Oxford Cloth Napkins

{via Whole Living}

Martha Stewart's Body+Soul magazine had a great idea for recycling old worn-out men's shirts--cut them up and turn them into cloth napkins! I wish I had some on hand as cute as THEIR shirts! The day after I saw this idea, I told my grandma about it, and she gave me some of my granddad's old plaid button-down shirts to make into sets of cloth napkins, one for her and one for us.

Ellis (and my mom!) have me on a pretty tight leash right now where projects and crafts are concerned--they keep reminding me that we're moving in 2 months and not to accumulate any more craft supplies, but I think this should be pretty much perfect!

Check out some more of Body+Soul's great ideas--25 Eco-Chic Ideas for Your Home!

Some finished things

I love using this blog as a sort of notebook to write down great ideas I want to do so I don't forget them, but then what I do forget to do is follow up and actually post the things that get checked off the list. Normally it's like turning in a paper: once I'm done, I'm DONE, and on to try and finish a few of the millions of things I've started and need finishing. But here are a couple of things that got done this fall. (these pics taken back before I got my d40)

First a blanket for Brad and Rache for Christmas. I started this in September and needed to send it off by Thanksgiving, and I think I did 3/4 of it in the last 2 weeks, when panic set in. It was a really fun pattern--I love doing blankets and just pulling them out to work on whenever I watch a movie. Fun as it was, though, I think I prefer crocheting blankets cause it just goes so much faster!



Then also finished Brody's quilt in October! Or I should say...my mom finished it. This summer I got it 95% done....but I just was not motivated to finish the last bit of the binding. But that's what's so great about moms! When Mom came to visit, she sat down and finished the binding in like 10 minutes! Thanks Mom!


The quilt is pretty much a complete copy of Purl Bee's Zig Zag Quilt, colors, fabrics, and everything. I just loved the original so much, and figured for my first quilt I would just go with what I knew I loved! Molly's tutorial on Purl Bee is super great and easy to follow, and I can't wait to make quilts for all my kids! And maybe one day this quilt:

Baby steps

Since I'm always posting pictures of things that I WANT to do, I thought I would just put up a couple pics of some things I actually finished! I've always been the girl reading 6 books at once and never finishing any of them, so when I finish something I get SO excited! And little though my projects be, I think I'm gradually getting a little better at finishing!

So first off, here's a little vest I made for my friend Christine's little boy, Evan.





And I've got just enough yarn left over to make one for Haymitch too! And then they can be matching sweater buddies together! Ha!

Then...I got a little sick of yarn this spring and got a new obsession in fabric...a couple friends of mine have been helping me sew, so this is the first of my simple sewing projects.


Just a simple white flannel blanket, but I love LOVE the birds on the other side! I've made a few other easy sewing projects--gotta get some pics on the computer!


And then finally, I crocheted a couple of baby blankets for a couple friends of mine. Here is my friend Allison's little cutie Benaiah posing with one of them!




OH.....
P.S. I just had my last day of work EVER last week! I'm sooo excited!! I'm so excited to get to stay home with Haymitch and go on walks and hang out with people and pick up tons of new hobbies!

P.P.S. In just 3 days we are hitting the road for Idaho and Washington for the summer!! Can hardly wait to spend the next 3 months with family and college friends!!! Now I'm gonna go to bed so when I wake up it will only be TWO days! :D

Sorry, this always happens when I'm at work. I stumble across some awesome idea and want to remember it, so into my blog notebook it goes. I'm so disorganized that if I wrote the idea down somewhere I'd probably forget it, but on the internet, it's saved forever, in a searchable fashion! Which is why I also have like 50 gmail drafts going with various ideas and reminders...at least that way I know where to find them--right, Cora? :)

So here's the idea--a diaper changing pad.



The reason this makes me so excited is because I already knew I wanted to make one, but I really know how to do nothing, so this step by step is my Dummies guide! yay!

Adding something else to my to-do list--I'm FINALLY wrapping up some stuff, so I have to find some new things to get myself motivated next!

When Ellis and I were doing our major purging/spring cleaning (actually still in progress--besides....every day is purging day, right, Dad? :) ), I found all this oilcloth that I had bought back when I worked at La Bella Vita. I had planned at the time to use it as a tablecloth, since that's what all the cool people did in Moscow back in the day, but since our kitchen/dining room/living room is such an explosion of color since I can never make up my mind---I love ALL the colors...how can I coose?--both of my oilcloths would completely clash...so basically they have been sitting in a box for 2 years now.

SOOO...I decided to make ONE into a picnic "blanket" and to make the other into a go-green grocery tote...yay! Found an awesome pattern for the tote here at the Purl Bee!

One more reason to learn to sew :)

Ok, it's things like THIS that make me really wish I hadn't dismissed sewing as a kid, thinking the only reason to learn to sew was if you wanted to make jumpers and culottes (not cute and vintagey like these though...we're talking the ultimate in homeschool fashion)--both were favorites of my local homeschool community and I didn't see the point in spending a lot of time and effort to craft my own hideous accoutrements. Wish I'd had the foresight to know all the CUTE things you could make!

So after I finish practicing with my little burpcloths and potholders and all those little things, I'm totally gonna try my hand at making Haymitch something like that!

And speaking of Etsy, this is on my wishlist too, and also my latest painting inspiration!