Defense Secretary Gates to urge boosting military by 92,000 - temporary surge? Not likely

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said today it is unclear how long the "temporary" addition of U.S. troops to Iraq will last, and he announced both a 92,000-service-member increase in the permanent size of the U.S. military and a reshuffling of deployment rules for the National Guard and reserves in order to accommodate the ongoing conflict.

read more at Washington Post, Jan 11, 2007

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Project - little girl's adorable skirt from jeans, lace and whatever

I couldn't resist, had to post one more 'so sweet' little girl's refashioned new skirt.
Since I have a sweetheart little granddaughter who it still toddlerish, this would be an adorable skirt for me to make for her.

Hey Mom (Lica) - I think I need her sizes, or you need to send me a pair of old jeans in her size!

I wonder if this would also be a good project for Ems? Hey Bree, what do you think?



and




oh, and if I'm going to link Chloe's post and photos at Wardrobe Refashion, then it's courteous for me to also post the link she included to her online baby store, where she sells some of her refashioned items.

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Project - Woman's blouse into little girl's sweet dress

I just loved how sweet this little girl looks in her new 'dress' made from a woman's blouse. See it at rostichery blog I love that linen style blouse and won't these now vintage blouses make adorable children's dresses? I have a granddaughter that is young enough that I can make this project. I'm looking forward to making up several projects for my grandchildren!

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Project; From t-shirt sleeves to baby 's pants

The sleeves of a generous-sized, stretch-knit T-shirt can be made into a pair of baby cropped trousers very easily and quickly. See her first-time I made this project tutorial from one of the contributors, Katherine, at Wardrobe Refashion.

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Project; Blanket Coat or Shawl

Look what I found in the archives of Craftzine. A page of refashion projects. Take a look for yourselves.

One of the projects shown on their archive page is a blanket coat or blanket shawl. I have a blanket, and think it would be a great idea to fashion it into a coat or shawl...well great for someone else that still has a waistline. Me and belts just aren't what we used to be....we don't go together so well anymore.

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Project - Sweatshirt to Sweetshirt

Now why didn't I think of this! Some fun with those sweatshirts!

A tutorial on how to turn a oversized sweatshirt into a stylish cute (and comfy) top. Link.


Before and After

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Refashioning from your valued 'stash' - not a rag bag anymore!

Still in my early enthusiasm phase, after looking over all the archives and posts at Wardrobe Refashion blog, I found so many ideas that will work for my 'stash' - all those bags of clothing I have saved. But even more than the ideas, I feel so validated that I am not alone in saving clothing and accessories because they catch my eye, the texture, the pattern, unusual, vintage and any other assorted reason why I 'just can't get rid of it yet'.

Some people actually have an entire room of these wonderous 'saves' and 'treasures'. So, I'm excited about my renewed appreciation for my own pack rat characteristics and I regret having given away so much of the 'saves' I kept for years and years. Over the years I've had my stash stored away in plastic bags in basements, garage, storage closets but I continue to move it around with us when we move from one location to another. Now that we are in our own home and have been for 4 years, my 'stash' has been in the basement. It's time to bring the treasure out of storage and the basement and create a 'treasure room' and get busy with refashioning!

I just knew I was saving it all for projects - I just couldn't quite see the whole vision of what projects. Gotta love those creative people who think up clever new ideas and what I like best is that it is 'recycling, sustainable living, green living, frugal and thrifty'. There are people out there who have created small business enterprises out of refashionng old clothing into something individually unique and exclusive! What a fun way to generate some income. I'm no seamstress - makes me wish I was though.

Projects to explore using my 'stash';

- men's shirts - reconstructed and using men's deconstructed shirts to reconstruct new items.

- dresses - reconstruct into skirts, halter tops

- pants - reconstruct into skirts

- jeans - reconstruct into skirts and bags

- bibbed overalls - reconstruct into dress

- sheets and pillowcases - reconstruct into tops, skirts, curtains

- t-shirts - reconstruct into exclusively fashionable and personalized closer fitting t-shirts. Based on a popular selling book 'Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt'

- table cloths - reconstruct into circle skirts

- napkins, handkerchiefs, scarves, placemats - use to make halter tops, add onto top in layers to form bottom skirt, add as hemline motifs

- lace from doilies, napkins, pillowcases, dresses can be used as motifs in reconstructed clothing, ie, t-shirts, tops, skirts.

- clothing remnants - refashion into bags, journals, gift wrap, wrap a box for use as stationary box.

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Project; t-shirt refashion - halter from crew neck t-shirt

from Make magazine

Nobody just wears a t-shirt these days. You've got to "mod" them. To get you started on your first t-shirt for the summer, artist Karyl Newman took a regular looking large crew neck t-shirt and created this cute halter tee. The complete step-by-step is up on Instructables. Link.




get instructions here;

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Project - 5-minute t-shirt jacket

So okay then, Blogger help shows me there is indeed an as yet unfixed problem with the Blog This button in the newest blogger upgrade. Sigh. For now, then, I'm back to the 'old fashioned' way of blogging, but actually opening 'create a post' and doing the typing (instead of the copy/paste of Blog This).

Refashioning your t-shirts seems to be a big thing right now. And I have a lot of t-shirts from over the years, but I've gotten too big for many of those sized medium t-shirts. Well, gives me incentive though to shop for t-shirts again in the thrift shops. I'll be posting various refashion t-shirt ideas as I come across them.

Found this at mediathinker.com
“wardrobe refashioning,” taking an item of ready-made clothing and turning it into something else

How to instructions;





Finished jacket (recommend pinking shears to cut or hem the edges, get creative and hem edges with edging, piping, lace)

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Blogger upgraded and now my blogger tool isn't working

I'm not pleased to discover that with blogger's new upgrades I may have lost some reliable old functions. I've been blogging with blogger since 2004, so I've seen it in it's early stages of development. The upgrades over the years have made blogger more functional and user friendly. Recently blogger did an overall upgrade in conjunction with google. Well, some of it is good and some not so good.

Mostly, I'm disappointed that my ability to use my blogger button on my toolbar to do copy/paste blogging (clip it kind of thing) does not seem to work with this new blogger upgrade. It still works on my older blogs which I didn't 'upgrade' but it doesn't work with this new blog I created in blogger upgrades.

So, unless it is a glitch that will be fixed, I'm not too sure if this blog will continue. There is my very first blog at blogger - Wonderwander - and I'm still fond of that blog, nostalgic about it even, since it was my first blog. I may have to convert the intended theme of this blog over to Wonderwander. I've already posted a couple of new posts to Wonderwander that were intended for this blog. See Make T-Shirt Stencils from Freezer Paper and Independent America entries at my Wonderwander blog.

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Independent America: November 2006

Independent America: November 2006:

"We're two former network news journalists who have just finished production on our own road movie across the United States. More than ever it seems like it's Independent America vs. Corporate Chain store America. We searched for those pressure points along with our Black lab Miles in some of the most scenic, least traveled corners of the country. We endeavored to make our 55-day trip without setting one tire on an interstate highway – without setting one foot inside a corporate chain restaurant, motel or store." view trailer here

I am so impressed with the concept of two journalists crossing the backroads of America, finding what remains of the Mom and Pop stores in communities who have permitted the 'big box' stores to come into their communities. I haven't seen the dvd, but there are clips available and it looks like a dvd worth owning.

Independent America featured in Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone with five clips from the dvd;

clip part one

clip part two

clip part three

clip part four

clip part five

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MAKE: Blog: Make T-Shirt Stencils from Freezer Paper

Make T-Shirt Stencils from Freezer Paper

project photos




Angry Chicken posted up a great tutorial on how to make stencils for t-shirts from freezer paper. Originally found off Craftster.org, this technique is so quick and amazing, you'll be ready to emblazon your designs on all your shirts, bags, you name it! If you can't draw, don't worry, freezer paper must be like magic because you can even run it through an inkjet printer (just make sure it prints on the matte surface not the plastic side). Link.

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project A Shrunken Sweater makes a child's dress; Wardrobe Refashion

from Wardrobe Refashion June 2006; A Shrunken Sweater makes a child's dress

My next project was to try to salvage a cute little wool sweater that my husband shrunk when my first daughter was a baby.



I cut off the short, stiff sleeves and some of the length. I then fashioned a "handkerchief" skirt from a layer of eyelet and a layer of lace I had in my stash. At the waist I added buttonholes for a velvet ribbon that ties in the back. And I can't forget the embellishment: some felt flowers at the neck. Now the shrunken sweater has been reborn into a fall/winter dress for my second daughter!




TFTCarrie blog

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Everything old is new again.... a phrase from a song

Introductions and getting started: I'm a child of the Pleasantville 1950s, a teen during the turbulent 1960s, a wife and mother during the 'earth mother' 1970s, a career mom in the 1980s, a grandmother in the 1990s, and now an empty nester in 2007.

Spent the past 4 years immersed in activism efforts trying to end war in Iraq and bring the troops home. So immersed, that I let go of a lot of pleasures I used to enjoy before the Iraq war and it's time to yank my life back into balance.

So what did I used to do that I don't do now, what did I used to like that I don't get to do as much of now and what were all those projects I was going to do when I had more time.... ??

I like collectibles, and have collected items from different eras.
I like vintage things that aren't exactly 'antiques' or collectibles.
I like trash to treasures kind of things and projects.
I like historical perspective of how families managed in different eras.
I am looking at sustainable living, simplistic living, meaningful living, frugal living, 'green' living.
I like learning about diy projects.
I like learning about and doing my kitchen vegetable gardening, putting up the produce.
I like crocheting, simple sewing projects.
I like 'decorating' my home. We bought a house built in 1892, in a fishing village - Bay Tower House, we call it - visit our blog at HouseBlogs.
I like my dog = Jake, an australian shepherd.
I liked the cat, inherited from my daughter, when I didn't think I liked cats.
I like the idea of new recipes, although I don't love cooking - been doing it for decades, so like to spice things up.
I like thrift stores, sales, collectible shops, antique shops, off the beaten path kind of shops. I don't like 'box stores'
I like oil painting.
I like reading for leisure and learning.

I'm a homebody by nature and prefer to find treasures and pleasures exploring things I can do in my home.
I'm also an explorer, wanting to explore new places, new ideas, new trails, knowing I have a home to come back to.

So what's the purpose of this blog? It's a place for me to collect ideas from others who are more creative than I in thinking how to repurpose, refashion, re-use, re-new, re-utilize old into new.

As I wander in my internet travels, I am so often finding happy discoveries amongst the many who share on the internet and today I was so excited when I found Wardrobe Refashion blog, I just knew when I finished looking it over I was going to make a new blog for myself. I recently was involved in trying to purge my closets and storage of decades old clothing I've saved and managed to complete the project. So several bags to go out to thrift store and several other bags remain to be used in sewing/crafting/quilting projects. Then today when I found Wardrobe Refashion blog, well those bags set to go out to the thrift stores will get another looking over for what might be useable in 'refashioning' projects. I'm excited and animated about some great new ideas for using the 'stash' I've saved over the past decades.

My family and friends find it humorous that I save stuff like I do, and my kids (adults now) like to laugh at some of the things I have saved - like some of their clothing from when they were kids. Some have said I need an 'intervention' to get rid of clothing, shoes, and purses that date back to 1980s. Of course I do - need an intervention, and I'm delighted with the new ideas being shared by so many people who are interested in retro fashioning old into new..... I have a whole new world stretching out before me.

posted by Lietta Ruger

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Army Subpoenas Reporters and Activists To Testify Against Lt. Watada

First it was reporters being subpoenaed (Dahr Jamail, Sara Olson, and Gregg Kakesako) and now it expands to local activists in Washington state. The Army has issued subpoenas to local WA state activists to testify in the upcoming court martial of Lt. Watada. Veterans for Peace, Washington based organizer Gerry Haynes; Veterans for Peace organizer organizer Tom Burkhart; Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace member Phan Nguyen - received subpoena's to testify.

Military subpoenas reporters and activists to help prosecute Lt. Watada.

Pre-trial hearing underway today, however judge delays testimony of those subpoenaed until full court martial February 5. Journalists say free press threatened. Activists say Army demands they "name names" in effort to chill anti-war organizing.

At a Tacoma, Washington press conference yesterday, January 3, Olympia-based anti-war activist Phan Nguyen described his objections to having been subpoenaed last week by the Army to testify against Lt. Watada. Nguyen, a member of the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, was the moderator of a number of press conferences in June 2006 regarding Lt. Watada and his objections to serving in an illegal and immoral war in Iraq.

When contacted directly by Army prosecutor Captain Daniel Kuecker last week, Nguyen refused to answer any questions without first speaking with a lawyer. However, Nguyen described the Kuecker's line of questions as focusing on the behind the scenes workings of the anti-war movement in the Pacific Northwest. "Kuecker basically demanded that I name the names of any key organizers that had anything to do with the public support campaign created to support Lt. Watada," explained Nguyen. "They are clearly on a political fishing expedition. Unless we fight back, this could have a chilling effect on anti-war organizing at a time when we have to step up to end the war."

Seattle chapter Veterans for Peace (VFP) organizer Gerri Haynes has also been subpoenaed by the Army. Apparently, Haynes landed on the Army's radar because she played a public role in organizing the Veterans for Peace National Convention in Seattle last August. Like Jamail, the Army is looking for information regarding Lt. Watada's speech to the convention. Like Nguyen, Haynes confirmed that Kuecker "wanted the names of convention attendees and organizers." Another VFP organizer Tom Burkhart has been placed on the Army's witness list.

above was quoted from Courage to Resist

Planned Support Actions

The campaign to support Lt. Watada plans a protest and press conference at the gates of Fort Lewis this morning from 8 AM to 11 AM as the pre-trial hearing begins.

Supporters can also express their support writing to Fort Lewis Commanding General;

Lt. General James Dubik,
Commanding General Fort Lewis,
1 Corps Building 2025 Stop 1,
Fort Lewis WA 98433.

The Citizens' Hearing on the Legality of U.S. Actions in Iraq: The Case of Lt. Ehren Watada

will be held on January 20-21 in Tacoma, two weeks before the court martial of Lt. Watada at Fort Lewis. The national event will put the Iraq War on trial, in response to the Army's trial of Lt. Watada.

Iraq War veterans, experts in international law and war crimes, and human rights advocates will offer testimony, in a format that will resemble that of a congressional committee. We are inviting testimony by Iraq War veterans and experts to inform military personnel and other citizens to reflect deeply on their roles and responsibilities in an illegal war." Testifiers will include:

Denis Halliday Former UN Assistant Secretary General, coordinated Iraq humanitarian aid;


Daniel Ellsberg Military analyst who released the Pentagon Papers in the Vietnam War;


Richard Falk Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University;


Ann Wright Retired Army Colonel and State Department official;


Nadia McCaffrey Gold Star Families Speak Out; Brussels Tribunal advisory board;


Darrell Anderson Army 1st Armored Division in Baghdad & Najaf; awarded Purple Heart;


Harvey Tharp Former U.S. Navy Lieutenant and JAG stationed in Iraq;


Antonia Juhasz Policy-analyst and author on U.S. economic policies in Iraq;


John Burroughs Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy Executive Director;


Benjamin G. Davis Assoc. Prof. of Law, University of Toledo; expert on law of war;


Geoffrey Millard 8 years in Army National Guard; now in Iraq Veterans Against the War;


Francis Boyle Professor of international law at Univ. of Chicago (via video);


Eman Khammas Iraqi human rights advocate (via video).

The hearing will present the case that Lt. Watada would, if allowed, make at his court martial. He maintains that the war on Iraq is illegal under international treaties and under Article Six of the U.S. Constitution. Further, Lt. Watada argues that the Nuremberg Principles and U.S. military regulations require soldiers to follow only "lawful orders." In Lt. Watada's view, deployment to Iraq would have made him party to the crimes that permeate the structure and conduct of military operations there.

see more on Citizen's Hearing at website - www.wartribunal.org/

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