Finishing Up...

Since my yard looks like a mud derby race track, I decided to stay in and finish up all the unfinished projects stashed around the house. December has made history as the wettest December ever around here. It had beat the record yesterday at 21.8 inches of rain with two more weeks to go in December and more rain predicted. Today the sun peeked out a little bit, but no rain. Maybe it'll have time to drain a little....fingers crossed.

Anyway it gave me time to sew the bias tape on these cute little flannel monkeys. Two pieces of flannel back to back and edged with bias tape makes great burp cloths. I like to make them nice and large. With a baby you can find so much use for them. Especially when you're on the go. I made these to match the little monkey outfit I bought for a friend who had a baby recently.

I used some of this bias tape. A older friend of mine gave me a large bag of bias tape since she no longer sews. I had so much fun rooting through the bag. I even found a package labeled "Boiltex Seam Tape". It was marked .19 cents on the label. Not even sure how old that is. I know one of the stores "Zayre" had been out of business for many years.

I had started this purse last summer and only finished the knitted part. I knitted a tube then sewed the bottom closed with a piece of yarn. Next I used a crochet hook to attach the bamboo handles.

Then I sewed a black small corduroy liner the size of the purse. I attached the liner in the purse by hand. Next...a cute little sparkly thing scavenged from costume jewelry to finish it up.

On to those loofah sponges I've been growing. You may have noticed if you shop at Whole Foods, these little pot scrubby things made from loofahs. Of course I thought...I can make those! For a whole lot less. First peel the loofahs and remove the seeds. Next you smush the loofah and cut out the shapes you wish. I made ovals and hearts. Not too many hearts because they were more difficult to sew. Next I removed some of the inside of the shape around the edges to make it easier to sew.
Then I put my machine on the thicker material setting, smashed the edges of the loofah shapes together and sewed them tight with a zig zag pattern. I started going over the edges twice and I found they looked nicer. Then I trimmed any scraggy edges and.....

I have these extremely cute little pot scrubbies. Some of the loofahs were softer than the others. I saved them for the bath. I'm going to put a couple of scrubbies with a couple of knit dish rags together....tie them up with a raffia bow and a homemade tag....and now I have some really cute useful homemade Christmas presents to give special people that other than time literally cost pennies!

If you are one of the many individuals I gave loofah seed to last year, I'd really be interested in your success or failure...if success...what did you do with them?