A Walk in the Wheat Field

たまには違う散歩コースにしようかと思って、麦畑の間を通るルートに行ってみた。

先日の、草っぱらの間を通っていくルートと同じく、麦畑の真ん中だけどれっきとした公共の散歩道です。

I took a different walking route just to mix it up for the dog. It goes through a wheat field.

It's interesting that a public walking path actually runs through a privately owned farm field. Also, it's interesting that the farmer just plants wheat like usual and later goes through the path spraying Round-up (I'm assuming) and kills the crop for the path.

Love Paracord

パラシュート用のナイロンの紐、略してパラコード。
先日作ったハンドル鞄やGPSポーチにもつけてみたけど、パラコードの編み細工のYouTubeビデオにはまってしまった。そして、色々ビデオ見てる間にひらめいた。
以前作ったMA-1に感化されたジャケットのファスナーに、つけたいわ！

なんていうか、ジャケットとして、ちょっぴり足りていなかったところに、ぴたっとはまった感じ。とても完成した感じ。

I watched a lot of YouTube videos for para cord knots when I was putting the para cord zipper pulls on the removable steering wheel bag and the GPS pouch, and I had a lightening moment.

My MA-1 flight jacket inspired Minoru Jacket needed it. So I made a few zipper pulls. These are called padlock knots.

Now I really feel that my jacket is completed (after well over 2 years); the zipper pulls filled the little void I was feeling.

GPS Pouch

イギリス生活必需品の一つはカーナビ。アメリカはどの道にも名前がついてて、交差点があるたびに道の名前の標識があるから自分がどこにいるかとか、どこで曲がるかとかわかりやすいけど、イギリスは（日本もそうだけど）道の名前の標識がほとんどないし、交差点がラウンドアバウトと呼ばれる円形交差点なので、行ったことのないところに行く時は、カーナビ必須。うちの車は2台ともカーナビ装備のようなしゃれた車ではないので、後付けのカーナビを使っています。

そんなカーナビのモニターを入れるポーチを作りました。

A good GPS is a must-have for living in England. Not very many streets have street name signs (even when they do, it's so hard to find) and with roundabout everywhere, I need a GPS to guide me whenever I go to a new place. Neither of our cars are fancy enough to have a built-in GPS, so we use Garmin, which has been a great life saver for us.

To protect the monitor when we are not using, I made a pouch for the GPS.

The materials are exactly the same as the removable steering wheel bag, lunch box tote, and the triangle coin case: 1000D Cordura, quilted lining, a little bit of mesh and fold-over elastic, #5 zipper, bit of a para cord, grosgrain ribbon, and of course, a Land Rover patch.

The mesh interior pocket is meant to keep the cord in.

I bound the raw edges with grosgrain ribbon but I ran out of the orange ribbon so the other side is bound with a black ribbon.

I initially made one with rounded corner but then it became too tight so this was actually my second version. Glad that I sucked it up and re-did it. I'm happy with the fit.

I finished the pouch with a para-cord zipper pull.

Man, the Cordura makes the project looks and feels so good (can you tell I'm not a Vera Bradley person?).

Triangle Coin Case

イギリスでは駐車スペースがとても限られているので、街に行くときには街の有料駐車場に車を置いて、徒歩で目的地に向かうのが主です。
ここで問題は、駐車料金を払う機械が駐車場によってはキャッシュカードを受け付けなかったりすること。アメリカではほとんど現金を取り扱わずにくらせるけど、イギリスではまだまだ現金が必要な時が多くて、「お金もってないよ～～～」って焦るときが多い。
駐車料金を払うのに小銭を持っていなくて駐車できなかったこともある。
そんなわけで、先日の車のハンドル鞄とお弁当鞄の残りの材料で、車の中に常備しておく用の3角形のコインケースを作りました。
型紙はSew4Homeというサイトの無料ダウンロード。

In England, parking space is very limited, and where ever you go, you will have to find a parking lot first, leave the car there, and walk to your destination. Two closest towns to where I live are both historic market towns, so while it's pretty to look at the town, you have to ditch your American lifestyle of parking at a ginormous parking lot at big box store shopping center.

The issue with "car park" (that's what the parking lot is called) is that sometimes the machine does not take cards and you have to physically insert coins. In the U.S., I almost never carry physical cash, let alone coins, so this has been challenging.

So, I made a couple of triangle coin cases to keep some change in the car. (Theft is also pretty common here so you don't want to leave too much money in there, but I take my risk)

I used the left-over Cordura from the removable steering bag and the lunch bag tote. The pattern is a free download from Sew4Home.

The original design has 2 openings: you can open the case from front or back. But I rivetted the back so it only has 1 opening. I did not sew precisely so that size got somewhat distorted so it does not fold into a perfect triangle. But it does its job. 

Lunch Tote

オットは毎日お弁当と水筒を持って仕事に行きます。先日の車泥棒出現以降、お弁当に加えて車のハンドルも持っていくので（玄関から車までの10メートルぐらいだけど）手荷物が多い。なので車のハンドル鞄の残りでお弁当トートバッグを作りました。
これがまた、かなり自信作（笑）

The Man of the House takes his lunch and a water bottle to work every day. Since the car theft incident the other day, he also carries his steering wheel (though it's only 30 feet between the house and the truck) so he's got a lot of stuff to carry. In order to make it a bit easier to carry everything, I made a tote bag to carry both the lunch bag and the water bottle.

(The LL Bean lunch bag: it's been carried to work 5 days a week for 15 years. Still going strong. The wide mouth Hydro Flask has a carry handle. He takes iced tea in it. True Southerner.)

Material: left-over 1000D Cordura from the steering wheel bag. I did buy a spool of bonded nylon for top stitching. 1" webbing for strap. And of course, a Land Rover patch to match the steering wheel bag.

The tote bag is pretty simple. It's not lined and the bag itself is just a long rectangle.

Strap is also just a long piece of webbing going around the tote.

Pocket and the strap top stitched down.

I used this method of making a bottom gusset I learned from Nancy Ziemann: basically just fold up the gusset and stitch it down with the side seam.

Side seams sewn.

Finished tote with lunch bag and the water bottom in it.

Since the bag is not lined, I bound the raw edges of the Cordura with orange grosgrain ribbon.

The bottom the gusset. The good thing about this method is that when the bag is not in use, it can flatten easily.

Thanks to the sturdiness of the Cordura, the bag looks and feels nice and I really like how it turned out. It's a bit tight when the lunch box is full, but at least now MOTH can grab one bag for both lunch and the water bottle and he does not have to worry about the water bottle rolling around in the truck.