
My Family’s Creative Recycling over the Holidays
Let me share some highlights of creative recycling projects by my family members this holiday season:
Knitting Socks from Yarn Leftovers
My grandmother Rea is a very talented knitter. She is finding it more difficult to knit larger projects these days. She offered her yarn stash to my sister Tracy. Tracy had a great idea which was to knit up the little bits into socks – a pair for each of Rea’s children. She visited Rea many times this year to knit together.
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Building a Step from Wood Scraps
My parents built my sister a new step for her side door using wood scraps from their recent renovations.

My dad building a step for my sister’s house with scrap wood
Pillow Cover from Upholstery Samples
This year, my brother & sister-in-law bought a new home. They got a bunch of upholstery samples when designing their decor. They gave me the samples and asked if I could combine them into a pillow cover for their home. You can see the finished cover at the top of this blog.

Laying out the upholstery scraps for the pillowcase design

Back of the pillow, showing flap closure and label

Label on pillow for my brother, sister-in-law & nephew
I love that my family was doing creative recycling in all our various corners of the globe!