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190 Posts | 145 Comments | Active Since 2009

Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 190 Posts

Bronze Tip Medal for All Time! 66 Tips
 

I am a quilter, my profile photo (that’s me behind the quilt) shows a recent log cabin quilt I made for my sister, last year as a Christmas gift. I am also a gardener (make my own compost), sometimes cook, and jack of all trades.

I began working for ThriftyFun in December of 2008. My daughter Laurel, also a ThriftyFun staffer introduced me to the site. Currently I help moderate requests from our members. I love this job. I am able to work from home and get to see and learn from all of the yummy recipes, beautiful crafts, and useful tips shared by our members. One of my favorite aspects of the ThriftyFun site content is the varied posts dealing with recycling and reusing, whether it is in crafting, decorating or other daily uses.

My background is in education. I taught Anthropology part time for a Community College, in addition to supervising several campus programs. My several seasons of archaeological field work prepared me for the months of rock screening we did to make our personal gravel pit into a yard we can landscape. Not exactly pot sherds or points, but necessary for the flowers.

My husband, Bruce and I share our house with the rest of our pack, our dog Belle and Cali, the cat. We currently split our time between Oregon and Washington. In Washington we spend our time visiting with our daughter and two wonderful grandchildren. When in Oregon we, mostly Bruce, are in the throes of remodeling our 1946 Cape Cod. We have redone the plumbing, wiring, added insulation, etc. Our focus has been on improving the energy efficiency of this older home.

This year we finally were able to put in an eco-friendly alternative lawn. It is called Fleur de Lawn, and is a mix of micro clover, drought tolerant grasses, and some flowers. I am very excited about seeing it in its full glory this spring. I am working to increase my plantings of native and low water usage plants in our garden.

One of my favorite frugal gardening activities is to search the “half dead” discounted plants at the local nurseries and big box stores. I have had great success incorporating these bedraggled plants into my flower garden and watching them flourish.

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Yo Yo Covered Papier-mâché Pumpkins - pumpkins on antique oak cabinet next to potted orchids

Yo Yo Covered Papier-mâché PumpkinsI started this project some time ago when I was completely enamored with making yo yos for all sorts of potential craft projects. I am sharing them now because the yo yos can be a bit time consuming to make, so it is best to begin this project early. Even though the fabric is quite Halloween themed, they can be used as a fall decoration and of course, can be made with any fabric choice.

 

Parking Lot Fungi - four bright orange mushrooms

Parking Lot FungiWhile out with my 17 year old grandson shopping for a Halloween mask, we saw these beautiful orange fungi in the planter median of the strip mall. I don't know exactly what type of mushroom they are but they were so bright and fun to see. We jumped out of the car with cell phone cameras at the ready.

 

Repairing Clothing Snags - snag isolated against a paper towel

Repairing Clothing SnagsKnit fabrics are very easily snagged. Here is an easy way to repair the snag using an unusual tool - a dental floss threader. Here we show the process on two men's shirts.

 

Fabric Face Mask - two completed masks

Fabric Face MaskI found this pattern on the Kaiser Permanente website. It is for making a pleated style face mask. The photos are mine, but the instructions are based on their pattern. I have included Kaiser the link as well. The pattern is for a small/medium mask.

 

English Paper Pieced Flower Pillow - done, the buttons on the leaves can be seen here

English Paper Pieced Flower PillowMy grandson was visiting one day while I was working on some English paper pieced hexagons. He asked if I could make him a pillow. By adding several more rounds to the size I was making for a quilt top block I was able to make a flower. That part was fairly quick. Then he announced that there needed to have a stem with leaves; the project expanded in time and minor complexity.

 

Keeping Track of Screws When Assembling a Treadmill - closeup of button head machine screws on blue painter's tape

Keeping Track of Screws When Assembling a TreadmillOrdering a treadmill in the middle of a pandemic has its own challenges. Just having to wait a month for delivery was the first. Add to that the delivery restrictions that were in place. There was no option to have it delivered to the house or to pay to have someone assemble it.

 

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