Vinegar on windows!!

Just wanted to post to say I used a vinegar & water mix in a spray bottle (with some lemon juice) yesterday to clean my windows & mirrors and it worked great!! I had read that vinegar can sometimes be streaky on the windows but I knew this morning would reveal the truth.

As the morning sun shines thru my giant livingroom window, no longer do I see a million hand prints, just sparkly clean. No streaks either!

Score one more for cleaning with vinegar!!!

Clorox comes clean... about what is IN their products

Clorox took the path less travelled in chemical cleaning world & decided to disclose WHAT is in their products. While it is a positive step in letting us know just what we are exposing ourselves to, the information was far from "good news".

Just in scents alone, over 1,200 ingredients are used in fragrances alone!! Shocking really!

This article on enviroblog summarizes some of the worst finds of the chemicals listed.

Hopefully in the future Clorox might offer some of their products fragrance-free to cut down on the shocking amount of chemicals they use.

I for one won't be rushing out to check their labels... nothing a little vinegar, lemon & baking soda can't take care of anyways.

Water Conservation vs Cleanliness

I was thinking about water conservation while I was in the shower today. I grew up with a home that had a water cistern that we filled, so saving water was always something we just did. No long showers, no lush green lawns, rain water buckets, etc.

Once I moved out, I figured I earned the right to a nice long shower with tremendous pressure... and so I have gone on my merry way enjoying long showers.

When we moved up here I was super excited by the water pressure we had. It just thunders out of the tap!! But first,  we needed a new shower head and my husband came home with one of those low-flow types. I can honestly say that while I tolerate it, I really HATE it. Where is my pressure? Where is the thunderous out-flow of warm water? Yes, I've gotten used to it, but I still resent it. It does the job, but I still threaten it with replacement.

One of the main reasons I dislike it is because I have long THICK hair. I feel like I spend longer than ever under the water, trying to rinse my hair so it doesn't seem like a winning situation. Also, because there is less pressure, I feel like I can't warm up (even with hot water) We are in northern Alberta and a good hot shower should warm me to my toes but I feel like it takes twice as long with this thing. My solution has been to put the plug in the tub while I shower so I'm warming my feet & my head at the same time. It has worked.

Another reason I resent it is because I don't tend to waste water anyways. I'm not one of those people who shower every day, especially in the winter, I generally shower every third day. With thick hair & dry skin, its all I need (unless i was physically dirty)

And this got me thinking about our modern culture's perception of cleanliness! You know the old saying "Cleanliness is next to godliness" and it seems we have taken it straight to heart. Pretty much everyone I know showers every single day! We slather our whole bodies with soaps (most of which are not safe for our skins), shampoo all the nutrients & oils out of our hair & off our skin... and then still complain about how fast we're aging, or how dry our skin is... so then we slather more chemicals onto it trying to reverse the process.

And not just our bodies, if that isn't enough of a water waste. We obsessively clean our vehicles, our windows have to sparkle, the entire floor gets mopped if something is dribbled in one spot. Clean Clean Clean! Water water water!

I know its our culture to have instilled all these "normals" in our minds, but it is shocking how much water we use just for appearances. Not just for cleaning, but north Americans are obsessed with perfect patches of green grass around our homes.  We all want that gorgeous, silky soft lawn (that more than 50% do not ever step out on). While I admit, its nice to have great green grass for the kidlets to play on, and to walk barefoot across, it really is just a vanity thing that we all have deemed acceptable.  So there goes gallons & gallons of more water, especially in hot areas where grass really was never meant to grow. (And I won't get into the labour involved in maintaining these lawns, nor the chemicals that generally get used to make them more PERFECT than our neighbour's)

Its just a funny thing we westerners do that less developed countries are probably amazed at. Especially where water is scarce and we have it in such abundance that we hardly give it a second thought.

So, while I don't feel guilty for resenting my low-flow shower head, I do get these convicting thoughts of looking at the 'big picture' from time to time. While I don't share all of these "vanities", I do participate in my fair share and its definitely something I will be considering in a new light in the future when it comes to water usage, land usage, and remind me to not take water for granted so much!

Hand-Made Quilts

Another goal of mine for 2011 was to learn to sew! I've never had talent nor desire previous to this year, but with baby #2 on the way, I figured it was time I learned to make something! So I figured sewing straight lines would be a good way to start and I got busy learning about quilting.

While the fabrics are neither organic nor "green" learning how to make things definitely is a good thing for sustainability and saves a bit of $$ too. I started with picking some cute boy-ish fabrics and buying the appropriate tools to make the job easier. Its no longer about measuring tape & a good pair of scissors. A wonderful tool called a rotary cutter and a self-healing cutting mat are a quilter's best friends. Add to that a large see-thru measuring mat and you're good to go.

Of course a good pair of scissors & a sewing machine are also helpful. I don't have my own machine so I borrowed my sweet niece's who is away at college :)

Once you have the tools, its time to decide what you want to make and how big. I didn't really know anything about quilting but I knew I could at least a sew a straight line so a simple patchwork quilt seemed like a good choice.

I wasn't sure how big I wanted to make it but since I was just learning I figured I'd start with one very small. And I knew I wanted it to be soft & warm so I went to choose from soft flannels at the fabric store, and matched the prints with a super soft minky fabric to go on the back.  We just have a small fabric store here but even then, the choice took me almost an hour.

I got a few tips for working with flannel, because it shrinks quite a bit I was told to wash & dry it first. And then iron it if its wrinkly. And I read a tip online that said to use a 1/2 inch seam allowance instead of 1/4 inch because flannel frays. (This just means to start sewing in a half inch from the outside edge) What I learned after my first experience is that not all flannel is alike. The printed flannel is much sturdier than solid. The solid frayed & skewed & looked awful in general so I did not use it (it was plain yellow)  But when I went to the fabric store the second time they said that instead of running it thru the wash (with the agitator) to just WET it and put it in the dryer and it shouldn't be as bad. But it definitely needs ironing when its cheaper material.

Now its time to cut!! The fun part! I decided that I wanted each square to be 5x5 inches, so in order to achieve this with a 1/2" seam allowance, you need to cut the squares 6x6 inches. First thing is to align the two straight edges perfectly & smooth it in half (or iron it if you want it perfectly aligned... I was a bit impatient for this so I just smoothed it) Trim the non-straight edges with a ruler & a cutter so they are as straight as you can get them.

Then I cut full strips of 6 inches, still folded in half and used my see-thru ruler mat to cut 6x6 squares (2 at a time because of the fold) Note: I tried folding again but cutting thru 4 layers didn't make a nice cut so I would stick to 2 layers only.

Use the most of your fabric, starting from the straight edge and not the folded edge. (Trim off the very ends of the straight edge)

Work thru each fabric the same way and you should be left with a few stacks of perfect 6x6 squares!

Now you want to decide on the lay-out or pattern of your quilt. You can choose a complex pattern or just lay them out in alternating colors/prints to your liking. For my first quilt I just alternating prints making sure the same print wasn't touching in the following row.  You can either do your layout on a big table, or, in my case, I lay it all out on the floor, rearranging squares till I had it how I liked it. Because I just wanted a small blanket to start I made the size 5 squares by 5 squares. Great size for a cuddle blanket or to cover a wee babe up in the carseat.

Once the layout is decided... start sewing. I chose to do one row at a time. First face two squares together, pattern side in, and sew one edge. Then do the next two in the row face to face. Then piece the 4 squares face to face and sew that edge. Because mine was uneven (with 5 squares instead of 6) I sewed the final sqaure on last.

I placed that row back in its pattern & picked up the squares for the next row and so on until I sewed all 5 rows. A good idea now is to take your iron and quickly press all your seams open & flat - this will make sewing easier.  Then take the two rows, match them along the appropriate edge and what I did was match the seams & pin them together and the two outside edges so it wouldn't move to much.

Now you should be left with something that looks like a finished quilt!! Be proud! It wasn't that hard afterall was it.

To add a backing, lay the fabric of your backing material down (nice side up) and lay your quilt top on it (nice side down - so the nice sides face eachother) This is when I pinned A LOT. Especially because the backing was minky and minky is quite stretchy. So I pinned & pinned, trying not to stretch the minky too much. After it was securely pinned, I trimmed around the edge of the minky so it was the same shape as quilt top.

Go ahead and sew it all the way around now! I left the width of one square for turning it inside out. I tried leaving a smaller opening but it was just too much of a struggle (hence I learned of the other wonderful tool called a SEAM RIPPER) Once its turned inside out - there it is - your beautiful almost finished quilt. All that is left to do is stitch that opening closed. You can either hand stitch this, or in my case, I just zipped a line across with the sewing machine. I changed the bottom bobbin to a chocolate brown thread to match the minky backing so the white thread wouldn't be so obvious and tried to keep the seam close to the edge. Ta-da! You're finished!

I was so pumped by my first accomplishment (picture at the top) that I went to the fabric store and got more fabric. I wanted yellow to be in the original quilt so instead of the cheapo solid yellow, I found the same color with a dot print & bought some of that to go with the others. I knew I wanted to make a slightly bigger one with a fancier lay out, also for baby#2 so after cutting and changing the layout a million times, I came up with this one.

 So, now the new guy has two made-by-mama-with-love blankets and I have learned a new skill. And, I have the fabric all picked out for Ethan's big-boy quilt when I get time to pull out the sewing machine again.

All this to say... if I can sew some straight lines that make a quilt, then anybody can do it! Give it a try!