Sometimes the book is better than the movie

Sometimes I just want to sew. The El Porto "journey-is-the-destination" bag is a great project to just get your sew on. It takes two, maybe three good sessions to get the thing all done. But sewing El Porto is not about the amount of work, necessarily. To me, sewing is kind of like reading a book: Sure, you can watch the movie and you've got the plot, the characters, the costumes, the set design, the whole shebang all done for you in an hour and 42 minutes. Awesome.

But sometimes, just sometimes, the book is better. I mean, the act of actually reading the book. Stealing away a few minutes to read here and there and, in-between stolen reading moments, the thinking and wondering want might come next. That's what sewing is like for me. Will it turn out how I imagine? Will this look good? What if I do this instead? Piece by piece a project like El Porto comes together with creative plot twists and turns of your choosing as you make it.

Summer is around the corner. This bag holds just about everything you'll need for a day at the beach or sightseeing in Rome.

This is a fun project to mix and match and use up scraps. I have a tiny bit of this crazy fabric salvaged from some old swim trunks.

If you've made an El Porto, I'd love to see it!

"Is e do mhac do mhac inniu, ach is i d'inion d'inion go deo."

"Your son is your son today, but your daughter is your daughter forever." 

-Traditional Irish saying

As such, for your daughter (or wee granddaughter...) there is still time to make a bonny Saint Patrick's day shamrock, now there!

First off, trace and cut four circles of woven fabric (quilting cotton) approximately 3" (8 cm) in diameter. I traced the inside of a standard roll of packing tape. That's about the right size.

Als erstes vier Kreise von einem Durchmesser von ca. 8 cm ausmalen und ausschneiden. Hier habe ich das innere von einer Packbandrolle als Schablone genommen. Das hat frau doch herumliegen, nicht?

Fold the circles in half. Stitch a running stitch along the curved edge of your first circle. Gather that running stitch, so that the half circle forms a leaf. Keep that first leaf on the thread and add the next half circle to the thread.

Die Kreise in Hälften falten. Die Halbkreise mit Laufstich steppen. Die Halbkreise nach einander am selben Garn steppen und einkräuseln.

Gather each folded circle on the thread. Tie the ends of the thread together.

Die Garnenden zusammenschnurren um einen Glücksklee zu formen.

There you have the basic shape of your shamrock (if you want to make clovers, well, you can stop here!).

With the needle and thread still attached, pierce up through the leaves and back down the middle. Pull the thread taunt to make the "dents" in the shamrock leaves.

Um den irischen Glücksklee zu formen, den Nadel mitten durch das Kleeblatt stechen, umdrehen und zurückstechen. Den Garn stram ziehen, so daß das die kleine Delle im Blatt formt.

To make white shamrock blossoms, cut five squares from white quilting cotton approximately the size of a postage stamp (1" or 2.5 cm). Fold the squares in half to form little right triangles. Gather these triangles on a single thread as above and tie to form a tiny flower.

Um die irische Glückskleeblume zu formen, bitte fünf kleine Rechteckchen weissen Stoff ca. 2,5x2,5 cm zuschneiden.

Diese Rechteckchen falten, um kleine Dreiecke zu formen. Diese Dreiecke wie oben beschrieben zu einer Blume formen.

Glue or stitch your shamrocks and blossoms to anything you like! Here, I've made a quick headband.

Deine Glückskleee (Ha! Deutsch ist lüstig: Ein Wort mit drei "e"...okay, zurück zum Unterricht...) wie bzw. wo erwünscht ansteppen bzw. ankleben.

That's it!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Das war's! Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Slainte!