Reclaimed & Repurposed Fabric

Ziggy loves to sew, and she is rather good at it. She quilts with my mother, because I really am not a sewer. Well, I am being dragged into it through Ziggy's interests. After all, it is my desire to show my kids, through my actions, that we can do just about anything ourselves. If I just say, "I can't sew," and put no efforts forth, what kind of example am I to my kids ... particularly Gherkie who is extremely prone to claiming incompetence prior to trying to do something new or challenging.

I'm finding that I actually enjoy (to a degree) creating something out of nothing. I have only used a pattern once in my life - that was a pioneer outfit for Ziggy this Halloween. The majority of my sewing efforts are costumes or doll clothing, all made from my head. I hate following patterns. (I have conformity issues, can you tell?!)

Being the frugal being that I am, I also have a hard time throwing away anything. And that includes worn out clothing. You could use that fabric for something else, right? Well, I have used the odd piece here and there when making Halloween costumes, or a homemade toy etc. But I really have not delved into repurposing.

This is something that has always fascinated and interested me. Long before I was thinking of owning a sewing machine (think 4th grade) I was intrigued by the concept of reusing old clothing. And now I think this is a great idea, and part of the reduce and reuse concept I believe in.

Lately I keep looking at the stack of worn and torn and not quite worth mending pile of old clothes in my basement. And my mind thinks: What can I make from these items? Or, more appropriately, what can I ruin with these items. har I have larger ambitions than talent, but that is half the fun, right?

Does anyone else have images of Molly Ringwald chopping up the prom dress in Pretty In Pink?

Worm Energy

A friend and fellow Granola Mom called me up the other night; turns out she is interested in worm composting. She wanted to ask me a few questions, and apparently she heard that I would not only share my knowledge, but also my abundance of worms. sigh - sorry to disappoint you, but, well, their all dead now.

I find it funny that I just posted something about killing my worms, and lo and behold, I get a phone call about worms. The universe is a funny place; you put out a thought and you get a response.

Anyway, it was fun to talk worms again, and this is a person that is known for her intense research into the minute details of whatever it is that she delves into. She does not do anything partially, or half informed even. I was rather flattered that she came to me for information. I usually go to her for information!

But now I am thinking about my old friends the red-wigglers. I miss them, in a weird way. I loved having a full-circle method of disposing of my kitchen waste. I loved sharing my worms with anyone who would sit for 5 minutes and listen to me blather on about how easy it is to keep them.

Unless you forget about them for 6 months. oops

Waiting for Community Clean-Up Day

My basement is the repository for all things "homeless." Isn't this what basements were designed for? Well, FM, who grew up in CA where basements are extremely rare, disagrees with my interpretation of use for our basement. He happens to believe the garage is the place for all things homeless, and thus we have a bunch of stuff stored in every corner of the garage. I argue that most of that stuff goes in the attic, and our basement is more of a staging ground until we find a new home (be that in our house or in someone else's house, or the "trash.")

So the ever growing pile of old paint cans, used batteries, broken electronic devices, etc. are waiting for our community clean-up day when we can take them to the local township office and properly dispose of them for free. It annoys FM, but makes me happy to properly dispose of these items.

I also have a large pile of items waiting for me to put them on my local Freecycle board, but that is just an issue of me taking the time to sort through an then list those items. I'm slowly working on that project.

Making Yellow Snow

It was a very busy, and unbalanced, week here in our household. The girls had some crazy ideas of what to do with the theme color, ranging from using crayons as start and finish lines to do races, to doing the old etching project where you color a piece of paper entirely with crayons, then color it over in black and scratch off the black crayon to find a surprise burst of color. This is fun, don't get me wrong, and it was their idea - which is one of my criteria for these unplugged projects (the projects belong to the child, I just provide the inspiration and materials and safe environment) but we were so pressed for time that I did not have a block of time to do this project and document it too.

What we did do that made the cutting board here, is spray "paint" the snow. I had the usual extra kids I babysit for so I had to do this project with everyone. And one day the weather warmed up to the double digits, so we all bundled up and made yellow snow. And blue, and green, and orange, and red ....

I filled some of my spray bottles I usually use for cleaning concoctions with water and some food coloring. I had four bottles and four kids - whew! Everyone loved trying to make different colors by adding layers of color on the snow.

Ziggy made a snow angel and then colored it in. The picture does not show all the different colors she ended up with.

Gherkie adjusted the flow to more of a stream and was able to make more intense coloration in the snow, and eventually write and draw lines.

We had a really good time, and only quit because the water was freezing and clogging up the spray bottles. Again, a good project for us to have fun with. Next week's inspiration is FLOAT. Oh lordy what will the two kids come up with for that!!

I Caught Myself Wanting MORE Today

I went grocery shopping today, with the entire family no less. (That is always a fun adventure!) I was looking for two meat items, a pork roast and chicken of some sort. I could not find a pork roast in the entire meat department, and have not been able to find one for months now in any store I've been shopping in. Do people no longer eat pork roasts? Did I imagine myself cooking them in the past? And when I went down the chicken isle I did not like the assortment this particular store, not my usual either, had to offer.

"This is it?" I found myself repeating this question, in disgust, out loud.

I had to check not only my volume level, but also my thought process. I looked at the quantity of meat surrounding me and re-evaluated that thought based upon the knowledge that there were quite a large number of animals that gave their lives for this rather obscene quantity of food in front of me right now.

But the problem for me was that I was not finding that just right piece of meat that I had envisioned before I left my home. And here is the crazy part, I believe in using the whole animal, not just consuming the "prime" cuts of meat. I mean, I really believe in that concept. So why had I succumbed into that mainstream prime cut consumer? It's the farthest thing from where I usually am.

I am a little embarrassed at myself today. And simply shocked that I wanted more to choose from, when usually I am appalled at the vast over quantity to choose from.