Use it up

Use it up, wear it out

make it do, or do without.

I don't typically make new year's resolutions.

This year I am.

I have TOO MUCH STUFF.

I can't bear to throw things out,

and I realized, I AM a hoarder of sorts.

So....it's time to use it up, or do without.

I have had this pile of woven scraps for at least 2 years.

The scraps weren't big enough to make anything together, and

I couldn't figure out what to do with them for the longest time.

This material has been shuffled from one tote, to another box,

to a new space...for the last time.

Today, I woke to a blanket of snow,

all the laundry is caught up,

and the christmas things have been put away.

I'm still on vacation,

and this morning I decided it was time to use it up.

I sewed little pillow squares,

stuffed them with lavender,

and sewed a button to the center.

They look really cute all together in a bowl.

Keeping this theme in mind,

I recently took an online workshop

 called Clutch Play with

Roben-Marie Smith.

I made these little clutch bags earlier this week.

I had some colored duck cloth that I

originally intended for making totes (at some time long ago).

This material has been sitting in crates

for a couple years now....and it is time to use it up.

I began painting strips of fabric in a graffiti style,

and whipped up these cute clutch's.

I started with cream duck cloth,

and remembered I had some drab olive green,

and some bright yellow.

These were easy, and fun to make.

This was my first one, and I ended up added a couple

extra gussetts before it was too late.

The green fabric was dark to begin with,

but after adding the different paint colors,

it wasn't so bad.

Yesterday, I made this denim tote.

I found an online tutorial via pinterest to make

this fat quarter friendly tote.

Rather than use fat quarter fabric,

I dug through a bin of recycled denim instead.

It is a little stiff, and was hard to sew

through some sections.

It's functional and clean,

 and I accomplished something.

If  I can keep this momentum going,

I actually might make a dent in my stash,

accomplish a few projects,

and actually keep a new year's resolution for a change.

As I end this post,

I can smell dinner simmering in the crock pot.

Earlier today,

I pulled out from the freezer;

a package of frozen chicken thighs;

frozen blanched tomatoes from the garden;

and frozen turkey broth from the Christmas turkey.

After deboning the chicken, everything went into the pot,

including leftover veggies from entertaining earlier this week.

Carrots, peppers, green onions, and snap peas went into the pot.

I can't bear to throw food away, if I can make another meal out of it!

Use it up!