I did some dyeing last night.....

I needed some new colors for my wool applique but didn't feel like getting out my chemical dyes so I used the "Kool-aid" method and did some over-dyeing too.  These are the blues I got that I needed.

I put some water in my crockpot, set it to high and throw in some different wools and Kool-aid.  Last night I was looking for some blues so I put in some dark blue wool, a couple drops of liquid detergent that helps "wet" things and then 3 or 4 packages of blueberry Kool-aid .  Depending on the time in the crockpot and the original color of what you're dyeing, you get different results which is what is so cool!

I use tongs to pull out the HOT wool and let it drip into the upside down lid while I take it and drape it over my faucet so it can drip in the sink until it cools off.  Once it cools, I rinse it in a bowl of white vinegar to SET the color and keep it from bleeding and then I wring it dry and throw it in my dryer.

And this is what I do with the dyed wool after it's dry!  This part takes the longest but knowing that I used old wool that I get at thrift stores and then dye it the colors I need makes me feel like a true "re-purposer" and very GREEN!  If anyone has any wool clothes or old material they want to get rid of you can send it my way!  Wool is very expensive nowadays and actually hard to find since most materials today in clothing are synthetic.  It needs to be 100% wool in order to keep it from fraying.  You "felt" the wool by washing it and drying it  (without fabric softner) and it shrinks so it doesn't fray when you applique it.

Happy Labor Day....I took it seriously...I've been working all weekend!

Well...first I mowed the lawn and helped my neighbor with his too.  Then I washed the mower....a season's worth of grass and dirt on that tractor and on me too since it was so dry it was like taking a dust bath to mow!

Then I went to town and bought some mums and then back to cleaning the garage and yada, yada, yada....inspired or just tired?  I took a nice long bath and fell into bed!

Guess what I've been doing.....

Yep!  You guessed it.....I've been cleaning my closet.  I removed all of the out of season clothes and look how much room I have!  I dusted the walls and corners and washed the shelves and rods.

I dusted the molding and brushed the edges of the carpet where the vacuum never seems to reach and then I shampooed the carpeting.  I have 2 laundry baskets in there for dirty clothes...one for lights and one for darks but I'd like to find a better solution since they take up quite a bit of floor space.  Any ideas anyone?  I have some baskets..tall, reed baskets that I might make some liners for and there's a McCalls sewing pattern #2784 that has hanger covers.  Am I getting carried away?  After all...it's just a closet plus there are other areas of my house that need attention....maybe a back burner project.  I can get SO anal sometimes!

OK....I went to the Dollar store and got containers for my shoes as they WERE all over the floor in the closet and get dusty and again take up precious floor space.  So, I am going to polish/clean them and put them into the smaller containers and the bigger ones are for boots.

While I was at the Dollar store I saw these cute kitchen towels and washrags in "harvest" colors!  These are the colors I want my kitchen to be eventually but right now I need towels badly so I grabbed them up!