United we stand

I couldn't resist this this lamp that I found at an auction recently. It has a beautiful wooden base and amazingly was in good working order. It had a rather shabby shade which I updated or in fact back dated with a vintage flag. I love the effect.

Scraptastic

I made this cushion from a collection of fabric samples that I received from a fabric wholesaler. At the end of every season I have a bit of a clean out and I just couldn't bring myself to throw these out. They had been conveniently already cut with pinking shears which made it really easy to roughly sew them together with running stitch. The colours are fabulous and have given our red sofa real lift.

It's in the bag

I made this satchel (above) for my littlest one to take to preschool. It was so simple to make. I doubled over a piece of linen and hemmed it, then turned in inside out or outside in so no seams were showing and then folded and hemmedit to form a pocket and flap. I made it from some heavy weight linen, that should withstand the occasional wash in the machine. I love using linen as it gets softer with age and is so durable. The appliqued heart was made out of Wiltshire Liberty print.

The white bags are her sleeping bag and her baking bag (to bring the bread they bake home on in on Fridays!) They were also really easy to make, all done in an afternoon. The white bags are made of an old cotton sheet.

Dearly departed

I have been lucky enough to 'inherit' various haberdashery items from both my grandmothers. My paternal grandmother left me the most amazing button collection, the remnants of her children's wear factory, and my maternal grandmother left me this fabulous collection of cotton reels.  I say 'inherit' but really these items are just one of many that become part of an estate and need to be distributed thoughtfully.  

Happily they have each inspired me to create.  The buttons are used in my hair accessories (button bows to be precise) and the cotton reels will ensure that I never need buy cotton again as I have every shade imaginable!  

The lovely part about these items is that I think of both of my grandmothers every time I see their things in my sewing cupboard.  I think about their lives and the fact that they saved everything and wasted nothing and it makes me reflect on my own wastage and misuse of materials.  I do endeavour to recycle and reuse as much as I can and I think the key to this is to be well organised and have great storage where you can clearly label and categorise items.  

Amongst the collection was this hosiery darning thread, I marvel at the idea of mending tights. Now laddered tights are only good for staking plants in the garden, but in my grandmothers time they would have been painstakingly mended and mended again.

When we lived in the UK I used to collect the lids from the milk bottles and I even brought them with me to Australia to use in children's art projects and costumes.  Sadly they are all gone now and I wonder whether it would be ecologically sound to have my mother in law collect some more and post them to me?  Probably not as I am sure the carbon emissions would be breathtaking.