Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2016

mrs-moneypenny

Morning all
Made a start on a little pullover for DGS 1st birthday using some wool from the stash.
Minimised a bottle of beer a friend bought us on his recent travels (shared with dh)

Hope all are well
Glad you survived the baby shower Lynn

Cappella

Morning We had an SOS call from my sister in Wiltshire and drove over in the end to help her with difficult stuff. It's a five hour drive, without stops and it took us six and a half as the traffic was awful but apart from petrol (still cheaper than the train) we made do with our own packed lunches and flasks which saved a fortune at service stations, minimised the freezer a bit more - used the pitta bread and hummus from it - and took all our fruit for the week with ys. No point leaving the fruit here to go rotten as we were away for a week and at least it got eaten.
Sis is moving house this week, and will be much neRer and easier to get to. I'm glad to be home though

Hard_Up_Hester

I'm still minimising stuff from the kitchen and getting rid via FB or the CS.
I'm still minimising my yarn stash by crocheting squares for a blanket.
I'm making a taggsie today using fabric and ribbon from my stash.
I don't have anything that need mending currently.

misstara

Lyn glad you survived I've thankfully only been to one baby shower for a very close friend, there was just 4 of us and we'd all clubbed together to get a practical gift so it wasn't so bad. But one of the girls I used to work with, she ended up with so much clothes (esp 0-3 months) that her daughter was really just in an outfit once and then it would go to the charity shop.

Well the cheese and onion pasties for lunch yesterday were lovely, will definitely have them again. OH unfortunately wasn't feeling great yesterday and so decided that he didn't want anything big for tea so his birthday meal consisted of soup and a roll. The duck breasts have gone into the freezer for another day. I made flapjack yesterday but not bread as I didn't have enough bread flour left. It's been added to the shopping list so will get more next time I'm at Morries. I'll need to make banana loaf tomorrow as there's a couple of bananas that are past it.

Hope everyone has a good day

FairyPrincessk

Morning all,

I can't remember the last time I posted. Life has been busy, but still plenty of MMM going on. The last of the CS pile has been delivered and at the moment I have a stock of HM soup in the freezer so we can stop buying it! Perhaps not quite minimizing as my rough costing says it isn't any cheaper but it is far nicer!

I mended a couple of buttons last week, one on a coat of mine and one on OH's shirt. Not five minutes later he discovered a stain on the collar and was just going to throw it out. :mad: I'm still working on the stain, neither of us knows what it is. If I had to guess I'd say he brushed up against the back gate which is painted with that reddish brown wood paint for outdoors, but it is unlikely he would have been doing anything involving the back gate in a work shirt. A soak in oxy powder and water didn't shift it, nor did a squirt of the stuff in the pink bottle. I might try some diluted bleach next as it is a white shirt. If that doesn't shift it then I'm at least having my button back--if not the rest of them!

WI this week so screen free day is being pushed to Friday (although I suppose I don't usually use a screen at the WI). I am enjoying it.

nicki_2

Shortypie wrote: »

...I have a hole in my jeans (inner left thigh) I thought it would at least be cheaper to buy that (as my limited sewing bits have been scattered around the house) than buy a new pair of jeans. Sadly the repair only lasted a day until I half climbed in the car to strap one of the kids in.

I get holes there as well due to wear and tear but any repairs never last. I reside myself to either keeping 1 pair for decorating/deep cleaning and changing them out each time I wreck another pair or I put them straight into the rag bag. You could turn them into a little apron quite easily (This is the way I do it ) and recycle the rest.

My sewing skills are improving slowly and I've turned 2 "aprons" into a bag for my knitting. I've shared it here as I'm hopeless and getting the pictures the right size to share :rotfl: New skill on this was fitting a zip. Its all hand sewn and I hope to be able to make more projects out of the collection of odds and end of material I have in my sewing box.

I'm trying to make do with groceries since it's half term. I have £10 left in my grocery budget after overspending last week, until Friday. I'm bringing the weekly shop forward from Sunday to Friday so that DD and I can do it while the supermarkets are quieter. I'll just put the stuff to one side so it doesn't get used over the weekend.

Has anyone got any ideas of what I could recycle a double wool blanket into? Its a heavy weight one from back in the 20s/30s I think. It was given to my nanna when she got married, and rather than pass it on to the charity shop I'd like to do something useful with it but I'm not sure what.

mrs-moneypenny

Just had a mornings mending session.
Dh wanted to watch apocalypse now as we'd had the DVD forever and never got round to it. So three hour film equals me getting a lot done while half watching.
Finished making cushion for sisters wedding anni gift
Hole mended in ds2s sock monkeys tail
Pompom back on glove
Button on knitted DS case
Elastic on knitted beard
Christmas stocking I'd made finally hand sewn around top and hanging loop attached
Three fabric Christmas decorations made - from a kit
Zip put in Dh work trousers
Button sewn on Dh work trousers
Clasp fixed on ds2 school trousers

Got another beard to finish knitting so I've sorted the elastic out for that as well.

Really pleased I've finally got all that done.

Floss

Nicki how about cushions, or a travel rug with a waterproof lining on the back & bound with contrasting tape?

MrsCD

FairyPrincess, if the stain is oil based, try rubbing some lavender oil or eucalyptus oil into the stain, then wash in fairy liquid. I've managed to get car oil out of DH's shirts this way. Worth a try.

FairyPrincessk

Mrs CD, Thanks--I have no idea if it is oil based or not, it really is a mystery stain. Definitely worth a try!