Trash Talk Tuesday

Where I get to talk about the good or bad things people do with trash. Please email me if you have trash ideas or links you want me to post. Its all about, reuse, recycle, recreate, refashion yeah yeah, you know, all the RE words:) If your idea gets posted you will of course get the credit.

"A Chat with Elsie"

December-ish 2008
As Elsie and I walked along the path leading to the wood workers function room we chatted about my Trash Talk Tuesday and she thought she might have something interesting to add.
Now Elsie is no slouch when it comes to recycling, re using and such, and she has been quite a pro at it for some time, so much so that she has written a few articles for Grass Roots, sharing her wisdom and offering smart tips on various topics.

One such tip she shared with me was her habit of collecting her yarn left overs which she then turns into cushion inserts.She starts by sewing up a square measuring a standard cushion insert size with one end left open, sits it beside her knitting chair and whenever she has a scrap left over she plonks it in the bag.

Whilst the bag is in its collecting stage she can rummage around to find suitable scraps for small projects or repairs. Elsie says she continues to add to the bag until it is full and once it has reached sufficient bulk she sews the top up and voila she now has a new cushion insert.
Now for me the bag would take 10 years to fill if it were just knitting scraps but for Elsie I am sure she has a few pillow inserts by now because she is an exceptional knitter and contributes her knitted wares to charities all over the world and has done so for many years.

I am going to follow this example and use it for my embroidery and sewing scraps also which I am sure Elsie is already doing. I throw out so many small strands of embroidery cotton and little felt pieces that if I collected it for a year I would have a super soft cushion insert and a continuous supply of scrap threads.

Thank you Elsie for sharing that tip. Now I am passing it on to the blogosphere in the hope it will inspire others as it has inspired me

All the best and get trashy if you dare. Trash is the new black!