Category Archives: zero waste

GMan’s Handiwork

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Tonight I want to show you a couple of recent projects that GMan has been working on.

First, a rack of hooks for our walk-in wardrobe. These were in the wardrobe when we moved in but we removed them before the recent remodelling of the pantry and wardrobe. I decided that I wanted to retain them but in a slightly different position. They are very handy for half-worn clothes as well as the occasional belt or scarf. GMan removed the hooks from the original backing board as it was damaged, bought a new piece of timber and did all of the necessary preparation and painting before reattaching the hooks. This was quite difficult by all accounts. Today it was replaced in its new position. The only thing left to do is filling the screw holes but that can wait for another day.

The other job was creating a permanent barrier between the shed and the back fence. It had previously been blocked up by a piece of metal which is needed for some other garden landscaping so it was time to attach an offcut of Colorbond sheeting which had been set aside for the purpose.

The photo does not do it justice but there were several steps, including attaching a timber support to the back fence as well as adding a timber baseboard to account for the slight slope. The sheeting was cut to size and screwed to the timber support and the corner of the shed.

The reason for needing this area blocked off is to prevent the dog gaining access to the driveway and front garden. Her domain is restricted to the backyard.

Speaking of animals, I will finish this post with a photo I took this evening as we were coming home for our walk. We live in the town but the local wildlife are frequently in evidence around the streets. This has been particularly so in recent times as it is very dry at the moment and the kangaroos are looking for reliable sources of water.

Patchwork – Pink & Pyjamas

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I began a new sewing project today. This is the first block of a patchwork quilt I am making for my elder granddaughter. It is for her 18th birthday in December. One block done, 41 to go.

Most of the fabric has been randomly collected from op shops and offcuts from various previous sewing adventures. However, there will be some from a particularly special piece. The small pale pink squares have history. They are from some leftover fabric from a dress which my mother made for herself – probably close to 30 years ago. From those leftovers I made a dress for my granddaughter which she wore on her first birthday.

This is not a great photo but you get the general idea. It was from an Enid Gilchrist pattern which I had made many time before and numerous times since.

The other patchwork was for the boxer shorts which I mentioned in my last post. I had rather optimistically thought that it would be a simple matter of adding a strip of fabric into the side seams and a bit at the top to extend the overall length of the crotch.

As I began to unpick the side seams it became obvious that the construction method was appalling and regardless of any alterations that I might make, the existing seams were not robust enough to stand up to much wear at all. So, I altered my plan and unpicked the entire garment. By this time it became obvious why they were not a great fit. The pieces bore only minimal resemblance to the pattern I had.

I used the excess length of the original trousers to add pieces to be able to recut all of the pieces for the boxer shorts using my own pattern. I used flat felled seams for joining the extra pieces as well as the main construction as I always do. These seams are great as there are no raw edges on the inside as well as being extra strong due to the two rows of stitching.

This photo shows the randomly joined pieces of fabric before I cut out the pattern pieces. I did not have enough fabric nor the desire to match the pattern.

It was a bit of a fiddle but I now have a pair of boxers which are comfortable. The various joins are really barely visible.

Sewing Skills

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I am not a professional seamstress or dressmaker but I do have reasonable sewing skills and am always ready to turn my hand to a bit of upcycling. It was with these skills in mind that I picked up a couple of things at the op shop today.

I spotted (pardon the pun) a cute pair of pyjamas which look as though they have never been worn. I love the colour and pattern plus the fact that they are 100% cotton. I bought them without trying them on as I knew that there are multiple ways to use the fabric.

Well, the shirt is a great fit so that is a win.

The bottoms need a little bit of work to make them perfect but I am confident that with some simple alterations I will have a brand new set of pyjamas for the princely sum of $4 plus a bit of time and handiwork from me.

I have removed the waist elastic which was too soft and obviously perished. Perhaps, these have been sitting in someone’s cupboard and unworn for an extended period of time. I am going to turn them into boxer shorts rather than mid-calf length trousers. This will give me enough excess fabric to make them a bit wider at the sides as well as extending the length of the crotch. I will use my existing pattern as a guide for these adjustments.

I also scored this collarless men’s shirt for $3. It is 100% linen and there is plenty of fabric for me to unpick it and remake into another summer linen top for myself. I can’t have too many sleeveless linen tops while the temperature continues to hover around 35C and above.

Processing Plums

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It is that time of the year when everything seems to be ripening at once. I have a nectarine tree but no other stone fruit, however, there are plums aplenty around town and I have received some from 3 different sources in the last week so today I made jam using 3.4kg of plums.

This is the result.

These were the first batch of plums I was given. They don’t look much but have a lovely flavour and beautiful deep red flesh.

Since having an airfryer I have discovered that it is a relatively quick and easy way to sterilise the jars and lids rather than having to turn the oven on. That is definitely a consideration on a day like today when the forecast temperature was 37C (98.6F).

However, it was not all plain sailing as I had a calamity with the second batch of jars. Thankfully there were only 4 of them but they came to grief when I managed to catch the handle of airfryer with my oven mitt and send the contents flying across the kitchen floor. One jar broke but that was all. GMan kindly swept up the broken glass while I retrieved the remainder and the lids, re-washed them and started the process again.

The other job was somewhat simpler than jam-making as I had some gifted oranges to juice. It is the first time I have had fresh orange juice since we moved here which has been a bit of a shock after having what seemed like an endless supply from the 3 trees we had in our previous garden.

Finally, we were delighted to record 42mm of rain in a series of thunderstorms overnight. It has given the garden a welcome soaking during what has been several weeks of fairly hot, dry weather.

Assorted Sewing

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I have done several sewing jobs over the past couple of weeks so I thought I would gather them up and share in a single post.

These boxer shorts which are pyjama bottoms were both made from other garments which belonged to my mother. One was a nightie which she had made and the other was a dressing gown. They had been sitting in my stash for nearly 4 years with the vague notion of using them to make sleepwear. My hand was forced when my 2 existing pairs of boxer shorts became so thin that they ripped. Both had also been made from salvaged fabric and had a good life.

Of course, there were smaller pieces of fabric left over so I cut them into squares ready for future patchwork projects.

This pair of trackpants had been waiting since I bought them at the op shop a few months ago. They were definitely not a priority as we were coming into warmer weather. When I tried them on it was quite hilarious to discover that they were a bit too short in the leg for me. Those of you who know me will understand but for everyone else – I am 5’2″ or 157cm tall so clothes being too short is not normally a problem for me. The also had an odd angled raw edge at the bottom which is not really my style so I straightened it up and added contrasting cuffs. I bought them because they are a neat fit, not at all baggy and will be perfect for winter days at home.

Finally, I used up a few more pieces of fabric by making 3 more bags which I have donated to the Community Pantry.

Netted Nectarines

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It is about a week since I picked the first of the nectarines from our tree. For the first few days it was a matter of picking 2 or 3 at a time.

However, the ripening process is speeding up and I picked enough this morning to fill a large bowl.

The slightly firmer ones are in the fruit bowl and we will have them to finish our meals.

I sliced up some of the others which had some slight marks or need to be eaten quickly. These will be the fruit I add to my cereal for breakfast each day.

There are still many more that are yet to ripen and be picked so we are going to end up with a bumper harvest. It will be much better than last year when the birds probably ate more than we did. The netting that we added about 2 months ago has made a substantial difference and was definitely worth doing. You can read about it here.

Upcycling Inspiration

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This is a follow-up from my last post about buying secondhand in preference to buying new wherever possible.

Of course there are items of our own and that are donated to thrift shops that are really not saleable for one reason or another so a lot of it does unfortunately end up in landfill.

However, when we were shopping for the champagne flutes, I noticed a large piece of patchwork displayed on a wall behind the counter.

This is the note that was pinned to it.

What a great reminder of the possibilities that upcycling affords. I love the design and will definitely consider trying it one day. It reminds me of stained glass.

Frighteningly Fruitful

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There are plenty of posts on this blog about bargains I have scored at op shops (thrift shops). However, sometimes I ponder how easy it is to not only find a surprise bargain but actually to go shopping with something specific in mind and find it secondhand. There is so much secondhand stuff yet so many people seem to still be consuming and buying new things at unprecedented levels.

A couple of days ago we were in a medium-sized town near where we live. There are at least 4 op shops and GMan decided to begin his hunt for some champagne flutes. These are not for us but for the local film society. He was hoping to source 12 glasses and was not particularly concerned if they were not absolutely identical.

Anyway, the first shop he tried yielded 7 suitable glasses and her found another 5 at the next shop he tried. They were all 50c each so for the princely sum of $6 we are able to give a dozen champane flutes to the film society to use.

Last week I picked up this cute tank top which will be perfect for hot days. A bargain at $2.50. I have white shorts but felt that it would look better with black shorts.

My last pair of black shorts were worn out and discarded last summer after about 12 years of wear. At the first shop I was idly glanced at the racks and spotted a pair of black shorts that turned out to be my size and look as though they have been barely worn. $5 and I now have exactly the addition to my wardrobe that I needed.

There is so much quality secondhand clothing and household goods available that I would encourage anyone to consider taking a look at secondhand goods through a variety of sources before rushing out to buy something new. You will be saving things potentially ending up in landfill, almost certainly be saving money and the planet.

A Quick Quiche

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This is a long-forgotten ‘recipe’ that pops into my head occasionally. Instead of using pastry for a quiche base this uses rice.

QUICHE BASE

2 cups of cooked rice
1 egg, beaten
Salt and pepper

Place the cooked rice in a bowl. Add the beaten egg and combine quickly. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon the mixture into a quiche dish or pie plate, spread evenly across the base and side pressing in place with the back of a spoon.

QUICHE FILLING

The filling for a quiche is one of those things that can be pretty much anything you want it to be.

Tonight it was:

1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 large leaves of silverbeet (chard), stalks and leaves finely chopped
Small piece of capsicum (red pepper), finely chopped
1/2 tin of tuna, drained and flaked

Lightly saute the vegetables.

Add the tuna. Spread the mixture over the rice base, add a small amount of grated cheese.

Finally, make a mixture of eggs/milk/cream. Once again, this is very forgiving and you can use whatever you have to hand. I generally do not have cream available so I often add a spoonful of powdered milk to the regular milk to make it a bit creamier. However, tonight I did have some cream that I had bought marked down earlier in the week.

3 eggs
100ml thickened cream
100ml milk

Beat the eggs/cream/milk thoroughly then pour carefully over the filling. Bake in oven at 180C for 30 minutes or until firm to touch and golden.

I had started cutting the quiche before I remembered to photograph the finished product.

And dinner is served.

The first slice is always a bit tricky to get out, especially when it is warm but it still tasted great. In fact, this is equally as good hot or cold so that is our lunches sorted for the next couple of days.

Loaded Up

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I certainly had to be organised this morning as we headed off bright and early to Melbourne. We usually catch the train if we have things to do in Melbourne but today we had several errands which really necessitated a car so we combined them into what turned into a mega-trip. I even plotted our route to the various locations to make sure that we made the trip in the most efficient way possible.

Ready to go.

One of the bags on the left was some things I needed to drop off at our daughter’s place. The other contained bags of fabric scraps which I can drop off at a specific point for textile upcycling. Our packed lunches and water bottle were in the esky which is always handy in case we happen to but any groceries that need to be refrigerated. Finally, the plastic tub contained an assortment of buckets and large jars as I was going to stock up on bulk dry goods at Graina. They offer a discount of 20% on Tuesdays if you bring your own containers. It is definitely worthwhile doing a bit of planning and preparation.

After dropping off the bag to my daughter and doing the grocery shopping we then headed to IKEA. Our goal was to buy the components to build the shelves and hanging space in our walk-in wardrobe. This was only partially successful as the shelves are currently out of stock so it will be another 4-6 weeks before we can get them. However, it is good to have all of the rest of the components ready to go.

We then ditched the car in favour of public transport and caught a tram into the CBD to drop off the fabric. I also had a bag from my daughter as well as the 2 bags of my own scraps. Our last stop was Cheaper Buy Miles at Footscray where shopping can be a bit like a lucky dip. Today I picked up some rice cakes, dark chocolate, bacon and cream.

By the time we arrived home it was 8.5 hours since we had left (1.5 hour drive each way). I was tired but pleased at what we had achieved in a single trip.

The foodstuffs unpacked on the bench in the pantry and ready to put away. We are well-stocked with dry goods for a few months.

Yesterday we were in Bendigo with a similarly mixed list of errands, including medical appointment, chemist, Aldi, greengrocer, Bunnings and Specsavers. I am now looking forward to several days at home with a couple of local meetings and appointments.