Stripes

Lately all the family has been involved in a major decluttering. With the spring we all felt the urge to simplify, to get rid of 'things' filling our house and stealing our space and time. The good thing is that I didn't forced anybody, I started and all the children followed along. It has been really freeing. We are home and you can always hear someone saying '' ... do we really need this !? ... and you know something will go either on the trash, or in the 'sale' bag, or in charity bag. The only thing I was a bit concerned were all the clothing stuff. Something is too old or stained or damaged to sale or give away, but I always felt guilty to simply throw it. So one day I thought to start reducing those items in stripes and making balls to crochet or knit, but the reality is that I have a quite big stash of yarns and I knew right away that probably I would never choose them over wool or cotton for my projects ... and an idea started taking shape in my mind ... what about baskets and bowl and pot-holders ? But not knitted or crocheted, somethin that is new to me ... so my adventure in sewing baskets started and now I'm addicted ! I love striping down well worn and loved clothes, choosing nice colours and sewing and sewing and stopping and marveling at the beauty that comes out of it . The only downside is that my hands and fingers right now are quite sore but so worth it ! I'm replacing plastic ones with the newly handmade, saving some for making presents and I will sell the others (more details about this later on ). And of course I love teasing my kids a bit ... when they worriedly ask me 'but the dark shirt you just striped wasn't my favourite black one  isn't it ? '' ... well I always answer ... ''who knows ? Did you leave it around ? Because I don't come and pick clothes from your closet ... '' eheheheh (mischief mama face here ).
Before showing few pics of my lovely baskets I wanted to wish all the fellow moms reading my blog
Happy Mother's day to all of you !!!

Work in Progress : crocheted bag

You might rememer I got myself a special gift for my birthday back in january, this Attic 24 chunky rainbow pack. At the beginning I just wanted to follow the original pattern intended for that pack but somewhere along the way ideas started popping in my mind so I first changed the edging and then I decided to add a nice and resistent cotton lining to the bag, to make it more durable and suitable for everyday use. Today, when I started to cut the lining I decided to add some pockets on the inside too, to store the cell phone, pencils and a bigger pocket for all that little stuff that a mama always keep in her bag ( you know, few candies, small toys, little shiny stones ... ). To top all of this, since I still don't have a functional corner for my sewing machine and I didn't want nor to wait or drag the machine back and forth from the craft\school room to the kitchen table, I decided to hand sew the lining and the pockets. I actually LOVE handsewing, few years ago I sewed skirts for me and dresses and trousers for my children and curtains all by hand, I find it relaxing and meditative. So I just cut the fabric and started sewing. I could finish the first pocket, the one for keeping the cell phone. I'm pretty satisfied of the outcome and can't wait to continue. Here a few pictures from today...

 It fits !!! And coffee is helping me  ;)

Here a detail of the pocket, I'm very happy of the way it looks !

And of course James has been there with me all the time, providing entretainement, love and laughs while sewing. Here he was jumping from the stroller wheel to the floor and kept asking me

 'take a pic of me while I jump ! '

I love him !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!