we have a big hiking trip coming up Easter Weekend, so being as i had very little if any of the supplies needed, we made a trip to the R.E.I in Ashville and stocked up. One of the items i needed was a mug to drink hot (or cold) liquid out of. This is the one i got:
(a.k.a the holy grail)
There is a handy little hole on it that, in theory, should be good to hang it from your pack by. However, said loop it only in the lid and the lid is only held on by sheer will power. So There is a good chance SOMETHING is going to get lost. (Eric told me from experience). So i thought i would try to sew a bag for it, but at the inspiration stage, i wasn’t sure, yet, what i would use. So, last night after dinner with Derrick and his Mom, Derrick went to do the laundry and i pulled out the sewing machine. I started to look through my piles of refashion clothes and came across a little kids winter coat. Eureka! Outdoorsie materials! I wrapped the hood around the cup, and it fit! So i took to ripping out the seams so i could get rid of the batting inside and the flimsy liner. Next, i found some random material that went with the color of the coat and made a long tube to thread cord through as a close. Then i sewed the cord and put it in and had a spiffy bag! Here:
VOila! AND it fits see?:
Please disregard my morning hair….i just wanted to post a blog…i didnt think i needed to be ready for my close-up yet. I also am not sure where i put my camera…
Once that bag was finished, i thoughtfully remembered that Derrick has a cup just like it. (the one Eric had borrowed) So i made another bag from the back of the jacket (duh, no other hood to use) however, i decided to use a more manly fabric for the casing and cord. Here it is:
So thats really the only refashion ive done lately. Except a couple bags i made from old t-shirts for my boss to use in the bookstore. They didnt turn out so good so, back to the drawing board! Im going to try fusing some plastic bags this time. More later!
Last night, after working out, i need something that had protein and tasted good without having to go to the store for more ingredients. SO i had bought the ingredients for my own little creation: Salmon Succotash. It is better than it sounds, even just plain. However, I decided to dress it up. So i started the rice and added a few dashes of garlic powder and Lowry’s season salt. (whole grain, brown, 30-min rice form Uncle Ben’s) and then got out a frying pan. I turned the burner up to medium high and put a spoonful of already minced garlic into the pan. Then, i turned to my leftover half onion and chopped it up into edible pieces. (I have heard that if you have a piece of bread in your mouth when you cut onion, it wont burn your eyes). Add a few slices of a jalapeno (i had a jar of them) a little Worcestershire Sauce and a squirt of lemon. Then i let those caramelize a bit, but not quite until they were completely clear. Then you add two packets of Chicken of the Sea Pink Salmon. Break them up with your spatula. Add another squirt of Worcestershire Sauce (just eye it) and keep stirring that while you watch it. If it gets super dry, add a little water and keep cooking. Don’t adjust your heat. Now, take a can of Succotash (you know, corn, lima beans, tomato) and dump that into your pan. Yum! Its probably smelling pretty awesome by now. Stir it all up. Keep it stirring occasionally until the rice is done, then put some rice on a plat, top with a heaping helping of salmon succotash and enjoy! It makes a lot…..but we ate it all. Rave reviews!
I guess i should put this in recipe form to make it easier to follow:
Salmon Succotash
You will need:
-a spoonful of minced garlic (from a jar is fine, or mince your own)
-half an onion, chopped
-a few slices of jalapeno (optional, i guess, but i recommend you try it!)
-Worcestershire Sauce
-Lemon juice
-2 packets of Pink Salmon (i use Chicken of the Sea)
-a little water (maybe a half cup or so, but again, eye it)
-1 can of Succotash (in the canned vegetable isle at the store)
-rice (however you like to make it, i used Uncle Ben’s 30 minute whole grain brown rice)
(the how to part just happens to be above the ingredient list AND i dont feel like typing it again.)
Let me know how you like it! If you hate fish, substitute two cans of chicken, or a couple finely chopped chicken breasts or some chopped beef tips. Don’t be afraid of the kitchen! I made an awesome spaghetti sauce just from guessing. Taste it, eye it, don’t be afraid to try it! I’ve made a lot of random, but really good stuff just from a whim. I also have NO official cooking training. Two years ago i didn’t cook anything on my own. Just take a leap (everything doesnt always come out perfectly, but it is fun!)
Well, talking to my best friend on the phone last night, i learned that, from reading THIS VERY BLOG she felt guilted into not just throwing her husbands old, tattered jeans in the trash. So she is not brainstorming ways to use them for something else. I think i may have to send her a few links with ideas! That’s progress people!
(However, if you have old things you want to get rid of and don’t know what to do with them, feel free to leave a message and ill get in touch with you, you can always send it here!)
Needless to say, i feel accomplished. I continue to search the interwebs for ideas, tutorials and also make myself make things and show them to you all. Honestly, blogging is probably more for me
I am still reading Most Good, Least Harm- but i havent picked it up in a few weeks. I need to get on that. It’s really good! I STILL recommend it to everyone.
Yesterday i made a top, but i haven’t finished it– it still needs something. Like a belt, or embellishment. I Think i might spray it with some bleach. I continue to wait for replies for a few people i want to interview and what not. I found a really neat website if you like to be green, spend way too much money, or even just need some ideas. Its just a compilation of websites, photos and stuff but i was sucked in long enough even to read a few of the articles about products. Its more interesting than i am making it sound. Check it out HERE
Did You Know? The quality of clothing is going down so much that the world of re purposed fashion may go bankrupt because clothes just don’t last past the first owner anymore. (i think this sucks)
Sorry this is so short! Lots going on. Working extra hours today. I’d love to hear your comments and such
Now, i have heard of ‘Dollar Bag Day’ at our local thrift store, of course, you’re only lucky if you happen to go in on the day its happening. (Personally, i think, if they broadcast it, more people would come in, and they would move some merch!- but thats just me)
However, i decided i would try an ebay search for scrap fabric (which actually yielded a lot- so if you’re a quilter…) that came back with some good stuff for cheap, and i know if you go to the big cities have places where they super tightly pack togther pounds and pounds of clothing for export. (I bet that would be a great way to bring clothing to poorer nations on a mission trip, or to soup kitchens that have a clothes closet and what not.
Did You Know? Textiles make up 12% of landfills? (follow up here)
That is quite a bit if you think of all the other stuff that goes in there. I mean, all that stuff can go again! Use it til its down to threads! Then give the threads to the birdies! They will put it in their nests! (It looks really cute!) then, it might get eaten by like a grasshopper after that–and the grasshopper will get eaten by the bird–and, then the bird gets eaten by a cat, and then the cat gets run over by a truck–ew. but it made like a little eco-system! All because you gave your thread to the birds) Just put the threads draped over bushes or trees, or find a mesh bag with some good sized holes and put a ton of it in there and hang it outside, and i bet you will see it taken by the birdies!
Anyway- on from that rant….
So apparently in the bigger cities, they have so much used clothing coming into the thrift stores that they sell the clothes by the pound. Would you buy that? If you made your own clothes and i could guarantee that your pound was all greens, or all denims, or whatever, would you have that shipped to you? I would. Maybe i should start me a business! I don’t know how that would go as an etsy shop…
POLL:
I apologize for neglecting my blog for a whole week! I have been sick, then this past weekend, I went to VA to visit my sister for her birthday and ended up making her and my other two siblings some fun little things. I neglected to take pictures of EVERYTHING we did, so i will describe most of it. We started Saturday off with just Coleen (who has just turned 11- how do they grow so fast??! Cut it out!). I showed her my three books of DIY crafting from the Compai girls and Megan Nicolay. I am a bit sad to say that she was not nearly as excited about clothing DIY as i was! :/ Ah youth. Well, here are a few photos we took:
Here she is making her fringe scarf! She loved that thing!
And here is the skirt i made her out of her favorite jeans that were getting too short, and some remnant fabric i got for like 10 cents.
We made lots of other stuff too, like another skirt from an old sweater, arm socks, another scarf for Jayme, and some arm socks. Some cuffs out of old ties, just lots of crazy stuff. It was a good time
Did You Know? “Americans spend an average 7.6 hours per day working and 2.5 hours per day doing household activities. On top of this, if you have children under 6 years of age, the average American spends an additional 2 hours on childcare.”
Wow, yea that is a lot of time already used up every day! The website i got this from, effective-time-management-strategies.com, has a bunch of really great time management strategies that help get us on track! I do a lot better when i make a list for myself every day. Yesterday i got everything i needed to done just because i could check things off, and yes, i do go back and write it down just to cross it off if i forgot to put it down to begin with.
Well, folks, this is a short post, but were in the middle of house hunting and such too! I will DEFINITELY have some photos and things on Friday when i have my sewing date with Erin, who writes a really cute and fun blog that can be found HERE. Check it out!
Well, I am actually at the point where i would like a weapon as oppose to medicine. I hate being sick!
However, it does give me a little time to read (that is, when i actually take off work, which, i might add, is not an option.) So, while at work, i saw a book called “Where Am I Wearing” by Kelsey Timmerman. He basically was intrigued by the “Made In” tags on all his clothes and wondered about why they were from everywhere but the USA. His finds were crazy. He traveled to all the places he saw on his clothing tags and checked out the factories and connected with the people who worked in them. I’m only about 12 pages in and think it is a really cool plan and that it just goes to add to my reasoning behind no longer buying new clothing. I don’t want to add to the poor treatment of people.
That is all for today, anyone got any crazy cool remedies for an insanely sore throat, wonky cough, and lots of lovely phlegm? I am trying to avoid the doctors office.
Well, I haven’t had time to get on here and post this weekend due to my national guard commitment, so that explains this weekend. However, i seem to have caught a virus and am quite under the weather. I will try to post from work today, but i confess i don’t really feel like it, so bear with me.
Fair Warning: This post is a slight bit boring! ha
Did You Know? Seed companies are trying to patent seeds (those things that plants grow from that have been around since the dawn of time) so that it’s illegal for farmers to make their own, AND (if that wasn’t enough) they will then genetically modify the seeds so they only grow once and don’t come back another year. I am flabbergasted. Is it not hard enough for farmers these days? The economy certainly isn’t kind to them….
I’ve always know Fox News to be a bit biast (in my own opinion) so I decided to look into the bill itself:
It’s technical term is S510.
It will eventually destroy the small farmer, (didn’t Obama say something about small business and the desire to help it?) This bill did pass the senate! It was Yea-Nay 75-25.(i found that out HERE, check this site out cuz it has all the info) WHAT!?!? I mean, surely senators probably don’t have vegetable gardens, so perhaps it doesn’t effect them, but what about those people they take an oath to represent? Anyway, upon looking into it a bit more, it sat for 2 years and wasn’t even glanced at by Congress, so it was washed away. The problem is, it can be brought back! Here is one of those bills that the senate tries to sneak by without getting the nation all riled up, so your job, as a member of this nation, is to protect each other and keep an eye on the government. If the nation is voted into a dictatorship, it’s OUR fault because we don’t follow it, don’t speak up, don’t stop it and it is we who allow the blood, sweat and tears of our founding fathers to go to waste. They put in place checks and balances, a democracy for us to uphold. If we don’t, we can’t cry about it.
I am amazed! I talked a post or two ago about talking to our senators and congress-people about making sure our wildernesses are protected and what-not. Now, today alone, I have had a chance to take a stand on LGBT legislation (they have the same rights we do, let em love each other- besides, it makes less random teen pregnancies, and some of them are very good friends of mine!) AND on S 510.
P.s. Thanks Jenn for bringing this seed business to my attention so i can talk about it and make it known!
Maybe you didn’t click on the link i posted in regards to S510. It goes to a website called govtrack. It allows you to follow you representatives and see how they vote! Therefore, it is putting you into the mix when it comes to how things go in your communities and this nation! At least check it out, I am going to go start following my representatives right now!
Well bloggers, would you like to see what i made yesterday while i was stuck at home? (the car wouldn’t start so i couldn’t head to work…) Carpe Diem! I made some important phone calls and such and then i made this:
Here is the front:
Pretty sweet eh?
Now answer this poll:
Thanks!
To make this skirt, I used a threadbanger.com tutorial. The link for it is HERE
However, the ruffles are my own doing. I had serious skirt envy for a skirt a friend got a long time ago, so i made one of my own
see?:
