Upcycling

Hi, Y'all!

Now, we are even officially relocated, and besides a few minor to dos, our home is exactly like we wanted it to be. I still have to separate a few small lemon trees which I left in one pot before moving. But then I have to paint some planters black, because yellow and orange so doesn't fit into our overall color concept!

Two days ago, I received some new fabric, and although I was tempted to cut and sew right away, I ordered myself to wash them first to avoid any bad surprises. Because that actually happened to me once: Out of laziness I made two t-shirts from unwashed fabric. I was so proud because I handled the stretchy material pretty well, and the fit was awesome. But after the first laundry cycle I got crop tops! Well, the nature of such a crop top is to show off your midriff - and I got a lot of midriff to show! Lesson learned and now the dark grey waffle pique and the lighter grey woven fabric with dandelions will be turned into throw pillow covers for the daybed in my office. I don't think I want the wooden pallets any longer, but it has to be cozy in any case. I might fix two pillows to the wall, but I'm not sure, yet.

While waiting for the fabric delivery, hubby sorted out three plain white T's (not the band!) and I decided to turn them into t-shirt yarn and see if I can crochet something nice with it. In theory I could also follow the trend and make a macramee plant hanger, but you know that me and macramee aren't best friends. Why diy something I wouldn't like to use for myself?

So, here's the show and tell:

First, I cut the lower seam and the upper part where the sleeves begin, which leaves us with the belly part of the shirt. That I laid flat on my desk and cut 2 cm strips - but pay attention! Only cut through one side seam (lower seam in the picture below) and stop a few centimeters before the second side seam (upper seam in the picture). Otherwise you produce lots and lots of loops...

Here you might see it better:

And then I cut the connection between two stripes diagonally which results in a veeeeery long fabric strip. 

By pulling on the strip you get the fabric to roll up. Thus before winding it into a ball, i had to pull some strings... Which looks like this: 

And like this:

Three large men's t-shirt-midriffs result in three balls with appr. 10 cm in diameter (please excuse my sticking to the metric system): 

And with a crochet hook in (German) #10 this is what you get: 

This star form builds when you do single crochets but instead of pulling the loop  through the usual opening. do it slightly shifted sideways. Looks a bit like a knitted piece and is surprisingly sturdy even with the soft material. 

When googling for t-shirt yarn you'll receive appr. 27,000 tutorials for baskets, and surely I had to try it. But I added some faux leather handles - kinda cute, I think.  

In case you're wondering: In the lower basket there are dehydrated pineapple pieces :-)

But I wanted to try something else - please find below a cover for a flower vase: 

I really, really like it, and I can think of many variations for such a cover: Maybe for a mug to avoid burning your fingers on the hot stuff, or for cans or glass bottles - you might come up with even more ideas... 

And as I've been told that doggie content always generates lots of traffic in social media, here's the photo proof that Billie Eilish came to visit for a bonding experience with Heinrich...  😄😄😄

Let the weekend beGin!!!

Living in a Box *singing*

Hi, Y'all! 

Do you remember that 90ies song "Living in a Box" by the band with the same name (not very fancy, right?). Although I don't like the song very much, it sunk its' hooks in my brain and won't go away - bummer! But I digress...

In one of my last posts I told you about my diy projects still on my to do list. Some of them are finished right now, but one project took me quite some time and therefore, I only showed you first pictures. My goal was to find a second life for that huge pile of packing material which occurred during our relocation. I guess, the moving company will take back the 50 or more cardboard boxes which are lingering idly in our basement right now. But I don't think they have a special need for all the packing paper. Moreover, I wanted some boxes exactly fitting in my shelf rack.

Here you find Heinrich on some of the said paper - no special purpose, only to increase the cuteness factor: 

I took two larger plastic boxes which turned a little unstable over time and stabilized them with some adhesive tape. Then I made two boxes from cardboard which exactly fit into my shelf. I covered all four containers with paper and a healthy dose of wallpaper glue - classic paper maché technique.  

Afterwards, I cut paper in stripes, crushed and twisted them in order to braid them easily. Well, and then I braided and braided and braided - you can call me Rapunzel, now! In my first attempt I took a heavy duty paper and wider stripes. That was way faster, but I didn't like the optics - wasn't delicate enough for my liking: 

Therefore, the triathlon (cutting, crushing, braiding) had to start again, but this time with the finer paper. Looks waaaaaay better: 

To avoid waiting for normal household glue to dry, I connected the braids with hot glue. To make the boxes extra sturdy, I covered them again with a layer of wallpaper glue. Because of the several drying periods, this is no fast finished project. But as I had time on hand, that was no problem... 

To add some finishing touches to the boxes, I made some faux leather handles and fixed them with Chicago screws. Looks very classy, don't you think? I wouldn't pack them with a lot of heavy stuff and carry them by the handles; they are definitely not made to carry firewood inside (especially since they are from paper and cardboard). But they surely fit my purposes perfectly, and I think they are really pretty. 

Do you like them, too?

Stay safe and sane and have a nice time!!!