organization

Why is it that some days, the hardest part of writing a blog post is coming up with a title? I swear, I spent 25 minutes going back and forth on what to title this post, and the above is the best I could come up with???

:: :: :: ::

It was snowy and cold on Saturday, and my husband and boys spent most of their day out skiing, or inside playing backgammon, and I had a chance to go down to my sewing room to put together some ideas for around our house.

One of my favorite things to do is to sit with my design book and just sketch ideas that come into my head. Some of them work out, some of them completely bomb, but either way it is still a great time. I had really wanted, and needed, a weekend at home to play with fabric, and experiment with different ideas, so it was nice to have a small bout of cold weather to keep us indoors.

I love spending Sundays going through cookbooks, magazines, the Food Network, and my old recipe box to get ready for my week ahead. Meal planning has always been such a fun part of cooking and baking, and I wanted to try and create something that would allow me to have not only my week’s daily menu organized, but the recipes, grocery lists, etc. that I need for each week’s meals in one.

The Weekly Recipe Organizer

Materials
Fat quarter of fun fabric
Fat Quarter of heavyweight natural muslin
Lettered stamps
Ink stamp pad
Ribbon cut to desired length

Cut 2 pieces of your print fabric, and 2 of your muslin fabric 22 1/2″ x 6 1/2″

* I chose to make the organizer for only Monday – Friday. I like to keep our weekends unplanned, so this works for us. If you would like to make this for all seven days, you will need to add in an extra 10″ in length to your piece.

Cut two pieces of heavy weight fusible interfacing 22 1/2″ x 6 1/2″, and fuse according to manufacturer’s instructions to one piece of your patterned fabric, and one to your muslin (one to your front fabric, one to your back)

Using your second piece of patterned fabric, cut five pockets 6 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ (Cut seven if doing the entire week)

Using your second piece of muslin fabric, cut two of your back pockets 7″ x 6 1/2″

Press both long ends of each pocket down by 1/4″, then again 1/4″. Top stitch one end ( this will be the top of each pocket).

Using the rest of your muslin, cut 1″ cubes of fabric, and hand stamp the letters for each day onto each (you will have to use a larger cube for Thursday).

In the bottom right hand corner of each of your pockets, mark 1 1/2″ in from the corner, and pin your lettered muslin cube. Using a zig zag stitch, sew to each pocket

Pin each pocket to your front fabric, making sure that the distance between each pocket is uniform.

Using a 1/4″ seam, sew a seam down each side of your main front fabric, then sew the bottom edges of each pocket in place.

Do the same for both back pockets as well.

With right sides together, pin your ribbon in place, and pin all sides. Beginning in the middle of one side, with a 1/2″ seam allowance, sew around the entire piece, leaving a three inch opening.

Clip corners, being careful not to cut your stitches, and turn right side out. Using a blind hem stitch, sew your opening closed. Iron, and fill with recipes, grocery lists, etc.

This is a project that can be used for a lot more than just recipes or grocery lists, and can certainly be made larger to accommodate a week’s worth of just about anything.

Every recipe holder deserves a yummy homemade recipe to go with it. Here is the quiche recipe that I made to celebrate the beautiful Spring Equinox with family and friends on Saturday evening. Enjoy

Spring Quiche

1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
9 eggs
1/2 cup of chopped grilled asparagus
1/2 apple, diced
1/2 cup of sliced roasted turkey breast
1/2 cup of sauteed mushrooms
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme
Salt
Pepper
1 pie crust (I used the gluten free pie shell from Whole Foods Bakery)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and place unbaked pie shell, pricked with a fork, into oven and bake for 8 minutes

Combine all ingredients (add in cheese, salt and pepper to taste), and mix well. Pour into pie shell, and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until set.

Enjoy!

The above project photography is yet another great example of white balance with a camera. You can see that the first and last photo of the project do not look, color wise, anything like the pictures in the tutorial itself. I forgot to change the WB in my camera when I moved the project from the table to the refrigerator, hence the difference. I could have color corrected it in Photoshop, but I thought it would be fun to explore the differences. It always amazes me how different things can look, even with one small “mistake” like this. The pictures of the tutorial are more representative of the actual color of the fabric itself

{ 46 comments }