The Better To See You and Everything Else

 

I have found that if I clean our glasses once a week (or more often) with Dawn Detergent, all of the finger smudges with be removed. 

The spray cleansers never do anything for my glasses except move the smudges around. 

Once you wash them with Dawn and dry them-all is clear. You are not seeing through the smudges. Be aware. It doesn't take long to smudge them up again. 

CLEANING OUT YOUR FRIDGE

 If you are like me, you hate to throw away leftovers from your meals. I usually put them in a container with a lid. In a few days, weeks, months (?) you are looking for a quick snack or an extra something to add to your meal. Then, you remember those leftover green beans or fruit salad in your refrigerator. Ah, there they are. Hmmm, how long have they been there? My mantra-"When in doubt, throw it out."

How much good food do you throw out because you have no idea how long it has been in the fridge? My answer: I started dating the container. 

I keep some masking tape in a drawer by the fridge.

When I pack up my leftovers, I put a strip of tape* on it and add the date. 

*Extra tip: Turn the end of the masking tape down to make a tab. Then, you have a tab on the container that is easy to pull off when I use the food. Be sure and turn the tape under after you tear off the strip for your container. 

Happy Eating Leftovers!

Woody Plants in Floral Arrangements

It is hard for a woody plant to take in water when in a floral arrangement.

If you smash the bottom of the stem, it will help the flower stay fresh longer.

I have used this on roses and gardenias and it seems to help.

Straight Stitching vs. Free Motion Quilting

If you are intimidated by free-motion quilting, this is an easy way to straight stitch your quilt with a cross-hatch pattern. All you need is some blue painters' tape in the width of the cross hatch you want. Lay the tape out and stitch along the side of the tape. I laid mine out diagonally, but you could lay it out to achieve a square pattern instead of a diamond. Then, keep moving the tape until you have quilted up one side and down the other.

I wanted to cross-hatch this table runner. I thought the appliqued flowers needed a trellis to ground them. I decided that the wide painters' tape was best. However, I have used a smaller width on smaller projects.

Easy Peazy. Hope this helps.

The Shoes Win

This tip came from a friend. I saw it in her closet and immediately went to the store and bought two different kinds of hanging closet units. Some people use them for their purses, but the 'shoes' won out for my closet. They were all over the floor and in boxes on shelves. To find which pair I wanted to wear was 'labor intensive'. 

Oops, I see a shoe has escaped.

These hanging cubbies solved my problems. I keep current season shoes in the cloth ones and out-of-season and flip-flops in the plastic one. 




And...keep my ironing sheet in the plastic one.

UP or DOWN-Thread Spools

Cross-Wound vs. Straight-Wound Thread Spools

I can never remember where I should place a spool of thread on
my machine: horizontal or upright. This is a great tutorial on YouTube.