Identify
Anyhow, while I was so engaged, I found another shoebox of fabric swatches!
If you recall, in Fabric Free, I talked about the swathes of fabric that I had accumulated when I belonged to not one, not two, but three fabric clubs(!) and that I had stashed this bonanza away up on a closet shelf, but that I finally managed to part with it (well most of it) by donating the fabric to Materials for the Arts. You may also recall that I had also accumulated the swatches (about 2" x 2" square) the fabric clubs would send once or twice a month, and that I had come across a whole shoebox full of them in another closet!
Gather
Well, I found another box of them this week! Yes I did.
What I didn't tell you, was that back when I found the first box, I was actually able to identify a new home for the them. Since I will be sending this more recently discovered stash to the same place, I thought it would be useful to share my Exit Strategy for these goodies, in case someone out there in the blogosphere finds themselves in a similar predicament. Don't look so skeptical. It could happen!
Unlike the lengths of fabric, I ended up sending the swatches somewhere else. A woman named Joyce, had posted a small classified ad at one of the reuse/recycle websites I frequent. Apparently she works at a senior center or a nursing home and she was looking for beads and "findings" to use the beading classes she teaches there. At the time, I wasn't exactly sure what "findings" were, but I decided to contact her about the fabric swatches to see if she might have any use for them. It turns out that she did!
They have various arts & crafts and sewing classes for the seniors and Joyce advised that they could use the swatches to make lap robes for people in wheelchairs at the nursing home. Having found this other box of them, I followed up with her to see if she could still use them and she assured me that she could.
As I also learned, findings are the different accent beads that are used in making jewelry. For example in a necklace, there may be five beads of one type, then an accent bead of another, to provide contrast. At the center, the seniors will take old necklaces apart, use the beads, and create something different. Even chain-type necklaces can be taken apart and the sections used in a new necklace. Earring wires and clip-ons are also considered to be findings.
I had some old necklaces I knew I was not going to wear again, so I threw those in along with the swatches. Joyce was very happy to receive everything.
Remove
I popped the fabric into a small mailer and headed to my favorite place, the post office!
So if have any old jewelry or necklaces that you don't want and don't know what to do with, send these items her way. She can definitely use them! Joyce can be reached at
- tiredted [at] comporium [dot] net
2 comments:
I just decluttered my closet and I found old school textbooks and older phonebooks. With the power of the internet, a lot of these objects have become obsolete. Not only that, the information on these books are no longer up to date. Sometimes, I wish that these institutions could be able to send books in PDF format instead of wasting paper. But, I feel that they need to justify the costs of $100 (and over) per book.
Hey victor,
You're right. Textbooks have a limited shelf-life. I still have many of my textbooks from college. Trust me, that's a loooong time ago. They've been collecting dust at my parents' house but my Mom wants me to move them so she can put some other stuff on the shelves.
So much stuff, so little space!
I also have textbooks from my latest foray into academia, but I'll keep those for a bit. In one of the classes that I took, the textbook was in the form of a CD-ROM. In another it was a .PDF Coursepack. It was way cheaper than the actual texts. I would imagine that schools will begin to move more and more towards this type of delivery in the future as it is much easier to update them from semester to semester.
Now, telephone books on .PDF might be something the phone company should consider as an option. They could maybe include them as an insert with the bill. Of course, as you point out, there are many more options for finding this kind of information (especially commercial) on the Internet.
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