Archive for the ‘green’ Category
A couple of weeks ago, a small hole turned into a giant tear in my daughter’s sheet. Instead of mending it, I decided to save it to use for other projects. I figured I would use some of it to make summer pj’s for the girls. These past two weeks have been filled with runny noses, and the three boxes of kleenex in the closet ( they were given to us this past summer) had finally run out.
Normally we use hankies, but I just don’t have enough to deal with this kind of onslaught. So what do you do when you have four little noses that have decided they are running a marathon and you need a massive amount of hankies fast?
You take your trusty rotary cutter and cut the torn sheet into strips, then squares.
Then you toss them all in a 25 cent thrift store basket and call it a day. I made each hankie 5" square so it’s perfect for one big nose blow. I only used about half of the sheet and got 160 hankies out of it, so let’s just hope that lasts the day.
On a side note, we took the babe in yesterday as her cough had gotten worse. The doctor said that for lack of a better term he was diagnosing her with bronchitis. She is now on antibiotics, and holding steady.
green, home • Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 • 14 Comments »
Just popping in to let you know about my March projects. So far my time away from the blog has accomplished me absolutely nothing. We have all been struck by a nasty cold and apart from my head feeling like it’s going to explode for the last several days, I’ve got four snotty children, two of whom now have lovely coughs to go along with the nose running.
Ugh, anyway, I have higher plans for the rest of the week provided that recovery is speedy. At least we all came down with it at the same time, way better than it dragging on for a month because everyone gets sick one at a time.
So, first off, Mousy Brown and Rattling On have set up a String-a-Long 2010 challenge. I was so excited as I have been making fabric shopping bags forever, and always loved string bags, but had never made one myself.
I’ve got my yarn and hook ready and as soon as I can think straight without all the pressure in my sinuses, then I’ll be off. I’m using the Econo-Shopper Mesh Bag pattern for my first one, but I have plans to try out several different patterns over the course of the month.
As you can see from my yarn choice, I have opted for a more outlandish colour, just kidding. I can’t seem to get out of my kick of coordinating colours at the moment. I’m trying to have several in the same shades to look nice on a hook by the door, but I do intend to make some more fun coloured bags to have in the car.
Next, my March change for One Small Change. I’ve struggled to come up with what change we should work on, so I think this month it will be a combination of a few small things. We’ve gone to shopping less often, yay, so making some more string bags will help as I need more to hold the larger amount of groceries.
I also want to bring in some air cleansing plants into the house. Ever since I ditched the peace lily I haven’t had any plants that are good at purifying the air, so I want to get a few in the house. Lastly, the winter wind is starting to die down, so I am hopeful that by the end of the month we should be able to go back to line drying our laundry. Our house is too small for me to hang it inside during the winter months, there is literally no room to accommodate all that much laundry so I can’t wait to be able to get it back outside.
As far as February’s change went, it went really well. I did have to get rid of two onions as they were bad, but I am pretty sure that they were already bad when I got them as they were in the middle of a huge bag of onions that I bought and every other onion was fine. We were very careful about eating every last bite of everything that came into the house and had very little waste.
Well, I’m off again for the week. I’m hoping to be back towards the end of the week, but that will depend on how everybody is feeling. I’ll pop in for sure on Friday and let you know what’s going on. I hope everyone is having a great week, I’ll catch up with you guys later.
crochet, gardening, green, home, nature • Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 • 13 Comments »
I wear my shoes until they have no more umph left in them, which is typically for years. This past fall is when my fall/spring shoes finally expired. Over the winter I’ve just worn my boots so haven’t really needed to find new ones, though somewhere in the distance I can see spring popping up.
I’m not a huge fan of shoe shopping, I can never seem to find exactly what I want/need for the kind of price I’m looking for. I need practical shoes, but let’s face it, I want them to look cute too. My mom and I went to the thrift store on Saturday and I was pretty happy to see these. They were all in my size, practically brand new, and the perfect price. So for a mere $13 bucks, I am 3 pairs of shoes richer.
These are my favourites. I just love them.
On a side note, do you remember my granny square laptop cover? I love the cover, but I just haven’t grown to love the colours, so I have decided to sell it. It holds a 13" MacBook perfectly (not really sure about PC laptop sizing, sorry) and I’m selling it for $35 plus actual shipping. If anyone is interested, please e-mail me at jennifer@theprairiegirl.com.
Hope everybody had a great weekend. We’ve got a busy week here, and my brother is coming into town at the end of the week, yeah!
green, thrift store finds • Monday, February 15th, 2010 • 18 Comments »
I must admit, we aren’t huge Valentine’s Day celebrators around here, and I have been feeling very uninspired by all things red and hearty lately. Until this morning that is. I couldn’t sleep this morning and it was pretty early, and it hit me. Who doesn’t use bookmarks? I wanted to do some sort of project that wouldn’t be tied to one day in February, but could be enjoyed all year round.
I think I may have found my crafty calling. This was the first time I ever did any machine embroidery and I just adore it. A couple of weeks ago, I had an amazon gift card burning a hold in my pocket, and I finally decided to get Free and Easy Stitch Style. I really love the look of machine embroidered items and thought I would jump in with both feet. I’m so glad I did. Here is an excellent tutorial by my friend Marmalade Rose to help you learn the basics.
These were such fun, and after I got the hang of the embroidering, they were very quick. One of the best things about machine embroidery is that it doesn’t matter if your lines are a bit wobbly, they look perfect however they turn out. I made some heart bookmarks, but I also made some flowers. I am more of a flower gal than a heart one, which kind are you?
Oh, and here is a tutorial for the bookmarks, I’d love to see any if you make some up.
books, gifts, green, sewing • Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 • 10 Comments »
A couple of weeks ago, Hubby and I went on a date sans kids (thanks mom!) Though it may not sound extremely romantic, we went to Barnes and Noble and just read quietly for an hour. It was so nice to flip through magazines without having to keep one eye on the kids.
I was flipping through the US Country Living and saw an article about using sweaters to cover items in your home. I loved the vases, but their instructions were vague at best and involved a lot of cutting and hot glue. Sounded kind of messy to me.
I wasn’t really keen on the idea of them being glued together as cleaning the cover and vase if necessary, wouldn’t be very easy. I also wanted to be able to swap out covers to coordinate with whatever was in them, or wherever they were in the house.I knew I could figure out a better way, so I gathered some thrifted sweaters and some empty bottles, and away I went. I am really pleased with how they turned out. I think it’s a really nice way to add some colour and texture to an arrangement.
They are so easy to make, and very quick as well. It’s fun to use different textured and patterned sweaters to create some different looks. Here is a tutorial in case you want to make some of your own.
Hope you guys have a great weekend.
gifts, green, home, sewing, thrift store finds • Saturday, February 6th, 2010 • 14 Comments »
We use washcloths and dishrags instead of paper towels. We use them all the time, and have quite a few. We need them for the dishes, spills, washing up the babe after every meal. For months now, they have been a big pain. They have been juggled from one place to the other not really having a proper home.
When we were visiting Hubby’s grandparents in December, his grandmother had a massive box of magazines ready for recycling. She let me go through them and keep whatever I wanted. I saw this idea in a Good Housekeeping, though they intended it for keeping lingerie in the closet.
I had completely forgotten about this until I ran by the torn out picture the other day. This, I thought, would be perfect to house all of our towels. It needed to be somewhere in reach of the kids (so that they can grab a washcloth), but still not a huge eyesore.
In a perfect world, all of the towels would be neatly stacked somewhere, but let’s face it, that isn’t ideal. I spend all the time to fold them up, and then they just end up in a messy pile anyhow. So now, as soon as they are clean, they go into their new bag and just stay there until needed. No folding necessary.
All you do is find a pretty vintage pillowcase and a wooden embroidery hoop. I already had these in my stash, two vintage pillowcases at 25 cents each, and two wooden embroidery hoops at 25 cents each from my thrift store. I used a 10″ and 12″ hoop. Now, technically this is no sew, unless of course you’re me. Then, because you haven’t loosened the hoop quite enough, when you try and scootch the fabric around, you simultaneously tear two rips into your pillowcase. Then you spend the next 20 minutes hand mending the tears. Normally though, this involves no sewing at all.
If I really wanted to take a lot of time, I could have trimmed the top of the bag to make it even instead of just letting it fold down into the bag, but I kind of like this way better. Then if I ever decide to swap the pillowcase out for another colour or pattern, I haven’t ruined these.
Anyway, you need to put the inner hoop down inside the pillowcase and fold the top down into it. In order for it to lay straight, you need to put more of the front side of the pillowcase down in , than the back. I hope that’s not too confusing. Really, just play around with it and get it to lie like you want it to. Then cut an approx. 6″ length of ribbon (I used twill tape) and fold it in half. You are going to lay the raw edges down on top of the fabric that is folded over the inner ring. Make sure that the raw edges are pointing away from you and that the fold is hanging towards you. Carefully put the outer hoop on top, catching the hanging ribbon, and tighten.
If you are using vintage fabric, especially, be careful not to pull the fabric around too much, otherwise you might indeed end up sewing.
On a completely side note, the other day I really felt like some kind of hot chocolate with a twist. I opened the cupboard that holds all of our tea, coffee, etc. and saw a tub of Nutella staring at me. I wonder… Yes indeed it was delicious. I heated up some milk on the stove, stirred a spoonful of Nutella in, and yum. Yum, Yum, Yum.
The girls both have colds, and I think I’m coming down with one too. I’ve got a nice scratchy throat. I’m hoping it doesn’t last too long.
food, green, home, sewing, thrift store finds • Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 • 19 Comments »
Last month I signed up for the One Small Change challenge. I had been getting a little lax about using cloth bags every time we went shopping, so that was my change for January. It went really well. I used my cloth bags when we went to the store, and came up with some new produce bags.
I only ended up using a plastic bag once. Hubby and I were on a date and borrowing a car (ours wasn’t driveable). I hadn’t planned on stopping at the store, so didn’t have any bags on me. Other than that, it was a plastic bag free month.
This month our goal is to not have any food waste, none at all. There isn’t usually much anyway, but occasionally there is a mouldy grape or two, or a slimy scallion. It is sometimes hard to get local food where we live, so I want to make sure that any resources that are used up by having food travel aren’t being tossed straight in the bin.
So, this is our February challenge, not a single bit of food waste. I anticipate it going well, I just need to be really good at keeping on top of what’s in the fridge.
Onto the winner, thanks so much for all joining in the giveaway. It was really nice to meet some new gals. The winner of the cloth bags is Wendy, congrats! I just need to get your address and then they’ll be on their way.
Hope everyone had a good weekend! I’ve got a few more projects up my sleeve for this week, so if all goes well, I’ll be sharing some new things with you soon.
food, green • Monday, February 1st, 2010 • 17 Comments »
I really want to thank everyone who stops by my little space and especially those who leave such encouraging comments. I have been wanting to do a giveaway for a while now, but I wanted a little chance for things to calm down after Christmas. Today I want to send a little thank you to one of my readers, I wish I could send something to you all.
This month I have been really good about using my cloth bags as part of One Small Change. I thought what a perfect opportunity to combine a giveaway with something I am passionate about. So today, I am giving away two cloth bags. One is a regular shopping bag, and one is one of my new Cheesecloth Produce Bags, both made by moi.
All you have to do is leave a comment between now and 10:00pm MST on Sunday. I will announce a winner on Monday morning.
On a side note, my eldest has to get a tooth pulled today. It’s a stubborn baby tooth not wanting to give up it’s place to a more permanent one. It has been long enough and shows no signs of going, so today is the day. Wish us luck.
green, sewing • Thursday, January 28th, 2010 • 42 Comments »
This month I made a renewed commitment to using cloth bags for shopping. The only problem is that in the grocery store, there are those awful little produce bags. I think I must be the only person who stands there trying to open them, they just never want to work like they should. Then there’s the whole thing with throwing a bunch more little plastic bags in the trash as soon as we get home.
Even when we use cloth bags to bag up all of the groceries, these produce bags have been a problem. Since I am not using any plastic bags anymore, I needed to come up with a solution, and quick. Now, I do not live near a fabric store, and my choices are very limited. I wasn’t coming across anything at the thrift store that would work, and it finally dawned on me that I could use cheesecloth. It’s sturdy, and yet somewhat sheer. Something about the lighting in this pictures makes it seem as though you can’t really see what’s in the bag, but you can in person.
I made these simple drawstring produce bags and I am thrilled with how they turned out. They were extremely easy to sew together, and they are going to be a huge help when it comes to lugging produce back from the store. If you can sew a straight line, you can make these bags, and here’s my tutorial to help you out. Hope you guys enjoy!
gifts, green, sewing • Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 • 16 Comments »
In my effort to be more organized, I have been trying to figure out what some of our big problem areas are. One small problem area is bath towels. After bath time, there is always at least one bath towel laying on the floor. None of the kids want to claim it as their own, and we often can’t be sure which child left it there.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a massive problem, but it is something that we can fix very easily. I kept my eyes out at the thrift store for some pretty vintage towels for the girls. Now, every child has their own colour of towel, which means that we know exactly whose towel is on the floor.
We could have just bought different coloured towels at the store, but why do that when there are some fantastic vintage ones out there, and at a fraction of the price. I just love these and the girls really like the floral patterns. Besides, they are very good quality towels, they have to be, to be in such good shape after years of use.
So we’ll see how this organizes bath time a bit better. I guess if all else fails, we have prettier towels.
family, green, home, thrift store finds • Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 • 15 Comments »
