Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

littleowl

re sewing

If you sew a little at the beginning and then reverse - similarly when you get to the end of the line of stitches do a few in reverse. That way both ends of the seam are secured and you can cut the threads close to the stitching.

Joan

good_advice

Good morning IrisViolet
Well done on your sewing.
Yes, reverse a few stitches to stop sewing comming undone. I sometimes then pull a top thread through to join the bottom thread and tie a little knot before cutting the thread.
making draw string bags from old sheets are good to practice sewing and simple to make.
I like making peg bags to use and give away.
Those sausage shapped bags for plaastic bags.

silvasava

:wave:Hi everyone
Well I'm home in one piece - just skimmed through to try and catch up - felt quite that you were thinking of me - esp when you all have such busy lives - thank you
Big welcome to IrisViolet - you've got your head on straight girl and you'll certainly get help and support on here - MMM doesn't do anything else! Your mention of nappies blowing on the line - lovely memories seeing as both my DS's are in their mid forties!!!
Well - here is the update on the rally. Got food (and plenty of alcohol) on board. Weather report not very nice - force 5/6 gusting force 7 and as we we would be head on we had to use the engine all the way DH happy 'cos we'd had the engine rebuilt & everything ran beautifully - phew! ) lovely trip up the channels between Bosham and Chichester to the marina (and past the megabucks houses - no thanks too much heating & dusting lol) That wind was biting, really cold but warmed up when we got to the marina as the wind dropped & lovely & sunny. The. Other people on the rally knew it was our maiden voyage and came over to 'wet' her! At one time we had 8 people in the cockpit - bit of a squash and she was definitely down on the stern lol. Sorry no photos of me helming this time but next month there's a day trip to the IoW so I'll post one then.
Right back to the day job - dance with the dyson & clean out the cat box! Have a good day all xx

vhalla1478

Morning All,

Just having a cup of coffee before I get cracking - the sun is shining so hopefully it will warm up enough to do some more garden clearing.

I don't want to confuse you or contradict anyone's advice, IrisViolet, but if you get to the stage where you are sewing the point of a dart, it's much neater to thread the loose ends of the cotton onto a needle and thread them through a few of the dart stitches. If you do it on the underside of the stitching (usually towards the lower part of the dart), your finishing off will be almost invisible. It's also a useful method if you are sewing with fine/sheer fabrics.

Have a good day, Folks. Must just work out my finances - always a Monday morning job!

Viv xx

naturaljazz

IrisViolet wrote: »

Thanks for even more brill sewing advice. My bits and bobs came, everything except the threads, soi shall get the machine out soon and have a go stitching on paper like I've seen recommended earlier in the thread, hopefully figure out control that way!

Been in the kitchen this morning, had ran out of bread so I've made a loaf, also used up some oranges by making orange cake. DH is around in the day tomorrow so need to have food accessible or he will moan there is nothing in. I ran out of SR flour so used baking powder with plain, also used granulated sugar instead of caster, always works fine for me.

Got the nappies in the wash so they will be out on the line soon, much prefer them dried outside anyway, nothing like a line of white nappies! Ah the things that make me smile!

So this afternoon its sewing machine, crochet and a few little jobs. One being sort out paperwork box of bills etc and another the bedding, organising in pillow cases like I have been recommended. I'm also gonna have each persons bedding in their own room instead of all squashed in one box in my room now.
I have saved he cardboard from my deliveries to try and makeshift some drawer dividers to separate diff clothes.
Slowly getting there with decluttering. One last big job is doing under my bed, going to get DH to pull it out tomorrow for me.

Hoping I can really turn it around this year and learn lots of new skills. Need to buy a diary and notebook for keeping myself organised and writing lots of these wonderful tips down. Really enjoying reading back through the thread!!

Hi, regarding the diary... I bought a lovely home organiser from homeba#####s. It was about £3 and its brilliant.
Loved reading what your up to....as I do all the inspiring posts on here :j

Prinzessilein

Morning lovely folks!


Firstly just have to agree that everyone here os friendly and supportive and just lovely!.....MMM is not a one-size-fita-all thing...we are all different and our home lies are all different too...I love that we are all supportive and encouraging each other on our individual journeys!


I have put (yet another!!!!...I live alone , how do I get through so much!!!) load of laundry on....and have used the 'egg' for the first time. ...I almost made a mistake - I saw the egg could be opened and had a bag of 'beads' inside...and thought I should open the bag and empty the beads into the egg first!....thankfully I had the foresight to read the little leaflet first!


The fact that the egg is approved by various allergy-support groups intrigues me. My skin is REALLY bad at the moment and I need to be so careful of what washing liquids et.c I use.


I have had Amazon Prime for a year...I got it at £45 - just a few days before the price-hike....it is due for renewal soon....I am looking into my finances to see if it is worthwhile renewing....With my disability and Mum's advanced age we do a fair amount of online shopping and the free postage is useful (especially around Christmas!) ...I make the most of the free Kindle library (one free book a month...I could easily read more!)....and I watch a bit of the free movies/TV series (I have only paid to rent a movie twice in the year) - it is certainly cheaper than buying/renting DVDs!.....on the other hand the price will now be almost double....I will go through my finances and I suspect I will decide it is worth it!


Need to bake a loaf this afternoon....might do some scones too.

good_advice

Morning Prinzessilein
I read you have bought an egg for washing. I tried soap nuts a few years ago. I found it washed the clothes but was so mild it did not remove any stains.
Of corse being MSE I used it up and then went back to old faithful Arial gel.

I shop @ Amazon because I have vouchers with doing surveys.
I wait till I need £10 worth of stuff and have FREE P&P. Standerd delivery is fine for us. No rush for delivery.

Re FREE kindle library - I use Dailyfreebooks. I recieve an email every day from them. I order a few ebooks v wifi onto my kindle when I can be faffed.
Once a week or so. Gone are my days of splashing the cash on books.
Rairly pay for a book. The last book I bought I got it free with survey vouchers. The book was to help me have a better understanding of my iPad. I thought I might be missing something!

good_advice

Now my question.
Do you tie up the daffs.leaves when the flower show is over?
We never have but OH now thinks we may have more flowers next year by tying the leaves with rubber bands.

misstara

Morning all,

A day off today and the sun is shining I've been out for a run this morning (can't mind if I've said before but I'm doing a 5k on Saturday with some people from work so have been training), I went along the river, round one of the parks and back - was lovely.

Now relaxing with a coffee and knitting, will head off round to see my gran soon. I think she wants to go for a walk along an old railway line and then for lunch.

OH decided yesterday to buy some compost, pots and various seeds from £land so we now have little pots on all our window sills - looking forward to them coming up.

silvasava

GoodAdvice - never tied my daffs up - just deadhead before they can develop seed and leave the foliage to die down naturally. A dual carriageway near me was planted with daffs over 20 years ago by the local council - they just leave them to died own naturally & give them a good feed & there is a beautiful display every year.