T-shirt recycling.

I have a couple of t-shirts and a couple of cotton zip hoodies I want to get rid of, but I'm too sentimental to say goodbye. Can they be used for other things? Can I be thrifty or creative? Oh yes I can!

• Cleaning rags is an obvious one, instead of buying chux. I used some in my recent mould war.
• I have a headband I made out of an old t-shirt. It is great for jogging or keeping hair dry when washing my face. Kind of a shower cap, too.

In a search on the net I found:

• Long-sleeved tops and hoods can be made into sling bags. I wouldn't bother. I already have bags. But it would look cool. Sew the bottom together, knot the sleeves.
• As seat covers for chairs. Sensible, but probably daft-looking.
• A braided rug for a bathmat or something. Cut strips, plait them into a long rope, and then sew the rope into a rug shape. Or possibly weave them.
• Some sort of quilt. An ugly quilt made of memories that I don't have to keep pretty and clean. But it means saving up enough shirts to make a decent blanket.
• Cushions and pillows. This one is very cool.

Big patchwork cushions.

A while ago I spent nearly a whole Sunday making patchwork squares out of quilt fabric leftovers. I ended up with seven I think, and was probably going to make a whole lot of cushions with them. But I changed my mind because that is a lot of cluttery cushions, and not very trendy cushions either.

I had a genius idea last week, to make them up into just two jumbo cushion covers!

I made a pinkish one out of a pinkish square and a lot of other strips and scraps, including a square cut from a favourite worn out shirt (a sentimental touch). I laid it out on the coffee table, then sewed the bits together. I aimed to make it about 22" square but it's not a perfect square in the end. But it looks lovely. I like that I was using up scraps, which is what patchwork originally evolved as.

I made a blueish one, slightly bigger, just by sewing 4 squares together. I'm now on the lookout for giant zippers, and jumbo cushion inserts.

Library review: Wicked audiobook.

So this is a 16 CD audio recording of the book Wicked by Gregory Maguire. It is read very well by John McDonough. I had expectations about what the book of Wicked was, and it's not really like what I expected. I'm not really enjoying it. I guess it's an interesting story, and the world of Oz is richly detailed, but it's not nice, but it's not funny, in fact it's pretty coarse and unpleasant. I wonder about all the teenage girl fans of Wicked who buy it. The musical improved on it a LOT.

Sweet peas in the lane.

I like lanes. They are the best short cut, even if they aren't a very short cut. What I especially like about this lane is that someone plants flowers in it, outside their fence. Today I dropped a note in their letterbox, thanking them for planting sweet peas.

Bible cover 1.

This is my first bible cover! I have a couple more in progress. This one I tried to do rounded corners, but they are too hard and the square ones look good anyway.  I am so pleased with how it looks and it feels so nice to use. It makes my tatty ancient cheap paperback ESV look so lovely—it is admired wherever it goes :)

The main problem is with the press studs on the closure: way too strong. They are ripping out of the cover, even with a lot of reinforcements.

So I have purchased some magnetic buttons, like on handbags! I will pull the studs off this one and have a go with the new buttons. Then if it works, full steam ahead on bible covers! I have lots of lovely scraps of material leftover from making shirts last summer—this is a Japanese print from Tessuti at Surry Hills. So they only cost a few dollars to make, for buttons and vilene. I am so pleased!

Kale.

This is a kale, or cabbage flower, given to me by Denise a couple of months ago. Some people don't like cabbage flowers, but I think they are kind of striking and the colours are vintage looking. It never died, and in fact it's grown roots and looks like it is going to seed. I'm keeping it as a houseplant. It is almost zero maintenance - it drops a dead leaf occasionally, but seems to thrive with old stale water and little light.

Internet for crafty people.

Sorry for the unnatural silence. I have some nice photos of craft and flowers, but it's been an ordeal losing my camera, charging it up, losing it again, etc etc. And I'm a little too tired to keep crafting in the meantime, and I've had a lot of Doctor Who DVDs to watch anyway. But craft is still my biggest obsession.

I only recently discovered the world of craft blogs. SO MUCH COOL STUFF!!! I have been inspired to renovate clothes, which has been very satisfying—creative AND frugal.  I've found cool fabrics online, which I can't wait to sew with. And I've just discovered that embroidery, of all things, is much more awesome than I thought! I want to stitch cute little whales like at feelingstitchy.

Embroidery is one of the most economical crafts, I think, because the coloured flosses are $1-2 each. You can do it on clothes, or small pieces of cloth in frames or birthday cards. It doesn't take up much room, all the stuff you need will fit in a little box, which is an advantage if you live in a unit (a sewing machine takes up such space!). And the stitches are fairly simple, it just takes practise to do them neatly.

I have started a list of current and future projects, so that I actually finish things. This blog is a good motivator, because I can photograph them and feel proud of myself.

Wisteria.

Most of what I walk past every day is dull. Suburbs filled with uni students and rental properties are easy to pick, because nobody takes care of the gardens. Everything is low maintenance. But there are still some beautiful things which lift my spirits. Right now, Wisteria on the front fence of the Booths old house.

This is the buds, 2 weeks ago:

 This is today:

Organic sourdough.

I am very excited that you can buy bread at the supermarket that only has 5 ingredients. That is so real. Flour (a fancy stoneground sort), psyllium husks, sunflower oil, sea salt, water. I don't know if it has a brand name, but look out for a loaf that has a long list of things that AREN'T in it.

Mould.

A combination of a cold winter and a poorly ventilated unit means damp and mildew. I had heard the East was mould prone, but it wasn't a problem in my old place. I scrubbed the ceiling of this place when I moved in 9 months ago.

First I discovered my swim bag going spotty, then i pulled a canvass satchel out of the wardrobe and it was furry. Unbelievably disgusting. Perhaps it was damp when I put it away. Then I noticed the wardrobe ceiling was grey with mildew, and patches on the rest of the ceiling.

So I gloved up and masked up and got on my step stool and bleached and scrubbed for 2 hours with a fan going all day. It is so much better now. Hopefully I don't have to do that for a whole nother year, unless I move out first.

I am going to buy some of that crystal stuff for damp for the wardrobes.

Napisan.

I like to freshen up my laundry every 6 months or so. I don't think our washing machine washes things real well, but either way it's just nice to give things a good soaking sometimes. It's amazing how much yuck comes out into the water. Whites especially get slightly yellow over time without you noticing, but wow, it's just like the ads, so satisfying, whiter whites! A good time to do it is when you are swapping clothes in and out of storage (I do this now for space efficiency) so about now.

On the same topic, I heard from Shannon Lush that you don't have to use as much washing powder as the box recommends. Powder doesn't clean, it breaks the surface of the water so that the water can clean, or something. I'm not sure, but she speaks with such authority.

Library DVD Review: Sharpe's Gold, etc.

If you like Hornblower, you'll like Sharpe. Same thing but not on boats. The Great British Empire fighting the damned Frenchies. Major Richard Sharpe (Boromir) fights with Lord Wellington, but he's not a redcoat, he's a greenjacket, so he leads a squad of riflemen who seem to roam around skirmishing and rescuing, which is much cooler than just marching in lines with bayonets, which they also do, as well as sword fighting and blowing things up.

I like the adventure stuff, and the violence is almost silly, rather than gruesome. A bit of fake blood is all. I really like the different accents and the things they say, they have some very quaint ways of being rude, and they say "bastard" a lot. There is plenty of humorous impertinence.

The female characters are cliched. Feisty yet vulnerable "lasses", with a token scene of partial undress (in nighty with bare shoulders). Each one falls in love with Sharpe. Sharpe, of course, has a dead wife. The old dead wife thing. Gibbs, Monk, and Patrick Jane are all proud members of the dead wife club, which gives good men who fight evil the ultimate tragic past, makes them loyal and unavailable yet conflicted and available, deeply and interestingly damaged, and probably also provides a revenge storyline.

What sticks in my head is the music. An English folk singer called John Tam plays a part in the greenjackets, and sings cool vintage soldier songs, like O'er the hills and far away and Johnny has gone for a soldier. It adds a nice layer to the culture they are recreating.

Sewing service.

Dear friends,

I would be pleased to help you with any sewing you need done. I can hem trousers and do other basic alterations. Free of charge. Until I get bored of sewing and obsessed with something else :)

Jess

Jumper to jacket.

This is a fairly old jumper I bought cheap, but I don't like pulling it over my head, cos it messes up my hair. And it's just too high in the neck. Eargh.

So I cut it carefully in half up the front, and sewed in a zipper. I chose red mostly cos I couldn't find a matching grey one. I wanted a 23", but I could only buy a 22".

I make it sound easy, but actually I broke a needle and the tip fell down into the machine. I took it apart a bit and found a lot of dust, but no needle tip. I discovered some useful things though, because I had forgotten that there is a compartment within the machine and that is where I had put my spare needles and bobbins. How useful. I've been buying bobbins everywhere which don't fit in my Janome properly.

The result is not super glam, but I quite like the red zipper, a nice contrast although it draws attention to its own crooked seams. Anyway it's more wearable than it was. A win!

Roses for me.

Flowers are nice. This bunch of purple rosebuds was only $3 or $4. I keep an eye out for cheap flowers which just need cleaning up. Perfect for when you are having a home day.

Library DVD Review: Tad Hamilton

Win a Date with Tad Hamilton.

When this came out I was the target market, and I kinda wanted to see it, but David and Margaret were not enthusiastic and I never got around to going.

I took it home from the library with a bunch of other things, and it was the last one I watched, and it left me lukewarm. I'm not the target market anymore, and it's not the cleverest in the genre. T.H. is a basic hunk, and the perfect pretty Rosalee is sweet... but I realised the movie as actually about Pete. He goes through the most angst, has the best lines, and is the only one with ambition. It's about him getting the girl.

Review aside, I've watched it 3 times in the last week. I am addicted. And a little obsessed. And now I've got an overdue fine on it. There is something so comforting in a nice-but-not-very-clever teen movie. I would like to watch it again, but I'm going to watch some Sharpe, which is basically all frog-fighting swashbuckle, damn yer eyes.