Skip to main content

Scrappyness

One thing I noticed after cleaning out three bins of scraps from my fabric stash is that I am good about saving scraps, but not about using them. Rather than keep my old habits, I decided to do some new things with the scraps I collect after I finish one project rather than toss them in storage.

This project bag is made from most of the scraps leftover from summer's art tote. I fused them onto an old cloth napkin, stitched the edges down, and used a big scrap leftover from the lining fabric to make the handles, back side and lining.

To keep from spilling coffee in the mornings (I'm not too steady in the hands when I first get up) I thrifted a bunch of these Starbucks reusable coffee cups. They're great, but they get hot, so I'm making sleeves for them. Two old bookmarks and scraps from the art tote made this batch.

I do use mug rugs all the time, so it doesn't hurt to make a few more, especially when they match my cup sleeves. :)

I'm considering making a quilt just from fabric scraps, too. I don't like using fusing web for quilts because it makes them stiff, so I'll check out some other techniques and see what I can find that will work better.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gifts

This is a story that starts out very sadly, so if you're depressed by the holidays you might want to skip the first part. As far back as I can remember I've dreaded the holidays. Being poor, having constant family troubles and belonging to a strict religion made that time of year always pretty unhappy. I just hunkered down and hoped to get through without being yelled at or punished because I didn't do something I was expected to do, like sit in church for hours without moving or making a sound while a priest spoke mass in Latin. Gifts were uniformly disappointing, too. My mother usually gave me dolls or socks or underwear for Christmas. I understand now as an adult that she was doing the best she could, and trying to save money at the same time, but as a kid I'd been told good children got what they wanted for Christmas. I was a pretty good kid, but while my friends received new bikes and cool toys and lots of treats from Santa, I didn't. I thought San
Post a Comment
Read more

We Have Backsplash!

Yesterday my guy and I decided to chose this natural stone as the backsplash tiles for our new kitchen counters (which will be in the same quartz I'm holding at the bottom of the photo.) Since all the bids for installing the backsplash came in very high my guy is going to put it in himself; he's done a bit of tile work in the past, too. I swear there is nothing this guy can't do. :)
Post a Comment
Read more

Detoxing Results

For twenty-four hours I left these five vintage cigar boxes sit with detoxing agents (baking soda, coffee grinds, dryer sheets, vinegar and Febreze) inside them to see which worked best to remove the tobacco/storage odors that came with them. I then removed the agents and did a sniff test. Before we get into the results, a reminder: none of what I do is ever meant to be expert advice, as I am certainly not an expert at anything. Follow my methods at your own risk, and please first consult an actual antique expert conservator or restorer to detox items that have value for you. Okay, let's see how my experiment worked. Baking soda (left) did nothing to remove the odors. I think if I let it sit for a longer period of time it might have done something, but for a 24-hour test it was a complete fail. Coffee grinds (right) removed 100% of the odors, and left behind definite coffee scent. I like that and think it goes very well with wood, but if you don't like the smel
Post a Comment
Read more