On hiatus: Square seat cushions

I had hoped to write my next blog post after I finished working on a set of four upholstered seat cushions. I picked up a used copy of The Pillow Book by Shannon Okey, which has so many lovely designs in it for sprucing up any corner of the home! And anyone who knows me, knows that I have a large box of odd fabric pieces just waiting to be turned into...something.

But, alas, I overestimated the size of the foam 'fillers' and am trying to work out how best to salvage the process. So far, here are my two favourite possibilities:

1) Cut each one in half and make smaller cushions?

2) Cut each filler so that I can use multiple pieces of foam to precisely fit the shape of the original pattern?

I'm afraid to cut lest I spoil the foam for good. So for now, the nicely matching two patterns of fabric - one a remnant from a bedspread my grandmother made, the other a clearance-bin find at a fabric store - and matching buttons (from my grandmother's button jar) are sitting on the sewing machine table, waiting to regain my attention.

See! All ready to go...as soon as I work out that whole foam thing...

I HAVE been busy finding new homes for some things that I no longer need, however. Re-using is another theme of this blog, and I'm happy to report that my Facebook Garage Sale was a success! Friends and family members happily availed themselves of the extra Pyrex dishes and cutlery and servingware that accumulated when my husband and I merged households. He and I did not register anywhere since we already had pretty much everything we would need, and then some...hence the "Garage Sale". The cupboards aren't nearly as crowded anymore - which is great since we don't have a lot of cupboard or closet space, in the hopes of cutting down on the number of 'things' we hoard.

Since it finally looks like spring out there, I have two upcoming posts planned that should be perfect for the (very late) season: - Fun, cost-effective things to do outdoors! - De-cluttering a.k.a. Spring cleaning!

Stay tuned!

Transformation: A skirt from pants!

Welcome back! My sincere apologies for the long and unintended hiatus. As many bloggers before me have stated, sometimes life events just get in the way, and that is also the case here - not least of the events being my wedding! I'll say more about that in another post, because I want to show off my latest treasure.

I had a lovely pair of black, 100% linen dress pants that developed a hole along one inside seam. The surrounding fabric was just too thin and worn for patching to be effective, so I dumped the beautiful pants into the rag-bag, thinking they might be used to patch something else.

Then I found this pants-to-a-skirt tutorial by Michelle and I knew immediately what the linen pants had been waiting for - a complete transformation! With a sewing machine, as Michelle mentions, the project can take as little as two hours.

But, since my machine's motor is still waiting for repair, I hand-stitched the project, which took me two days. It probably would have taken me even longer, if not for this tutorial by Danni, which shows any novice seamstress or seamster like myself how to hem using nearly-invisible stitches that won't unravel.

And then I got really ambitious after doing a search for skirt trimmings on Pinterest. Melly Sews demonstrated how to lengthen a skirt using a matching pleat sewn separately, and I wanted to try the same thing. Since the new skirt is black, I decided to use a bright gold-and-purple floral-patterned synthetic fabric I'd bought years ago for a scarf project that never happened.

Again, Melissa's tutorial mentions a sewing machine, and a serger. Having neither tool, I naively undertook pleats by hand. Not highly recommended, but I am very pleased with the results.

I feel great about having "up-cycled" a no-longer-functional item of clothing into something useful and beautiful.

What do you think? Leave me a comment and let me know!!

(Huge thanks to my wonderful husband for the photos!)

Creating beautiful leftovers!

My yarn stash is kinda out of control.

Ok, not REALLY out of control. It all fits into one duffle bag, I swear. Well, and my grandma's old knitting basket. And a few things in the drawer of the plastic storage compartment where I keep my painting and beading supplies...

I'm a crafter. And things tend to accumulate. Especially yarn - after all, sometimes a pattern will end up using 3/4 of a ball of yarn, so what are you supposed to do with the other 1/4 that you can't make a whole pattern out of?

Morehouse Farms is a beautiful small retailer that has solved the problem for me. Not only have they rescued sheep in trouble and brought them into their fold, but their kits are also simple and beautiful. AND they have "leftovers" patterns on their website, so that you and I don't have to feel guilty about those small rolls of yarn we couldn't use but still thought were lovely and could make SOMETHING.

Click here to discover table runners, mitts and more, all made with your leftover yarn.




Image courtesy of ukapala | sxc.hu

The right pair makes all the difference...

When my good friend Holly walked in, I could tell right away that something was different. A new pair of glasses - a beautiful wrought-metal frame. After admiring them, I asked (perhaps rudely) how much they had cost. After all, my own most recent pair would have been unaffordable if not for health insurance.

Holly's answer surprised me. She said that the frames were from the 1950s, and she had purchased them through an online antique site for just $40. The prescription lenses that were in the frame when it arrived didn't match Holly's needs, so she ordered lenses to be cut to fit the frame, in her prescription.

For people like me who require thicker lenses for special conditions, just up and ordering any pair of glasses isn't possible. But frames can cost over $200, and if I was able to find the right frame, why couldn't I get an inexpensive one and only pay for the lenses?

Let's see if I can look as good as Professor Tiger up there. Next time I need a new pair of glasses, I'll be looking online first.

Image courtesy of gabetarian | sxc.hu

Secondhand...traveling?

I'm fortunate to have a big family, which includes many aunts. Despite being a bratty child, these relatives have always been kind to me, and a recent stay with one aunt in Ontario landed me a pair of shoes. It's not the first time this has happened - a visit to another aunt in Alberta led to a ransacking of her closet (done by her, of course) and many new items of clothing in my suitcase. I'm starting to think that my aunts save up all their no-longer-wanted clothes, shoes, and accessories to pass on to me - and I'm totally fine with this. Whatver I can't use, I pass on to friends or family back home.

Colour-coated

It's spring, and I'm thinking about paint.

My lovely character apartment has walls that didn't get much love when the previous tenants moved out. And I've decided I need my own room. The one I'm getting has three grey walls and a greenish one, while the master bedroom will get some brown and taupe paint, much softer than the deep purple that's in there right now. We'll cover up the gouges in the plaster, the places where the second coat didn't quite cover up the colour underneath it, and the place will look amazing.

Oh, and the paint was free. All of it.

My parents don't throw anything away, and of the cans of paint they opened for us to look at, about half were still in good condition to paint with. As far as I can tell it's all low-level VOC emission stuff, so even if things do get a little heady despite open windows and an air purifier, I won't be killing myself slowly.

If you're looking to paint, talk to the friend who just renovated the kitchen or who had the living room repainted a couple years ago. The leftover paint will probably still be useable and the people storing it will likely be glad to get it off their hands. And who knows, they might have really great colours too.

(image courtesy of daino_16 at www.sxc.hu)

idle hands...

do the devil's work, according to my grandma. And with my IPP submitted to a printing company, I've not much to do in my 'spare' time now (whatever bits are left over after the flow of regular homework). I have some time now, and also a lot of fabric stored away in a Rubbermaid container, against the day when I might actually do some sewing or mending.

No, not mending. The snow is going to melt (soon!), and with spring comes the need to make new things. What will I make?

Well, there are lots of great free patterns out there, with helpful tips. Crafters love to share their knowledge and experiments. Here are two of the projects I'll be completing:

High Tea Clutch: a beautiful little purse that I'm creating to a slightly smaller scale, to make a series of colourful wallets.

Super Apron: I looked through quite a few gorgeous half- and full apron patterns, and came to the conclusion that not only do I have all the materials for this one, but also that the pattern falls within my beginner skill level.

If you do a Google search, you will find hundreds of patterns for bags, clothes, whatever you fancy.

Spring will spring!

Wrappin' blues

I'm a fusser, and we fussers don't need much excuse to worry, or pay overmuch attention to, the smallest things. Hence wrapping a gift is almost as intense as choosing and buying the gift, for me anyways. How to make the gifts look beautiful without breaking the bank and denuding the shelves at Hallmark? Here are some of my favourites:

1. Raid the sewing basket. I do a lot of my own mending and sewing, so this is one of my first stops. Buttons, brightly coloured thread, ribbons, and fabric can all add pizzazz to a holiday gift.

2. Re-use bags. Paper shopping bags just need a few thoughtful touches to become beautiful gift bags. Tie on a brightly coloured bow, add some red or green tissue paper, or decorate the bag with holiday-themed stickers.

3. Ask the store to wrap it. Some people on your holiday gift list are probably loyal to certain brands of clothing, beauty products, etc. If these stores have a free wrapping feature this season, go for it! This way, the recipient gets the thrill of the gift twice: from the wrapping, and from what's inside.

4. Charity wrapping stations. This one is very special. Most malls this season will have volunteers staffing wrapping booths, with all donations to the wrapping service supporting an important charity. If you've made purchases at the mall, seek out this booth - the volunteers will do a great job, and you'll get beautifully wrapped gifts as well as the knowledge you've helped a great cause.

Happy Holidays!

One person's treasure...

...is now another person's treasure.

In need of a new futon mattress for my frame (I'm sleeping on the current one; I prefer it for my back), I hopped off a bus on my way home and stopped at Dream On | Futons on Osborne. The link takes you to one of 15 pages of available fabric, from which you can order customized covers, cushions, and more.

My new "Delta Beach" futon cover will be available very soon, but it's what Dream On does with excess fabric that caught my attention. "We used to just send it to the landfill," confided store employee Leslie, "but now we have a woman who sews [the remnants] into purses."

I'd been looking for a small zippered bag to carry my external hard drive - especially now in the cold weather, I don't want to drop something so expensive! I tested a few purses and found one just the right size. The price? $2.

Two dollars to keep beautiful fabric from entering a landfill? I'm sold.

You can get your own, one-of-a-kind fabric purse at Dream On, too.

But we just met!

Good friends shouldn't be parted so soon!

I definitely don't have a shoe fetish, but I think flats are cute. The fad came and went, and I wasn't able to buy a pair because I couldn't find any that fit me. Then, while shopping at one of my favourite second-hand clothing stores, I found them. Black with brown detailing and an itty-bitty heel. Floral print inner lining. Perfect for me.

Or so I thought until walking home from the bus one rainy evening. My right foot felt cold and wet, although my left foot was fairly dry. When I got home and examined my shoes, it was instant heartbreak: the sole of the right shoe had cracked completely through, letting in dirty rainwater that chilled my foot.

The shoes had cost me $4, and so I thought it was no big deal to dispose of them - repairing the sole would cost me at least three times as much as the shoes had. I'd only been able to spend a few months with these wonderful shoes, though, and the question of whether or not I should repair them has puzzled me ever since the right shoe broke. After all, if the point of making second-hand purchases is to conserve the environment by continuing to use goods that can still be used, did my disposal of the second-hand shoes fly in the face of this? Or is the point to get as much use as possible out of the shoes, and so the goal has been reached with this particular pair?

Let me know. Why do you buy second-hand, and what do you do with the items when they reach the end of their useful life?

Image credit to "38-Parrots" at www.sxc.hu.

You Can't Always Get What You Want (without paying for it)

Since moving not that long ago, I've discovered exactly how many small things it takes to maintain one's indoor environment. I owned a vacuum, but it's also necessary to own a broom and dustpan (who knew?), not to mention that if you want to have guests, you need to have more than two seats available, since not everyone is THAT comfortable with sharing.

Of course, being the thrifty person that I am, I tried to get as much of this as I could without spending a lot of money. "My friend has an old picture he doesn't want that's PERFECT for the living room!" and "My parents have a bunch of old brooms in their shed," and "I think my cousin has an old leather couch that doesn't suit her repainted living room..."

My roommate has more sense than this, thankfully. He went out and purchased a brand-new broom and dustpan, without missing bristles or cracks in the plastic. He has also discovered an inexpensive black loveseat that will be perfect for the living room, and produced from somewhere a collection of really great movie posters that will suit much better than a sedate picture of different-coloured leaves.

I also heard a horror story about a friend who accepted a neighbour's old couch only to find that while sitting in that neighbour's garage, the couch had acquired a sizeable bug population that was NOT welcome in said friend's house. So while I might have to shell out some money (in addition to the rent), I will have a happier, more comfortable home in the end.

Not to mention a happier roommate.

I < 3 Canning

Welcome back!

Summer is slowly edging into fall (or not so slowly! Is it just me or are the leaves coming off the trees WAY too soon?), and so begins the season for canning. Inspired by my grandmothers, who spent their lives preserving summer produce in heated glass jars, I feel that fall is the season to 'put by' for winter. (Watch for me knitting lopsided gloves!)

In past years I've helped relatives and neighbours combat bumper crops of northern grapes, rhubarb, and raspberries. This year, I'm fortunate enough to know people wanting to get rid of excess apples, grapes, and rhubarb. Already to my credit: jars and jars of rhubarb chutney, applesauce, instant apple pie filling, and clear apple jelly. Up next will be grape jam, once enough grapes have been harvested - and yes, you can grow grapes in this climate!

If you'd like to try your own canning, here are my favourite secrets for making it cheap as well as fun:

1. Don't buy special jars for it. You CAN use old jam/Cheez Whiz/relish jars, however, you must make sure that they are clean and sterilized. To sterilize them, put them in the oven at about 250F. Keep the lids in a bowl of hot water while you boil your jam or chutney, and when you're ready to jar it, wear thick oven mitts, pull out the hot jars, ladle in your preserves, and get that lid on there fast!

2. Don't buy the fruit and/or veggies if you can help it. If you know someone whose garden is out of control, now's the time to offer some of the finished product in exchange for use of the raw goods. In the case of my neighbour with the apples, she just can't make jam fast enough to keep up with the number of apples, and told me that I'm welcome to help myself! If this isn't an option, I would try farmers' markets before visiting a grocery store. Fresh will always give you better flavour than something off the truck from California.

3. Buy bulk. Vinegar is a staple for chutney, and sugar is a must for jelly. Costco is your friend - if you don't have a membership, try Superstore's no-name brands or the Bulk Barn before approaching Safeway and Sobeys. Don't get me wrong, they're all great chains in their own right - but if you're going to make enough chutney to feed all 60 of your cousins, then you're going to need a lot of inexpensive sugar.

4. Share. That neighbour who lent you her soup tureen for you to can all those peaches? The great-uncle who helped you pick enough raspberries for 20 jars of jam (that's a LOT of berries!)? The father-in-law who doesn't need anything and stumps you every Christmas when you wonder what to get him? The answer is here: canned goods. You made them yourself, and everyone knows that handmade tastes better! Place a square of bright fabric over the lid, tie it on with some hemp/ribbon/an elastic, and voila! Instant gift.

The best part, though, is that I know exactly what went into what I'm eating. And tasting the delicious results of one's own hard work is always rewarding.

Canning tips or questions? Let me know here! If I don't have the answer, I bet I know who does. :)

A short, MESSY post.

A little dab'll do ya?

My apologies to my three blog fans for the late update - apparently there was a misunderstanding between JavaScript and my computer, which has since been rectified.

I've got this horrible cold. And as I bid empty box after empty box of Kleenex adieu, I can't help but wonder if there isn't some better way. What did people do before Kleenex, I thought to myself. The handkerchief! Was this the answer?

I'm not so sure. I'm not sold on carrying the same dirtied square of cloth about in my pocket for re-use, even if I can console myself and my hands with liquid sanitizer afterwards. My other option is to make about 40 of the handkerchiefs for myself. But where would I store them once they were used? Would I need to have a separate Zip-Loc bag just to carry handkerchiefs?

This gets to the underlying question. When you're afraid of both germs and needless spending, what do you do? I have determined that I will at least attempt to befriend the handkerchief - AFTER I'm done with this cold, because right now I am way too busy being tired and dehydrated to actually sew. And of course I'd make my own, I have a bunch of miscellaneous material lying around, and no idea where I'd find a handkerchief today anyway.

Plus, this way I can make mine monogrammed. =D

The Great 'Used' Debate (795 words)

Well, so much for wanting to get an amazing steal of a deal on a laptop. Instead, for $971.00, I got a free case, a laptop with independent graphics processing, and a 2-year warranty that covers acts of God (i.e.: fires and floods, etc.) as well as my own negligence. I actually do think it was money well spent. I guess I'll just have to be extra-thrifty elsewhere. Like used books, perhaps.

I've always been into used bookstores. One of my favourite stops on Hwy 10 up to Riding Mountain National Park is a store that used to be called Poor Michael's Bookshop in the little town of Onanole (I don't know if it still is, but that's how I refer to it). It's evolved over the years and now has a sort of arts/crafts angle as well as a cafe, but it still stocks a mighty selection of second-hand books and magazines, and my family has stopped there to browse and buy for almost two decades. More recently, I discovered the many used bookstores in Winnipeg and throughout my university years I was a faithful fixture in most of them, both to sell and to buy.

Now, though, I find myself largely on the buying end of things unless I'm looking for a specific out-of-print edition or volume. I've found there's something special about being the first person to own a glossy new book. And as an aspiring author myself, I can appreciate that if I buy a book I enjoy very much, the hard-working author has not gotten a cent out of my enjoyment - something to which they're probably entitled as a result of having worked so hard to produce, then market to publishing houses, then revise said book. It's not an easy process! Surely the creator deserves some reward for having taken so much time out of his/her life to create.

The same, then, holds true for music. Songwriters and performers spend long hours each day on their crafts. If I buy a CD second-hand (something I did more frequently before realizing that the quality is often suspect) or download music from the Internet (I think I can count on one hand the times I have actually done this, since music files take up too much space on my drives and I don't own an iPod), the creator doesn't get anything for my enjoyment of his/her work. Yes, the record companies might have ridiculously unfair contracts which limit said artists to make but pittances off of their own creations, but if I don't purchase the music, the artist doesn't even get that pittance. For the record, I don't know that I'm entitled to comment, since I have never seen a recording contract first-hand. But it still stands that if I'm not paying, they're not receiving.

I think there's less of an argument for second-hand clothing cutting off the creator. I'm pretty sure that for your generic Old Navy or Suzy Shier or what have you, the garment designers are in-house and getting paid like graphic designers do. Besides that, the garments are made en-masse, not by the designers but by sewing machine operators, mostly in countries far from the company's retail outlets and making far less than the minimum wage in the company's client locales. Unlike the writing of a book or the composing of an album, the making of your average pair of jeans or t-shirt is very far removed from an art. It's a process, unless we are talking about one-of-a-kind designer items - and even here I find it hard to justify a $4,000.00 purse. I think if the designer has been paid the $4,000.00 once for that purse, that also pays in full for the other 40 people who may subsequently (and hopefully all legally) acquire said purse in the future - and for $4,000.00 it should last through the next 40 owners!!! (The pricey Bally keychain in the photograph, found by fellow blogger Rachel for a price of $2.00, actually retails for more than $2,000.00!)

And those are just the three things that I most often buy second-hand. There's a whole second-hand world out there - appliances, cars, furniture, dishes, pet toys (eugh...)... I think these are the three most important things to remember about second-hand stuff:

1) It does save the environment some stress - if there was no way to acquire cast-offs that previous owners didn't want, everything would just go to landfills!

2) It saves your pocket - if someone else has already used it, it's not in the pristine condition for which someone paid full price, therefore of course it's cheaper in order to compensate for that.

And 3) Sometimes (as in when I bought a disappointingly beyond-repair copy of Metallica's recording with the San Francisco Symphony, or a shockingly unravel-ly sweater from a second-hand clothing store) you really do get what you pay for.

Sale: 50% off all clothing!

If vintage/secondhand shopping is your thing, don't miss Value Village's sale! TODAY-ONLY: 50% off all SECONDHAND clothing! This includes shoes and 'accessories' (which I'm guessing are things like jewellery and scarves and mitts, but don't quote me). There are 4 VVs in the city: 1560 Regent, 1729 Pembina, 942 Jefferson, and 1695 Ellice. You've got from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. today, so don't miss it!

I think I'm going to make a serious attempt to replace a pair of jeans that I loved, which were recently overcome by large holes at the knees. :(

Thanks Mom! (and Dad, and Grandma...)

"There's nothing left in there!" my father exclaimed upon seeing my mother in the kitchen, extricating the last drop of mayonnaise from the jar with a spatula. "I can't help it," my mother replied, "it's how I was raised!"

My mother's parents were born a scant few years before the Great Depression, and grew up making the best of every little thing they had. She and I have inherited several of these habits, for lack of a better word: saving the crumbs from bags of store-bought bread to make our own bread crumbs, and squirreling away plastic bags that inevitably come in useful 'on a rainy day'. Purchase scrap paper? Forget it! Like mom, I rip up one-sided junk mail for re-use. Campbell's soup labels and stamps from sent mail? Save them for charity! Not to mention an endless array of plastic containers used to hold room-temperature or refrigerated leftovers (but NEVER for reheating!). Unsealed, blank envelopes from greeting cards are also collected for future cards.

Dad has his own stories about growing up with thrifty parents. His mother cut up old flour sacks and sewed them together to make sheets. With seven kids to look after, she made the best of whatever came her way, and I'm amazed to hear about the clever 'second uses' she found for various items. As Dad puts it, "Sustainability and recycling aren't new concepts!"

The next time I see my grandparents (my mother's father and my father's mother), I plan to ask a lot of questions regarding re-use -- the sometimes-forgotten middle member of the three Rs. If you're able to, why not do the same? It'll be a good conversation and might yield some surprising tips!