Things I've been working on

Napkins ...

Kitchen Towels ...

 

A toddler blankie ...

A new pair of socks ...

Kitchen linens again!

It's not very glamorous, but so practical: kitchen washcloths made from a tablecloth!

Because making 38 kitchen washcloths is one of my favorite ways to use a thrifted $2 cotton tablecloth!

More Serged Kitchen Towels & Washcloths

I've decided that I really like the weight & feel of cotton tablecloths made into kitchen linens.

So, I've been at it again. (I've done this before ...)

The beige ones above are small washcloths. Twenty-something, from a tablecloth.

And then, there were blue ones ... which gave me the perfect opportunity for using my newest variegated thread ...

Awesome. I love it.

So, now I've got a great stack of pretty blue kitchen towels with serged edges.

The variegated effect is fun - did I mention that I love this thread? (And, no, nobody is paying me mention it.) I never really gave much thought to variegated thread, until a friend quilted some little hearts on a baby quilt for my daughter - in variegated thread. That was several years ago. Then, recently, quilting with variegated thread was discussed in this post at Jo's Country Junction. 

Anyway, I'm liking the variegated threads I've used, here and on this project.

What I really want to try this blue variegated thread on is quilting The Shirt Quilt Top that I finished a year ago. Remember this one? I had fun finding an interesting way of putting it together.

Anyway, the plan is free-motion quilting in blue, all over this blue quilt, with navy blue backing, and the same variegated thread on the back ... I'm liking it already!

Kitchen Towels & Washcloths - made from tablecloths

I halfway-made some kitchen washcloths and towels this week ...

Halfway, because I made towels & washcloths out of tablecloths.

The thrift store was having a sale, so I got a couple of tablecloths for a dollar each. (Or was it a dollar fifty? Either way ...)

I liked the feel, the weight, the little bit of texture, and the 100%-cotton-ness. And I liked the price!

Not needing any tablecloths, though, and not being able to leave well-enough alone, I decided to make them into kitchen towels and washcloths. (In a previous blog post, I mentioned doing something similar last year. Other kitchen linens are mentioned here and here.)

Handy-dandy serged edges for all. 

I made a half-dozen washcloths AND a half-dozen kitchen towels from EACH tablecloth!

I love my new kitchen towels & washcloths - AND I love the price! Since each tablecloth yielded a dozen items, the price was way better than even the cheapest kitchen linens out there. LOVE IT!

Dinner Napkins ... and more little napkins

So, after the success of the little napkins project, I started thinking: If those were so easy, I could certainly make some regular-sized dinner napkins. 16 inches square. Serged edges. All cotton.

And if I had my choice, I'd pick some combination of blue and green. Maybe plaid.

Next trip to the thrift store, guess what? I found my blue, my green, my plaid, my 100% cotton -- all in one almost-new duvet cover. 

Enough for 16 blue dinner-sized napkins ... 

... and 16 plaid dinner-sized napkins ... 

... AND 4 plaid and 4 blue 12-inch napkins. 

Quick math: $10 duvet cover becomes 40 napkins. Again, I've got napkins I love for 25¢ each. 

Nice. Very nice.

And, again, with awesome napkins, one can do really fun things with table-settings! ("Restaurant Silverware!" the kids exclaimed, when I rolled the silverware in the napkins.)

My oldest daughter raised her eyebrows when she realized that I was making that many dozens of napkins. But actually, we're using them. 

And I'm loving the nearly-endless basket of napkins that now lives on top of the microwave.

THIS is one of the reasons I sew: To create something practical & usable for a price I love!

Little Napkins

Cloth napkins are nice to have around. But, if they were expensive, I'd be hesitant to use them, and stain them, and wear them out.

Problem solved. I made some cheap (really cute!) napkins.

Thanks to the thrift store (again), I got some great cotton fabric - enough for 8 little napkins - for a grand total of $2. At the cost of a quarter apiece, I have no problem with using them, washing them, even bleaching them if they get stained. 

Last week, I spent a while with my serger, giving these little napkins a narrow rolled hem. 

This fabric was actually a pillow sham in near-perfect condition at the thrift store for $2.00. I have no use for a pillow sham, but I loved the cute fabric and the fact that it's 100% cotton. 

(One of my pet peeves is the fact that those polyester napkins at restaurants aren't absorbent at all; I needed cotton napkins!) While I was cutting up the pillow sham, I noticed the tag: Tommy Hilfiger (one of my favorite "fabric designers")! Too funny.

While I was making these, I remembered the blue/white plaid fabric leftover from the tea towels I'd made out of a (thrift store) tablecloth (the ones I embellished with very tiny English-Paper-Pieced hexagons). 

So, I made four napkins out of the blue/white plaid, and four each of the blue/white stripe and the colorful plaid.

These napkins are about 12 inches square -- just little napkins. Just right for grabbing with a quick breakfast or lunch.

I think they're adorable. AND, we're using them lots!

Setting the table for breakfast is more fun when you've got cute bowls (gotta love Dollar Tree!) and cute napkins!

While I was on a roll, and while I was finding thrift-store deals, I bought some more awesome cotton, and made some regular-sized dinner napkins from some other fabric I fell in love with. 

More on that another day. Stay tuned ...

Embellished Towels

I've been finding some fun things to do with my Very Tiny Hexagons (see previous posts here and here. You might also remember this post, where I embellished my now-favorite pot holders.)

Recently, I found another spot where I didn't realize I needed tiny hexagons: cotton towels. The kind of towels I use to line a bread basket, or to cover rising bread dough.

These towels started life as a tablecloth. I found the tablecloth for a couple dollars, and loved it: Plain white cotton with simple blue stripes in a big round tablecloth that I have no use for. But for a couple dollars, I knew I could find a use for it!

I cut four towels in my favorite size & serged the edges. (The remainder of the tablecloth is waiting to see if the rest of the towels need to be that size, or another size.) 

The addition of a very tiny hexagon was just what each towel needed.

So, now I have adorable towels with tiny hexagon flowers that make me smile.

And, oddly, with my new favorite towels and my new favorite pot holders, I've been getting more inspired to bake awesome things.

In fact, I think I've baked more in the past couple weeks than in the previous few months combined! Haven't heard any complaints about that, though, so it must be a good thing!

 

The fun thing about these tiny hexagons, is that when I wash the towels, the tiny hexagons crinkle up like real quilts do, which I think is adorable. (It's the little things ...)