Recycling Vintage Sheets on Earth Day

The sheets are ready for the vintage sheet fat quarter swap!

It was a bit daunting to think about cutting all the sheets, so when I saw the advice from My Tiny Robot Heart, I knew ripping was the way to go. That, and my Mom told me it would be a lot faster.

It was a lot easier to rip up all the pretty sheets once I got started. I measured first, found the best way to divide it into a "chubby" fat quarter (usually around 20 x 23 inches, some were smaller though), and made my cuts. I ripped them outside. There are a lot of particles that float around when you do it inside. My mom rips sheets for her rag rugs (seriously cute) and she mentioned that this would be best. Once they were ripped into large strips, I made the second cuts where the fat quarter would be, and ripped those. I ironed each one and folded them the way that our swap master Katie requested.

Blue sheets.

Pink sheets.

Yellow, green, and orange sheets.

I am so excited to participate in my first swap- I can't wait to see what I will get back!

Molly's Golden Birthday

Molly turned three on the third. I can't believe she is three already! A few years ago when I was still teaching I learned about golden birthdays. When you turn the age of the day of the month you were born on (for example 3 on the 3rd, 23 on the 23rd) it is called your "golden" birthday. When my students had a golden birthday, their parents made it a very special day. I couldn't let Molly's golden birthday pass by without having a big party! We decided to have a Very Hungry Caterpillar party. She probably would have loved a princess party, but I didn't give her that option...bad mommy.

It was a lot of fun to create these large tissue pom-poms from Martha. They really added a punch of color to the dining and living rooms where we had the party. I am imagining them at EVERY party we have from now on- they are that easy.

Marshall covered our two Little Tykes tables with a large plastic green tablecloth (cut in half). I have grand plans for the future to cover these tables with fabric with an elastic hem so they won't slide off easily. I think oilcloth would be best, but I need to find a print that goes with pink and purple chairs.

When the little and big guests arrived, they colored Hungry Caterpillar pictures and bookmarks. while I read them the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I wanted to make these, but I didn't have the pom-poms glued to the clothespins. Two and three year olds around hot glue guns...probably not a good idea.

Marshall moved the pom-poms almost a week after the party. They were so happy and colorful we didn't want to take them down. He hung them in our basement- where Molly's giant play room is. It looks super festive down there now!

I googled a Very Hungry Caterpillar cake, and I found this beautiful cake from Lyndsay at Coco Cakes. Wow! I didn't use fondant (it scares me a little) for the caterpillar's head, and I made a smaller trial cake on Molly's true birthday (a week earlier) to make sure I could do it. When I told her I would be making another one for her birthday party she told me, "I already did that Mom!" Yeah, me too...

I used my Michael's coupon to get a large star tip to make the frosting swirls on the cupcakes, and I also bought the gel food coloring there. Many cupcake and cake blogs say it is easier and faster to achieve the colors of frosting you want with gel food coloring. They are right! I used this recipe for the buttercream frosting, and it turned out pretty yummy! It was a lot easier than I thought it would be too.

This was one of the things I really wanted to get done for her party. So much so, I stayed up until 2 am sewing the buttons on them so I wouldn't worry about them on the day of the party. Ack. I wanted the kids to go home with something special, something Hungry Caterpillar, and something that wouldn't be thrown away. I made crayon rolls with Hungry Caterpillar fabric from here. Tiffany sent this fabric so fast, I was very thankful I could get an early start on them. (Of course, I procrastinated on actually finishing them up...) I love buying hard to find fabric (or well, any fabric) from her!

Here are a few pictures of what they looked like, inside and out.

Nareerath made both these adorable stickers we used on the outside of the goody bags (they say, "Thanks for coming to my party! Love, Molly") and the invitation for Molly's party.

For the invitation we emailed SillySeiraDesign (Nareerath's Etsy shop) a picture of Molly, and she emailed us a PDF to have printed locally. Perfect! Everything Nareerath created was adorable and received rave reviews from family and friends, not to mention Molly - she loves looking at her "catapiwere" party invitation. We also purchased the cupcake toppers, but then I decided to make the caterpillar cake...so now I'm looking for something to stick them in, they are so sweet.

The party turned out much like I had pictured. BUT there are always ideas I see after everything is done that makes me wish I had a little more time...

A few days ago, I saw this, and wow, if I had the time before the party, I would have loved to dress Molly in a Hungry Caterpillar shirt. And this pull-string pinata? Or this one? How creative! We bought a pull string butterfly from Party City, but had we had enough time to order the butterfly one from Etsy, I would have!

My mail feels like fabric

My vintage sheet fat quarters from Evelyn.

I am on the counter.

I shouldn't be.

Vintage sheets.

Fat quarters.

In the mail.

I squealed when Marshall told me a package had arrived and "felt like fabric".

When Evelyn from Use the Loot posted she would be putting packages of vintage sheet quarters in the mail (21 fit into my envelope! Wow!) for $15 including shipping, I was super excited. I asked Evelyn for yellows, oranges, and greens in florals and checks. And one checked blue if she had it! She selected these beautiful sheets for me. Thanks Evelyn! I love them! I am planning a vintage sheet nine-patch quilt with these. I have it in my head, now I just need to get started.

I've been collecting sheets for a while, and I have enough that I've joined a fat quarter vintage sheet swap. Katie over at See Katie Sew is running the swap this year. I can send one, or I can send up to eighty. Phew! That would be a lot of vintage sheets.

Eighty is a lot. I don't need eighty. Right? Excuse me while I go count my sheets...