November...ing

 November and  already part the way through, that came around fast so it is an 'ing post .

Making a skirt with little bird houses all over it, I have a bit of a thing for fabric with birds on so this is another one for my collection.  It was completed in the week but I am moving tow of the pleats ever  so slightly as I feel it will hang better, it is lined with white lining as that is all I had and has a zip and button at the side.   I don't know how it happened but  cut the lining pieces out of the good fabric!  I was laughing away listening to a ted talk and thought oh no!  I only just had enough fabric to cut out the main skirt then, luckily it is a short version, I have never done that before.

I like the shape of this, it is cotton though so we will see how it holds up to being worn all day, it may get a little crumpled.

I have also bought some Christmas fabric to make some festive masks, just a bit and I've not started yet as it has only just arrived.

The snowmen are quite a bit bigger than I thought so I may rethink that one.

Reading 'When God was a Rabbit' by Sarah Winman, I have enjoyed this book it is an entertaining read,  one of those books that makes you reminisce on your own childhood.  Still nothing is living up to the Elena Ferrante novels but I'm sure there will be something in time.  I have just a few pages to go then I will be on to something new.   I feel a  bit guilty that I haven't read much non fiction lately but I know that is foolish as there  are no rules as to what we should be reading!

Riding our bikes, we managed to get out twice last week and this week we did a good ride of twenty miles yesterday with some big hills.  We did use our motors on those, one bit in particular was Jawbone hill in Oughtibridge and it is really steep you can read about it over here Jawbone hill so we were glad of the motors at that point, I only use it on the hills I struggle with and I think we are out exercising and there is no way we would be able to do some of the routes we do without them.  So that said I am not feeling guilty about that, I am not an experienced cyclist so this is getting us out and I am sure I am getting better.  At first I went really slow down hill on the roads as I was nervous but I feel more confident now. 

 Watching Undercover, the drama series, well I say watching rather watched now as we viewed the last episode of series two last night.  I really enjoyed this and they managed to do a second series that was completely different from the first but still followed the story on from the last one, it was well done and worth watching.   It is a Belgian, Dutch-language crime drama and is on Netflix, you need to watch series one if you are going to give it a go so you understand the plot. 

Lengthening  my bedroom curtains, now I have a large and rather cold bay window in my bedroom despite being double glazed, it also has a cold wall below it I think the cavity wall insulation does not go in that bit for some reason.  Anyway I have two pairs of curtains up there as it it wide and last year I double lined them with thermal backing.  The wall below is still cool though, and liking the curtains I thought of a solution.  I bought a heavily discounted pair of curtains in a solid colour and I have added a colour block to the bottom of my existing ones.  I am happy with it, my husband thought  it was odd but I think it's a design feature and from what I have seen you can get some curtains with colour blocked bands at the bottom.  It has saved me buying two very large new pairs and wasting the ones I like.

  I know some people just have a flat pole going across the wall in front of it but you lose part of the room when it is closed that way.  There was a piece left of the curtain fabric that has also covered a foam base cushion for the caravan, a piece that extends the bed, so that was another little job done.

Baking homemade GF crumpets form the Jack Monroe site, these were very time consuming so I am not sure I would make them again in a hurry.  What with the rising and then waiting for them to cook and turn over, as you can only do a few at a time in a pan.  They tasted good but as I say too lengthy a process.  The recipe is for regular ones on the site, I decided to make both kinds so I could eat them as well so that did also add to the time. 

Feeling thankful for all that I have at this time when so many are struggling, health, family and everything else. Remembering to stop and appreciate things and not let the little day to day events steal my joy.

Thank you for stopping by and have a lovely week.