Make Do and Mend, and a Blue Monday Give-Away

"Make Do and Mend" is a phrase from World War II that was more commonly used in Great Britain during WWII.  Food and clothing were rationed after about 1940, and frugal living was a necessity.

source
(This links with BLUE MONDAY bloggers because I love the blue banner! But wait, there's more!)

Did you have a grandmother or a great, or a great-great who saved string, reused aluminum foil and saved vegetable seeds from the past seasonal crops?  Of course, you say.  

One of my favorites messages about mending and reflecting on aspects not only referring to simply repairing clothes, but also speaking to the issue of healing spirits was written by Susan Kittredge, a pastor who read her message on NPR back in 2008.  Her entire story can be found here, and it is well worth the read.  She said, in part:

...I have come to relish the moments when I sit down and, somewhat clumsily, repair a torn shirt, hem a skirt, patch a pair of jeans, and I realize that I believe in mending. The solace and comfort I feel when I pick up my needle and thread clearly exceeds the mere rescue of a piece of clothing. It is a time to stop, a time to quit running around trying to make figurative ends meet; it is a chance to sew actual rips together. 

I can't stop the war in Iraq, I can't reverse global warming, I can't solve the problems of my community or the world, but I can mend things at hand. I can darn a pair of socks. 

Accomplishing small tasks, in this case saving something that might otherwise have been thrown away, is satisfying and, perhaps, even inspiring. Mending something is different from fixing it. Fixing it suggests that evidence of the problem will disappear. I see mending as a preservation of history and a proclamation of hope. When we mend broken relationships, we realize that we're better together than apart, and perhaps even stronger for the rip and the repair.

Now comes the part about cleaning and preserving needlepoint.

In this spirit of preserving, part of this past weekend was taken up in revamping a footstool I make twelve years ago with the ottoman top being made of a piece of needlepoint.  The best part?  The needlepoint is now about 100 years old.  Yes, really.  My great aunt made it in the early 1900's while living on her Texas farm.  It was under glass for many years, and was passed along to me.  I took the picture apart, discarded the frame and glass, and used it for that ottoman.  This is a picture I took several years ago of the needlepoint.

But...it had not been cleaned in all those 100 years until yesterday.  Granted, it was under glass for about 85 of those years, but for the past decade it has been used for feet, shoes and dogs to perch on.  Did I hear you say "yuck!"?

After scrub-a-dub-dubbing the ottoman skirt, sewing a seam on the bottom ruffle, ironing the fabric, re-adhering it back to the box base with staples, washing the needlepoint three times (you should have seen that dirty water in the first soaking!) and giving new trims, it is almost ready for use again.

The roses are much brighter.  All it is lacking is a knitted edge found here. I'm working fast and furiously on it.

NOW FOR THE GIVE AWAY

If you leave a comment on this post and tell me something about Mending and Making Do and what you have done to make do and mend (or just that you went to the NPR site and read Kittredge's post...again, the site can be accessed here), your name will be put into my give-away for a piece of needlepoint my mother made many years ago. I will pick a name and let you know the winner once I have completed the lace edging for the newly renovated ottoman.  Then I'll show a picture of the "mended" and cleaned ottoman and announce the winner once that edge is finished.  Comments will be collected through November 6, 2012.

Here is the lovely yellow needlepoint piece, still damp and being blocked, 13.5" x 13.5" that you can win:

It is so fun to win something, and I do hope you will leave a comment.  I just won a digital download from Kepanie yesterday that she posted on her blog Knitspiring Odyssey.  It is an e-book entitled Autumn 2012 Accessories  Thank you, Kepanie!

Also linking to Time Travel Thursday:

Today is a Bizarre Day

actually, it is Bazaar Day at our church

My bazaar contribution is a pair of framed floral paintings with information about silk painting provided.

linking to Paint Party Friday

Background

Silk painting originated in China going back to 2600 BC. Long before paper was invented/made, silk was a medium on which to paint. Silk was durable, portable, and readily rolled for travel.

Silk was chosen as an artistic surface not only because of its soft, luxurious feel, but also for its practicality. Silk is light, easy to cut into any desired shape and size and is convenient to carry. Chinese artisans prepared the silk for painting by beating it on a stone slab until the surface became very smooth. After the silk was prepared, the color pigments or ink tones were applied slowly and carefully.

The Process

A resist product similar to glue was applied, dried, and then Jacquard silk paints were used to created these floral pictures. Both paintbrushes and rags were used to blend colors. Paints were allowed to air dry thoroughly. The silk paintings were then rolled in newsprint, coiled into a snake, set in a pressure cooker over hot water and steamed for three hours. After steaming, the paintings were dried and stretched over canvas and stapled to the frame. Backs of the frames were then applied, finished with stock paper.

Come to the Bazaar! Spend your money!  (American Lutheran needs to pay off its building fund.)

Begun as a Knitted Sock

...except it did not end as a pair of socks.  Somehow my right hand took a beating and is bruised, likely due to pure clumsiness.  And I did not want that sock to just hang around incomplete, knowing it would take a while for the bruise to diminish and the knitting to resume.  Also, rather than start those socks with a special sock yarn, I was being frugal and trying to use up some silk/wool yarn in a 50/50 blend, not smart for sock knitting.

So rather than waste the prior effort in knitting a rather striking sock designed by Cookie A. and found here on Knitty, it was turned into another accessory.

This is Cookie A. (above site) showing off her cute socks she designed.

After two rows of the lace repeat design, I bound off the sock start and added an I cord with a third color sock yarn to produce none other than an iTouch holder.

more about Cookie

Cookie is a knitting addict living in Northern California. She is particularly prone to sock yarn impulse purchasing and knitting, has a darling cat named after a mathematician, and is in search of the most whack haircut ever.