Thief Thursday: Dryer Wool Balls

Starting this week, I will begin doing posts called Thief Thursday every other week, which is just when I steal (and credit) projects from other blogs and try to do them myself. Some work out, some don't. You guys get to see both.

Today's post is DIY Wool Dryer Balls, which I got from here. I've wanted to make our house some of these for a while now, but never really got around to it. Well, while going through my Pinterest boards the other day, I found a pin for them. Upon further investigation, I realized how easy they would be to make! And guess what just happened to be on sale at Hobby Lobby the other day? Yarn!

Materials Needed:
-100% Wool Yarn
-An old pair of pantyhose, thigh highs, etc.
-Scissors

I started off by wrapping the yarn around my fingers 15-20 times:

Next, I slid it off my fingers and wrapped my yarn around the middle a few times:

Then, I continued to go around until I formed a ball the size I was happy with, cut the yarn, and tucked in the end:

Then, I tied them in an old pair of thigh highs I had:

Last, I dropped them in my washer on my hottest setting and then dried them on my hottest setting, too. This causes them to felt, which is what everybody keeps telling me I want. To happen.

These are 3 of my 7 finished balls:

And, let me say, they DO work like a charm. Last night, I used them to fluff up some pillows and then to quicken the drying process of a load of towels. It didn't save a ton of time, but in the end, every ten minutes saved is more money in our pockets.

P.S.- Make sure to wrap the balls tightly, or you will end up with a 20 minute mess that looks like this:

DIY Cloth Napkins

Hello again! In this post I will go over how I made my cloth napkins for our home. It's so simple- literally took me one day to make all 22 of these bad boys.

My husband has been getting onto me about doing something with my fabric stash for a while now (APPARENTLY he was tired of looking at the overflowing drawers). I've been wanting to make cloth napkins for a few months, so this gave me the perfect opportunity to quit putting it off.

Materials needed:
-Sewing machine
-Fabric (I just used whatever I could find)
-Thread
-Ruler
-Scissors
-Iron

I found some thin, white cloth my grandma gave me when she cleaned out her stash last summer. First thing I did (after washing, drying, and ironing) was to mark off and cut out 12" X 12" squares.
Note: I made medium-sized napkins because the large ones drive me crazy, but if you prefer the large napkins I would recommend cutting 17" X 17" squares. 

 Next, I folded each side over 1/4" two times and ironed to make sewing the seams
easier. I chose to go with a red thread because our kitchen theme is red.

I decided on a zigzag stitch - partially because I knew it would hold well and mainly because I LOVE the look of it. I set my alignment to "Left" and put my seam in the exact middle so that I could ensure the stitch went on both sides evenly. MAKE SURE TO BACKSTITCH AT THE BEGINNING AND END OF YOUR WORK!!!

 When I got to each of the corners, I simply kept my needed in the fabric, lifted my presser foot, and turned my napkin until it was realigned on the seam. That way I could just do one continuous stitch.

I did this with each of my napkins and I love the result (even if the picture doesn't do them justice)!! The Diva (aka our 5 year old) was the first one to try them out and told me"I like these.  They're really soft on my face." Score! I  am going to go through my stash some more and shop clearance for holiday fabrics to make themed napkins. Yes, I'm one of those crazy ladies.

Thanks for reading; look forward to another post by Saturday! I seem to constantly be doing something.

Quick update: we have been using these for almost 4 months now and LOVE them! I just throw them in with my towels when I do laundry. Since we first began using these, we have gone through only two rolls of paper towels (used mainly for spills now), compared to the 1 1/2 - 2 we would use a month. Now that's a money saving difference right there!