T-Shirt Week

Who, like me, has a big stack of old college t-shirts in the closet?  The ones that you never wear (wish they fit!), but have too many memories to actually get rid of?
Well, this week I decided to try to come up with one new thing I can do with a t-shirt (besides turning them into rags) every day.  Something I will actually use.

Here's the stack I'll be working with...

And here's the first thing I tried - shoe bags! 

Now, instead of putting my shoes in plastic Kroger bags when I need to pack them, I can just toss them in these cute, washable, re-usable, lots-of-college-memories sacks and toss them in the suitcase!






I actually tried two different versions, one with a drawstring, and one using the original neckline.

Want to make some?  They were seriously easy -- it only took about 20 minutes to do the drawstring one, and even less for the other!

Drawstring bag:

One. Cut out a rectangle from both sides of the t-shirt,  just a bit bigger than a pair of shoes.

Two.  Sew the two rectangles together on three sides, right sides together.  Turn the sack right side out.

Three.  Draw a line straight down the center of the sack, and sew over the line to make 2 compartments (one for each shoe).

Four.  Now, turn the top edge to the inside 1" and sew along the edge, forming a casing for the drawstring.  Don't forget to leave a little opening.

Five.  Thread the drawstring through, starting and ending at your opening.  I used an old shoelace.

DONE!

Original Collar:

One. Cut out a rectangle to fit your shoes.  (Mine is a little big because I wanted to use the whole logo.  Use the top edge of the shirt for the top of your rectangle.

Two. Sew the two rectangles together, right sides together.

Three.  Turn the sack right side out.  Mark the center and sew a line 3/4 of the way up from the bottom.

DONE!

A little order, please!

      If you're anything like me, you have a stack (or 3 or 4) that looks something like this, lying around the kitchen.  In this case they are all recipes from friends, or that I've ripped out of magazines before tossing them, or things I've printed off.  I have several more piles of craft ideas, activities for the kids, etc.

Well, I few years back, a friend shared this brilliant idea with me, and I don't know what I would do without it.  When I get around to actually putting everything in there.

Why not organize all those random pieces of paper into sheet protectors in a three ring binder?

 There they all are, easy to move around as I find more.  Easy to take out and photo copy for a friend.
And if my helpers spill something all over my recipe?  I just wipe it off!

Brilliant.

What kind of methods does everyone else have for keeping up with papers?

Craft Corner

I have been dreaming about a craft room for years.  We keep talking about "when we get a bigger house.." but actually looking for something keeps getting pushed back and pushed back, for various reasons.  We really do love our little 1920 farmhouse, it's just so tiny with 3 kids now, and there is NO storage!
For the last couple years I've been doing all my sewing at the kitchen table, which means all my tools, and the machine, and everything has to be gotten out when I want to work, and all put back away before I can get out the next meal.  It wasn't so bad when it was just Steve and I, and we could eat in the living room whenever I was involved in a project, but with 3 kids needing 3 meals and 2 snacks everyday, this becomes tedious very quickly.
Well, when I started thinking about another year or two using the kitchen table and daydreaming about a craft room, I decided something had to change now!  So, while Steve was gone last week I did a little rearranging, and here is what I came up with:

My new "craft corner"

I shared a little bit about it last week in this post, but I'm so excited that I want to talk about it some more!

Here's what I did: I moved the table and hutch in my kitchen to make this space for this little desk, and put up a big cork board to hang all my project ideas and sketches, photos or fabrics that inspire me, (JL's artwork) etc.  Now instead of notebooks overflowing with scraps and pieces, I have it all out on the board where I can see it!

I bought a 5 drawer organizer for all my little gadgets and things, and filled the desk drawers with other bits and pieces of my stash.  Now instead of trying to keep all my things in boxes that I had to dig through all the time, it's all right at my finger tips!

 

All this, and my sewing machine always available too! Now a 15 minute project really takes 15 minutes, instead of an hour: 20 to get everything out, 15 to do it, and 20 to clean it all up again.  I can't wait to show you all the projects I'm working on now that sewing is so easy and fun again!  I still use the kitchen table for cutting and laying out, and all that still has to be moved for every meal, but it's a lot better than it was!

  "Nice," you are thinking, "but it looks awful cluttered having all that mess out all the time."   I thought of that too, which is probably the biggest reason I haven't done this before.  But I came up with something that I think will work.  I painted the back side of the cork board with chalkboard paint.  Now when we have a big group of people over (like this brunch we hosted last weekend), I just flip the cork board around to hide all those messy scraps, move the sewing machine and organizer into JL's room, stick all the other bits into the drawers, and I have a nice sideboard for food and a board to write "Welcome" or the menu, or anything that strikes my fancy. 

(There's nothing written on it here because the paint still hadn't cured enough to use it!)

So actually, I feel like I have more room in the kitchen now!

Have I mentioned how excited I am?  It's not the craft room of my dreams, but it's great for the time being!  Now if only we could figure out where to put all the kid's clothes...

What about you?  Do you have the ideal craft room?  Or do you have to work in a tiny space too?  How do you handle it?  I'd love to see ideas for small spaces, as well as pictures of those great big gorgeous sewing rooms I know some people have!  It gives me things to daydream about...

Craft space!

Steve's been out of town since Sunday, and we have hardly had time to be sad!  This has been a crazy week, and on top of everything else, I thought I'd do some reorganizing while he was gone.  On top of that, J is working on her first tooth and has been up a LOT at night.  Last night she slept from midnight to 4am.

      But this afternoon when we got home from Classical Conversations we were pretty much done for the week!  We had a fairly relaxing afternoon -- the girls took long naps while I made dinner for some friends who just had a baby, and JL finger painted.  After dropping off the dinner we came home and ate our own, and then as a "special treat" I got them settled in to watch Baby Einstein while I did some crafting.  (I know, special treat for whom, me or them?!)

     The big thing on my re-organization radar this week was a space for sewing.  I have been working at the kitchen table, but with J joining us for meals now, that means getting my machine and everything else out each time I want to do something, and putting it all away again each time the kids want to eat.  Which they seem to do entirely more than is convenient. 
     So, I moved things around and carved out my own little "crafting corner" in the kitchen.  Tonight was the first time I actually have used it!

 Everything I could need, right at arm's reach! 

 All this space, kids content, nothing we have to do tomorrow....

 Coffee brewing...

  What a perfect night!

Of course, once they realized that I was doing something other than dishes in the kitchen, they all decided that I needed some "help".

 Here's what things looked like when I came back from popping the last one in bed, after my "helpers" had blessed me with their attentions.  You can't see the web of elastic JL has tied around his dog, his bed, and one leg.

Anyway, we had a wonderful evening here, and I got to work on a cute little project that I can't wait to share!