Dogs and a Bewildered Toad; Cosmos

A little video from me to you, with music by Iris Dement

this is how we spent our weekend (on the lookout for snakes and toads)...

Relating to nature, above is a picture of one of our cosmos plants that is over 60 inches tall! The usual height for a cosmos plant is between 2-4 feet. A bit of information about these plants from Texas A&M says:

Spanish priests grew cosmos in their mission gardens in Mexico. The evenly placed petals led them to christen the flower "Cosmos," the Greek word for harmony or ordered universe. Cosmos, like many of our warm weather annuals such as marigolds, originated in Mexico and South America.

Have a nice Monday!

Sewing T Shirt Purses

From 10 Easy Steps to a T Shirt Purse, you can read about how to make a purse from a T shirt. However, it seemed pretty complicated to me, so I kept searching the internet for an easier way to make this little catch-all.

Here is another site with easier directions for making a T shirt purse: Craftbits.

Finally, my favorite, and the EASIEST way I found to make a T shirt Bag was found at this site. Go to How-to-Make-a-Sporty-Grocery-Bag for the directions.

I swear it only took me ten minutes to make this one. An old blue Hawaiian keepsake T shirt, overwashed and overshunk, was crying to be used for this project.

With a few modifications and a black ribbon sewn on for handles, here is my NEW t shirt purse which holds a sweater knitting project:

If you want to PURCHASE a T Shirt Purse, over 420 ETSY SHOP OWNERS ("everything hand made") will sell you a refurbished and/or new T Shirt Purse for prices ranging from $8 to $35 each.

Repairing a Beaded Watch Band

Wouldn't you know that the watch band I made here at beading-watch-bands a few months ago broke? Luckily, most of the beads were recovered from off the floor. (I hit my wrist against a heavy suitcase, and only injured my pride instead of the watch.)

No worries; a simple repair put it right. This time, however, I used fishing line (black, 14 lb. weight and thin). The fishing line is sturdier than the stretchy bracelet cord I previously used for the watch band. It is also smaller in diameter than lots of the plastic types of threads used in beading. Even very small beads can be strung on fishing line.

Then the beads were re-strung on double strands of the fishing line, knot tied between beads, and finished off with a circle and arm closure link from the craft store. A dot of jewelry glue at the junction of the last bead and the end link sealed the deal.



Ta da! Fixed! And it should be even stronger than the first watch made with stretchy plastic cord.