Scraps

I'm hesitant to post this because I worry that I may present as a hoarder, which I'm not. Okay, maybe a little. I'm really stingy with my peaches, fresh and bottled, I have a fascination with boxes that I often have to work through, and fabric scraps and wood scraps are just hard to chuck. All of those items are neatly stowed away and I don't think my house will soon become condemned because of them, but I keep those things because I use them.

The peaches; there could be an entire separate post on those. If you've never had the opportunity to pick a peach fresh from the tree, bite into it, and savor it as the juice dribbles down your chin, add it to your bucket list. There are few things greater in life.

The boxes; I already discussed that issue.

The fabric; anyone who sews knows that a scrap can be added to other scraps for a quilt, wall-hanging, or as pictured below, additional clothing. I had a boy first. He got hand-me-downs from his boy cousins, which resulted in a rather masculine pair of overalls with holes in the knees. I could have discarded them, but with a little ingenuity and a gathering foot they became a play dress. Girly for my girl, but with shorts beneath for when she's not a lady. Perfect.

Another way to use up scraps is in an apron. My sister-in-law and I once worked together to make certain my dad had a tie to correspond to each of the classes he taught. Because ties are cut on the bias, I had a fair amount of scrap fabric left over. It was perfect for bias tape, pockets, and a ruffle for a child's apron Christmas gift. Okay, so maybe a kid wouldn't be excited about an apron, but the idea was to include a simple recipe and the ingredients so that cooking could commence and the association with the apron would be positive. I never followed up to find out if that was the case.

The wood. . .I think that comes from my dad. Woodworking wasn't his profession, but probably it could have been. We would have had to move to a warmer climate as we would have all been naked and needed to grow food year round because I don't know that he would have been able to support a large family with that profession, but his resulting products were truly works of art. He often saved scraps of lumber for some future use, especially cuts of maple, oak, and fine-grade pine.

I made this wall hanging for one of my friends. I spent $ 0.55 on it. Some may think, yep, it looks like it, but I like the way it turned out. The 2x8 is scrap lumber leftover from building our house (still). The handle at the top came on a china cabinet that used to be speckle-stained oak that I repainted black to coordinate with my dining room. Now what once was an outdated brass handle functions as a tab from which the hanging can be hung. The origin of the green ribbon is from a package of goodies last Christmas and has been sitting in my back of ribbon scraps.

The molding at the top was a small portion of trim left from building the mantle around the fireplace in the living room. I should probably mention that some of the pieces used in the mantle were portions my dad had set aside for some special use. I would say it went to good use. I spent $0.50 on the paint at home depot. It was a small sample color jar that was on clearance. It cost about $0.05 to print the saying on  the block and I already had the mod-podge used to affix the cardstock print to the wood block.

And the butterfly goes back to my original hoard of fabric that was leftover from making skirts for my daughter and a couple of nieces. The fabric is a light-weight cotton from JoAnn. To make it hold its shape, I ironed the butterfly image onto wonder under (a fusible webbing with heat activated glue on either side) and ironed the butterfly backed in wonder under onto aluminum foil. That not only gives the back a metallic luster, it makes it slightly stiffer and allows the wings to hold their shape in a more three-dimensional position.

 Probably one would wonder why all my clothing photos are taken against carpeted backgrounds. Those of you readers who are kindhearted, probably think it is because it allows the article of  clothing to be spread out and photographed with a neutral colored backing. Nothing, however, could be further from the truth. In reality, we are hoarders, and none of the clothes end up in the closet. Their natural environment is strewn about and used as a second layer of flooring. Alas, it is much easier to take the picture where the clothing lies than it would be to hang it neatly on coordinated hangers in the closets just a few feet away.

 Also, if you wonder why both clothing items happen to be horizontal rather than vertical, well. . .I hate to give out personal information, but I will say I live on the North American continent and if one were to look at any globe, one would see that the position of the continent puts it's inhabitants in a somewhat sideways position. It would be worse if we lived in Ecuador, but not nearly as terrible as if we inhabited Antarctica. I think the only truly upright individual is Santa Clause an some aren't even sure of his existence.