Luxury Camping and Other Games

If you have some spare time on a Saturday, head down to your friendly local outdoor store and take a look at their camping supplies.  Pretend for a minute that you're going to go camping, and you need a complete supply of everything, and you have all the money in the world to spend.  

Hmm, let's see. They've got sleeping bags and sleeping pads. They've got little camp stoves and bug spray.

Ok, now spend all the money you want, and pretend that you are camping for a month. Also, pretend that you dislike mosquitos.

Hmm. They've got three-room tents that look like mini apartments.  They've got camp cots and big squooshy cot pads to sleep on. They've got lanterns that you can safely hang from every room in your tent.  Not only that, but there's mosquito netting, rain vestibules, comfy folding chairs, comfy folding tables, awnings for shaded outdoor areas, awnings with hangings for buggy outdoor areas, rugs to go under awnings or in front of tents, and little mini generators so you can charge your iPod even when you're roughing it.  We could get a cooler for our camp kitchen and an entire set of little matching camp dishes, along with a collapsible dog bowl for Fido.  There's even a portable camp oven! And a whole rack of donkeys to carry all our gear. 

Now, since we have donkeys, we can even carry luxury items on our pretend camping trip, like that bath soap that you like so much, or your complete set of Harry Potter novels. If you have kids, they could bring a lot of their favorite toys.  Now, this is really living!

Now you've got a setup that you've spent thousands of dollars on that has ALMOST all the luxuries of home.

Now go home.  

Oh my goodness, now you've really got ALL the luxuries of home.  Scented shampoo? Deoderant? Electricity? This kitchen even has a dishwasher! It's amazing! Not only that, but I can stop reading IN THE MIDDLE OF A BOOK and start a NEW one, no matter how heavy either of them are! I don't even have to pick up after the donkeys.  

All of this luxury comes infinitely cheaper than the best camping trip you can afford.

Don't get me wrong, camping has its place, and usually the most avid campers can do without all the luxury items that are for sale in the big outdoor stores.  But if you are a fan of luxury, and are feeling a tad unluxurious in these times, pretend you are luxury camping and have all the luxury that money can buy. 

The Art of Lending

Wouldn't it be great to have all the gaming systems in the world in your living room, and you could use any one you wanted? You could have all your friends over for Rock Band concerts and also just to veg and play Mario Kart. 

Wouldn't it be great to have all the books in the world, and you could read them whenever you wanted and loan them out to friends, or they could come over and hang out on all the comfy chairs and giant cushions that you'd have as well.

Wouldn't it be great to have a world-class kitchen with all the latest gadgets, and people could come and hang out and cook for you just because your kitchen is so great?

Wouldn't it be great to be able to go into any craft store, like Michael's or JoAnn's, and be able to use whatever you wanted? You could try out new things just to see if you liked them, or to make presents for friends, or just because it looked cool. Or, you could get together with friends just to make stuff and hang out.

Wouldn't it be great to have access to all the clothes in the world for free? You'd never run out of things to wear, and you could always put together just the right outfit for that particular event. And friends would come to you and ask to help them pick out outfits. (Hat image courtesy of La Femme.)

In any economy, good or bad, none of us have enough money, time, or space to amass all the goodies associated with every hobby we have.  Whether it's power tools, office supplies, car mechanical accoutrements, there will always be somebody who has more and can do more stuff. And regardless of your own interests, specialty, or income level, there will always be something you can loan from your own personal library of accoutrements to other people who will want to share.

"But wait," you say. "I hate lending stuff because it comes back all icky and destroyed and I can never get it back."

That is because there is an Art of Lending.

Some basics to get started:

• Figure out what you enjoy sharing with other people.  Lending is a great way to start conversations with people on topics you both enjoy.  If you love books and love to discuss them, lend out your books to friends and future friends.  If you love doing art, loan your pastels to someone who dabbles i acrylics, and then hang out and talk about the results.  Recently, a friend had me over and we made jewelry with her copious supply of beads and findings.  She didn't charge me for supplies, and next time I'll have her over to paint or sew and I won't charge her for supplies. 

• Figure out what things are worth to you, and what they're not worth to you.  Lending out a movie to a sick friend means that the worst that could happen is that you spend $20 to replace it if it gets destroyed.  Lending out a handmade quilt for a friend's baby's picnic tablecloth means that the worst that could happen is that an irreplaceable heirloom gets destroyed with gras s stains and baby barf beyond belief. 

• Learn your personal lending style. Some people are the type to obsess over anything missing from their personal inventory.  They write their name in every book and never lend out their car.  This is really ok-- it is not worth loaning something out if it will stress you out so much, but be honest with yourself about where you stand on this.  Other people, on the other hand, could easily give away their posessions and never miss them.  Most of us fall somewhere in between. Knowing where you fall in this spectrum, and being realistic about what you're happy with can make the difference between feeling generous and feeling taken advantage of.  

• Know your friends.  Some people will return items in mint condition. You know if you loan them an outfit it will be returned dry cleaned with a bouquet of flowers and a thank-you note.  Other people will habitually trash items but be diligent about replacing them.  Still others will ask to borrow items but be perpetually late in returning them. Regardless of your personal lending style, take into account the person's borrowing style when you lend items.  If you continually lend to a person who is late in returning, and that just happens to be your pet peeve, it is your fault for not taking that into account when they ask you again and again. 

• Offer to lend stuff. If you recommend a book or a movie to a friend, offer to lend it.  If a friend asks you for fashion advice and you have the perfect accessory, offer to lend it.  If someone expresses interest in the type of leash you have for your dog, and you have an extra one, offer to lend them your extra leash so they can try it before they buy one.  Unless people are very close to you, they won't just ask, and it's a great way to build bridges.

• It's ok to say no. If you don't want to lend something, you don't have to. You don't need a reason. If your friend gives you a guilt trip, that's their problem.  And don't be an idiot-- if your friend returned something late the last ten times she borrowed something, don't rely on her returning it on time in order for you to do that big presentation at work.

• If it's important to you, there are a lot of home inventory software options available for free. Some of these, especially the home library software options, have modules written to keep track of the stuff you lend. Or you could just make yourself a spreadsheet. 

The wonderful thing about lending is that you don't need more stuff to share what you have with the people you care about. 

Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's!

It's Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's.

Need I say more?

Helping the Robot: Making little (free) changes that help everybody

Below is a video about a performance art project in which a happy, helpless robot makes its way across a park in NYC with the help of strangers. 

 

You can read all about the project at Tweenbots.com.

Part of the reason this made me smile was because it brings out the best in strangers-- a little nudge here and there and the world is a better place. 

If you saw a cardboard robot with a smiley face, would you help it out? Would you, as one man did, talk to it to warn it of the dangers of the road? Or would you ignore it?

There are so many ways to help people out that don't depend on money, or even a great deal of time. Sometimes it's as simple as helping a stranger on the bus carry their groceries.  Aside from the possibility of making a new friend, it helps create a world where people are more likely to ride the bus than to fire up their cars. Maybe it's providing directions to someone on the street, rather than being suspicious. Maybe it's taking an extra five minutes to shovel the sidewalk in front of the neighbor's house as well.  Or taking the time to recycle, or pick up a piece of litter. Or maybe it's taking the extra ten seconds to throw out the office coffee grinds rather than leaving them for the next person. 

Sometimes when we are on a budget we feel like we are not in a position to give (because we can't afford to bring cupcakes to the function, or pay for gas to get to the community meeting, or don't have the cash to contribute to the office gift pool), or we overcompensate by giving more of our time than we really can.  But this doesn't have to be the case-- we can "help the robot" along a nudge at a time, and sometimes the small, convenient changes add up to a lot of help for not much effort.  

Free Gifts: Baby Quilt

I'm at that point in life when some of my friends begin to procreate. I don't have the money to buy everyone all the presents I'd like (like these Baby Trogdor onesies), but I want them to know how exciting their new arrival is, and to provide something special and useful for this and possibly many babies to come.

Since these friends are good friends for whom I would happily spend several hours poking my fingers with a needle, I've decided to make them a special Baby Quilt.  

I've included step-by-step directions here. I am not a hard-core quilter -- you do not have to be a quilter to make one quilt for some special friends! Quilts make terrific hand-made gifts and are useful as cozy throw blankets, bedspreads, extra bedding, as wall-hangings or other decorations. I happened to have the materials needed, but perhaps you can use a friend's machine, or collect unwanted scrap fabrics from more sewing-oriented friends if you do not have available supplies.  

This will be a baby quilt. Standard baby quilts are 45" x 60", according to the Internet, but the size of this one will be limited by the amount of material I have. (Finished, mine ends up being 39" x 47".)

The Materials

I happen to have a few different types of fabric lying around, leftover from projects, worn-out clothes, or things I never finished. I have a small-print green floral pattern and a butter-yellow fabric. Both are thin and soft fabrics that I bought on sale years ago to make wimpy curtains for my college dormroom. This is oddly appropriate, since I shared that dormroom with the girl who will be getting the finished quilt. I wonder if she will recognize the material.

I also happen to have some batting that I bought years ago to make Christmas stockings for the very same couple when they were newleyweds, but never actually used. 

I also have a sewing machine, scissors, bobbins, needles, and various colors of thread. I switch off thread colors to avoid buying more, and if you don't have a sewing machine or bobbins, you can of course sew the entire quilt by hand, but it will take longer.

I decide to make a double Irish chain quilt, because it is a traditional two-fabric pattern that looks complicated but is actually quite simple and easy to cut, sew, and quilt together.  (Sometimes a double Irish chain uses three colors, but as I only have two, it will do nicely.)

Preparing the fabric

1. First, I snip all the stitches out of the floral fabric. It was used to make a gathered valance, and it is folded over and sewed with a channel for a curtain rod. I remove all the stitches, and what remains is a large rectangle of fabric. The butter-yellow fabric has no stitching, as it was just draped over the curtain rod and pulled back with ties. 

2. I wash both fabrics in the machine and then iron the heck out of them. Hopefully I'll have enough of the yellow to back the quilt as well. It looks like I will, but sometimes I am sloppy with my seam allowances and  cannot predict exactly how much I will use. Good quilters can do this and plan appropriately.

The Design

3. The double-Irish chain quilt pattern is essentially a checkerboard design of two different squares.  One is a checkerboard (big square A) of five small squares on each side, with the plain squares in the corner. The other (big square B) is a plain square with small floral squares in each corner. Then, you alternate big squares A and B and all the little squares will line up to make diagonals across your quilt.  It doesn't matter what the scale is as long as all your "big" squares are the same size.  I drew this out on notebook paper and outlined the "big squares" so I knew what I was doing and what direction I needed to go. Here is my highly technical pattern:

Sewing it the Quilt Top together

4.  It is easier to sew together long strips of

 fabric than to sew together a million one-inch squares. Since I know that the pattern is just alternating square A and square B, I break down square A and square B into smaller steps, so I can easily make a lot of them.  

Square A is a checkerboard design, which means that it has five columns, and each column has five squares.  One type of column has more yellow squares than green squares, and the other is opposite.  In order to easily cut a lot of squares, I make a big long strip alternating green and yellow, and then cut this into smaller strips to make my big square out of.  When I am done, I have a checkerboard pattern. I have to be sure that the yellow squares are in all the corners in order to maintain the overall design.  

Square B has two types of columns; thin columns that have the green squares in the corner, and the wide column of yellow in the middle. Since the yellow is such a thin fabric, I opt to make this center column from three pieces to maintain the square-ness of the square. As in Square A, I decide that the easiest way to cut these pieces is to make a long strip and then cut off slices that become the columns for my square.  

If my explanations don't make any sense, look at the pictures to see how I cut my fabric to make the squares easily.

5. I sew all my big squares together. Voila! I have a quilt top!

Quilting the Layers Together

6. I have enough plain fabric left over to make a back to the quilt as well. I iron this fabric again (it's gotten a bit wrinkly with all the folding and unfolding and tearing, etc), lay the batting over it, and then lay my quilt top over it.

7. I sew it all together by hand with BIG LOOSE stitches. This is called basting.  It makes sure that when I quilt the three layers together, it will not come apart in the middle of the quilting process. These stitches are temporary and will come out later. It does not matter if the thread matches. You can baste your quilt together with dental floss,if you prefer. Although, then your quilt might smell minty. 

8.  At this point, you can decide to quilt by machine (easier, faster, etc) or by hand (takes longer, more "handmade").  I chose to quilt by hand because a) my squares don't line up perfectly, and they won't fit the straight lines produced by the machine. By hand, however, I can make my line fit any mismatched squares! b) My tension on my sewing machine is off, and if you see the stitches, it will look shoddy. c) It gives that extra-loved handmade feel.

9. Sometimes people use a sewing hoop to stretch the are of the quilt that you are working on to make it taught and easy to work with.  I don't have a sewing hoop, so I borrow one from a co-worker. It is too small for what I am doing, but it is easier to use it than to keep trying to sew straight lines on bunched-up fabric. Eventually I abandon the sewing hoop and just stitch while it is laid out flat on the floor.

10. I use the sewing hoop and a dark-colored thread (from a cheap-o "sewing kit" that they sell at grocery stores) to embroider a "Baby W" in the corner.  The couple doesn't know the gender of the child, and if they use the blanket, they will most likely use it for more than one kid, so i didn't want to include the date. Some people like to sign their creations with their initials and the year. It's up to you.   

11. I decided to quilt on the diagonal down the rows of floral squares.  I decided this because I felt like it emphasized the diagonal orientation, instead of just making it look like a bunch of checkerboards. I wanted to emphasize this because not all my square corners matched up perfectly.

12. Once the quilt is all quilted, I removed the baste stitches. Then I trim the batting so that it doesn't overhang the quilt top. Then, I trip the backing so that it overhangs by just a little. Then, I fold the backing up over the front and hand-stitch it into place. I pin it up all the way around so it stays in place while I am stitching.

The Finished Quilt

13. The finished quilt! I lost track of the hours it took-- this is not the sort of thing you make for people instead of picking up a $5 token gift at Walgreens. I mail it off to my friends-- hopefully they will like it :)

Tips and tricks:

• Quiltmaking is a great thing to do in front of movies, talking with friends, or other activities that don't require the use of hands.
  
• You can find spare material in a number of places. Do you have clothes that are ripped, too small or out of style?  Clothes in good condition can be donated to thrift stores, but if they are torn up or missing buttons, you can use the fabric in quilts.  Old T-shirts are soft and easy to work with.
  
• If you don't want to quilt by hand, many people like to tie their quilt layers together with little bits of yarn.  This can be a cute way of finishing the quilt and it generally takes less time. 
  

Have you recently made quilts for friends or from reused materials? Share!