa & Vegetable Stuffed Zucchini

I love summer - sunshine, swimming in the lake, playing with the kids and loads of fresh fruits and veggies at their prime! We are blessed to have a wonderful neighbor who has helped us plant some veggies in the garden, including kale, tomatoes, fennel and various types of lettuce. It tastes so much better knowing that it has been grown with tender, loving care (and no pesticides!).  Yesterday, she gave us a huge zucchini to welcome us back from our vacation. As I say, WONDERFUL neighbor!! I stuffed it tonight with a mix of kale (also from the garden!), fresh Roma tomatoes from our trip to Tuscany, quinoa (a staple in our house) and a few other fresh ingredients. I thought I would share the recipe with you, so you, too, could enjoy the fresh bounties from the summer produce! I use a similar stuffing to make red and yellow stuffed peppers and generally just throw in whatever I have in my fridge. It is quite a versatile recipe, so feel free to get creative with whatever ingredients you have in stock!

Quinoa & veggie stuffed zucchini with fresh basil

Quinoa & Vegetable Stuffed Zucchini 
Serves 3-4 people

1 or 2 large zucchinis
2 Tbsp oil and 2 Tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 large kale leaves, finely chopped (including the white stems); you could also use spinach
3-4 Roma or similar tomatoes (we had fresh ones from Tuscanny - yummmy!)
1/2 to 1 cup cooked quinoa (depends on your taste and the size of the zucchini)
Herbed cream cheese - I used about half of a round of "Boursin" with garlic and herbs
1-2 Tbsp fresh basil, thinly sliced
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper (to taste)

Wash your zucchini(s) and then cut in half. Scoop or cut out the inside of the zucchini halves, leaving about half an inch of the flesh with the skin. Finely chop the flesh that you scooped out as this will go into the filling.

Scoop inside of zucchini, leaving 1 /4-1/2 inch of flesh 

To prepare filling:
Heat your oil and butter in a medium to large pan (again depends on amount you are making). Sauté onion and garlic and sauté approximately 5-7 minutes or until they start to soften. Add chopped zucchini and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add kale, tomatoes and quinoa and continue cooking for about 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Finally, add herbed cream cheese, basil, sea salt and pepper (to taste) and stir until melted through (about 3-4 minutes). Remove from heat.

Zucchini with stuffing before going into the oven

Stuff zucchini halves with filling and cover with foil. Bake covered at 400 F (200 C) for about 25 minutes. Uncover and continue baking for another 15-20 minutes or until done. I like to turn on the convection (air/fan function) for the last 8-10 minutes to crisp up the top.

Serve with fresh basil on top and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. ENJOY!

Enjoy the rest of your summer! It is hard to believe that we only have 2 weeks left until school starts again...
J xx