Stitched Bits and a 60 cent bag of scraps

I created this ’stitched bit’ almost two years ago when I began my artistic journey:

I still love looking at it – something in me connects with fabric…!

So, I thought maybe it was time to create another one, and I created one this week:

Just bits of nothing really, and yet oddly calming and quieting to work on.  As I arrange and then re-arrange the ‘bits’ I find myself transported to places of ‘nowhere’.  Everywhere but nowhere.

Thinking about lots of things, but thinking about nothing.

Dreaming many dreams but dreaming of nothing.

Odd.  Calming.  Restoring.

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On one of my jaunts through a thrift store I happened upon a bread bag of scraps in Christmas colors – reds / greens / prints….all obviously cast-off and cut-offs from Christmas Crafts Past and it was ONLY 60 CENTS, so I rescued it from the thrift store and sat down to create something….I added a few buttons, and it slowly started to take shape:

The colors seemed to dictate a Christmas theme, and so I just stayed with that:

kept finding bits….putting them together in interesting combinations:

and I emerged with this:

I included loops on the top and hung it from a rod I had….still haven’t pressed it but I stitched a back to it and I guess I will call it freehand-textile-art….!

From something that someone else considered garbage, or a waste, something (somewhat!) beautiful was able to be created…..isn’t that a great metaphor for our lives?  How many of us live thinking or feeling that all we’ve got left is the garbage, the waste…how much good do we actually have left to offer the world?

How many of us think that what we have to give is worth nothing, or maybe only 60 cents….

Maybe the magic isn’t in our offering.  Maybe the magic is in allowing someone with greater vision and creativity the opportunity to form something beautiful out of it.

I’m just sayin’.

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All this stitching reminds me of some work my friend Julie has done….work completely done with fabric: 

 

hmmm…maybe I’ll have to keep exploring!

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Here is someone else exploring their love of fabric through stitched bits.

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Join me: I’m

REPURPOSED on Facebook

I joined the blog party at:

also linked up here:

Upcycled Travel Bag

I’d been seeing these things around the blogosphere, so I thought I had to try my hand at modifying an old travel bag.

This one was an off white color, made by Samsonite, and in quite good condition.

A few strokes of my Sharpie, and I think I might travel in style the next time I board a plane!

 

I didn’t take any before photos, but basically I added the free-hand tree drawing plus the black stripe.

Have some fun looking at some other possibilities here!  Look through their whole shop – it’s pretty fun!

 

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If Money were no Object…..

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what would you do???….just another way of asking “What’s your dream?”

What would you do if money were no object and you didn’t have to ‘work a day job’ to pay the bills?

I’m writing mine up and will be sharing it in the next little while…in the meantime….put your dream into a couple of short sentences and leave it in the comments.

Spoon Love….

 

So I bought a new dress for my sister’s wedding and now of course, I need jewelery to go with it.  But…that means buying more at retail and you know how that makes my skin crawl….so…I headed to the studio to start ‘creating’.

I ended up with this piece that I love, but it’s not quite right for the wedding, so I will have to keep at that…who knows what else I will come up with!

 

It is really shiny so it was hard to photograph, but it basically is a flattened silver spoon ( not stainless steel…) a vintage rhinestone necklace clasp and an old skeleton key.

Right now the key is on there with a key ring ( how predictable, I know..!) and I do want to replace that with something more delicate but I will have to scrounge around to find something else first…oh sure, I could just go to Michael’s Crafts but that would be RETAIL people….not my bag!

Oh and yes…that is GREEN wire.  I couldn’t find any silver wire, so I just used the green wire we had for my sister’s wedding dress flowers….quirky, but perfect…!
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REPURPOSED on Facebook

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Memory Quilt…..

Let me just say right up front, I am not a quilter…never done it, never thought I would explore it….but….last week while at the thrift store, some donations came in from someone’s mother who had recently passed.  I know the daughter as an aquaintance and I was overcome with a thought as I saw all those clothes.

It just seemed like there was SOMETHING that could be done to ease her grieving, at least just a little….so I rummaged through, and pulled out some items and got busy that evening.

Once I had started, I realized that there was still a very strong lingering of her mother’s perfume on these items, and so I told myself I needed to work really fast so that I could present it, with the scent of her mother still ‘alive’ on it.  So…I was up until midnight…cutting, pressing, sewing….and I came up with just a small little lap quilt, or, as I’ve shown here, a neat little roll pillow….

It was just one small thing, that I could do…..

 

Repurposing while on Vaca….

..who knows how many crafty little things I will come up with while on vaca….idle hands ‘n’ all….I think I’m just making up for the past few months of nothingness.

Here is another installment of a little girl’s dress made from a  vintage sheet….such a sweet pattern!

Then I had some time on my hands and had seen examples of these floating around the blogosphere….so I thought I had to try my hand at it.  I used a very thick marker, so next time, and there will be a next time…(!), I will use a much thinner marker tip….maybe I’ll include a tutorial too!

 

I played with it in Photoshop and like this one nearly as much!

woohoo…..repurposing again!!!!

Finally, I’ve stolen away some time to get into my studio and run with scissors again.

Here is just a fast project inspired by a vintage pillowcase I picked up for a quarter…as in 25 cents….

It’s called a pillowcase dress and little girls everywhere are staying cool this summer in them.  I made this for my little friend Summer and I’m going to give it to her tomorrow…..if I remember I’ll get a picture of her wearing it…that is of course, if her two-ness will put it on….you never know at that age…!

Repurposing a Window Blind

I have a great part time job as a Sales Rep for a Window Blind company, and so from time to time, I end up with sample blinds that have been discontinued…..I hate tossing them in the trash compactor, so I’ve been thinking of ways to re-use them.

Here I took a standard CELLULAR type window blind, spent a few minutes cutting it up and voilà, a color co-ordinated wine bottle insulator….I have no idea how effective it is, but hey, it’s cute!

Check out other neat ideas by visiting Works For Me Wednesday!

On Living With Balance

I admit, some who visit here, will think that I’m a country mama, with a brood of young’uns who homeschools, cans and hangs my wash on the line… ( not that there’s anything wrong with that…)..oh wait, that IS me on 3 of the 5….

Truth is, I think, for the most part anyways, if you ran into me on the street, I’d come across as a pretty normal, millenial type of gal.

I like my labels, I like quality, I like to be able to give people nice things…

but….

I don’t like those things more than I like working part-time (even though every fiber of my being craves the busy-ness of the full-time corporate world).

I don’t like those things more than I like my husband and son, and creating a home schedule that is un-hurried, respectful of each other and leaves room for ‘whatever’. (even though the ‘down-time gets on my nerves because I’m wired for speed)

I don’t like those things more than I like knowing what went into our food choices each day. (even though we still throw away WAY too much food because I let it rot in the fridge…)

I used to live what is considered now a pretty normal life…..working 9-5 (or more)……taking more work home for the evenings and weekends……using my credit card to fill up my house and closet……stopping to get fast food for dinner on the way home……being too busy to stop and ask my hubby how HIS day went before I unloaded on him about MINE…

A few years ago, that started to feel as far from normal as it could get.  I needed to submit to some hard-core changes in order to create some balance for us.

It’s NOT EASY, but if you are in the same boat, you KNOW when it’s time to do it.  Every day, you HEAR the things that tell you to change, you SEE the things that are out of order, the hard part is DOING it.

The hard part is fighting against those things inside yourself that say all those THINGS you are committed to are important …those voices that say you will become LESS important by reducing your commitments.

The hard part is fighting against those things from outside influences that say YOU’RE CRAZY…that say things will fall apart unless you speed up the treadmill.

The hard part is letting it all go.

Full stop.

Letting the pieces, letting the process, letting the people, letting the outcome go.

Here’s what I’ve learned….When you learn to submit, when you learn to relax, when you learn to let go of all the things that you hold tightly,  PEACE finds you.

JOY finds you.

CONTENTMENT finds you.

You can’t go out looking for any of these things…because each one is elusive on it’s own. When you find the magic, the magic works in you.

So the truth of the matter is, I get a kick out of seeing how ‘well’ we can live on ‘less’.  I enjoy finding a great deal, and creating something out of nearly nothing….to me, that is a fulfilling way to use my creativity and in the meantime, I hope that some of the things I write about will also serve to encourage anyone else who is walking that same path.

And I’m keepin’ it real by saying that most days I’d rather be DOING all the things that I used to be doing…it is a constant CHOICE I make to choose the BEST for us…(..’best’ not always meaning more or THINGS…or even the things that I’d LIKE to be doing…)

If you are feeling dragged out, dragged down and spiralling out of control, know that there is a better way.

It CAN be done.

HELP is available.

We can all agree to being REPURPOSED….it just takes a itty bit of faith to step out into something new.  Here is something I wrote a year ago to describe my new ‘place’.

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A REPURPOSED LIFE

I’m in a new place.

Call it what you will.

I no longer live in fear of not having, not doing or not being enough.

I am free of having to compete, of having to accomplish, of having to have.

I’ve turned my back on living a crazy life where nothing ever felt in control, and life never felt right. I’ve made a big income and left it because, it too, wasn’t enough.

My life was not designed to be stressful, disconnected or out of control.

My life was designed for peace, connectedness and to be full of truly good things.

Go ahead – believe that I’ve flipped my lid, but I am done with lap-dogging for the top dogs, I’m done with trying to be anything. I’m done with teams that lead and clubs that exclude.

Instead I look for the things that I was meant to learn from others, or from my interactions with them.

I’m living FREE and with control for the very first time.

Free to listen. Free to learn.

Free to do those things which bring life to those in my life.

If you’ve read this far, know that we are connected, and I hope that even just by reading this I’ve put some new life into your day, your outlook, or your life.

Go ahead…I dare you to ask me questions….

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Happy New Year!

This is not your standard New Years’  day post.

That’s probably because I’m not ’standard issue’.

I’m an oddball in a standard issue world and that’s OK with me….I roll a little differently and I thought I’d encourage you to do the same.

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Instead of filling it up…. empty it out.

Instead of accumulating… destash

Instead of panicking… pray

Instead of talking… listen

Instead of leading… follow

Instead of

“Me” choose “You”

Instead of

“too busy” choose “I’ll make room for you”

When you find yourself saying

“I need it”, ask “who could use it more?”

When you find yourself saying

“I’m important”, remember to live as though there are no levels…

Instead of

“won’t” choose “should I?”

Instead of doing it the same old way, ask “is there something better?”

Instead of …….?  There are between 80 and 200 people who read this blog every day ( yeah, shocks me too…!) and this is a call to delurk….if you’re reading this entry, it’s time to raise your hand and complete this list….

What can you fill in for an “Instead of……” for your life in 2009? click on the comments below…

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find others who are listing their 2009 resolutions:

http://laurelwreathsreflections.com/years-reflections

http://www.thehappyhousewife.com/

http://theinspiredroom.net/2008/12/31/a-beautiful-life-12-months-of-goals/