Free Chart for Earth Day... Make it Do

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" is a WWII era slogan that has been revived and is used commonly today as a motto of frugal living.

Each year on Earth Day, for the past several, I have done some re-evaluating of how we live. In a way, it has replaced New Year's Day for me, since I always seem to be so busy at that time to actually think, let alone make resolutions.

We, as a family, are slowly but surely, changing the way we interact with the world around us, and are trying to be very conscious of our consumer impact on the environment.

I haven't done much research on the organization itself, but found this quiz at Conservation International's website to be thought-provoking. Want to know my score? I was pretty pleased with a 74, which, in their estimation, makes me an "Eco-Ally". But there are definitely areas where I can improve.

And since none of us are perfect, I am sure there are areas where you can improve your impact as well.

Here is a little design I created for you to stitch in commemoration of Earth Day 2011 (click on the image to be re-directed to a downloadable pdf file):


The idea is to only use materials you already have on hand to stitch it. And even better yet, if you have a large, healthy collection of orts in a jar, maybe you could stitch it only using those bits. Stick with the suggested colorway, but only as long as a thread holds out, then find another bit of thread that matches to finish out your vine/flower/bird. Let the variation in the colors of your threads create a lovely mosaic of frugality!

Its a small design, and will probably not even make a dent in your stash, but the idea is to get you (along with me) thinking about what you can do to make what you have stretch a little further before buying something new.

And if any of you decide to stitch it on black linen, please be sure to show me a picture. I think it would look quite lovely: