Normal

It is Normal for me to have many projects going at one time.

Part of what I like to do is think up new ideas for upcycling items that would normally end up as land fill.

Last year I upcycled some coffee bean bags here.  The bags were used to propagate plants which I'm happy to say were later donated to a volunteer group and they were planted in a sensory garden for people with disabilities.  The garden had been destroyed in last year's devastating bush fires.

This year, I'm trying something new with the bags.  I have a huge supply of the black, silver lined bags. Mr Eggins, our coffee supplier has changed his bags now to a brown paper bag look, but still with the lovely silver lining.  I'm still playing with ideas so may show you some finished products later.  For now, here is my normal state of affairs on what is my desk.

Have a happy day, and thank you for visiting.

Upcycle Queen

Here in Australia, we have what we call a bunny rug which is an essential item for newborn babies.  It is a large square of fabric usually made from one hundred percent cotton flannelette and used to swaddle baby.

Little Miss Six of course had many of these as a newborn.  She loved being swaddled and without swaddling would have trouble getting off to sleep. 

Recently, her Mum has made a little bit of pocket money by selling no longer needed items of clothing, toys, etc on an on-line garage sale site that we have here in the Blue Mountains.  But it seems everybody wants new bunny rugs for their babies because these just do not move.  So, I bought them off her and made myself some very long lasting dish cloths with them.

I ironed and folded each square into four using the fold line to then cut it into quarters.

This one originally had rounded corners so I marked the freshly cut corners using a plate of the right size as a guide to match the original corners.  

Next I trimmed them with sharp scissors to match the original corners. I kept the original hemming and simply finished off the newly cut edges by matching them to whatever was on the original rugs.  Those that had overlocked edges I overlocked.

 Those that had turned edges I turned.

  

In all I made sixteen new dishcloths.

Of course, new dishcloths need a tidy under-the-kitchen-sink-cupboard.  So I gave it a spring clean, even though it's almost autumn.

Day 325/366

Today was the first day of the new me.

That is, I've decided to use a daily planner to make better use of  my time.

I quickly learnt that the best laid plans don't always go to plan!

My car battery died, my 12 noon appointment never showed and I never made it into the garden to try and capture the amazing bird life that's been visiting lately.

So...here's plan b...an edited close up of the pendant in the Queen Street Gallery.

As I said earlier, it's made from discarded plastic bottles.

Remember the 3 Rs

Reduce, Recycle,Reuse.

Hope you've had a fun day!