Punk Zebra

I did it. I made the Punk Zebra sock creature from "Stray Sock Sewing: Making One-of-a-Kind Creatures from Socks" by Daniel. I put my own twist on the design. I have a small sock stash. For a while whenever I would see some interesting socks for one dollar, I would buy them. I made a few sock monkeys last year, and thus was always on the look out for more sock creature material. In February I must have bought these pink striped socks. Well.... Like i said in another post, there was a hole in one of my Halloween skull socks. I made the zebra out of the pink socks. Then I cut the skull sock above the heal and made it the zebra's t-shirt. Also instead of making a mohawk, I used eyelash yarn and gave her long multicolored hair. The nostrils are buttons off of one of my grandpa's shirts. He died when I was young. So now there is a sentimental touch to the zebra. The eye buttons came from my tiny button stash. One is a vampire bat. I bought some cute Halloween buttons on sale last year with no project in mind for them. I like that the eyes are different. The bat one makes her look like she might be winking. I think she looks a little punk. I could punk her up a bit more. Maybe give her a cool belt. But for now, she is perfect.

My oldest son said that she looks like a Fraggle. I love that!!! My youngest son just loves carrying her around and tossing her in the air. I was so tempted to go out and buy the buttons. I'm glad that I didn't.

Socks & Up Coming Challenges

I haven't made anything creative in 2 days! So weird. However I have had creative designs swirling in my head. I need to come up with a raffle quilt design that is an easy group project. I am the head of the raffle quilt comity in my quilt guild for 2011 or 2012. The raffle takes place every 2 years.

I have these fun Halloween socks that are orange & black with a white skull on them. One has a hole in the toe. I am not opposed to wear mixed matched socks; so, keeping one and crafting with the other is fine by me. I looked through "Stray Sock Sewing: Making one-of-a-kind creatures from socks" by Daniel. This book is a great alternative to making the standard sock monkey. I am thinking about making the Punk Zebra with my pink striped socks. Then cutting out the skull on the other sock to make a funky punk shirt for the zebra.

My weekend plans:

-Finish taking the VHS tape out of the videos that were given to me to recycle.

-Spin Vhs tape & pli it with plarn.

-Finish sewing the cloth napkins.

-Make a dress mannequin using a t-shirt, duct tape, and stuffing (the plastic bag handles and seams would be good). Put on a t-shirt. Have someone duct tape over the t-shirt while you are in it. Cut open the back of the shirt so that you can take it off. Wear an extra shirt if you don't want to be topless in front of the other person. Then tape that cut opening closed. Tape the bottom closed, stuff it, and tape the top closed. Now you have a cheap and custom made dress mannequin that is just right for you.

Does anyone have any ideas for future eco-craft challenges? Here are 2 of my thoughts.

The week after the 30 day challenge is your vacation, so to speak. You can go crazy with spending. However try to only buy tools and items that you need. Don't buy something that is going to just sit on the shelf and not get any use for a while. The holidays are coming up, and I plan on making things for Halloween and for Christmas. This is the week to buy for those projects. Then for the 2 weeks after that, don't spend any money!

My 2nd thought was for the New Year. If you are like me, then you like to make things for the holidays. Therefore this challenge isn't good for the last few months of the year. Instead the next big challenge will start on January 1st. For 3 months (that's right, 3 months), you will have a budget of $15 a month. That budget should only be used for odds and ends and for tools. This is a true stash busting, think out of the box, UFO (unfinished object), lets get creative craft challenge! Why 3 months? I was on the phone with someone yesterday talking about the current challenge. He said "It isn't really a challenge unless it is for 3 to 6 months." I thought about making a $10 budget, but maybe that is too cruel.

It takes 21 days to make a new habit. This challenge has helped to reprogram my brain when comes to crafting, esp. with shopping. Do I really need this item? Will I really use this item within the next week or two? Or will it just sit on my shelf for a long time? Is there something at home that would work instead? Where are my UFOs and why am I not working on those? Maybe I should clean my space so that I can find items instead of buying multiples (I need to find things in my garage). Can I borrow a tool from someone instead? Can I exchange skills or supplies with someone else? That's right, you can get rid of some of your stash in exchange for things you might want or need. No money is exchanged, you are helping each other out, and its a win win situation.

Now I said exchange skills with someone else... After making the cloth napkins, someone made a proposition to me. If I mail her some of those napkins, she will dye them, and then she will send half of them back to me. Yes I can dye my own napkins. However her dying technique might be different from mine. She keeps some of the napkins in exchange for her work, and she dyes some for me in exchange for my work. I also look at it as cross promoting. Her dying skills and my cloth napkin.

Photography: Yes, I took that picture of the dragonfly. If you have a digital camera, it will cost you nothing to go out and take some beautiful pictures. This one is my desk top picture on my computer. I take my camera with me everywhere, just in case. For very little money, you can print it out. Decorate your home, make art books, journal, make nice gifts, etc. with your pictures.

It's Easy Being Green: Episode 5: Reusable bags

Melinda Goodick from my quilt guild came on the show to show us how she makes reusable shopping bags from fabric. You need some basic sewing skills for this project, but a beginner can make these bags. Melinda showed how to make these bags at the 2009 Chelmsford Earth Day Fair. She also attends the recycling comity meetings. Thank you Melinda for coming on the show! You inspired me to make my own set of 4 reusable bags.

Here are the links to the show on my youtube channel. Youtube only allows 10 minute video clips, so the show is broken down into 3 videos.

Part 1 of 3

Part 2 of 3

Part 3 of 3

The bags that I made were done slightly different but still using the same principles. There is no lining on the inside of the bags. The fabric was woven on a twill (like blue jeans - diagonal). I sewed the seams on the inside of the bag instead of the outside like Melinda. It's a personal preference.

I am on day 26 of the eco craft challenge. Yesterday was so crazy that I think it was the 1st day during this challenge that I didn't work on anything creative. I did read my plushie and sock creature books at soccer practice. Some of my festive socks have holes in the toes. I want to turn them into something other than a sock monkey. I made a lot sock monkeys last year, and I want to try something new.

Video on how to make simple cloth napkins

Here is a link to the video on youtube.

If you are stamping them, iron them afterwards to heat set the ink before washing.

Decreasing my waste

Day 23 of the Eco Craft Challenge

I've been following Julia from Easy Eco To Go on her zero waste journey. She has inspired me to really think about those disposable items that I've taken for granted just using and tossing. I have stopped using paper napkins and paper towels for 2 to 3 weeks now. I love knitting dishcloths, and I have a few dish towels. Those have taken the place of the paper towels. I only had a few cloth napkins, which have been used pretty quickly. I needed more cloth napkins, so I sewed 15 today.

I had some muslin in my fabric stash. Muslin can cost as little as $1 a yard. I cut it into 10" x 5" pieces. I don't see the point of having large cloth napkins other than for looks. Thats why they are only 5" wide. I placed two of the cut pieces together and stitched around 3 of the sides. I turned it right side out, then folded in the unsewn side. I then stitched around all 4 sides using a quarter of an inch seam. The thread matches the fabric, however it would look nice with a contrasting thread. These would also look nice embroidered or stamped using fabric ink / paint.

I then made 4 hankies that are 10" squared. I cut the muslin and did a decorative stitch around the 4 sides. The thread is left as is. The decorative stitch should hopefully keep the hankie from unraveling in the wash. I followed Easy Eco To Go's directions for making these. Someone posted on Julia's site about how muslin won't feel good on your nose, esp. during a cold. She suggested using flannel instead. I'll have to look in my stash to see if I have any flannel that I'd be willing to make hankies out of. I like to buy flannel for the back of my winter quilts. It makes them warm and cozy.

Last Christmas or for my mom's birthday, I don't really remember, I knitted her a hat using Lionbrand's Homespun. She asked me to make her a yellow one. I then started making her a scarf, but I couldn't finish it in time to give with the hat. I stopped knitting it in March. Today I began knitting it again while at my oldest son's soccer practice. I would like to have it finished for Christmas. It should be easy. It's knit in garter stitch on size US 9 needles.

Day 22 of the Eco Craft Challenge

A friend of mine came over on Friday and loaned me one of her spinning wheels. I've been spinning everyday since. My large ball of white plarn is now broken down into several smaller, but still large, spun balls. I have also plied some of them with VHS tape. I really love how it looks.

I also brought my 12 harness table loom into my craft studio today. I want to start weaving again. Simple weaving. I say simple, because I love ikat weaving. That is what my senior thesis was on. The picture above is at my senior gallery show. The 4 piece 1 foot x 7 foot weaving of water was sold that week to a surgeon in Little Rock, AR. That paid for my loom and warping board. Ikat weaving is when you dye the threads in a pattern before you put them on the loom. It took me 2 to 3 weeks of pure concentration and work to produce a single ikat weaving. Since having kids, I don't have time for that anymore. I hope to go back to it one day. However why not still use my loom for more basic weavings? It would make gifting scarfs so much easier and much more unique. I want to weave my new plied plarn and VHS tape. I'm nervous since its been a few years since I've used it.

I have 8 days left of the craft challenge. I am not going to go spending crazy. I'll hold off on buying the Navajo spindle since I am borrowing the spinning wheel. I might purchase a ball winder. I will definitely be purchasing size US11 double pointed needles to make some Mary Jane Slippers. However I have really been feeling the hurt of the economy this past week. I bought nothing for myself, but still struggled with money. Is it just me or are things more expensive?

Reusable bags

Day 19 of Eco Craft Challenge

Yesterday I made 4 reusable bags out of 2 yards of stash fabric. The fabric was woven using a twill weave, so it is not something that I plan on quilting with. I cut each bag slightly different. One bag has a shoulder strap. I've gotten some nice compliments on them. Now I am seriously thinking about making some for sale. Each time making a set of 4. I also want to make some for Christmas gifts.

Tomorrow, Saturday September 12th is the first International Plastic Free Day. Please use your reusable bags when shopping.

I am also thinking about making a blog carnival soon. There are so many great blogs that I follow, and I would like to share some of their great ideas with everyone. Unlike other blog carnivals, this will not be a weekly thing. It might be a bi-monthly or a monthly thing.

A friend of mine came over today and taught me how to use a spinning wheel. She is letting me borrow one of her spinning wheels. It looks so easy, but it does take practice. I am now spinning my very large ball of plarn on it. I need to spin as much as possible tonight and tomorrow. On Sunday I will be at the Billerica, MA recycling table for the Yankee Doodle Fair. I'll be demoing how to make plarn, tarn, plastic bag wreaths, juice pouch items, etc. The large ball of plarn is a crowd favorite.

I am also looking forward to the eco craft challenge being over, because I have a nice little wish list right now. I want to buy some double pointed needles (in a size I don't have) to make some Mary Jane Slippers. My studio is in the basement, and my feet have been getting cold down there. Also I want to purchase a Navajo spindle and maybe a ball winder. That will set me back a little (the combo of the 2). However I will feel good about these purchases, because they are tools and will not be adding to my stash. In fact these tools will be helping me dig into my stash. I am also thinking about a craft challenge part 2. This time for a shorter amount of time, but a more extreme budget.

I am also posting some pictures of my studio space through out this post. I cleaned it yesterday. I still need to work on it, but I made a big dent. My basement is not finished, so it does look kind of raw. I need to figure out a heating solution soon, because winter will make it to cold to work in.