Travel Sewing Kit UPDATE

I know you've all been kept up at night wondering how I decorated the cover of my travel sewing kit that I made a few months ago for my trip to India.  So here is the final reveal:

I had an afternoon off from teaching, so I grabbed my sewing kit, a needle and some embroidery thread, and headed for my favourite mango tree (it was my favourite because there were 2 hammocks hanging there).  Darn I should have taken a picture of it!

First I started embroidering the lettering.  I used a straight stitch with gaps to give it that sewing kind of look.  I brought a lot of embroidery thread with me on that trip, but unfortunately this was the only embroidery I did.  Not enough hours in the day ...

But I didn't want to just leave it plain like that.  So I used a pattern from Bugs and Fishes' book Super-cute Felt for the spool of thread (tons of cute felt projects in there by the way).

All that embroidering left quite a mess of stitches and knots on the back of the cover.  So I decided to use a bit more felt to cover it all up.  I used this piece of felt with a heart attached.  The heart encases my favourite sewing needle (yes, I have favourites).

Then I added some co-ordinating ribbon to each flap to keep my kit closed.

If you missed my tutorial on how to make your own sewing kit, check it out here.

It's much easier to make than you may think, and allows you to have all your crafty supplies with you when you travel.  I'm sure glad that I had this kit with me because shortly after arriving at the airport the zipper pull came off my carry on bag.  It just zzzzzzzzzzipped right off the end of the zipper.  I used the big safety pin in this kit to secure the end of the zipper, so it wouldn't fall off for the rest of my 30+ hour journey to India (layover in Abu Dhabi).

This would make a cute gift too for that world traveller in your life.

5 Pinteresting Links

Are you on Pinterest?  It's a cyber cornucopia of craft ideas, eco inspiration and beautifully shot photography.  It's also incredibly addictive, more so than Facebook I'd say. 

Anyhow you can judge for yourself.  Here are some of my favourite things I've seen on Pinterest lately:

1.  Upcycled spool side table

When I was growing up we used to have dozens of these wooden spools in our backyard.  I love this idea of bringing them inside to use as a side table/book storage.  All you need are a few strategically placed dowels, wheels and a coat of paint.

2.  DIY alphabet stones

These are just adorable and seem so simple to make.  I think my favourite part of this craft will be hunting for the stones.  I'm going to walk down to the lake as soon as I hit 'publish' on this post.

3.  Non spiralizer technique for making zucchini noodles

Must try this tonight ...

4.  Raw vegan ice "cream" bars

Raw vegan ice cream bars, need I say more?

5.  Eco-friendly business card idea

This pin reminded me of a fellow yoga teacher I met last summer.  Before he went back home to New Zealand he told me he had to give me is business card.  Wow, I thought, he has a business card?  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a torn piece of cardboard with his name and email address written on it!  This stamp makes his idea so much more classy.

Honestly I could find 10+ things on this site everyday that interests me.  Genius!.  Are you on Pinterest?

 

Raw Vegan Blueberry Pie Ice Cream

It's blueberry season!  Let's celebrate with a frosty bowl of blueberry soft raw serve, shall we?

If you missed my raw serve highlight post, check it out for tons of variations on raw, vegan & sattvic ice cream like treats.

Raw Blueberry Pie Ice Cream

• 1 banana, cut up into small pieces and then frozen
• 1 pint blueberries, frozen (reserve some fresh berries for garnish)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom (optional)

Whiz the frozen fruit (& cardamom) in a food processor until it resembles ice cream.  Scoop into a chilled dish and top with the fresh blueberries.

The frozen blueberries didn't combine as well as the frozen strawberries in my strawberry version, but the dish is still absolutely heavenly.  I love cardamon, especially with blueberries, so I might have put more like 3/4 teaspoon in mine.  Use it to suit your tastes.  Cinnamon would also be lovely I think.

Is your heart crying out for more blueberry recipes?  Try my Raw Vegan Sattvic Blueberry Cardamom Pudding or if a smoothie is more your scene, my Banana Blueberry Mint Raw Smoothie.

I'm having such a great summer this year, teaching yoga, enjoying nature, meeting new people and learning all the lessons I was destined to learn (some lessons are harder to learn than others, but I'm still smiling).  I hope you all are enjoying your summer too!