Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

cheerfulness4

Aww what a pity effy. Is it to do with how many posts you've made so far?

zebedy, looking forward to hearing some of your make do and mend projects. It gets to be very satisfying, doesn't it? Much more pleasurable than shopping I'm finding personally.

This circular knitting is a game and a half isn't it?! I'm still casting on the mammoth amount of stitches. :eek: I'm going to have a challenge on my hands mastering this but I'm not giving up. The instructions are very different to what I'm used to as well. I can feel a headache coming on.

tooties

Not really been up to very much over the last few days. I was putting an old pair of socks into the rag bag but instead i slipped each one over the ends of my soft sweeping brush so i could get all the cobwebs off.

Got some more of my crocheting planned for tonight.

Regards

Bobarella

Hi All
Had the amazing fortune to find a brand match for £2.84 today which got me a nice little top up shop. Really pleased as running into using up my other budgets to cover this long month now.
Bob

scotmumof3

Hello everyone :hello: I just found this thread and it sounds perfect for what I want to achieve. I've managed to read up to page 10 and will try to catch up with the rest when I have time. I too am trying to get back to more of an OS life one step at a time. I can knit but haven't done for years and my sewing machine is probably covered with cobwebs . I have started to cook as much as I can from scratch but I hope to get some hints ,tips and motivation from you all:)

Effyb4

cheerfulness4 wrote: »

Aww what a pity effy. Is it to do with how many posts you've made so far?

zebedy, looking forward to hearing some of your make do and mend projects. It gets to be very satisfying, doesn't it? Much more pleasurable than shopping I'm finding personally.

This circular knitting is a game and a half isn't it?! I'm still casting on the mammoth amount of stitches. :eek: I'm going to have a challenge on my hands mastering this but I'm not giving up. The instructions are very different to what I'm used to as well. I can feel a headache coming on.

I presume it is to do with the number of posts I have made, but I don't know how many you have to make before the restriction lifts. I guess it stops the spammers. I hope you will still let me post on the thread.

sairy2010

For re lining a jacket you can use an old blouse. I have bought a silk one from a car boot sometimes. It needs to be big and then you cut off the collar and cuffs and carefully stitch it into the jacket with the outside showing. It does require a little bit of work but is very effective.
If you don't fancy that a good dressmaker would tackle it for you.

Mrs_Cheshire

good_advice wrote: »

Rairly will I buy a drink out. If I am going on a day trip I take my plastic drink bottle.
On the rare occasions I do buy an extra drink it most likely to be a bottle of still water with a drink spout. My thinking is if any drink does go down my top it will not stain and look a mess for the rest of the day.
Mrs Cheshire I am surprised you do not have a kettle to make a hot drink as soon as you get home after a supermarket shop.

I do have a kettle but don't drink hot drinks so it gets used by hubby or for boiling water for cooking! Like you if know I'm going to be out all day I'll take drinks with me, but sometimes something crops up that means you're out longer than expected!

silvasava wrote: »

Mrs Cheshire - there's a Greenfingered thread on here for loads of help/tips/info. A tip I I got was to buy the 'living lettuce' & plant it in a bigger container. It lasts for weeks as a cut & come again crop & very MS

Thanks, I've got some lettuce seeds that I was given so will give them a go this year and keep a look out for a YS 'living lettuce'!

cheerfulness4 wrote: »

MrsCheshire, I've not cracked it yet with a small garden as this will be my first season here but I know lots about clay soil! Your wellies get stuck in it in the winter (so best stay off it or it makes matters worse) and in summer it would crack like an earthquake, baked hard. Good news is its so fertile and my veggies and flowers loved it so long as I watered.
When arthritis became a problem I resorted to raised beds, which solved the heavy clay problem.

I grew my courgettes in those garden bags from the £1 shop with drainage holes in. All tomatoes and cucumbers were in Morrisons black flower buckets (8-12 for £1)
My pole and runner beans loved the soil, although I honestly think they are easy pleased with most soils, and they went up wigwams. They looked adorable with sweet peas running up with them.

Greyqueen gave some excellent advice and a lovely south facing wall is great for cucumbers and toms. The bricks retain the heat for ages and they love it. Plus you can nails strings and fix frameworks up to support them. I even managed a small watermelon on my patio with no need of greenhouse space.:D

As I work my way round my garden I'll post pics that might help others in smaller gardens or with little corners in their large gardens.

Thank you to Greyqueen and yourself for answering about the gardening, we have a south facing fence so the majority of stuff gets put along there, we only have one border in the back garden which is too sheltered by a fence so doesn't get much sun so everything has to be in pots, tyres or a small not very deep raised bed. I'll take some photos once the weather improves.

Mrs_Cheshire

silvasava wrote: »

Oohh Cheerfulness - I do like pretty china but have to steel myself NOT to buy any more. (get thee behind me Satan!)
Just a small tip for those of you who want to grow food - Raspberries & Gooseberries do not need to be in a sunny position to ripen. In fact DH built me a small raised bed in a shady north facing corner a couple of years ago & my raspberries have been excellent as they seem to ripen that much slower & stay nice & juicy. Only planted my gooseberry last year - it had some fruit but its early days. I bought it in Morrisons as it was cheap & googled the variety when I got home - turns out its a good cropper so fingers crossed.

Might try a raspberry in the sheltered border then

nursemaggie wrote: »

celtic_moon So nice to meet someone from Bolton I live in Bolton too.

I'm not far away either in South Manchester

mothernerd

I'm eight miles away in Leigh.

Runcorn_Bridge

Another northern lass here. >waves<