service & devotion

Yesterday my friends Beth and Evan got married. I am normally not very “into” buying gifts off of a registry…. Yes I am that person. I try to be creative and original with all my gift giving. Several months ago at a rummage sale I came across a pretty neat mid-century Italian stainless 3pc. carving set. The hefty set has a fork and knives for beef and poultry with a lovely leaping oryx and curly cue motif. Price tag- $3. Moments later I found a Danish teak carving board- chipped and kinda- ewww- gooey. Price tag $1.  I immediately saw the potential for gift giving. Initially I had set out to give it to our recently engaged friends. They didn’t end up having  a wedding or a reception so I decided to save the gift for the friends who were actually hosting nuptials.

In order to get the carving set and board gift-ready I had some work cut out for me. To start: I hand refinished the cutting board sanding it in 5 layers from coarse to extra fine and then conditioned the wood. For the carving set- I designed and sewed a storage pouch for the knife set- lining the flap with vintage fabric from Mrs. T’s collection.

I honestly wanted to take the set to have it all resharpened, but I kinda ran out of time! Today while I have been recuperating from drinking too much champagne and wine I suddenly remembered back to my days at Williams-Sonoma helping hundreds of customers select wedding gifts and a memory flew through my mind that I hadn’t thought of in years – giving knives as a wedding gift is BAD LUCK. The belief is most prevalent in Latin American and Asian cultures (from which neither the Bride or the Groom hail) and the lore says that a gift of knives is equivalent to cutting off a friendship. The traditional folk lore continues  that the way around the severing is to have the recipient give you a penny – in essence “buying the knives” and then the taboo is moot. I had customers that would tape the penny onto the knife box prior to gift wrapping so the recipient would have a cent handy for instant repayment. Clamoring for self- justification in my hungover condition for giving knives without regard to bad mojo and with no penny for repayment I had a voila! moment.  While I was previously berating my poor time management skills and touches of laziness for not having the dull carving set sharpened, I decided that the dull knives were too dull to possibly severe any ties and my poor time management skills was somehow fortuitous. Long story short – people are so weird about their superstitions!

Without further adieu – here are the results of DIY wedding gift!

I have really been making an effort to learn more and more how to sew. I crafted this storage bag on the fly without a pattern. Every time I sew something and *think* I have thought through any construction issues- I inevitably realize that issues always pop up- always a learning experience. In this case- I line the top flap and then sewed the bottom pocket- and then they ended up being different widths- since I had used wonder-under to bond the lining to the canvas- I was able to pink the edges and sew a decorative zig-zag stich to secure it extra. I am pretty proud of the turn out and I can’t wait to hear if they like it! As the groom is a hard core foodie and they entertain a lot- I hope it gets a lot of wear and tear for another 60 years. Congrats Beth and Evan!