a few things

+ Tiny peek of a baby gift I recently made (and gave).

+ Feeling a new fondness for coral pink.

+ My ongoing love for turquoise and all of it’s related watery blue greens seems only to be increasing as the weather turns warmer.

+ The first of a new pouch, and the very last of an oldie.

 

Can you believe it is March??

Enjoy the remaining hours of your weekend. I’ll be back tomorrow…

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doing it myself / week 2

This week’s DIY project was a little something for our car. We like to have the basics set up so our vehicle stays organized, and so we are prepared for spontaneous day trips or long days out running errands. One thing we needed was a functional place to put waste, like banana peels, apple cores, small recyclables, etc while on the road. It didn’t need to be large, would preferably be washable, stable so it didn’t tip over, and easy to access from the driver and passenger seat.

I tracked down a quart sized yogurt container (which was satisfyingly difficult to find since I make my own yogurt now), and built a small fabric container around it. I installed snaps on the fabric container, and also on a leather strap I cut, so it could snap in and out of where ever it was hung, with ease. The container is made with a heavy hemp canvas (my favorite fabric in the world!), and lined with a waterproof nylon material I had leftover from a custom order some time back.

It’s hanging from the seat frame down near the floor now, but can also be hung from the back of the headrest. We don’t generate a lot of trash (especially not while in the car), so the size is perfect.

Do you organize your car? Any fun tips?

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Last week’s DIY here.

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doing it myself

This week I started a batch of Natalie’s lavender skin toner. Witch Hazel, the base of this toner, is something I hadn’t had around since I was a little girl with the chicken pox, and my dad gave me cool witch hazel baths. The smell is still a comfort. Since having it on hand this week, I’ve been enjoying using it as a skin toner on it’s own while I wait for my lavender batch to be ready. After the first night applying it (with a little swatch of toilet paper), I realized I needed a non-disposable solution, and here is what I came up with.

These little wipes are quick and easy to make, easy to wash by hand or machine, economical, and best of all – ecologically smart.

I used a hemp/organic cotton fleece for one side, and unbleached cotton muslin for the other. I cut 3″ x 3″ squares of each, laying one on top of the other with right sides facing. Sew them together, leaving a hole in one edge to turn. Clip your corners, turn right side out, press, and top-stitch. The fleece is soft and absorbent and the muslin side provides a gentle scrubbing quality.

I am making a little goal for myself to try to do at least one project for our home each week. It’s so rewarding – even something so small as this – and I don’t make things for us nearly enough these days. I will share my projects on the blog as I go. I’m excited about this!

 

Edit: I thought I would add a couple things… These pads could be made with any fabric you like and they require very little material. Ideas: cut up an old washcloth, an old cotton t-shirt, a worn out pillow case, what ever you have on hand that feels appropriate for facial application. And if you use natural fibers, your pads will bio-degrade when their useful life is done. You can toss them right in with your compost.

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a little striped skirt

While cleaning up some piles of fabric a few nights ago, I came upon this striped jersey material I had found some time back at the thrift store. It suddenly seemed like a great idea to make a little skirt.

I used an old skirt of mine to get the basic shape from, and traced it onto paper as a pattern. The waistband is a wide, doubled over strip of a stretchy bamboo knit. In less than an hour I had a new little skirt!

If there is some interest, I may try to create a simple tutorial. This is a very easy project if you have a serger. And even if you don’t, some simple variations could be made to work with a sewing machine.

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a few things…

Wild berries are one of my favorite things about late summer. I’ve been making some super delicious blackberry smoothies lately – wow, such amazing color. Now that I have a nice bit of them stored in the freezer I am wondering about other ways to use them. What are your favorite simple blackberry recipes?

A new bag soon to be in the shop. I challenged myself with this one, to create a bag with enough pockets to really stash a lot of stuff. I have been assembling most of my bag interiors with a similar layout for quite some time, so it felt great to explore some changes.

Sewed a small organizer tote last week to stash some of the things on my shelf. I really enjoyed this little project so I made a couple extras. There is going to be a little giveaway tomorrow : )

See you then…

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simple things

Whipped up a quick little something for our home the other day. It was enormously satisfying for such a simple little thing. It’s always super rewarding to make things for our home, though I rarely ever do, for lack of time. I made this pillow cover with a gray vintage plaid wool, backed with my favorite-in-the-whole-wide-world Romanian hemp canvas. It’s an envelope style cover, and went over an existing pillow we had that has been laying around. Brand new now! I like adding texture to our home with natural patterns in natural materials. Adding a little color to our super natural palette is fun too. That aqua blue and golden yellow wool blanket is a really nice Pendleton I found a couple weeks ago. After 3 thorough washings it has become a new favorite, and with the addition of the new pillow I feel like we have a brand new sitting area.

I hope you all are enjoying the weekend. And Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s out there.

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patches

I did a little bit of sewing for myself the other day, and added some tweed elbow patches to a cashmere sweater of mine. This concept isn’t a new one, but it seems to be revitalized these days and I’ve come across it online a few times over the last few months. When I was little I often saw my dad in sports coats with leather elbow patches and I have had a fondness for it ever since. There is something both practical and playful about it – and it makes a simple sweater or jacket seem a bit smarter, don’t you think?

I enjoyed the hand sewing; it’s been a while; and I went on to dig out a few things I haven’t worn much, to see if maybe a new life with patches would renew them. I’ll be offering a few of these things at meadow + mark soon. Maybe even some cashmere. The vintage L.L. Bean cardigan is one I found just a few days ago. The patches are leather and the sweater is camel hair and lambs wool. Very cozy.  It’s available now, as are a few other things I added this week.

Have a great weekend everyone. I’ll be working in the garden as much as I can. The weeds have gone crazy with all the rain we’ve had. And, this might be a funny bit of news if you have never heard of vermiculture,  but we harvested our first tray of worm castings this week and fed it to all our plants. Our worms must be pretty happy because they are devouring our kitchen scraps and having worm babies like crazy!

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a little modesty

Sometimes the simplest projects bring the greatest satisfaction.

You see, there are a lot of little quirks about our house. One of them is the fact that there is a window in our bathroom, right behind the toilet. The window is frosted, but not frosted enough apparently, and from the outside (right by the front door) you can even see the toilet tank. We ran a few tests, and in the right light (which is most light) you can see bare booties through that window!

You wouldn’t think it would have taken me this long (here we are at 10 months) to do something about this. Maybe it is my old skinny-dipping brazenness shining through. But at last I made a curtain! Needless to say, it has come as quite a relief, and as an added bonus I have really been enjoying seeing this fabric hanging. I have been holding on to it for over a year, waiting for just the right use.

So there you have it. A booty hiding panel of pretty vintage eyelet lace.

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handmade envelopes

I had wanted to make some envelopes around Christmas time, to give to friends and family, but I never got around to it. It was not long after, that Julia posted about some envelopes she had made from old magazines, which was excellent inspiration and I really loved how hers turned out. She even posted a tutorial here. A couple weeks ago I was cleaning out our magazine basket in the bathroom and finally gave it a go. I didn’t use any templates, just chose some colors/images/type that appealed to my eye, and got started. They are all different sizes and shape, and I found it’s fun to have a varied selection, as sometimes you just want to include a small note and other times a longer letter…

Pictured is the first of several batches I made (these were made from a toast catalog), and the only batch I rememembered to photograph. I constructed some with a glue stick and others with machine stitching. The flap took all different shapes, and I also found I liked the look of a rough torn edge. Before sending them off with orders, I closed the flap with a piece of washi paper tape. Simple as can be and a great, fun way to re-use magazines and catalogs that you are finished with!

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organizing… and a giveaway!

I have just relocated my sewing space to our loft, which has prompted a lot of organizing and cleaning out. It is rather shocking how much stuff I have !! and particularly in the realm of fabric. I have acquired quite a lot of very nice fabrics over the last year -  linens, cottons, embroidered, vintage… I spent quite a bit of time the other day carefully going through all my fabrics and sorting them into piles of what to keep, what to pass on and then the most fun… what to gift. I have selected some fabric that I don’t think I will necessarily use any time soon, or that I may have quite a lot of, and would like to have some giveaways here to express my appreciation and just to enjoy the fun of sharing with my readers. I know all of you don’t sew, so I will be having a couple of giveaways with those of you in mind as well.

This bundle includes:

2+ yards of undyed stretchy cotton / linen blend, a nice size piece of brown 100% hemp twill, a nice size piece of undyed 100% hemp, 1 yard of lightweight blue gray 100% linen, a section of vintage eyelet trim, and a spool of cotton surgical thread (this stuff is great for hand stitching. It is very strong!) The wooden clothespin is included as well.

To be included in the drawing, simply leave a comment on this post by the end of Monday Oct 26. Don’t be shy!! This is for you.

I’ll report back with results after choosing a random winner.

Thank you for being so supportive everyone.

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