in the middle of the transformation
Hallo dearest Needlework Friends!
before
This week has been hard-but-VERY-rewarding. My chimney issues got resolved, at great cost to my peace and wellbeing, but sufficiently fixed up for now to allow me to have a fire and hot water - hallelujah! The mess and discomfort (not to mention dust and debris) got in the way of my sewing - especially as I'm working on a white dress! Nevertheless, I made good progress on my lingam covers, and then decided to work on something very different, to get me out of the stress (and the house!) of the chimney drama.
In fact, my dearest straniera friend here in Guardia, a writer and professor from New York, took me out for lunch on Friday, which turned into an extended conversation and then an epic adventure into the wee hours... during which I picked up a commission that I'd been insisting that she allow me to do for ages. I swapped her glasses case for my newly-sewn phone cover - another small scale project which I finished a bit rushedly this week, because I had a new phone this week and it needed protecting (from myself: the last one got smashed ceremonially) - and pledged to spend Sunday rebeading it.
the new catch which I constructed
She has had the glasses case for a few years; it was bought in Romania, and has this beautiful traditional beading quite typical of the area: my friend used the term 'unfussy elegance' which I very much liked. It is well-made and sturdy, but at the same time, it was affordable and so the needlework is not 'forever' needlework. It had lost its closure and many beads, and the whole look of it was lacking just a touch of extra lux and specialness, which I felt that it and she deserved.
I had this collection of tiny beads in tubes, which I think came from a car boot sale of a dearest creative friend when she was leaving Edinburgh for Wales, back in around 2008 (just before I came to Italy). Not the exact same colours, but sufficiently similar to add them to the mix and to step up the overall effect of the beading (at least, in my mind!) - I started before breakfast on Sunday, and finished before lunch: quite a few hours, and very enjoyable needling - even when I knocked over the wee tubes several times as I was sewing in the coffee bar at the market.
the final case, with glasses inside
It was thrilling to finish this case, and to hand it over to my dear friend: it feels like a good solid symbol of what I love doing most, which is bringing the magic into/ out of items and garments - making a well-loved thing into an even-more-well-loved thing! There's such multifaceted satisfaction in such an activity - especially when I have to get into such details as very thin needles and resewing tiny beads in circles and swirls.
my new phone case, made from denim and velcro
And from this, I also picked up another commission from another lovely American friend - a set of curtains for my friend's medieval door - a great big mossy-green velvet gloriousness which wants to be backed with a white looped curtain, so it can keep the drafts out of her beautiful new home, which is just down the street from me.
A lot of energy got freed up in my being this week, for multiple reasons... The gardens I'm working on, the new phone (a hundred times superiorly-functioning than the last one!), opening my mind up to bigger ambitions and possibilities, and finishing some small items that I am very pleased with - even if my phone case is a bit tight on my phone. It has been a deeply satisfying and fun week, and now I feel like I have a lot of inspiration to work with.
our wild Friday night out in Guardia Sanframondi, including singing, wooping-it-up, and my trying on my friend's glasses, hehe!