Once again, you ask: where have you been?

I have been away for an extended period. Here are some photos to give you a clue:

Yes, it’s true! I have been on a lengthy trip through the United Kingdom and northern Europe.  It has been a trip of a lifetime; for our Fortieth Anniversary. Yup, that’s forty years of marriage. We took a cruise that actually started in Fort Lauderdale where our son and his family live (we spent about a week visiting them). We saw these countries: Ireland, England, France, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Estonia, Russia, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden.

Since I am a California girl, I am always overwhelmed to see buildings that are so old. I realize that there are old constructions in California. I used to be a docent at the oldest standing adobe in the state. Unfortunately, even that was really new by comparison.  In Europe, instead of hundreds of years, architecture can be measured by centuries- amazing!

In case, you are wondering, here is the key to these photos, in order from the top:

Russian dolls representing the continuity of life

Part of the amazing fountains at Petrehof, St. Petersburg, Russia

Trinity Hall, Dublin, Ireland (where the Book of Kells is kept)

Door detail in Helsinki, Finland

Basilica in Cherbourg, France

And, of course, THE Little Mermaid, Denmark

How to make a Passport Cover

Passport cover

Living in Baja has had an unexpected benefit for Mr. M and I. We have the opportunity and time to travel  more than we did before we moved here. Entry back in to the US, with the exception of the port of entry in San Diego (for which we have a special Department of Homeland Security  pass), we need our US  passports.

After years of use, the edges of my passport are becoming frayed, so I decided to make a cover for it yesterday. Here is how I did it:

First I cut a piece of fabric for the outside of the cover and a piece for the lining. After I made a prototype, I discovered that one end covered the important information on the inside of the front cover. Hmmmm…. How to make that visible without taking the passport out of the cover? Clear plastic! I had saved a heavy plastic cover from a sheet I had purchased a while ago. Frugal as I am I thought that eventually I would find a use for it. I cut out a plastic square for each cover.

The fabric and lining were each 12 by 6 inches and the plastic was a 6 inch square. I don’t have a photo of the plastic square but here is the fabric and lining:

Cover fabric and lining fabrics.

I attached one side of the plastic square to the short end of the cover of the lining fabrics. I folded the plastic in half with the fabrics wrong side together and sewed the long sides together. This photo is of the first one I made without the plastic insert. I attached the plastic where the end is sewn. I graded the corners (that means I cut them off to reduce the bulk in the corners). On the plastic, I trimmed it closely at an angle.

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Trim the corners at an angle to reduce the bulk.

I turned the tube right side out and ironed it flat. Hmmmm… I think this is the first time I used  my iron in a couple of years. I don’t have much to iron… Mostly when I sew… I don’t even have an ironing board, I just put a flannel pillowcase on my wooden table and iron on it.

Iron it flat

I folded the open end in and sewed it closed. Then I top stitched around the entire rectangle. I folded one end toward  the lining side about three inches and sewed it along the outside edges. I put one cover of my passport in the resulting pocket and folded the cover around it while it was closed. I folded the opposite end to the lining side. This is how I made sure the my passport would fit inside nicely while it was closed. I took my passport out and sewed the pocket on the opposite end.

Photo of the end pocket

Here is a photo of the finished cover with my passport in it. I have put it in backwards for the photo, so the the inside of the back cover shows. When I use it the plastic allows my photo and information to show through when I put the pocket in the front.

Passport cover inside

Here is a photo of the outside of the finished cover:

Finished!

Believe me when I say that the second cover was waaaayyy easier than the first one!