It's been a few years since I've made any wallets, but my wife had her sewing machine out, and I was feeling inspired.

Tyvek wallet:




I patterned it after a thin Fossil bi-fold wallet I picked up recently.


My Tyvek wallet is considerably slimmer than the Fossil wallet. The Tyvek wallet in this photo is FULL of cards, and the Fossil wallet is empty.


Here, you can see the wallet stuffed with 6 cards. That's how many it holds.


I also made a COW wallet:




It's the same pattern as the Tyvek wallet. But it's a cow instead.

Pretty fun.

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My clever crafty wife, who's been cranking out baby blankets like a crazy woman, decided she wanted to try her hand at making messenger bags, and knowing that I was keen on the idea of making one out of heavy-duty tarp material, she surprised me with this when I got home from work the other day:


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And here's me wearing the bag:


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Sewing sure is cool. So are messenger bags made of tarpaulin. And so is my wife.

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image: Measuring Tape with needle and thread (cc) blmurch

My mom is visiting for a couple of weeks, and one of my favorite things about her visits is the stories she shares. She's a fantastic story teller, whether she's sharing stories from work, or from her childhood.

On the way back from the airport after picking her up, I asked her a bit about the Korean War, having just gotten into a discussion with some folks over at the Kimchi Mamas blog about the cultural impact the war had on the Korean people. It turns out that many Koreans who went through the Korean War have been hesitant to talk about it, and in the case of my Korean grandparents, they were no exception. They did, however, share some stories with their children, and my mom shared the story with me.

At the time of the war, a military draft was established, placing guns in the hands of farmers who had no clue how to use them. The North Korean army, on the other hand, had all been trained reasonably well, so the battle between the North and the South was basically a massacre. My grandfather, who was married with two children at the time, fled. Seems reasonable to me.

My grandfather was a tailor, and made his living making and mending clothing. My grandmother did the same, and for all the time that I've known my grandparents, they've done reasonably well for themselves in their profession. Also, it had always been amusing to go to Korea as a teenager and try on the clothes they had made for me. Amusing, because at the time, I was into name brands and fashion, and the thought of wearing homemade clothing was undesirable.

During the war, my clever grandfather managed to survive and support his family by fleeing from city to city and offering his tailoring services to the soldiers in those cities. He'd offer to mend uniforms in trade for food, water, or cash, and did this throughout the war. Very resourceful indeed.

I was inspired by this story, and it brought to mind one of my favorite quotes: <