Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

GreyQueen

I copy the recipes out onto the computer (sometimes 2 or 3 to a page if they are similar) and print them.

Then I put the recipes in a Lever Arch folder, in plastic pockets. When I want to use one (there are dividers in the folder by type of recipe) I take the plastic pocket out and fix it onto the wall cupboard door nearest the cooker, so I can read it easily but it isn't in my way.

Prinzessilein

Floss wrote: »

... when I inherited my mums sewing box, I found several felt needlebooks made when I was in the Brownies around 43 years ago, so I'd agree with your comment about them lasting!

My Mum still uses the needle-case I made her back when I was in the Brownies ...I was enrolled in 1970, so about 45 years ago...they were indeed made to last!




I have had a bit of a clear out this morning...a friend of the family is setting up home on their own...and for various reasons they are starting with the clothes on their back and not much more...so the family have been rallying around and looking to see what we can give to make things easier...between us we have managed a reasonable start to the kitchen. (My donation was 2 mugs I haven't used in a year or more...a couple of plastic cooking spoons...a ladle and a fish slice - I got a new set a few years ago but pushed these two from my old set to the back of the drawer and left them there!...a melamine (sp?) tray I was given a few Christmases ago and have never used!....and a couple of plates that were left from an old dinner service, they are not microwave safe but will do for someone who has nothing!....surprising how much you can find that you never use when you go looking!)


Dinner was delicious and 'free'...Some weeks ago I had a voucher for £5 off if I spent £20 at M&S...So I restocked the freezer....the mini-roasting joints of beef were on offer and I got one for my £5 voucher - easily makes 4 meals for me on my own!...I popped that in the freezer when I bought it and took it out and cooked it today...it was beautiful!....veggies were the last of the Christmas veggies from the freezer.

mothernerd

vhalla1478 wrote: »

Good Morning Everybody, just a few more random thoughts and a query.

Query first, has anyone got any bright ideas as to how to contain the miscellaneous recipes that one collects? I've everything from torn out magazine pages to scribbled on the back of cardboard inserts from tights packets, all stuffed into a rapidly disintegrating cardboard box.

can't find anything of quality second hand that you can afford, opt for cotton muslin (NOT polyester voile) - it's wide, it drapes beautifully and you don't even have to do much sewing - just make a channel in the top of each length, hem then thread as many widths as you desire - more will certainly look more opulent -through a curtain wire the taut width of your window. if that looks too plain, add a border down the leading edge - nearly anything goes from ticking to a lush piece of old velvet to some trimming you've been hording. When you're feeling more flush you can recycle them for under curtains or bed hangings.

Floss wrote: »

GQ, when I inherited my mums sewing box, I found several felt needlebooks made when I was in the Brownies around 43 years ago, so I'd agree with your comment about them lasting!


Vhalla, we keep our (carefully filtered & selected) recipe cut-outs in polypockets in 3 lever arch files, sorted into type (baking, meats, vegi etc). It took time to do but makes life a lot easier when DH wants the scrap of paper with the recipe for Lancashire Hotpot!

I can also recommend the lever arch file. Mum asked me before Christmas and I decluttered the file, some spare labels (to re-do the code in the front), alphabetised dividers, plastic pockets, some paper and glue (to stick small scraps on) - I am trying to whittle down the number of cross-stitch patterns I have pulled from various magazines over the years (usually only three patterns in an issue you would ever want to do and the rest of the bulk is mainly adverts and other methods of trying to sell you things).

For small quantities of recipes/ tips/ how tos I use an address book - you can get a reasonable size one fairly cheap in those shops we all love and they are alphabetised. Use a regular a-z book if you have an old one lying about but stationers tend to charge £10 and upwards for them these days. easier to find bits like marinades or gather together all your 'aubergine recipes'. I also use extra pages in my regular address books (I have two) for lists.

X is for Xmas (how many people do you know whose name begins with X) and my Christmas card list is in there + a list of the cards, by type, I have left in my stock, so I can check whether I need any without finding the box of cards. I used to do several part-time jobs at a time and keeping track of my employers details when applying for other jobs or helping the tax man (my main employer changed their head office 3 times and so my tax office also moved) became a chore, so I moved that into the address book.

I also worked as a Welfare Rights Officer (+ 5 years as a volunteer) in the eighties and knew many cases where firms went bust and the managers hadn't paid over the NI contributions collected from the workers (in one case the manager's secretary had alerted the workforce to the manager's emptying of the safe and ready to take off with the contents). These workers then had to backtrack through their own previous employment record and find co-workers to prove they had paid contributions in order to claim the benefits/pensions they were entitled to.

W, I used to jot down useful web addresses. I used a page each to keep relevant details in when my father and brother died (the address book will fit in my handbag and if there is a phone query and they start to ask for various details they are to hand). Recently I have started pages for my own health - dates of operations and diagnosis of various long-term conditions and the same for my mother (if I need them when she is taken into hospital) and my grown up sons (they seem to discard the hospital paperwork nearly as soon as they have been given it so I just kept dates, hospital, ward/surgeon and the operation).

When the boys were younger I had a list the phone numbers of their friends under each of my boys forenames - saves trying to remember the surnames of people you call by their first names all the time if someone isn't home on time and you are starting to worry.

The address books are hard-backed and you keep them a long time - not sure if this applies to the younger generation who keep everything on their phone (then they wail when the thing stops working and they are cut off from all they know). Jotting down things like this means you can ditch a lot of paperwork you might never need.

Re: curtains. If you only need light curtains or want a coloured lining that matches your curtains I have used deep dyed sheets - good for clothing or anything else you need a quantity of fabric for. They are often reduced to a couple of pounds at the end of the season and are excellent value compared to off the roll fabrics.

Some experts recommend sewing the lining into the curtain but I find this makes them very heavy for taking down and putting up and slow to dry. I also think having the lining separate (hung from the other curtain with small curtain hooks) traps a layer of air between which adds extra insulation. You can also use up old curtains you have but don't necessarily want to look at, to keep you warm in winter.

cheerfulness4

silvasava wrote: »

Cheerfulness - LOVE the waiscoat. what colour are you going to do it in?

I'd love to do it in that exact colour but it's going to have to be in a burnt orange colour or a turquoise-blue colour as I already have enough of those wools already in my stock.
I would love to do it in a pastel colour for the summer months when its a bit chilly but there's loads of time to knit others later.

[QUOTE=IrisViolet;67493433
Also going to sort out the big cupboard in my front room, it's a gorgeous wooden unit with three drawers and four shelves up top behind glass doors but it's a state!!! Full of books and paper, craft stuff, paint, sticker books, tissue paper............. Can't find anything, need to organisie it and make it look neater. Bet I'll find all sorts ha.

[/QUOTE]

I have a large unit too in my lounge that has to be sorted through. We lopped loads of things in there when we moved a few months back and it still hasn't been sorted yet.:eek:
My sewing machine is going back in once I've cleared out whatever has been put in there. In fact, there is masses of storage space in the cupboards, two drawers and two deep book shelves.
Its going to be a 'make do and mend' project for when the weather improves. I have lots of second hand furntiture I've collected over the years. Each piece is very strong and absolutely beautiful in shape but some is a little dark and we intended to revamp. Not one piece has been done yet.
The wall unit will be challenging so I think we're going to start with a small writing bureau.

IrisViolet - I've set up little sewing centres in various places around my home in pretty tins. One where I sort the laundry, another in the lounge and one on the landing with buttons in too so its accessible to all. (at least they know where to pop their fallen buttons even if they don't sew them back on).
What I would love to make is one of these.

Like a 'tool belt' for your armchair.

thirzah - love the idea of the pencil case with essentials in your knitting bag. Must put that into action.

Floss

Am currently on an eye-break between hemming a brown office dress and a grey one...they have both been sitting waiting for repairs for a while, but it's been light & bright enough to sit by the window sewing today so took the opportunity and will have them back in circulation this week

Am also planning to get a big chunk of baby blanket knitted for a colleague this evening, hopefully it will be compete before baby arrives.

Thirzah - my knitting basket has a pocket inside for measure, scissors & sewing-up needle.

Mamma85

Tackled some outstanding jobs,
Altered some jeans that were a touch too big.
Sorted out some of my paint, will take the odd bits and old tins to the tip tomorrow.
Repainted 2 canvases I had up in the kitchen, found some old duck egg blue paint and now they match the kitchen cupboards

I've got both DDs' birthdays over the next 2 months, and was sorting through my bag of party bits and bobs, and rather than buy a new pack of party bags for the kiddies, I'm just going to use all the odd ones and half packs I've got, I'm sure it's not going to matter if the kids have green fairys or pink princesses as long as there's sweets and cake in there!
Plus they get binned afterwards anyway.

Dd2 put on a jumper dress yesterday that is a little too short to be a dress anymore, so I'm thinking I'll shorten it to a jumper, then at least she'll get the rest of the winter out of it.

Off to do tea and maybe sort my tool box out (I keep putting it off )

cheerfulness4

Floss - showing us up with your posh knitting basket. I've got one of those wooden framed foldable knitting bags too which does have a little pocket inside but I assumed for your sucky sweets while you were concentrating on the patterns.

Just found a PDF pattern for that 'tool belt' thingy. That is now on my ever growing list of 'to makes.'
http://www.sewmamasew.com/media/blog/SMSPincushionOrganizer.pdf

Floss

cheerfulness4 wrote: »

Floss - showing us up with your got one of those wooden framed foldable knitting bags too which does have a little pocket inside but I assumed for your sucky sweets while you were concentrating on the pattern

Haha, I do have some sweeties in there too! It's a beach-bag type given to me years ago but I never used it as we don't do beach holidays so it was recruited to another role

sistercas

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I've made a bag for all the rolls of wrapping paper , I used an old scarf/ wrap thanks to grey queen. For the idea , I made handles instead of drawstring , I'm going to hang it in the cupboard .

elaine241

Hello All
Tackled the mending pile and brought back into use two pairs of school trousers, a pair of playing trousers that were heading for recycling, fixed a hole in a bean bag (snow everywhere!), reattached the binding on a throw and fixed the underwire on a bra that kept poking out!

My son accidentally broke a window in a door leading from the porch to the front room. As our house is very old and the porch is freezing cold at best there was a horrible draft! Que this thread, ran up a bit of a curtain from a scrap of upholstery material. Sewed a gully along the top and bottom and fixed it into the hole with old fashioned curtain wires and "eyes", no more draft and doesnt look too bad!

Was going to get my son new curtains for his bedroom as his were unravelling and the pull threads had come out. Decided to sew them up, re thread the pull threads and attach a set of thermal liners, now as good as new!

Love this thread! Elaine x