Mum's Ham Hock Soup

Mum delivered this soup on the weekend while I was in 'quarantine'.

The soup was simple but tasty and comforting.  Perfectly cooked chunks of potato and carrot, paired with melt-in-your-mouth ham and spinach.

Seeing the small rings of pasta caused my spirits to lift.  The pasta helped the soup look more pleasing to the eye and it also helped lighten the soup, instead of having that stodgy carbohydrate feel.  Funny how something so subtle can make such a difference.  

I think I will be keeping that in mind next time I serve soup with pasta.  Thanks Mum! : )

It is better to Smile than Stress

I received this thank you card in the mail this afternoon. It was good timing as I have just come back from the car wash and discovered a large scratch on my rear bumper bar. I don't remember seeing this scratch but can't prove that the car wash was responsible either. I've experienced this before with my previous car - they will just deny it! I think it was the same car wash come to think of it - may be time to find a new one.

This card and the contents of the card from C has me thinking - it's only a scratch and at least it's not on the metal body of the car where it would rust. There are more important things in this world like smiling, singing and the words I am about to share at church houseparty this Saturday. God would not want me to get stressed about such a trivial thing even though I pride myself on keeping my car in perfect condition!

Lord, forgive me for being so trivial and proud!

This quirky card (filled with words of wisdom and encouragement - thanks so much C!) is made by my talented friend C. You can see more of this sort of creativity at http://www.rosebarnett.blogspot.com/.

Recycled Dolce & Gabbana

(From top to bottom: flat view, pouch inside out, a peek inside)

This is a pouch I've made out of spare leather and fabric I had at home. M had purchased a new wallet in NY which didn't have a slot for cards. There was talk of buying a plastic sleeve for her cards but that won't do! Hence this pouch as a thank you for staying with her. I know you are thinking 'how can that fit in her wallet?', well it's a very different wallet! If not, could be used separately.

The leather is from J's cut off Dolce & Gabbana leather pants and the fabric inside is from some bags I had made some years ago (I love this fabric!).

Naively, I didn't realise I couldn't hand sew the leather even though it is thin and buttery soft. So I had a tailor put together the main seams for me (I wasn't willing to buy leather machine needles) but I didn't expect the side seams inside to be exposed. There was a miscommunication and it's because I insisted on using the thick cotton as lining instead of ugly polyester lining.

So to improve the side seams I handstitched some red bias binding I happened to have and am happier with the result. The side seams seem to help divide the cards - one side for credit cards and one side for membership cards. I wasn't sure I wanted to part with it, my first leather creation - recylced D&G too! Alas, it was made for M and that's whom it should belong to.