A travelling spice holder...

I’m sorry, did I read that right, I hear you say... Well yes, it’s true!

Mr N and his family are keen foodies and particularly when we go away self-catering on holiday we have a stash full of herbs and spices to ensure our food is exciting and tastes of something. So since his son is a uni and often going round to cook for friends, we thought it would be nice to put together a herb/spice holder for him to carry them in, hence this, erm, contraption!

I had a bit of fun originally cutting out, thinking this will be easy, but it wasn’t as I originally thought. However, once I’d got going, there was no stopping me! The blue fabric is some plain navy curtain fabric I bought years and years ago and has been sat in my stash since then doing nothing. It’s got quite a nice sheen to one side and is actually a pleasure to sew with – wonder if there’s still enough to whip up some curtains? The red is just a red cotton which was also in my stash, which was used to line a dress with. [Me feeling good with myself, I’ve used some fabric from my stash!]

The pockets for the jars were interesting, I really wasn’t sure how they were going to work. In the end, I went for the simple method and just pleated the fabric into box pleats. They actually work quite well, even if I say so myself!

I’ve put some batting between to pad it out and also give a bit more protection to the jars (thanks Karen for the help on this bit!). I thought at this point my machine would scream and tell me the layers of fabric and batting were too thick and no I’m not doing anything more for you, but it went together like a dream. Don’t you just like it when things go right? :-)

I guess if you’re also feeling clever you can embroider initial letters of herbs, etc on the pockets. There’s really little else to say, except, that since the ties are long enough... If you’ve a spare door handle, they can be tied together and hung on there in a convenient place!

Mr N is already planning my next version, a larger one with a proper hanger in the top which will hold about 30-40 spices. Perfect for hanging inside a kitchen cupboard door so the small jars don’t clutter up the shelves, one for his son and one for us! [Mm, methinks Mr N is trying to stop me sewing things for myself...]

In the meantime, I’m hoping to get a special dress finished in time for me to take to Blighty when we go back in just under two weeks. Mm, I hope I can get it done, along with work, housework, choir, golf (yes, you did read that right!) and packing up the boxes we unpacked, ready to move house again the week after we get back from England! PS, these are some of my reasons for not taking part in Me-made-May this year, oh and not having really many warm clothes which I've made!