Natural fabric dye & fostering

Hello and welcome to Summer! The heat is on, the evenings are longer and the days are relaxing. I decided to give something a try which I have never done before, natural fabric dye. The idea behind this is to try alternatives to traditional chemical dyes. You can find many posts online dedicated to this practice with many ways to do it. I tried a method of soaking the fabric in white vinegar for a few hours, rinse, then try to dye it.

boiling blueberries

I would boil some fruit such as blueberries (I also tried spinach for green and turmeric for yellow) and place the cotton whit fabric in the boiling pot for about an hour. 

straining turmeric

I then let the fabric soak in the colored dye water for a few hours, rinse in water and line dry. But how did it go? Well after I gave them a second rinse the color hadn't taken very well. I think in the future I will have to try a different method for this. Because as you can see, after the first rinse and line drying, they color was quite bright.

sadly the spinach for green ended up a pale yellow

But what else is going on in my home? Good thing you asked, because....

foster kitten Sherlock

foster kitten Watson

Meet my foster kittens! About 7 weeks of age about now and starting to explore my home. I named them, if only for a way to address them beyond "kitten 1 & 2" since most shelters tend to re-name kittens when they are ready for adoption. So please meet grey & white Watson and all grey Sherlock. 

Now I've been doing this for over six years now. Shelters of all types often need volunteers with the space and time to open their home to homeless pets. They are not always young, some can be several years old. They could have been feral, from a family that could not care for a litter or a surrender-by-owner situation. And it's not just cats but dogs, rabbits and other animals that need foster care with shelters nationwide. I specialize in socializing cats, correcting behavior (with positive reinforcement, such as take them directly to a scratching post to learn it) and how to live in a household that can be busy, noisy and have other pets. 

our dog Choji relaxing with Watson

So if you ever want to help locally I'd suggest finding a shelter and stopping in. You may be required to take a course (often for free or a small fee), some shelters ask you to supply litter and cat food (others supply it for you) and they may have their own guidelines to follow. I can share pictures but I can not reveal the shelter name or when these two are available as per their guidelines. But if you have the time and space to spare, do consider giving back to your community and volunteering with a shelter!

Little sewing purse

Sometimes you don't want a big sewing project. The smaller, easier the better! So I tried my hand at a small project: a little purse with key ring. The pattern was from a zakka sewing book, the one I've been drooling over for like 2 months now. It was actually smaller then I was used to working with so I made mine about 1" larger in overall size.

the finished purse

large enough to hold lip balms & cards

I used a peal metal snap closure on mine since I disliked the full zipper suggested in the book. I also found that trying to sew the bias tape edge by machine didn't.... so smoothly. I ended up sewing that edge on by hand or else the back side wouldn't be stitched on properly. You could use any fabric you want and I decided to mix and match my prints on both sides. 

It's been a fun project for lazy start of summer. Since the hand stitching takes up much time I may reserve these as holiday presents and gifts. Sometimes you make things so nicely you can't bare to sell them!

a bright one being sewn

this might be best for a teenager

I hope to sew some clothing this summer, once I regain my crafting room. Yep, it is still being lived in by the rescue kitty and kittens I am watching.

yep, still have kittens galore!

Cute kitten Monday!

New year right, so new things might be in the works! Not only do I have a good S*A*L*E going on (my shop HERE 15% Off) I have already made two sales this year! I hope a lot of my goods go to new homes so I can make room for some new items.
Also, my big goal: I hope to get involved with a local animal shelter. I have mentioned in the past I enjoy volunteer work, such as fostering kittens. You welcome in a kitten up for adoption, they become socialized and learn the ropes. Here are two we fostered being adorable!

Tohru (girl) was adopted out quickly

Sookie (girl) was our first *foster* and also adopted quickly

I know, look at the faces! I take the photos myself, send them to the person in charge of their web page and they share them. This helps the kittens become featured on the page for any upcoming adoption events. 

But yes, back to what I'd like to do. I'm going to talk to a person about possibly donating handmade toys for the kitties awaiting new homes. I also want to offer up my photography services ~ take pics of cute kitties playing with toys. I can use my Facebook fan page to show off these adorable boys and girls with my donated toys and link directly to the groups page! I think it would be a great match: my hand sewing talents for kitties in need, then use my own page to help them get adopted out and bring attention to the group. 

I have to arrange to talk to the right person in charge to see if this can be done. If it can do this, you will be seeing some "Awww! So CUTE!" photos on my fan page and here. Maybe I will make it into something like 'Cute kitten Mondays' to start off a week just right.