Iced Tea Days

Happy Sunday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Summer has arrived in full force around here. Days have been hot and dry; so to keep cool I have been making lots of iced tea. My favorite is hibiscus iced tea known in spanish as "agua fresca de jamaica." It is absolutely delicious and its characteristic tangy flavor makes is super refreshing.  Also, I love the pretty ruby color.

Ingredients:

8 cups of water

1/2 cup dried hibiscus flowers (you can find it at hispanic supermarkets as "flor de jamaica")

Sugar to taste
Ice to serve

In a saucepan put the dried hibiscus flowers and 2 cups of water and bring to boil. Remove from heat, cover and let if cool for about 15 minutes. Transfer concentrate to a pitcher , you can strain it to remove the flowers or leave them. I prefer to leave them as they look beautiful at the bottom of the pitcher. Add remaining water and sweeten to taste. Chill for at least one hour before serving. Serve over ice.

Enjoy!

XX

Martha.

Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew Link Up

Welcome to this month's Link up! I'm so glad you are here. I was absolutely delighted when Fiona @ Celtic Thistle Stitches asked me to host the Link up. I think the idea  of getting ahead with our Christmas makes is absolutely brilliant! I have found myself every year trying to scramble my handmade gifts in the week leading up to the holidays and it is absolute madness.

Since you are all coming up with great handmade gifts I thought I'll share with you an idea of how to wrap your beautiful handmade gifts this Christmas. I created a tutorial for this string bag that your gift recipients could save or re-use. You can find the tutorial here.

Tutorial: Re-usable Gift Bag

It is interesting to be working on Christmas projects in June; in a way it feels a little bit early.  But that is the way to go to avoid the holiday rush. Fiona from Celtic Thistle Stitches came up with this amazing idea Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew which is a monthly link up to encourage other bloggers to get a head start with our Christmas makes. Every month there is a link up and a giveaway! You can find this month's link up here.

Every month everyone participating  in the link up shows beautiful makes, so  I thought I will share with you a tutorial for a gift bag to wrap your beautiful handmade gifts that can be re-used. It is basically a string bag that you can personalize and embellish to match the recipient's personality.

Here is what you need:

Knitting Update and the Slow Bloggers Linky

Hello fellow slow bloggers! Welcome to Weekend Doings and  to this month's edition of the Slow Bloggers Linky Party.  I'm so happy you are here. I was so thrilled when Catherine invited me to host the Linky one more time. As you know the Slow Bloggers Link up is a place to share and  celebrate our crafty or personal achievements during the month whether big or small; as well as to connect with and support other fellow bloggers.
In honor of this month's link up I wanted to share with you one of my slow projects. This is shawl I started a couple of months ago. I love to knit, but I'm very slow at it. Before I used to get frustrated at myself for not being very productive.  Nowadays,  don't think much about how long it is taking me finish a project. I try to enjoy and savor every stitch that I make and I have to tell you, it is so much fun that way. Every little progress that I make it really feels like an accomplishment and before I knew it my shawl is almost finished.

How about you, what you've been up to this month?

Thank you so much for stopping by!

XX
Martha.

Color Inspiration

I have a new color crush. I'm always inspired by nature and the flowers in my garden are a constant source of inspiration. Lately I have discovered that I'm drawn to the color purple, which happens to be abundant in my garden. Whether I'm choosing colors for my projects or my wardrobe purple seems to always be in my mind.  And my recent yarn purchase was no exception. It had to be purple! It is such a happy color don't you think?  The light purple or lavender yarn will become a shawl (a birthday present for someone special) and the darker one will become a cowl for me :) I can't wait to get started but in the meantime I'm getting lots of inspiration for even more future projects from this book.
I hope you have a happy weekend.

XX
Martha

On My Table...

A new project I started over the weekend. I'm still deciding the the direction I want to take it. But so far I'm really enjoying cutting up strips of fabric and sewing them together. 

Have a happy week!

XX

Martha