OUR BEST SCONES

And while I am here...

CRAFTS FROM BURLAP. SEWING FOR FUN - 3

One of my favorite sewing material is a burlap. Thankfully I can get an almost unlimited amount of it in a place we roast our coffee. These are just few things I made.
This apron I made using my old one as a template and when I showed it to my baristas... well, I ended up making ten more of them (couple were half aprons).

SEWING FOR FUN-2

But I did not start with making clothes. I actually promised myself not to... All I wanted to do - some small things for home.

This is one of my first projects. I absolutely love yellow-blue-white palette from Alsace. So my kitchen is slowly taking on these colors.

 

TEA  TOWELS

You need very limited amount of fabrics but combine them different ways and possibilities are endless.

ANOTHER SOURCE TO BUY FABRICS

So, as I said before - sewing was something I did out of need in my late teens and I never thought I would do it again. But...

SEWING FOR FUN

I never thought i would be making clothes for myself... Probably, because the last time I was making them it was out of necessity. But now it became kinda fun.

LAST SUNDAY FINDS

So... this is my finds from last Sunday. Wonderful silk parasole, just love the original metal hardware and it is complitly functional. If somebody is questioning me using it this summer... well, you are so wrong! I like it way more than big hat.

GARAGE SALES FINDS

Ok, this is this time of the year again... Garage sales season... We open our last Sunday. Did not plan to, honestly I did not even know people have garage sales on Sundays. Anyway, Sunday 12:30 (right after breakfast) I had no plans and decided to look through Craigslist. And guess what I see! Gorgeous Chinese wedding set: headboard and two nightstands. That was the love from the first sign! But only on my side, W was not so sure. But, hei! For the price of $100 I can be pretty convincing. So, I shout an email to the seller - wait for half an hour- no reply. Ok, my Love, get ready we r driving! So just before we left I am shouting another one "Hold it!". Imagine my excitement when we arrived to the place and realized the set is there. One concern we had - the headboard is way too small (wrong), not made for the standart bed frame (does not matter, it meant to be mounted on the wall). The people were so nice, they even delivered the headboard for us (it did not fit in our car).

SEWING MACHINE COVER

4:15 AM

You know this situation, when you wake up in the middle of the night with the feeling something is wrong. Does not happen too often... Today it was at 4:15. I opened my eyes: Mother's Day flowers next to my bed, W is breathing next to me. So I started a list in my head: health (us and children and Mom), work (us), study (children), finances. Still could not find anything. But still could not go back to sleep. I got up and went to the other room, layer on a couch with the IPad. Went to LJ, pinterest, searched the web: made a couple decisions: to return MagicBullet I bought yesterday in exchange for Cuisinart and start having breakfasts (kinda no hope to convince W to do it, but I can try). Revisited yesterday: shopping for the coffee shop, got salsa maker for D and two boxes of mangos for L, some fabrics for me and couple things for future projects. Weekend cake (Belgrade tea cake) is half done for the weekend; rye bread is ready for today's pickup; new trainees seem fair; K is staying, and C is happy. On the way home, I stopped at SDL to see a friend. Poor girl was not at the best mood; we talked for an hour. I hope it helped; her mood seemed improved when I was leaving. And then I grabbed my phone. It turned out L tried to call me at 10:58 last night - I was long asleep. Probably nothing serious, otherwise he would call W, but could it be that this "something is wrong" was just sensing of this missed call from my oldest?

BEING A MOM...

As I mentioned in my first post, I have two sons. If you have children, you know, how your heart breaks when they cry or upset especially if you can't help them. You know, right? And then... at one point both of them became taller then me (this process is still going on) and I realize that now I feel their pain and tears even harder than before. My only explanation is: when you see somebody bigger than you are, your brain immediately reads it as "this person is stronger than me". Stronger, so can handle more. And if you see this person crying from pain or offence, your brain multiplies the pain. I remember after one vacation with my Dad (I love you, Dad, but none of my boys are going to spend vacations with you. I know, it is not your fault, you pretty much did not have a childhood yourself.... sorry.) my oldest one, who was fifteen at this point, was trying to hold back his tears and his lips were shaking. He was one foot taller than me, and the pain in my heart was unbearable...

FLOWER OF POMEGRANATE. DECOUPAGE ON AN OLD WRITING TABLE.

As I said before, I have million hobbies, some of them I have from my childhood (like ceramic), some - pretty fresh and new (like bread making, sausages making and decoupage). 

As a first instruction I want to share one of my first decoupage project. If you want to repeat it just remember, the important thing is following the technique (I thank Hiram Manning for his book Manning on Decoupage), careful cutting and gluing and... the sky is a limit - let your imagination go wild! I will learn how to take "step-by-step" pictures.