I have an old blanket from Target. It’s not the fanciest thing, but it keeps a body warm. Unfortunately, it’s made out of a fabric that snags easily. There was no easy way to mend this, so I decided to cover it up – and give the blanket a little more personality in the process. I took one of the … Read more
The first time I saw a Swiffer, I fell over laughing. Certainly this strange marriage of a broom and a mop wouldn’t catch on, right? Brooms and mops are inexpensive and reusable; for a Swiffer, you’re stuck having to buy refills for the rest of the tool’s life. Clearly, I’m not a natural-born product developer. I’ve since come to accept that Swiffers have … Read more
I have an awesome little red wool rug from Ikea next to my front door. It’s the perfect place for standing while kicking off wet shoes. For my cats, it’s the perfect place for taking a nap next to the heating vent – or in Lilo’s case, chewing on raw hide. (Even though the rug is wool, she’s … Read more
You may remember this awesomely damaged camisole from my post about Lilo, the Amazing Wool-Eating Cat. Draped over the shoulder is a folded sleeve I cut off from another shirt during this project. I bleached the fabric by setting it in a solution of 1 cup hydrogen peroxide, 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon washing soda, and a dash of detergent overnight until … Read more
When I first got cats, I swore that I was not going to get any hideous, carpet-covered cat trees for my abode. Then I realized that my cats had no way to see out the upstairs windows. What kind of cruel owner was I? I might as well put them in jail. So I looked for cat tree plans online (warning: … Read more
I have an insect display box that I picked up at a garage sale for $1 a while back. I bought it for the lepidopterans that were inside more than for the box itself, which had a frame of cardboard and black book tape that was starting to fray around the edges. I moved the specimens into a different shadow … Read more
My current favorite homekeeping blog is Unfuck Your Habitat. It’s motto is “You’re Better Than Your Mess.” I follow it on Tumblr and Twitter, and even have the app on my phone. (The app cost less than a bottle of white vinegar – talk about a good cleaning deal!) I like UfYH because it breaks seemingly insurmountable chores into easy, short … Read more
I finally found the photo of the back of the Seasons quilt I made for my niece’s adoption. It’s composed of whites, near-whites, and light browns from my scrap bins. I think I may like the back more than the front. The scraps with printing on them are leftovers from a cut-and-sew Humpty Dumpty doll fabric panel. My niece has been through … Read more
I was going through my downloads today and found these photos of a quilt I made for my youngest niece this summer. The side with the 9 hexagons is the “front” and is based on the Brighton Rock pattern by Australian quilters Sarah Fielke and Kathy Doughty. The back was going to be a series of nestled hexagons (like I … Read more
