I did some sewing over the weekend and made up some new cloth napkins. They’re much prettier than paper napkins, and I feel good about not wasting paper napkins or paper towels, too. They can also be quick and easy to make. So I decided it would be fun to start a summer napkin swap at Swap-Bot for handmade cloth napkins. I hope you’ll join me and trying making some cloth napkins, too.

If you haven’t made cloth napkins before, here are some tutorials to get you started. I think you’ll quickly see that they are simple and there’s no one way to make them.

• Molly’s Handmade Napkins
• Simple & Spooky Cocktail Napkins
• Handmade Cloth Napkins
• Angharad’s Napkin Tutorial
• Liberty Picnic Napkins

I’ve been wanting to garden for awhile. While I still don’t have a full garden, I have started a little container garden. SciFi man kindly drilled some holes into the bottom of two aluminum tubs for drainage. We’ve had these tubs since we bought them to hold drinks at our wedding reception, and it’s good to finally give them a purpose again. We put them up on bricks, added a layer of pea gravel for addition drainage and topped them off with some good potting soil.

I planted “patio” tomatoes, which the tag informs me are good for container gardening, sweet basil (and one errant Genovese basil that snuck into my cart), and marigolds. I read somewhere that marigolds keep bugs away from tomatoes. Even if they don’t, they add a pretty splash of color. I chose to plant tomatoes and basil so that once the tomatoes ripen, I just need to add some fresh mozzarella and olive oil for a delicious caprese salad.

The marigolds are producing more flowers, the basil is getting tall, and the tomatoes are starting to show a few green “baby” tomatoes. All this growth makes me happy, since I don’t always have the greenest of thumbs. I think being extra careful about having proper drainage may be what’s making the difference.

Back in May, My Byrd House posted a tutorial about how to “recycle” those green onions that always seem to go bad in the fridge before you can use them. I know when I buy green onions, I always use a few and save the rest for “later,” which seems to come after the onions have become unusable. It’s frustrating to waste the onions, and frustrating to buy them when I know I’m only going to use three and the rest are going to go to waste. This tutorial solves both problems, and satisfies my hearts desire to garden. Basically, cut off the root ends on any onions you use (which you would probably be doing anyway) as well as the root ends of the onions you don’t use, and plant them. The onions don’t go to waste, and best of all, they make new onions! I planted a few last week, and already they are sprouting new green onions! I highly recommend you give this one a try.

Do you like adorable aprons? I’m not always so good about wearing aprons, but I do love the way they look. I found out about this Summer Holiday Apron Giveaway at The Apronista via a post on And She Can’t Even Cook! Check out the giveaway–you get to choose which apron you like best from Carolyn’s Kitchen and you can enter up to three times–and then check out And She Can’t Even Cook!, which is one of the blogs I keep tabs on in my feed reader.

(And yes, this post signals my return from my extended “vacation.”) I’ve been busy moving, sewing, cooking, and container gardening, and it’s high time I got back into blogging!