Crafting in Progress

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Tonight I wanted to show you 2 craft projects I am working on.

First, the patchwork strap for the bag I am refashioning.

2012-04-09 01I have chosen colours that will complement the existing bag.  These fabrics are all scraps from my stash of bits of fabric.  I have fused the lining to the patchwork using double-sided iron-on interfacing.  I am going to make my own bias binding from some black fabric and bind the edges of the strap before attaching it to the bag.

Next is some knitting.  I am not the world’s best knitter but this simple dishcloth can be finished in a day or two.

2012-04-09 02I am using a pattern in the book, ‘Down to Earth’.  I plan to make several of these so that I always one on hand.

My handcraft projects are generally of a practical nature.  Craft evolved as a part of homemaking and this is the way I view it rather than some of the expensive and impractical pursuits which are currently promoted by retailers desperate to sell more materials.

Do you have a favourite craft?  What do you create with your craft skills?

Project 333 – On Holidays

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We are away for a couple of days of the Easter break and going to a music festival.

The clothes I am wearing are pretty much my standard casual wear and I have taken a couple of photos to show you.  Unfortunately, my laptop and camera and not ‘talking’ to each other at the moment so the photos will have to wait until I get home.

2012-04-08 01I brought a pair of jeans and my my charcoal grey travel pants as well as two 3/4 sleeve t-shirts – red/white stripe and black/white stripe with a rugby top for the cooler evening as we have been outdoors until well after midnight.

2012-04-08 02My footwear is a pair of red lace-up casuals from Ecco.  I did also bring my sneakers (not on the list) just in case there was wet weather and the shoes got wet on the first day.  The weather has been absolutely gorgeous so the sneakers have stayed firmly ensconced in the bottom of my bag.

A look around the festival at other attendees reinforces that there was no particular dress-code – it really is a matter of anything goes!  My priority was comfort and that suited me nicely.

Information Request

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I hope some of my US readers will be able to help with tips and information for our upcoming trip.

We will be spending 4 weeks in the north-east  of the United States later this year.  It will be be late August and into mid  September.

We are flying into Washington DC and spending 4 nights there .  Our accommodation is booked for those nights.  The rest of the trip is still flexible so would love your ideas.  I am thinking of 2 nights in Philadelphia, 4 nights New York City, 2-3 nights in Boston.  From there we hope to hire an RV and have about 15 nights touring.  We hope to travel as far as Bangor, ME as well as travelling through New Hampshire, Vermont and New York State.  Other things I have heard/read about which interest me include lighthouses along the Maine coastline, Mt Washington and fall scenery, Woodstock and Watertown,NY.

We have never been to the United States before and would like to make sure we maximise our time there.

Thanks again for your help.

Seedlings & Sewing

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As promised, here are some photos of my vegetable seedlings.

2012-04-04 01These are (from left to right) cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower.  The celery on the extreme right have yet to put in an appearance.

2012-04-04 02These are the first few beetroot seedlings.

I am hoping for great things from these humble beginnings.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

As part of my participation in Project 333, I emptied out my wardrobe a couple of weeks ago and looked critically at everything in there.  I have said several times before that I do not have heaps of clothes and accessories but I have been forced to consider every single thing in the cupboard.

One particular item which was carefully stored on the shelf was this carry-bag.

2012-04-04 03It was a hand-made gift and is a really useful size but the handles were not really practical for me, so I had only used it once or twice.  So I took another look at it and found that the wooden handles are easily detachable so that the bag can be washed.

2012-04-04 04I have taken the handles off and my plan is to remove the press-studs and make a patchwork handle/shoulder strap.  Once this alteration is made, I know I will use the bag all the time.

I searched through my stash of scraps and found these pieces which I think will work with the existing colours and patterns in the bag.

2012-04-04 05Project 333 Update

I have mostly been at home today so wearing an old pair of paint-spattered shorts and t-shirt.  When I went to the shops I grabbed my 3/4 black trousers, red/white 3/4 sleeve top and my trusty sandals – easy!  I can definitely see the benefits of a basic selection of clothes.  I am finding it relatively easy as most of my clothes are mix and match colours and styles.

Please let me know how you are going or your thoughts and ideas, even if you are not participating directly.

Wins and Losses

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Whatever you do there will be wins and losses.

My win for today is my vegetable seeds that I planted.  The cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and some of the beetroot are peeping their heads through the seed raising mix.  I will show you a photo once they are a little bigger.

My loss is Project 333.  After much hype and great hopes I have to announce that I have ‘failed’ on Day 3!  Today I wore 3/4 black pants, a work branded polo shirt (not counted) and my sandals.  It was 29C today and is going to be 30C tomorrow.  Oops, no other clothes suitable for weather that is so warm.

Black dress with white spotsThis is what I will be wearing tomorrow with my sandals.  This dress was on my original list but was culled in order to make sure I had enough options for the cooler months.  I am now up to 34 items but definitely not giving up.  I suspect there are going to be some interesting lessons learned over the next 3 months.  Perhaps my first lesson is not to finalise my list prior to the beginning the the challenge.

How is everyone else going?

Perfect For The Kitchen

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Today we picked up 4 chairs for our breakfast bar.  A friend was selling them since she is moving house and they are not the right style for their new home.

The are perfect for ours and the fabric even matches with colours in the benchtop.

2012-04-01 01Our previous ones were black vinyl ones on a chrome base.  They had an adjustable height but 2 of them have lost the gas in the adjuster.  They will probably go on Freecycle.  The other 2 have gone to Belle who has just moved and has a small breakfast bar so they will be perfect for her children.

We have spent the weekend helping her to move house and also sort out and declutter lots of ‘stuff’.  Things are looking much clearer and more streamlined and I know she is happy with the result.

As well as giving our stools to Belle, we have brought some things home that are useful to us.  One is the lawnmower, which originally belonged to my mother but was no longer required when she moved into a unit.  Now Belle has moved into a townhouse and is no longer responsible for the garden maintenance so the mower can now replace ours which recently died.

With family at all different ages and stages of life we often find that furniture or other items that are no longer required can be passed on to another family member.

Plus 1=33

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It is not even Day 1 and I have decided what my 33rd item will be – a short sleeve red and white striped t-shirt.  We are going to our daughter’s place to help settle into her new home.  Moving day was today.

Here is what I will be wearing.

2012-03-31 01The forecast is 28C in the city where she lives so I am thankful that the travel pants are lightweight and can be zipped off to make shorts.

She and I are hoping to do some serious decluttering.  I think it will be easier to make decisions when it is not my own stuff.  It will just be a matter of convincing her of what needs to go.

Project 333 – Ready, Set, Go….

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Well, it is almost April 1st so I spent some time today getting ready for my first involvement with Project 333.  See this post to find out what it is all about.

Here is my cupboard with most of what I have chosen for my project.

???????????????????????????????There are 2 pairs of trousers missing as they are currently in the laundry basket.  This makes a total of 32 items so I thought I would keep a spare space, in case I thought of something else.

Here they are listed.

Floral skirt
Black skirt

Grey trousers
Black 3/4 trousers
Jeans
Narrow-leg jeans
Charcoal travel pants

Pink suede jacket
Black cord jacket
Pink quilted vest

Turquoise cardigan
Black cardigan
Grey/cream polo-neck jumper

Turquoise striped shirt
Blue/white pinstriped shirt
Black/white striped shirt
Black/cream patterned shirt

Black/pink striped top
Black/pink squares top
Pink top
Red/white striped top
Black/white striped top
Black/white striped top

Navy rugby top
Navy/striped rugby top

Bronze/pink scarf

Black handbag (not shown)

Black knee-high boots
Black ankle boots
Black shoes
Red lace-up shoes
Sandals

I will be putting other clothes back in the wardrobe as I don’t want to move them to another room.

I have put aside 5 pairs of shoes to go – I will try to sell them on Gumtree but otherwise they will go via Freecycle.

I have not culled many clothes as I do not have a huge collection.  However, a few things will be re-homed.

2012-03-30 02This is a black polar fleece vest which I re-modelled from a hand-me-down and it is really too big so out it goes.  The shirt is a cotton sleeveless one but the colour is not particularly flattering now that my hair colour has changed significantly.

2012-03-30 03This pile are a bit too tight so I have decided to put them in a bag and if they are still too tight in 12 months they will go.  There is a skirt, pair of trousers and 2 jackets.

2012-03-30 04This shirt has been well-worn but has lost its sharpness of black and white – looking decidedly grey.  I love the style so I plan to de-construct it to make a pattern.  Off to the sewing room for this one.

I will endeavour to update my progress each day.  Hopefully there will be more successes than failures.

If you are joining the Project 333 challenge please feel free to post a link to your blog in the comments.

Baking Powder – An Update

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Sometimes an innocent post takes on a life of its own.  I received this comment to yesterday’s post.

“Do you make your own baking powder? If not, to do so, mix 1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda with 2 teaspoons cream of tartar. If you wish to store it, add 1 teaspoon corn starch to absorb any moisture from the air. Most commercially made baking powders contain aluminium.”

Thanks to Val for the comment.  I set off to the world of Google and discovered that the presence of aluminium in commercially prepared baking powder seems to be common knowledge.  Which rock have I been hiding under?

This then begs the question – Does self-raising flour contain aluminium?  Once again, thanks to Google, the answer is most definitely yes.

So, what started out as a way to simplify and streamline my pantry ingredients to a single type of flour has turned into a campaign to eliminate aluminium from our diet.  Whilst nothing has been conclusively proven, there is potentially a link between levels of aluminium in the brain and Alzheimer’s Disease.  Of course, flour and baking powder are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ingestion of aluminium.  Many processed foods will also contain it.  It yet another example of the importance of eating food in as natural a state as possible to avoid these hidden ingredients.

I will be discarding the baking powder and buying cream of tartar  and bicarbonate of soda to create my own baking powder.  The proportions are 2 parts of cream of tartar and 1 part of bicarbonate of soda.

There are numerous sites that discuss making your own baking powder but this blog post explains it very clearly.  I will be making a bulk quantity with the addition of cornflour and then using 2 teaspoons of the mixture to 1 cup of plain flour to make my own aluminium-free self-raising flour.

What do you think?