Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Pay it Foward - handmade giving

I love sewing. Even when I'm pushing myself to fulfil my toy orders and I'm tired and all I want to do is have a lie down, I still find myself thinking I love sewing. I now devote most of my sewing time to toy making but I often find myself hankering for a little diversion just for fun. So when I was directed to Heather's Blog via a comment she left me on Flickr and discovered the PIF (Pay it Forward) handmade gift giving meme I was very interested.

Simply, it is this:

"I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog."

One of the types of handmade things I make only as gifts are the elaborately hand-embellished amulets, as seen in the picture above. This is one I made for Rebecca the Wrecker one Christmas. I made it to suit her personality as all good amulets should. I even made the kumihimo (braiding) myself. These amulets are based on the style of folk amulets that can be found in many parts of the world. The book "Amulets: A World of Secret Powers, Charms and Magic," by the renowned textile researcher Sheila Paine, is a book I've spent a good deal of time looking at as a reference.

So if you would like to participate in the Pay it Forward and have your very own amulet. Let me know in the comments :) In the spirit of Jude and Heather I'll also extend the number to over three people if there are any more....though remember I have a whole year....which I'll most likely take full advantage of!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh that amulet. i got that book because of you , so wonderful... and now i am wondering about toys and dolls as amulets...even quilts. the things we craft in the spirit of keeping...oh so many wonderful questions!

Queen of Light and Joy said...

This is gorgeous and I would like to participate in this pay it forward thing that you speak of, what are the rules and what is expected of me? You know how much I love to sew and make things. Tonight I am going to ask for my (style) amulet to come to me in a dream and then tomorrow i will make a drawing of it in preparation of my turn. I love FUN things!! Yay for fun!!

spiraling said...

I'd love to participate. I think I'll offer some handdyed or handspun wool on my blog.

Rebecca-the-Wrecker said...

i love my amulet which hangs above the inner front door of my home. such a special gift that lifts my heart every time i come home and stops me from fretting when I leave! the bells are like those bridge warning danglies for trucks that alert me to tall people walking thru like my new flatmate. tho he is learning to duck!

Jean-Luc Picard said...

You have such style with this, Florence.

Florence Forrest said...

Great! so far that's Jude, Queen and Spiraling....

Bec, I still owe you Coatie Bear...so I'll add you too :)

Captain, we might be able to do something just for you as well. Devotion pays!

anyone else?

xx

heather smith jones said...

:) are you sure? thank you for your sweet invitation on my blog...

Florence Forrest said...

of course! a pressy for Heather too!

xx

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful idea! Can anyone participate? Let me know and I will post my promise to pay it forward on my blog. Cheers, Cassandra

merlyn said...

goodness it is almost THAT time again isn't it!

where did the year go?

I ahve been a slacker with posting and doing most things, let's call that the change of life blues and blahs and leave it at that!

Your work is so wonderful! There I said it!

have a great NOvember
XXX
merly

Florence Forrest said...

Yes I'll add you Cassandra.

And I'll make something special for my old friend Merly who's been though a big rough patch lately.

I'll be adding a list of PIF gifters to my sidebar soon.

xx

Anonymous said...

I'll be grabbing the PIF idea as well. This was so nice to come across as I was searching the net.