Highly Infectious!

I love a good idea! When I heard about this particular one, I just had to get in on all the crafty, thrifty goodness going on. Chi-Chi and Muffy's Montessori teacher set an ambitious goal of stitching up cloth napkins and tablecloths for the classroom. In an effort to reduce her time spent in the laundry room (who can blame her!?) , she wanted enough to cover the five days a week the school is open. I'll let you do the math... 24 students multiplied by 5 days equals some serious time at the sewing machine! I agreed to lend a hand on the project. When she informed me of her brilliant plan to use men's dress shirts for the napkins and thrifted sheets for the tablecloths....well let's just say my level of excitement went up a notch. Brilliant! I wasted no time raiding Hubby's closet for shirts destined for goodwill. Somehow, the notion of finding a new, meaningful purpose for these old shirts breathed new life into the project for me. Chi-Chi and Muffy think it's a hoot that they will be wiping spaghetti sauce off their chins with pieces of Daddy's shirts! These napkins are providing more than just a lesson in table manners. They are giving us all a lesson in being resourceful, frugal and creative.

Ironically, a few days into the napkin project, the post man delivered my much anticipated copy of Amanda Soule's Handmade Home. Soooooooo lovely and inspiring! The combination of the napkin project and the ideas in this book put my mind into creative overdrive. I spent the weekend fitting in bits of stitching wherever and whenever possible. A vintage thrifted sheet was fashioned into a set of long-overdue curtains for the bathroom. Gee, we've only been in the house for five years! Don't worry, the only neighbours with a view of this room are the squirrels and deer.


I created this pared down version of Amanda's Cozy Wall Pockets from an old wool blanket gathering dust in the linen closet. It's a much-needed storage solution for the boys' bathroom reading material. Another quick crafty hit was this set of matching boy/doll felted sweater hats, straight out of Handmade Home. Even Hubby got in on the action and created all the wooden buttons for me from alder branches.

"Ms. M's" napkin project and Handmade Home have inspired me to more thoughtfully consider "repurposing" in my crafty endeavours. I have been doing this for years in my rug hooking, but I'm looking forward to taking it to a new level. Good ideas...they are truly infectious! Any of you out there with a few to spread...this is one bug I don't mind catching!