Box of stuff part 2

To start with, there where three clothing items. One was a Liz Claiborne rayon shirt; it has a pretty floral print on it. Lucky me, not too pale of a color, either. I like wearing embroidered vests in the fall and winter, so she sent me two. I think the colors on the striped vest are just wild; I should have fun with that one. The cream one is a little plain, but it is a useful item and should go with lots of clothes because it is very simple in color and styling. In other words, good for a tee shirt and jeans. YES!!!

This is just a few of the random items in the box. A red bandanna I use these a lot for my hair. Three little bags, 1 red and 2 pink; just useful to put things in. I just love items that hold stuff; aren't containers a handy thing to have around. A strap of frog fabric, sure that will find it's way into a miniature quilt at some point in time. A cooking ring "Flossie's" to make pancakes. I usually use cookie cutters; I have never done one that big, so it should be fun to see how it works out. I always have fun when these packages arrive; the variety of things she sends is just incredible to me. We have fun with this; it happens about 2 to 5 times a year, depending on what she finds.

This real brightly colored plastic tray was one of the first things I saw when I opened the box. I think it is just wonderful. My grandmother and I have been florists. She is much better at it; she has a Masters in horticulture and orniculture; she also owned her own flower shop (my cousin now runs it). I was just your typical designer/florist. It paid the bills and put me through collage, so I am definitely not complaining. The reason I love this is anthriums and ginger where some of my Vavo's favorite flowers to arrange. Lots of times she would place an anthriumin in her hair, in a bun, when she was getting dressed up. Lots of memories with this one. Don't you just love the tropical colors; they are just screaming at you!

There is this cute little yellow metal bucket with gardening tools in it: a little shovel, and fork, gloves, and two little butterflies, and lastly a little bird house to place in a planted container. Very, very cute! They actually may be a little too cute to want to use them. They all look so darling in their little bucket.

Two little pots to plant in that are full of one of my favorite candies. Don't know the name of the candy, but I have always liked it since I was a little kid. If someone knows please tell me. My kids are going a little crazy because I told then they could not eat this until I was done posting, and it is taking way too long for them.

Three children's books. I think I will claim one for me. The tale of Tom Kitten. The kids can have the other two to play with. The Tom Kitten one is a pop up book, real cute inside. The others are a Mercer Mayer talking book and a Rumpelstiltskin talking book. Both are real cute; I'm just not in to talking books. The kids like talking books, so they will have hours of fun with them. Usually they actually play with these in their rooms as well so I won't even have to hear it, either .

A box from Godiva chocolates; too bad it was empty, but it's a real cute box, all the same, with the daisies on top of it. And a collection of little ladybugs. Two candles, 3 wood ones, and 1 glass one. My middle and youngest child share a room and it is decorated with lady bugs, so they are totally excited to see these little friends come to live with us. I get to keep the glass one because I collect glass fruit and candies, and it will go well with them.

A box made out of card board. I just love boxes. Look at all the pretty paper used to decorate this one. It has a real cute handle as well and a functioning latch. The paper hinge has a little tear about 1/2 inch that is fixable, and very usable. too. Love it!!!!!

A collection of bath and body items. Lotions (four of them), 1 body wash, 1 shampoo, 1 body shower gel, 1 body butter and a box of designer soaps. These type of things can always be put to good use.

This item is a real cute cardboard box with a tassel hanging from the top of the lid. Inside of it was the stationery that you see in front with the bow on it. It has little tea cups all over the stationery and all over the box. I just love boxes, and this is defiantly a keeper. I like to put my sewing or crochet projects in boxes like this and carry them with me to work on. It is a real nice size, not too big or small.

The next item is from my mother, and it is the only item in the box from her; everything else is from Vavo.

This is a dress that my mother found at a garage sale and thought one of my kids could wear it. Well, it was marked $15.00 she got it for $13.00. Good price; too bad it doesn't fit any of my kids -- they are all too big. Looks like it was a flower girl's dress or something to do with a wedding. I want to take it apart and make a hostess apron out of it. My husband wants to give it to someone so they can wear it. We will have to see who wins out on that one because it would make the most lovely apron. I'd use the top skirt for the apron skirt and use the under skirt to make the bib of the apron. Might be able to make something else out of it as well. I love the halo and will leave that in tact; my kids can still use that part of the outfit.

This would be the 10% that might be considered junk to some but not all. The tree my Vavo made so I love it! It is a keeper. The two Rooto Rooter men my kids will play; with junk to me, fun to them. The McDonald's bucks the kids get to go to lunch one day, so that is good, too. Not sure what type of ball this is, but I am sure the kids will have fun with it. The music box sort of works; I might be able to fix it and do something with it. The little blue thing is actually a mini flash light; the girls will use it with their dolls. Four tokens for arcade games the kids can use as play money. The Key chain and cord with it, well those type of things always become useful at some point in time, and that is everything in the box. You decide -- junk or treasure.

100% cotton crochet and braided rugs

This is a rug that I used cotton fabric strips to make.
It is a sort of shabby look on purpose. This rug sits at the front of my washer and dryer. There was just a little too much white in the wash room /hall way. The area is a very small space so I let the rug stay on the softer tones. This is a nice rug because when it gets dirty I can just throw it in the washer and dryer, no special care like the wool rugs take. I just crocheted with the fabric till it ran out then I went to the next, just letting it make it's own pattern. The rug is a rectangle, although due to the angle of the photo it doesn't look like it. It was made in the traditional granny square method. That means that the two squares where made separately then joined together to form the rug. This is a nice way to make a rug because if you don't put a border on it, like I did, you can always make it bigger later by adding more squares. I didn't want to because I had a set spot for it. In front of the washer and dryer or the stove / sink in the kitchen, whichever I prefer for that week.

These next two rugs are also made out of cotton . This time it is recycled cotton towels. They can be thrown in the washer and dryer to clean also. (That is if you don't make them too big.) The oval one sits in front of my shower, and the rectangle sits in front of my sink. They are both in my upstairs bath. It is nice to use towels because they are very absorbent and easy to clean. Next time, though, I think I will make my strips about 1 1/2 inches wider, then the rugs will be real thick and squishy. Much nicer to the feet.

100% wool hall rug

Hall runner 100% wool rug.
It is 5 feet wide by 13 feet long. I used 3 different colors for each row and changed all three colors for each round. Except the boarder which I made all solid black to set it off like a picture frame. This was a fun rug to make with all the colors in it. It took me one week from start to finish. Before I made this rug the hall had a medium gray carpet in it. It was just so boring that I had to do something to wake the hall up a little bit. My husband also put in track lighting that helped a lot as it was very dark.

Halloween beaded hat

A little Halloween magic early this year.

This is a costume I made about 8 years ago for my oldest . She was 10 months old when she wore this. I had to put the hat on her every day for about 10 minutes building to 30 minutes as it grew in weight so she would be use to the fringe and not pull at it. The grayish/silver beads on the hat are hemmite very heavy.
But she got use to it before Halloween and never pulled at it once. The dress I had no pattern for so I just made one up. She also wore fishnet stockings that I cut down and re-sewed to fit her. She won first prize at the local mall contest for kids (over 300 entries). The hat is made from a bridal hat that I dyed black and then did the hand bead work on top of that.

On the back of the hat it has feathers and green beads . Around the brim of the hat is a beaded fringe that drapes around her face to frame it also made it look like she had hair instead of a little bald headed baby.