Dearest dear Hive Friends, especially NWM folks!

Today, Needlework Monday, we head off our land .... to set up our wee rental bothy!! A haven (with temporary atelier!) from the elements, as the cold, damp, windy weather sets in seriously - and our casetta continues to be its blessed-but-uninhabitable, unique self 🤭 💝

After another run back to the Arthouse in Guardia Sanframondi (shortest ever drive, now that we know the way, of 2 hrs and 20 mins), and another carload of our possessions - much of it sewing stuffs - we had quite the higgledly-piggledy mess to contend with.

So an intense Sunday ensued, with us putting the whole house (on our land) in order, and packing (again!) for yet-another house. In the midst of which, I got a surprising amount of sewing done!

We also had a particularly favoloso trip to the 50c stall in Telese Terme on Saturday - oooh, we got some treasures for sure!! - and I am super-excited to show you more of them, later...

Amongst the 22 items - yes, a whopping €11, phew - we gleaned the above garments. My favourite one, was a pair of mock-wool trousers that Hive account@vincentnijman pulled out of the mountain of vestiti usati. Not my favourite fabric, pretending-to-be-wool, but the style was pretty fabulous - and I immediately saw an idea forming.

Love wide-legged trousers! And I had also picked up a very funny sack-like skirt.... which *at first I thought would make a great side-widening-strip for the 'I Can't Believe It's Not Wool' trews... but then I was even-more inspired to make it into an actual sack! Hehehe: you know it makes sense.

A luxury sack no less, for picking our first olives from our approximately 80 tree groves. 🌳🥳💝 This is a very special project, which I prepped for sewing, by taking off the zip and buttons, plus ripping out the two nice pockets - including the one with the great embroidered flowers on - and pinning for hours when the light returns.

The removed pockets will be added to the wool-ish trousers, and yet another skirt - a turquoise, handmade one - shall instead make the strips down the sides. You can see above the removal also of the lining from the sack-like skirt - and below, the trousers ripped open at either side, to make way for the new strips.

The 'empty' skirt, which will soon be a sack, soon after that will be a full sack of glorious organic olives. 🌳

What do you think of the pockets? They'll help to cover up some of the holes that are in these well-worn trousers.

And this is the additional turquoise skirt that I want to use as the side strips.

Hmmmf; the turquoise doesn't come out well in this one below....

Some more details of the progress on unpicking stitching: quite an epic job really.

And the removed lining...

And finally; Vincent's beautiful thrifted blue cords, which needed a new button and a belt-loop repair, that I completed during a game of Abalone Go with him.

A busy-enough week, amidst the Crazy:

!

Very much am looking forward to the next update, which is likely to be written from a cosy bothy in the village - rather than from a freezing tent under duvets and hotwater bottles 🤭😍

With Love!