Tales of cloth and thread

Here are the first pair of spring overalls I made for Harlan from brown cotton and some Superbuzzy fabrics. They took a lot longer to make than I estimated and since I'm a beginner seamstress they don't look perfect. When I thought I had completed them and tried them on Harlan they were way too short in the torso so I had to make some additions to the straps at the top. One can't exactly try a pinned muslin practice outfit on a squirmy toddler. Now when I make the next pair I'll elongate the torso so they'll fit a bit better. I do love them though.

Last Saturday we went to the flea market in Chelsea and met up with old friends from Austin Karen and Mike. They live in PA now and buy antiques from auctions to resell full time. They are at the flea market here quite often and they always have to most original items I ever see there. I got some great vintage fabrics and buttons from them:

This one is an old feed sack. It looks like it could Liberty Print, don't you think?


Kitties and hearts:


Two repro fabrics Karen had, and some great bakelite buttons:


They also had some old wooden cheese boxes which I have been scouting ebay for lately. I want to make some dioramas with them. For now they are housing our Homeys and Trailer Trash figurines as well as some Kid Robot toys and an old wind up chicken:


I've also been spending my "free time" over the past week researching cloth diapers as I'm planning to switch over from disposables. During the research process I also discovered that I can get rid of the wipes and keep thin terry Target washcloths in the wipes warmer along with a witch hazel and water solution. For pee pee situations I will just use a spray bottle and dry cloths. Ever since the landlord began letting our garbage pile up in front of our building I have been on a campaign to minimize how much I create. I began saving compost and bringing it to the farmer's market each Saturday. Now with no more diapers there should be considerably less output coming from our apartment. Did I mention that he moved back into the ground floor? He still lets the garbage build up although he puts it out more often than when he was not living here. I've had a couple of run-ins with him since the incident and ignored him, although last week I saw him on the street and just said hello out of instinct. As Joe predicted when the incident occurred, he is acting like nothing happened.

Here's a question for you readers, does living "off the grid" mean no internet, or does it just mean supplying your own water, electric, and fuel etc? To be truley O.T.G. do you have to fully support yourself or can you have a job and pay taxes, have a retirement fund, and invest in the market as long as you supply your own power and water?
Just wondering as I like to fantasize about going O.T.G. but I gots to have my internets and Tivo.