Crate and Barrel's Leo All-Purpose Glass

(photos from crateandbarrel.com)

My dish and glassware accumulation was fairly complete, but I didn't have anything really suited for cocktails or hard drinks. I'd been thinking about picking up some old-fashioned and cocktail glasses, but I don't care much for the shape (straight sides) or balance of old-fashioneds (bottom-heavy). And while cocktail glasses have the mod-ness of the cone shape, drinking from one is like sipping from a giant tipped basin (inverse problem: top-heavy).

Then I saw these glasses in a Crate and Barrel catalog. Unless you love the previously mentioned glassware types, the Leo glass is a fantastic stand-in for as many as four different types of glassware.



The proportions, that petite stem, the fit in the hand are great. There's just the right amount of taper to the sides (nice for sipping from and holding). Its silhouette isn't exclusively tied to any one drink, so it can easily serve water, wine, cocktails, liquor, or juice.

Oh, and customer comments on Crate and Barrel's site mention serving parfaits and desserts in these glasses. Multiple uses are definitely a plus.

"bullet" sewing kit

A favorite possession: the sewing kit my mother gave to me when I went to college. It was given to her by another woman in her family. The kit's contents are: one spool of white thread, one spool of black thread, one needle in its own capped container, all enclosed in a thimble-topped outer container. The spools are wood, and the containers are possibly brass.

It's perfectly tidy, portable, and compact, juxtaposing feminine craft tools inside an ammunition-like silhouette. I love the materials: wood, metal, cotton thread.

You can see all the kit's parts here:


I don't have information on the manufacturer. The only identifying mark I can find is one remaining label on the end of the black spool of thread (my family is from Vietnam, so this item probably has French, or maybe Swiss, origins):

Search engine results turn up mentions of bullet-shaped sewing kits that various early 20th-century companies distributed as promotional items.