I promised I would share some of the things I spent my time on during my Christmas/NewYear break from work.
This is a bag which had definitely seen better days. It is over 20 years old and the handles were worn out. I had cut the handles off before I took the photo but you can see that they really needed replacing.
My daughter arrived a couple of days before Christmas and had used a couple of large paper carry bags from boutiques to pack some of her Christmas gifts. One bag had split and could no longer be used so I cut the heavy ribbon carry handles off it. They were just the right length to use to replace the handles on my bag.
I wonder if it will last for another 20 years?
I feel as though I could open my own repair cafe at the moment.
Yesterday I repaired the cover for my iPhone rather than buying a new one. I have a tiny tube of supa-glue and I managed to re-attach the plastic case to the cover and also re-join the split along one side of the plastic case. I did such a good job that it is not really visible in these photos. Unfortunately, I did not get any 'before' photos as the battery for my camera was flat and I had to recharge it.
Tonight I did the second step of the repair when I replaced the small magnet which actually secures the closure on the case. I had lost the original one some time ago so it did not actually fasten. The replacement magnet was salvaged from the cover of a little notebook. The notebook had become detached from the cover and my grand-daughter was ready to toss the cardboard cover so I retrieved the magnet before she did so.
While I had the supa-glue out, I also repaired a Christmas ornament which had a mishap when being hung on the tree.
The antler and the oar back in place.
Finally, this is a dress which belongs to my grand-daughter. It is strapless but not really practical for a 9 year old. It needs some shoulder straps and I have found some black fabric which I will use. I will do the sewing on the weekend during daylight hours as I find it too difficult to sew with black fabric and thread at night.
While I am prepared to have a go at repairing almost anything, there are some things that only have one destination at the end of their life and that includes small electrical appliances such as irons.
I was almost finished the ironing on Sunday when I realised that the iron did not seem to maintaining its heat. On closer inspection I discovered that it was not on and that we had lost power on one circuit. A bit of judicious testing revealed that the iron was malfunctioning and tripping the circuit breaker.
So, the old iron has been discarded and I bought a new one on Monday.
I expect that when I do not have business attire to launder for both of us that my ironing pile will decrease significantly but for the moment an iron is absolutely essential.
Now, I just need to find time to make a new cover for the ironing board as this one is now worn out. It is actually close to 2 years since I wrote a blog post about the fact that it was about to wear out.
I really must do something about it this weekend. The new iron deserves a new cover on the board!
I did some repairs to my cane laundry basket a couple of weeks ago. I delayed showing you my handiwork until I was sure that it really was going to be successful.
Here is the well-used basket with come of the cane broken.
The rear of the handle on the left has broken canes. Here is a close up view.
These pieces should be positioned the same as the other side of the handle but once they have broken and the tension is released they have sprung away from their position. There is now nothing holding the handle in place and if I chose to, I could pull that side of the handle right away from the basket.
I had been considering how I could repair this for some time and I finally bit the bullet and bought some thin plastic rope. I would have preferred cotton cord but that did not seem to be readily available.
My general idea was good but I had not really thought through the finer details so I did that on the run.
Here is the end result and so far it appears to be holding up to the rigors of being a washing basket.