Make Life Easier

~When painting, put the roller or brush in a plastic bag and it'll stay wet for a few days. No need to scrub it out three times over the course of three days.

~Multi-task in the morning....use your hair straighter to iron your clothing (as a touch-up for small spots on a button-down shirt). This won't help you iron an entire dress.

~Why pay the UPS store for foam packing peanuts? Pop some popcorn with an air-popper. Buying packing materials is highway robbery.

~Get stickers off of things like mirrors and glass: use mayonnaise & a putty knife.

~Dry out the bath toys by hanging them in a lingerie laundry bag from a suction cup in the bathtub.

~Cut pizza with scissors. That's what we did at camp when we made pizza for 180 people. It's faster and much easier.

Finishing the Unfinishable Project 2--Myrtle the Turtle Baby Bib

This bib gets the name "Myrtle the Turtle" from my mom's childhood pet turtle of the same name. Myrtle met her(?) unfortunate demise when my grandmother accidentally slammed their enormous front door and squashed the turtle. Terribly sad. I think the next turtle was named Lyrtle. I like the idea of upcycling--using something older to make something novel. So when I saw the idea to make bibs out of old t-shirts, I loved it.

Old t-shirts. Something we have legion of at our house. My husband loves free t-shirts. He probably has four dozen. So I decided to try making a baby bib from one of his shirts. The first one was a giant FAIL. I did not put any interfacing in it and it stretched like crazy. The sides were terribly puckered. I actually threw it away. Even after I monogrammed my son's first inital onto it. It was that bad.
I had cut two t-shirts up for this project, however, and one of them still lay pinned in my sewing box. I decided to finish it. But this time, I added some fusible interfacing. I ironed the interfacing to one side, sewed through all three layers (leaving a gap to turn the bib):

then peeled off the paper to reveal the other side of the fusible interfacing.
I then turned the bib, ironed it again (to fuse the interfacing to both sides) and topstitched around the edges:Then, I added some velcro:

Myrtle was already cut from felt. I'd even cut her a piece of fusible interfacing. After fusing it to her, peeling off the back paper, and then fusing her to the bib, she looked like this:

She was crying out for some topstitching. I used orange thread!

Done.

Lots more bib ideas!
Little Birdie Secrets
Make it and Love it
using scraps

The only problem I am still having involves the fact that it is still puckering at the edges. Is it just because I used knit fabric? Or am I doing something incorrectly? I did iron it. It still puckers. Here is a picture so you can see what I mean...

Re-Use Old Things

Here is a collection of ideas I think could be useful:

~Save aluminum foil. Balled up, you can use used aluminum foil to scrub glass baking dishes.
~Use old, clean pantyhose to hang onions, potatoes & garlic in pantry or root cellar. Tie knots in between each vegetable and just cut them off as needed.
~Fill an old sock with baking soda and put it with items stored in the basement (like clothes) to keep them from smelling musty.
~Compost! Put a large plastic bowl in your sink. Place egg shells, coffee grounds (filter, too), fruit/veggie peels, cores & pits in this. Empty it to your compost pit every other day. Good for the soil and also helps you run the garbage disposal less often saving water and electricity.
~Save the cereal box liners (the plastic bags). Dump out the crumbs, fold them up, and store them with your plastic bags. They work for crushing crackers for meatloaf or meatballs.
~Still have more aluminum foil saved? Use it to scrunch around a doorknob while you're painting to keep away the drips.
~Use those free return address labels you get in the mail to label books, tupperware, or other things you may lend. Stick them to your children. Just kidding.
~Trader Joe's (and other grocery stores) sell beer in some neat six-pack configurations. Re-use the six-pack package to put napkins & silverware in at a a picnic.

Another use for white vinegar...

If you have an old paintbrush caked with paint and you feel there's no hope...just soak it in white vinegar for a few minutes and rinse it out! Don't buy a new one....

Finishing the Unfinishable Project 1--Small Velcro Pouch

I had plans to make a bunch of these bags (cut out tons of fabric, interfacing...) about a year and a half ago! I cut out the fabric (it is sort of a trapezoid shape) and intended to sew them together without problems.

This is how they looked:

Upon closer inspection, not too great on that final seam:I learned to do gussets for the first time (to get the bag to stand up by itself, these are along the bottom seam): So I ripped out the final seam on that particular bag and used some bias tape (which I am still learning how to use...it was left over from another failed project):

Much better!