Once upon a time I was told to keep any piece of fabric bigger than my thumb, and being the compliant sort, I did! What I finished up with was a bag like this absolutely overflowing with tiny pieces of fabric.

I finally had had enough of tripping over it, so upended it on the table and got to work. I kept anything big enough to make a pocket from and the rest went into bags to go in the bin. There was quite a bit of fabric. It was a bit like an archaeological dig – my sewing life flashed before my eyes! Looks pretty messy, huh?

I didn’t stop with the fabric, I also got stuck into my wool stash. I have been knitting a top from a wool/mohair boucle and finally decided that I was not enjoying the process. Here it is before I completely transformed it:

Gorgeous colour, but I thought it would be itchy.

Here is the after shot. The purple had been practice bits of knitting (where I had been teaching myself to use a knitting machine), which I had for some reason been saving – oh, that’s right, it’s because it is cashmere. What. Was. I. Thinking?!

I decided to make some felted balls. The orange is the boucle knitting, and all the purple is made from machine knitted bits cut up and rolled into balls. The thread wrapping them up is supposed to be very fine wool. Having made all these balls (well, approximations of balls), I simply put them in the washing machine on a hot setting with my towels…

… and they turn out like this!

Oops, the fine thread obviously isn’t wool because it hasn’t felted.

Now I can hear you asking what I do with these? The big ones are fantastic in the clothes dryer. Just leave them there and they roll around with the clothes eliminating or reducing static electricity and dispensing smidges of lanolin (wonderful for towels and sheets). I’ve had a couple in my dryer for a few years and they are fabulous (although I only use the dryer about twice a year).

I also put a pile of yarn into a bag to donate. That pesky orange is in there, together with the identical yarn in pink. There’s also some Jo Sharp mohair.

My friend, Suzanne, came for a visit and left jauntily swinging the bag. Score! From my stash to hers!!

I also did some sewing at the weekend, but need to get photos. Stay tuned.