bits and bobs

Somehow it seems to have come back to me. Once again I'm constantly writing blog posts in my mind. They aren't necessarily making it from brain to blog, but it's a start. I feel like I've got things to say again. Hey, they might not make sense or be interesting to anyone but me, but after all It's My Life!

The bed bug fight goes on. When we first said we would have to wash everything I don't think we quite took in what that meant. The bottom of my wardrobe was full of bags of random stuff. Craft projects that had been begun and then put on hold for a (long) period of time. Here are some of the things we found

Endless piles of pairs of old jeans - There's a book my Mum owns called something like 'living more with less' and I love to sit and dip into it's wisdom. Basically it's a collection of ways to live more with less, for example with regard to the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the things we buy and the way we travel. I read about a mum who used the remains of old pairs of jeans to make a comforter for her son's bed, leaving on the pockets, buttons and zips to give him places to hide his treasures. I loved the idea of making something similar, and have been collecting bits of denim ever since.
I have used some of the bits to breathe life into an old pair of jeans that I wore (and gave them several reincarnations by adding patches and stuff) but unfortunately they are now too big for me. I hope to do something similar again because I loved the first pair I had.

Patchwork squares - HP and I went through a patchworking phase and made duvet covers for each of us, and one for Bekki. I think we also made some cushion covers too. And then we made some more squares and bits to make squares (halves, thirds, quarters, sixths and ninths) and then pretty much stopped. This week we've been rediscovering all those bits and had the joy of washing them. To go in the machine we just stuck them in one of those string bags you wash tights in to keep them safe, and that would have been ideal for putting in the dryer. Except we don't have a dryer, so each little bit has been pegged out on the line, in between all the larger items we've been washing. I get the feeling my Mum wouldn't mind if she never saw a small square of fabric ever again, or any thing that needed washing for that matter.

kites - We discovered we had the bits of at least four different kites in there. Two of them we decided could just go straight in the bin, but the other two we have kept and plan to take on holiday with us to try out.

Esther - Now before you get worked up and suggest we've been keeping a person locked up in there, I'll explain. Esther was my dolly when I was a girl. Bekki had a doll called Hannah, who unfortunately is not longer with us. Esther, however, is still here, although she is looking a little worse for wear. This week we have lovingly washed all her clothes, including the six layers worth she was wearing in the cupboard - I suppose we didn't want her to get too cold in there. At some point we also need to try to gently give Esther herself a bath to try to improve her appearance.

There were lots of other things too, but I've run out of time to blog!