A Piece of History

My Great Grandmother Anne Yates Westhoff came from England in 1919.  She was a hat maker for what was once Meier and Frank in Downtown Portland.  She must have passed on her creative genes to me because I just can get enough of all things related to ornamentation with accessories.

My aunts presented me with a few gifts this Christmas that I absolutely love!  These bracelets are made with my great grandmother's jewelry.  These beads are not plastic, but glass!  And the crystals on the pink bracelet are part of a crystal earring that I remember her wearing.  I have several memories of my great grandmother even though she died when I was 8.  By the end, she was blind but had the most amazing sense of style and the most gorgeous, fine, white hair that always looked lovely to me.  This kind of repurposing is priceless and will be passed on to my girls as a connection to the past and a part of who they are.  

Repurpose....really?

Back in the olden days...yes, that is how I used to say it in the 4th grade, little grannies and young ladies would gather around the quilting circle and construct quilts of impeccable quality from scraps.  It is amazing and deserving of respect and admiration.  I did not make this quilt from my bag of goodies but rather spent an unholy amount of money on new fabric.  The flannel alone on the back was steep for all the yardage a king size quilt needs.  I didn't do something difficult because I know my limits of time and knowledge of quilting, but for a first attempt, I think it turned out fine.  As for the repurposing part, hidden in the deep recesses of this quilt is a high end gem.  Below the batting is another king size blanket that was made with cotton batting and real silk.  If any of you know silk, you know that it is very fragile.  This gorgeous blanket lasted 5 years with plenty of washings and use.  In the end, it was horribly thread bare, but rather than throw it away, it became an extra layer of warmth for my husband that requested a "weighty" blanket.  Merry Christmas Patrick.

It's Not A Pillow Pet

If you have glanced at a Nordstrom catalog lately, inside it's uber glitzy pages is a picture of a really cool pillow.  It has buttons the size of quarters down the middle and is cotton cable knitted.  Well, because the previous owner of our home was rich enough to get said store to deliver every catalog from the uppity establishment, I plan to take full advantage and figure out what is currently hip.  So I went to Goodwill and got a great little sweater in the perfect shade of blue for $2.99.  It is wool and I liked it's understated design.  So here is my pillow with it's unassuming buttons.  You could go really funky with this.  How about Christmas pillow covers made out of all those gaudy sweaters?!

All that is required is sewing the bottom closed, two seams up the side in which the arms get cut off and a straight line accross the top closing off the neck opening.  Then unbutton your sweater and stick your pillow form in.  Next, just rebutton and hand stitch closed if you like, or not.  Don't you worry, I made the arms into those arm warmer thingys with thumb holes and the rest is bound for batting under pot holders.  Yep...I've got a repurposing disease!  Now go crazy people cuz for ultra cute pillows, you are talking an easy 25 to 40 dollar lay down.  Now, I am going to expand my horizons and start looking for that gawdy sequined shirt that would look fabulous on my daughters bed....

Scraps

I have great intentions.  And in my brain, I am a perfectionist.  But when life gets in the way, things become imperfect.  Rather than let my expectations get in the way, I go forward with great hope.  So here is my perfectly imperfect purse/kindle holder for a certain someone that I made yesterday.  All of the items were free to me.  I made this with scraps left over from decorating my daughters room in 2006 (when pink and brown were HOT), a button from a sweater that got tossed, and ribbon from a present.  Even the velcro was from the packaging that held the blanket together that I bought for my stockings.  This is truly a free item.

This little diddy has character and I am sure will be appreciated by the recipient and I had fun making it.  Whatever you do, don't be afraid to just try.  Life isn't perfect and your creations aren't either.  None of my lines are straight, it's a little too big, I should have ran the strips vertical instead of horizontal, but it is still beautiful...and made with love, the most important thing.

A Simple Stack of Paper

A simple ream of paper provides hours of entertainment for my kids....does your pew at church look like this?  TicTacToe was the order of the day on Sunday.

Add some tape and you get elaborate marble runs all over the room.  Seriously...best $5 I can spend is a ream of paper....

Dust Ruffle Skirt

Yes, you too (if you have sewing skills), can make a skirt out of a dust ruffle.  I picked up this queen size dust ruffle last year and was going to make a drapery panel out of it.  It had other plans and made it into a 3 tiered skirt for Madeline.  It's a deep red taffeta that has millions of tiny pleats.  Goodwill has the best stuff sometimes and I got this for $4.99.  Not only did I get this skirt out of it, but also one for her sister.  It didn't take very long because it was already prepleated.  I used a very wide grossgrain ribbon for the waist band and one button.  Yep...less than $5 for 2 skirts and it took about 2 hours with the hand sewing of the ribbon and button holes.  Hope this inspires you to repurpose and "upcycle" something soon.

Last Assignment of my Money Management Class

I'm trying not to dig my eyes out with a spoon, but this financial crap makes me want to do bodily damage to myself!  Not only was this class geared towards young adults who were approaching the "real world", but I can't stand this stuff!  Some of my assignments have been about buying cars, buying homes, purchasing insurance for cars, homes, and health.  Some other things that we have learned about is how to compare checking and savings accounts.  I know what you are thinking...this has got to be the easiest class ever for a person that has owned more vehicles and homes than can be counted on toes and fingers.  No, I couldn't test out of it (and it's a 300 level class even!) I have actually learned a thing or two, but this last assignment is to teach someone about investing.  This has to be one of the worst, most boring, least likely to give a favorable reaction, assignment.  I loathe...the stock market more than I loathe big pharm....so here you go.  I am going to teach you about mutual funds and why I don't and will never invest in them.  Call me a crazy waco nut job democrat with enviro leanings, but I just can't do it and sleep at night....so read on or don't but at least my assignment is finished.  If any of you want to expand my knowledge base, feel free.  One thing is for sure, I would rather work at a slaughter house than deal with money and investing...and that is really funny because the last job I had before kids was working for a bank!!!  HA!

What is a mutual fund?  Well I liken it to taking all kinds of places that need or want your money and putting them into a blendtec.  Yes, that's right, a blender.  Then with that mix of crud, people called fund managers get out their special filters and extract all the companies that fit through their filter.  Then they take all that company smoothie and manage it.  They make sure that companies are "tasty" and are good for you.  If they are not, they add some other flavors that fit through their filter into the mix.  You and a whole bunch of other people decide that you want this manager to take your money and pool it together to get this special kind of smoothie that you think you would like.  Sometimes the concoction makes you healthy (makes you money) and sometimes it makes you sick.   That my friends, is a mutual fund broken down into non-money speak.
And here is why I will never invest in a mutual fund, because no one has a filter that I like.  I don't want to invest my money in any company that makes drugs, guns, pesticides, ammo, tobacco, genetic engineering, out of country corporations, outsources work to other countries, funds political candidates that I don't like, has poor human resource practices, is neglectful of the environment, has outrageous CEO salaries, is a bank or firm that needed bailing out, insures butts, hands or voices, or basically any company that is greedy.  So what am I left with?  Pretty much nothing.  At least from my research.  So my investment opportunities are narrowed down to single corporation investing.  And guess what that means?  Lots of homework!  I guess to put it in blender terms, I'm a blueberry and banana girl.  I don't like concoctions with 80 different things in it.  I'm a purist.  I like to know where my food is coming from and where my money is being used.  The problem with this is most 401K's are mutual funds that you get to choose from.  Most financial planning firms use mutual funds.  So there you have it.  I hope you understand a little better what a mutual fund is and next time you are given the opportunity to pick which funds your 401K is invested in, take a look at the nitty gritty and not just the pretty little graph that says your money is growing or shrinking.  Happy investing....now I'm going to go scream into a pillow for a few minutes!!!!!