Wednesday, March 16, 2011

A Recycled Hawaiian Shirt

Hello! I`ve been a little under the weather this past week with a sinus infection. Mint tea, green tea and steam have almost cleared it up. I was pulling weeds which got the allergies going and the infection that followed. While confined to the house I made a pillow cover and bread bag using a vintage cotton Hawaiian shirt. It was a Paradise Found shirt with white hibiscus on a blue background, too pretty to toss.


The bread bag was easy, just a couple of seams and I threaded white flat braid (like shoelace) through the casing for closure.


 
The pillow is made with the shirt front. I wanted the opening at the top,  kind of unusual but it`s my pillow! The button holes are on top, closed with the original coconut shell buttons. I wanted to save the label and that is attached at the upper left hand corner.






The shirt back, sleeves, pocket and collar still remain to be used. It took about two hours total which included cat wrangling and running the cows out of my lilacs. Not bad.

Did our monthly shopping today, it was surprisingly pleasant. We got to town about 7:30 a:m, temp about 65. Store shelves were fully stocked and there was not a crowd of people.   I buy very little boxed anything. Cooking from scratch doesn`t take too much time and I feel it is far healthier. Our grocery bill is half what it used to be. I have the time to cook, I know many of you don`t. I try to make enough extra to stay ahead at least one meal  for leftovers and to freeze. We`re on a fixed income and saving on groceries is like money in the bank. I  keep a pantry stocked with whole wheat and soy flours, sugar, honey, spices, Hersheys cocoa for making instant hot cocoa mix, rice, beans, broth, maple syrup etc. I keep unbleached white flour on hand too, cornstarch, yeast for bread, baking powder, vanilla, almond etc. It`s takes time to build a pantry. If you buy just one extra item a trip your storage will grow.

That`s about all for today. Take care everyone.

Thank you for visiting,
Cathy

7 comments:

  1. Love that you used the tag Catherine! What a great idea! A once a month grocery trip...must be wonderful! Try as I might...there always seems to be something to pick up weekly...seems to be milk lately!! ha! Have a great week!

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  2. Just a quick.....
    Happy St. Patrick's Day!!
    Love,
    Marilyn

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very cute! I love the color!

    I am contacting everyone as a reminder and an inquiry to see if they're attending the AZ blogger's luncheon on March 26th as I have to call the tea room on in the next few days with a head count.

    Details are on the Monday (3-14) post of my blog.

    If you are attending please leave a comment on that post.

    Thank you and be blessed!

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  4. wonderful way to recycle a beautiful shirt..great idea...I know we cook mostly from scratch too.and I get flour and other staples from the big bulk bins..it does save quite a bit of money....the only boxed stuff I get are cake mixes (as they are so cheap), instant potato flakes,dried milk powder, panko bread crumbs. We can and freeze alot during the summer and fall so have been really enjoying good food..last night we had corn on the cob from the garden last year and is it sweet!
    hope you both have a great St. Paddy's day!

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  5. Oh, I agree, that shirt was too pretty not to use. I love the idea of a flowery bread bag. :)

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  6. Your shirt's fabric is really bright pretty and made an excellent bread bag and pillow, Cathy.

    I also like to cook from scratch as much as possible. I love to bake!

    We're still waiting for our daughter-in-law to go into labor..thank you for your good wishes!

    Happy St. Patrick's Day!

    ReplyDelete

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Vintage Sewing Machines

 I start this post with a picture of a lion that daily crosses through my son`s property. Beautiful ! This is near Prescott.