An old book full of beautiful photos, yet one that we're not going to read. Cheap picture frames from the Goodwill store. Add them together and you have a unique piece of artwork. I hung these three in our Airbnb rental and will be giving another as a Christmas gift.
We recently returned from the fabric store with three thin strips of cotton as samples for a project that someone is making for us. (Curtains for a rental house, which would have taken too much time that I don't have and would have been covered with too much pet hair that other people don't want to see.) I mentioned to the little babe that we could probably make a little quilt with them and she got all excited. So that afternoon I cut the strips into rectangles, broke out the dusty sewing machine and started sewing them together. I did not have any pattern or size in mind and luckily it worked out that I had enough for a rectangle with only two pieces left over. The little babe was still napping, so I ran upstairs and rummaged through my scrap bin. I found part of a blue cotton sheet that I had used for this blanket and a dark brown felt bag that was give to us when we bought a piece of artwork. At the time, I had thought, well, I had better hold onto this because I'll be able to find some use for it, and sure enough, it was almost the exact size of my quilt! I only had to trim off 1/2" from one edge. The blue sheet had a square corner, so I placed the quilt top about 1 1/2" in from the edges and then eyeballed the other two sides. I sandwiched everything together, turned over the corners of the blue sheet, and sewed around the edges. Then I sewed two smaller rectangles, one inside the other, to hold the layers in place. No hand sewing, no tape measures, and just as I was putting away my materials, the little babe woke up. I ran in with her new quilt and she loved it. She snuggled under it right then and there and I felt like Super Momma.
Last night, about 20 minutes before bed, I decided to whip out a pair of mittens for myself. The temps have finally gotten pretty chilly and my old mittens have multiple holes that have been repaired multiple times. So I grabbed an old cashmere sweater that was given to me by a friend who knows I like repurposing (thanks Cindy) and I just went for it. As usual with my "creations", they are not fashion show worthy, but they are practical, not made in China, and make me smile a bit when I wear them. However, if you notice, in my rush to get them completed before the little babe totally fell apart, I sewed the flowers on the same side of the mitten, so one is on the top of my hand where it should be and the other one is on my palm. Oh well. When I wore them on my run this morning, I realized that as I lifted up my right hand to wave to people, my cheery flower was visible to them. Maybe it made someone smile. Happy Monday folks!
My husband and I make a good team. I ask/remind/encourage/strongly suggest that we need to do something and he makes it happen. We were down to our two last bars of soap from the batch we made last December, so it was time. We kept it simple and followed the same recipe, using olive oil, palm oil, and coconut oil, plus ground oatmeal and peppermint extract. I absolutely love using our own homemade soap. Just as important as putting good food IN your body, is using healthy ingredients ON your body. (Though I know that palm oil isn't such a good thing and coconut and olive oil aren't exactly local ingredients, so this soap isn't guilt free.) However, it makes me smile every time I suds up and now we don't have to worry about buying soap for another whole year! (As long as I remember to remove it from the tub before the little babe takes a bath - she can somehow make a whole bar of soap vanish in one bath session!)
Shared on the Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop.
Something simple, rough around the edges, made from scraps of fabric, braided and sewn by hand. It is really kind of a pointless project; we can't wear it, we don't really need a pink hand braided chair cushion, it isn't big enough to be a rug, but it makes me smile anyway. Though I wasn't really smiling as I was trying to braid three sections of fabric, each about 12 feet long, that were tangled together across the living room floor. I tried to view it as an exercise in patience and no swear words were uttered. Slow and steady and I got it done. Then came the hand sewing, which took quite a bit of time and left me with tiny cuts on my fingers from pulling the thread tight. During the same time period, we were processing 100 pounds of tomatoes. My hands were not very happy after chopping garlic and peppers!
I had thought about putting my hand braided artwork on the folding chair in our bedroom. My husband saved the vintage wooden chair from a basement in one of his rental houses and I put two coats of white wash on it, which made it slightly blue. But then the little babe said that she wanted it and when I saw how nice and simple, simply nice, it looked on her little wooden rocker, so it will stay in her room. Though I doubt it will stay on the rocking chair for long - it will probably be a baby car seat, place mat, or bed for one of her buddies. I can also imagine it covered in cat hair, so it definitely will be put to good use.
Shared on Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop.
The skies were gray, the yard was full of mud, slush, and dog poop, the rain was drizzling, and the husband left with the car for the day. Hmm. We can't read books on the sofa ALL day and I didn't feel like cleaning or cooking. (I know, what kind of housewife am I?) The little babe had already been drawing, so that was used up. (I can only draw so many castles and princesses before it gets a bit boring.) I wanted something that was fun for both of us. Since she is really into creative play with her dolls and buddies, I thought making a doll would be a fun idea. I get to be creative and she gets to "help" by making decisions. I am in awe of people who make cloth dolls - Carrie over at November Morning is totally talented. I didn't have any idea how cloth dolls were made until Carrie shared this great post about how she makes her doll's faces. Really cool! Disclaimer: Please do not think that the doll I am about to share is modeled off of Carrie's dolls in any way - her dolls are true works of art (and love). Mine is a cobbled together, let's make do with what we have, trying to get it completed before the toddler gets manic, homemade project. Meet Cindy!
Yep folks, this is the slightly scary looking Cindy. Cindy - yes, we only know one Cindy and if you're reading this, the little babe had such a great time playing at your house that she decided to name her newest doll after you. I hope you feel honored! Cindy's head and body are stuffed with wool that the dogs pulled off a dryer ball. Her under "skin" is white cotton from a vintage baby dress. The wool used for her face is from a sweater found at Goodwill. Her dress is leftover material from a Christmas tunic that I made for the little babe last year. Her hair is roving that I bought several years ago when I thought I was going to learn how to spin. (Ha, ha.) Her ponytail ribbons are from the little babe's stash of leftover yarn bits that she uses to make her chickens look "fancy". Cindy has several rubber bands holding her together and I quickly hand sewed the dress, just cinching the bottom of the fabric. The little babe decided that Cindy did not need any legs or arms. (I may have steered her a bit in that direction.)
Did you have a favorite doll as a child? Handmade or store bought? I loved my Cabbage Patch dolls (a child of the '80s) and my daughter now plays with one of them.
When we visited Maine in December, I discovered that the Maine Woolens store in Freeport has a scrap bin where you can pick up really nice woven remnants for a really cheap price. I picked out three pieces for about $12, which was about a pound and a half of fabric. I went into the store not expecting to buy anything, but this was a great find. I love that their blankets are woven in Brunswick Maine, not somewhere in China.
I had two large rectangles of the brown stripe and one long strip of the blue. I played around with different patterns in my head until I thought I had one that would work and then I just cut. Of course, since it is me doing this, measurements weren't exact. Plus, the material was sort of difficult to work with, with some of the edges unraveling. It didn't help that I had to deal with a cat going berserk while I was trying to pin on the edging or worrying about a rabbit randomly spraying on it or a dog deciding to walk in and make herself at home. One scratch on the blanket and her nails would have made a pull, so I had to calmly encourage her to move along.
After sewing all of the woven pieces together, I decided to back it with an old sheet that I in my scrap bin. It is nothing fancy, but I did not want to buy anything new for this project. Using the part of the sheet that didn't have white paint spattered on it, I spread out the woven blanket on top and cut and pinned as I went, leaving enough extra to turn the edge under and over the raw edge of blanket. Then I would have been able to complete the edging in one sitting, except my needle broke on the first side. I never had this happen before and it has made me consider wearing safety goggles when I sew! I still haven't found the tip that flew off. (And luckily neither has one of the dogs or cats.) But it forced me to learn a new skill - now I know how to replace a needle.
Once all of the edging was sewed on, I had to decide how I should stitch the front and back together. I don't have the patience to hand quilt and when I tried sewing a straight line down one of the stripes, it didn't look right. So I decided to just tie it together with some embroidery thread. I learned something else new - how to tie a surgeon's knot - and it only took me an hour.
I didn't necessarily need a new blanket, but with this extremely cold weather we've been having, it felt like the right thing to be making at the moment. It is now the 5th layer that keeps the little babe and I warm at night.
I shared this post on The Self Sufficient HomeAcre for The HomeAcre Hop.
The remodeling of my bedroom and upstairs hall is finished, except for painting, light fixtures, and other things that aren't necessary. We have walls and a beautiful wood floor and those are the important things. The construction started back in October and since then, my little babe's room (also upstairs) has been the dumping ground for construction supplies and the storage room for our mattress and dresser. For almost four months, we really only ventured upstairs into her room to get clothes and toys as needed, then retreated back down the plaster dust and dirt covered stairs into the "clean" part of the house.
I spent almost two days cleaning her room and getting it back into order. We converted her crib into a daybed and now it is perfect for lounging and reading books. (She has never slept in it.) I made a couple new pillow covers using the fabric leftover from her birthday quilt. The room is light and bright, but the bare wood floor is a bit chilly to sit on. I would love a wool rug for her room, but we can't afford that right now and I don't want to buy a rug that is made in China. I moved one small area rug from our office, but thought that she should have something more.
So I decided to make a rug. I had enough wool leftover from my stash of Goodwill sweaters to make her a small rug that is just big enough for her to sit and play on.
I am not one for details and measuring, so I just cut the wool into different sized rectangles and pieced them together until they formed a large rectangle. Even though it was felted, the wool was still pretty stretchy and cutting perfectly straight edges was tough. I pinned them all together, which really was the hardest part of the whole project. Then I sewed two pieces together at a time by hand. That took me about three days. Then I found some tan organic upholstery fabric in my stash and cut that to size adding about an inch and a half so that I could fold the fabric edge over and then wrap it around the wool. I tried sewing the edging with the sewing machine, but it wasn't working and I was too impatient to figure out why. So I sewed it by hand, which I was able to do in one night while the little babe was in bed. Oh, and I did actually take the time to iron both the wool and the fabric before sewing them together.
It was a fun and easy project, I feel good about the materials used, and it did not cost anything. It is wonky (I love that word!) and imperfect, but it is soft and fun to touch (important things for a toddler). Plus, the colors are perfect for my pink loving little babe.
I shared this post on The Self Sufficient HomeAcre for the HomeAcre Hop.
I love slippers. I guess I am a bit of a slipper snob, because I prefer boiled wool as my slipper material of choice. Haflingers to be specific. They are not cheap, but I like them because they are made of undyed wool, the soles are really durable, and most importantly - they are warm. I had an incredibly adorable pair of sheep slippers that lasted me 4 years (I am not affiliated with that website and only included it to show you how cute the slippers were). I literally wore them every day, except for a couple of weeks in the hottest part of Summer. I loved those slippers and was sad when I finally wore holes through the toes and the bottom detached from the felted top. I wasn't so crafty and frugal as I am now (meaning, I thought I had extra money to spend pre-baby), so I sadly threw them into the trash can. I then requested another pair of Haflingers for Christmas and they were great at first, but within only a couple of months, the threading ripped open and they started splitting apart. I was really disappointed.
I didn't know what to do with them, so when the house warmed up in July, I left them under the sofa, collecting dog hair and dust bunnies. I always knew they were there; I just didn't feel like dealing with them yet. About three weeks ago, I finally got tired of my feet being cold and I pulled them out, vacuumed them off, and then threw them in the washer. They sat on the brick wall next to the woodstove to dry for another couple of days. Then I broke out the needle and thread and tried to sew them together. No luck - I couldn't even get the needle through the thick sole once. So back to the brick wall they went, where they sat for another two weeks while I thought about how I could fix them.
The idea came to me while stuck in bed with the little babe - when I have lots of time for mulling about things. Patch wool with wool! It was a multi-step process and at first I didn't even know if it would work. I still had some scraps of the felted wool scarf that I have used for several projects, including my little babe's leg warmers and the snowman pillow. I had just enough to cut out a rough crescent shaped strip of wool, following the outline of the slipper. I then sewed the inside edge onto the top part of the slipper, which is soft enough to push a regular sewing needle through.
Then it was time for the magic ingredient - Gorilla Glue. I dampened both the bottom of the slipper and the underside of the felt. I applied a thin strip of glue and folded over the felt. I then needed to press it together for a while, so I developed a high tech device for smashing two glued pieces of felt together:
Need to see it up close?
It kind of reminds me of the Wicked Witch getting crushed by the house in The Wizard of Oz. Twenty pounds of beeswax sealed that glue on pretty tight. (If you try this at home, don't forget the wax paper, otherwise you'll have a very stuck slipper.)
I have toasty toes again and some extra color that makes me smile!
I shared this post on The Self Sufficient HomeAcre for the HomeAcre Hop.
I had a little Momma crafting time recently. I wanted to make something with the snail shells and beach stones that we collected in Maine. I thought about an ornament or a mobile, but I couldn't figure out a way to attach wire to the beach finds. So I went digging in the garage to see what I could find. Sometimes it pays to have a husband who is a packrat! I found this awesome slate shingle that my husband had saved from a house remodel several years ago. I didn't even know that he had them (I don't spend much time in the garage - it is the only place that is "his" and it drives me nuts.) It happened to be just the perfect size and shape.
I attached the shells and stones using very environmentally non-friendly Gorilla Glue. The irony of taking pieces of natural art, created by Mother Nature, and then glueing them to another natural object does not escape me. However, the end result is better than buying a generic art print from a box store, so I did it. It is a handmade way to remember our pre-holiday trip to a place that we love.
The piece of slate just happened to have two holes perfectly situated for hanging. I asked my husband for some copper wire from his metal recycling stash, what he refers to as the little babe's college fund, and he cut me two pieces about an inch long. I placed one piece of copper horizontally on the front of the slate, stuck a piece of green metal twice through the hole from the back, and wrapped it around the copper. Then I pulled the wire almost taut across the back and did the same thing with the second copper piece. I am a bit proud of myself for figuring out a way to hang it. I hung it on the wall at the end of the shower and I love the way that the steam from the shower "wipes the slate clean" and hides the imperfections for a bit.
Note to self - Gorilla Glue does actually expand quite a bit - just like they say on the bottle! The first couple of stones didn't seem to be sticking and I was getting frustrated, so I went a little heavier on the glue. I then had to spend time slicing and chipping the expanded glue foam away with an Exacto knife. Not the most efficient use of time.
Any crafting going on in your world? Do you have paint covered fingers, sawdust in your hair, stitch markers in your pockets, or piles of fabric lying around?
I shared this post on the The Self Sufficient HomeAcre for the HomeAcre Hop.