The made a set of six. Then, they started cutting salsa bowls out of the bottoms, and then, they were using the tops of the jars for plant holders.
I showed my niece as she was the one that wanted the glasses made out of the bottoms of the green wine bottles.
I just wanted to share the craft as I thought it was fun and a great way to recycle jars!
Have a blessed day!
We did have a metal recycling in town for many years until the owner had a stroke. He was such a good man and helped me in so many ways allowing me to collect metals in a dumpster and giving the income to the local drill team which my kids were in at the time. Here is a link about that back then.
We have never had any recycling of plastics that I know of in our town. Everything ends up in a landfill. So, I started looking for places where I could recycle my plastics. I have a container for batteries to recycle, one for metals to recycle, and a larger bag for plastics that can be used for other things.
I also have done many funeral meals volunteering at our church building and they are always looking for containers to send food home with the family. There are usually three or four different congregations meeting at each of our church buildings, so the containers go quickly. I save any plastic bottles, yogurt, ice cream, or take out containers that have good fitting lids.
I have used the plastic containers to send home soups from the church, or gravy from the Christmas meals. This year, I used one of the containers I donated during covid to take home mashed potatoes from our Christmas dinner. I was glad there were still some containers there. We used many of the containers I took during that time and the supply was low.
Since I live alone and have some fatty liver issues, I don't eat yogurt and my daughters that went through the large containers no longer live with me, my donations have slowed, but I do get some plastic jars in daily living from spaghetti sauces etc sometimes. I used to be able to fill a small garbage sack in a few months, but now I donate a bag a year or so now.
Another place I have donated is the food bank. Sometimes, they get donations in large containers and can't distribute that larger amount to people, so being able to put it in smaller containers and sticking a label on it can be helpful to distribute the food.
Another place that may be able to use them is the local seniors center. Our local senior center makes lunches several times a week and can use the containers for left overs. They are also the place that makes meals on wheel, but they have bought containers for that.
That same senior center and a local youth center are both rented out for weddings, family reunions, and other activities. We have had our last few missionary farewell and homecomings there. It would have been very handy to have extra containers there for family to take home some of the leftovers we had at those events.
I never throw out any containers as any and all of those places can use them for left overs. Of course, it does take some effort to drop them off every so often, but in the end, I can't tell you how many times I have used them to take food to families in need. When we have lots of left overs it is nice to be able to make sure it gets to those who can use them the most.
I thought maybe people would think this is a lame post, but I figure if it can keep the plastics out of the earth and help others at the same time, it is worth posting about.
Have a blessed day!
So, I thought I would just share a bit about something fun as I am super tired. I am going to share a hint on the fun gift I shared about a few weeks back that my friend is having made for me.
I was talking to my sister about needing some glass for this gift, and I remembered that there was a suitcase of different colors of glass from my mothers estate and I wanted a green color and I remembered there were several sheets that color.
Come to find out, that my sister gave the suitcase to a neighbor when she moved homes. We tracked it down but all that was left were really small pieces. My sister then remembered she had this lampshade from our home when growing up that she thought she may get fixed at some point, but realized it really isn't her style, so she said I could see if any of the pieces from the lamp would work for my new gift.
I talked to the artist working on my piece, and she said the lamp pieces could work, so I clipped the top flat pieces out of the lead surrounding them, and put them in a box and shipped them to her across the country.
I got a call from her today. We decided all the final elements which I will share later. It is just nice that something from my childhood will be included in the gift! I fell asleep for hours in my chair writing this, and had a million little dots for many, many pages. Sititus hit me hard tonight!
I hope you have a blessed day!
She also said she liked the "Frozen" squares but I think it was because that was the only black and white square. She was so excited about it.
We were gone for a few hours for the event, but later that day, I walked in on this scene, with her wrapped in a blanket my dad and step-mother (name clarification only as I love her like a mother) gave her during her baptism and she had laid out the princess quilt and wrapped in the white minky type blanket and was rolling around on the princess quilt.
We had to leave unexpectedly and her mom said she wrapped up in both blankets and cried after we left. I was glad that I was able to finish the quilt for her and know she will remember getting it and know that I love her. I have two other quilts lined up and ready to cut, but am hoping to get a few more things off my list first.
Have a blessed day!
It will be exciting to be able to see Grand Princess One's face when she sees the quilt! She LOVES princesses. I know it will be an immediate favorite because it has a silky bottom. She likes silky blankets and fabrics. I called her mom asking her opinion on which blanket to make for her as I also want to make her an afghan at some point and let her pick out the colors as well. When we talked, her mom thought the silky blanket would be the best option for her.
I thought anything Princess is the best option as she LOVES dressing up like a princess. It will be a good moment and I am grateful I got it done.
Have a blessed day!
I was also dealing with other hormone issues and generally not feeling good. I've been having some medical testing, fasting etc. I thought I would get down and spend the last few hours needed to put the batting in and binding the quilt as well as tying it.
I keep thinking I will go down and work on it, but I keep getting so tired I just opt to go to bed instead of finishing it. I decided to just not go to bed until I finish it as I wouldn't get it finished before her big day! It will be a long night!
I know she is going to love it! So exciting!
Have a blessed day!
I spend time moving the shirts around to get them in an order I like with no two squares touching having the same color. I also try to put similar sizes near each other.
I have many other videos showing how I do this, so here is a link to the channel playlist for my t-shirt quilts.
I am excited to see it taking shape. I have finally finished cutting all the squares and it is time to start sewing!
Have a blessed day~
I have collected so many DVD's that I have been waiting to watch while I work on quilts. I had a friend let me take anything I wanted from her going out of business video rental store. I got hundreds of dvd's and so many are really bad story lines or acting that I can't get through them. They are movies NO ONE has ever heard of. I actually have thrown away many as they are so bad that I can't even give them away.
They are entertaining me and I am getting through quite a few of the movies but I won't be keeping any of the ones I have watched so far.
So today I finished cutting the last rows into the height size, and spent most of the night cutting down the width sizes and finished 3 of the six rows on the quilt. I just have three more rows to cut down to fit width wise.
It feels good to be doing something productive. I enjoy making quilts and using my creativity. I know my Grand-Princess is going to LOVE it! I can hear her giggling now!
Have a blessed day!
Also, so many times the barbie clothes get lost or ripped or fall apart as the new ones are not made as well, so it just is amazing that someone was so creative and you could dress a bunch of barbies in just a few minutes!
They took scissors to the bottom toe end of the sock and just cut off the toe for the bottom of the dress. You can make the dress as short or long as you want it to be.
They then just snipped little holes on either side of the ankle hole to slip the arms into. When putting it on, just make sure the heel bump goes toward the back.
I thought I would post this for those busy mom's who want their kids to be able to make their own barbie clothes without needing to sew!
Have a blessed day!
I forced myself to start working on a project as I want to make a quilt for Grand-Princess One's 8th birthday coming up. In our church, kids get baptized at age 8, and I want to make this quilt for her.
I was up all night and got it laid out, washed all the shirts and backing, laid it out again, and started cutting it. I'll post more about that later.
Have a blessed day!
Being in the situation I am currently, 9 out of 10 times when looking at buying something, I choose to not get the item as it would not help me more than it would just be stored, which in turn, causes more clutter and stress.
However, this past week, I saw a post where someone was giving away "broken glass" in five totes. In my head I thought, "I love those flip top totes and they are about $5 each to buy. Maybe I will just take the glass and throw it out if no one else has taken it and keep the totes to use." I contacted the lady and she said she still had the glass and they had moved and so it was helpful for me to take the glass.
I met her husband at the home they were moving from and got the totes loaded into my car as they were heavy. On the way to their home, which was about a 10 min drive, I thought maybe my niece would be interested in using the glass for her pottery or art. I have posted many times about my talented niece who is an amazing artist. No matter what she touches, she turns it into art. Here is a post about her art and there are a few links in it about her amazingly talented family.
When we opened the other totes, it was clear green glass, clear blue glass, clear yellow and orange glass, and one full of pottery, china, porcelain etc. There were two full totes full of whitish crystal and one was full of pink clear glass. The last little container was broken blue and white pottery / dishes that are that antique blue plate.
When I saw the glass, I thought, "Dang, I should have looked at it first" as it is valuable glass. In my head, the way the lady put the add on the yard sale site, I thought it was modern broken dishes. I guess the mother had died and she had been collecting the glass in her life and used it to make paving stones. They even threw in the mold and plaster for making the paving stones!
I think the glass could be used to make some cool stained glass windows as the patterns on the clear glass are really fun! The woman seriously had to have collected her entire life to amass such a large amount of that antique glass!
In the pottery / porcelain tote, there was Aztec pottery as well. It is so interesting to see and visualize all the things that could be made out of the glass. I told my niece about an artist I saw at a craft festival who used those pieces of colored glass to make "windows" and how beautiful they are. I also think that ground into fun shapes and laced with silver, they would be beautiful pieces of jewelry.
I found it interesting that people judged the "Totes" of broken glass as not having value because the woman didn't show what was inside the tote. If she had taken pictures of the inside of the totes and show the glass, I know there would have been many people that would have wanted the totes. However, since she just posted, "broken glass for mosaics" I think people pictured modern dishes as I did.
It made me ponder on how in life we judge others on how someone "labels" them, or on outside visual looks rather than looking deeper and finding out for ourselves what the value of that person is inside. We take the "label" that others give the person or thing, and accept their judgements and beliefs rather than being open to different views and opinions, or just accepting the value that person has just for being a child of God, or for what they may have done and contributed, verse the judgement of outside looks.
So, I am grateful for the little adventure I had today saving the glass from the dumpster, and also learning that little lesson again, to not judge a book by its cover, or more appropriately, not judging a tote by what it looks like on the outside and how others label them!
Have a blessed day!
He said that would be fun. I then started collecting fun "nerd" shirts. I had Princess Two help me look and find shirts that we thought he would like representing things he loves and enjoys. He is an avid book reader, so some of them reference books he likes, movies he loves, and things he just enjoys. 
While I had Princess Three and Four down this week, we were watching a series from the hallmark channel that we spent hours watching. While we watched, I laid out the quilt in the order he picked. Took a few pictures to make sure I had it in the right spot, and then I washed all the shirts, and the black and white king sheet I bought for the backing. 
I spent 2 days trying out different patterns to make face masks for my family located in different states. I have one daughter serving in New York as a missionary, and is in one of the fastest growing areas in the hot zone. I finally came up with this easy no pin pattern for making N-95 face mask equivalent masks using high count cotton fabrics. 
I tried different pleating, as I watched other peoples suggested methods for sewing face masks, but found them to be difficult and thick to sew. I couldn't get the pleats to sew evenly and they were thick. I remembered making some children's hooded towels with some unique folds in them years ago and thought that maybe I could do that similar type of fold in the masks to get them to lay flatter and be easier to sew. 
I wanted something that would be easy to wear and use as well as easy to wash. I made some masks with just the two pieces of cotton fabric, and then I made some with the flannel inside the masks two cotton pieces, for my daughter to wear on an airplane. The other masks would be fine for stores or where she won't be in close contact with anyone for more than a minute at checkout possibly. 
If you have any questions about sewing these masks, feel free to ask. I made about 50 of these in a day so I could send them to my girls living away from me. 
I used a zig - zag stitch near the edge to hold the tuck into place. I then would use cotton binding / edging to make the straps. They are 30 inches long on each side. I did fold and hem the edges of the cotton ties to make sure they wouldn't fray as they are washed. 
Make sure that when you wash them, you put them into a delicate washing bag so that the ties don't get wrapped around the other items or rip in the washing machine. If you don't have a delicate net washing bag for the washer, make sure you tie all four straps into one bow before washing the mask so the straps don't get stuck into the working parts of the machine. My delicate net bag was old and ripped in the washer and all the masks got knotted together and took me over an hour to pull apart. If you only have a few of them, you can put them into the dryer together and the dryer balls kept them from getting into knots while drying. 
If you look at the pictures, and watch the video and still have questions, feel free to ask. I used an old dress and some scrap fabric and also made some reversible fabrics using different colors on each side of the mask so you can have it match outfits or just have one fun side and one solid side. I show this in the video as well. 
I took a chance and purchased the jacket for about $15 figuring it was a wool coat and would keep her warm and was cute even if I couldn't get the patches off the jacket. It was surprisingly easy to remove the patches off the jacket and she wore the coat regularly.
While at the store, a woman suggested I leave the M on the jacket and make it into a Mickey Mouse Jacket and maybe put a mickey patch on the front or back. I thought that was a great idea so I bought the coat. Since the coat had been there for a month, it had been marked down three times and they marked it down even more when I asked so I was able to get the coat for $20. 
Just the patches on the coat would cost more than $20. Similar coats on Amazon that are only 80% wool are $149 but they do have some leather on them so I am guessing this is near a $200 coat. It is really a quality piece and I think it was well worth what I paid. 
I made a video about how to take the patches off a letterman's jacket but for some reason the sound was bad for the first 30 seconds or so and I think maybe one of the jacket sleeves was in the way of the microphone. 
Basically, you take a seam ripper and go from the TOP of the patch so you don't rip into the wool or fabric of the coat. Find a thread of the zig-zag stitching and slide the seam ripper under that thread stitching and use the seam ripper to cut that thread. NEVER go into the fabric of the coat with the seam ripper in any way or even poke through in a downward way with the ripper as you can damage the coat. 
Seam rip a few threads in a row and then you can start to lift up the patch and use the ripper to easily cut through the thread but only do that above the coat and never near or on the coat fabric. By lifting up the item by holding onto the patch, the thread will pull a bit and then you can get the seam ripper under it easily and cut the threads quickly. Once the patch is off, pull out all the cut thread from the fabric and you can use packing tape to pick off any thread fibers still stuck onto the coat quickly and easily. 
Once all the threads are off, you can use your fingernail to rub the fabric a bit to fill in any needle stitching holes left in the fabric. Just rub your nail gently over the fabric and the holes will disappear. 
