Holiday prints arriving in stock

We have a variety of winter and Christmas themed fabrics that will be arriving in stock this week.

Why I chose reusable menstrual products

A journey into reusable menstrual products

I first heard about reusable pads on Facebook. A blog post popped up about surviving without toilet paper. Having been raised on a farm, having fished and hunted, I have used many odd things during nature's call, so I was getting a good laugh out of everyone's comments.

Then the comments turned to menstrual products.  I thought, "I'm screwed" because as a tampon user, there is NOTHING I could think of in the woods that would be touching those parts.

As I continued reading, people were commenting on reusable pads. WHAAAT? In this modern age? Isn't that something that women were forced to endure in the dark ages? Before the modern miracles of disposable products? Yuck!

But ohhh, so the dangers of curiosity. I Googled and I searched. Wow! So not the products of the middle ages!

The colors and shapes and styles, Ohh My! I bought ONE to try out. You know how it goes, "I'll just try it once, it won't kill me". Oh, those fateful words! I got one...and was hooked.

I had started with tampons in high school, mainly due to discomfort of everything else. Every month was a dread, when will it hit..let the itching begin. But that is what it means to be a woman, right?

Apparently not. My allergies...stopped. I seem to be allergic to everything -except cloth! Wow, for the first time in 30+ years, I am not breaking out in rashes every month, no itching and scratching like I am a pro baseball player. Who would have thought you could be allergic to something so NECESSARY!

So began my journey into the world of reusable menstrual products. I instantly became a disciple; passing out literature to friends, sending out links to products and embarrassing husbands in public.

I researched; bought products to try, read blogs and talked to other women about their experiences and needs.  Then I began designing and sewing.

Now in my third year with RuMPs(reusable menstrual products) and CSP (cloth sanitary products), each month is a game.  Will it be the Cloth Tampons, Sea Sponge, All cotton pad, the minky one... what color should I choose? what fabric topping?

I no longer dread that week.I no longer stock up on antihistamines. I haven't been to THAT ISLE of a store in three years...except to laugh at the prices and maybe the chance to spread the word to other women.

What can I say? I am the local dealer..."just try it"..."just one won't hurt you"..."what's one gonna hurt".....

Reusable tampons

When I set out to make reusable menstrual products, I was worried about comfort and allergies. I am allergic to everything, so I knew it needed to be 100% cotton.

I chose all cotton flannel for the fabric with an all cotton string.  I use all cotton thread with an overlock stitch to prevent raveling.  They are sized similar to an OB, but may be customized in length and width as well as string length. These can be in either brown flannel or white/cream.

All materials have been pre-washed in warm water to pre-shrink

Use:
Begin rolling at the string end and roll tightly. They insert like OB.

Out and About care:
I carry a small Ziploc bag to store them in until I get home. Easy trick...turn baggie inside out...grab it and slow turn bag right side out to prevent mess and seal. This can then be tucked into a wet bag.

Care and wash:
Rinse in cold water. I soak mine in Oxyclean but that is optional. Rinse and wash. I do not stain treat, I find that the Oxiclean works well, but use what you are comfortable with.

Some short fraying is to be expected. On these, I did not roll the edges to prevent it being too bulky to use. The small frays should not become dislodged inside and can be picked off before using.

It is best to wash before first use in your own washing supplies.  If you have allergies, you might be allergic to what I have washed these in.

Thank you
Morana

This store tiny when flat. I keep one or two in my EDC at all times...just in case.

What is hand made soap

First, a short history.

My main babysitter lived on a pig farm. Mayola was a wonderful old lady who lived in a huge old house on a small hill. She was kind and patient with me as a child.

When I was about 5 years old, she taught my mother to make traditional lye soap during the annual hog killing.

My mother made all of the household soap after that...even laundry detergent. Hers was a bucket of grayish slurry sitting beside the washer.

Once the Thompson's became to old to maintain hogs and kill their own, mom stopped most lye soap making, but she always make a batch every year or so.

It was only in college that I found out I am allergic to most "store-bought" soaps. Hence the abundance of lye soap in our house.

Ok, history lesson finished.

What is handmade soap
Handmade (non commercial) soap falls into two categories....Only two.  It is either made from scratch with lye...or a melt and pour concoction bought from someone. Melt and pour is most likely glycerine based but may contain petroleum products. It is cooped up, melted and poured into molds...and called handmade.

What is glycerine
Glycerine is a byproduct of commercial soap production.  When vegetable oils are mixed with lye, glycerine (a form of water soluble vegetable oil) is released. In commercial soap, the glycerine is recovered and sold separately as a humectant and food additive. In handmade soap, the glycerine is mixed back into the soap, creating a gentler soap.

What is lye
Lye is a base.  It is a chemical that in its pure form can cause burns, blindness and damage the lungs.  Yes, it is dangerous...In its pure form.

How is soap made
Most people do not know that fat and oils are acidic in nature.  ALL FAT AND OILS are acidic to some degree.  That is why people can drink vinegar and use it as a wash with no issues, it is only slightly more acidic than our natural PH.

Water is neutral...for the most part. It is what is contained in the water that can alter its PH level.

So making soap is nothing more than a controlled chemical reaction. That chemical reaction is known as soaponification. You take a strong base, mix it with water to slow the chemical reaction and add in enough of a acid to reach a neutral PH.

Now, the mark of a good soaper is to know that the chemical reaction takes several weeks to complete. Heat and humidity can change how fast or how slow the chemical reaction takes place.  So a freshly made soap will still be too basic to use safely and can burn the skin or eyes. So the soaper must know how much lye to add..to reach neutral 6 weeks in the future.

So making good soap takes a lot of experience. While a new soaper can use a recipe and get something usable, if something goes wrong, they will not be able to know exactly WHAT went wrong. You either have to know chemistry well or have a good amount of pure experience to troubleshoot.

Add in the problems that every single addition of oil, color or scent can alter the chemical reaction, there are a lot of things that can go wrong.

People's reaction to the WORD lye
Ok, everyone who knows me knows I have a serious issue with stupid people.

People who refuse to try lye soap because of the WORD lye...are ignorant. There is no other explanation. They will have issues with the word LYE but not the word SOAPINIFIED! Really, ignorance at its finest.

If someone places SOAPINIFIED on a soap label, it simply means the oils were mixed with lye for the chemical reaction called soaponification.

Soap making as an art
A supervisor at work told me his grandmother's lye soap was so strong "it could take the paint off a Buick". Therefore, he would never try lye soap.

I asked him if his grandmother could bake good biscuits. He said her biscuits could float across the table. I told him my mother could not make biscuits, only door stops and hockey pucks, but she could make fantastic lye soap.

He didn't understand the simile.

The truth is, soap making is much like cooking.  Just because you have a recipe, doesn't mean you can cook. Mom had a recipe, she even took a lesson from my aunt Frankie, but she could never make a decent biscuit. Now, mom could bake bread, she could make venison stew; overall, she was a fantastic cook.  But she failed abysmally at making biscuits.

Some people fail at making lye soap.  That is the only way to explain it. My supervisor's grandmother failed at it, my mother did not.

So when you are talking about lye soap, remember these lessons.  There is a lot involved. Chemistry, recipes and simply that something extra.  Call it experience, call it prescience if you have to. But don't judge it all by one standard.

A day in the store

Today was all about the store.

Quilt show this afternoon. Honestly, it was all work, really. We are told that good bargains could be had on Minky...and boy did we hit the jackpot!

Afterwards, of course, was Hancock's fabric. Ohh! the fall colors and designs! It was hard to pull myself away.

But I got a good selection of prints to cut for the fall and Christmas season. Jennifer is covering Halloween.

Afterwards, while the material was washing and drying, I made up several new curvy patterns to try this week.  Hopefully, everyone will like them as much as I do. I LOVE the curvy ones.

So tonight, I only got eight "new pattern" curvy 9 inch pads cut, two "new pattern" 13 inch cut and one old liner cut.  All in a fall swirl design with black backing.

This week

This week Jen is making bath bombs, bath salts and sugar scrubs in preparation for Via Colori.

We are upcycling glass jars for this to save you money.

What are RuMPs, CSP and AMPS

Sounds like alphabet soup right? Kinda scary?

Not at all.
It may be old fashioned, but this is all new.

CSP stands for Cloth Sanitary Protection and only include cloth pads and cloth, knit or crochet tampons.

AMPs stands for Alternative Menstrual Protection and includes anything but the chemical disposable pads and tampons. Included in this category are organic tampons, Instead menstrual cups.

RuMPs stands for Reusable Menstrual Protection. This is only reusable supplies such as menstrual cups and CSP.

CSP is the hardest for modern women to understand. Cloth used for menstrual pads. Unlike the modern disposable pad, these are not full of chemicals and they do not fill up the landfill.

They are customizable for size, shape, thickness and absorbencies. You can have different fabrics and colors.

They can either be held in place by tight underwear or by wings. The wings can be snapped close, buttoned close or held with Velcro.

They are comfortable and easy to use and clean.

The one drawback is the initial cost. They are expensive. A single pad can cost from $4 to $20. Cost is usually based on materials but a well known maker will charge more.

But once you have a stash started, the cost lessens every month they are used. Each pad can easily last 3 to 5 years. A beginner's set can cost $50. But if you divide that by five years, it is less than disposables. Factor in the comfort involved and there is no contest.

Cloth tampons are closest to modern day O.B.  tampons. These are rolled into shape before insertion. There is no insertion device, just the good old human finger. Because they are unrolled for washing, they dry super quick. They are great to stash in your purse for traveling...for those "just in case"moments.

Our green living page

Crunchy

The term means an earth momma, more than likely to use cloth diapers, breast feed, have a compost pile...

You get the picture.

Well, that is what this page is about...all the green living things we make and some of what we just do for fun.