Worms and Gardening, Part 1

I've decided to make this a 2 part series because it just seems like a whole lot of info just for one post.  We start this series with learning about vermiculture and the benefits that these wigglers bring to our gardens.  We end the two part series by learning how to make our own worm bin, and how to use the bin.  So let's start.

Reusable Sandwich Wrap #2

 
Way back a year or so ago, I made / posted another reusable sandwich wrap. Since then, I've looked into and came up with another design that I think is much easier to make as well as to use.  I also made the size of the wrap bigger, allowing for larger sandwiches, and actually even burritos or subs could be wrapped.

 Here's what you need:

1 - fabric for outside of wrap.(14 in x 14 in)
1 - table cloth fabric with flannel backing (14 in x 14 in)
1 - piece of elastic (~ 8 in)

Now, here's how to make it:

1.  Put the two right sides together and pin together.
2.  Sew around the fabric, leaving one corner unsewn (about 2 - 3 inches on each side of the corner).
3.  Cut the corners off of the sewn edges (up to near the sew line).  This is to give the corners a bit more room when you invert the fabric.
4.  Invert the fabric thru the unsewn corner, right side out, and fix the corners.
5.  Fold in the unsewn corner as shown below.

6.  Pin together the unsewn corner.  Slip in the both of the elastic ends in the middle, and pin down.
7.  Sew to close up the unsewn section, and to attach the elastic.  Sew back and forth when you get to the elastic to secure it better.

That's it.  You can fold it up, and keep it til it's ready to go.  See pictures to see how to wrap up a sandwich.  You can use it as a place mat while you're eating your sandwich. When you're done, you can wipe it up via a sponge and you're ready to go again. This beats all of those ziplocks and paper towels that I ended up using in the past.  And, you don't have to deal with sewing velcro.

:)

Makeshift Charging Station

I bought one of these Ikea laptop supports a few months ago. I bought two of them and found that really, I only needed one, So, I decided to make the other a charging station. This is actually one of the great things about the Ikea products, is it's adaptability to get hacked into other things. :)

I started out by drilling a few holes into the support, where you might want to put the cords thru. Important note: make sure the plug fits thru the drilled hole.

So, that's pretty much the gist of the whole project.  I added a piece of felt on top, and cut some slits where the holes should be.  This helps the components from sliding.  I bet a spare silicone baking sheet would be even better, but I didn't want to cut mine, plus felt made the next part much easier to do.

I added the prickly part of a few velcro pieces onto the support.  The felt easily sticks to this, so I didn't have to use the other side of the velcro.  This also meant that I didn't have to match up the two sides of velcro if I wanted to remove the felt (or even replace the felt).

Ta Da! That's it... pretty much a 5 minute project costing less than $3.  Here's a picture of the top, and of the side (where the wires are all hiding).  I tied up the wires with some sandwich bag twistie ties. 

Happy National Craft Month folks.