Everyone is on the trend of using tote bags to avoid discarding more plastic bags into the environment. This is just great and I think is a great excuse to make bags for a great cause. So, my first recipient was my friend Marwan, whose birthday I missed whilst being in Spain.
I'm so proud of these - I really enjoy making bags (which reminds me I must post a pic of my first bag, which I started in our first group session - stripes and dots, remember?). They are made with felt and inherited thai fabric that Mari gave me.
(click to see all steps to make this bag, easy and quick,
(forgot to add this pic, essential!! the bottom to keep the tote standing up - and give it more room and shape. Once you finish sewing it, is good to iron it to give it sharpness)
After making the orange small tote I thought 1/ is too bright and 2/ is bit small for my friend Mayo. So I went and made another one... which I plan to embellish with a flower brooch that she can put on or take off in the bag when she wants to use it on her jackets
Detail where you can see the "handmade" touch. The pictures don't reproduce properly the colour of the felt and the contrast with the apple green thread :-(
Working for/by myself has many pluses:
- I don't talk rubbish with people I don't truly care about,
- I avoid the commuting, don't get other people viruses or
- I can have the temperature in the room to my taste (no more jumpers in summer! no more triple layers in winter!).
I sound like a "grumpy old cow" but no, I know I'm talking for many of you. I've improved my social life, I put more effort into it and have better quality time with my friends!
My workspace is decorated to my taste - YES I can have whatever momentums and personal items I want, thank you (I hate corporations).
Pluses also are that I have plenty of natural light and this brings me to the little anecdote I wanted to write about today: cheeky squirrels. Well, I was opening the curtains a couple of mornings ago and I saw this cheeky squirrel working through our rubbish. [note: it isn't actually MY rubbish but my neighbour’s, which actually is pissing me off cause they cannot be bothered to put it all inside the bins, below and hidden]. Anyway, to the point, so, I decided to take some pics cause it was all quite cute/funny. And then, feeling sorry, I gave her a bit of the yummy quiche leftovers from our craft sessions. That was even funnier, when she wasn't sure if I was trustable or not to come and approach me.. anyway - fun little break-times that can only happen when you work from home.
(click for a bigger view)On the negative side of working from home is that the kitchen is right there! Few steps and is a heaven of food (and not-so-good treats too). So, as I stopped commuting, that means I walk a 5th of what I'd do in my office days and I am eating more. Consequences? you guessed it: bigger bottom!! So, I've decided to cut down on nasty treats (only buying dark chocolate now) and cooking healthy stuff. My mum would be so proud :-) I made a super healthy and yummy Japanese style lunch yesterday (cucumber & wakame salad with furikake + super food Kale and beans with rice and another type of seaweed paste). Pics don't make justice for taste!
oh! Another plus of working from home? I can have flowers around me all day long! (and.. not so glamurous but extremely practical.. I can do my washing whilst I work! no more late nights waiting for the washing machine to finish!!)
Sunday was a very rainy day but the girls still made it to my place. We had new comers, which is always exciting: Rose, Carly and Caroline turned up to our 3rd session in London, N4.
I must say that I wasn't very inspired and for the looks of it, perhaps because of the weather (or maybe because of the previous late night out), we were all a bit less productive than usual on the craft side.
On the cooking (and eating) side, we managed to do so well!! Specially because the girls provided us with irresistible delicious treats. Caroline made an splendid and healthy quiche, Rose made her own version of Asparagus rolls with soft cheese (very tasty and with nice soft bread), Carly brought her latest addiction: cheese-non-fattening-pretzels (always loved their name, pretzels) and a super sweet and juicy pineapple, Helene spoilt us with a great selection of French cheese from La Frommagerie, accompanied by nut bread.. what else we need to be in paradise? oh yes.. my carrot cake!!
Half asleep I stumbled out of bed at 10 (after finishing our previous night's party at 3am) and made the cake. Just as I slided it into the oven I turned around to discover I forgot to chuck in the grated carrot!! Thankfully it still worked out adding them at this stage. And I followed Amy's advice and chucked in raisins and nuts (by adding my morning muesli).
Carly's capable hands serving up the yummy quiche
The day went well, with lots of gossip, background music (including Flight of the Concords), bit of crafts and the best way to spend a Sunday, with friends!
Anyway, this is what we worked on:
Rose and Caroline in a thinking mood,
And I haven't got any pictures of Carly because she mostly did some repairing work on her clothes, which I envy cause I can easily list all the garments I got with about-to-fall buttons!!
And, for inspiration, today I opened this box of pencils that my dad bought me ages ago, when I was studying design. He went for a trip in the US and brought me back these and a super cool electric pencil sharpener that I used to show off at uni. Everytime I look at all these pencils I just want to draw and some of the colours are just so unreal!
Some vintage buttons I bought in Akaroa's flea market, I love them so much I am waiting to make something really special with them!
And these wonderful ones I've got them in Amsterdam
This is the first scarf I made. It is very very soft and warm, like baby whool. And is very very long so I can wrap myself on it on windy days
I made this scarf for Anthony with grey soft wool and a pair of an old suit's trousers. It is very long so that he can do the French knot with it (his favourite way to wear a scarf). And I made it looking smart so that he can wear it with his suit to go to work. But I didn't make the sewing, that was a difficult one so I got extra help for it! (cheater!!)
This is the Edgar Scarf that I'm working on. Even though the pattern is great (got it from Maya), I'm not sure I'm using this wonderful Noro wool in the best way to show off it's texture and colour. So I've paused the project whilst I think of it... The pic is old, so I've gone way further now, almost double the size.