Travelling On

Karmacat

themadvix said:

I will be retrieving most of mine - I'll use the last of the wrapping paper for the ones I know I won't get back. I may sacrifice a couple in the hope that they'll be reused/encourage others to join in. I have a drawstring bag that had bedding in it that I tend to  use for birthday presents - it's easier to retrieve when there's just one and you're likely to watch the person open the present - harder if you're not there when they do it! I also still have and reuse Christmas gift bags and will be using these again (although I end up with lots of bottle bags and rarely give bottles! Not sure what that says about me in terms of what people give me...)

That's a *very* good idea to sacrifice a couple to spread the idea!  I've re-used commercially bought paper gift bags for all sorts of things, but this is the first time with cloth - but I've realised that I'm gifting bottles (oops 🤣) and there may need to be some sewing involved to join materials together.  I'll get to it later today - first is tidying!

Ramouth

I think it is a brilliant idea and certainly something I will try for OHs pressies - the rest of my gifts this year have already been posted (first time ever I have been this organised - it’s usually a mad scramble and expensive postage!)

Karmacat

That's great!  It's ideal for your OH, Ramouth, it's easy to collect the cloths and put them by for next year  

The ones I'm doing might not be as "finished" as I'd like, but I can do more on them, and they'll still show some thought and care.  

I've been tidying the whole of downstairs, bit by bit - shredding, recycling, part-used paint tin hidden upstairs, ditto with dried laundry, a few surfaces dusted or disinfected (depending on what was on them  ) rugs are being rejigged for warmth and in preparation for the catsitting, kitchen sink cleaned so I can properly refresh the refillable push-button sanitiser (can't refill it forever!  needs cleaning eventually!).  I'm about halfway through my lunchbreak right now, and things will continue in a similar vein this afternoon.  

Karmacat

I'm doing more, utterly ridiculous, tiddles, as I call them 😁: I have some CDs/DVDs of family photos, some have been downloaded, some not, some are duplicates: checking.  Refilling the now-clean handpump of sanitiser.  Replacing the fairy lights that popped with some that work - much longer, we'll see how they last, a shame they're white not red.  A few big decorations up - Santa Claus candle, a polar bear lolling about on a Christmas bauble, a penguin, a shepherd, my mum's Christmas patchworks.  That all takes an *astonishingly* long time, but I have to say, things look nicer when they're tidy 🙄

No surveys, nothing from the baby Happy Wheel, haven't even filled in the figures on my self assessment form.  But some (lots of) Christmas cards arrived today, woo.

themadvix

You sound super busy Karma!

Kudos to your sister for already doing the cloth wrappings for presents

Karmacat

themadvix said:

You sound super busy Karma!
I feel super busy too, but the results don't really bear it out, not in my head anyway 🤣😲😾 I don't know how come all these little jobs aren't done - well, I do, it's because they take so long! 🤣

Kudos to your sister for already doing the cloth wrappings for presents

She tries, absolutely, she did them a few years ago.  She did a really interesting thing with some extremely expensive fabric samples that her daughter in law brought home - she made hanging bags to hold toilet rolls and whatnot.  Sewing is a real skill in terms of environmental savviness, and I've definitely seen it from her example.

Cheery_Daff

I've always been grateful i learned to sew pretty early on (although I have no memory of actually learning!) I'm no expert,  but I've done a lot of experimentation of the years and definitely got much better.  I've even made Mr Cheery a few hats now and the later ones are a definite improvement! 😂😂

I love being able to make household stuff - cushion covers,  hot water bottle covers,  now these thermal blinds etc.  Not done much in the way of clothes - a few experimental skirts but I've not done much pattern following ....

I did make present bags last year out of a load of fabric is had knocking around for years and was sick of looking at 😂 not Christmas fabric,  and I've used them through the year - oddly enough,  people mostly have been keen to give them back saying they won't use them! 😂 maybe a testament to my slightly slapdash sewing 😂😂

I'm make some with Christmas fabric this year which are a bit prettier and more 'polished' so it'll be interesting to see if people want to keep those! 

(I don't actually think my sewing is the issue - I think people can see the effort I've put in and don't want to just keep them and make me have to make new ones!)

Karmacat

That's great, Cheery!  I think you've posted pictures at various times of things you've made?  Very structured, very complex, very finished and beautiful too.

I have a very chequered history with sewing 🙄🧵 Out of the blue, when I was about 8, Santa Claus brought me a toy sewing machine - my mum was a brilliant seamstress, but she never sat down with me to go through it.  I managed to thread it myself (aged 8!) but I didn't know about the bobbins underneath, so it didn't work.

Tried again at school when I was about 12 - I had a really good grasp of how patterns worked, but I laughed at the wrong time in class, and the mistress called me a twisted, evil person (at which I went red, from trying to stop laughing even harder 🤣  Laughing has got me into trouble a lot over the years).  

So I'm hoping that nowadays, on my own in my own house, with the instruction manual and how-to videos on you tube, I'm *hoping* I can do some good for myself - but right now, it's pinking shears, the iron and some ribbon to tie it all together 🤣 time is a bit short!

themadvix

I think I'm probably 10 years behind you Cheery - I know I can do it, but find it quite intimidating and put it off because it's harder in my head than when I actually sit down and do it. I did A-level (art) textiles, so I have a relatively good grasp of the sewing machine, but patterns and cutting (and invariably having to use the logical part of my brain to work things out that I don't have a pattern for) are the bits that put me off/scare me. Once I've done it once, it's OK - i.e. the bunting isn't a problem because I'm following a pre-decided set of steps (without any technical terms - I find books offputting with their terminology). I've just finished one of the (very simple) blinds this morning - all I needed was to hem a piece of fabric to the right size basically (we're going to hang on a piece of dowel - it's very basic!) but it's taken me ages to get around to it because cutting the fabric is scary!

I'm sure you'll do well with YT Karma - it's really helpful for things (I still double-checked my mitred corners with a YT video!). And in the meantime, pinking shears are awesome!!

Cheery_Daff

I still do a lot of headscratching about logistics 😂 And a lot of swearing as well 😂 I think pinking shears and ribbon sounds like an excellent idea!