Sallygardens Smallholding

Clothes Swap Party

On Friday  I went to my first 'ladies only' clothes swap party. It was just what I needed to add some cheer to these dark winter days. Three of us lift shared, all stuffed into the car amongst piles of clothes with  food offerings balanced here and there. When we arrived there were already some people at the party and a pile of clothes lay in the middle of the room. We threw in our contributions.

At first I felt a bit unsure about the etiquette. I mean you can't just dive at something that catches your eye, it's not like the January sales in Dublin! Everybody sort of visually scans the heap, then once you've seen something you like you kinda glance around the room to see if anybody else has honed in on it too. Then it's all very polite and there's a bit of chat about which one of you should try it on first. It was all very exciting as people went in and out to the bedroom, returning to display the clothes they'd put on. There were lots of  'ooohs' and 'aaaahs' as ladies strutted around looking fab. After a while a certain flow developed and everybody rummaged through finding things for themselves and offering suggestions to others. There was even some fab jewelery. It was worth tyring lots of things on because some clothes that looked drab on the floor were transformed and looked fabulous on a lady!

I brought five items with me and left with five. The clothes were lovely and I'm delighted with my swaps. It's great to have some new life in my wardrobe and to think I haven't spent a penny and the clothes have been recycled amongst friends. The few things that were left over will be brought to a local charity shop.  Everybody agreed that the night was great fun and we look forward to the next clothes swap.

Now Its My Turn To Receive A Free Gift

I've been asked to review a Toyota SPA 15 ergonomic design sewing machine and afterwards I get to keep it.  This is going to fit in nicely with International Downshifting Week. How? Well instead of watching TV in the evenings I want to try and use up all those pieces of material I seem to have collected over the last few years. I'm going to start by making clothes for my children (mainly because they are the only recipients who would be delighted with my efforts!).

As well as various materials bought from bargain bins in fabric shops I've also got a variety of old clothes to cut up and remake into new garments. Another great source I've discovered are the sample books from interior design shops. Just call in and ask if you can have their out of season samples. They are only too happy to pass on their waste rather than pay to put it in the rubbish bin. Some of the pieces are really generously large and the smaller samples are perfect for various crafts, particularly quiltmaking or collage.

The Christmas Card Dilemma Solved

I have a pile of Christmas cards that I simply can't bring myself to throw away. Being honest, I still have last years Christmas cards too, and all this years family birthday cards as well. Throwing them in the bin seems so wasteful.  So last week I gathered the family around and we read through all the cards again. Then I armed the children with glue and scissors and we began to cut out the images to make a big A2 collage. It all went quite well ie only a couple of items got glued to the floor and there was one minor flesh wound.  The resulting collage is hanging on their bedroom wall and it looks really fantastic. Its a great way to remember all the lovely cards we received and it invokes memories of all our friends who sent them. It justifies a little more all that paper we use sending cards only to be thrown away a couple of weeks later and its a great kids craft activity for a rainy day.

The blank backs of the cards have all been saved and threaded together to make a shopping list notebook. When the notebook has been used up it will then be re-reused as a fire lighter ... and then the ashes will go on the compost heap ... and then, well you get the idea.

There, now if I thought the receivers of my Christmas cards did the same, I might just actually send some next year! As it is my eco-conscience prevents me from sending any for a couple of years in a row, then my social conscience normally gets the better of me and I send out a batch in roughly three yearly cycles. I don't yet have the excuse my late Grandmother had ... she would say quite often in her final two decades 'Oh I didn't bother sending any cards this year, my friends will just think that I'm dead, and then when they do get one next year it will be such a lovely surprise'!

Flurry the Friendly Monster

At last back to a little bit of crafting! You may remember quite a while back I had a particularly good 'fabric find' experience in our local charity shop in Carrick on Shannon. Recently there was a very special new arrival for one of my best friends. Baby Lilian came 6 weeks earlier than expected so she didn't mind waiting a little while as I used that lovely schematic floral design to make a cuddly toy friendly monster for her.  So meet Flurry, I hope she isn't too frightening!

With a sweet little face like this, hopefully she doesn't seem too vicious!

Charity Shop Fabrics

Thank you to all the entrants for the corsage draw, its not too late to enter. I'll pull a name on Friday next, and will post the winners name on Saturday morning. I'm so excited for you!

I am laid up in bed with a bit of flu, so while I spend the day like lady Muck and hubby minds the children, I've been perusing some photos in my files. I found these treasures a couple of weeks ago in the charity shop of our local town. T-Shirt above, and floral skirt below. One day I'll cut them up and make something with them. I like the idea of 're-use', which is more eco-friendly than 'recycling', either as a 2nd hand garment or a new item of craft.

I probably shouldn't mention that my husband actually wore these to a fancy dress dinner party we hosted lately! The ladies got to wear their best frocks, because as Mums, we couldn't envisage an opportunity for wearing them in the near future (or ever!)... so we created the opportunity instead. I even got to put nail varnish on my toe nails and wore lipstick!!!