It Is More Blessed To Give Than To Receive

This verse is in Acts chapter 20 - Paul is preaching to the Christians in Ephesus and he reminds them that Jesus said this. Certainly in Luke 6:38, Jesus talks about giving. I have been so challenged by this in recent days. 

It was an absolute joy to visit a local Early Years group. Muddy Monkies is very close to Kingston Lacy. They'd asked on Facebook for 'unwanted baskets'. I'd found a huge box of them in the loft - so I contacted them and discovered they really need craft materials [the Scrapstore is shut]

They're forest-based, and have an outdoors Piklar Triangle, a campfire, an outdoor kitchen,a composting toilet, a reading shed....all sorts of great stuff. Also a bell tent, and the children were having their post lunch rest when I arrived, so I was given the full, covid-safe guided tour. [I didn't like to ask about the name] 

There were a dozen grey Oasis blocks in the loft. I advertised them free on Facebook - and was contacted almost immediately. The young woman explained she works with a group of adults with learning disabilities, and they love arranging flowers. So when she arrived I offered her a large sheaf of silk flowers too, along with some reels of floristry ribbon. She was delighted

Bob has a superfluity of technical gear. He cleaned up a complete system, removing all the personal data, then asked on our church WhatsApp group if anyone needed one. A member contacted us straightaway - she'd just been in a conversation with someone whose nephew's teacher* currently delivers worksheets to the home, because this family do not have a computer at all. When our friend collected it, she said it was amazing to see how fast the prayer had been answered.

It is exactly 20 years since the artist Michael Landy produced a drawing called "Break Down"

This represents the Art Installation he set up in the deserted C&A building in Oxford Street, He catalogued all his possessions [7227 of them] then they were loaded onto a conveyor belt, and as they went round the items were stripped down to their component parts and destroyed.5.75 tonnes of 'rubbish' sent to landfill. 45,000 visitors came to watch over the course of the fortnight's activity. And I guess ML made a lot of money out of the project.

I was appalled then, and I am still horrified by such waste. It does take longer to post these things on line, and then careful planning to arrange safe collection. It might seem easier to shove the surplus stuffing to black bin bags and send them to landfill. But I cannot do that. 

*God bless all those teachers out there, preparing online classes, delivering classroom  lessons- and providing extra resources for those children whose families lack the resources to get their children fully equipped to meet the challenge of education in this difficult time.

Helping "Hannah's Headbands"

I have found a sewing task I can do to help things along. I was unhappy about making masks. My neighbour up the street put notes through all our doors during the Easter Weekend asking for sheets and pillowcases as she is sewing scrub-bags. I delivered some bedlinen, and wondered about volunteering to help when I had done my other sewing jobs. Then a friend from the Parish church rang to tell me about her daughter's project, and asked if I'd publicise it through our church WhatsApp group. It's called Hannah's Headbands in Dorset. 
Hannah who started all this is in Norfolk and makes wedding/prom dresses, her company is Hannah's Gladrags. She heard that many medical personnel were finding it uncomfortable to wear masks all day, the elastic was chafing their ears. So she devised a simple headband, with a button either side. You put on the headband, and hook the mask elastic behind the buttons. Here's a nurse in her headband.

My friends daughter, down here in Dorset, picked up the idea - and now has people all over the county making the headbands. 

These nurses are at the wonderful Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospital, where Bob was treated in October. RBCH has asked for hundreds. "But the problem is, finding inch wide elastic, and buttons about 20-25mm across. We are having to order from China" 

I have both of these in my stash, including some lovely beige elastic which was originally destined for sports underwear, and doesn't rub. I got it from the Scrapstore last year and used some for play costumes at school. And I have jars of buttons. And I have odd shirtsleeves and scraps of polycotton left over from making Memory Bears.

I sorted out some appropriate buttons and fabric, and once Kezzie's shirt was in the post, I set to to make headbands. On our daily exercise walk, I was able to deliver these twenty headbands to my friend. She was grateful - apparently the RBCH personnel are grateful for all the headbands, they really do make a difference - but had mentioned that not everyone wants a pink floral one! Do check out the facebook page- there is a lovely clip of Delighted Dancing Dorset Doctors [and nurses] 

Bob, meanwhile, has been building a coffee table to go in the summerhouse at Cornerstones. This is using scrap wood [panelling removed when UCF was refurbished 5 years ago] He's sanded it down and waxed it. The circular recess will hold the base of an IKEA Lazy Susan [which is waiting in Norfolk]

I was pleased to see that my friend has a basket of finished headbands in her porch - so that any of our local carers can help themselves as well - the headbands are not just going to the hospitals. Ferndown has a high proportion of older people, and dozens of care homes. This is a really good way to reduce my Great Stash of fabrics and haberdashery.

Gazing At A Gazebo Intently

"What's the difference between a tent, a gazebo and a marquee?" mused Bob as we drove through the Norfolk countryside one day last week.
"A tent is a simple fabric shelter, a marquee is a big posh tent, and a gazebo is something without walls you gaze out of and say 'Bo!' to passers-by" I replied.
He laughed, and proceeded to check the etymology. So now we know
Tent this word comes from a Latin word meaning a stretched piece of fabric.
Marquee is from the French marquise - [the Brits misunderstood and thought it was a plural] and referred to a fancy linen canopy placed over a tent to make it posh for the officers.
And Gazebo is cod-Latin. Videbo is the Latin for "I see" so gazebo = I gaze [because my rent has no walls] I felt quite smug that my guessed definitions were pretty accuare!
Our old pop-up gazebo was retired this summer after the celebration tea in August. The frame was really bent and it was unstable. We'd had many years of good use from it.
But we kept the walls - I was sure I could make use of the large pieces of blue fabric.

I spread out one wall, and from it I cut out three pieces to make dust covers for Jon's record decks. And I also cut out some larger strips to make some dividers. 

This is the case for microphone stands I got for £2.50 from the Scrapstore in September. A lot of calculations and use of clothespegs enabled me to make an inner cylinder with six sections. Bob stuck it in place with his hot glue gun. 

Now Jon has a set of dust covers, and Bob has a useful case for his microphone stands. Creative recycling at it's best. 
Thanks for all the kind comments yesterday. We got back to Dorset safely, just in time to listen to The Archers! 

Jesus Turns Our Sadness Into Dancing!

This morning is Re:vive at UCF - our 'breakfast church' - with coffee,croissants, singing, videos, discussion and more. I'm not sure how much energy I shall have this morning,  after last night's Barn Dance, for doing crafts with the children. I decided we would use the verse from Psalm 30:11 "You have turned my sadness into dancing" and make dancing people

I printed off some sticky labels, and everyone will get two 12" pipecleaners, a handful of 'beads' and a cardboard lid [these were from the Scrapstore, originally intended for ice cream tubs] Stick the label on the lid, thread the beads on the pipecleaners and twist together to make a bendy little dancer. 

Please don't tell me off about the 'beads'. Yes they are made from plastic straws. But they are ones I bought in bulk about 10 years ago in Leicester, when I was doing lots of alco-free mocktail bars - and before we knew what damage they can cause. Better to get some use from them, rather than just discard them, surely? 

ZWW - Progress Report #1

The Audit Sheet is on the fridge and I am trying to be diligent about filling it in. Easy when I am in the kitchen, less reliable when I throw something away in the bedroom. I will post about the Audit tomorrow.
But I have done a few other things to save stuff from landfill.
On Wednesday, I was invited to go to the Scrapstore with a couple of friends. I picked up a few bits and pieces for my Sunday Morning Children's Activities. And I found something for Bob too

This is a case for microphone stands. Bob has one already, but he has too many stands - so this is a useful addition to his PA kit. They retail around £20 - this was £2.50! Admittedly it needs an inner divider, but we can easily sort that.
I showed the staff at the store some photos of the Kids' Club crafts - they'd provided laces for the bottle-top snakes. They said it is always good to see how stuff has been used. 


I was quite disciplined about collecting stuff- as I said to my friend "If I cannot think of a use for it, I will not take it just to add to my stash - better to leave things for someone else who can use them"

My other activity of the week has been working on a set of three memory bears for a friend in Sussex [she's also a friend of Jill, for whom I made a bear in July]
Now in one sense this is helping save old  worn-out shirts from landfill. One had a hole in in, two others were ripped on the button band, and cuffs and collars were very worn. You couldn't really give these to a CS.

So that is good - but I have still got all my trimmings which are too small for further sewing projects. What should I do with these tiny bits? I remember when I was making some play costumes from fur, I worked outside in the garden, and the birds came and picked up the little bits for nesting. Not sure these scraps will be as useful. Any ideas, anybody?
How have you been getting on with Zero Waste Activities?
As I rarely buy new clothes, and usually look first in the CS when I need something, the Oxfam Secondhand September Challenge hasn't felt particularly relevant. But I applaud those who are trying to cut back on their clothes-purchase-habits. Every little helps!

Saving The Planet Through Crafting!

That is the motto of the Dorset Scrapstore- a charity which is 20 years old this year.
Notice the R-R-R, for "reduce, re-use, recycle" in their logo.
This place is truly an Aladdin's Cave.
We have a Church Membership card, and in recent weeks I have visited twice to pick up materials for our children's activities [once with Bob, and once with my friend Alison who runs a craft&coffee group at UCF]
The store is only a few miles up the road, in Poole. Members can fill a carrier bag for £4 or a binbag for £10, from the bins and  the 'freebie' shelves. There are other individually priced items [fabric on a roll, to buy by the metre - from as little as £1] Everything is beautifully laid out, and it is easy to look round.

Local companies donate unwanted stuff - so there were lots of brightly printed 'Lush' cardboard boxes available. I picked up some jingle bells and some 'DIY Xmas Crackers' [I know it is July, but they won't be there next week]  I got some fabric to make a cover for the PA box in the church hall, coloured card, pingpong balls, and a few other bits and pieces. Bob collected some lighting gel, and Alison chose some textured lino [she has an idea about embossing with it] I needed a few more shoelaces for my snakes- and ended up with a bag of100 lilac ribbons with aglet ends.
The staff are incredibly cheerful and seem ridiculously pleased when they can supply the item you need,or something similar. If you are in the Dorset area, you should check them out [schools, church groups, individuals can all apply for a membership card]
I just love the idea that things which otherwise would go to waste are being used for positive craft purposes.