gathering treasures

I've mentioned before that Mason always comes home from our walks with something in his hand. Be it a leaf (the last of the 35 he's picked up & discarded) or twig, pine cone or pebble, always something. Not to be outdone, of course, Nate has followed suit. It's funny to note the differences - Mason always picks the 'Charlie Brown' leaves, etc. and Nate goes for the big size or impact.

All these treasures need to be carried, and my hands are full with the hands of two boys, so... the Gathering Treasures Bag was born. The idea was kind of an old newspaper-boy's bag/messenger. It goes across the body with an adjustable strap for hands free use, and closes with vintage button & elastic loop. Simple construction, there are no pockets to get in the way of small hands filling & emptying. It's lined with fused grocery bags, which give it perfect structure & support. The fused material was a dream to sew & use. I've posted about this before here and here.

All the materials were of course gathered from around the house. The fabric is left over from my friend's curtains that I just hemmed, the straps are twill tape that came tied around a rug I ordered years ago & the colored stripe is seam binding from my Nana. (the green will be for Mason, and a blue striped one is in the works for Nate) The hardware I've kept from something taken apart who-knows-when, and the buttons are from my dad's circa 1950s hunting jacket. I cut that up when I was a kid, and the buttons remained. The elastic loop came from something I unwrapped a week or so ago - and can't remember what the heck it was. I know where things came from that have been around 20 years, but last week? No clue. I blame it on my kids.

I've been using all my spare time for work projects lately, but so many ideas have been flooding in, too.  I'm planning on a limited edition project for sale, post to come soon...

apples, fire trucks, pumpkin pie

It's not fall in New England without a day spent apple picking, pumpkin gathering, and checking out a farm stand. Nate actually ate his apple, Mason just held one tight. He did pick out his own pumpkin, very carefully.

We spent a beautiful day doing all that, and got a special exclusive Lieutenant-guided tour of a Firehouse & Fire Trucks this Sunday. The boys are nutty over fire trucks, and our friends Jackie & Barry were kind enough to invite us for a tour of a firehouse. Barry's a volunteer fireman & Lieutenant in Brookline, NH. Although the trucks were awfully large compared to a two & a half year old, they did rather well. And haven't stopped mentioning them since.

I filled up my basket with our fresh-from-the-tree apples, and filled our home with the smell of apple crisp last night. Yum. I love fall.

the first 3 photos are thanks to Cayce...  Thank You!

the finished basket

But it's much more than that. It's a completed project (those of you with a half dozen, half complete projects understand this) and a discovery & successful implementation of a new to me technique (fusing plastic bags). It's a physical manifestation of one reason why I wanted to create this online dialog - to bring creativity back to my life on a continual basis and have accountability for it. And it's also a spark... now that I've found a new material to work with, there are endless possibilities for it's use. My niece Ali would enjoy creating with this. It would be the perfect lining for the puppy-treats bag she wants to make.

The fabric liner was very quick & easy. If you haven't done it before & need info, comment here & I'll do a tutorial. My list is growing :). The fusing was so simple - I think I'm hooked. It took under 10 minutes from getting out the iron to the completed piece. I can deal with that! For this I used 4 bags, yielding an 8-layer piece. Cut it to size/shape with scissors, and there you have it. My last post has the link to the how-to, if you didn't already go. I highly recommend giving it a try, & seeing what you can do. This project start to finish, was completed while my boys were napping - under an hour. 

Now to go apple picking...

my favorite season

is finally here! It always feels like new beginnings for me when fall comes, just like spring. We've had a few days of cool autumn temps, and it gets me looking forward to all the season has to offer. Like the smell of hearth fires on a crisp evening walk, the colors & light, state fairs & foliage trips, fresh apple cider & warm apple everything...

On that note, my little project for the day is to overhaul a basket given to us by my sister's dear friend Lucy when she met my newborn twins. It was filled with lots of fun, artful, useful, & quirky goodies. Just like Lucy herself.

I'm going to make a new fabric liner for it & plan to put it out on the table with apples in it. The scrap of fabric is from a cushion project, and will work well. To guard against any "fruit incident" occurring  (that sometimes happens, you know - leakage) I'm also going to to do a fused plastic bag pad/underliner to take care of this problem. I'd found the info awhile ago, through etsy & have been wanting to try it out. This seems like the perfect project to do so. I'll let you know how it goes.