Have a greener Christmas
What’s on my sewing machine? CHRISTMAS!!!
I have a stall booked at the CAP Christmas Fair on Saturday 10th December at Christ Church Hall, Winsford, and I’m up to my ears in Christmas fabric.
I’m busy making reusable gift bags, to reduce the amount of waste wrapping paper that goes to landfill each year. Yes, I’m attempting to single-handedly save the planet! Ok, a major exaggeration, but every little helps and you can help too by reducing the gift wrapping you use this year.
I see my gift bags as an investment as you can use them year on year, especially for family gifts – just snaffle them back when the present has been opened.
If you would like to win a set of three Christmas gift bags, write your suggestions in the comments box below for how you would reuse a reusable gift bag. Have a look at my original post here, with some comments, so you get the idea. The competition closes on 4th December as is open to anyone in the UK. Good luck!
Ode to Autumn
I can’t believe how the last seven weeks have flown! It’s been such a busy time – the harvest has been coming thick and fast on our allotment...
our church has moved back into our beautiful, newly renovated building...
we’ve been on holiday to our favourite place in the whole world...
and I’ve begun a Masters Degree!
Join that to the usual hectic family life and you will see why I haven’t blogged for a while.
My degree is MA by Creative Practice, specializing in Textile Design, at Liverpool Hope University. Having graduated as a Bachelor of Arts when dinosaurs roamed the earth it has been a huge step for me to go back to uni. I felt completely out of my depth for the first few weeks but the panic is subsiding and I’m enjoying it so much, learning new skills, reviving existing ones and getting my brain in gear again.
So what’s on my desk and sewing machine today? My Contextual Journal (which records my arty influences)...
a recipe (find it here) for apple cake (we have an abundance of apples)...
this verse (reminding me STOP once in a while, stop panicking and give thanks)...
a cover for my Contextual Journal (Work In Progress)...
and Christmas reusable gift bags (Christmas Fair, Christ Church Hall, 10th December)...
and this video.
I’ve been thinking about how plastics pollution relates to the textile industry for a little while now, and yes, I have cupboards full of synthetic fabrics and yarns. But in the meantime, what can I do to reduce the amount of plastic that passes through my hands? I’ve set myself the target of making one change every month for the next year.
As a general rule I’m going to try NOT to buy stuff in plastic containers, wherever possible. So, glass jars instead of plastic pots, etc. This is not always possible so for this November I’m going to buy stuff in the biggest plastic container I can find and/or afford. So instead of buying 250ml of shampoo, I’m buying 700mls.
Instead of 300mls of handwash, I’m buying 10 litres!
Yes, it’s a lot and I have to find space to store it but it will last a long time. It uses less plastic and it’s actually saved me some money too. And now that I’ve tidied under the bathroom sink (another job that’s been on my long list for a while!) the handwash is stored away very neatly.
I know this is not possible for everyone. I know it makes a small impact. But if everyone does something it surely must be an improvement. And it makes us THINK! We can’t continue to treat the world as our rubbish dump, can we?
Please comment with your ideas for how to reduce our plastic consumption. I’ve already got my ideas for December and January, but I would love to hear your thoughts.
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