I’m taking a little time off from paid work to get some things sorted out around the house. Originally I planned to do some decorating this week, but somehow I got diverted and the week ended up being all about the three Rs: Repair. Repair, Repair! Yes, I know it’s usually Repair, Reuse, Recycle, but there was so much of the first that it seems worth repeating.
I reattached the rufflette tape to the heavy curtain over the front door, darned two pairs of crochet slippers (one of which I had nearly convinced myself to throw away, but which turned out to be repairable), sewed a button onto some trousers, repaired a hole in a dress, made a new waist band for a pair of leggings and mended a cap that the dog had chewed.
Several of these jobs turned out to be quite time-consuming, but in all cases I’m happy with the results and the work extends the life of all the items involved. Plus, the curtain should be more efficient at keeping the heat in now it hangs properly.
I often collect repairs and then can’t summon up the energy to do them, but this week the motivation was there and I think that I have now worked my way through all of my mending pile. Maybe I will do some decorating next week… maybe…
The Snail of Happiness 
Laurie Graves
/ September 8, 2018Right on!
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Ann Pole
/ September 8, 2018Well done. Can I send some of our repairs your way?? 🙂
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katechiconi
/ September 8, 2018You’ve reminded me: I have to go and hunt out the pair of work jeans the Husband was wearing when he took a chunk out of his shin. If the shin has a hole in it, I bet the jeans do too… Nice to see you peek your head above the parapet, as it were; clearly work is keeping you good and busy!
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Going Batty in Wales
/ September 8, 2018Like you I notice things that need a stitch or two but am very good at putting off the doing of them. I so much prefer to make a new item than to fiddle about repairing an old oe. Repairs so often are fiddly and take ages for very little obvious gain. Well done for summoning up some enthusiasm and tackling such a lot.
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thecontentedcrafter
/ September 8, 2018I’m always so impressed with your darning – mine never looks like that! You are an inspiration really, yesterday I put a cotton top which is now too big for me into the op-shop pile even though I really like it and there is still much life in it despite the paint on one sleeve …. Now I shall take it out and have another think – I’m sure something can be done!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ September 9, 2018One thing I have been struggling with recently as I cleared my wardrobe was what to keep and what to let go and what I could face mending. I have been very happy to retrieve a 30-year-old cardigan that had some staining, but which I have managed to get clean, but I had some pangs about ditching my suits (which no longer fit) because I made them and I suspect no one else will value the work that went into them. Anyway, about five bags of clothes have now gone to charity and what remains should actually get worn. Next job is my work room… I could be some time!
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thecontentedcrafter
/ September 9, 2018We’ll see you when you come up for air then. I have a routine that works for me in my work room – every year I go in and find the things I aren’t using or think I don’t need any more for some reason or other and put them in a box. I put the box in the cupboard. If I take something out during the ensuing year it gets a reprieve. Everything else goes permanently. I have whittled it down from a ‘two-box the size of crates’ show initially to a shoebox this year 🙂
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KerryCan
/ September 9, 2018This is the sort of job I hate doing but LOVE having done! Good work!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ September 9, 2018For me it’s the getting motivated that’s the problem. Usually once I actually make a start on a job, I begin to enjoy it. But you are right – the best bit is when it’s done.
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Helen
/ September 9, 2018Congratulations! I have such of pile of mending to do myself. In a week’s time, I’ve got two weeks’ annual leave and plan to do decorating, too. However, I really should tackle the repair mountain 😉.
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tialys
/ September 10, 2018It’s the sort of thing you dread doing but makes you feel so virtuous afterwards – like ironing.
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Kim
/ September 13, 2018Gold star for doing all of those repairs. You are allowed to feel very virtuous now 😇
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crawcraftsbeasties
/ September 15, 2018Yay! I’m so glad you managed to save those slippers – it would be a shame to have to let them go! Good luck with the decorating 😀
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The Snail of Happiness
/ September 17, 2018Somehow the decorating hasn’t happened… ah well, maybe later in the year!
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quietwatercraft
/ September 28, 2018I’m glad I’m not the only one who stockpiles mending instead of just doing it as and when it crops up! I don’t know why though; it’s so satisfying to know that I fixed something and kept it going by myself, I should jump straight on it.
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