Making do is more fun

Thank you for the kind comments on the draft excluder. It isn't a thing of beauty, but it isn't awful, it is a sort of washed out pale blue which fades into the carpet's mucky grey. If you had a really nice remnant it would do a prettier job, but mine has kept the drafts out and I am happy.

There is a part of me that can never, ever go for the obvious option. We could do with a remote control tidy as we currently have three remotes, all in various places in the room. Currently the tidy they are not in is a small tin formerly containing sweets about four inches square and five inches high. But it doesn't look right. I am torn between little bear decorating it and finding a different container for me or little bear to decorate or finding a container that is just right. I'll do anything but buy one of those remote control holders.

Likewise, last night when I got out my needle and thread I could actually find them. They weren't in the lovely miniature chest of drawers from my great great aunt which has all sorts of craft tools in but I can't get to as it is behind mounds of STUFF. Instead I have a plastic lunch box type thing which I think originally held fairy cakes and which has a small cardboard box of pins held closed by an elastic band, some pearl headed pins which I use whenever I actually get round to making up knitted clothes, some pins stuck into a round of sponge and two or three sewing needles stuck into a similar round of sponge. Both bits of sponge came out of those bottles of vitamins that are actually quite big, and look like they contain vast quantities but actually only have a few tablets and a large bit of sponge to keep them in place. I found some white sewing cotton there and there are usually some safety pins and a cable needle or two. This small plastic box is usually around fairly close.

I have made some beautiful cross stitch pin cushions and needle cases. I don't know where the needle case is but as I used to buy lots of cross stitch kits, each of which came with a needle, they were gloriously inadequate and the bit of sponge is a much better pin cushion.

I now need to think again about rolling pins. I found one in a drawer, covered in mould. So I replaced it with a cheap wooden rolling pin (I am useless at anything that requires rolling out but need it for some things I want to do with little bear). I stored the new one on a counter. That is mouldy and discarded. Do I get a more expensive one? Or can I make do with something else? I shall be giving it some thought.

(embarrassingly, I will buy something from ebay that is not a rolling pin but performs the function - sometimes I don't actually save money on it. A whiskey bottle, however, is currently looking a good bet)