Valerean

I decided to tea dye the drawstring cotton bag I wanted to use for the project in the Summer issue of GreenCraft. This is because I like the color tea dyeing produces versus using coffee; it's warmer and looks more vintage. I have my own method of dyeing which I've used for lace and small bits of linen. The formula is pretty simple: boiling water + four tea bags + glass container in which to soak the bag in the tea. For darker color you use more tea bags. I wanted only a light dye so I let it soak for about an hour before I took it out. I then gave the bag a quick handwash. This isn't strictly necessary but I prefer to remove any remaining tea from the bag. Here is the tea dyed bag next to one that was not dyed. Note the shrinkage. Now that I have the bag done, I can give the project a go. :)

The Summer 2026 issue of GreenCraft magazine just came out, and it's just as amazing as every other issue for ideas on how to upcycle, repurpose and reuse things that might otherwise end up in the trash. Amy Camuglia's wearable art project is right up my alley -- I have so many fabric scraps they fill a bin, and a smaller stitch project is better for me these days. She turns her pieces into unique pendants and brooches. I've also been feeling the itch to make some assemblage jewelry, and Jenny Youg's Beauty in the Lost & Found details how to add antique objects as well as unusual chains to create memorable pieces. The one project I am absolutely going to try is Christen Hammons' A New Spin on an Old Bag , for which I can use some of the eleven drawstring bags I still have on hand (I had to buy a dozen to make my nephew's bag of money housewarming gift.) The issue also has a neat article on how to dye using natural botanicals, which I...

I'm taking the day off today to be a good sport. See you tomorrow. :)

Like Christmas, I'd be happier skipping my birthday every year. I hate birthday surprises, I don't want gifts, and it's never a happy day for me. I don't know how old I really am (based on biological landmarks I might be a year or two older than they say) or on which date I was actually born; I believe my adoptive mother picked the day I was handed over to her as my birthday. Anyway, this year I began looking back on what I did for my birthday in the past, like visiting Tarpon Springs. Lovely people, terrible aquarium, great seafood. My guy decided we should go there. I went to Busch Gardens for the first time on my birthday one year because my daughter loves it. I am not a theme park person, but it made her happy. I did enjoy taking photos of the animals. I generally spend my birthday away from home because my family thinks I should go some place spectacular or exotic and have fun all day, usually doing what they like to do. I like staying home ...

Living in the country means you never know what you might encounter along the way when you're out walking. Last week I spotted this across the street while I was walking Beau, and the glint of gold in the sunlight made me get my camera to bring with me on Shadow's walk. These are two golden silk orb weaver (Trichonephila clavipes), also known as banana spiders. These little guys are everywhere now; they build their webs at night and tear them down just after sunrise. Two of them had spun webs that together reached at least ten feet across and maybe seven or eight feet high, and I've never seen two of them so close to each other. The only reason I saw these was that I got up early that day walked the dogs about two hours earlier than usual. Nature is awesome. :)

The July tote for my calendar project is focused on vintage as a theme, and will incorporate the old fabrics that I love: feedsacks, cutter quilt pieces, embroidered linens and such. Working with antique textiles is such a pleasure. I'm starting with a genuine vintage feedsack as the background fabric, and a canvas tote for the foundation. I also invested in some vintage textiles from my favorite Etsy seller to serve as the fabric elements of my design. The problem with the canvas tote is that it has some staining on one handle, so I have to wash it first. After laundering I realized that the tote shrank quite a bit, and I won't be able to use the entire front panel of the feedsack as I wanted to. Easy fix: I will batt and back both sides of the feedsack and that will serve as the tote's background and the foundation. Stay tuned to the blog to see how I put this one together.