Fall Excitement

As promised, here is Natalee's shirt that we made a few weeks back.

Here's what to do if you want your very own pumpkin shirt.

#1- Pinch and gather up portions of the short fabric and secure with a rubber band 1-2 inches from the point of the pinch. Wrap the band several times so that it's nice and tight. Create similar sections all over the shirt.

#2- Prepare the dye bath according to package instructions. The only orange I could find was called "Sunshine Orange" and it's not a dark pumpkin orange like the photo I saw. I think you could get a darker color if you buy a couple of packages of dye and mix them to a lesser water/dye ratio. Anyway, wet the shirt and then submerge it in the dye. Let it soak until it's a shade darker than you want. Wear gloves unless you want your hands to be orange too.

#3- Still wearing gloves, rinse the shirt under running water until the water you are squeezing out of it is clear.

#4- Carefully cut off the bands and dry the shirt.

#5- Using a permanent marker or paint, draw on the faces. Here is another problem. When I washed the shirt, the black marks ran a little and blead onto other parts of the shirt so now our shirt is kind of dirty looking. This isn't a huge problem, but just warning you. That wouldn't happen if you used an actual fabric marker or paint. I used a sharpie.

ALSO....DRUM ROLL PLEASE!

WE HAVE GRASS!!!

I know it's not much, but it's a start. For a backyard that's been barren for as long as we've lived here, it's about the most beautiful stuff ever! Thanks to Rodney and the Elder's Quorum Presidency for helping us out!