Changing Seasons – March 2025

March, you were full of loved ones and crafts and the blooming of spring.

Apparently March is National Craft Month (I’m assuming in the US) and I unknowingly celebrated with some small sewing projects. Now, I’ve always said I love all crafts except those of the needle variety (sewing, crochet, knitting). I just never really got into them, never owned a sewing machine as an adult, and found hand sewing tedious.

But all that was to change this month after I came across the YouTube channel bookhou, which has many lovely hand sewing tutorials. For whatever reason, I felt moved to make the catch all tray, which is fun and cute and gave me the confidence to try the thread holder.

Using batting in the thread holder to give it shape and padding turned the corner for me in my sewing journey (that sounds so dramatic, but it’s true). I learned I can sew through multiple layers of thin cloth and batting. Also, the perfectly snug fit of the spool of thread in the holder is so satisfying. This project inspired me to make my own design for a kindle sleeve, which turned out better than I was expecting!

It’s softly padded with batting, has darling blanket stitches in teal along its side and bottom, and closes with a pearly button. Best of all, it fits my 6th Generation Paperwhite Kindle so perfectly, which was quite lucky because I didn’t know how much the sizing would shrink once I flipped the layers inside out. I think most Kindle sleeves are made for the newer, larger models, so I felt very proud that I handmade this one to fit my ol’ Kindle.

I have a bit of this scrap fabric left and am debating whether to make an earbuds case or an envelope-style pencil pouch. How wonderful it is to have crafty, handy projects to look forward to!

I mentioned in my previous post that I have been on a bald eagle roll, so to speak, this month. Alas, I didn’t spot any more since the time of publishing that day, but do have photos of some other wildlife.

I shot the close-up of the turtle and the double crested cormorant by putting my phone up to the lens of my binoculars. Instant zoom lens! It was the first time I was able to see so much detail on my wildlife photos, which are taken on my aged smartphone. Even the ripples in the water looked neat in the zoomed-in photo. Google image search indicates the turtle might be a red-eared slider, which is apparently the most common and invasive species. I only got the binoculars last week for birding (graciously gifted by a friend), so I hope to get better at spotting more birds in the trees with them.

There were lots of good eats this month, but very few photos. I dusted off my mom’s bread machine and improvised a cornbread recipe (it wasn’t that good), recreated my friend’s chickpea tomato curry (very delicious) and just today, whipped up a shrimp aglio e olio pasta (decent). One of the food highlights of the month was tagging along to my friend’s picnic on a sunny Sunday. I helped by assembling and wrapping up the egg salad sandwiches into little candy-shaped parcels. Everything was delicious and it was a lovely way to spend a day off.

I hope March has treated you well too, wherever you are. Spring is springing here and I love seeing all the flowers blooming and trees turning green. Until next time, stay healthy and well ❤

This post is written as part of The Changing Seasons. Visit Ju-Lyn’s post to see how other creatives around the world spent their March!