Rayen

The two baskets I thrifted last month look pretty clean (and I'm careful about checking out what I want before I buy), but I still like to give them a clean before I use them. Both are made of natural fibers (wood and rattan) so it's not a good idea to get them wet or immerse them in any manner. First I spray a towel with Lysol cleaner and wipe them down inside and out to remove any dirt. Although the baskets don't smell, I still spray them with disinfectant spray and let them sit out in the sun for a day or two. After that they should be fine to use. I might line them with fabric or just use as they are. When you're thrifting baskets condition is everything. Along with how clean the basket looks check out how sturdy it is. You may find a few broken pieces (my rectangular basket had one small broken piece inside) but if they don't make the basket rickety you can trim any jagged ends with scissors (for thicker materials, tin snips work well.) One ...

February was a great month for getting things done, both for the day job and my creative projects. I kept up with my work assignments and completed some extra small projects for work, got most of my spring cleaning finished, and made not one but two crocheted throws along with my February tote for my calendar quilting project and all the other things I made. The two reasons I think I got all that done (and on time) was because I planned my time very well, and I'm happy, thanks to some changes I've made. One is to stop spending so much time worrying about, well, everything. I can't do anything about the evil and darkness out there except stay in the light and refuse to allow it to poison me. I'm much happier when I create. Crochet has helped me so much this year with keeping me calm and centered, too. I'm going to continue with the weekly mindfulness lessons from the Anna Black book I thrifted, as that's helping me sort out my thoughts, emotion...

The first project I completed in February was this big beautiful basket made from thrifted baby boucle yarns. I crocheted a much smaller basket to hold the wipes I use for my glasses following this slightly confusing free pattern from Yarnspirations. I finished crocheting the Iris throw. As threatened, I made a second big beautiful basket from thrifted baby bouncle yarns, which I still dislike but don't hate as much as I did in the past. :) I made a mystery pattern that a friend challenged me to try, which I finished in five days while using worsted yarn. After seeing the results she told me it's the trendy 6 day star blanket. Oops. :) I crocheted about one third to one half of a straight granny stitch throw I'm making in forest colors (I'm not sure how large I want to make it yet.) To wrap up the month I finished the crazy quilt tote for February of my 2026 calendar project. The patchwork is 100% recovered vintage scraps, and the feather ...

My guy, our nephew and I went on a day trip to Cocoa Village last week, where I played guide and took them on the walking tour of the historic buildings in town. This time we were able to check out the Porcher House along the way, which is a gorgeous nineteenth century mansion. I stopped in at Hello Again Books , of course, and brought home a pile. If I lived any closer I'd be in trouble. On the way home we stopped by the Valiant Air Command Warbirds Museum in Titusville to hang out with some of my old friends, too. :) If you'd like to see pics of all the amazing aircraft this organization is restoring and preserving for future generations, check out my album here .

When last I posted about my February tote for the calendar project I was futzing around with the patchwork. I finally did go with this idea of traditionally stacking and sewing the fabric pieces. I also had to resort to using the sewing machine on a few bad nights when my fingers locked up too much to do hand work. I finally got the patchwork completed. It's not pretty, but it's done. I'm using the solver, copper and gold metallic threads I picked up at the quilt show last year to feather stitch the seams, as that's the easiest embroidery stitch I know. I don't want to attempt any beading on this go, so once that's done I'll be ready to assemble the tote.

Since I've learned it's almost impossible not to spend money (although I'm still trying to avoid that whenever I can), I'm changing my tactics to spend as little as possible. Since food is our biggest expense every month, I'm competitively shopping at three different supermarkets and beefing up my emergency pantry. The latter I need to do anyway in preparation for hurricane season, but it helps. I cook at home nearly every night now, and make judicious use of leftovers. We eat well, although beef is out of my budget for the most part. My guy and our nephew eat about twice the amount of food I do, so I'm cooking recipes for basically five. By avoiding convenience foods and purchasing whole foods instead I'm spending about $130.00 or less per week at the market, keeping us at about $500.00 per month for food. I am thrifting or buying at the dollar store everything I can these days: books, cleaners, clothes, certain foods (when they're cheaper...