Making Good Use

Giveaway Monday - 1

The decluttering and clearing out continues apace, and all sorts of useful bits and bobs have come to light, many are things I'd forgotten I had.  Some are destined for ebay, two small carrier bag-loads were donated to the local charity shop this morning, and some of the things I thought I'd offer as giveaways over the next couple of weeks.  As a change from offering books as giveaways, I thought I'd start by offering this little Hello Kitty plastic box.

 

I know I picked this up in a charity shop in Bristol a couple of years ago.  I'm not sure what my original intentions for it were but it's been sitting on top of the bookcase just gathering dust ever since!  I hope somebody out there can give it a better home.

The box measures approx. 8 x 5 inches and is approx. 2 inches deep.  Inside there is a lift-out divided tray with another divided portion at the bottom of the box.  It has it's own little Hello Kitty padlock and two keys to unlock it.  The box is in pretty much unused condition and would make a lovely little storage case for sewing things (probably what I had in mind when I bought it), or for keeping any small items in.

Just leave a comment on this post to be in the draw.  I'll pick a name from the 'virtual hat' on Saturday 31st.  I'm happy to post anywhere in the world.

A Small Thing, But Mine Own

I finally took the bull by the horns this morning and swapped the (now empty - thank goodness) bookcase and desk around.  It wasn't too difficult to do on my own, although I fear I may feel it in my arm muscles tomorrow.  At last I have my own small sewing space.  And, amazingly enough, I discovered a double socket just to the right of the desk - ideal for plugging the sewing machine in.  I didn't even know it was there as it has been hidden for the past four years by the sideboard.  I couldn't believe my eyes as I moved the sideboard up a few inches and the socket was revealed - it must be karma!

The desk has been moved around with me for years and years, I had it in my bedroom as a child, and it always proves useful wherever we live.  Dad got hold of it many years ago as it was being thrown out of the nurses home at the hospital where he worked.  It's not really a thing of beauty - being very much 'brown' furniture, but it is solid wood and has lovely deep drawers.  The top actually opens up to reveal a large mirror - I think it was originally intended as a study desk cum dressing table for the trainee nurses.  Now, it's my new sewing table.

The calendar above is a gorgeous craft calendar from the ever-talented Soule Mama, another lovely Christmas present from Mum. 

Of course, the rest of the dining room looks like a bomb has dropped but, you know, Rome, built and day and all that - I'll tackle that another time.

Online Surveys

Just a short post today as Thursday is ebay listing day for me.  Unsurprisingly, I've got quite a lot of books to list this afternoon as I saved any likely looking candidates from the Greenmetropolis cull.  I seem to have it in my mind that a 10 day listing starting on a Thursday afternoon and finishing on a Sunday afternoon attract the most bids - do any other ebay listers have a favourite time for their auctions to end?

Anyway, back to the topic.  A few months ago, in a bid to find new ways to 'earn' a bit more online, I signed up for online surveys via a couple of sites.  The first one I signed up for was You Gov which is a wonderful forum for me to give my opinions on the state of the economy, the government, crime, immigration et al.  Completing one of their surveys always gives me a great deal of satisfaction as I feel I can really let off steam and that, for once, my voice might actually be heard.  Perhaps You Gov don't really like my opinions too much though as I rarely get asked to complete a survey.  As you get paid approx. £1.00 for each survey completed, and they send you a cheque once you reach £50.00 in your account, it's going to be a long process before I get to see any actual money from this site.

A while later I came across a recommendation for Valued Opinions in the Saturday Telegraph.  They are an online market reasearch company and offer various vouchers in return for completing their surveys.  You can choose which vouchers you want to be paid in (I chose Marks & Spencer as I can use those in their wonderful food hall - love M&S food but not the price of it!)  I get asked to take part in a lot more surveys via Valued Opinions and I should be receiving my first voucher anytime soon (they pay out as soon as you reach £10.00.)  Sometimes I'm not quite what the survey is looking for and then you get a free entry into a quarterly prize draw.  The surveys pay £1.00 on average and take approx. 15 - 20 minutes to complete.  I quite enjoy doing them.

I've just dug out the bit of paper from the Saturday Telegraph and they also mention Which Surveys which apparently lists survey companies who are offering to pay for surveys in cash and prizes.  I haven't checked this one out as yet but I'll certainly be giving it a look. 

Can anyone else recommend any good survey sites where you get paid for taking part?

Blue Saturn

The knitted wrap is progressing V.E.R.Y. S.L.O.W.L.Y.  I think the problem is I'm just not used to knitting large projects.  I know there was the saga of the knitted blanket but at least I could get on with that one square at a time (and jolly useful the blanket has turned out to be this winter.)  The wrap is, obviously, all done in one piece and is getting a tad boring just knitting and purling back and forth - although I do think it will look nice once it is finished, especially if we ignore the wonky buttonhole!

To alleviate the tedium, I knitted up this beanie from some rather vibrant pure wool twist by Colinette which I found unused in a charity shop in Bristol last spring.  The colourway is imaginatively called Blue Saturn (there is something of outer space about the colour combinations), and it's even more vibrant than it seems in the photo.  It was a fast and satsifying knit, and there was just enough yarn left over for another one of these. 

The beanie is about to be listed for sale on ebay, the pom pom is going in my stash for making a pom pom garland next  Christmas.  Now back to knitting the wrap again.

Things to Make

When I showed this little Ladybird book last week, Sandie asked if I could post some of the things to make in the book.

There are some lovely little projects shown, pretty much all of which rely on bits and bobs that would have been found in the average home of the time.  I think my favourite is this little 'Children in the Shoe', although I know full well that me as a six or seven year old would never have been able to paint a shoe so nicely.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do it even now!  The instructions say 'you will need an old shoe (ask Mummy which shoe you may have)'  Can you imagine the trouble that would have ensued if a child just started painting her mother's best shoes with paint!!

I think I would have had more success with this 'Indian Head-dress' made from corrugated cardboard and feathers, and even as a girl would have quite enjoyed wearing it.

Then there is 'Pattern Printing with  a Potato' - nice idea but have tried this as an adult and got into a frightful mess - it's the reversing of the image that gets me every time!

There are a couple of Christmas projects, including  'A Dainty Fairy Tree' - which does have a certain minimalist charm even today.  According to the instructions 'Everyone will say how nice this looks.'

Then there are the ever-so-slightly dangerous projects, like this pair of stilts made from two syrup tins, that involve a small child punching holes with a nail.  I bet the 'Elf and Safety' brigade would have a fit of the vapours!

The cover of the book is in a very poor condition so I'm hoping to use some of the illustrations and instructions to make a few cards from - the illustration on the front with the instructions on the back.  I've just got to get hold of some card blanks that are the right size.

Stuff

I feel like I'm drowning in 'stuff' at the moment.  The dining room is full of boxes and bags of books and other bits and bobs that are destined to be collected by the local hospice charity shop warehouse tomorrow - I can't wait.  There are 500 plus ex-Greenmetropolis books to go and I know I shall feel much free-er once they've gone. Then I can get on with setting up a sewing corner for myself in the dining room. 

I read an article in the Saturday Telegraph last week that said second-hand booksellers were really booming at the moment as people were looking to buy cheaper second-hand books instead of new ones.  Not in my little neck of the woods they're not!  In the past three months I'd only sold four books on Greenmetropolis - and at approx. £2.50 'earnings' per sale it was no longer worth having the dining room resemble a second-hand book store.  My Amazon sales have not really fared much better - having sold nothing at all since before Christmas.  But at least when I do sell a book on Amazon it is for a reasonable profit.  So, for the time being, I'm quite happy to keep the 400 or so books that I've got listed there.  They all now fit quite neatly into one very large bookcase and so are really no problem at all.

I was going to head out to the shed and have a root around in a couple of stray boxes that are lurking out there -  I've really no idea what's in them, although suspect it is bits of crockery that never made it into the miniscule kitchen storage that we've got in this house - but we've just had a rather ferocious hail storm strike, complete with thunder and lightning.  So I think I'll put off searching through that 'stuff' a little while longer.  I'll go and have a look through the under-bed drawers instead.  I know there's a whole load more 'stuff' just waiting to be sorted out in those.

And the Winner is ....

The 'virtual hat' (that's P being asked to choose a number between 1 and 16 off the top of his head) chose comment number one which was Sandie.  Sandie, let me have your name and address and I'll get the magazine in the post to you.

Thank you very much to everyone who took part - keep checking back for a few more book giveaways in the next couple of weeks, as I kept back any likely-looking craft books from my ex-Greenmetropolis stock.

A Little Light Thrifting

I've been quite lucky on the thrifting front this week.  It started with a rather nice lemon Charles Tyrwhitt shirt for P - £2.25 (these shirts retail at approx. £65 new.)  What appears to be an unworn Disney shop summer T-shirt for DN - 99p from Oxfam (and smelling of smoke as there was a small fire in our local Oxfam a couple of months ago.  Walking into the shop is like going into a bonfire, the smell is still so strong.)

A few nice crafty bits and bobs for myself.  The vintage Spear's Weaving Loom - Maureen's lovely little woven bag that she sent me last week made me think I'd like to give weaving on a small scale a try - 75p.  Three balls of various yarn - for making pom poms from - £1 the lot.  And the vintage Ladybird 'Things to Make' book - 25p.  Lovely illustrations and projects in this book - I've got an idea for making greetings cards from the pages.

And a really lovely pure cotton Marks and Spencer double duvet cover and two pillowcases - I love the faded roses print with pink ticking edging - £1 from the 'Bargain Box' at a church in Basildon this morning.

Thank you very much to everyone who left a comment about 'roadkill money'.  Wow!  There really are some amazing finds out there.  It makes me all the more determined to keep my eyes on the ground when I'm out and about.

Also, there's still time to enter the Sew Hip Issue 3 Giveaway - just leave a comment on last Tuesday's post to enter your name in the draw.

Pom Pom's A-Plenty

I saw this fabulous idea over at Wise Craft, and had one of those eureka moments.  Here was the ideal way to use up all the little bits and bobs of wool that I had knocking about and I had some unopened Clover Pom Pom Makers - from the wonderfully useful (if a tad expensive) visit to Get Knitted 18 months ago.  It's now become highly addictive.

There are cerise pink fluffy pom poms.

Sea green fluffy pom poms.

Oddments from the knitted blanket project poms poms.

And really big 'wonder what this yarn would look like as a pom pom' pom poms.

In For a Penny

In her book 'How I Lived a Year on Just a Pound a Day', Kath Kelly describes how she managed to pick up approx. £120 in a year from what she calls 'roadkill money.'  She describes picking up a £20 note from a sodden pavement and adding it to two other twenties, a tenner and a £2 coin - all of which she'd found in the space of three months.

My father was great one for picking up bits and pieces - coins, nails, nuts and bolts etc from the pavement or gutter.  He once even came across a large coil of thick blue rope which he lugged home all the way from the Costa del Sol - because, you never know, it might just come in useful. (I can't really shout as I once broke a rucksack carting a very heavy complete Trivial Pursuit game back from Spain - it was total bargain in a charity shop in Fuengirola!)  But I don't think Dad ever picked up any notes (or if he did he kept mighty quiet about it).  In later life, he used to complain that macular degeneration was making him go blind but, as we pointed out, his eyes were still good enough to spot a penny on a brown pavement.

I did know someone years ago who found a £10 note stuffed down the side of a bus seat, apparently the money couldn't have come at a more opportune time as this person was completely broke at the time, and wondering where their next meal was coming from.

So, with all this in mind, and statistics like there may be £26 million of dropped pennies lurking in the streets, I've been keeping a very careful eye open for 'roadkill money.'  I thought it might be interesting to keep a tally of what I find on the blog (well, interesting to me anyway!!)  So, without further ado, the grand total of 'roadkill money' I've picked up so far in 2009 is - wait for it - 3p.  I'm obviously hoping for a bit more as the year goes on and I'll make a note each time I find something.  I don't expect to find anything like £120 but a couple of pounds would be good.

What's the most 'roadkill money' you've ever found?