Lavender, Linen, and a Little Bit of Love

Ribbon, lavender, and a little bit of linen

Hello my friends,

I hope all is well with you on this b..e..a..u..t..i..f..u..l fall day today! I thought I would share a little project that I did a while back, but decided to make a few more today - lavender sachets.

I have tons of linen scraps here and there and they (along with vintage ticking, old table cloths, or any natural fiber fabric) and they make the perfect little sachets. I cut the scraps into 3.5" x 3.5" and just fill and sew!

I like the rustic look, so I simply place one piece of fabric onto the other (wrongs sides together). I sew about 1/4" allowance and then fill with buds and carefully sew it shut. Seriously, the entire process takes less than five minutes from cut to shut.

The rough, unfinished edges give a feel of homespun elegance.

A little velvet ribbon tied around a bundle of three...

Makes an elegant and simple gift to thee...

Just "squish" them periodically to release the wonderful lavender scent. Perfect for under your sleeping pillow during the day and at night, remove, flip pillow over, and rest your head on a lovely, soothing scent.

Wishing "thee" a happy and creative weekend!

from my house to your house

Getting the Moonbeam Glow

Late, two nights ago, I was sitting on the sofa, after a tiring day and looked up and saw what could be a really beautiful moon. I got up and opened up the front door, stepped out, and was just amazed by it. I called out to my barber husband, 

“Come here! You have to see the moon!” 

He comes out of the kitchen and onto the front porch and hugs me from behind as we both look up. 

“Yeah, that sure is pretty isn’t it?” he says with a squeeze. We watch for a minute or two, as the clouds, very quickly covered, and then uncovered, and again recovered the moon. Suddenly, he suggests,

“Why don’t you take pictures of it?”

I had just spent some time that day shooting, and was pooped. It was so dark outside, I knew I would need a tripod, and I have no lens for that type of shot. 

“Nah,” I said. “Won’t turn out good, it will be gone soon, and I’m tired.”

He asked me again, and prodded me bit, until I agreed but told him don’t expect much. (I apologize for the graininess...had highest iso set and it was handheld...)

My camera was still in the living room and I knew I had no time for the tripod, as the clouds were coming in and very soon, the moon would be covered. I turn on my camera, look up, zoomed in, and began to focus the lens.

And just like that...

...I am once again one in my own world with my camera.  Everything around me disappears, as I work my settings, watch the clouds, refocus, and kept clicking. All these photos were taken in less than one minute, as the clouds seemed to whip by and then before I knew it, the moon disappeared quietly, behind a soft blanket of wispy clouds.

Why am I sharing this? 

Well, mainly because I like you a lot, and like to share. But also, that tiny exercise in creativity was such a wonderful reminder of how our lives can be filled with creative passion. I define creative passion as an adventure that leaves the creator longing for more time to create. 

Isn’t that what passionate, creative souls actually long for? More time? We don’t long to actually crave to create, because we do and always will. But the issue of time is actually paradoxical. While I am passionately creating (be it cooking, designing, shooting, painting, gardening...), I am lost in a timeless euphoria, while at the same time, keenly aware of how confining my creative clock continues to tick loudly. Be it the constant movement of natural light that challenges my creativity, moment by moment. Or be it the time it takes for paint to dry, a cake to rise, or for vegetables to grow in my garden. How incongruous  is my creative spirit that gets lost in the passion of weeding, clipping, caring, watering, and eventually, harvesting my vegetables, while at the same time, patiently present of the seasons and the time it takes to produce the products of my passion?

Although it was late, and I was tired, as soon as I held up my camera to my eye, it was as if I was being refreshed. I no longer was tired, and I didn’t even notice that my beloved quietly left me alone on the porch, as he learned long ago, my love affair with my lens is a competition he rather not enter. 

What this experience taught me was taking only a moment for our passion is like fresh air to the creative soul. We so often put off our creative projects for so many reasons...it is late...I am tired...need to get the house cleaned...must cook dinner...and on and on. But what is so easy to forget is that even if only for a moment, the more we indulge our creative soul, the more alive we are for our loved ones and are able to perform our daily, mundane chores with more purpose  Everything just seems better, feels better, and looks better when our creative soul is momentarily released.

Like I stated earlier, these images took less than one minute to take...but that one minute ignited my creative spirit with a blast of fresh air. When I returned from the porch and joined my barber husband on the sofa, I forgot I was even tired. I happily clicked through my images on the camera screen to show him, and he smiled down at me and said, “Aren’t you glad you took the pictures now?” 

I smiled up at him.

I nodded and thought how happy I am to be on our sofa, with my beloved, and with the very slight glow of moonbeam shining in through our window. 

And that is what our creative spirit is like...it can brightly glow, or at times, it can only slightly glow...we just need to keep our window open so as to receive the beauty of our passion.

May your moonbeam always glow...just keep your window open to receive it.

from my house to your house,

New Space, New Passion, with a Little ROLL Playing...

For those of you who emailed me or left comments, wanting to see the result of my sewing project that I started a couple of months ago...well today is the day. The "project" was more about creating a new sewing space than   actual sewing itself.

Like so many other creative spirits, my creative mind wanders much wider than my narrow abode can handle. After a long rehabilitation of knee surgery last November, I decided to take up my very long lost hobby of sewing. I can rest my knee, while trying to relearn skills that I haven’t used in 30 years! It wasn't long before I realized that sewing took up quite a bit more space than my writing and photography career.

I also realized that I liked having all my textile goodies within sight and my reach while designing my projects. However,  the more I dug them out, the more I took note that I had no place for them all: Scrap materials, threads, buttons, trims, vintage lace, tablecloths, yardage, and bolts of fabric from all those years of designing for my clients and from my travels. 

You may remember a few posts back my starting a project? You can read about that adventure here called  "It was a Crime of Passion."

My sewing projects quickly turned into treasure hunting as I rediscovered my textile stash that had been packed away in plastic bins that now took claim of my living room. I spent more time searching and less time sewing and pooped out before my projects really ever got started!

After weeks of this material mania mess, I decided that our tiny “dining area” was going to be my new sewing area. But my big dilemma was how to turn that area into something I wouldn’t mind looking at everyday, not have it look like a “craft room,” while not losing my only dining area since I do enjoy cooking and entertaining guests. That is a large order to ask of a tiny space.

Right smack in the middle of my remodeling brainchild, I got a wonderful email from my good friend, and creator-of-all-things-good, Jo Packham. Jo Packham from Where Women Create has partnered up with Create-ologie.com and gave me the opportunity to review some items that I think my readers would love. Knowing my creative and talented readers, I felt this would be a perfect time to share some of Create-ologie's items with my readers, who will undoubtedly be as thrilled with the selection as I was! 

I also have a special coupon just for you! Save 10% off your entire order by entering "Elizabeth Maxson" at the checkout on create-ologie.com.   

And so I am going to share with you  a peek of what I found. I was thrilled that I discovered two perfect Create-ologie pieces for my sewing/dining room dilemma: Rolling furniture! They are great assets for my sewing needs and I could easily roll them out of the room when I wanted to entertain! 

I always loved the industrial look and I found this industrial console table on wheels as the perfect extra worktop space I need while providing extra storage underneath. 

When I am wrap up a day of sewing, I simply put my project underneath and cover the table with my antique grain sacks! 

The matching industrial shelving unit also on wheels is the perfect size for my yardage and I can roll it next to me while sewing. I love the way my textiles look on it and it fits in perfectly with my decor. 

While perusing Create-ologie.com, I also stumbled upon this great glass/bottle drying rack I am using to hold all of my trims! What a perfect solution for my need to see my stash and have it near me while I designed my projects. It turned out so beautiful, I keep it in the room all the time. 

I needed some of the  shelving in my china hutch for sewing items, so out came my silver goblets to make room, and onto the drying rack they went with their stems wrapped with my trims. Triple bonus! I get to admire my goblets, they hold my trims, and and now I have more space in the hutch for more sewing goodies. 

When I am in the mood to entertain, it takes no more than ten minutes (yes, I timed it to see), to toss my sewing items on the console table, roll it into another room along with my matching rolling metal shelf, toss a cover over the table, pull up some chairs, set the once sewing/now dining table, cook some fab food and wait for friends to arrive for a tasty meal. For bigger gatherings, I am thinking the console table would make a fun buffet server, rolled to the side.

I’ve been showing you just “sneak peek” shots of my space... are you now ready to see how the whole room turned out? 

Like I said, I needed a real sewing space that I can live with daily, but do real work in, but still have a place to dine and entertain:

So, when I my tidy up my sewing area, it looks like this:

And when I am happily playing with projects, it looks like this:

And within only ten minutes, I can turn it back to a dining area like this:

What freedom to have a creative corner to really play in, mess up, and have all my sewing stash within an arm’s length away. Yet, it cleans up quickly, blends in as an extension of my living room and not as an interruption to our daily living. I found a lot of practical and creative ways to store a lot of sewing items that are right in the room, out of the way, and look as though they are just part of the decor. 

I will share how I did this with many more tips and lots more photos of my creative storage areas in an upcoming issue of Where Women Create, which I will show... 

Tips on my practical storage ideas...

Show you how to use what you already have:

And how you can recreate what you have into something new:

And...

There is a whole part of the room that I haven't even shown you one bit of, but it will be in Where Women Create. Here is a sneak peek of that recreated area:

It gives me great pleasure to have a creative sewing space in our tiny bungalow, and yet I am able to serve dinner for friends as well.

And I am loving that I pulled out my French gum ball fringe which, many years ago, once hung in my kitchen in my apartment above my store.

One really nice surprise of my new area is that I didn’t expect to get so much pleasure just looking at my new space when I am watching TV, only a few feet away. Also, I am so happy that I not only did I not “lose” my dining area, but actually gained more space with just a little creative roll playing!

If these create-ologie.com items inspired you...then you haven't seen anything yet!

These fab work lamps, I found at World Market. They clamp on the table, which I love because it allows for max table space. They are super bright and I can easily adjust them, swing them, or turn the lamp towards my project.

Please take a gander at create-ologie.com and do a little (or a lot) of fun shopping. I promise you, you won't be disappointed.

I have a special coupon code just for you! Save 10% off your entire order by entering 'ElizabethMaxson' at checkout on http://create-ologie.com. I have no doubt you will find the perfect item that you just can't live without. And what a great place to start early shopping for Christmas gifts as well.

And yes, I will be showing a few things I have sewn in the near future...until next time...may you find a creative space that allows you to express your passion and your unique talents.

from my house to your house