Doing what I can

Our yard has a number of nice features, but many of the landscaping elements are deteriorating badly.   I was sitting outside for a while yesterday, just looking at all the things that I couldn’t do anything about.

The solution for not being able to do something is to find something that can be done, and then do it, so I started picking up some twigs and leaves that were within reach of my lawn chair.

Right away, I found an agate in the landscaping rocks. That is not so unusual in Minnesota, where some gravel deposits have lots of them, but in this case the timing was right on the mark.

Velcro for de-pilling

I wanted to de-pill my winter coat, which is woven wool on the outside, before putting it away for the season. I started out just pulling fuzz off by hand, then got to thinking about sweater stones—scratchy     stones used to snag pills and pull them off.

I realized that the hook side of hook-and-loop tape, aka Velcro, would do the same thing. I had a piece in my bag of elastic and bias tape and other sewing bits, so I tried it.

It worked well, brushed lightly over the surface of the wool. The Velcro does clog up after a bit, and it helps to have a pin or a needle or a paper clip wire to get underneath the lint and lift it off the hooks.

Using a pumice stone on stubborn toilet stains

I have wanting to try this out for a while. I found the pumice stone among the bathroom cleaning supplies at the grocery, for $4.

The instructions said to not be too quick to rinse away the pumice that comes off the stone, as it supplies much of the scrubbing effect.

Before I used the stones, I gave the toilets a quick scrub with the toilet brush--without chemicals--and scraped off a little of the stains with a bamboo chopstick.

I found that the pumice stone worked very well, although it wore down fast and quickly lost its sharper edges, which made it more difficult to get into the corners. Between our two toilets, I used up half of the stone.

Friday follow-through

There's a backlog of projects that I've been working on recently, but haven't written anything about:

Blouse:  I had a thrift store blouse (originally homemade from a pattern, I think) that had worn out beyond minor repair. I deconstructed it, taking measurements and notes on how it was put together, and then used some batik fabric on hand to make a replacement. It turned out well enough; I should have practiced making buttonholes more before making them for real, but with the print and the buttons, they don't stand out. I had only just enough fabric for it, and had to piece together the short sleeves and collar.

T-shirt:  I had a piece of jersey from the art salvage store, again just enough to piece together, and drew up a quick pattern from my current measurements, and sewed it up quickly this morning. (In fact, I am wearing it now.) I made the tops of the sleeves too wide, and just folded the excess into a tuck as I sewed. I might go back and fix that later, or just leave it...I will wear a long-sleeved layer over it in public anyway.

Pumice stone experiment:  Can you refresh a yucky old pumice stone by grinding away the sides until fresh pumice is revealed? Yes! I found that a coarse rasp worked much better than a fine file. I put it in the vise (gently!) to hold it while I worked, otherwise I would have held the rasp steady, and rubbed the stone up and down it. (If you don't have a rasp or file, a coarse stone or even a concrete sidewalk would work for this.)

Maker Faire consulting:  The Minneapolis/St. Paul Mini Maker Faire is coming up on May 14, at the state fairgrounds, and my husband is planning on exhibiting. I have been helping him out with his project, which stands a fair chance of being finished on time this year. The admission to the Faire is a bit pricey, by my miserly standards, but there is also the YMCA garage sale going on nearby in the Merchandise Mart that Saturday...this is where I found a heaping cartload of stuff last spring (for $35). Go in the early afternoon when it is winding down, and they will practically beg you to haul more stuff away. 

Repairs and rearranging:  The quilt got me started thinking about perhaps making some changes in the bedroom. While I was thinking, I also repaired one of the curtain rod brackets that was coming loose (thanks AGAIN, children). This time I put a long screw in, all the way into the wood of the window header. In the end, I decided to put everything back and keep the look eclectic. It's just about time to switch to summer blankets, so I don't want to redo the whole room around my winter quilt. I will buy more twine when I can, to finish the granny hexagon rug that I started for this room.

Nature art project:  We have a tree in the backyard with interesting patterns in its bark, that I would like to take a rubbing of, on the piece of canvas from the art salvage store. I tested using a (new) charcoal briquet on the fabric, and it marks well, but some sort of a fixative will be necessary to keep it there.

Not a full book review: Rustic Elegance, by Ralph Kylloe

I leafed through this book at the library to drool over the pictures, and skipped over the text. It features a number of uber-rustic cabin palaces, all by the same architect. The primary elements of the look are dry-stacked rough stone and tons of rustic wood, paired with elegant and expertly-arranged high-end furnishings. What most of these rooms lack, therefore, is color and light; it is a very cave-like style. Too depressing for full-time occupation without a few modifications.

But there are a few interesting ideas that I took away from it. One is that now I think my basement room needs a boulder or two! It is definitely a cave sort of room. Another is that you can glue chunks of wood to almost anything.