What I've Been Working On...

Hi Friends!  Hope you're all having a fantastic week!

I have been working on quite a few exciting projects, which by the way, are all eco-friendly repurposed projects.  Even though they are all in various stages of "unfinished"-- I want to fill you in on what's been keeping me busy.

Photo from Pinterest

First... I started making the famous towel bath mat that has been floating around Pinterest lately.  A word to the wise: this is a messy project. I was very surprised to learn when you cut terry cloth, thousands and thousands of tiny little shreds of the nubbies fall off and stick to your clothes, your couch, your carpet, your dog... I tried to vacuum them up- but some cling for dear life to my living room.  I had intended for this to be a night time/watch 30 Rock/zone out kind of project, but live and learn.  This project has been re-designated as an outdoor craft.

Also, the lady in the video tutorial says that the project is time consuming... And she's NOT kidding.  Believe me when I tell you-- I have probably invested 3 or 4 hours into cutting, threading, and knotting the strips into the mat.  I'm probably less than 10% done.  Patience... Patience...

Another eco-friendly craft I've recently tried my hand at is making yarn from t-shirts.  It's so easy and fun.  Here's a great tutorial that offers a fantastically easy way to make t-shirt yarn.  I first spent a LONG time cutting my t-shirt coil by coil- which resulted in an uneven "yarn".  After I make a few balls of yarn I plan to knit a few dish rags.  I am keeping my eye out for patterns to knit other goodies with t-shirt yarn.  If you know of any great patterns post them in the comment section.  :)

Photo from Pinterest 

Finally, the project I'm most excited to share with you is.....

I'm making my first quilt!!!!!!  (You may have noticed I was banking all of my exclamation points in this post for this very moment!!!!!!) My great-grandma was a wildly talented quilter and I hope to one day give all of my babies and great grandbabies beautiful blankets that they will treasure forever!

I have been studying this fantastic site Diary of a Quilter to learn how to quilt.  It's an amazing free resource.  So far I'm still in the square cutting phase.  I have been using ripped, stained, or well loved but "too college" looking clothes for my squares.  Once I cut up all of my clothing fabric I will assess the color situation and head to the fabric store for some jazzy patterns that add some sparkle to my squares.

You may have noticed Mister G's guilty face at the beginning of the post.  I caught him with a big stack of squares in the living room-- some wet with slobber :(

What have you been working on lately?  Tell me about your projects in the comment section!

xoxo,
Ashley and Mister G