Make Do and Mend Monday

 I made these patchwork potholders almost 2 years ago.
 You can read about them on my old blog if you are curious :)
I usually cook several times everyday and those once cute potholders were getting worn, you can even see the insulbrite batting poking out in  one corner.
I used the last of  my potholder batting for the pair of bird potholders yesterday. 
Make do and mend is about using what you have - and since the insides and back of the potholders are still serviceable,  I just made them over. 

 I like the robin fabric on the back and it was still in good shape so I found a scrap of heavy weight checked fabric.  I cut it a little larger than the potholders, turned under the edges to just fit on top and pinned them down to cover up the worn patchwork.

Then I just machine stitched around the edges to seal them up.
I tried out several of the decorative stitches my machine makes but I could of just used a regular straight stitch. 
Now, I have 4 more very useful potholders,  I think I spent just 30 minutes on this project. 

I used up 2 little spools of thread on this project. 

Can you see the original price was just 30 cents for a spool?

Thread costs at least 8 times that now.

I look for bags of thread at thrift stores and yard sales and have found some real bargains this way. 

thats my finger,  got that burn when I moved a pan of full of corn on the cob in boiling water to drain it.  The  pan was really full and the lid was not tight fitting and some the water splashed on my hand and the floor.  

I put it cool water right away and sprayed it with Bactine several times, and after the Bactine, it never hurt again. 

So, if you boil some fresh corn this summer,  use a potholder and a tight fitting lid. 

I hope you will join the Make do and mend party at Heidi's Cranberry Chronicle.   I think you will like seeing how another blogger posted about the cutest sewing basket that she lined with old blue jeans.
 http://thecranberrychronicle.blogspot.com/

a painted bed, double knit quilts and silly potholders

This bed belonged to my paternal grandparents.  When it was passed on to us,  it went to Nina's room.  She then took it to her college rent house and then she passed it on to Jimmy while he was in grad school.  While it was in their possession,  it had several paint jobs.  We just got it back and it had brown paint in some places,  white paint in other places and then a weird attempt for gold antiquing finish it others.  I know, I should of taken a before picture.

It also needed some new bolts. 

Anyway,  Jeff worked on in yesterday.  He sanded it down and gave it 2 coats of dark red paint.  This morning,  he moved it into one of the guest rooms and added some L brackets for good measure. 

I am so happy with how it turned it out!

I think it looks like a picture from some the Early American decorating magazines my mom had in the 60's and 70's. 

The quilt was made by my maternal grandmother.  It is all double-knit fabric and will probably never wear out. 

Another Rhonda, also in Oklahoma,  just posted a picture of  a double knit quilt her mother made about the same time my grandma made this one. 

 patchwork pathways

I made new potholders a while back, but I cook so much that they are getting rather worn out.  I did a few swagbuck searches for potholder tutorials and found one I think is darling, 

 Betsi's Darling Starling potholder tutorial 

I made mine a little differently than Betsi.  She used a retro pattern for her inspiration and uses felt and stuffing for the insides. 

I updated that part and used potholder batting instead,  several manufacturers make it and most fabric departments carry it.  It looks almost like quilt batting but has a silvery side that does a very good job  of heat blocking.

There is a open pocket section on the belly just right for picking up pot handles and pan edges.  I also used a narrower bias tape than Betsi as the narrower kind is what I had. 
Thank you Betsi for the cute tutorial.

mini Make Do & Mend

 Before

After

I bought this little sofa-flip chair at a yard sale for $1.50.    I thought about completely recovering it but it would be very time consuming and I didn't want to invest that much time in something that will be outgrown in a short time. 
So I took the Dora slipcover off and washed it.  Then I thought maybe I could just cover up the Dora parts since I don't hate the lavender/butterfly background.
I looked in my stash and  found some patchwork looking fabric that has lavender and gold in it.  Then,  I just pinned the patchwork fabric over the Dora parts (with all the raw edges turned under)  and machine sewed it to the original slipcover. 

Now, it just looks like a child's sofa and not like an advertisement.  I know the grand babies will like it.  Elizabeth liked it with the awful Dora cover and Gavin liked it when he saw it without any cover on it. 

They will both be here soon,  and maybe they will pose on it and I can take a good picture of them. 

I am attending Heidi's party for Make Do and Mend at the Cranberry Chronicle

If you are making do and mending something,  I hope you will join us at the party too. 

from our backyard tonight

trust me,  this rainbow is much prettier in person
than this snap from my camera

"I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of a covenant
between me and the earth.... Never again will the waters become a flood to
destroy all life." (Genesis 9:13,15).
The Rainbow... God’s Promise. TM

Make Do and Mend



Make Do and Mend Monday - linked to Heidi at Cranberry Chronicle



My friend Heidi, in Holland,  started this neat subject on her blog.  It is right up my alley as I love to re-do things and make things work in way that suits my purpose at the moment but was not necessarily what the things were made for in the first place.

Heidi hopes to have other bloggers show their Make Do and Mend projects on Mondays,  so I am a bit late but here are my recent projects.

Join in if you can,  Heidi would love to hear from you.

Project #1

This long sleeve white blouse that  I like very much has a spot on the front that won't wash out, even with Clorox. 
I want to keep wearing it so.....

I cut off the sleeves and sewed orange rick rack on it. 
The rick rack covers the spots and makes it look summer-y.
I expect I will wear this blouse many more times now.




Project #2
When Gavin and Elizabeth started accumulating so many things at our house,
I turned our breakfast room into a play room for them.  It was mostly bright primary
colors so it did not match the rest of this living space.  It was always messy and
they preferred to play in the living room. 
So,  thankfully, I had kept my favorite pink rose curtains and most of the accessories
that were previously in the breakfast room
and I switched it back to  pink and green room that I like again.

My sewing machine is on the table for now
and it is a nice bright place for sewing. 

Nope,  I am not crazy that the extra fridge and freezer are also
in the breakfast nook.  So I decorated them to camouflage them a bit.

Can you see the little metal appliance cart?
My son found it at a rummage sale and I really like it
but I am not sure if it works in this room.
we will see. 

Gavin and Elizabeth still have a play area -
just moved to the back corner of the living room.
The rug, table and shelf are all things
we had used in other places.
I like how it does not look quite so "plastic"
The grand babies seem to like it just fine too. 

I did not buy anything at all when I switched around these 2 areas
They turned out better than I hoped and make our home
even more comfortable.

Project #3
I guess this one may be the ultimate in Make Do and Mend.
Jeff spent Monday at the VA hospital.  You may
remember that he had his right knee replaced
there almost 2 years ago.
Well,  his left knee is just about worn out too.  He will
be having surgery on it soon,  but he won't get a new
left knee just yet, 
the surgeon will just clean up that left knee, and fix what can be fixed
  
Wouldn't you call that a make do and mend project too?

Saturday yardsale finds

There were a couple of neighborhood sales on the other end of town so Jeff and I headed out early Saturday.

It is May but it was so cold, I wore a jacket and hat the whole time.
Jeff did not buy anything but I found a few goodies.  Not a single piece of Pyrex though......


this Hummel cross stitch was $1, and it is big,
I think the frame is 11x14.
It reminds me of my grandchildren.

wouldn't they look cute dressed up as Hummels in October?
I doubt it is what their parents have in mind
but I think they would be adorable. 

cute bunny lamp was $3
a living room lamp was on my list of things we needed

vintage Golden books
10 cents each

little Corningware saucepans with lids
$2 each

play clothes   25 cents each

the white background floral is a brand new Kohls tablecloth but is
too short of our dining room table,  I think my MIL will like it.
It was just $1
The black floral is a length of challis fabric,  for a blouse or skirt for me
it was 50 cents.

not exciting,  but a hairdryer was also something we needed
and I am happy with this one,  $2

Tell me what treasures you found this week,  and did you have to shop in a coat too?

see more Thrifty Treasures at Rhoda's,  join the fun if you can. 
Thrifty Treasures at Rhoda's blog

First neighborhood yard sale of 2011

We went to a pretty good group of sales Saturday morning.  Not really awesome but it was pleasant weather and we could mostly walk from sale to sale. 
My husband picked out the little iron skillet,  $1. 
Jimmy got the Texas ware bowl,  the hook that goes over a door and the "real" Mona Lisa,  at least the seller said it was real.  His total - $1.75.
I got the vinyl tablecloth for 50 cents,  the bread book was $1,  2 Corelle platters were $1,  the little Dora Explorer sofa was $1.50 - I would like to recover it but it may be a bigger job than I have time for.

My favorite purchase -the 2 glass beverages pitchers -$3 for both!  they are in the fridge full of iced tea. 

I think we went to about 15-20 homes with sales,  but not a single piece of Pyrex at any of them though. 

Have the rummage sales started in your town yet?

Cream, butter and cows

This is 2 gallons of farm fresh milk. 
Stepson Clint and his wife have a small farm.  Beside chickens and eggs,  they also have 2 milk cows and we are fortunate that they share milk with us. 

They can pasturize the milk and they can run it through a separator.
But, I like the whole milk with the nice layer of cream on top.    If you look close, you can see that the cream is on the top and the milk is on the bottom. 

There are lots of ways to use the cream.  One of my favorites is this biscuit recipe from King Arthur Flour. 
The biscuits are made with flour, cornstarch, some leavening and cream.  There is no cut in butter or shortening because the cream has a high fat content.  They are so fast to make up this way.  I made about 3 recipes at a time,  then freeze them all to bake off as we need them.
\ 

homemade butter!

This cream also makes really nice butter. 


Some the milk we will drink.  I will probably make a large batch of pancakes and freeze them to use as we need them.  Homemade pancakes are much better than Eggos. 



The cows that make this rich delicious milk.  The cows names are Cindy and Creamy.