greetingarts

sock it to me

Two packages from Amazon.com came for me yesterday, with four books that I'd pre-ordered and almost forgotten all about.  Soon, I'll put them on that as-yet-non-existent third blog I talked about earlier, but for now, I just want to tell you about one of them.

Now, I own (and have looked at) a lot of craft books.  I mean, really a lot, just ask my husband.  And there's usually at least one or two projects from each that I want to bookmark, or that make me want to start gathering supplies.  But I don't think I've ever had one that grabbed me so immediately and made me conquer my fears and whip out a finished product in less than a couple of hours. 

One baby sock, a pair of scissors, a needle, thread and some stuffing (a surprisingly large quanitity, actually!) all combined to create Beatty, the Box Tops bunny.  Remember my little request for Box Tops?  For each one you send me, you'll get a chance to win this little fella!  I'm extending the drawing date to October 15, and I'll pick a winner after I get the mail that evening.

And in case someone doesn't want to part with  Beatty, I'll make another from the other sock...

Good thing they come in pairs.

neither paper nor plastic

Okay, what the heck happened to last week?  Where did it go, and can I get it back?  No?  Sheesh, well let's move on, then.

During the last week of Kindergarten, Rebecca's teacher asked me if I'd make her some reusable shopping bags over the summer.  So now, three weeks after the new school year, I figured I'd better get around to finishing them up!  Here's my utterly underwhelming photograph... note to self: white walls, white door, white blinds and white bag does not equal a stellar picture.

I love the fabric, a sheet I found at the thrift store.  I don't think I paid more than a couple of dollars for it, and after making 5 bags, there's still a heck of a lot left.  I really didn't use any one particular tutorial for these, but looked at as many as I could and pieced together ideas from several. I folded the sheet in half, and took advantage of as many of the already hemmed edges as I could, especially the top edge.    I used French seams, so there are no raw edges, and I boxed the bottoms.  The finished bags are about 15" x 17" x 3".

I bought webbing for the handles (cost almost 10 times as much as the sheet!), and made darn sure they weren't ever going to go anywhere... those suckers are secure.  They're about 6", long enough to put over your shoulder, but short enough so you can carry the bag in your hand without it dragging on the floor.

 

These five were delivered today, and were enthusiastically received, if not enthusiastically modeled.  The look on Jessie's face just cracks me up.

"What am I?  A bag tree, Mommy?

Just kidding.  See?  There.  There's a teeny tiny smile.  She really was having fun, she just didn't want to smile for the camera.

reupholstery rescue

I love the fact that my daughter tells everyone she knows that "my mommy makes things."  She absolutely believes that I can make anything she (or anyone else for that matter) can dream up, and I try not to disappoint.

 
So when her teacher came to me on Thursday morning and asked if I could sew up a little cover for the stool that she uses every day, I took it home and tried to figure out the best way to fix the sad little seat.  Well, honestly, first I thought of just replacing the whole darn thing, because Lord knows the woman deserves a nicer chair than that!


But I really don't have the money to go around buying new furniture, and in the interest of reusing (and keeping The Story of Stuff in mind), I tried to look at it in a different light.  It has cute lines, reminds me of ice cream parlors and is easy for Rebecca's teacher to carry around when she has to move from one table to another.  So then I took a look at how to do a makeover.  I was going to sew a cover with elastic, sort of shower cap style, but the way the legs were positioned made that a bust.  Too close to the edge, there wouldn't be enough room for the elastic to grip around and it would look sloppy.

 
So I decided it would be easiest to just reupholster the thing.  I removed the seat from the base with some vice grips, cut out a circle of high loft batting, wrapped it with fabric (still from my Rose Bowl stash), and then staple gunned it over the old, cracked pleather.  

Rebecca was such a sweetheart, thanking me over and over, dancing round and round me as I worked on the project.  We carried it back to her classroom that same evening at Open House, and she was so proud, explaining to her teacher that she picked out the fabric specifically for her because it was colorful and looked like it had been painted, and she knew she liked color and artists... and on and on.  I hope her teacher gets at least a few more years out of that little stool, and that she remembers my girl whenever she sees it.

clothesline kudos

I jumped on the clothesline bandwagon, and I must say, I love it so far!  It forces me to go out in the backyard, slow down and smell the fresh air.  I'm not sure if I'm actually saving any energy, with the little seven foot line I've got going, but it makes me happy to see the kids' clothes hanging in the sun, brights spots of color in a corner of my otherwise pretty bare yard.

I am also way too pleased with myself about this five-minute project that I completed yesterday.  Actually, I shouldn't say five minutes, since I thought about it for over a week.  But once I actually had a few moments to clear off the dining table, it literally took me less than five minutes, including setting up the sewing machine, to make a clothespin bag out of one of the girls' old jumpers.

I've been weeding out the clothes that Jessie's now outgrown, and after trying to sell them to a secondhand shop the other day, and being extremely disappointed in their assessed value, I decided I'm just going to keep most of them, turn them into quilts, softies, and whatever else I can think of.  So with one seam, one line that I just eyeballed using the plaid as a guide, I made a bag to hold all my clothespins.

I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out, it really gave me a quick crafting boost, which I've been needing.  I may line it in the future, but probably not.  That would take too long!