Do you have an ongoing collection of dryer lint *because it might be useful at some point*? Are you in the mood for a summer DI|Y project, the results of which will be unsubstantiable for months? Boy, have I got the zero-waste craft project for you! Okay so I’ll admit…
Category: DIY
It’s Elderflower Season! – DIY Elderflower Cordial
It’s June, it’s sunny, it’s time for some syrupy goodness! Last week I made my first batch of elderflower cordial; I jumped the gun a bit and went a bit too early so I could only get enough flowers to make a half batch, but now the elderflowers are in…
Planting Potatoes
Last weekend, I planted up the spare seed potatoes that were left over from the allotment. There were about twenty spare potatoes that hadn’t fit from the main crop and so were hanging around, beckoning to my distaste for waste (new hashtag idea?). I had previously fished out the potato…
Forage: Wild Garlic Pesto
The Wild Garlic is out! Foraging is so immensely satisfying, it’s impossible to forage for ingredients and not come away feeling at one with nature. The combination of interacting with nature in a very tangible way, living in tandem with the seasons and getting stuff for free is a real…
Zero-waste Fail: Fatballs for Garden Birds
Thought I’d be productive this morning so I took the block of lard out of the fridge and started making fat balls for the birds in our garden. During the pandemic, we’ve been getting a lot of grocery deliveries from SuperValu and sometimes they substitute items if they don’t have…
DIY Christmas Cards
Our last few Christmas cards were getting posted out today, so it’s an apt time to talk about my DIY Christmas card project. Particularly this year when people can’t see each other, cards are a really nice way to cheer up the depths of winter. We have a decent stash…
Repair, Not Replace: Bunbury the Trusty Robin/Doorstop
A number of years ago my family were given a lovely doorstop in the shape of a robin – it was made of felt, with a heavy beanbag in the bottom to give it weight. Originally inteded as a piece of Christmas home decor, we just kept him out all…
Repair: Eleanor’s Carrying Bag
So I finished repairing my sister’s carrying bag! It had been sitting unusable in the music room for god knows how many months, lingering near the end of my “sewing to-do list”. This is one of her favourite bags, bought by my mother in Greece a few years ago and…
Grow: Planting Spring Bulbs
This afternoon I planted my spring bulbs! It’s possibly pushing it slightly, but I had to wait for my bulbs to arrive in the post. I got caught by targeted advertising (yet again) and got taken in by these Tulip Ice-Creams which look like little scoops of ice-cream, so I…
Re-upholstering Kitchen Chairs
A project I’ve been meaning to do for a long time – re-upholstering my kitchen chairs. It was previously done in the early 2000s some time and since then the entire kitchen has been renovated; the chairs are about the only thing remaining from the ‘old kitchen’. I ordered some…