Tuesday, November 11, 2008

long overdue

i made something for myself. yes, myself. i've been trying to remember when i last sewed something just for me and i honestly just don't know... it must've been a while.

so i finally put the bag i've been dreaming of for weeks on top of my "things to sew" list and finished this morning.










yes, it's more "garden party". i'm still completely obsessed with that collection and i'm checking my etsy every five minutes or so hoping to finally make a sale so i can buy more a.m.h. fabrics. turns out she's coming out with a new line in january and i just saw the first pics of it on her blog... must have all of them. now!

anyways, i had originally planned to make the actual bag from the darker "table cloth" fabric but after two mei tais i didn't have enough fabric left for this enormous tote so i went with the green instead. the bag has four inside pockets which will hopefully keep me from having to search for keys or cellphone for ten minutes while trying to keep a newborn and a toddler happy. i went for the totally oversized look knowing that i'll soon be carrying around necessities for two kids in cloth diapers. we'll need looooooooooots of room! i also made sure the strap was long enough to fit around our stroller's handlebar so that i won't have to carry it when i'm wearing our new baby.
the blue inside fabric is a really heavy ikea home dec cotton and i'm hoping this big beauty will be my faithful companion for a long time.



so much for the bag. the black backround btw is the new enormous chalkboard dave made the other day. it serves as canvas to joon's recently discovered creative outpours and the top half will hopefully help us improve on scheduling our day to day activities which we've been shockingly bad at lately. too much to do too little time and as always way too many ideas.



one last thing, i've been wanting to write about one of my favorite german traditions, "st. martin's fest". st. martin's day is on november 11th and it celebrates the memory of some dude on a horse who cut his cloak in half with his sword and gave half to a poor man in the street about to freeze. the poor man's life was saved and martin became a saint. or something.
anyways, there's more to it of course but what matters to me is the fest that comes with that story...

each year around november 11th all german children make paper lanterns and then they gather one evening and go on a little parade usually led by "st. martin" on a horse with a cloak and a sword and some sort of knight helmet thing which is usually made from plastic and looks really cheap. there's usually a small brass ensemble and then there's lots and lots of children and lots and lots of parents and they walk through the streets with their selfmade lanterns and sing songs. in the end they gather around a fire, drink hot chocolate or "gluehwein", eat a particular st. martin's bread and just look happy and peaceful and... i love "st. martin's parade"!

this year we missed the festivities in my old part of town which i always went to growing up. it's by far the best one out there, i'm sure! (no, i'm not biased.) but for some reason it was held super early this year so we didn't get to go. instead we went to the one in our new neighborhood which was also fun but nowhere near as romantic. joon had a great time though! that's what matters most.

and it reminded me of why it is that i didn't really mind the long dark and cold season in germany as a child... it was because i constantly had really fantastic reasons to craft! starting with german thanksgiving ("erntedank"), then st. martin, my birthday, my two brother's birthdays, st. nicholaus on december 6th, the whole time leading up to christmas, my mother's birthday, christmas, new year's and by the time that rolled around we already got to get excited for spring again!

so this fall and winter and all falls and winters from now on, i'll make a point to create! to take the time to sit down and really focus on small crafts, drink yummy tea, use lots of glue, surround myself with colorful materials, bake cookies, all the good stuff.
i love love love summer and being outside constantly! but the cozy cooped up in the house aspect of winter i love just as much. i just haven't been aware of it.

2 comments:

HippieDiva said...

http://purealaskandiva.blogspot.com/2008/11/tagged.html

Trinity said...

Okay, I HAVE to have a bag like that. Seriously. I may steal it from you next time I come over. That'd be a great birthday gift. ;)