Please don't donate yucky fabric.

 I'm on the Outreach Committee of our quilt guild and have been storing the donated fabric.  After several  months of stubbed toes and pushing around 6 giant bins, I asked my friend Sue to come over and help me sort it out.  It took us over three hours to go through 3 bins and several bags.  After she left,  I went through 3 more bins of kid prints.  I'd like to present to you the worst of the worst with some quotes from Sue followed by my tips for donating fabric. 

 "This one can stand on its own!"  Yes, indeed, it can.  Yikes!

 

"This might be the worst of the day."  Sheer. Marbled. Plaid.  Why?

Actually, I could picture my mother wearing this as a scarf in the 70's.

Please only donate 100% quilting cotton.

 

"We should wear these."  There were two pieces of this textured silky bright.  If they were a little bigger, we would have worn them as scarves at the meeting.  Or not.

Then there were some oldies but goodies...  I love this piece.  It reminds me of my Grandmothers.

 

Please don't donate antique fabric or quilt blocks.

We kept several bins of good stuff and sold 2 bins full of "others."   We bundled up the antique blocks and fabric groupings to sell.  There were lots of novelties we couldn't use and stuff we just really didn't like.  We earned $150 for the project!  We'll be buying a full roll of batting, so all that donated fabric went to good use after all.

My Girl Scout troop will be having our last meeting today.  Sniff.  It's not time to say goodbye yet as we have several events coming up including a trip to Build-a-Bear.  I pulled together some supplies to make these cool bracelets that I found on Pinterest.  If they work fast, they can keep one and make one for mom.

Krafty Kids

My kids had a very productive week!

Julia made two skirts for herself! The blue one is from this circle skirt tutorial. The pink Martha Negley Dahlia skirt is from the Easy Ruffled Skirt tutorial. She did an awesome job! She learned some stuff and only asked me a couple of questions along the way. She's excited about bringing her sewing machine to college (in 2012).


While Julia was sewing, Pete was tying knots! He has made almost 30 paracord survival bracelets since the supplies arrived on Tuesday from Project Paracord. He used to make them with a cool knot and loop on the ends, but decided to try adding buckles for this batch, using this tutorial. He did a great job!

He's hoping to sell most of them this summer at our local Army/Navy store and at Boy Scout camp. They may even appear in my Etsy shop!

Next week: Jazz Camp! Julia will be singing and Pete will be on drums. Can't wait for the concert at the end of the week!

Fun with Envelopes?

Why have I been saving security envelopes for months? I couldn't remember! I knew I had a seen a tutorial for something cool made from them, but what?

Then I stumbled upon this website and remembered! So, when I should have been sorting through photos from 1999, I was slicing and rolling paper beads.

I made these 2 bracelets last night in about an hour. Julia loves them because they are blue. Even Pete thinks they are cool.

I made these long beads this morning from an ad page in a quilting magazine. They are a little bluer in real life and not so camouflage-looking. I've been wanting to make myself a necklace to hang my reading glasses from (I'm wearing them a lot lately!) and I think I'll use paper beads. I love the whole trash to treasure aspect of this project.

Now, I'm off to 1999. My list for today says, "QUIT STALLING!" at the top. My goal was to have the 1999 scrapbook done in January. I know once I get started, it will flow and I can do it quickly. But I'm running out of time! The thing that's stopping me is the lack of clear table space. I'm thinking about setting up another table so I don't have to clear off the others. And I should work downstairs where all the supplies are, but it's dark and lonely down there. I just need to jump in and start. Ready, set, GO!

Handmade Gifts

I thought you'd like to see a couple of gifts we've been working on.

The first one is not a gift, but an easy, fun ornament. (Sorry, I didn't bookmark the tutorial.)
You can see my fun garland in this photo, too. I made it several years ago from a segment on the Carol Duvall Show. Start with a package of 3/4" round labels. I colored in a full sheet (or 2) of labels for each color of my new scrapbook markers. Stick 2 together, sandwiching a strong thread in between (I used an orange jeans thread) and you have a garland. I had everything on hand, which makes it free!
I love playing with paper!

These ribbon wreaths are so pretty and easy, so Julia is making them for her teachers. My GS troop enjoyed making them because they already knew the "stitch" from weaving plastic lanyard at camp. An upgrade of materials and you have something completely different.

Julia made this pile of "emergency" bracelets yesterday for her guy friends and cousins. They can be untied in an emergency to use the 8-10' of cord. We actually enjoyed our trip to the army-navy store to buy the paracord. The guy working there wants a bracelet! Julia was able to follow the tutorial without any help from me. I love my mini me!

I hope Josh doesn't read my blog this week. Here's a gift for him.
How cool are these pencils?

Did I tell you I love playing with paper?
Here's a pile of origami wreath ornaments. I was making them at the swim meet on Friday. I didn't have time to cut the paper before we left, so I brought a pack of paper and a paper cutter to the pool. Is that an indication that I have a problem?
Once I started making these, I couldn't stop! See? I have a problem!
Now, what to do with them? They will probably be package tie-ons.

OK. Enough stalling. It's time to shovel snow!

We have tickets for Wicked at 1:00, but our street isn't really plowed yet (neither is the driveway to my mother's apartment). Keep your fingers crossed that I'll be able to get to the highway.