No Excuses

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Posted on October 5, 2016

I enjoy sewing and for the first time in my life I have an (almost) dedicated sewing room. However, despite my grand plans I have done very little sewing in recent times.

There always seems to be something more pressing to do – cooking meals, washing, ironing, gardening and so on. When I sew, I like to do it to the exclusion of the everything else so I have tended not to do it. The ironing always takes precedence over sewing, especially since I have the ironing board set up in the same room.

Anyway, there can be no more excuses as I have finally got the space pretty much as I want it.

The bed is completely free from any piles of clothes waiting to be folded or ironed.

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The wardrobe is cleaned and tidied.

All of my sewing stuff is sufficiently ordered that I can locate what I need. The iron and ironing board are ready to use.

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The sewing table looks untidy but much of it is projects waiting for some action.

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My first priority is mending (socks) and some alterations. I need to take up the hem of trousers I bought in Canada as well as shorten a top I bought there, too. Next, I will complete 6 pairs of boys shorts which are partly made and are destined to be donated to those who need them. There is plenty more after that, including, finishing a long sleeved blouse for my daughter, the cover for the mattress on the day bed and dresses and tops for myself.

I will make time to sew.

Four Fabulous Days

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Posted on October 3, 2016

I have had the most glorious 4 days at home. Friday was a well-earned day off followed by a long weekend. Most weekends I am left with the feeling of wanting a couple more days to try to catch my tail. I would not say I have done everything but I do have a degree of satisfaction that I have made some progress beyond the basics of washing and meal preparation. The best part is that I have worked steadily but not frantically for some of the time as well as simply doing nothing at other times.

Here is a snapshot of what I achieved:

Washing and ironing – the first 3 days were brilliantly sunny with a breeze so all of the washing was done and dried which left me with a pile of ironing. I tackled this with enthusiasm since I was armed with a new iron as well as the ironing board cover that I made on Friday.

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Shopping – most weekends I buy enough fruit and vegetables for the week as well as a few things from Aldi and Saturday was no exception. However, I also drove a bit further to go to Morayfield so that I could stock up at Simply Good, where I buy all of the flours, dried fruit, seeds, nuts and legumes that I use. I do this every 4months or so. Spotlight is nearby so I took the opportunity to have a look and found the fabric to recover the mattress for the day bed.

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Decluttering/recycling – as we change and re-arrange furniture there is often some to move along to someone else who can use it. This weekend I listed 4 outdoor chairs and a large pine chest of drawers on our local Buy, Swap, Sell Facebook page and they have now gone to new homes. I also tidied and sorted the shelves in the wardrobe in the sewing/spare room and put a few things in a bag to go to the op shop.

Gardening – when I was at the market buying fruit and vegetables, I noticed a neighbouring stall selling seedlings. I bought and planted out basil, beetroot and capsicum seedlings. GMan mulched the shrub we cut down a few weeks ago and planted out several native trees and shrubs.

Outdoors – we have taken a few more steps towards finishing our outdoor living area on the verandah. The newly painted table is back in position as is the day bed, albeit without the mattress yet. I spent a good portion of today cleaning up the large concreted area under the house. This is a lovely cool area in summer and I am trying to make it more useable. I sorted and stacked various building materials so that they are in a logical order and easily accessible.

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What a shame that I have to go to work tomorrow – there is so much more that I could do here at home.

I will some more details of some of the things I have mentioned tonight in upcoming posts this week.

Buying for a Bed

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Posted on October 1, 2016

It is 4.5 years since I wrote this post about covering the mattress on an old bed to use as a day bed on the verandah.

Unfortunately, it did not quite turn out as I had planned for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the cat thought I had made it for him and proceeded to lie on it regularly and blanket the entire surface with grey fur. Secondly, I realised that it was directly accessible to anyone entering our property and I would not feel secure being asleep there.

The second issue has been addressed somewhat by having a lockable gate installed.

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However, the problem of the cat remains. I have considered this for some time now and decided that the best option was to have fabric on one side and vinyl on the other. I will keep it vinyl side up generally so that any cat fur can be easily wiped off but turn it over to the fabric side when I (or anyone else wants to lie or sit on the bed.

Since the original post, we have painted the bed frame in a dark grey (the same colour as the surround of the gate in the photo above). Additionally, the outdoor table is now red.

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I had an idea that I could incorporate these colours into my new plans for the bed. So, today when I was shopping I went to Spotlight and was surprised and delighted to find exactly what I was looking for.

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The plain black vinyl will be for the cat while the stripe fabric which was described as ‘outdoor canvas’ will be perfect for the fabric side. I should have enough left to make a couple of cushions, too.

I was really pleased to find exactly what I had imagined and I am looking forward to getting it made and ready to use.

The Ironing Makeover

No Repairs Today

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Posted on September 28, 2016

While I am prepared to have a go at repairing almost anything, there are some things that only have one destination at the end of their life and that includes small electrical appliances such as irons.

I was almost finished the ironing on Sunday when I realised that the iron did not seem to maintaining its heat. On closer inspection I discovered that it was not on and that we had lost power on one circuit. A bit of judicious testing revealed that the iron was malfunctioning and tripping the circuit breaker.

So, the old iron has been discarded and I bought a new one on Monday.

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I expect that when I do not have business attire to launder for both of us that my ironing pile will decrease significantly but for the moment an iron is absolutely essential.

Now, I just need to find time to make a new cover for the ironing board as this one is now worn out. It is actually close to 2 years since I wrote a blog post about the fact that it was about to wear out.

I really must do something about it this weekend. The new iron deserves a new cover on the board!

Successfully Repaired

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Posted on September 26, 2016

I did some repairs to my cane laundry basket a couple of weeks ago. I delayed showing you my handiwork until I was sure that it really was going to be successful.

Here is the well-used basket with some of the cane broken.

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The rear of the handle on the left has broken canes. Here is a close up view.

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These pieces should be positioned the same as the other side of the handle but once they have broken and the tension is released they have sprung away from their position. There is now nothing holding the handle in place and if I chose to, I could pull that side of the handle right away from the basket.

I had been considering how I could repair this for some time and I finally bit the bullet and bought some thin plastic rope. I would have preferred cotton cord but that did not seem to be readily available.

My general idea was good but I had not really thought through the finer details so I did that on the run.

Here is the end result and so far it appears to be holding up to the rigors of being a washing basket.

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Another Weekend

What a Difference

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Posted on September 19, 2016

……a week makes!

These are the seedlings when I planted them a little over a week ago.

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And here they are a week later.

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The comparison is not entirely accurate as the photo is taken from the opposite end of the garden.

Everything has more than doubled in size but the zucchini have shown the most spectacular growth.

Unfortunately, something is having a munch on a couple of the bok choy – probably caterpillars from the white cabbage moth. I could try covering them or I might try a tip I saw on ‘Gardening Australia’ last week. Sophie has made fake white moths attached to small stakes in the garden because, apparently, the white moth is territorial and the fakes bluff the real moths into thinking they have to go somewhere else. It would be wonderful if it really is that easy.

Time to Plan

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Posted on September 18, 2016

Even though we have been home for 3 weeks since our holiday the legacy lives on.

We returned fresh and invigorated with lots of ideas and plans.

I don’t know about contempt from the phrase, “Familiarity breeds contempt” but I do know that being away from your normal environment allows you to consider things with fresh eyes. We had time to really ponder and discuss all sorts of possibilities including what we want to do in the garden, future holiday plans and retirement activities as well as some of the smaller things we hope to achieve around the house before the end of the year.

There seemed to be so many times in conversation that GMan would comment, “We need to do/get/make……….” that I would simply respond with, “Add it to the list”. Although we did not have a physical list, we certainly remembered plenty of things and have actioned several since we have been home.

3 new chickens bought
Clear at least one vegetable garden and plant seedlings
Empty compost from compost tumbler
Ordered and installed a new modem for the computer
Taken the computer to be repaired/replaced
Painted the outdoor table (a work in progress)
Repaired the washing basket
Taken a bag of bits and pieces to the op shop

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I know there have been others but this gives you an idea.

Then there are others which are earmarked to be done this week.

Gather tax info to send to tax agent
Buy a new DVD player – DONE today
Buy a new batter charger – DONE today
Remove dead shrub from front garden – DONE today
Advertise some furniture which is no longer required
Follow up on a rejected refund claim
Contact electricity provider re solar refund

By planning very specific small projects/goals it is very satisfying to work through the list.

I wrote this post last night and today we managed to cross 3 more items off the list. I am sure there will be more to add by tomorrow.

Keeping it Clean

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Posted on September 17, 2016

While I do not have huge areas to declutter or sort out there are always ongoing jobs to do. Some are so small that they are barely noticeable but 5 minutes can literally make the difference.

My clothesline is 5 parallel lines under the verandah. Every few months I wipe down 4 of the lines with a damp cloth to remove any dust and grime. The last line does not get done because I have 12 hanger holders positioned along the line.

Yesterday I took the hooks off because I was washing a couple of sets of sheets and needed the extra hanging space. I realised the hooks were very grubby and the line was filthy. I wiped the line thoroughly before I hung the white sheet on it and then washed the hooks. A quick soak in some warm, soapy water then scrubbed with an old nail brush before I spread them out to dry.

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