A Place for Clothespins!

I love my bunnies playing by my new little sweet alyssums.
There is an art to hanging up clothes on the clothesline.  I never was one to hang out very much.  I know bed linens and towels smell good but towels are not very soft at least mine never were.  However, I love to air out my quilts and curtains and a few other things.  Most of all, I like clothespin keepers.  I've made several different kinds...most of them like little dresses in one form or another.

This is my latest - it looks fairly simple.  It really is but for some reason it gave me a real headache at quilt camp.  First of all, whatever book I found it in, I can't find again.  But I had already enlarged the pattern 200% like it told me to but it didn't fit on my copy machine so I had to piece it together.  Somewhere in the creative process, things went south - so to speak - sorry all my southern friends.

The back piece was larger than the front.  I sewed it together anyway and it didn't look that good even though I tried to pleat or ease them together.  So this was one of those projects I worked on and completed more to my liking yesterday after I got home from camp.  I don't do much unsewing but I did on this project and it fits together better now.  It will be fun to make more pairing up some of my '30's fabrics.

Last year I bought toddler's dresses and made them into clothespin keepers and sold them at our Farmgirls sale.  I found this list of rules for clotheslines, included them with the dresses and thought I would share them with you. 
                                           THE BASIC RULES FOR CLOTHESLINES


1. You had to wash the clothesline before hanging any clothes - walk the entire lengths of each line with a damp cloth.
2. You had to hang the clothes in a certain order, always hang "whites" with "whites," and hang them first.
3. You never hung a shirt by the shoulders - always by the tail! What would the neighbors think?
4. Wash day is on a Monday! Never hang clothes on the weekend or Sunday, for Heaven's sake!
5. Hang the sheets and towels on the outside lines so you could hide your "unmentionables" in the middle.
6. It didn't matter if it was sub zero weather...clothes would "freeze-dry."
7. Always gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes! Pins left on the lines were "tacky!"
8. If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each item did not need two clothes pins but shared one of the clothes pins with the next washed item.
9. Clothes were off of the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket, and ready to be ironed.
10. IRONED?! Well, that's a whole other subject

Today was a busy dayOur barn continues to cave in so we have emptied the milkhouse (used to be my potting shed) of all my pots.  I have many containers - enamelware, wooden, clay, pottery, etc.  Now I have to sort out what I want and what can be sold at our first sale June 3 & 4.  We also put up our screen house on our deck so we could continue to empty the garden shed.  We will build our new red barn where the garden shed sits.  We put all the wicker from the shed in the screen house and set up other table and chairs on the deck.

Each year we put the top of the screen house on upside down - why I don't know.  So it takes us lots longer to stretch it over the steel frame and Velcro a bizillion straps to attach the top and sides.  One day I will hire someone to stand out in the wind, in 40 degree temps with their arms above their heads for an hour and a half while the top sails off the frame.  Not so much fun and way too much fresh air.  My allergies and asthma are on high alert!

It might be time for an unscheduled nap!

Take care,

Bonnie

Comments

  1. I do not line dry at all. I found my towels were stiff too and now that we live in Texas, there are too many birds, I would hate to see what they would add to my clean laundry !! Ewww !!!
    Once we screen in the front porch I have considered putting up a retractable line to occasionally dry some things,where they are safe from critters !! Loved your clothes line rules and the bag is very cute !!You are so creative !!!
    Steph

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  2. I feel the same way about the birds, Steph! and bugs...

    That's a good idea to be able to hang stuff up on the porch where there is protection!

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