Rosie writes me notes

"I need help clening my bed. Can you do it/ yes or no"

Rosie writes me notes. It's usually when I'm doing something for her brother or trying to finish a task and she's already asked for help once or twice. I tell her I'll get to her in a minute, or ask your father, or maybe — just postponing it, really — and that's just not immediate enough for her.

I was thinking that this reminded me of myself when I've gone by my boss' office a few times and he's been on the phone or in a meeting, so I resort to sending him an email instead of speaking to him directly.

In this case, she got tired of waiting for my help and cleaned her bed by herself. That's the best solution, right?

Next Craft Night: Reusable Snack Bags!

I have been meaning to make some reusable snack and sandwich bags for some time now, as we go through SO. MANY. PLASTIC. BAGGIES. every fracking day. GUILT. And I just found a solution on the We Wilsons blog—make your own! I have lots of leftover fabric here and there, and fabric stores sell scraps for a generous discount that would be just the right size. Here are instructions and a link to a PDF tutorial.

Materials:

• scrap sizes of cotton prints - anything that makes a reasonably sized rectangle)
• equal size piece of PUL (fabric laminated with a waterproof backing), oil cloth, or second piece of cotton print
• velcro
• scissors, thread, pins
• sewing machine

Instructions

1. Cut your two different fabric scraps into two equally sized rectangles. You may use a ziplock bag as a reference, or just whatever size your scrap will allow. You will be folding the rectangle in half for the final bag, so keep that in mind when you decide on the size and orientation of the rectangle.
2. Right sides facing, sew one short end of the rectangles together. Repeat this with the opposite end.
3. Now turn the rectangles right side out. It may help to iron the seams flat at this point, or don’t bother.
4. Cut a length of sticky and soft velcro about 1/2” shorter than the seam you just sewed. First, position the sticky velcro centered just below the seam on the inside of your bag and pin in place. Topstitch the velcro in place along the top edge of the velcro, and again along the bottom edge. Repeat this with the soft side of the velcro on the opposite seam.
5. Fold the rectangle in half, with the inside (the side with the velcro) out. Line up your top seams and pin in place.
6. Stitch down both sides of the rectangle with a 1/4” seam allowance, and neatly trim and threads or rough edges.
7. Turn the bag right side out, closing with the velcro. If you don’t care about raw edges, you could stop here. Or take it one step farther and top stitch down both sides, encasing the raw edges inside this new seam.
   

You're done! If you try this, send me links with photos. Otherwise, craft night in February? Who's in?