Recycled T-shirts party

This post was 2 months in the making - she has been 11 for a while!

Being a child of the 70's and a sewist (there's a reason we don't call ourselves "sewers"), I have always loved recycling denim.  But these days the hottest recycled clothing trend has got to be recycling and up-cycling T-shirts. 

This year for Earthgirl's 11th birthday party, we jumped into the fun with a T-shirt recycling party.  She grabbed the idea from the September/October 2011 issue of American Girls magazine.  You can find recycled T-shirt ideas from all over the internet.  Take a look here and here,  for example.  I found bunches and bunches of ideas for the future - for example, I'd love to make one (or 15!) of these recycled T necklace/scarves.

Now if one is inviting 14 girls over, and 2 of your projects take a T-shirt apiece, you gotta have lots of Ts!  Our big crafts, requiring a T-shirt apiece per girl, were the fringed scarf and the big T-shirt bag. We invited the girls to bring Ts with them, but knew we wanted to provide plenty.

For several weeks ahead, Earthgirl and I hit a couple of local thrift stores, one which exists to support a local church's international missions; the other to support Hospice.  We like spending our $$ where they do some good works, too!   We snapped up Ts at an average price of about 40 cents.  We looked for colors we liked, designs we thought would look good on a bag, and the right sizes to make bags and scarves (bags can be any size, but a XXL makes a humongous bag, whereas a sturdy size small or child-size makes a nice bag, and our scarves worked best with child-sized, soft, lightweight Ts).

Recycled T-shirt Scarves:
For our scarves, the girls cut off the hem and cut across under the sleeves, leaving a wide tube of fabric.  They fringe-cut both sides, then pulled on the fringes to make them curl up. 

The best-looking scarves had really skinny fringe - but the trick is to cut it skinny enough, but not so skinny that it tears when you stretch it.  This red scarf had the prettiest fringing of all the scarves.

 

The result is a fringy cowl-type scarf.  If you use a T as big or bigger than your own size, the cowl can be doubled.  If you use a little preschooler-size T, you get a once-around-your-neck scarf.

And then, of course, you cannot resist playing with the leftovers.  Lots of braided headbands, bracelets, anklets appeared!

 

The scarves also double as hula skirts.

Recycled T-shirt Bags:
Our big T-bags were made simply - cut out the sleeves and along the neckline, leaving something that looks like a tank top.  Check to see that it fits over your shoulder.  Good.  Now, if you want a plain-bottom bag, turn the T inside out, and sew up the bottom.  The cutest bags were sewn with a curve.  If you want a fringe-bottom bag, cut off the T's hem, and sew up the bottom, leaving a 2-3" seam.  Trim the seam in to a fringe. Pull the fringes to make them curl, and you're done! 

In all the excitement, I did not snap 1 picture of any girl with a bag.  This one is taken weeks later.

 

More of 17 - Framed!

This collection of empty frames have been designated to decorate the guest room. They have just been waiting for me to paint them all the same color. 

The biggest one I purchased at a thrift store for a whoppin' 25 cents (notice the red crayoning in the left bottom corner).  It's already seen duty as a photo framer.  The others I bought at twice that price.  Yup, that's $1.75-worth of frames.

I considered painting them all bright green, like my cool chair.  But then I got some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and Annie Sloan wax, and these seemed like the perfect starter project!  I used Provence, a pretty blue-green, and antiqued them with dark wax.

I purchased my paint and wax at Alice and Jay, right in downtown Sasser, GA, which is on the way between here and my family's fame up in south Georgia.  I had a great visit with them on a Monday, when they are not officially open.  I contacted Alice ahead of time, and they opened up for us!  I met Jay, up on a ladder, (Jay, not me) and spent quite a while with Alice, learning about applying the paint and wax.   Pluto Boy got to see the old bank vault.

Alice was so helpful - opening up her paints and painting and waxing a few paint-stirring sticks so I could see what the color would do.  Fun, fun, fun.  I'd have taken a picture of us together, 'cause that would've been cool, but my camera was still AWOL. 

As soon as we arrived at home, I was itching to start painting.  One of the HUGE draws for me was the promise that I would not need to strip, sand, scuff, or prime anything beforehand.  I would only sand if I wanted to distress a piece.  Yay!

Love the detail in that formerly-gold frame.

After I painted the frames, I read up on recommended techniques for painting, waxing, distressing, buffing, color combos...I am indebted to many generous bloggers, including Perfectly Imperfect, Southern Institue of Faux Finishing, and Modern Country Style. If you search using terms like "distressing with Annie Sloan chalk paint," you get a kabunch of places to look. Since some of these have link-up parties devoted to Annie Sloan chalk painted peices, you can waste spend the entire day reading up. Thanks, everyone!

I am now an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint fan. More to come!

First of 17

OK, maybe I did not really get 17 projects done this summer, but I did accomplish a few crafty, sewy, cook-y, painty things. Actually, by the time I toss in some sewing for friends, I may have more than 17 projects.  Here are a couple of the 17-ers:

A Red Front Door!

This was our Independence Day weekend project. I have hesitated to paint the door a color (it was white) because of the glass insert with internal white blinds.  I thought it might look funny.  But we went for it, and I am glad.  I can hardly wait for Christmas and the hanging of a bright Christmasy green and red wreath!

By the way, this door with the miniblind inserts was here when we bought the house.  At first, I did not care for it - not my decorating style.  But this type door is very easy to live with.  I can let light in, just as much as I want, and the blinds stay clean.

...and a patriotic wreath!

I got the idea from Landee See Landee Do.  I didn't like mine as well as hers, and when I looked back, I realized she had some solid color ribbon and paper, too, and it broke up the business of the patterns.  But I did not want to take anything apart, and now the little fireworks wreath is growing on me.

more to come...

More on the Wall

an update on my April 1 post

The scrapbook paper wall art, mounted on 12"x12" canvases (I trimmed the paper to about 11.5" square), with blue, green, and charcoal ink smeared around the edges

I need to put that pillow cover on the sewing list - it's still just folded on with 1 safety pin.

--and the girls have taken over the TP roll art!

Some new favorite goodies this holiday season

Homemade peppermint marshmallows  - Who knew? In hot chocolate...ymmmm...Next I may try these. 

Folding little Christmas trees - addictive. 

Caron Simply Soft yarn - Feels so good running through your fingers.  Read the reviews - I am not alone in this opinion.

Loops and Threads Country Loom yarn - I finished two-thirds of an afghan today.  No, not kidding. I may finish the rest tonight.

Chainless foundation  - These tutorials, here and here,  taught me how to make a whole line of single crochets without starting with a long chain stitch.    Therefore, the afghan.

The movie Tangled - The scenes featuring Maximus the horse were worth the price of admission. All over the theater I could hear adults as well as children laughing out loud. (We haven't seen Voyage of the Dawn Treader yet, but I'm sure it will be a favorite, too.)

A simple 4-in-1 cookie recipe that has been in my recipe box for years, but I never made it until this year.  My favorite version: lemon flavoring with dried Craisins. The recipe originated from McCormick.


Did you discover some new favorites this Christmas?

Vanilla Butter Cookies

4 cookies from one recipe

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 t salt

Flavorings/spices(see below)

Add-ins(See below)

Preheat 350 degrees.  Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add egg and beat well. Blend in flavorings and spices.  Combine salt with flour; add to creamed mixture. Stir in add-ons.

Drop by rounded teaspoons, or roll into balls.  Flatten slightly with bottom of a glass dipped in flour or powdered sugar. Bake 10-12 minutes until slightly golden.

Flavorings and Add-ons:  

1. Vanilla Butter:  Add 1 T vanilla extract

2. Lemon: Add 2 t lemon extract plus 1-2 t. ground ginger

3. Cranberry Almond: Add 1 t. almond extract.  Stir in 1/2 cup driend cranberries ("Craisin") and 1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds. (Note I skip the almond and almond flavor, and make these lemon-cranberry)

4. Chocolate Mint: Add 1 t. mint extract along with 1 T. vanilla.  Add 1/2 cup cocoa to flour mixture.  Stir in 2/3 cup chocolate chips (I used chocolate mint M&Ms)

Tying up Summer

This has been the Summer of Tie Dye over here.  I've posted 3 times about it on my Sm'Arties blog.  Come over and see what we have been up to!

I might be crafty...

Kimbo over at A Girl And A Glue Gun posted a fun little list titled, "You might be crafty if..."  Loved the list.  I relate.  I qualified under many of her items, though I am more prone to sewing than glue gunning. 

Remember the 17 projects?  I also still have red paint smudged on the front door from spraypainting the metal chairs.

To her list I might add this one:

You might be crafty if...

You VOLUNTEER to teach crafts at your daughter's Gymnastics camp in an un-air-conditioned gym in June in central FLORIDA during a week of record-setting high temperatures.

Excuse me - I have to go get the rest of my tie-dye supplies ready,  and check on the labels soaking off the recycled glass jars, then run to JoAnn's for more Mod Podge.

 Do you want to see "real"?  Here is my dining room table, sporting 2 sewing projects, a scrapbooking for a friend project, and the aforementioned Gym camp crafts supplies.

Paper Piano

Earthgirl just read a book with a little origami in it.  So she grabbed a piece of paper and made a piano.

Pretty cool, huh?

The book: Ellie McDoodle, New Kid in School, by Ruth McNally Barshaw.

Lapquilt progress

I am at Week 3, though Randi is working on Week 5. 

6 strips down; 14 to go...

All the strips are done, and the top two strips are sewn together.

This is really a nice, easy quilt pattern.  Earthgirl asked me, "Mama, how many quilts have you made before?", and I had to admit I have never made a whole quilt.  I've made a little quilt hanging, which later became a chair back.  I've made quilt-top pillows, and I've worked on portions of quilts with my Mama, including a little hand-quilting with ladies from the community, but I have never made a whole quilt.  This is just a lapquilt, approximately 50" x 60", but is is a real quilt.  Very exciting for a crafty geek.

For the Boys

Nope, I don't have any boys.  Just that one little girlie girl.  And she has lots of little girlie girlfriends.

But she also has friends who are boys.  And I have friends who have boys, nephews (pretty much grown up now), and future boys will be coming along.

I just found these 2 blogs celebrating BOYS this month.  Made By Rae and Made are celebrating boys with their crafts all month.  So far, they and their guest bloggers lean more toward goodies more appropriate for preschool boys, but there is still a lot of month to go!

Now, why didn't I find all these cool craft-and-sewing blogs back when my husband and I were part of the young couples' Sunday School class, and I was going to baby showers every month?

On Task

Last night I started crochetting a scarf to match Earthgirl's new winter jacket.  We picked out the yarn together - a pink and brown variegated.

When I first piped up to say, "I should crochet a pink and brown scarf for your new jacket," I regretted it - if I kept quiet, it could have been a Christmas gift.  But I would have made it pink, brown, and white striped.  When we looked at yarn yesterday, she very much preferred the variegated. I'm glad she is getting something she wants.  I'll probably try to do a hat, too, though the jacket came with a hood and a pink fleece earwarmer-type headband.

 

I worked on it last night, sitting up in bed with my crochet hook. (Side note - does anyone remember the movie "Sweet Liberty"? It wasn't great.  But I remember one of the female leads (not Michelle Phifer, but the other one) sat up in bed quilting.   There were problems with pins and needles.)

I really like the way this yarn works up.  It feels good going through my fingers, and the stitches look neat.   

By about 7, I was up, crochetting with my coffee. Now it is finished, except for blocking. But it's noon - and I am still in my pajamas.  Nope, no picture of that.

I just want to add that we are REJOICING with Crispy and the Peters over God's provision of funds for their next (expensive) step toward bringing home their 2 sons from Ethiopia much sooner than they thought.

Fun Craft Blog

I just loved the post name, "A Dollar Barn Christmas." Her whole blog is full of fun inexpensive craft inspiration. 

The 17th Project

No pictures! 

Peg and I  joked a few weeks back about the fact that I start 14 projects and have them all going on at the same time.  She on the other hand, starts one or maybe 2 projects, completes them, puts away her project materials, and turns back to greet you from the door of her clean and beautiful home.  Sigh. 

Just an aside - I don't usually use friends' and families' names on my blogs, but since her name already appeared on Science Geek's blog, and she keeps a pretty low profile on the internet, I take the liberty.

I just picked the number 14 out of the air, but then I started counting up, and sure enough, there were 14 projects in some stage of workin' on it.

Don't believe me?  Projects 1-3 involve closets; Projects 4-6 involve fabric and quilt batting;  Projects 7-9 involve more fabric and new patterns; Project 10 involves making a beautiful $3 skirt fit my skinny little daughter, Projects 11-12 involve American Girl dolls and fabric;  Projects 13-14 involve Modge Podge and beautiful paper.

Since then, each time we mention something, we pipe up - "Project 15!"  "Project 16!"  (Both those involve yarn)

Well, Monday during Mini-co-op Science she showed me - Project 17.  Nope, can't tell you what they are; can't show you what they are. No pictures, because she is giving some to friends at Christmastime.  Now I am, too - Project 17 was just too cute, simple, and fun - I had to make a few!  I left Peg saying, "I shouldn't have told you."  (I'm sure she is just teasing.)  So I'll be making some for family and friends, but NONE for mutual friends : )


No pictures! 


OK, maybe just one picture:

Chain-stitching

I had such fun teaching our American Girls club a few crochetting skills last week. (See 2 posts down from here.) We just worked at learning to chain stitch last week. Most of the girls wanted to take their chain stitch samples home. I was delighted at how hard they all worked to learn this new skill. The hardest part to learn? Tying a slip knot at the beginning!

We used Lily Sugar and Cream cotton yarn, and I love it. It's on sale at JoAnn's this week.



Earthgirl gave her sample to her friend who missed out with a broken finger. She's wearing it as a choker. (If you click on the picture, you can see through the glass one of the brothers waiting patiently out in the hall.) Other girls wore them as belts or bracelets. One Mom told me that her daughter went home and chain-stitched an ankle bracelet using a fork!

During home practice with Earthgirl, I made a really long chain, tied the ends, quadrupled it up, and now use it as a headband. It's been a hot summer, and my hair is too short to clip up off my neck, so I have lived in headbands.

Tied Up in Knots

Here's what I am teaching in American Girls Club.



We are covering the Rebecca series, set in 1914. Rebecca crocheted. She crocheted better than her older sisters. Better than I do. But today, I taught the girls (age 7-15) chain stitching - a little. We plan to make little doll-size scarves.


Any helpful hints on teaching children to crochet?

Here's a giveaway

Randi is giving away some of her stash! Aren't these pretty? I can imagine bunches of uses for them.

More Recycled Denim

Recently Samantha and Nellie (ca. 1904) decided to join Julie (ca. 1974) and recycle some denim.

That's American Girl talk.

Here is the bottom tier of a skirt that was 'way too long for Earthgirl. This tier was attached with stretch lace, which I should know to avoid. It ALWAYS gets holes. A few more wearings, and this tier may have just fallen off the skirt on its own.

{Back when Pluto Boy and I were dating, and separated by 600 miles or so, I wrote him a letter that included the phrase, "on my on." This tickled him, and he wrote me back a little encouraging note that about being on my on, and if one ever falls off one's on, one should get right back up on one's on. I have been careful writing my owns and ons ever since; nevertheless, I plan to check back over this post 4 or 5 times before publishing.}

And here are the recycled denim dolly skirts.



Having a daughter is like having a second childhood.

This post checked for proper use of owns and ons. No other grammar is under warranty.

So hard to say goodbye...

...and I won't say goodbye until the last possible moment. But that scruffy place above my right knee is just about ready to bust through. I see skin. Soon everyone will be able to. The hems have been shedding threads for over a year. When I give up my favorite pair of jeans (and I only have one favorite at a time), they are too used up to recycle much. These may still have some useable denim below the knees.


POP QUIZ: From whence came the word denim? (Answer below)

Back in the 70's, I won a district 4-H competition in the clothing and textiles project. During the Q&A portion of the competition, one of the judges asked me if I knew where the word denim came from, and I did. She was surprised, since she, a Home Economics professional, had just recently learned that. I may have won on the strength of knowing that little bit of trivia. Later, I took the presentation ("Cotton - The Clothesbasket of Today." A little corny, but descriptive) on to win State, and took a wonderful trip to Nationals in Chicago, where I did not win. As result, I missed a whole week of school, including the explanation of a limit in Calculus. I struggled for the rest of the year trying to make sense of why we were doing these things. During the first week of college Calculus, I got it - the explanation of a limit, and breezed (well, relatively speaking) through the rest of Calculus. Then came Differential Equations. --a whole 'nother ballgame. But I digress.

I love that recycled denim has come back around. During my teen years, we recycled a lot of denim. My Mama, Nanny (my grandmother), and I made purses, hats, vests, and they made some beautiful jackets. I look forward to Earthgirl growing into the jacket Nanny made me, comlete with little embroidered flowers on the collar, cuffs, and down the zipper. When we studied Julie and the 1970's in American Girls Club, we made little recycled denim purses one week.

1974: That's me, 2nd from the right, in a little top Mama whipped up from Holly Hobby fabric, and wearing my then-favorite jeans. Picture taken with my trusty little Instamatic.

Earthgirl (Summer 2006) is wearing a skirt I whipped up from my favorite jeans from 2 faves ago. (She and her friend decided they liked using their denim skirts as swimsuit cover-ups.) The jeans busted through the knees and I kept wearing them. When they busted through the seat, they had to retire. But they enjoyed a recycle season with Earthgirl before moving on.


ANSWER TO POP QUIZ: The fabric originated in Nimes, France. It was serge de Nimes, later shortened to denim.

Fun School

Earthgirl loves art. I find some of the best ideas for art from real live art teachers like Patty at Deep Space Sparkle and Kathy at Art Projects for Kids. The latter is where this kimono project originated. Like most homeschool mamas, I am reveling in the education I am getting.


Today we went to a wonderful presentation called Wilderness Tabernacle. We ran into my friend Science Geek there, along with the unpredictable J.D. and the effervescent Jax. (I love unpredictability and effervescence.) Her post shares all the important stuff better than I can, except for the rain delay. See the dark clouds? This post was after the rain.


Just to keep it real, I confess that we did not have a deep spiritual conversation on the way home, as they did. Our group (2 Moms, one of whom had to go to work, and 3 children, one of whom had the sniffles) conversed all the way on whether we should run by Chick Fil A or Sonic.

More on paper and cards

I have always liked working with paper. When I was a baby, Mama kept a box of old magazines stashed behind the sofa, and when I was in the mood, she'd pull the box out and I would tear the magazines into strips. To keep me quiet in church, she'd hand me a Kleenex, and I would tear it into strips. She figured it was a sign of genius. At restaurants I fold my straw paper into 4ths lengthwise and tie bows or knots.



I love making cards - quick projects, quick feedback. I usually keep them pretty simple. I don't have the patience and meticulosity (like that word?) for a lot of embellishments and glitter, like my friend over at Camellia Cottage Designs and all her linked card designers. But I love looking at what they have done. I could peruse those many crafty blogs all day. OK, I admit it: sometimes I do.