A new purchase. Made from scraps, remnants, toss aways, and leftovers. Worth every scraped-up penny.
On Saturday, at a farmer’s market in a nearby town, where the well-worn saying “Keep [fill in the blank] Weird” truly applies, I found this. Created by Kyle, who owns @continuedpurpose. Born from the cast offs of his recycled wood furniture. He makes super-cool chairs, benches, and bars from found wood. He told me that when he makes cuts to bigger pieces of wood while working on his larger projects, he ends up with a lot of little pieces of wood. So he decided to make little pieces of art with them. This is the result of that inspired idea.
My dad was a printer for many years; he even owned his own print shop. When he died I inherited hundreds of pieces of metal letterpress type from his business. With the teeny built-in shelves in Kyle’s piece, I can highlight some of that letterpress type. How cool is that? Thank you, Kyle - aaaah, I just love it!!! 😍😘🥰🤗🤩 @farmersmarketogden #recycledwood #reclaimedwood #foundwood #woodart #abstractart #♻️ #art #inspired #makedoandmakeart #remadenation
A teenager is a splendid, surprising thing. Especially when it’s your first time raising one.
The more my first teenager grows up - my Jack will be 15 next week - the more I adore him. I loved him as a baby, of course. But watching and listening to him come into his own, that’s what I love most. He’s turning into who he will be, all grown up. Watching it all happen is a privilege and a delight - every day there’s a new story I could share. Even mending stories!
Kinda funny case in point: this tee-shirt. It wasn’t Jack’s to begin with. It belonged to a friend of his. Jack accidentally ripped his friend’s shirt while grabbing him in the school hallway about . . . something. So he told his friend to bring the shirt back the next day and he’d have me mend it. (I did write a book about it, after all!) However, Jack didn’t specify what kind of mending he or his friend wanted, and I’ve never been good at invisible mending. So I chose a 12-weight variegated pearl cotton from Sue Spargo, and decided that simple Xs in a row would do the trick. I loved how the colors coordinated with the rose-printed pocket on the shirt front.
Well, Jack did not appreciate the color coordination. He refused to give the shirt back to his friend because there was NO WAY his friend would wear it. No way.
So I let it go. What do I know about what kids think is cool or uncool these days? I might as well be on another planet!
Do you know teens who immediately say NO before they say YES? This is my Jacky right now. I have to wait, patiently if I can, for his final answer. And the answer to this situation came three months later. He came downstairs one day and he - HE, out of nowhere - was wearing the shirt. He decided it was his and that was it. He’s worn it dozens of times now. Not sure what his friend thinks about the whole situation . . . they’re still friends, so I suppose they’re okay. But I am secretly tickled. Shhh, please don’t tell Jack . . . he may change his mind if he knows that his mom-from-another-fashion-planet actually loves what he’s wearing.
#visiblemending #mending #slowfashion #slowsewing #makedoandmend #remadenation
Mending by machine. Have you tried it? It’s just as fun as mending by hand. You’re just going 100 miles an hour instead of two miles an hour 😂 Here’s the hole. Then the mend. Then the mend closer and closer. I love the imperfect, haphazard look I get with this kind of mending. It invites a closer look. (“What the heck is that?” looks are my favorite).
.
Actually, this mend reminds me a little bit of my life right now. I have two children in end-of-school hyper-excitement mode and a husband dealing with a classroom full of the same. The boys come home restless; the husband (some of you will remember him as B.C.B. 😜) comes home exhausted. A jumble of energies. I feel like my energy is holding steady, working from home, tending to home. But when everyone converges, zing! Like this soft knit shirt that I love and want to care for and give my attention to, but in a crazy way and with a crazy energy. My end-of-the-school-year mending strategy. Get things done quick; then enjoy the (frenzied) accomplishment.
#visiblemending #visiblemendingbook #mendingbymachine #machinemending #freemotion #mending #menditation #makedoandmend #denimblue #fastsewing #remadenation
Oh, Marcie. What did you do?
🐶
So. I’ve been saving my royalties from my book. I’m not sure what for, just saving. (And for those of you who have purchased Visible Mending, thank you so very much - in December it went into its second printing! Hope y’all are enjoying it.) But there’s one thing I wanted to purchase, just to celebrate a little. I decided to fork out a small chunk of change for what a diehard thrift shopper would drop her jaw at (and that’s me): a new quilt for our bed. NEW. I found one I loved, I treated myself, it came with cute shams and I’ve been enjoying it. And so has puppy-dog Marcie.
🐶
Now, our Marcie is more than a pet to me. Because I work full-time from home, she’s my work buddy. I talk, she listens. When I need a moment away from the screen, I pet her and tell her how smart and pretty she is. And then I go back to work. And my 60-pound Marcie hops back up on the bed to wait out the work day. It would be a lonely work day without her.
🐶
Don’t know how I didn’t see this coming, but yeah - with her daily hopping on and off the bed, she made holes in my new quilt. Three. Sigh. But as it turns out, she actually gave me a gift. With this first mend, I like my new quilt even more. Now that it’s old.
🐶
#mending #visiblemending #mend #makedoandmend #menditation #borostitching #boro #patch #xmarksthespot #marciemooiloveyou #slowsewing #slowstitching #remadenation
