December is Doing

We have been busy the past couple of weeks. The sewing machine has been running at a speed to rival the Grinch's; the oven and the Crockpot have been working busily; and in between that we go out and shovel the snow. Or this weekend it's been slush and freezing rain. So better to think about the warm things inside.

Frugal Family Fun Blog posted about these Pocket Hand Warmers awhile back, and Mama Squirrel was so taken with them that she decided to make some too, using rummage-saled ribbon and a pair of Mr. Fixit's jeans. (She did ask first.)

Cost: minimal for the ribbon; free for the jeans (since Mr. Fixit couldn't wear them anymore); minimal for the rice and thread.


As you can tell, the hardest thing about them is getting them all the same size (ours weren't) or always quite even (ours weren't). But that's not a big deal. Mama Squirrel is going to make some more and this time they'll be perfect.

Last month I asked your advice on sachet fillings for the scent-sensitive. The idea that appealed most was using peppermint, and Mama Squirrel just happened to find organic dried peppermint (also known as tea) at the health food store.

We had some nice crisp white fabric that came in a rummage-sale box--it might have been muslin, we're not sure. Anyway, we sewed that into 5 x 7 rectangles and stuffed them with cotton balls and a tablespoon of peppermint.

Then we got out the vintage hankies (mostly yard-saled over the years) and played around with ribbon, lace and other trims (rummage-saled and thrift-shopped earlier this year). None of the hankies had to be cut; any little stitches or gluing was done on the ribbon. Mama Squirrel was inspired mostly by the photos on the Primrose Design website, but we made our hankies cover the whole pillow, and skipped the button trim.

This one has a crocheted flower added on--we found a couple of handmade ones in with a bag of lace and trims.

This one is tied with a strip of tatting...Mama Squirrel liked that against the ribbon design of the handkerchief.

We packaged them in zipper bags with a printed-out tag (it also says "From the Squirrel Family Workshop" on the blocked-out part.

Cost: pretty much free, since we already had the hankies and the trims were bought at yard-sale prices. Two bags of dollar-store cotton balls filled six sachets.

And that white fabric inspired another sewing project, but we can't tell you about it yet because somebody might peek.

More "doing" coming up...stay tuned.