Sew Sane

I am publicly thanking my sister for getting me back on the wagon. :) She inquired about making her some cloth napkins. I told ya'all I'm a bit of a environmental freak, right? So, now I am psyched, I get to make more napkins for my sister - and know that she plans to use them.

Originally she talked about buying fabric and shipping it to me to make and ship back to her. I told her we could avoid one way of shipping if she found some fabric online that I might be able to find locally. We went to hunting the internet. Oh, I forgot how I like to look at fabric. :) She mentioned John Deere fabric, and there was a Valentine's print we both liked. She also found a great print that she wanted for everyday. Unfortunately, the print was sold out online and not in my local stores. I am still searching to find it elsewhere online but so far, no luck. But I did make her some JD napkins. I found this fun print, mostly to tease her hubby as he is the JD fan. And I bought a more traditional print as well.

I washed and dried the fabric right away and got started. I love the way they turned out. And it got me back behind both my machines again. I finished her napkins, I finally finished a Christmas wall hanging of Rudolph that I have been meaning to do for at least 4 years, I have things in place for napkins for a friend (waiting for the right color of Woolly Nylon to arrive) and finally decided to dress up our tree skirt.

Oh, I have had fun this week. :) And I must say that tree skirt will look mighty nice next year. You see, it was just a piece of white fleece with light blue snow flakes. I cut it into a "cape" and lay it around the tree. I have thought about cleaning up the look with some blanket binding. But today, I played with Koolaid and Fold over elastic. I dyed some FOE with Berry Blue Kool Aid, washed it, dried it and sewed it on and it looks awesome!

Speaking of Kool aid... I just mentioned that I used it to DYE elastic, right? WHY would your put something into your kid that can be used to dye clothing? Can you imagine all the things that food coloring might be doing to those ingesting it? Well, you don't really have to imagine it... there is more, if you want to google it, migraine triggers, allergic reactions, possible negative affects on the immune system.

And when you start paying attention to the food you are buying, so much of it has food coloring in it! :( There are the obvious, brightly colored cereals, but also the not so obvious ones such as pickle relish - yes, relish.