April Goal Finished

My goal for April was to finish 1 top for summer, possibly using rayon from Spool and Spindle and the Aida shirt pattern from Sew Liberated.  I am happy to say that I am done.  Here is the resulting garment...

I think I can safely say that had it not been for my one monthly goal I would not have finished it yet.  I love the colour and drape of the fabric but it was 'wriggly' to work with and very fiddly, by the time I got to the curved narrow hem I could so easily have left it lingering on the 'to finish' pile for a couple of years or so.

I'm pleased that I pushed on though as I'm very happy with the result, perhaps I should note that it represents contrast top #1 of my spring/summer capsule wardrobe.  Now all I need is for some weather good enough to wear it.

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - April Finish Link-up, thanks for all the monthly motivation once again.

Kirstin

New Shoots

At last, the snow is all gone and the weather is, if not warm, at least above freezing during the day.  On Sunday temperatures 'soared' to 14 degrees so I got out into the garden for the first time this year to get some work done.

Now I've noticed a lot of people around here have tidied up all the dead leaves and remains of perennials from their flower beds already.  I once heard the all knowing Alan Titchmarsh advise against too much clearing until all risk of frost is gone so I've left most of the debris lying about.  But look what's lurking underneath it...

My daffodils are starting to push through, hope they do better than last year.

I only planted these alchemilla mollis in October last year, I wasn't sure how they'd manage in clay soil and with such cold winter conditions but fingers crossed they will do really well.  I hope so as they are such a gentle, foamy plant and remind me of Mum's garden in the UK.

I know this Hellebore isn't looking exactly spectacular but those purple bits in the middle are new leaves.  Honestly, I've been walking past this for the last week while the snow melted thinking what a shame that they are rotting away but the purple balls weren't rot after all.

So all is looking good except for the nibbled patches on my heucheras and shasta daisies, I suppose the poor rabbits are hungry after a long winter and I should allow them a bit of a treat now it's over but they'd better not get too carried away.

What's growing in your garden right now.
Kirstin

Summer Wardrobe

Over the weekend I finished sewing the last two strip sets of Wonky Wheels together and the flimsy is now done.  Doesn't it feel good to get to a big milestone in a project.  I've got myself on a long arm quilting list for this one so now I can start a new project with a light heart knowing there's nothing more I can do for a few weeks.

So this month will be a garment sewing month.  I have 2 possible projects...

I bought this fabric in February then got so involved with quilting that I've not done anything with it.

Last week I went back to Spool and Spindle and bought the Aida shirt pattern by Sew Liberated and this fabric to make it.

On reflection I am thinking that the navy striped fabric (which I have about 1 meter too much of) would make a nice shirt dress and the Aida shirt would look great in the flamingos.  I think I have enough flamingo fabric, I won't know until I cut the pattern, if not I'll just have to go back and get a bit more.

So my One monthly goal for Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal April Link-up is to complete one garment with some of these materials.

Good luck everyone.
Kirstin

Yes, nearly a finish!

At the beginning of March I set myself the goal of finishing off half of the blocks on Wonky Wheels.  I am happy to say that this moth I have over achieved.  I finished all the blocks, made some sashing and look, I've only 2 seams to finish and I'm done the flimsy.

It's amazing what you can do when there are no ice storms, snow days and contractors in the house.  I feel much better about the failure that was February now.

I'm feeling generally hopeful all round at the moment.  The big piles of ice on the boulevard at the end of the driveway have nearly melted, the red winged blackbirds are shirring away and I can walk to school without snow boots.  It feels great to wear sneakers again.

I can't wait to get back in the garden.  I've an enormous bag of garden soil being delivered next week.  So far I've just got these teeny tomato seedlings to plant in it so I'd better get my act together and get some more stuff started.

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - March Finish Link-up.

Happy Spring,
Kirstin

And now for something completely different...

I've heard that trying out something new and different is good for your brain and keeps you young so for the last few weeks I've been teaching myself Python.

For the uninitiated Python is a programming language used (I believe) in data manipulation and 'back end' website design (??????) I don't think that it has anything to do with bums though which is a great shame as it might be more interesting if it did.

I've got to say that I am not finding it easy.  It's so long since I attempted anything so logic based that getting my head around all the various syntax protocols and different sorts of loops etc is like trying to fit a soccer ball into the equivalent volume shoe box.  It's frustrating and it hurts but it does feel good (sort of) to be stretching myself.

I only tell you all this because it is definitely impacting my ability to put out 2 blog posts each week, generally after I've spent an hour or 2 wrestling with Python I cannot face turning the chrome book back on for any reason.  It's surprising really that it has not been thrown with great force through a window or used to stage my own mini 'will it blend' experiment.

So for today's picture here is a screen shot of a short programme I wrote to help Jacob to decide whether he needs to do laundry or not.

Enjoy.
Kirsitn

Signs of Spring

For the last month I have been wishing desperately for spring.  All the ice and snow this February was horrible and I will be truly glad to see the back of it.

I read in Gardening Month by Month in Ontario that flowering shrubs and trees will come out early if you bring a branch indoors and place it in water so last Wednesday I picked a dead looking piece of Forsythia and popped it in a jug.  I didn't hold out much hope to be honest but will you look at this.

My own tiny piece of spring.  I think I'm going to try with a bit of the scraggy trees from the back garden next.

Happy Spring Blossoms
Kirstin

March Monthly Goal

February saw my first failure to make my monthly goal.  I'm putting it down to the weather and the short month but if I'm honest there was a certain amount of enthusiasm lacking too.  I've caught up a little now, have just got hand sewing and hemming to do to finish my jacket and I went out yesterday and bought the fabric to finish Wonky Wheels.  Here it is.

And so to my goal for March.  I am going to stiffen my resolve and get the final outer layer done on half of my Wonky Wheels blocks, that's 10.  This is ambitious, especially given last month's efforts (or lack thereof) but I am hoping the fact that I already have the materials and have only set myself one goal will help me achieve it.

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal March Link-up.

Happy Sewing everyone
Kirstin

Not an achievement in sight!

Honestly, February has been a complete wash out as far as goal achievement goes.  I should be writing my finishing post to link up with One Monthly Goal over at Elm Street Quilts but I'm still not finished.  I'm blaming ice storms, snow storms, wind storms, snow days, broken fingers and a short month but blaming things won't actually get anything finished so this is a filler post just so I can say that I blogged today and the go and get something productive done.

For your entertainment here is a picture of the snow and the sky on the way home from school this morning.  There is a cardinal in that clump of brush somewhere who was singing his heart out while I was taking the photo.

Happy Tuesday.
Kirstin

New Fabric

Yesterday I made another muslin for a jacket and I think (crossing fingers and toes and all) that although I am not totally in love with the result it is good enough and I will go ahead and make it up.  So today I went shopping.

It feels like a hundred years since I went anywhere other than the grocery store or the pharmacy so I treated myself to a trip to Spool and Spindle in Waterloo.  You can find this fabulous little fabric store online here but as I live close by I popped in for a browse.  It is so worth it to feel all the lovely natural fibre fabrics.

I was very restrained with my purchasing and this is what I bought.

Some interesting knit/soft shell for my jacket (the zipper is from Lens' Mills).

 It's not a great photo I know but on the right is the right side of the fabric and on the left is the inside.  It's quite thick with a very small amount of stretch and it should be wind proof which might be nice.  Also it shouldn't fray so I can probably get away with leaving the seam edges raw inside which is a total bonus.

I also bought this lovely rayon to make myself a little top for summer.  A short sleeved, accent top for my capsule wardrobe I think.

Rose tells me that I have nothing to go with it and it's really not my style but you know what?  I don't care.  I shall make my top and make it 'my style' and she will be jealous that I have a flamingo top and she doesn't.  So there, who's the 10 year old now.

Guess what I forgot to do?  Look for fabric for my Wonky Wheels top.  Oh well, just have to go again next week.

Jacket Muslin Take 2

Another nightmare of a week.  I don't know what the weather thinks it's playing at around here but it's not cricket.  All the snow days, hospital trips (Jacob broke his finger last week) and shovelling have left me with no time for anything.

So here's a quick review of my goals for February

• Clear out and organise the pantry
• Put the basement back together after the renovations
• Make something that I can put in my Etsy shop
• Choose fabric to set the Wonky Wheels blocks
• Figure out a layout for Wonky Wheels blocks
• Make myself a jacket
• Dye some old bath towels, cut them up, bind them and re-purpose them as hand towels for the kitchen

Not very impressive for halfway through huh.

Yesterday I managed a little work toward the Jacket.  I decided to ditch the Vogue pattern and cut up the muslin I made for last month's dress.  I figured that if I used the dress pattern fitted with darts then drew princess seams on I could cut out an approximation of the pattern pieces that I need.  Miraculously I think it worked.  Check this out.

I was inspired to resurrect this Burda pattern.  I tried out the little blue jacket last year but it fit so badly I didn't even keep the muslin.

Fortunately I did keep the pattern pieces so I was able to compare my new pieces with the tissue.  The back is quite similar but the front is where the fit goes wrong.  The paper is on the left and the Kirstin fitting fabric is on the right.

So I'm a little bit enthused again now, I've even figured out how to widen the waist without altering the length of the princess seams, so maybe at the weekend I'll get a muslin of this one made up.  I do hope it works out OK or February will be a gonner and I'll have achieved nothing.

Craft Supplies and Dangly Charms

Today is a snow day, the second of this winter.  I wouldn't mind but it should really be called an ice storm day and I'm not much keen on them.

Over the weekend Tom and I have been putting the basement back together.  All the stuff that was temporarily stored in boxes in the office and family room is now back down there, mostly in the right place.  While we were unpacking I went through all the kids craft supplies, games and Halloween stuff and filled 3 bags with bits and bobs for donation.

Craft supplies are something we have a quite a few of and I find it difficult to keep them tidy, it's not easy to make opened bags of feathers, sequins and pompoms look attractive but I've done my best and got it all to fit in this storage unit.

I found a lot of Rose's unfinished craft kits so this morning in the newly cleaned and tidied basement we made dangly charms.  Here they are and that's 1 kit down.  Only 4 to go.  And yes, that is a crop top, before you ask I just don't know.

That's what I do on snow days, how do you spend yours?
Kirstin

A whole lot of not much

I celebrate this Friday with a great week of achieving almost nothing.  Here's why...

• Snow day/ice storm
• Furnace installation
• Dishwasher malfunction

All these things have completely disrupted my plans for doing stuff and as a result I am not much further toward any of my tidying and sewing goals for this month.

On Wednesday, when the schools were closed and the kids were home and the plumbers were making an excessive amount of noise in the basement I finished altering muslin #1 of a jacket I tried to make last year.  I then cut new tissue pieces and made another muslin which needs further alteration.  So I altered muslin #2 and am ready with my new pattern pieces to make muslin #3.  This final (hopefully) one will be made of a heavier weight fabric and have sleeves so I will get a proper idea if it will work for me.  So next week I'll know if I can go ahead and buy nice fabric or if it's back to the drawing board and a new pattern.

I was going to insert a picture here of me in the muslin but when I took one it looked awful.  Mmm, maybe it's back to the drawing board before muslin #3.

I did some more tidying in my closet.  Something I've figured out from sorting out my clothes and jewellery, which incidentally now looks like this...

Is that even if my more boring things don't 'spark joy' individually it does give me a great deal of pleasure having them all arranged nicely and I would really like to get my closet sorted out so that I feel a bit excited to look in it in the morning.  I have to get dressed everyday so I think it would be nice if it was a fun experience.

At the moment the bottom of my closet is a holding bay for the thrift store so I found a nice big plastic box and got everything sorted into that.  Then I arranged all my hanging clothes from longest to shortest, rising to the right which is supposed to be uplifting, not sure about this but am happy to give it a try.  My closet now has barely anything in it.

And finally, now that the basement is finished for the time being it's time to put everything back in it so today I emptied out all the craft, art and stationery supplies onto the floor and made some attempt to sort them into a more rational order.  I've done this many times over the past few years and never had a particularly satisfactory result.  I still haven't because they are currently all over the floor.  Oh well, that will be a great job for this weekend.

And that's it.  Next week I must get out and try to find some quilting cotton for Wonky Wheels and get muslin #3 done and dusted or not!

Have a toptastic weekend

Kirstin

Joyful Storage Spaces

This week I read ‘Spark Joy’ by Marie Kondo. It’s actually the companion to her first book, 'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up', but I’ve seen the Netflix series so obviously I know everything already and anyway I couldn’t find the first one at the library.

As you will know if you’ve been following this blog I have been slowly clearing out my home. However, I’d not really given much thought to actual tidying, I thought things would automatically get tidier just because there is less stuff but I am discovering that this is not necessarily the case.

So for me KonMari mania has come at a good time.

I read ‘Spark Joy’ from cover to cover (all 278 pages of it) and one thing really resonated with me and that is that you should make your storage spaces look as pretty as you can.

To put this into practice Rose and I set out to organise the drawers in her room where she keeps her jewellery. We had a lot of fun.

First we went through everything and Rose chose what ‘sparks joy’ for her. She’s quite good at this process and I have noticed that now she says thank you to all the rejected items she finds it much easier to let go. This is the pile of stuff going to the thrift store.

Then we sorted all the stuff we had left by category and organised it in the drawers with little boxes and some drawer dividers I made from scrapbooking card stock (I might put up a tutorial on that). Notice how we made good use of the inside of a Ferrero Rocher box.

We are really pleased at how it looks like a little boutique and now you can actually see all the pretty things she might even wear some of it. Maybe she'll even keep it tidy.

We also did a thorough sort out of the big set of shelves so now there is room for the little jewellery box of clip on earrings from Grandma, these have been a big hit. Here she is in one of her favourite pairs.

Next on the list is the pantry which currently looks like a bomb hit it, I’m not sure I can make it look this pretty but I’m going to give it a jolly good shot.

Happy tidying
Kirstin

Goals for February

I have quite a lot of things I'd like to achieve this month so I'm going to list all of them then prioritise a couple for my monthly goal.  But first...

In the last couple of days when all my January goals were finished I made a shirt and a scarf.

I'd had the fabric for the shirt since Fall but hadn't got around to it.  I used McCall's M7331 by Nancy Zieman, I've already made the pull on pencil skirt from this pattern and both the skirt and the top came together with minimal faffing about, in fact I can't believe it took me so long and I'll more than likely use the pattern again.

The scarf is for Rose, inspired by an idea in Lotta Jansdotter's book "Everyday Style" and made with leftover fabric from the cosmetics purses I made as favours for her party last October.  It's a little stiff but wearing it and a trip through the washing machine will probably see to that.

So here is what I would like to achieve this month (not all of it is sewing)

• Clear out and organise the pantry
• Put the basement back together after the renovations
• Make something that I can put in my Etsy shop
• Choose fabric to set the Wonky Wheels blocks
• Figure out a layout for Wonky Wheels blocks
• Make myself a jacket
• Dye some old bath towels, cut them up, bind them and re-purpose them as hand towels for the kitchen

I don't think all this will be fitted around daily life so I will choose 2 as my February goals, then at least I'll get something done and anything else is a bonus.

So without further ado, my February goals of the month are ...

1. Choose the fabric and figure out a layout for Wonky Wheels, thus getting one step further down the path of UFO busting
2. Make myself a jacket

Now I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal February Link-up and going to and see what everybody else is up to.

Happy sewing,

Kirstin

Towel Re-purpose #2

Today I present my second post on what to do with old towels when the Humane Society doesn't want them.  This post was actually supposed to be last Tuesday (I think I mentioned that already) but was delayed due to ineptitude.  So here at long last is my recycled, reusable Swiffer Wet Jet cover all tested and complete with a tutorial just in case you want to make one for yourself.

Review time first.  It worked pretty well, that's it ha ha.  No, I mopped my kitchen and hallway with it and it came out clean.  I was a bit concerned that the floor would take longer to dry afterwards but it didn't make any difference and dried as quick as ever.  The only real difference is that it's a bit more difficult to push, the towel seems to grab the floor more than the paper covers.  I would advise wetting the towel and ringing it out thoroughly before use and when you're done just sling it in the washing machine.

This is how I made it...

First I made a template.  This is a picture of it so hopefully you can make your own as I have no idea how to make one of those downloadable printables.  Note: my Swiffer is about 5 years old so check that these measurements will fit yours before you start.

I hope you can read the numbers on the photograph.

What you will need:

• From an old towel cut 1 11"x13" rectangle
• From quilting weight cotton cut 2 4" squares and press 1/4" seam allowances on 3 sides
• Cut 2 8" lengths of bias binding.  I made mine from 1 1/2" strips of old bed sheet
• Cut about 48" of binding for the edge, this doesn't have to be bias.  Mine is also 1 1/2" press it in half, open out then press the edges into the middle.
• Cut 2 4" pieces of velcro

Step 1

Mark the holes and notches onto 1 side of the towel piece.

Step 2

On the other side position the 4 inch squares behind the cut out areas that the spray will come through they look like eyes) with the right side of the cotton facing the towel.  Pin in place.  Flip the towel over so you can see the marked lines and sew along the edges of the 'eye' holes.

Step 3

Cut out the middle and clip corners and curves.

Step 4

Push the quilting cotton (or old sheet) through the hole to the other side, ease it out nicely and sew around the edge of the square, then sew around the edge of the opening.  Repeat with the other side.

Step 5

Cut out the notches at the top and bottom.  Bind them with bias tape.  I cut them out 1 at a time to reduce towel fluff getting everywhere.

Step 6

Bind the edges.  I do this with tape cut straight as if feels more firm.

Step 7

Separate the Velcro and sew a strip right at the top of each side of one end.  I always do the side with the 'eyes' first.

Step 8

Next you're going to flip the cover over and attach the other sides of the Velcro to the other end of the cover.  They won't go right at the end so it's worth standing your Swiffer on the cover to get your placement right.  It will probably look something like this.

Ta Daaaaa.  That's it.  Use it, turn it over, use it again, sling it in the washing machine, repeat.

If you try this out please let me know how you get on, also how useful you found the tutorial, it's my first so constructive critisism is welcome.

Bye for now

Kirstin

OMG finish, sort of.

I am happy to say that I have completed both my goals for this month, sort of, see what you think.

First off I made the final 5 basic blocks for my Wonky Wheels UFO.  Here they are.

That makes 20, now I need to find 1 or 2 background fabrics to build up the blocks in order to make the flimsy.

That is a definite completed goal.

At the beginning of January I also set myself the challenge of making a sleeveless winter dress to wear over a turtleneck.  This is the photo showing the pattern and fabric from my goal setting post.

This is my finished dress.  Many apologies for the terrible photo, I was only allowed 1 shot as my daughter had to get back to whatever socialising she was doing and wouldn't come back so I could try to look less cross and tired.

As you can see, right dress, wrong fabric.  What happened?

In short, when I made up the muslin I decided that sleeveless really doesn't suit me and the sleeves on this pattern come in 2 halves with a seam right down the middle that I didn't think would work with the thicker winter fabric I'd chosen.  Fortunately I had this slightly stretchy, cotton in my stash that I never got around to making into a skirt last year, I'm really happy with the result but does it count as my goal finished?  You decide.

I made quite a few alterations in order for it to fit me properly so for anyone who's interested and for my own reference here's what I did.

1. I cut the pattern for size 14 at the chest and 16 at the hips.
2. I decided not to have a seam down the front so I cut the fabric pieces on a fold allowing for the 5/8 inch seam allowance.
3. I shortened it at the waist by 2 inches when I copied the pattern, then a further inch after I tried on the muslin.
4. I altered the bodice to adjust for my 'hollow chest' (thanks Vogue Pattern's fitting guide, that term is really good for my self esteem) by pinning out excess fabric across the chest from arm hole to arm hole and adjusting the pattern accordingly.
5. I also made the curve in the side of the hips more gradual as it looked a bit lumpy on the muslin.

I am really pleased with how the fit has turned out and might make another but I shall wait until summer and see how it wears first.  I'm also thinking that I can create a well fitting basic princess line pattern by cutting the muslin up.  All in all, it's an easy pattern to follow with only 6 pattern pieces and I think I'm going to use it again.

That's all folks. Tuning into Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - January Finish Link-up.

New Glasses

Today was supposed to be a sensible sewing post about how to make a reusable Swiffer wet jet cover out of an old towel.  Unfortunately said cover is not even finished let alone tested, at 7 o'clock this evening my dining/sewing room looked like this.

And my Swiffer cover still looks like this.

Never mind, I'll just write about something else.

I went to the optometrist this morning and I am depressed to announce that I now need to wear glasses for everything, not just to read.  So I need to choose a pair of frames that I like enough to wear all the time.  There are so many in the store but after about an hour I managed to get my options down to 3.  Here they are.

Option A

Option B

Option C

Please help by commenting below with your frames choice.

Does anyone else find this kind of choice difficult?
Bye for now

Kirstin

Capsule wardrobe #2

More capsule wardrobe as I've been analysing and finessing with Rose while she was off sick this week.

First we got out everything that I have on the 30 pieces list, here it is folded up on the floor.

 And here's some bags and shoes

Altogether that's 25 out of my 30 pieces. seeing everything in one place like that leads me to this question... Is navy blue a colour or a neutral?  If it's a colour I'm doing very well, if not I've got some work to do.

Next Rose put me an outfit together with 2 key pieces and styled it for a warmer and cooler spring day.  My key pieces are a calf length grey pencil skirt and a navy blue accent top.

For cool days she put them with knee boots and a black baggy cardigan and for warm days she went for sneakers and a cropped denim jacket.

I'd wear both of these outfits but I think I need to accessorize.  What do you think?  (about the outfits not the photgraphy, I know that needs work)

Capsule Wardrobe #1

This week I have been thinking about capsule wardrobes and as having less clothes fits in with the general clear out and organisation theme it is my topic for today.

After all my tidying and throwing out in the Fall I actually already have a capsule wardrobe, I just don't know if it counts when it consists almost entirely of jeans, t-shirts, hoodies and baggy cardigans.  In order to shake it up a bit and find out how to become more stylish and less of a complete scruff I went to the library and borrowed 'The Capsule Wardrobe, 1,000 outfits from 30 pieces' by Wendy Mak.

It does exactly what it says on the tin really, no explanation needed, she lists 30 garments/accessories and then makes 1,000 outfits with them.  I found it pretty inspiring and although her recommended pieces don't all fit well with my current stay at home mum, billy-no-mates lifestyle, and I need 3 seasonal versions for the Canadian climate I will customise it and give it a go.

You can read about Wendy and her book here.

This is my list of 30 pieces for Spring, I have listed things I own in black and things I need to acquire in pink.  I have also crossed out some of Wendy's items and substituted Kirstin lifestyle friendly ones in their place.

1. Jeans
2. Casual trousers - more jeans, cannot visualise life at all without at least 2 pairs
3. Tailored black trousers - wide grey linen trousers
4. Tailored stone trousers - grey pencil skirt
5. Tailored shorts
6. Casual skirt 1 - linen, A-line
7. Casual skirt 2 - black and white, gored
8. Black basic tank - black basic, bingo-wing friendly, t-shirt with sleeves
9. White basic tank - Breton (cannot wear white, will cover it in ketchup/chocolate/miscellaneous where-did-that-come-from? dirt) basic t-shirt with sleeves, see above
10. Accent coloured blouse 1
11. Accent coloured blouse 2
12. long sleeve top in black
13. Long sleeve top in colour
14. Casual day dress
15. Little black dress - basic t-shirt in colour
16. Black parka - baggy cardigan, hopefully will not need a parka by May
17. Trench
18. Black (or neutral) cardigan - baggy
19. Black blazer
20. Stone blazer - another baggy cardigan, that's 3
21. Casual jacket
22. Black tote
23. Tan tote - tan cross body bag
24. Black clutch - alternative nice going out bag for all the times I go out, hmm
25. Black knee high boots
26. Black heels - can I put another baggy cardigan here for now or is that cheating?
27. Nude wedges
28. Strappy black heels - I don't need many shoes (and I can't walk in strappy sandals) so I think I'll have another basic t-shirt or accent coloured top here so I don't have to do laundry so often
29. Dressy sandals
30. Ballet flats - sneakers

My challenge is to buy or make the 5 essential items shown above in pink by May so I can put this into action and become less boring and more stylish.  I may even try to do the #30Pieces30Days challenge with my lovely new selection of clothes.

If anyone has any style tips for me around this list I would be very grateful, especially any easy jacket or blazer patterns so I can make my own.

Tomorrow, when it is light, I will try to photograph a couple of outfits from the book with things I already own from the list and update accordingly.

Towel Re-Purpose #1

It's been a busy week this week with all the folding and appreciating my clothes that's been going on.  I just took a book out of the library on how to create a capsule wardrobe so we'll see how that goes in the coming months.

But to today.  I've begun re-purposing the towels from last week starting with some lovely new dishcloths.

I've made two versions.  The bottom one is just a square of towel that has been bound like a quilt.  The top one is based on an idea I came across on one of those 'best ofs' 'top ten ways to' lists on Pintrest but it originally came from Fairview Farm blog.  It's one square of towel and one square of quilting cotton sewn together around the edge (left raw) then straight line quilted into a Tic-Tac-Toe board.

I've only made 4 and am testing them out to decide which I like best before I make any more.  The bound one washed better as it didn't shed bits all over the rest of the laundry but it took longer to make so we'll see.

Next I'll try some reusable Swiffer mop covers and I'm wondering about dying a couple of towels to cover the weird stains and making some light weight bathmats, or using them as wadding for pot holders.  I bet you're waiting with baited breath for that one!

Have a great weekend
Kirstin

Folding Things Up

This Weekend I discovered Marie Kondo on Netflix.  I watched the whole first season of her Tidying Up show in 24 hours and have subsequently spent quite a bit of time looking through her videos on YouTube.  I have spent even more time folding things up.

I was a bit sceptical about it at first, greeting the home and 'sparking joy' all seems a bit unnecessarily whimsical and airy-fairy but I am now well and truly converted and will continue in my own tidying journey with lessons learned.

I was particularly struck by two of her concepts.  The first is saying thank you to the things you let go, I think this is very useful for helping to let go of items that you are finding difficult to discard.  I mean the sorts of things that you don't really want but feel like you ought to keep, for me that's things I bought or made but didn't wear.  For people like me the act of saying 'thank you' alleviates any feelings of guilt associated with throwing something out.

The second thing I really, really like is folding up clothes.  I love it, I've folded all mine, I've folded Rose's and then I folded a whole bunch of other stuff too.  Look how nice my tea towels look now...

And my quilting fabric stash looks like a shop.

Storing stuff so you actually see all of it is genius.  In hindsight it's obviously the best way to go about things, you no longer have to empty entire drawers out before you realise the item you need is at the bottom of the washing basket, also using the Konmari folding method makes everything take up much less space.

But what I think I really love is the act of actually spending time folding things.  Marie says that you should smooth out each item with love first then carefully fold it according to her method so it will stand up, this is both practical as you can be checking if the item is still in good condition but it also gives you the chance to contemplate the piece and accord it a bit of respect.  I don't know about you but I feel like I own so much that it's not a bad thing to really look at everything individually once in a while.

So at the moment I love it all.  The only thing I'm not loving is finding small boxes to compartmentalise my dresser drawers.  Marie shows up at everyone's homes with bags of lovely boxes in beautiful colours and tactile materials, where does she get them?  If anyone has any hints and tips for that I would be very grateful.