Happy Arbor Day!

Go Hug a Tree!

Sewing Sewing, and More Sewing

All of a sudden I am having trouble prying myself away from my sewing machine. I think it is because every day my reader serves up a daily dose of inspiration from Made, Made by Rae, Crap I've Made, Grosgrain, etc.

So... I sew. So far I have made a denim wrap skirt and a kakhi wrap skirt. I made a spring top, Nate's Easter shirt, a coffee cozy, and... I can't remember what else.

Today at lunch I escpaed to the fabric store to pick up a few more sewing projects for myself. Here is what I have lines up:

1. Another spring top using this pattern and this fabric:



2. A summer top out of this pattern and fabric:




3. Sleep/Lounge Pants from this pattern and fabric:



4. I am going to try my hand at making a T-Shirt. I have never sewn on knit fabric before but everyone on the Internet seems to do it without a problem, so I think I can manage.

5. I Grosgrain Ribbon belt using these insturctions

I think that will keep me busy for a while. Oh and you might notice that I am fully embracing my punk side with all the skulls and tattoos. {{wink}}

New Blog to check out Plus The State Fair Frock Grosgrain Giveaway

So maybe everyone already knew about this blog but me, anywhere I just learned on Grosgrain today and I think everyone should check out her GORGEOUS clothes. I am completely IN LOVE with the State Fair Frock. If you love it as much as I do you should enter the The State Fair Frock Grosgrain Giveaway

How to Clean Your Powder Room in 5 Minutes with One Cloth

I'll be perfectly honest... I kind of like cleaning. I mean if it was a choice between a day at the spa and cleaning, the spa would win hands down, but there is something satisfying about taking something dirty and making it clean again.

Even though I kind of like cleaning, I really don't want to spend a lot of time doing it, so here is my 5 minute method for cleaning a powder room.

1. Put toilet cleaner in the toilet. I like Seventh Generation and Method.
2. Remove trashcan, bathroom rug, hand soap etc. Best to have uncluttered surfaces.
3. Clean Mirror with a clean microfiber cloth. Vinegar and water works great for this.
4. Spray all other surfaces (including toilet) with an all purpose cleaner. I like Sun and Earth and Method, but good old Simple Green works great too.
5. Wipe all sprayed surfaces with same microfiber cloth.
6. Scrub the toilet bowl with toilet brush and flush.

[At this point all of the things (toilet, sink, mirror, etc) in your bathroom are clean, time to hit the floor]

7. Spray the floor with the same all purpose cleaner.
8. Get down on your hands and knees and wipe the floor clean (YES, I ACTUALLY DO THIS). Your other option is to take the cloth you've been using to wipe down everything else and to attach it to your swiffer and use that to clean the floor, but I find trying to maneuver the swiffer in such a small space to actually be more work, so I do it the old fashioned way.
9. Find trashcan, rug, etc, wipe clean (if applicable) and put back in the bathroom.

That's it. Doesn't take long and it really can be done with one cloth. Just remember to do the mirror first and the floor last. Also, I use all non-toxic cleaning products. If you are using traditional cleaning products make sure they are safe to combine. REMEMBER TO NEVER COMBINE CHLORINE BLEACH and AMMONIA toxic gas will result and it can kill you.

Making Good on my To Do List

So a little while ago I posted my crafting TO DO list which included:

1. Finish the tan wrap skirt that is cut out.

2. Make the spring/summer blouse from this fabric before it is fall/winter.

3. Make this Tie Shirt for Nate in lieu of an Easter outfit.

4. Make a few bunny door hangers as Easter decorations.

5. Make a Can-Can Skirt for me

6. Finish Nate's birth sampler (before he finishes college, I think that is a realistic goal)

7. Learn to needle felt before next Christmas


I am please to give this status report:

1. Finish the tan wrap skirt that is cut out. Finished

2. Make the spring/summer blouse from this fabric before it is fall/winter. I finished this the other day, here are some pics,



3. Make this Tie Shirt for Nate in lieu of an Easter outfit. I posted about that here

4. Make a few bunny door hangers as Easter decorations. Tried and failed... I'm not so good at sewing curves apparently. Maybe I will try again with wonder under.

5. Make a Can-Can Skirt for me

Oh yeah and...

6. Finish Nate's birth sampler (before he finishes college, I think that is a realistic goal)

7. Learn to needle felt before next Christmas

Next on my docket is the finish a skirt that my mom had cut out for me. It was a yoked skirt and I put it together the other day only to find out it is too small in the waist. I removed the yoke and am going to turn it into a facing and the skirt should fit. I will post pics when it is finished.

Spring/Summer Bag

I like to get a new bag for the warmer months. I don't know why, I just do. Maybe it just freshens everything up or maybe it is because I like to carry a fabric bag in the summer as opposed the the leather bag I can in the winter. Who knows... anyway, I was looking at this Vera Bradley bag for this summer:

Saddle Up

I LOVE Vera Bradley, and I LOVE a saddle bag... but I am always hesitant to pay $65 for a fabric bag that, even with a good Scotch Guarding, might not make it to next year.

So I kept looking and thinking... then I started trawling Etsy.

And I found this:

Jenna Lou Designs

and then I found this:

Kathi's Kreations

and I fell in love. Oh how I love that Indie, Mod fabric, and the color combo and, and, and, everything about both of them... so I bought them... and I feel good about it.

Not only were they cheaper than the Vera, but I am helping to support handmade and helping other working women.

More Resuable Products

So you have all heard my rave about the reusable pads. I am sure some of you are thinking, please God don't let her talk about that again, pleas, please, please. Well, rest assured I am not. However I am going to talk about another product that I LOVE from Homestead Emporium (the company?) that makes the pads I like, and that is their reusable cotton balls... well they aren't really cotton balls at all, they are little rounds of serged Organic Bamboo Velor.

They look like this:

I use them to take off my eye makeup, to apply toner, almost anything that I would use a cotton ball for. I put the dirty ones in a small mesh lingerie bag and I wash them with my towels.

[Updated: I completely forgot to finish writing this post the other day. These are really easy to make too. If you don;t have any bamboo velor lying around (who does actually?) flannel works great too. My mom made her own set by cutting out two layers of flannel and zig-zagging the edges. Everything came from her stash so it was Ec-friendly and FREE]

Goodwill 4/13/10

I was having a crap-tacular day at work yesterday so I stopped at Goodwill on my lunch hour to see what they had. I have been inspired by Wardrobe Refashion to look for pieces of clothing that could be reworded into something else.

As you know Goodwill is hit or miss. Yesterday was a hit for sure.

I found a cute chiffon blouse for summer and a new pair of black Bandolino heels. I like to have two pairs of black heels for work. I wear them almost constantly and I was down to one pair after wearing the other pair to a funeral with mud so thick it actually sucked to shoe off my foot... there is really no going back from that.

So then I wandered into housewares and found the Williams-Sonoma Pumpkin cake pan that I have been coveting for year... maked at $2.

Then I walked through toys and spied a Thomas the Train play mat that nate would go biserk over. Sadly another mother snatched it up before I could get to it. As I was headed to the counter I looked down and found this beauty...


A Kik-Step library stool.... for $5. I remember when Meredith found her library stool at a yard sale and how jealous I was... I am jealous no more.

To Hubby: Happy Birthday Baby!

I love you!

Deal of the Day

I stopped at Target on my lunch hour to return two things and restock my supply of Lean Cuisines in the freezer at work.

I was walking through the refrigerated section when I saw a CLEARANCE sticker in the ice cream section....



Here a close up:



You see that... organic ice cream for $1.84!!!!!

Dryer Woes

When we bought our house, the washer and dryer were included. This was perfect since we were moving from an apartment. I was really excited to be able to do laundry and not have to walk down a fire escape!

When we moved in we noticed that there was no know on the dryer. The previous owners had been using a pair of needle nose pliers and turning the metal shaft that the knob would sit on to operate the dryer. Ok, so that was a pretty shady thing to see but one that was easily remedied. I found the make a model of the dryer, called the company and ordered a replacement knob. I have to shake my head here because the replacement knob was $4.95 (no bigggie right?) but shipping was $14.95 (WTF???). But what choice did I have. $18.95 is a lot cheaper than a new dryer and it solved the problem.

I haven't given much thought to my dryer knob until this past Monday. I was reaching for a cloth with which to condition my leather furniture when I knocked a new and totally full bottle of Ecover Fabric Softener back behind my dryer.

"Oh crap... I have to get that... it's brand new... it's full... it could start to leak... ok...."

So I got out the step stool and a flashlight and took a look behind the dryer. I can see the Ecover, I can see a bunch of dust cloths, I can see a Oxyclean scoop... and hey look, there is a screw driver. I also notice that there is enough slack in the gas line that I can move the dryer some.

So I move the dryer. I can't move it all the way out, but I can move it enough to get a better view of what's back there. I can also get something in there to scoop all the stuff out. So I get Nate's lacrosse stick and start scooping. Well, scooping doesn't work as well as I had hoped so I push all the stuff the the side and then around to the front and start pickup up the wayward items. The bottle of Ecover is in tact... the cloths get tossed, the screw driver gets put away, the Oxyclean scoop gets recycled and... wait, what is this? What is this white circle of plastic? Wait, is this the ORIGINAL KNOB TO THE DRYER???

Well my webby friends... it was the original knob to my dryer, intact and fully functional.

When I first saw the dryer and noticed the knob was missing I figured that it had broken or cracked or was pecked off my crows. I figured there was something wrong with it not that it suddenly went missing one day and the people went, "wow, I see the dryer knob is missing... I guess it vanished in to thin air... lets not look for it... lets just use these shady-ass pliers like HILLBILLYS!!!!!"

I ask you gentle blog readers... have you ever noticed that a fairly important and prominent part of a major appliance was missing with no explanation whatsoever and not tried to find it????