Flowerpot scarecrow

Today I helped to make a flowerpot scarecrow.  It took 3 hours but was great fun to do!

 

UPDATE:  We won first prize in the group category.  All the hard work was worth it!

How to upcycle reclaimed needlepoint

Last time I went up to London I did my usual walk around Liberty as their Christmas stuff is just amazing.  Unfortunately most of the prices are out of my range but it is lovely to look at all the crafty-type makes.  It is a pity that they don't do as much fabric and haberdashery now as they used to but I suppose they have to stock what sells.
It is always interesting to look at the 'vintage' room where they are selling clothes that I was wearing in the 1960s and 70s, although they are probably much higher quality brands than I could afford then.  There are some lovely evening dresses that would be wonderful to have for that special occasion.
There are always some unusual and quirky items, especially in the furniture.  I was greatly amused to see old furniture which had been renovated and recovered in old 'reclaimed' needlepoint tapestries, which were in lovely bright condition and well cleaned.  One was an vintage metal dentist chair, which was covered in brightly coloured scenes of thatched cottages and wheat fields or similar.  Other similar unusually shaped furniture or metal objects had been reupholstered in the same way.  It seemed that the idea was to put together two disparate items, the object and the bright needlework, to make a statement. 
I am not sure what my point is really, I am just a bit bemused.  I suspect if we were clearing out an elderly relative's home the old furniture and needlepoint would have been put in the skip, even though we know that many hours of work went into the stitching.  Someone is able to see past this.   I hope they sell.  I hope that someone will give my old needlepoint a new lease of life and that the Liberty buyer is around to rummage through my skip.

Upcycle, reuse and recycle packaging materials

I have a small business which uses quite a lot of packaging materials for posting parcels.  When I am busy I am posting several packages a day, perhaps up to eight a day in the run up to Christmas.  Add in ebay sales and I use a lot of packaging/envelopes/Jiffy bags etc.
For the business I tend to use new materials, and find ebay is a good source for plastic bags, and I scour the internet for good deals on Jiffy bags.  Ebay is a bit more flexible as it is quite usual to reuse and recycle good quality packaging materials, and as you know I am always trying to reuse as much as I can, both to save resources and to save money.  This is even more important now that I try to offer my ebay items with free P&P, and postage rates are due to increase hugely at the end of the month.
This is a list of materials that I save for recycling:

Plastic bags for immediate packaging
The plastic envelopes that greetings cards come in
Tiny plastic bags that hold spare buttons on new garments
My son is an IT technician and saves me lots of plastic bags that electrical components come in
The outer bags used for catalogues that come through the post
The air cushioning plastic strip that comes eg with Amazon parcels which I cut into bags

Outer packaging
Thank you Amazon for using lots of that brown paper strip to cushion inside boxes.  This is invaluable.  It can be used as brown paper to make parcels.  I cut it into smaller pieces, double layer, and run some seams down the side with my sewing machine to make envelopes.

(Incidentally, although off topic I can't resist adding this link on how to make storage baskets with it).
Corrugated card which is cut to sandwich items eg knitting needles
Most Jiffy bags can be reused
Plastic sacs received in the post are turned inside out and reused

Postage
I am brilliant at sandwiching stuff tightly so that it can be posted as Large not Packet - this saves a lot of money
Superdrug sometimes sell stamps at a discount - it is worth stocking up
And although too late for this year it is worth stocking up on 1st class/2nd class stamps at the old rate

I promise that this is the end of my recycling blogging, I will get back to knitting next time.

www.bitstobuy.co.uk

Make do and mend

I always wanted one of those M&S Per Una jackets, you know, the one everyone of a certain age has.  The one with the stripes and big buttons down the front.    They seem to do the same one every season in slightly different colours, so they are obviously a big seller.
I finally bought my version in blues and greys, and although I was told it looked nice I was never completely happy with it, as it gaped at the neck and worse still the flappy opening at the bottom of the button band put inches on where I didn't need them. 
I was brought up in an age when you made do rather than chuck things out, so I decided to modify it.

First I took off the front two bands.  I forgot to take a 'before' photo but here it is with the band placed where it was.
I found some grey 2 ply yarn and picked up along one side, double crocheting to the end.  I carried on until I had a wide double crocheted band then slipped stitched it to the other side to fill the centre.  As the yarn is so fine the band is firm and the crochet stitches are so fine that it just looks like the same fabric as the main parts of the sweater.  Then I sewed the buttons in place.

I am much happier with it now.  I always prefer a sweater to a jacket anyway, it can just be pulled on without having to think about layers to put underneath.  Made do and mended for another day!

www.bitstobuy.co.uk