repurposed rice bags

and other odds + ends

I’m tired. The kind of tired that I think is seasonal because maybe we’re suppose to be slowing down, looking inward, being cozy, taking rest. Instead, we continue on without heed to seasonal signifiers, astrology, or our own rhythms—well, because we’re all just trying to afford to live. The astrology right now is BIG. If you’re wanting to learn more, I follow Renee Sills at Embodied Astrology—they offer free monthly reading podcasts. You can purchase your year ahead reading, too—which is a thing I like doing because it helps me think in larger swatches of time, i.e. a year. I know a lot of folks roll their eyes at astrology—but, whenever things feel off or even when they feel joyful—I like to listen to my horoscope as a way to reflect on what themes feel present for me right now, where am I directing my energy and is that what I want to be doing, etc.

My tiredness and astrology reflect the usual work stuff; it’s chaotic, I’m a team of one, I’ve been traveling, I’ve been having to speak in front of rooms full of people, socializing as an introvert without the needed time to rest in between, navigating other people’s big emotions and my own. Work and work relationships, that’s what’s happening in my sign’s sixth house. The sixth house is about labour, being of service, and often work/jobs. All that to say, I’ve been thinking about a lot of different sewing and knitting projects but I haven’t had energy to move beyond that or actually sit down at my machine and sew as much as I normally do. High on the list of possible projects is an oversize button down (black t-shirt and black jeans isn’t really the work uniform when in a room full of bankers …).

front & back of the bag plus Tepals.

But, I did finally make something this weekend! I made two baby sizes of the Bestie Bag—one from a scrap of very soft and floppy rust colored corduroy and another from a plastic rice bag. Both are cute and functional, but I’ll likely use the rice bag version more because of the inherent structure the plastic gives the bag. I wish I bought rice in cotton bags, but that’s not really a thing anymore. Plastic is easy enough to sew, except curves are a bit unforgiving and I didn’t bother to do some of the topstitching because the plastic is too inflexible to get to those seams. It grossed me out a little to work with plastic, but as I’ve previously concluded, it’s near impossible to live a plastic-free life, so ... at least it’s cute!

The floppy rust colored one, with cotton flannel lining (not shown).

Some other things I’ve made so far this year:

• A rope bowl (might teach as a class at DIYCave)

• Took a class on how to draw birds at a friend’s invitation

• Continued to paint clouds and skies

a rope bowl, the sky, some birds.