Monday, February 8, 2021

Another Pandemic Project

I've written before about things deteriorating, rusting, and eaten by termites in Hawaii.

I was suddenly noticing red stains on the wall of our closet. I thought at first that I was bleeding.

After a while I realized I must be touching something, but what?

It's this!

I got it a long time ago in Illinois. I used it to hold wrapping paper, ribbons, little crafty things for gifts or whatever.

But like so many other things in Hawaii, it was deteriorating. Many of our reusable fabric bags are made of the same material and fall apart too.

I could just toss it, but since I do have time during our pandemic lock down... decided to sew a replacement.

But with what?  I don't have a ton of fabric lying around.


However I did have leftover material from making a washing machine cover a decade ago. It lasted a number of years outside on our patio and is stiff and almost like canvas. It was NOT easy to sew, but I was determined. My sewing machine survived this project, thank goodness!

Here it is in the closet filled with this and thats which to be honest, I'll probably forget I have.

OK, another 1 day project done.

What else? Hmmm....






29 comments:

  1. I agree with Laurie...you are very clever!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your stories of how fast things decay in Hawaii doesn't make me want to rush there and close my eyes for fear I might decay too far before waking up. Kind of similar to me not wanting to fall asleep in a pumpkin patch in Iowa on a hot summer day when those plants seem to grow five feet a day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I used to wonder if I was wrinkling faster here in Hawaii than I was in Illinois.

      Delete
  3. fun idea, my projects are to reduce clutter but i never seem to get around to doing it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't understand. Why was the red material oozing? Humidity? I hope your replacement holds up better. Looks like it will.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's not oozing actually. It's just crumbling apart. It happens with different kinds of synthetics and plastics.

      Delete
  5. I lived in Honolulu as a grade schooler. We wore zori or went barefoot and our other shoes, seldom worn, molded in the closet. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup. I remember going barefoot or wearing zoris until shoes became mandatory.

      Delete
  6. Goodness you really have unique problems in Paradise but you always rise to the challenge. Well done.

    ReplyDelete
  7. High humidity? I never think of Hawaii as being that humid since I always feel comfortable there. The temperatures are my ideal, combined with the breeze. You are SO creative! Great job!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hey there's one of those "things" hanging in half the closets around here.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You made a shoe bag. How wonderfully creative and useful a project.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Good for you. It is so satisfying to problem solve by creating something. Give yourself a pat on the back.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Kay... that's awesome! I don't understand all the deterioration though... do you guys have a lot of humidity there? In the early 2000s I vacationed in the Bahamas with a er... friend and we were both miserable half the time from the heavy dampness everywhere. Everything smelled of mildew, please tell me Hawaii isn't like that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Each island is different and different parts of the island have different humidity levels. Art's hometown on the Big Island had so much humidity, I remember seeing mildew on the top walls. The leeward side of the island has less rainfall than the windward side. I laugh when people take the weather report in Hawaii seriously. It changes all the time and the mountain side is different from the shoreline.

      Delete
    2. Wow, I had no idea! Thanks Kay!

      Delete
  12. I enjoy seeing how you solve these problems, Kay. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  13. You are so industrious! Let me just say that I keep our home clean!

    ReplyDelete
  14. You are so much fun! And practical.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Can you and Art come to my house and fix stuff for me too? You are so clever!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Uuummmm.... You are the master fashion seamstress, Aunty. I KNOW you would have done a far better job of this than me.

      Delete
  16. You are so talented, Ms Kay. You are very good in DIY.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Glad you weren't bleeding! Didn't realize so many non-metal items could deteriorate in Hawaii.
    Linda in very very cold Kansas

    ReplyDelete
  18. Never entered my mind that humidity would be an issue on the islands, i thought the ocean breeze would keep that from ruining people's shoes and linens.

    ReplyDelete

I really LOVE hearing from you! However, if you sign in as ANONYMOUS, please don't forget to tell me who you are in the comment box by just writing your first name. We would all appreciate it if you kept your comment respectful and kind.

I’m using Comment Moderation for any post that is more than a day old because of aggravating SPAM. Therefore, if your comment does not go up on an older (more than a day old) post, it's because I need to OK it first. I'm sorry to have to do this, but again... sigh... it's the spam that's driving me crazy.