I am not handy. Nonetheless, handwork can ease my mind. The repetition brings peace.
Sometimes nice, simple tablecloths are hard to find, but a basic one is simple to make, just sew the border with the sewing machine. But I had an idea to do something a little more creative I had done some crochet when I was little, but couldn’t remember how to do it at all. So my friend and I watched some Youtube videos and we started with a Granny Square. I bought all colors, and it is going to be beautiful, once finished. The thing is, it takes so much time. (I hope to write a post on my finally finished Granny Square in the Summer.) But in the meantime I started with a single long chain, the length of the outline of the piece of fabric I bought. I added two rows so it became a small curly board. First I stitched a rim to the fabric, and afterwards I stitched the crochet border to the fabric, with a loose stitch since it is a bit stretchy.
I got a simple but pretty result, and it wasn’t expensive. But it took me more time than expected. One important advice: use cotton thread because it is easier to put in the washing machine. And one more thing, I washed the crochet border separately before I sewed it to the fabric.
It is fun though, to just try – just mingle different patterns – and be creative. As to ideas, you can find a lot on Youtube or in books and magazines on crochet.
Good luck!
I got infected by tropical vibes as I walked through our lovely yard in Puglia. There was one wall in our living room that seemed perfectly fit for a new look. I took my time, comparing, checking prices and colors … Through an interior designer I got a few samples and I finally decided to go for a chic–expensive yes–but marvelous well known French brand. Our own painter would hang the paper, as he had done so before. The thick and not so flexible (but beautiful!) wallpaper arrived with many instructions.
We bought the house and paid an extra price to keep the furniture (we changed a lot afterwards, but okay, that’s normal), but there was a slight miscommunication on whether the expensive internet-TV was part of the deal. We assumed it was but noticed it wasn’t. A huge empty space on the wall was mocking with us when we entered the house after the notary deed. An extra investment, we thought, and problem solved. We went to a nearby store, bought a huge screen internet TV. A few days later, they sent us Giovanni in his fancy BMW and the TV. We clearly explained that it was important to have many channels available, and certainly British (since most guests are from the UK). He stayed busy on the sofa in front of the TV for at least two hours and when leaving, explained – too quickly – how everything worked. We were in the middle of installing the stuff we brought from Belgium (we managed to have a truck full), so it wasn’t until later that we noticed that most of the channels appeared to be Italian. Well, Giovanni blamed it on the internet, not strong enough because of the thick walls, but he would find a solution. A couple of days later he came back with a huge satellite antenna. The old antenna could be removed and replaced by this one. It wasn’t too visible, placed behind the roof of the trullo, so I agreed. Giovanni proudly announced we could watch over 500 channels now, worldwide! He disappeared, leaving a bill of 300 Euros for the antenna. That evening I took the time to go over the different channels. I didn’t count them, but there must have been a few hundred–broadcasted from the following areas: Japan, China, the Middle-East. I was furious, and believe me, expressing your anger in a different language is not that easy. So I took the dictionary, wrote everything down and called Giovanni. “Ah, Sophia! Come sta?” In my best English I politely told him to get his antenna and put it where ever …. He got the message, came back, gave me a friendly kiss (I thought it was a habit in Italy, but Francesca told me it was not a custom at all), removed the antenna and finally found a satisfactory solution. 
This worked pretty well for a while. As soon as Francesca received a new bill, she would scan it and e-mail it to us. Until December. The contractor was in the middle of building our kitchen when the electricity stopped. Simply stopped. After inquiry Enel answered they blocked us off because we didn’t pay the last two bills. We didn’t receive any! Reply: it is your responsibility when the invoices get lost, you should have guessed there were bills somewhere.
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