going green

My kiddos have decided to help save the earth by reusing, recycling, and saving water and energy.  Today my five year old daughter even used the bathroom in the dark to save electricity!  We are also trying to use fewer paper products and to do my part I sewed some "paper" towels. 

 

Just cotton fabric sewn, right sides together, with an old towel.  Then turn right side out and topstitch along the edges.

These are much more absorbent than the dishtowels we are currently using.  But if we are going to stop using paper towels all together I'm going to need to make some more of these.

 
And speaking of green, my sweater/shrug is almost done blocking.

  

For dinner I added some green to our pasta with clam sauce.

Saute lots of garlic and basil in olive oil for several minutes.  Add two cans chopped clams (with liquid), chopped tomatoes, red bell pepper, and baby spinach leaves. Saute for five minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste and toss with whole wheat angel hair pasta.  (I also added 1 cup of starchy pasta cooking water) Enjoy.

 

And mustn't forget all the green outdoors.  We added some fresh mulch and I set out the 'shine' stone that Lisa sent me last year.  All this green sure is making me smile.

Hope you are finding lots to smile about today!

Comments

[dodi]

Love the hand towels! I may have to borrow that idea - ☺ Green is my all time favorite color. Love, love, looove it!

[Rose]

Love your post today! I'm struggling with a few things right now, so it was nice to see some happy photos. Thank you for sharing!!

[Jodi]

Those hand-towels are too pretty. How do they work on windows and mirrors? That's mostly what we use paper towels for around here -- for some reason my kiddos cannot use the bathroom without splashing water on the mirror (along with toothpaste spatters).

And, that clam recipe sounds so good.

[annri]

Those are the cutest "paper" towels I have seen! That print is adorable! I'm loving yellow these days.

All your other green looks great too. Thanks for the recipe! :)

[Andrea]

Those "paper" towels are great! Love how bright and sunny they are.

[Meg Evans]

Your "paper" towels are so cute! My husband is a die-hard paper towel addict, and I'm working on weaning him off. We've replaced paper napkins, and I knitted some dishcloths that I use to dry my hands after washing (instead of a paper towel).

I can't wait to see your shrug, it looks great so far, and your pasta dinner looks delicious, too!

[Denise]

awesome. Love the towels. I noticed on my bath mat that my towel side seems to be unravelling - any suggestions or was it just my towel? (it was quite old)

[Brig]

What a great idea! I love the way you are preventing waste and upcycling at the same time.

[Jenny]

Love this post! We are trying to use fewer paper towels right now (baby steps, right?) and keeping a dish towel on the sink for drying hands has cut back a lot. If I would just bite the bullet and get some cloth napkins made, then we'd be using them only for window washing like Jodi (above). We have some cloth napkins we got as a gift, but they wrinkle something fierce in the wash. Have any fabric recommendations to avoid this, or do I just need to cowboy up and get out the iron (or get over the wrinkles?)? Thanks!

[Imene]

Those hand towels are gorgeous. What a wonderful way to go green, mine are the ugly kind ;o)

[christina]

Mmmm...your pasta looks soooo yummy! I also love your towels. : )

[Its_Lily]

Yea for your family on giving up the paper towels. I haven't used them for a while now and it's interesting to see peoples faces when they visit and find out I only use cloth. They're stunned...but it makes sense to me.

[leslie]

i ditched paper towels years ago.
the only time we have them is if my husband purchases them. (and then i must admit, i secretly love using them.) shhhhh.

can't wait to see your bolero.

[Lisa Q]

love your paper towels....that's a great way to use up old towels and make them pretty at the same time. Can't wait to see your shrug! I put my stone out the other day and thought of you...keep shining girl! miss talking with you...I've been super busy...too busy! Know I've been thinking about you.

[MrPuffy]

I love your "paper towels." I used to be extremely wasteful with paper towels, but now I make a real effort to conserve. In the kitchen I try and use a dishcloth for everything except drying off poultry, etc. A terrycloth backing is such a nice touch!

[gardenmama]

Oh, the little towels are great!
I love the fabric you used!

[Earthmama]

Those towels are great. I really need a sewing day, or maybe a whole week, to whip up some great projects that have been on my mind! These would so be one of them.

:)Lisa

[Lynnette]

I love your towels. It took me a minute before I realized I made one but I use it under my dish drain and got rid of my nasty plastic mat that came with the drain. Thanks for the push to make more.

[Heather]

I LOVE these towels. Wow, what a great way to reuse. Your shrug looks amazing, as well. Can't wait to see it on.

[wishes, true and kind]

The towels are a great idea, and I love that sweater/shrug.

[jenn]

What a great idea! Love the "paper towel" idea!! Pasta looks YUMMY! I love your "shine" rock, and the shrug, well, looks awesome!!!

[theresa/t does wool]

loving everything about this post~~happy weekend~

[Jenny]

Happy Mother's Day!

[Audra]

Hey! What a great idea to use an old towel for backing. I love the apple print too. We stopped using paper towels years ago to save money but my mother-in-law buys me some occasionally if she likes the pattern on them. I keep them tucked away for cleaning up really yucky messes I don't want to ruin a kitchen towel on.
Great color you used on your shrug by the way!

[Ruth]

The pasta looks yummy!!

We have been trying to cut down on paper towels, too. I have cut up old t-shirts for rags. I am use them in all my cleaning now. They are great to wipe up spills from the floor, too. These are much better looking and great to keep out. I will have to give them a try.

Ruth

[jane]

We've done pretty good with the paper towels. I use to use them for everything, now a just grab a towel and use that. Your towels are incredibly cute!

[andrea frazesr]

Not sure how I found you but this blog makes me happy! Love the photos!

[Nancy]

Your homemade paper towels ae absolutely darling. Love them.

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