I went to the store one day....

This one day, a long time ago, when it was still winter, I went to the store with a friend and we spent a very long time at the store.  While we were at the store we found a display of very brightly colored washclothes.  They were on sale...really cheap.  I like bright colors, but I didn't have a use for large amounts of washclothes (they were in 12 packs) so I took a picture of them to remember them by (and because I thought if I looked at the picture enough I'd come up with a use for them).

I couldn't come up with an idea of my own so I e-mailed mommy and asked her if she needed large amounts of brightly colored washclothes for her Girl Scout troop (for crafting purposes, not because they are dirty).  She said she did and asked me to get 48 washclothes...So I did.  She wasn't going to need them until I came home from school, so I just packed them in a box and they waited in my room until I came home.

Once I got home mommy explained her idea and we got to work. 

First, Mommy cut all the dishclothes in half and organized them so they were in groups of two and no two groups were the same.  It's a good thing Mommy did it and not me because some of the colors looked awfully much the same to me.  She put all the pairs on the table:

Then I took each pair and sewed one short edge together with my favorite triple zig-zag stitch to make a long strip. I was careful to make sure that the long edges with seams were not both on the same side...that would have caused problems later on.

Once they were in long strips I folded one end three quarters of the way up the strip and sewed all the way up, even past where the fold was and along the raw edge of the top so that it wouldn't ravel.  It kind of looked like a sleeping bag when I was done:

Then, I cut five inch pieces of elastic.  I got to use my rotary cutter and cutting mat. That was fun.

Then I sewed the elastic into the seam on the "sleeping bag" that wasn't sewn yet.   The first time I did it, I started with the loop at the top of the sleeping bag.  That was a bad plan.  Much better to start with the loop nearer the fold.  When the elastic loops were sewn in you couldn't hardly see them:

Finally I turned them right side out, sewed two straight stitch seams from fold to top of the pocket dividing it into thirds, and painted the name of a every girl in the troop onto the outside, and presto!  you have a camp eating utensil holder and a cloth for washing up, all in one!

And that is what happens when I go to the store and spend a long time there....