Rag Rugs

Wow, I haven't posted in over a month. I've been overwhelmed by scraps so I was looking for a way to use them. I found an idea on the Sew Mama Sew Forum from Quilting is My Passion. She calls them crumb chaos blocks. They are so much fun. I made a stack of them and made three rugs from them. I have only two pictured here, front and back. The one with the white backing is made from a rug my grandmother made. The front was worn and had holes, but the back wasn't too bad. There is one more, but I think I'll cut that one up and patch up the back instead of using the two layers like I did the last one. It was a bit too thick sewing through all four layers.

I still have tons more scraps and will be searching for other things to make with them. Does anyone have any ideas? I'd love to hear them.

Giveaway and Scraps

Quilting on a Budget is having an OttLite giveaway! I tried to post this yesterday, but apparently I did something wrong and it didn't work...so...I'm trying this again. I have been looking for a floor lamp for my dimly lit sewing area since, I don't remember how long. Anyway it's been a while. It would be nice to see the colors of the fabrics better.

I have been working on some bags of scraps I picked up from school. There was so much that our scrap bin was overflowing. I am still in the process of washing them and bagging them. I'm putting them into gallon sized ziplock bags until I use them.

Giveaway and Towels

Jane4girls is having a giveaway! She is giving away a set of reusable snack bags or bulk food bags to one lucky reader here. Check out her blog. She is great a stretching her dollars for things. I followed her link to the Plum Creek Mercantile company website and wondered if I could make my own bags. Hmmm...something to think about.

Anyway, pictured here is an old bath towel that I recycled into two hand towels. Many of our towels are getting threadbare and instead of tossing the good bath towel, I decided to see if I could give it another purpose, besides being a rag. I cut off the raggedy ends, then cut the towel in half and zigzagged the raw edges. Now, we have two towels that are just like new! I just have to figure out what to do with the ends of the towels that I cut off. Any suggestions?

Japanese Quilting Book and Vermicomposting

Well, it's been a while since I posted and I apologize for that. I hit a dry spell for a while, but now I'm back on track and busy sewing. I purchased this Japanese quilting book for inspiration. It has some really cute stuff in it, but now I have to translate the instructions. Okay, now that's going to take a while. They have pictures to follow, but I'd like to try and translate what I can. Maybe my no. 1 daughter will help me when she comes home for the summer. She may double major in Japanese ( keeping my fingers crossed).

Anyway, I'd like to tell you about my worms. We're going green at school. I have a bin of garbage eating worms at school. We're trying to make a school bin. I have had a small bin since the beginning of the school year (August 2008). Pictured here are others harvesting their worms. This is called vermicomposting. The worms are vegetarians. They eat fruits and veggies, newspaper and cardboard. The worms reproduce rather quickly and one of their waste products is a very fertile soil called vermicast which is great for growing plants. The liquid in the tofu container is called vermicast tea which helps ward off white flies! I put some of the tea on my potato plants and the white flies are gone! Hooray!

Anyway, back to the worms...I bought a black containter from Hardware Hawaii for $5.00 (it was on sale). I learned how to drill holes in the bottom for aeration. Then I put burlap on the bottom first. On the burlap I put torn pieces of cardboard. On the cardboard I put shredded newspaper. Then I dumped in all of the contents of my old worm bin. The bin rests on the tofu containers for aeration. The tofu containers collect the vermicast tea.

I didn't harvest, I just went to a bigger bin. Maybe next time I'll be able to harvest my worms. I don't know if you can see the worms (they're red). I'm hoping I can get enough to have some for home.

Jane4girls giveaway and sewing goals for 2009

Since the cost of living is so high here, I am always looking for ways to save some money, even if it is just a few cents.

As I was looking at blogs for inspiration of what to sew next, I came across a blog called Jane4girls. She is having a giveaway. She is giving away grocery bags and mesh bags, from a company called hotSACKS. Head on over to her blog and check it out. Her blog also gives tips on how to save money with links to coupons.

Pictured here is a quilt I saw at a quilt show. The flower petals were raised and puffy, kinda like a 3D type of thing.

I think a few of my sewing goals will be to finish two or more of my ufos and to use more of my stash...it's been growing...happy sewing!

Sweet Fabric and Sweet Treats

Thank you to Diane of Bee Square Fabrics! I received my fat quarter today. I entered a giveaway on her blog and I won a fat quarter of Japanese Fabric. I don't know if you can see it, but it has "sweets" on it. I'm not sure what I'll use it for yet, but I'm thinking maybe a hot pad or pot holder. Thank you Diane!

I also made some scones using the Pamela's Pancake Mix I received for Christmas. I used this recipe on the Pamela's website. Instead of currants, I used raisins and dried cranberries. It was delicious...and they're almost gone! Yum!

Sweet Potato Plant and Fleece Hat

My sweet potato plant was doing quite well. The first picture two pictures were taken a few weeks ago.

Today, my dh helped me plant the additional slips in the planter in our yard. This is when I discovered that white flies were eating my potato plant. I had to spray down the underside of each leaf with water and wipe off the black eggs. I don't know how successful I was. I guess we'll see in a few days or a week.

The next two pictures are of the pots after I cut off the slips that were ready to plant. They look kind of bear don't they?

The next shot of one of the slips in the planter box.

The shot after that is of the underside of the leaf with the white fly eggs. I don't know if you can see the black dots on the leaf.

The last two shots are of a reversible fleece hat that my mom wanted me to make for her trip to China.