Sewing and Minecraft

Over the long, very hot summer, the go-to activity at my house has been playing Minecraft. All my kids (and my husband, too) have created elaborate worlds, filled with houses, railroads to nowhere, bottomless swimming pools with diving boards and vast farms of wheat, red and yellow flowers and sheep. They have learned that if you put two adult sheep together you will get a lamb. The baby will be the color of one of the parents. My son performed a vast, virtual Mendelssohn pea experiment with Minecraft sheep, all housed in separate pens and sorted by color to prove that traits are passed down through the generations. Lately, my sewing has been working the same way. My so-called large essentials bag is designed to look big enough to be a gift. It can contain bathroom supplies, home office bric-a-brac, or cords and chargers for travel. My sister gives large essential bags filled with baby items as shower gifts.

One of my customers, W, asked for a slightly taller and deeper bag to be made out of oil cloth and laminated cotton to serve as a toiletries bag. (in back of photo) At a recent farmers' market, A asked me to put a handle on a large essentials bag. She saw the shape and size as purse.

Tweaking my standard pattern, these projects push me to move to a new generation of sewing items.