Needlepoint Bookmarks

Need something to hold your place in that book? Or mark your favorite poem? (Especially helpful since April is National Poetry Month.)

You could use a piece of scrap paper (we all have them and we've all done it), or bend down the edge of the page (the shame!), but I made these bookmarks using cross stitch techniques and colored embroidery floss to use in my large collection of books. (I love books... the way they look, feel, smell, and the stories they hold. It's a love story, a seduction, an addiction. Old or young, they are beautiful and magical.)

The hot air balloon pattern was approximately from a pattern in a book of bookmark designs (with some adjustments for my personal preferences). It's a good pattern to play with colors and combinations.

The second bookmark is my own psychadellic pattern using a swirling rainbow of colors and bits of leftover threads from other projects that there isn't enough for other other things. (Anyone who does a fair amount of needlepoint probably has a collection built up.)

Even the edging on these was hand done.

Seashells by the Seashore

Beached Curtain with Shells

With thoughts of summer, my thoughts have turned to sun, sand, and beaches... with the thoughts of the beach and sand I think of seashells. (Between my trips to beaches and trips of friends, I have a fairly large collection tucked away.) Bring on the sun!

The beaded curtains were made years ago from a sturdy hemp chord (which I seem to usually have on hand), medium-sized wooden beads, and various seashells with naturally occurring  holes and places to string the chord. They were first made for a bedroom I had in the attic and followed me a new house and even to a cabin doorway I had. I love the natural look of the wooden beads with shells and a few scattered gold beads. A bit of a hippy-inspired 60s flashback, but that is one of the reasons I love having them and decorating with them.

The little seashell covered boxes were made from tiny plain boxes and decorated with a sturdy glue and tiny colored shells to create a design. (I have a bunch of these little shells, some dyed different colors.) They are great to sit with my some of my mermaid stuff (which I seem to have at least a  few things).

I am so ready for summer.

Rain Stick

"Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day." At least that was the rhyme from when we were kids were stuck inside because of rain. The Rain Stick was made at summer camp, something that was done with older kids and smaller groups.

A rain stick makes the sound of rain using a tube with nails hammered into it and filled with assorted beads, seeds, & pebbles that run down across the nails to make the sound. Then decorated with any assortment of paint, sand, yarn, feathers, and beads. It can be a very soothing sound.

T-shirt Bag

I had this great t-shirt that I loved and then one day I found that it was getting a couple holes along the bottom. I didn't want to just throw it away or cut it up, so I re-purposed it into a handy bag, lined with some coordinating green fabric I had one hand for the lining and the strap. I added a couple iron on patches I had picked up before.

I love having fabric bags on hand for everyday things or for those summer trips to the farmers' market (forget plastic bags, reusable bags are the way to go).

Teaching Colors

A few years ago I spent my summer not at camp, but taking care of a three-year-old on a daily basis and traveled with the family as their nanny. Everyday we tried to do projects that would help her explore her world and learn new things.

She knew her colors, but in exploring how to mix colors we did tie dye. (Because tie dye is awesome.) Using dye in the three primary colors (red, yellow, & blue for those who weren't sure,) and various shirts her mother had pulled (it was a great way to being new life to those light colored shirts with stains that every kid's parent has stuffed away), she learned all about how to mix the three primary colors to create the secondary colors (purple, green, & orange). We used bottles to make make things more usable for a little girl and created a rainbow of creations.

Demin Purses (from Re-purposed Jeans)

 Don't throw away those old worn, torn, beat up, unfixable jeans! Oh, the possibilities...

These little purses were made from scraps of denim from old jeans (I use as many of the pieces as possible for bags, rugs, or other projects), scraps of other fabrics, and yarn (depending on what I had on hand at the time). There was no pattern, just the piecing of the things as I went along.

I paired some smaller pieces of discarded jeans with scrap fabric I had on hand to make these little purses. Of the four purses pictured, one is made from a front side pocket (the lining and back from leftover fabric); for one I took the zipper from the tapered pair of jeans to make a side pocket, the unzips; and one has a smaller piece as a pocket along the bottom. Two of the straps are made from braided yarn and two of the straps are made from the side seams from the legs of of jeans. They are are all lined with fabric.

You can find find ways to reuse and re-purpose all sorts of things into something usable and cute.

Pieced Denim Skirt

What do you do when you have a pair of jeans that fit around the waist, but the legs are falling apart? Make them into a skirt... of course. (Waste not, want not, and all that stuff.)

This pair of jeans was literally falling apart at multiple places on the leg, but they still fit pretty good. Piecing the salvageable parts of the old jeans with a light weight red fabric and side panels from the legs of another pair of scrap jeans I patched this denim skirt together into a wearable piece of art. Patches, yarn, and embroidery floss were used to decorate,  stabilize weak places, and cover holes or tears.

Some of the pockets were in really weak condition and patch work had to be done by hand with patches or stitching. It was very much a labor of love using both the machine and a lot of hand work to secure and reinforce. (I guess lucky for me I learned hand work first and for many years preferred it almost entirely over the use of the machine.) The bottom edge has a straight stitch sewn all the way around around about 1/2 inch from edge, the the outer edge left raw.

Backside

I wanted a longer skirt (this one coming to about mid calf) that was comfortable, easy to wear, and unique. I love the contrast of fabrics for spring or summer days. Instead of going out to buy a new skirt, I got want I wanted by my own hand and I got to bring new life to something that might have otherwise been thrown out. Be who you are and who you want to be - express you.