Thursday, January 15, 2009

handmade projects


i've been on a little gift-to-myself vacation, with adam's encouragement, before i get back to tutoring again.

i have the problem of wanting to clear my to-do list completely before i sit down to fun projects.

but i'm gradually learning the art of letting things go for a few days, because they'll eventually get done.

so i baked some sprouted grain bread. picked up a sewing project that had been lingering for over a year (turning a favorite old skirt into a dress). sewed some stray buttons onto clothes. and one of the most fun things has been making blank books from some really wonderful paper adam got for free. i'm in the middle of sewing ten bundles of ten pages each into a book. we poked holes where the paper is folded, and the stitching is going pretty easily, now that i figured out a system.

then i will have to figure out how to put a cover on the books. i'm leaning towards a fabric cover stitched over cardboard for stiffness. it's kind of nice not to use glue, i think. not sure why.

there is something really amazing about hand stitching (aside from the backache i get). it's a very scuptural process, much more versatile than machine stitching.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i'm loving it :) right up my alley. have you seen this blog? http://cailun.info/ delightfully inspiring to me.

Nicole said...

I am happy you're able to get some time to yourself, and how sweet it is that he encouraged it.

I know what you mean about stitching by hand. I enjoy slow processes. not because I'm especially patient, but because it teaches me to be. just this evening, while I shelled what felt like a thousand peanuts for peanut butter, I was able to really think and even pray. I was thankful for it.

xo