I am a starter of projects... I get really excited to start a new project and then sometimes it fizzles out... sometimes i run out of time and the project is completely covering our dining room table and then its time for dinner and my husband is like....where are we going to eat... so i have to quickly clean it up.. and then of course it may never come back out...and sometimes i actually do finish one.
well this project has been on going... i take it to soccer practices, take it in the car while sitting and waiting ... or to the town pool and work on it while the kids are swimming... it was supposed to be for my husband( a birthday present, his birthday was in april) then i thought maybe fathers day it will get it finished.. that didnt happen... well I have been working on it a lot lately.. so what is the next holiday? or maybe it can just be a "just because" gift...
This is about half of a recycled t-shirt hammock...i am so excited to be done with it and i think it will be fun for the whole family!!!
Some other projects that i have been working on this summer are the $400 bracelet..(sshhh that i made for about $20)
So I had been looking in the Sundance catalog..which i love.. but everything in there
is so expensive... so i decided to try and make one... its not exactly but close enough and way more affordable.. this is a project i did finish... partly because I was giving as a gift to a friend... yippee...
well hopefully all of you are getting your projects finished or a least started... happy project day@!!!
So, I have really been wanting to make a cute summer skirt out of my bins and bins of t-shirts(for projects of course).... and what motivated me to finally do it was my sweet husband threating to throw them all away(because i have to many)... so of course... i was like.... i am making somthing out of those... you cant get rid of them....so now is the time... I really love this store on Etsy twinklewear
and would love to make those kind... but being the novice sewer that i am... i will try my best...
So i measured my waist and cut some stretchy lycra type tshirt material and that was the waist band, then I cut a piece of paper bag(from trader joes of course, that kind works the best)... for a pattern. I was doing 6 panels so I measured that it would be 6 1/2 in at the top of one panel and then went down to about 9 in at the bottom of the panel.. so i cut out 6 panels and sewed them together right sides together.. and then pinned the waist line on and sewed it on... and whaaa laaaa... it turned pretty good for my first one... many more to go... and so comfy...
Yesterday was May Day(May 1) and I never realized your supposed to give gifts of flowers or plants on that day??? Who knew??? Well, I learn so much just homeschooling my little pickles.. and I learned that yesterday... so I cut a couple of flowers from my rose bush and let the girls give them to their ballet teacher... next year I will be prepared!!!
Well what else has been going on in my world.... lets see
Did a spur of the moment camping trip last weekend...
Had a great visit from my dear friend Susan... from Conneticut... and hung out in Jerome, my all time favorite town.
Made some bread from the 5 minute bread book.... and I think I messed it up.. my kids wouldn't even eat it...
Have been getting lots of eggs from my sweet little chickens... although they have been VERY noisy VERY early lately... and so i havae been geting up and feeding them to hush them up and not upset my neighbors.
Have been making hair accessories out of old t-shirts( in ASU colors for a friend)
AND THIS IS SO EXCITING..... MY ARTICHOKES ARE GROWING.......YIPEEEEEEEE
There is a lot of randomness going on here lately and trying out some new stuff... lets see... my fermented cabbage (sauerkraut)is looking good... just a few more days til I am able to try it... my kids aren't to thrilled..but I am!
It is looking nice and bubbly.. which is what the book Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz... said it would do... and then I got a little surprise in the mail yesterday for EARTH DAY... which I hope you all are well aware of...(do something nice for the earth!!!) I must have signed up at some point in my life for SANTE FE NATURAL tobacco company(which I do not smoke, by the way) but I'm not sure what it was for, but anyway, they sent me a nice little reusable grocery bag.. for earth day... which was just so nice.. so I am now thinking that they are a great company.. they even use 100% recycled shipping package(with recycled newspaper). So even though i don't smoke, I guess if I did it would be the natural cigs that they have... so that is that bit of randomness.
I just love getting stuff in the mail!!!
So then this morning.. I decided to make some bread.. from this book that i checked out at the library
I have seen this book around and have been wanting to try it out... I am just trying out all kinds of new things ..first my little bread making helpers and I had to grind some wheat(which always happens right when I am going to make a big batch of something.. a little frustrating..but at least I CAN grind some and don't have to take off for the store to buy some)
I could NOT believe how much in 1 hour it rose.. I and hoping it doesn't over flow... can't wait to try it!
So if your like me, you don't like to add to the ever growing landfill and so you try to reuse everything that you possibly can... So then you may have 3 giant bins of unwanted t-shirts that your kids have stained up or grown out of.... well this is one of the things that I do with my old t-shirts...make a RUG!!!
So first...get out about 7-8 adult t-shirts or 10-12 kids t-shirts... and start cutting..
after you have cut, you need to pull the strips and they will curl, and give you better tarn to work with.. some t-shirts wont curl up... you can still use them, it just gives you a different effect.
Now you have yourself a roll of tarn(which is t-shirt yarn)... now I have seen a rug made by braiding the tarn... but I personally crochet the tarn into a rug.. so you will need to join the pieces of tarn(each t-shirt) by snipping a small hole in the end of each piece of tarn and chaining the pieces together so you have a continuous piece.. don't try to just tie then together.. because the first time you wash your rug, they will come apart... believe me I have done this...
Assuming you already know how to crochet..(if you don't watch this)
I feel like I am still a beginner, and i can make this rug... so you can too!
So now that you have some tarn, then you can just start your rug... you can go back and forth, or a round and round and make a circle rug..
So there you go... use up all those old t-shirts to make something new and keep them out of the land fill...
