I told everyone about our town hall adventures in my other post. Monday night we had a town board meeting and everyone could see the changes that have been made already. The changes caused many more people to step forward and volunteer for next weekends work detail. The positive feed back is contagious and really bringing everyone together. It's exciting!
Last weekend, as we cleaned up, we found many partial bottles of water and partial cans of soda. It happens when everyone is busy and not sure where they set their drink down as they were working or the drink gets warm from sitting around. I'm hoping I will find time this week to put together a pile of can and bottle wraps. I could even let residents take them home as a "prize" for all their hard work... or we could collect them at the end of the day for our next work event. I have plenty of scraps so I can make them all different but can I make 100 of them in one week? Maybe if I use mass production sewing methods. Maybe I can have a sewing bee to make them before our next work date.
The up-coming weekends weather report is showing our planned work day as one of the warmest days we have had yet so I'm thinking some cool neck scarves would also be a good idea. With the summer ahead of us and plenty of work to keep us busy, those scarves are not going to go to waste! If only there were more hours in a day and more people who sewed. We've already talked about a sewing bee to make new curtains for the town hall but we are waiting to find out if there are any fire proof regulations. It makes me wonder if we could get a group of people together to sew the things we could use as a work crew. It's definitely something I will bring up at our next organizational meeting. It would be a great way to get the machines going... Maybe I'm dreaming but no one thought our little town would ever band together... who knows what else can be achieved when a group of people have a common interest.
Last week I hinted that I had something on the cutting table that I would be sharing soon... that time is now. I found these round straw kind of woven placemats at a number of stores ... When I saw them I saw a round handbag... in a fabric we can't find any other way. I admit to getting a few odd looks as I bent the placemats to reshape them and held one up to my side to see what the size would be like... but I liked what I was seeing so I bought them. Once I got home I really started experimenting and I like what I came up. I'm sharing the free directions this week. The lining aspect of this pocketbook makes it possible to have inside pockets to hold your cell phone or other important devices. I put a pocket in both lining sections so I have a spot for everything... I know how I end up over stuffing a handbag!
I had a little adventure a couple weeks ago that made me SO glad I had some stylish tote-bags on hand. I ended up on crutches after a sander fell and broke a toe... and oh how it did a wonderful job of making my foot very colorful. Carrying my pocketbook with crutches made the crutches a very dangerous adventure. My solution became a tote bag that could carry everything and it could go over my shoulder or around my neck without bumping the crutches while I hobbled around. I received so many compliments when I use the