Old Sheets, New Jammies, New Curtains

 I save sheets that have a stain somewhere, a rip, or whose partners were worn to shreds. I use sheets in sets, pretty much, so the orphan sheets go into my fabric stash. 

I made pajamas for myself with a sheet from a Tommy Hilfiger set I bought for Genevieve when she graduated to a big bed. So, that would be about 12 years old now, and that speaks to the quality of the namebrand in this instance. I had a pair of pajamas from Old Navy clearance a few years back that were so floaty and cool, I laid them down on the sheet and used them as a pattern. I also used a length of cotton eyelet to fancy them up a bit.

 

Then, the new bedroom needed some curtains.  I had a lot of fun treating myself to fabric from Spoonflower.

But here's a little word of caution: this was my first time ordering fabric from Spoonflower. I bought 8 yards of their petal cotton, giving myself 2" to spare with all the seam allowances included. I prefer this kind of no-waste sewing because, even though I adore patchwork, my piece bag overfloweth and there are only so many little piecey projects one house needs. 

But when the fabric came, there was a wide white selvage on the sides and both ends. I expected selvage on the sides, but not on the ends! Uneasy, I measured the whole dang yardage and discovered it was 6" shy of 8 yards. When I contacted Spoonflower help in a froth, she said that 1-4% shrinkage is within the range they stated on their website and also that the fabric is cut and measured before the dyeing/printing process and it shrinks after that in its mordant process. She indicated if the fabric was unusable that they would give some kind of refund/discount, but I did not feel right about doing that because I did indeed use the fabric and the shrinkage was what they stated. I did suggest to her that they clarify when the shrinkage happens - as part of the manufacturing process, even before the washing the buyer is going to do at home.  Never have I done measuring and math for shrinkage of commercial fabric I have purchased and washed, but any shrinkage always seemed negligible. Please note that I am not mad at Spoonflower, just newly aware of the differences in purchasing from smaller companies.  

On the plus side, I do not have one single shred of this fabric left over. 

I made the narrowest possible hems on the tops and bottoms, and cut the height as skinchy as possible. I think they turned out well! I used old white sheets as the lining fabric. I do find old sheets really useful. 

What do you do with old sheets? 

Ribbon-Tied Oxfords

I had already put a pair of little girl's brown boots in my shopping cart at the thrift store, when Phoebe seized these little brown oxfords.  She insisted that she wanted them, not the boots.  I usually ignore such requests because she changes her mind back and forth about five times every time there's a decision. Literally every time.

But when I threaded ribbons in them instead of their brown laces, Phoebe and I were truly thrilled. We call them her "ribbon shoes" and she loves wearing them.  Three dollars from the thrift store and a few minutes of lacing - I'm pleased!

Prettying Up the Puffer Coat

Before I bought Phoebe's plain navy coat on eBay, I looked at the photos closely.  I wanted to add ribbon down the placket and at the zipper pulls on the pocket.  

I think this was meant to be a boys' coat, with rugged orange tape at the pockets, but I took it off and replaced with something a bit more like a Scandinavian girl.  It was easy to topstitch the ribbon on the placket and re-make the zipper pulls with the same ribbon. 

This coat pleases me.  Navy is one of my favorite colors just now looks and great with Phoebe's blue eyes.  We are going out in the cold in style and with mitten clips - such a sanity-saver with kids in the winter.

Phoebe is not in pain in this photo; she is smiling for the camera!

My National Online Thrift Store

The plastic silverware holder that came with my dish drainer was too flimsy for our loads of dishes.  I was eyeing a stainless steel one on eBay but was hesitating because the seller used a stock photo and wasn't answering my query if he himself had the basket and was going to personally ship it.  

I had gotten burned by eBay sellers using Amazon fulfillment services, and I avoid supporting Amazon if I can help it.  I don't trust big corporations and their love of big profits and lack of engagement with the communities that host their big box stores and warehouses.  I prefer to support individual sellers and locally-owned stores.  Big corporations are also automating as many jobs as possible in the name of profit, which is costing people jobs.  I know it's a complicated issue because our economy is not sustainable as it is, but I also believe that people want meaningful work for fair pay.  So I try to avoid the big corporations and look for the small-time sellers on eBay (my national online thrift store!) or little companies with online stores. 

As I considered how badly I wanted the stainless steel silverware basket, I came across a red metal one in my favorite thrift store.  For $2, it was by far the cheapest option, and I was also supporting a local store that gives its profits to MCC.  I was very pleased.

I'd welcome your thoughts on Amazon, eBay, and online shopping in general. 

A Good Day for Textiles

On a little yearly outing with my best friend, one of my favorite harbingers of spring. . .

The rug is woven from donated denim by volunteers.  My husband and I love it so much that we've ordered another one for the front door.

On top of the fabric, there are two dish towels and some hankies.  Pure pleasure in handling these pretty things.

How I Grocery Shop

I'll start by saying we drive a gas-hog SUV because that's what we could pay cash for last summer (it's a 2004) and haul our family with some extras.  Fortunately, we seldom drive our car because we live in walking distance of most of what we need and my husband's firm pays his travel expenses.  But when I realized that my local grocery store would give $.10 off per gallon of gas per $50 spent, I started making some changes to how I shop.

I aim to get as close to $50 dollar increments as possible.  This usually means I shop twice or three times a month, $50 each time.  I also shop at the farmers' market twice a week on the walk to school and about every other month, do a large bulk-food shop at Amish stores out in the country.

For the grocery store, I keep a running list and start planning a shopping trip when I think I can hit $50 and can do it without kids.

I never take my kids grocery shopping.  Never.

Even though I look at the store circular and my coupons before I go to the store, I still have to concentrate and make decisions on the spot, and kids would distract me.

I only take my kids on short errands when I have a short list and know exactly what I need so I don't have to make decisions with kids milling around me.  That is probably my biggest thrifty tip for shopping! (And I realize not everyone can work their schedule that way, but I'm sure they have their tricks for making the shopping work with kids).

I also look at my calendar before I go shopping to see what events are coming up so I know if there's anything I should stock now or seek on sale.  I'm grateful to have a large pantry and freezer space so that I can take advantage of good sales.

I carry my grocery list and coupons clipped on a little clipboard I made out of cardboard and a binder clip; I used to get so annoyed with trying to use my hand as a hard surface under my list to cross items off my list.

Also, since I am trying to get just over $50, I keep a running total on my list as I put items in the cart, so I'm writing on my list frequently. The clipboard is a wonderful help. Sometimes, I have to put some items back when I get close to $50 because there are some necessary items on my list yet and those other things will just have to wait until next time.

I also try to go shopping when I have the energy and time to not only go through the store and checkout, but also to deal with all the putting-away at home.  On a good day, I even get the cloth bags back out to the car trunk.

I would love to hear how you grocery shop!  I'm sure we can pick up tips from each other.

The Universe Wants Me to Knit

I started another vest for Phoebe, in a cloudy blue grey, but the needles were a half-size larger and it seemed that the vest was just getting too wide and I was running out of yarn.  I despaired.  Stopping by my favorite thrift store, I thought:  what if there was a pair of extra-long size 10.5 knitting needles?  What if?

And you see, there was!  And furthermore, they were 50% off for a total of two bucks.

I ripped the vest back to the beginning, and then I had a nice long knitting session when I accompanied my husband on a business trip to the far reaches of New York State.  I want to give a shout out to Pita Restaurant of Brockport, NY, where I talked falafel with the Lebanese chef.  The food was excellent, he approved of my recipe (what I could remember), and then gave me a small container of "falafel spice - but don't use too much or it will be bitter."

Even with all that driving, I am not quite done with the vest.  But I got the buttonholes on the same side this time!  And I had a lovely break from the kids and all their laundry, meals, and noise.

"The farm wife hoists the family flag"

A friend read this poem at our women's retreat in March, and I loved it so much.  It speaks so gently of traditions and generational differences.

I thought I'd add the photos of my new "Sweet Honesty" hankie that I found at my favorite thrift store.  I love its colors and vintage charm so much that I'm using it as a scarf for now.

The farm wife hoists the family flag

Eve got off the bus in tears the day her third grade teacher
scolded her for using a hankie.  "It's not sanitary," she said.
Miss Pauley had no notion of what a handkerchief means to us:
reusable tissue, wash cloth, gripper of lids, wiper of smudgy
glasses, emergency bandage, keepsake we carry to the grave.
Peekaboo with a hankie triggered Eve's first laugh, and later she
sat through sermons watching Grandma Yoder fold a flat square
into a butterfly or a mouse.  Now Eve does that for her sister
and knots Ruth's Sunday pennies in a corner like a hobo's sack.
She irons and stacks all the hankies in our drawers
and brings a bandanna drenched with cold water to her dad
who ties it round his neck. Last Christmas she gave me
a set of four lacy kerchiefs embroidered by her own hand,
each with my initials and a leaf or flower to signify the season.
Straight from a city college, Miss Pauley could only count
the virtues of a Kleenex. "Like a lot of things, hankies
grow softer as they age," I said, using one to wipe Eve's tears.

--Shari Wagner, printed in the Christian Century, September 16, 2015

My Four Lists

There are so many details to keep track of in our modern lives, especially for the person who is running a household.  Add multiple people in the household and the details increase exponentially.   I am helped by writing lists (my mother jokes that her mind is written down on post-it notes around the house).  Currently, my system has evolved into four lists on the side of my fridge (made on quarter-sheets of scrap paper).

Top left:  grocery list. (verbatim from the list: soy sauce, wax paper, red lentils. . . )  There's a general list of items that I could get at any grocery store; I shop at any local store that fits in with another errand.  On the side, I write items with their specific store, if there's a sale or something (for example, I buy my laundry detergent by refilling containers at a specific store). If there are coupons that go with any item, I clip those to this list.  My market list is a separate sheet of paper because I write a new one before each market trip and carry it with me (and sometimes lose it).  

Top right: this is my running list of non-grocery things that I'm keeping an eye out for, whether online or in physical stores. (verbatim from the list: blinds for green bedroom, black trash bags, construction paper. . . )  So, if my husband is running to the hardware store, I glance at that list to see if there's something he can pick up for me; or if I need to hit a minimum at a website to get free shipping, I try to combine purchases. This list is useful for me to decide if I really need something because it slows down my decision-making process and helps me decide how committed I am to that thing:  shopping for it, dragging it home, storing it, cleaning it, maintaining it. . . all that mental weight that I want to remember before I buy something. 

Bottom right: this is my very sketchy menu plan for the week. (verbatim from the list: honey mustard chicken, brown rice, kale)  See this post for lots and lots of detail about how I plan menus.  

And the final list, on the bottom left, if my to-do list for the week. (verbatim from the list: make samosas, start piano lessons, plan washing windows, schedule H&H)  It only includes the extra jobs that I am trying to accomplish in addition to the dailies. These could be cleaning tasks, social obligations, financial tasks, kid reminders, etc.  Sometimes a job reappears on the list for several weeks before I give up and drop it, or just make the time to do it. I am highly motivated to do my jobs because I get to put a checkmark next to an item if I worked on it and I get to cross it out if I completed it.  Seems silly, but that's motivating for me!

I'd love to hear what lists you keep to maintain your house and life, or maybe a different way that you run things.

I Rescue the Bags and Set Them on a New Path

A little happy thing that I do is take an ugly, reusable shopping bag and sew some scraps of fabric over its logos to make it look better.

And sometimes to fix holes.

Only a few minutes of time on my part, a helpful reduction in my scrap bag, and a much nicer bag to carry around.

I guess I don't like logos and graphics on my bags for the same reason I don't put bumper stickers on my car:  I like to fly under the radar.  I'm pretty talkative about my pet issues, sure, but I don't announce them on my bags, tees, or car.

Then, one of the beach girls admired this bag when we traveled in August, and I realized that I could rescue some of the poor sad tote bags at the creative reuse store.  There they were, all neglected and ugly, advertising things that no one wanted to claim.

So I rescued them! I covered up their logos and graphics with great pleasure.  I had fun picking colors and buttons and perle cotton.

There are four bags in the shop and I have a missionary feeling about them:  the need to convert ugly bags into nice ones, to give them a new sense of purpose as they get into daily carrying, to bring them into crafty heaven as their reward.

Go look!  There are four of them in the shop!

Mayo in 9 Minutes

Yes, there is a learning curve when you choose to make food from scratch instead of buying it at the store.  But seriously:  can you really get to the store and back with a jar of mayonnaise in 9 minutes?  When people say they don't have time to make food at home, they might forget the time it takes them to go to the store, pick out the food, wait in the check-out line (or, horrors, use the self-check-out which always malfunctions), get home, schlep the food into the house, and (pant, pant), put it away.  And (if you're me), take the shopping bags back out to the car trunk. I don't actually hate grocery shopping, but I make sure the stuff on my list is really worth it, really necessary, and I try to recognize the energy it takes out of me for that errand.

Recently, I had the timer set for hardboiled eggs when I pulled out my food processor to make a batch of mayo.  So I noticed that it took me 9 minutes, start to finish with photo included, to make mayonnaise.  Bonus:  I can use local eggs and reuse a jar.

Simple, Fast Homemade Mayonnaise - recipe from More with Less with my notes
Makes a generous pint

Use a food processor.  Process briefly:
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. paprika

Scrape down the sides.  Add:
2 Tbsp. lemon juice (I use bottled)

Start up the processor again and pour in, in a very thin stream, very slowly:
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil

Stop the processor.  Add:
2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

Start up the processor again and pour in, in a very thin stream again:
1 1/2 cups canola or vegetable oil

Mayonnaise!  Scrape into a clean jar and refrigerate.  Keeps indefinitely in the fridge as long as you use a clean utensil in it.

Recipe Notes:
1. The "very thin stream" looks like a chopstick or skinnier. About a quarter-inch.
2. Do not use olive oil.  The speed of the food processor will burn the oil and make the mayo taste bad.
3. Sometimes the mayo gets thicker than other times.  I don't know why this is (humidity? age of eggs? how fast I add the oil?), but it has never failed me.
4. Friends of mine use this recipe and add a garlic clove, probably in the first step.  They swear by it for tomato sandwiches.

The Layette: Nursing Cover and More About the Wipes

The baby is not here yet, but I am spending all my time in serious preparation (a.k.a., nesting) which is why I have been silent in this space; I haven't even stopped often to take photos for blogging purposes.  I ask myself if I would rather do X with an infant in my arms or in utero, and yes, I would far rather buy socks for Ben, pay bills, clean blinds, bake bread, and such like while the baby is still safely inside. Any time I have a few items on my grocery list, I go shopping; this is efficient only in the sense that the baby could come any minute (my kids' italics).  

I'm enjoying myself, really.  I know for a fact that nothing was ready when Genevieve made her surprise appearance (3 1/2 weeks early) and I have an absolute blank about preparations before Ben (I had a toddler running around - I think that accounts for it).

I've noticed the young things using nursing covers, and I love this idea for times when I want to stay with the people or the activity, but the baby needs to nurse.  I doubt I will use the cover at home or around familiar people; I doubt I will even use the cover as the baby gets older and we become brisk nursing partners (positive thinking here).  So I didn't fuss much with making this cover.  I used this tutorial.  It said nothing about fabric weight, but I think the gingham I chose is too lightweight because the piece of boning doesn't hold the cover out far enough from my body.  I'm thinking of stitching on some fabric or ric-rac in horizontal rows to give it some more heft.

I also did not have the specified D-rings, so I modified the straps to use what I had on hand:  three cute little white buttons, no need to match.

Now, after reading AmyK's comment on my previous post about wipes, I decided to alter my system to her practical method.  I bought a cute metal mug at Old Navy - big enough for my fist to fit in, sturdy enough that the children can't break it when I ask them to refill it.  Normally I would sleuth around for a nice vintage or used mug that cost less than $8, but see the first paragraph above re: dramatic surprise any day now.  

The vintage tray, a lucky find at a cute shop downtown, is so that water drips don't land on the wooden desk that we're repurposing as a baby changing table.  

And here is a photo of my kitchen this morning, as I dared the baby to come while I got several projects going (Rosie said the best way to get a baby to come is to start a multi-step project that the baby can derail). 

 Left to right: cream cheese pound cake, pancake syrup in the pot just vacated by Scarlet and Grey ice cream base (Jeni's, of course), sourdough crackers, black beans.  Still on the list: pizza cups, bagels, sesame cookies.

27 Wrinkly Apples

I noticed that the reduced-pesticide local Stayman apples were not selling well at the market stand. The apples had that late-winter wrinkly softness that makes me turn away with a shudder.  So I asked the farmer if he would give me a discount if I bought 3 buckets.  He sold me 27 apples for $12, which doesn't seem like a bargain initially, but these are reduced-pesticide and look what I did with them:  apple butter and apple chutney.

That's 3 pints of apple butter.

And 11 half-pints of apple chutney.

Pretty sure I'd pay more than $12 for these goodies at a store, even including the cost of the spices and handful of other ingredients in the chutney.

I have one more preserving project in mind before the weather turns totally warm, but I've acquired a crushing freelance deadline and a bout of pregnancy exhaustion, so we'll see.

Pickled Mushrooms and Cruet Caps

I wonder sometimes how much food preserving I'll be able to do when the baby comes in May, so I've been coaxing some canning projects from food that's available in late winter.

Most recently, canned pickled mushrooms from Preserving by the Pint. The mushrooms called for in the recipe were oyster mushrooms, but a pound would have cost me $16, so I emailed Marisa and asked her if I could sub in other mushrooms.  She said yes, so I used a pound of local, organic criminis for $4. I've asked Marisa several canning questions over the years, and she has always been very prompt and helpful.  I love that.

I was curious about the flavor of the pickled mushrooms, so we opened a jar after a week. We ate them next to a farmer supper Rebecca told me about:  roasted (or fried) potatoes with baked beans, hard-boiled eggs, and vinegar on top.  So delicious and simple.  I added a green salad, too.

And after months of shopping for oil and vinegar cruets in thrift stores, Etsy, eBay and the like, I remembered our local restaurant supply store and found a classic set with a handy holder for $7.

 I was planning to cover the pouring holes with a plastic bag and rubber band because I was worried that the constant exposure to air would degrade the oil and vinegar.  Pretty ugly, I know, but I couldn't figure out how else to do it.

Then my husband watched me knitting (and boy, do I need to write a knitting post!) and suddenly asked why we couldn't pop those little silicone point-protectors on top of the cruets?

 Genius!  So I took a coupon and went to AC Moore and look at the funny little lids on my cruets!  Four dollars with a coupon, the largest size they had.  I'm very pleased with my functional, nice-looking cruets and my pickled mushrooms.

More canning projects to come - I'm still hibernating inside due to the weather and the baby is still inside due to her age.  Let the work fly!