Reusable "Kleenexes"

Lately, I've been trying to use handkerchiefs to save money from buying Kleenexes.  I mean I have handkerchiefs, I should use them (other than just when I get a cold).

In nice girlie colors, too.  But they are so big.

If you can't tell, that is a Kleenex on the lower corner of the hankie.  Like I said - big!

I thought "What I need are cloth Kleenexes!".  I figured I could just cut a hankie into quarters and that would work, but I wasn't sure I'd like cloth Kleenexes, and then I'd have ruined one of my hankies.  I know that they sell smaller hankies, but that would take buying some and I was trying to save money! So I went and looked in my fabric stash and found something that would work.

The fabric is folded in half and then I just brought the corner over to make a square.  Then cut off the extra.  Then I just zig zagged around the edges.

They worked perfectly!!  So I decided to go ahead and cut up one of my hankies.  I had one that just wouldn't lay straight and it made it difficult to fold.  I figured the "gitchy goominess" wouldn't be as obvious in a smaller square.

Emily saw my fabric Kleenexes and said she'd like some, too.  So back to my stash I went!  I found this remnant that I'd picked up who knows how long ago, just because I thought it would work for something!   The squares worked perfectly for cutting it out to be Kleenexes.

I figured I couldn't make some for one kid and not the others, so I found a boy print that I thought would work for the boys' Kleenexes.

Waiting for edgings

All finished

They are edged in each kid's color to keep them apart

 In order for the boys to get 6 Kleenexes like the girls, I had to make theirs a little shorter, so they ended up rectangular instead of square.  The hankie I quartered is, of course, the biggest.

The ones for the girls and I are almost the exact same size as a Kleenex ☺

This is what each of the girls ended up with:

All folded up, neat and tidy.

There were 3 extra princess squares, so I got them.

Now I have 11 cloth Kleenexes!

I decided that I should make some sort of container for the reusable Kleenexes.  My first thought was to make little cardboard boxes.  Then I figured they'd get smooshed too easily.  So I thought of making pouches for them.  I had some denim from the bottoms of jeans I'd cut off for shorts.  But I didn't have enough.  So I decided to make them in the kids' colors to make it easy to see who's was who's.  But I didn't have a good yellow and the fabric was pretty thin and floppy for a Kleenex case.  Back to my stash I went and I found more denim!  So I went with denim after all.  I only had enough of the darker denim to make one, so that one is mine and the kids' are all the same except for the stitching to differentiate to whom they belong.



Ready to be used. 

And just for the record, I'm not going to make reusable toilet paper, although I know that some people do (or feminine care products)

Winding a Center Pull Ball Tutorial

I have been meaning to post this ever since I posted about my hand dyed yarn and haven't gotten to it, but since I posted yesterday about my first ball of handspun yarn, I decided to finally do it!



gather supplies: laundry basket, sit and spin, chunky book, hank of yarn



Put laundry basket upside down on sit and spin (I had wrapped it on it in preparation to dye it, also) so that it spins when you pull on it



wind yarn around book, leaving the end stickiing out




Close up view




wrap around core to secure




Once you have enough thickness, start "criss cross" wrap around ball




All done!  I didn't quite get the  core covered




my 2 balls of hand dyed yarn.  The one on the left isn't as neat as the one on the right, but it will still work!





Let son play with sit and spin when you are finished with it!







Necessity is the Mother of Invention

I have this area in the kitchen that always seems to be cluttered. The drawer shelf is not able to be used and just ends up taking up space.

I couldn't find a shelf that would fit.

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So I took 3 of these boxes (which I have several of since I tend to hang on to things!)

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case in point: this is what is inside the above pictured box...

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Baby food jars. Since Andrew is our last baby, we won't have access to baby food jars, so I'm saving them so I'll have them to use later!

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Okay, back to my project....

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Cut the flaps off.

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I was trying to even up the edge a little and cut myself!

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Tape the boxes together.

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I cleared the area.

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Shelf in place.

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Stocked & ready to go!