A whole new method.

I have to confess something. I am not very good at being organised. In fact I am bloody appalling and would probably live in near squalor if it were not for the thought of my mother's horrified face at finding cockroaches setting up home in my children's sock drawers.



(Not that this has actually happened! It is just an example of the potential for nasty living here at Trash Towers.)



So, having been blog-hopping for the last few days around all the innernets I have taken inspiration from ideas I have seen over at Missus Lucy Recycled-Pocket and Missus MoogsMum. Rather than list my 'To Dos' and cross them off as bits are completed I think I am going to post a 'Want To Do' list.

I have just emptied out one (yes, one. Is that a problem?!?!) of the sewing boxes and found lots of lovely material. And cross stitch patterns and threads and sewing patterns and embossing brasses and sticky paper and aqaurelle pencils and yarn and old Delicious and BBC Good Food magazines. The mind begins to boggle a bit when I begin to think that there are still two more sewing boxes, the bottom third of the airing cupboard and a whole 8x8 garden/summer house. In fact it is enough to make anyone go and take 'a bex and have a good lay down.'*

But I am stronger than that so I gird my loins (have not yet figured out if this is painful but will let you know when I am done). My goal over the next few weeks is make a to list ofthe craft type projects I would like to do over the next 12 months. Not necessarily to blog about them (although I might) rather just to identify things I want to do and see them to their completion.

Following is a list just off the top of my head (metaphorically speaking y'all understand).


1. Sew the donkeys I have been planning for a few years now.
I keep cutting up my old cords when they are no longer publicly reputable and putting the material safely away



2. Knit the sleeveless top I have decided will suit me.
For the body I plan to use the divine emerald green Malabrigo my ISE5 pal sent me and some purple donegal tweed for the ribbing. It probably sounds kind of vile but I mostly wear white shirts and t-shirts so I think it will be okay (I work with toddlers and babies, of course I wear white!!).



3. Finish painting my bug box (although you may know it as Sewing Box #1).
It has fabulous creatures crawling over two sides of it but they have never made it to the other half and it is best not to mention the top. Suffice to say if it is being used as a table top I do not rush to place a protective cover down.



4. Get the orangutan and border painted on the cupboard down at school.

Just in front of the staffroom down at my childers' lovely school is a cupboard. A bland double door wooden cupboard with four panels in each door. Six months ago I sweetly asked the headteacher if I could paint it. She smiled in a kind of 'poor, sad creature' kind of way and said yes. To date there are lions, flamingos, sheep, a deer, crows, four elephants and a blue tit.

5. Turn the beautifully soft angora mix jumper I deliberately felted into a lovely cabled cushion.

I bought it in Berlin the last time I visited my sister and it was nice and all but it never quite felt right. I guess if there was a half-size less of me it would still be a jumper but



6. Try some sort of quilty type thing.

No idea what but I love the whole idea of them.



7. Paint the wooden storage box I have been using as a bedside table for several months.

It is similar to a hinged archive box but made of wood and much nicer than cardboard. I was given a pattern of a rosella and have been wanting to paint it for over three years but you know, time got in the way and all






So there you have it. The 'Want To Dos' is not a comprehensive list and is subject to alteration but it has begun. Feel free to kick me (again with the metaphor) if it remains uncrossed off for the next six months.

*(Sincere apologies for using this publicly shared private space to air this very old family joke but I just could not resist.)