bee creative

Handwashing clothes with a plunger

My latest experiment will probably convince my family that I've gone around the bend.  I've read about using a plunger for washing clothes in a couple different places (don't remember where) and thought I'd give it a try.  So I found a plastic container and bought a new plunger.

The system I've been experimenting with is to wash each day's clothing for one person as a batch.  I soak the previous day's clothing during the day and then spend about 10 minutes in the evening plunging and rinsing.  Each batch is hung up on the outdoor clothes line.  I'm wringing the water out of what is easy to wring and just letting the water drip out of the heavier items such as jeans. The rinse water is being used to water ornamental plants in the garden.  Not sure what I want to do with the soapy water.  My clothing is usually used as a hanky for any one of eight toddlers I spend my day with. 

At the beginning of the week the weather was very wet but I hung things out anyway.  I decided the rain water would rinse things out  a bit more.  By Thursday we had lovely warm weather and everything dried up quickly.  The laundry smells great too. 

I've been a little worried about getting a rash from the soap.  I make my own laundry soap with grated soap, soda and borax.  It hasn't been dissolving very well.  With my next batch I'm going to try pre-dissolving the soap mix in hot water before adding it to the clothing. 

I've used about 2-3 gallons of water for each batch, figuring about 12 gallons for 5 batches which is also usually one load of laundry.  The washing machine uses about 40 gallons on average per load (an old top loading model). So a savings of 25 gallons of water minimum plus electricity for the washing machine as well as the dryer.  It will be very interesting to see what difference it makes in the bills.  It would actually be a good thing if the water bill just stays the same.  It will be time to start watering the veggies soon.

Oh, and plunging the laundry is actually kind of fun.  Hmmm...maybe I need to get out more.

 

Inspire Me Thursday - Medical Art

It took me forever to get where I wanted to be with this project.   I wanted to use some science diagrams from an old text book, but  getting them where I wanted was a challenge!   The goal was to get them on fabric.   The problem was that I couldn't make mirror images and had to find another way to do it rather than use transfer paper. 

I managed to get one pillow done, but have 4 more to go for a set.  The text on the spine pillow says:

"Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well."

Vincent Van Gogh

It fits quite nicely along my back.

Recycled materials:  Fabric for pillow and for stuffing. 
 

Inspire Me Thursday - Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

How I loved this weeks Inspire Me Thursday prompt!  It's pretty much about how I'm trying to live and how I try to create.  As I was thinking about it, I couldn't resist thinking that it's important to me to be (bee!) creative what what I have.... 

There were so many things I wanted to do, to show.  I settled on reducing, reusing, and recycling in one project:

What I was reminded about from this project was how uninterested in perfection I am.  Colors and how they interact and textures are what really interest me.

Think I'll take a nap now....

Inspire Me Thursday - Too Lazy to "Leap"

Inspire Me Thursday's prompt last week was "leap."  I decided to make a frog using a pattern that I had found awhile ago (at The Purl Bee).  Very fun and easy to do.

It struck me that it was a lazy frog, not really willing to leap.  And somewhere in my usually hidden twisted sense of humor, I realized that the frog had to go into the pot.... 

For the unfamiliar, the way the urban myth goes is that a live frog placed in hot water will jump out.  But a frog placed in cold water that is gradually heated up will stay put until it is boiled.

I just want to say that I like frogs a lot.

Recycled materials:  Fabric from my scrap pile. 

Reuse, recycle and renew!

Some people have moths...I have a chihuahua puppy.  And what do puppies do?  Chew of course.

Here's my sad old quilt:

And what it looks like now (plus new pillow case):

I used a duvet cover I had made for my sad old comforter (now a blanket for the dogs) for the top and a flannel sheet that I had in my stash for the back.  The cover needed a little patching too.  Sigh....

I've tied the layers together and stitched around the outside edges.  If Lola doesn't chew on this, I'll bind the edges. If she does chew on it, she's getting kicked out of the bedroom! 

Originally I had used a wool blanket for batting for the quilt.  Now that there are 5 layers, I'm thinking I'm going to be pretty toasty tonight.

Whew...made it out of the scrap pile!

Basket number three is sort of overflowing...  But my able assistant Hazel the cat and I made it out with material for a cover for my futon.  I decided to recycle jeans and an old table cloth for the top.  I've put together a sample square to see if I like it, and I do.  Now I just have to see if I have enough jeans in my stash.  I can't remember when I threw away a pair of worn jeans.  I've saved them for as long as I can remember, so hopefully I have enough.

Here's my sample.  I used some scrap flannel to back the table cloth.  I considered sewing it so the seams were to the right side and then cutting them into a fringe.  It would be campy-fun but with a Chihuahua that likes to chew, I thought better of it.

Waste not, want not, part two

Due to the holidays and a rather icky cold, I got behind on my "Waste Not, Want Not" project.  Today, with a little help from my assistant, I got back to work on cleaning out my stash.  Good thing she's cute, cause she's a menace!

This is basket number two.  From basket number one I've got enough squares to be off on a good start to two different quilts.  And I cut enough squares for a bathmat.  That's what I assembled today.  I really like it and I think I'm going to make another.  I got the idea for the bath mat from a link at Sew Mama Sew's Handmade Holiday project.  Lots of great tutorials.   I'm sure I'm going to try  some of the other projects in my attempt to use up my scraps.  Here's the bath mat:

Tomorrow I'm going to go diving to see if I can come up with enough scraps to make a cover for my futon.   That will make basket number three, which may get emptied before basket number two....

Inspire Me Thursday - Paradox

Inspire Me Thursday's prompt this past week was "paradox."  I spent a lot of time thinking about this one and as a result of my current reading (just finished Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and started Deep Economy by Bill McKibben) came up with two:

1.  That after a certain amount of income, more money does not mean more happiness.

2.  That small farms can produce more food per acre than large industrial farms. 

Those facts seem paradoxical to me!  And that led me to my response-art money!  I've always been intrigued by this idea.  If anyone wants more info on this, check out the artmoney website.  I don't know if I'll do more with it (art money can be registered and spent), but it was fun spending more time exploring the artmoney website and it was fun to create.  My topic reflects my second paradox.  Even as we're having our first snow of the year (hooray!), I'm planning my spring garden.  A couple links of interest on this topic are Revive the Victory Garden and Victory Garden+2007.  Well for anyone from "Inspire Me Thursday," warned you I was up on my soapbox! 

Recycled materials for this project:  paper from the stash of trash, and little teeny scraps of fabric from my waste not, want not basket. 

First snow of the year!

  "Let it snow, let it snow..."  I love snow.  I love it even more now that I don't own a car and I don't have to drive in it.  I either walk, take the bus, or get a ride.  If I can't get there, I can't get there.

I love it because we really only get snow about 2 or 3 times a year, so it is a special event.

I love it because it makes the world quieter, and softens the edges. 

And I love to sit by the window and watch it fall while I work on some project or another.

Today I worked on my "waste not, want not" basket.  I cut out stacks of squares and a sample block for the "rose star" quilt.

I decided that "rose star" needs to have consistent patterns of fabric, so it's not a good way to use up my fabric stash.  Ah well....

I did remember another good project for strips of fabric though.  A sort of log cabin type block.

I started with a larger center square and then added strips that fit.  I'm going to keep adding until I have a 12 inch square and then make a small pillow with it.  It will make a good gift for my holiday party for work. 

I also made a nice big pot of soup, perfect for the first snow day.   

 

Waste not, want not

This weekend I faced up to the fact that I have an  embarrassing amount of scraps.  I can't even guess how many times I could fill this basket up with odds and ends of fabric, but I'm going to find out!  One of my  new goals is to spend time every week creating something from the fabric stash.  I have several projects in mind to clean up my odds and ends.

One project is to use my scraps plus the shirts that were my grandfather's to make a quilt called "Peace and Plenty." 

Another is to make a pillow quilt by cutting out 4 inch squares, sewing three of the sides together, stuffing the block and then sewing the "pillow" closed.  The little pillows are then sewn together to make a comforter (don't think this would actually qualify as a quilt, since it's only pieced, not quilted).

And then teeny-tiny pieces are going to be cut out to make a quilt called "Rose Star."  I'll do a sample block next week.  This one might be very ambitious. 

Along with cutting and piecing all these quilts, I'm working on smaller projects with my scraps.  I'm cutting 2 1/2 inch squares for a bath mat and strips of fabric to make a stuffed cat for my secret pal at work.

I'm also going to work in some other projects with bigger scraps, such as these bibs for the children at work:

To keep myself organized I've created a photo album to keep track of all my in progress/completed projects.  If I can stick to it, I should have a shrinking stash pile and a photo for every week of something that I've finished up.

Note for family:  This does not mean that I don't want any more old table cloths, lace, ect....  I always have room for more of that!