The Sewing Mom

As I’m sure you’ve read or heard today, today is Earth Day. Now, honestly, I didn’t have any special plans today, but while I was watching t.v. this morning, I couldn’t help but hear all types of things we can do to help our planet. Ideas ranged from the commonly discussed water bottle to the new bio-degradable hanger that many dry cleaners are beginning to use.

The one item that really stuck with me today was what we can do when grocery shopping. Of course, I’ve heard of organic products, and have even purchased a few, but i don’t really search them out when I’m at the store. Until today. I heard on the news this morning about the significant amount of pesticides and chemicals used to grow white and brown rice. I cannot even begin to tell you how much rice we eat in our family and I was very surprised to learn of all the chemical use involved with growing it.

So, today, while at the grocery and in honor of Earth Day, I decided to look for organic white rice. I wasn’t able to find it, but I did find Eco-farmed rice, grown in California. Now, I realize it’s not quite the same as organic, but it is a big step in the right direction. The farm this rice came from originally obtained its seed from India. It’s a full flavored rice grown with limited chemicals. The farm practices crop rotation and water conservation.

I’m looking forward to trying it with a meal and I’m thankful I don’t have to look for flights to India to get a good, flavorful rice.

Now that I think about it, a trip to India wouldn’t be so bad. Just think of all the nice hotel and travel ideas that I could use to create a dream vacation…

I was asked by one of my readers to create something for her child that will soon be turning 1. Besides creating fleece blankets, I hadn’t really done anything for young children, so this was a challenge for me and I took it on whole heartedly.

I began my using what I know and the working with the supplies I all ready possessed. I love working with fabric, so the project I came up with was pieced fabric blocks. These are about 2 1/2 in. square and can be embroidered with letters or small designs. I love using all the brighter colored fabrics for kids. These are stuffed with polyfill and are washable.

What do you think?