Sewing and repairing

We had a public holiday here yesterday so I took full advantage of the day to finish off a dishcloth for a friend and to do some sewing. I love to spend time in my little sewing room. I'm surrounded by fabrics of all colours, threads and yarn, and tins full of bits and pieces. The world always looks good when viewed from my sewing room. it puts a gentle slant on everything. Hanno was also very productive, although I have to tell you rarely a day goes by when he isn't. Yesterday he was busy in the shed making nesting boxes for the chooks. He's recycling some old cupboards for the job.

I tinkered around the house tidying up and putting things right for the week ahead and when order was restored and the bread was reading for baking, I went to my sewing room. I had two small tasks to complete before I got on to my main task - Shane's quilt, which is my ongoing project.

The little tasks were to make myself a pencil case for work and to fix an old leather wallet. The pencil case became a priority last week when I snapped a pencil in half dropping books into my basket at the end of the working day. I have been struggling with keeping pens, pencils, markers and highlighter together so I always have them at hand - I often need to take them to meetings. Now that I'm getting on in years, I find I have to write everything down or it might be forgotten. I used to have a brilliant memory and could remember pages of text, now I know I will forget if I don't make notes. And I make a lot of notes. LOL! I go through a large notebook in about three weeks. Anyhow, I knew a pencil case would make things easier for me but when I saw what was available in the local shop - plastic junk from China, I decided to make my own.

It's made of scraps I had in my stash - just two pieces of fabric sewn together with a sheet of wadding in between so pencil points didn't poke through.

And here it is, ready to go into service today, along with my notebook, address book and diary. I'm quite happy with it. It only took about 30 minutes to make but I know it will save me more time than that looking for my pens and highlighters.

My other project was to repair an old leather purse/wallet. I bought this wallet about 15 years ago and I put it in a drawer when the lining ripped away from the leather edge. It's a wonder I didn't throw it away, which I often did in those days, but the leather is really soft and it was a favourite, so it survived. As well it should have. I used a strong upholstery thread in my sewing machine and slowly restitched along the lining and then reinforced the edges. It's like new again! It gives me a great deal of pleasure to make and repair things for myself and others.

What I make is better than what I'd buy and it's unique, made exactly how I need it to be. I think my life is made better by recycling and making things last as long as they can. Oh, I still waste a few things but I'm getting better by being mindful of what I'm doing and always being aware of the impact my actions have on my surrounding world.

ADDITION: I'm really happy to tell you that I was selected as one of the winners of Little Jenny Wren's blog anniversary giveaway. Thanks Jenny!