Back to Basics

After last week's maundering, back to needlework - although none of it is very exciting. 

There's a sock and a half. I'm expecting to get a bit further up the other leg during 'Inspector Montalbano' tonight. Or, as I think of it, 'Midsomer Murders with Mafiosi'. They are supposed to be wellie socks but it's been so cold here I may end up waering them around the house.

There are three little books. (One of them is stitched, so it's needlework.) I had to miss the practical session of Visual Marks the other week, but yesterday I got round to the challenge, which was to make a concertina book with pockets. Making little books is like eating Pringles, so I recycled some brown paper and made three. They all have pockets, just that some of them are more secretive than others.

And, returning to the subject of organisation, I invested in a new sewing basket. I'm not a fan of those fancy ones with flaps and compartments, and for a while I've been using a small shopping basket, which I think came as a gift with tea and biscuits in it. But it really was too small, and kept tipping over, so Google came to the rescue and I bought a bigger one.

Life is never simple. I hadn't realised quite how big it was. Things were going to get lost in the bottom. I decided to make a lining, with pockets, to keep the contents under control. There must be some suitable fabric in my stash...

Life is never simple. I realised I was going to need quite a big piece of fabric, but most of my bigger pieces were too big - dress or skirt lengths, which I am keeping in case I decide I want to dressmake again, unlikely as that is. If they weren't too big they were the wrong colour - too bright, too hand dyed or too dark - the wrong weight - too thick or too thin. 

I finally found a piece of coarse Broderie Anglaise I'd bought because it was cheap but never used because it looked it. But life is never simple. It was white and just didn't look right. I really wanted a nice light blue. Fortunately, it's cotton, so I bought some dye. 

That was the easy bit. Life is never simple, but I'll spare you all the tribulations of actually making the lining, nor will I show you close-ups of the stitching. After frequent unpicking, muttering and cursing, it is finished. And I am amazed how much I can get into it, including the varied notebooks I wittered on about last week and. those essential needlework tools, pliers and a screw driver, and it still looks half empty. I could undoubtedly get my hammer in there too, but I think that might be a step too far.

Life is never simple. I like my sewing accessories to match, and the bits and bobs I'd made for the smaller basket didn't go with the pale blue - you can see in the photo that that orange needle boob cushion has got to go. (I wonder if I can find a blue handled screw driver?)

The little plastic canvas box for oddments I made years ago was the wrong colour, and it had never been big enough, and making another one would use up most of my stash of plastic canvas and several hanks of my vintage tapestry wool, and this year is all about using up stash... 

So, I have made a bigger box, which you can see in the photo, and I'm working on a sort of matching (because I used up most of the lighter blue tapestry wool on the box) plastic canvas needle book, which may or may not replace the orange needle boob.

Procrastinating about getting back to my tree knitting? Me?