The Mending Pile

The grass is officially green.  And though the night temperatures still get below freezing, I know that spring is now officially upon us.  I am very much aware that the supposedly 'slow' season of winter, the one in which I have a bit more time to do little creative bits I don't have time for in other seasons, is fading and we are fast approaching 'busy season' with its' frolicking and gardening and swimming and berry picking and canning and weeding.

 I don't feel like I ever actually enjoyed any of the slowness that is supposed to accompany winter.  Where did it go?  Was it because of a certain baby girl?  Was it because the winter was so mild that I never felt huddled up and hibernating?

So in these last slow days of spring, I have been trying to eek out little moments to do some of the winter things I enjoy doing.  Mostly sewing....



I had a whim to make a dress for Ineke like this one to match her cousin.  Of course, because it was a whim, I didn't bother to look at the instructions/print the pattern and it turned out to be a shirt, not a dress and with armholes that were too tight.  FAIL.  She wore it once.  (But looked pretty darn cute doing it!)



Then, Matt's work jeans got another tear and needed mending.  They are his Frankenjeans because, even though he has other pants he could replace them with, he just won't give the darn things up.  It's bad.



Since I was mending...

I started mending other things that have been waiting for too long to be repaired...

... including undies. 

 Not to be too personal here but... have you ever thought about repairing undies instead of tossing them?  When I stretched out the elastic on all mine at 9 months pregnant, I thought I would have to toss them and start fresh.  Then I looked at just how expensive underwear is.  WHAT?!!  Yeah.  No.

I replaced the well stretched (and holey)  lace with elastic for pennies on the dollar.   Probably everyone has thought of this before and I am the last one to arrive at the party- this was one of those 'duh' moments for me and I am glad I finally had it.



At the bottom of the mending drawer I found a quilt that I started oh.....when I was pregnant with Adele.  ADELE the seven year old.  Yeah.  It was done entirely except for the binding.  Binding a baby quilt apparently takes 7 years.



I do love the fabric though...even if seven years later some of the colors have run.

I made a simple drawstring bag to store fort-building supplies that have been shoved inside a nasty old cardboard box.  Yes, I know that drawstring bags take only minutes and aren't that serious of sewing projects...



...but those few minutes were hard to etch out so it totally counts as something to be proud of.  Besides, I had been wanting to do that for over a month.  So I feel very accomplished with that little drawstring bag.


I also discovered a skirt that I have been saving (for, ahem, years).  It was one of those wildly inappropriate mini-super-short PINK skirts that  look more for a sleazy cheerleader than an adult.  It was given to us.  I thought about trying to sell it on consignment to the local sleazy teenager store and then thought something like "I like the fabric.  Maybe I could do something with it?  And besides, wouldn't I be perpetuating the sleaze by offering it for sale to the cesspool of scantily-clad self-depreciating teen girls out there?"  (or something of that nature.)

this is it, inside out.

So instead of doing that, I decided to redeem the fabric into a wholesome and sweet little Ineke ensemble.

See?  Wholesome.

Sweet.