Yoyo wreath

Last summer I rescued this bag of yoyos at a used fabric sale.

The price was right

I came across it again when I broke out my scrap fabric bin determined to do some sewing. I cut some pieces. did a seam or two, but was not feeling the love. Still, I was determined to do something with fabric so I pulled out this bag to see what was in there.

Once I finally got a look, I realized these would not be something I could build on. They were all sorts of odd fabrics–polyesters and nylons, a few cottons–and the person who had sewn them did not cinch them as tightly as I like leaving  large holes in the centers. I figured I could still use them for something, and put together this wreath.

It is just secured with straight pins for now. Once it comes off the door, I may disassemble it, but it did satisfy my need to make something with fabric, and use something in my stash.

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De(con)struction

I’ve been still working away on my crochet wrap. I would love to finish it this week but lately, life has been interrupting and not allowing me a nice long stretch to sit and get a lot done.

Since fabric had been on my mind since last week, I decided to bite the bullet and begin taking apart the vintage quit that was in tatters to see what is salvageable. There was a floral sashing between each of these strips that was so weak, it would tear just by handling it.  While there were originally 5 rows of stripes in the quilt, only 4 are usable at least on one side. The 5th has too many pieces that have disintegrated on both sides.

Cutting into the piece, I still felt like this was destruction rather than deconstruction. Now, however, I am starting to feel like something usable will be able to be made, and that’s a good feeling.

Not trash

I’ve been working through my yarn stash over the past year, and have gotten it down to a manageable size for storage. I have one bin for unusual yarns and one for more of the everyday type. What I haven’t made much of a dent on is my fabric stash.

Because I’ve been sewing much longer than I have been crocheting, it has had many more years to accumulate. I thought I had gotten it sorted and organized last year.

Over the weekend, we were tearing apart the house looking for a document we needed. It was one of those searches where you look in all the places it should be. Then you look in all of the places you might have tucked it. Then you relook in all the places it should be again. Finally, you go room by room looking in any possible place something could hide. This included opening kitchen cabinets, going through bins of off-season clothes, and searching every drawer and closet in the house.

In the back of the closet in my craft room I saw this large bag. I thought it was a bag of clothes that were slated for donation, but when I pulled it out, it was full of fabric. It took me a moment to remember that a friend had given it to me when she was purging her own fabric stash.

I need to pull it all out and sort it, and then…then I really need to maybe start sewing. Or get another bin.

TAD 26: Lace scarf

I pulled out a bin of fabric today to look for something completely different, but came across a piece of lace. It had a tag on it that read “Piece of fabric, 50 cents”.  It doesn’t seem particularly old, but old enough the background has turned a darker shade while the flowers are still white.

A forgotten find. Add now it has been stitched up to be a decorative scarf.

TAD 23: Fabric-covered brick doorstop

My grandmother used to have a brick doorstop that was covered in needlepoint. In the summer, they kept all of the doors propped open to get a breeze through the house, and every door had some sort of doorstop since breezes can also lead to slamming doors.

While I love the look of the needlepoint versions, this one worked up much faster. The instructions and template were found here. I used woven strips of fabric since I had a jellyroll in my stash. It doesn’t really match the colors in my house, but the fabrics are fun.

TAD 21: Needlepoint panel pillow

When I first started needlepoint, I would buy those cheap little kits at the craft store. I enjoyed working them up, they went quickly, but I never did anything with them when they were done. They live in a bin with other swatches and small finished projects.

Today I dug one of them out, and then in a further “use it up” idea, I backed it with the other half of the purple patchwork square left over from making the lavender sachet. It’s a tiny pillow, purely decorative in nature, but it means this early needlepoint project is finally seeing the light of day after probably 20+ years of being completed.

 

TAD 16: Lavender patchwork sachet

Years ago when I first started quilting, I saved all my long scraps and once I had enough of one type of color, would sew them onto muslin squares. The idea was to eventually make these into a new quilt. I have 7 or 8 of them and last year started repurposing them into other items.

The purple square is now a sachet stuffed with lavender. Lavender is said to help in relaxation and also to repel insects, so it can hang by the bed or in a closet. Sometimes it pays to admit that half-finished projects may never get completed…but there is often a new way to use the work you have already done.

TAD 5 Square-braided fleece dog toy

We will be visiting friends this weekend who have a cute little beagle and I thought it would be nice to bring along a gift for her.

I had a couple of long fleece scraps in my stash, but when I was looking up instructions, I saw that these could also be made out of old tee shirts  or sweatshirts that had been cut into strips.  Some youth groups make them as a service project to donate to local pet shelters.

This took me back to my summer camp days when everyone made lanyards out of plastic cord.

TAD 4: Easy pillowcases

I’ve made pillowcases before, but this was the easiest set of all.

While I was sorting through a small room in the basement where a lot of extra stuff gets stored and often forgotten, I found a box of old sheets. They were for a twin-size bed which we do not have, and most of them went into the donation pile. I saved a couple because I liked the print on them and thought I could use them for something.

It turns out this size sheet is the perfect width across for 2 pillow cases. The top hem is already in place as part of it, so once the length is cut, the seams just need to be sewn up. You end up with a pair of cases with the top opening already neatly done for you.  You don’t even need a pattern for this, just lay an existing pillowcase on top of the fabric to cut the correct length.

 

December 18, 2015: More cat toys

I tried to grow catnip. I did. I put it in a pot since I didn’t want it to take over, and I was not sure how the neighborhood cats would react to it, but it did not survive this summer. I do much better with things I can put right into the ground.  Because I was unable to harvest my own, I had to stop at the local pet supply store and purchase some in order to finish off the crocheted cat toys. Here’s the thing about buying catnip, it seems to come in two sizes–single serving and giant bag.

Since I found myself with quite a bit of extra catnip, I sewed up a few catnip pouches and filled them up.  I was planning to use some scrap fabric, but I have a panel of these printed cat squares and have never used them. I have really been trying to break the habit of holding on to fabric I like, rather than actually sew with it. These will get beaten up by the kitties, yes, but I’ll get to see and enjoy them until they have kicked and licked them to death. Besides, there are still 24 of the little squares left I did not use.  >^..^<