Today, I patched my jeans while wearing them using an upholstery needle. I like a challenge. It’s not the best stitching ever, but it gets the job done. If you have never used an upholstery needle, it is curved to allow you to stitch and patch in places that you can’t get a needle in behind the fabric – like a cushion or the side of the couch or in my case, my jeans since I actually have them on. One pair of jeans saved thanks to a simple patch. YAY! Now for the pictures to show you the patching process as well as the finished result:

Sewing the patch on my jeans. I used a denim scrap that I saved from shortening another pair for my daughter.

The finished product

If you want to get creative, you can stencil a design on fabric and make your patch a designer work of art like I did with these pants:

I used Wonder Under to iron on the owl and cotton thread to attach buttons for eyes

How the owl looks finished on the jeans

I have added two more birds to the jeans to tie them all in as part of the design

I am using fabric in cordinating colors – one striped and one polka dotted. This will give me to sets of cordinating (but not matchy matchy) towels to give as gifts.

First you need to measure and cut your fabric. To figure out how long I needed the fabric to be I ironed then layed out the towels to find the length. Add 1/2 inch to this measurement for folding over the raw edges of your contrasting fabric. After you know how long your fabric stripe is going to be you need to figure out how wide. I made mine 4 inches wide when finished so do make it the same measure 4 1/2 inches so that you have enough fabric to fold over the raw edges.

Fold under raw edges and iron

When sewing, your iron is your best friend.

Once you have cut out your fabric, iron under the raw edges on the long sides – 1/4 inch on each side.

When you have finished that, fold under and iron the raw edges from the short sides.

Raw edges turned under and ironed

Layout your flour sack towel and lay your stripe out on it. Get it positioned where you want it to be then pin it to the towel. Top stitch the fabric to the towel. I did horizontal stitching only and did not go vertically up the sides. When you are done, trim your threads and repeat with the next towel.

Pin fabric stripe to towel

Top stitch the fabric to the towel

Finished sewing

These towels are 100% prettier with the fabric added but I wanted a little more interest. I am using matte fabric paint – blue and orange for these – to stamp birds just above the added fabric. To make the stamps  I used the printables from Craft Magazine and two sponges. I traced the pattern of one of the birds onto a sponge and then used an Exacto knife to cut it out. I squirted some paint onto a paper plate, dipped the sponge stamp into it and then placed it onto the towel.

Sponge bird stamp

Sponge stamps in two sizes

Make sure you cover the surface under your towel where you will be painting. I used wax paper for easy cleanup.

Stamping imperfections can be corrected with a paint brush

Sometimes the sponge leaves the paint with gaps or holes on the impression so I just used a paint brush to smooth out bumps, globs, and imprefections.

Finished embellished kitchen dishcloth

When you have added all the painted details you want to your towel, allow to dry as the paint instructions indicate. When it has cured you will have a unique and impressive gift for family and friends, or you can keep them for your own kitchen!

If you are feeling extra crafty, you can use any extra or left over paint to stamp paper to make cordinating custom gift wrap!

Stamps on paper for custom gift wrap

Wrapped gifts

Happy crafting!

Check out what others are doing for Frugal Friday at Biblical Womanhood.

Ingredients:

• 18 oz of frozen mixed berries
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Instructions:

• Thaw, rinse, & drain berries.
• Place a saucer in the freezer for later.
• Combine berries, sugar, and lemon juice in bowl and mix well. Leave out at room temp. stirring occasionally for two hours.
• Transfer mixture to saucepan & bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to prevent burning.
• Mash to thick puree then reduce to medium heat and gently boil for about 20 minutes or until the mixture starts to thicken & stirring often.
• Remove from heat to test jam for gelling point. Drop a teaspoon full onto the saucer from the freezer and place back into the freezer for about a minute. Test by pushing the jam with your finger. If it is ready, it will wrinkle on the surface. Cook a few minutes longer if it fails to do this and test again until it gels.
• When ready, ladle jam into a clean jar. Place in refrigerator when cool. Jam will last about 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

BookCloseouts.com has overstock, scratch and dent, and publisher returns for pennies on the dollar of retail book stores. I have never gotten a book in bad condition from them (I have been buying books from them for years) and am more than happy with their prices. This is also a great way to grab books for your homeschooling library.

For the next few days they are having a 50% all crafts and hobbies titles. I picked up 13 books for under $40 to add to my crafting library. You can save even more with coupon codes! I found that both of these worked:

Save $10 off any order of $65 or more:
Code: DealGuild-10
Password: bookcloseouts.com

Save $5 off any order of $35 or more:
Code: magic
Password: bookcloseouts.com

If you use the following link to head over to BookCloseouts.com I would appreciate it. It is my affiliate link and I earn 20% in store credit from all purchases people make from this referrer.

BookCloseouts Crafts & Hobbies Sales Page

Check out what others are doing for Frugal Friday at Biblical Womanhood.

I originally signed up at Facebook (when it was still closed to the public) because higher ed used it and I work full time in higher education. I have branched out my Facebook relationships, but I won’t add just anyone who adds me. I like to keep Last.fm to those I know or are interested in similar music. I use Ravelry to connect with knitters and crocheters. Now I do have overlap on some of these networks and that is pretty awesome but normally I don’t want to talk web 2.0 in a yarn forum. Specialized networks should be used for the specific types of relationships they foster to get the most benefit from them.

Back to Twitter static; I had to clean it up. I was missing messages from people who I really enjoyed reading updates from. One of the best tools to start my purge was Twitter Karma. Twitter Karma pulled in all my followers and friends and sorted them. First I could see who I follow but that doesn’t follow me. If you aren’t famous or a service, I would appreciate the follow-back. If you don’t follow me back, maybe you aren’t interested so I re-evaluate if I am really interested in your updates. Non-followbacks cut dozens of my follows out.

Twitter Karma shows how long ago user updated.

Next was the mutual relationships. I sorted these by Last Updated and cut everyone who hadn’t updated in at least the last 90 days then reviewed everyone who hadn’t updated in 30-60 to see if that was just their way of doing things before purging them.

I have cut hundreds of people and it’s sad I even let my account get to the point where I have to do that. The last phase of my Twitter purge is to watch my timeline and if I don’t recognize a friend or they tend to tweet things I am not interested in, I am manually removing them. It’s nothing personal, I am just not interested. There might be a few that get caught in the cuts that I want back, and I am sure I will find them again.

The moral of the purge is that it is easy to go to excess with social networks. If the network you are using isn’t teaching you something, connecting you with others, or benefiting you then either cut the site or figure out how to fix where it went wrong. I miss Twitter, hopefully this will get me back in gear again.

• I refolded all the linens because they were so jumbled and messy that they had lost their folds.
• I sorted sheet sets by size so I can easily find what I am looking for. It is easy to get the sets separated in a house with children. Kids wake up in the middle of the night ill or with an accident and if you are like me at 3am all you are thinking about is getting back to sleep. You pull the things out of the closet that you need to swap on their bed and in a day or so when you have laundered and reassembled their bed you have miss matched pieces to put away. I had just been shoving them into the closet just any old where and that is what led to my downfall.
• I put all orphaned pillowcases that no longer have sheets in a pile by themselves. I really don’t think I need 14 backup pillowcases for emergencies so I might use some of these for more Charlie bags. It would be fun to have Harry Potter and Monsters Inc. shopping bags!
• Although my youngest is now four years old, I am still not ready to part with the crib sized blankets because she still uses them to cuddle up with on the couch or to have a carpet picnic. I did purge all the crib sheets.
• The Boppy nursing pillow is never going away, I still use it when I have a neckache and the kids use it to prop up on to watch TV.
• At the bottom of the closet are pillow shams, curtains, and a few odds and ends that aren’t in use in the bedrooms but match the sets in them.

It feels great to get this closet straightened up, I feel kind of sheepish and silly that it took me so long to do it. Since I cleaned up everything in the closet I had room to move all the blankets I had in a giant storage tub in the hallway back into the closet. With no more unsightly storage tub in the hallway it gives me one less place to toss junk on top of.

Our garden last year

I have never been one for New Year’s resolutions because I don’t think you should only reflect on making changes once a year – especially at the most crazy and stressed out time of year. Oh, and let’s not forget to mention that by the time gathered people bring up the discussions of New Year’s resolutions it is usually during a New Year’s Eve party and everyone is intoxicated. If I am going to implement a life changing resolution, I think I should probably be sober and coherent.

With that said, I have decided on focusing on something I have been putting off making real commitment too for the last several years – sustainability. Sure I have made a few changes here and there but as for constant change and a major shifting of thought I just keep making the excuse that I will start once I get that Earth home/passive home/solar home… that I plan on obtaining in the next few years.  It’s been two years since we started planning for a sustaining/low imprint/off the grid as much as possible home and while we are closer to making it a reality, it’s still a ways off.

If you think about it, moving is stressful. There is the packing, the financing, the transfers of kids, schools, activities, utilities, mail, routines, and moving your actual stuff. When it comes to unpacking it can take me over a year to find the right place for everything and even if I do a purge of stuff before moving, there is always a purge after. Knick-knacks don’t work in every house, curtains don’t fit or  go with the design of the architecture and so on. Why would I add to the stress of all that by totally changing what I do and how I do it? Conclusion: It would be healthier for my family, myself, and my environment if I develop new habits RIGHT NOW.

So here we go, 2009 is my year of sustainability. It’s about finding new and improved ways to do old things. It’s about developing healthy habits that are environmentally friendly, financially friendly, and most importantly self-sustaining. (Let me clarify at least on definition before I get started. When I say local, I mean made or grown as close to my community as possible, not just that the shop that sells it is local.)

Top things on my list are:

1. Reduce our footprint. This means continuing purging things we don’t need, not buying more cheap crud that will only need to be replaced in a few years because it falls apart, replanting our garden every spring to fill our bellies with fresh veggies and using cloth napkins and towels instead of paper. I think I will find more and more ways to stop using so many disposable things as this becomes more of a habit.
2. Shopping for food locally. I already hate Wal-Mart, Price Chopper, and Hy-Vee which are the chains that are close to my home. This is going to take research and perhaps some networking with other families and moms but I think once I find one or two locations I will find the people who will know where more are.
3. Shopping for supplies locally. Again, I hate Wal-Mart and all their stuff is cheap and crummy anyway. This should also help to reduce our waste (smaller footprint!!)  since if we can’t find it locally (at least in a local shop) do we really need it? We probably need less than we think we do.
4. Just because it is cheap or free DOESN’T mean I should bring it home. There some great sites and some lovely bloggers who tell you all about all the deals of the week, from Walgreen’s to CVS. Included on their lists are how to get products for free plus overages to buy other things. I did this religiously for a few months and ended up wasting 6 precious hours of every Sunday compiling my lists and shopping plus I still have a closet full of toothpaste I bought a year ago. Normally a toothpaste stockpile wouldn’t bother me because it will get used up eventually in a household of six people, but I swear it is the worst toothpaste ever and I had no problem throwing it into a donations collection container. It is better than nothing but I will never pay money for it and my family actually had their dental health decline since using this awful stuff. Now I watch the deals and check the sites and only get the stuff that is worthwhile, even if it means loosing a freebie and the extra overage cash. More is not always better.
5. Shopping Goodwill more often for the kids clothes (and just not telling them where I got it if I have to). The teens are appalled at the idea of shopping Goodwill for clothing so I will just do it the sneaky way and wash it before I show it to them and not tell them where I got it. I wash all their new clothes before they wear them as it is so no harm no foul. I am already a big fan of thrift shops for my clothing and furniture needs.
6. Last but not least, personal sustainability. I refuse to let other moms get to me. I don’t fit in with most working moms I know because I am not a convenience person and I sew, knit, approve homeschooling, loathe daycare, don’t care so much about trendy work clothes (and manicures and hairdos and lunches…), popular labels and so on. I don’t fit in with most stay at home moms I know because I work which means I only have limited hours I am available to do things such as after 10pm on weeknights and my weekends are spent running errands. I am getting to the age where approval of my peers really isn’t as important to me as it used to be. I feel well rounded and I am open to improving my personal, wife, and mothering skills on an as needed basis and I would rather spend my energy improving myself and being happy then seeking approval. Who needs that kind of stress anyway? Let’s support each other and celebrate our differences ladies! The Internet has let me find the groups of people I have things in common with (local & distant)  so I can let go of those I don’t.

There is the start of my list, and the start of my year. Wish me luck. Please feel free to share any links or tips you have that might help me acheive my goal!

The Thr33 Lies from the Modesty Writers Guild Blog – A great post (ignore the lack of capitalization and other things of that sort that make the eyes scream). This post talks about the three lies that one needs to overcome in this world for a full life. I loved it so much I printed it and put it in my project book so I see it every day.

The Tiffin Lunchbox at Stephmodo – Stephmodo discovered the two tiered Tiffin lunchbox at World Market for a measly $8. It is gorgeous, original, practical and reminds me of the little lunch pails on Little House on the Prairie all shiny and modernized. Fantastic!

DIY Yourself Washing Detergent Saves You Cash – Lifehacker posted an article on making homemade laundry soap. Directing readers over to TipNut for the recipes – not only is there the liquid recipes, but also the powder recipes. Ten of them to be exact! Just in time to make a batch.

My Ecologically Correct Move (Boing Boing) – If you are in California (only locations so far) the service RentAGreenBox.com will deliver recycled plastic moving containers for you to pack and move the next time you relocate then pick them up when you are done. We are still finding boxes of stuff around from our last move, how nice it would have been to help the purge if I HAD to unpack it to give back the containers AND didn’t end up trying to find someone who needed the crummy cardboard boxes so I didn’t have to toss them in a landfill.

How to Make a Super-Simple Recycled Quilt – This post at Craft Stylist shows you how to upcycle old blankets and sheets from the thiftstore (or from around the house) to whip out a warm and easy quilt in no time flat. I think this would be a great way to make blankets for kids beds in trendy themes that they seem to outgrow too fast. The character themed designs seem to cost a fortune and they get tired of them quickly. Using this technique you could repurpose decorated sheets for a warm coverlet that would dress up their room.

Stacks of Waffles from bcmom at Flickr

When I am left with too many eggs or bread on the brink of stale then it is time to whip out massive quantities of french toast. The kids love to mix up their breakfast with frozen convenience foods like waffles, pancakes, and french toast sticks and for pennies I can provide the same kind of easy hot breakfast as the more expensive store bought versions.

After the french toast has been cooled I pack it in small freezer bags or Press and Seal wrap (to keep the frost out) in groups of twos (I do the same with pancakes & waffles) and toss them in the freezer. When the kids get a hankering for something hot for breakfast before school all they have to do is open a pack of two and put them on a plate and zap them until hot in the microwave. I have found that by freezing them in two packs they don’t get wasted or accidentally left open in the freezer. If your kids are always begging for the fancy french toast sticks, just cut each slice of french toast into four strips before freezing. It’s a great way to save money on quick breakfast foods and I think homemade tastes better anyway.

Check out what other’s are doing for Frugal Friday at Biblical Womanhood.

Works for Me Wednesday

This week’s Works for Me Wednesday is the Charlie Bag.

I sew under the name linuxchic at BurdaStyle and for Christmas decided to make Charlie Bags for my kids’ teachers and my brother’s girlfriend. They are quick and let you shop for your necessities in style. If you have a large family, you can never have enough shopping bags and frankly, I don’t like buying the reusable ones that are store branded. They are cheaply made and just plain ugly.

You can use any fabric you have laying around (although cotton, canvas, or muslin would work best) and follow this pattern at BurdaStyle. I found this HowTo posted on upcycling pillowcases into Charlie bags and used it for my guide. I had some great old pillowcases I picked up at a second hand store just waiting to be used and thought this project would be ideal for them. I finished the edges with a simple overlock stitch on my old Singer to prevent raveling. All in all it only took an hour per bag and as I whipped them out I got even quicker.

These bags are roomy and fold up into a tiny little package to toss into your purse or diaper bag to keep handy. Using thread I had already and any old pillowcase, you can have great shopping bags for little to no money and they look great!

Closeup of Stitching on pillowcase Charlie Bag

Closeup of fabric pattern on pillowcase upcycled Charlie Bag

Finished Charlie Bag from upcycled pillowcase

A bunch of finished Charlie Bags

I was hoping to do better but I am really happy with the outcome anyway. I purged over 30 pairs of shoes that didn’t fit, I didn’t like, or just plain hurt and numerous bags and purses. I dumped enough clothes that I covered my entire bed in a huge pile and dragged out a total of 6 trash bags worth of stuff for Goodwill.

I know it sounds like I must be a clothes horse, but really I am not. I had things from high school in there and everything anyone gives me. I am the hand me down queen. I will take just about anything and try to make it work. Unfortunately, most of the stuff doesn’t really work.

By the time I was done I only saved three items to refashion/upcycle into something new and everything else went out the door. I now have enough room that the clothes I did save aren’t all smashed together anymore and getting wrinkled. Since everything that I saved are things I really like I will never loose a favorite blouse in the mess again. I have over a half a clothes bar completely free of clothes and my closet looks well organized.

I forgot to take before pictures, but here are my after pictures and the big basket of hangers I had empty after the purge (ignore the messy side of the closet, my DH hasn’t cleaned his stuff out yet :)):