Little Needle Case

I decided to take some time this past weekend to make myself a wee little needle book.  

It's small enough to fit in the palm of my hand

how cute!

I like to keep my needles in my floss case so it had to be small enough to fit flat under the lid. 

 I was keeping them on a scrap of fabric but as I added more it started to look like this  

It was driving me absolutely crazy

To make it I started with two pieces of linen, one black for the outside and natural for the lining

they are around 5 x 2.5 inches 

They are a bit wonky because I didn't pay close enough attention to the grain of the fabric and I didn't  measure

I put a bit of fusible interfacing to the back of the black to keep it nice and flat, then added a bit of embroidery detail.

Sew the two parts, right sides together, turn, press, close the hole, and add some blanket stitching to the edges.

I only used one piece of felt for the inside to keep it small and not too bulky but I did add some ribbon to slip the needles under, that way you can put needles on both sides of the felt without showing on the opposite side. To attach the felt I just hand stitched right down the middle, the only part I used my machine for was sewing the black and natural together.  Add a little tie and that's it, a sweet little needle case. 

No more needle mayhem.

Homemade Laundry Soap

I've been making my own powdered laundry soap for almost a year now. I happened across a blog (I don't remember which one at this point) that had a recipe for homemade liquid laundry soap. It sounded like a good idea to me because my son has very sensitive skin, I like the idea of knowing the ingredients in the products I use and gosh dang it, it's really cheap and I'm super frugal. The recipe for the liquid version was a little too involved for me so I searched around and found a recipe for powdered laundry soap. It's very simple and quick to make.

UPDATE: I have switched to a new, easier recipe that I found on Pinterest (oh how I love Pinterest)
You can find the new recipe here:
http://amy-newnostalgia.blogspot.com/2013/02/no-grate-no-cook-liquid-laundry.html
I have been using it for about a year now, it's fabulous!

Here is how I ~used~ to make it:

2 4.5oz bars Ivory Soap

1 Cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (Not baking soda)

1 Cup 20 Mule Team Borax

First Grate the 2 bars of Ivory into a bowl, the smaller side of the grater works best since we are trying to make a powder. Some people use Ivory flakes but I haven't tried it.

Break up the grated soap a little more squishing it through your fingers, we want it to be as small as possible.

Then add in the Borax and Washing soda and stir stir stir.

For a normal size load add 1 tablespoon of soap, more for larger loads less for smaller. This amount does about 45 normal size loads.

Thats it, easy peasy.

Side notes:

~You can use other soaps, but from what I've read you need to be careful of the oil content, you don't want to add a bunch of oils to your laundry soap.

~I usually wear some kind of face cover when I'm making a batch because it makes me sneezy and it cant be good to be inhaling a bunch of it.

~This is where I found my recipe---> http://diynatural.com, they also did the math on the price difference. $$$

~When I buy my bars of Ivory I open them up before I store them, so when I get around to grating them they are a bit more dry and that makes it easier.

~This does not suds up in your washer, suds do not = clean.

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