Valerean

After making the August tote for my calendar project from fabrics I found in a thrifted bundle, I worked happier and with more enthusiasm than I have in a long time. I don't know what it is about making something out of fabrics that someone else chose, but it definitely motivates me. I have quite a bit of fabric left over from making the tote, as well as the rest of the bundle to use -- a couple of pounds' worth. I love using fabric someone else chose and that I acquire in random bundles to make things. This quilt here is what I made from a pound of fabric scraps that I bought from an Etsy seller. Ten years ago I bought a bag of scrap fabric at the county quilt show for $3.00, and challenged myself to make something from all of it, using every bit. Here's what I made out of that, and it was such a fun challenge I want to do it again. I think in my continuing effort to get over my lack of desire to quilt I'm going to make something from the thr...

There was one piece of fabric in the vintage bundle I bought at the Coop that was perfect for a much-needed quick project, so I took that and a piece of yellow print that worked with it and made a mat for my nephew's dog's food and water bowl stand. I just sandwiched the two pieces of fabric together with some batting, and machine quilted it in a diamond hatch pattern that followed the lines on the print. It turned out to be good machine quilting practice for me, something I really need to do every week now. I've been using placemats for this bowl stand so I'm glad to have a nice new mat for it. I might make a few more since we seem to be dog sitting quite a bit lately.

Last week I had two pairs of thrifted trousers to alter: a pair of black capris to make into shorts, and a pair of jeans that were a wee bit too big in the waist. These are nice knit capris, but they look a little ridiculous on me, and the waistband gapes a bit so I don't mind chopping them up and tailoring them to make shorts. I hemmed the legs, put a couple of darts in the waist, and it's done. A nice pair of shorts for cheap. I'm having the same fitting problem lately with all bottoms -- my waist has grown smaller than my hips -- so I put a couple of darts in the waistline of these jeans, too. Now they fit perfectly. :)

If I want to buy new shorts for myself I'll have to fork over between $15.00 to $20.00 per pair -- and that's at Wal-Mart, which is supposed to be cheap. I'd rather save money and make them, so I went to the local thrift and got these two pair of trousers (with pockets!) to alter, both for $13.98. To alter pants into shorts, you put them on, mark with a safety pin where you want the hem of the shorts on one leg, take them off, and cut off the leg you marked 1-1/2" below the mark in a straight line. Fold the pants in half, cut off the other leg at the exact same spot, then turn them inside out, double fold the hem inside out by 3/4" on both legs, pin and sew on a sew machine. You can sew them by hand but you'll need to use small stitches. The white pair of pants (I was tempted to keep these as trousers for winter, but I kept imagining how easily I'd stain them.) Here are the finished shorts. They fit me perfectly, they have pockets, and I...

The other morning I was preparing to drink my second cup of coffee when I realized I was tired of drinking out of a plastic tumbler. I have about a dozen of them, all Starbucks, all red, all thrifted. Yes, it's safer if I happen to drop it (and I drop lots of stuff these days, thank you arthritis) but the color red always makes me nervous. Red equals emergency, blood, and crisis in my head. I didn't think about any of that when I thrifted them; I just wanted something cheap and convenient. Cheap and convenient is nice, easy, and preferable, but not always when it comes to mood. Part of me is tired of settling for what's easy and sacrificing my mood (and my happiness!) in the process. I want inspiration. I want to be surrounded by beauty and whimsy and things that delight me. I really, really want to smile in the mornings. So I ditched the plastic tumbler, took out my favorite Halloween ceramic mug and had my second cup of coffee in that. I don't care that ...

I've run ahead of myself by a couple of days with pre-published posts so I'm back to posting twice a day until I use up the extras. My yarn plus lot arrived, so let's take a look and see if it was worth what I paid for it. 24 skeins of yarn, 21 of which are new and most are labelled, along with a brand-new sewing kit. The kit has never been used or even opened, I think, and it retails for $20.00. I can use basically everything in the kit. The scissors are really sharp, and since my own fabric scissors are dull these will help me out until I can get mine sharpened. Ten Italian Berlini Chelsea wool skeins, also brand new. These are more like a boucle, but very soft with a luxurious hand. I bet they work up nice. As they're discontinued I couldn't find a price for these online but comparable yarns by this manufacturer run $16 to $17 a skein. I've heard not so great things about the Pioneer Woman's acrylic yarn from a Youtube crochet vi...

Another lot of yarn I bid on and won for $10.99 included some unusual skeins and what appears to be a brand new sewing kit. This Pioneer Woman floral set is pretty, and while it's just a basic kit, I've never owned one (I have thrifted and collected lots of vintage sewing boxes, but nothing new.) I found the exact same kit selling on eBay for $20.00. The yarn includes some pricey bulk yarn, but what interested me most was this pile of nine or ten balls of high quality Italian wool. According to my research it's a discontinued line, and I couldn't find any price for it anywhere, but I did see similar discontinued Berlini yarns selling for $16-$17 for two balls on eBay. There are definitely enough skeins here to make a small project like a shawl, or possibly a throw if I add other yarn to it. When this lot arrives I'm going to price it all out and see how much of a bargain I got. Stay tuned to the blog to see.

Hey, it's me in real time again. My Scrappy Saturdays idea hit a snag when I made this crazy-quilted tote. I wanted to hand-quilt it with circles, so despite working on it for the last month I'm only about half-done. I'm not making much of a dent in the scraps bin, either. Time to try a one-day challenge and see what I can make in 24 hours, and post the finished projects at the end of the day. Here are the results: a quilt top, a dog mat. a diagonally-pieced runner and a little gift pouch. Not bad for a crippled old lady with crampy hands. :)

While out thrifting I picked up a bag of yarn with other stuff mixed in (and promptly forgot to take a pic before I opened it.) Here's everything, includin 16 skeins of yarn. There were lots of surprises in this bundle, like nine little fabric gift bags. I often give earrings or other small items as gifts so I love these. The big surprises were two upholstery needles, a spool of upholstery thread, tacks for a upholstery gun, and some gorgeous faux diamond buttons. My neighbor does custom upholstery so I'm going to offer the tacks to him. There were even some big buttons, beads and sewing-related items in the bag. I paid $8.99 for it, making it a very nice bargain.

You might remember the home office chair that I rehabbed two years ago by covering the cushions and armrests with some vintage bamboo fabric. The chair still works, but the coverings are showing their age. This is my fault, as I usually sit on it for at least six to eight hours a day while I'm working my day job. The elastics I used to attach the seat cushion covering have stretched out. I've also worn a hole in one of the armrests. I need to find some sturdier fabric to use to cover the cushions again, so it's time to head to the stash. Stay tuned to see what I pick for the recovery.

For my first thrift of 2025 I went to our local brick and mortar Goodwill to see if I could find a few things, like this holiday and party cookbook. I need some inspiring recipes and I like Taste of Home cookboosk because the recipes are easy to adapt to our low-fat and sugarfree preferences. I also cruised the craft aisle and found a mystery bag of brand new patterns. I've been wanting to try making clothes again, so this was too tempting to pass up. I think the universe just gave me the thumbs up on that, as there were 33 unused patterns in the bag. They include a few children and family patterns, but most are for women and all of those include my size. The thing I love is that some of the patterns are for things I want to make, like aprons and pajama pants. Just the perfect bundle for me. The cookbook was $1.99, and the bag of patterns was $7.99 (or about twenty-four cents each pattern.) With tax that came out to $10.68. Added: I have changed the the...