Spring start

 Hello everyone I hope you are all well. It is starting to get a little brighter now so that is really lifting my energy, I think I slow down a little during the darker months no matter how I try to avoid it.  It is as though I am solar powered, not a great way to be living in rainy England but I suppose we all have our favourite seasons.  

The garden is bursting into life and every day I spot something new appearing through the soil, I have put in a few seeds but I never hold out much hope for the ones I plant straight into the soil as the ones started in the greenhouse always do better.  This is strange as the things that self seed manage perfectly well don't they? So that is ever a mystery to me, it is bound to be me that is doing something wrong.

We have just taken delivery of a rather large dog cart to pull Bonnie one of our older dogs around in on holiday, we always take our dogs with us and she can't walk far now but we of course wnat to be able to go on  long walks.  This is mainly what we do on holiday, so the cart is big enough to take her and her brother, there are harnesses inside it too.  Then we can let them get out and have an explore for a little while then get back in when they have had enough.  I will let you know how we get on with it.

Last month I made a blouse for #sewfrugal23 from a pattern company I have not used before, Maison Fauve.  Sam at #frugalisama shared this company as they had a free pattern to print off so I thought I would give that a go.  The sizing I found really good although next time I will lengthen the arms as they need to be longer on me.  It has a nice effect with the panel details and also looks good in three different fabrics, a good one for stash busting.  It is called La Blouse Tribeca.

I used gifted fabric from the stash I was given by the lady whose mother recently passed away, the navy is a cotton lawn from John Lewis and I am not sure of the pink a crepe I think.

I really enjoyed seeing all the things that other people had made too by using up their stash and all the free patterns that are available. 

 We went for a meal at a favourite restaurant last week in the evening, so I took this opprtinity to wear my new blouse. I have to say I did not enjoy the meal.  I think the sparkle may have worn off this particular place, we don't go out often and it is not cheap so you want to at least love what you eat.

While on the subject of food, my husband ordered me a food mixer a few weeks ago.  It looked lovely and was pretty shade of mint green too.  However as I had expalined to him I have never had one as my GF baking is not to be over worked, it was also very large and our worktop space is limited so we sent it back. I felt a bit ungrateful but there is no point spending money on things you won't use and that take up lots of space.  He understands, I could really do with a nice mixing bowl and jug  as mine are old and plastic. 

 This is a dog I made for a recent work project, I am very pleased with it although a lot of people have thought it a bunny.  There is a bunny on the pattern but this one is a dog, very easy to make too.

This was a very lovely carrot cake I made last week, gf and vegan of course I don't use a recipe as such for this it is rather my own version and I always sort of wing it a bit depending on if I have to sub a few ingredients it never lasts long.   This week I made a lemon cake.

My husband very kindly got the glass out of the oven door so it could have a good clean and I can now see what is going on in the oven again.

This was my lunch yesterday, I made a pink potato salad with some oven roasted chickpeas in maple syrup and chilli.  The crackers are nairns Gf seeded they are definitely some of the better ones.  I am trying to make sure I eat at lunch time as I work from home I often don't and I don't think that helps with my energy levels.

While we were shopping the other day I was looking for a bunch of flowers for my table and found these gorgeous tulips reduced to 75p a bunch so I bought two.  They looked as good as the regular priced ones, in fact the others were very overpriced.  I am thrilled with them, someone said put 2p in the vases so I have done.  It is supposed to keep them upright longer.

The downside is the water discolours straight away from the coin.

In other sewing news I have made a few bags using patchwork in a bid to use up my fabric scraps, I am going for more of a tote bag as these do not require all the various fittings my handbags do.  It is proving a good way to use them up, fun and if they don't sell I will have the most glamorous collection of shopping bags.

They are lined inside to make them more sturdy.

I have been keeping up with my reading and have actually really enjoyed the last few books, most recently I have read 'Educated' by Tara Westover.  This was shocking in places but also very inspiring in terms of perseverence and well worth a look, it is a memoir.   The Lamp Lighters by Emma Stonex was last weeks book and again I really enjoyed this, there were things about lighthouses and how they used to be that I had not really considered and the story is very descriptive.  The Family Upstairs was another good one, now I picked this one up in a charity shop when out with friends and I am glad I did.  My friend had heard of it so that encouraged me to buy it.  I have been keeping track of them all by posting them on instagram each week so if you want to follow me there you can @sewingreenlady.

Well that is all for today, have a lovely week and enjoy the beginning of spring.  (if you are on this side of the world that is;)

New Year, New Start

 Hello everyone and a happy new year to you all. I hope you had a good send off to 2022, personally I just stayed home which is what we always do and that suits us.  We had a couple of drinks and watched a few episodes of Yellowstone, we had to stay up downstairs even though we were tired as the fireworks scare the dogs so we stay and make sure that they are ok and it has all settled down before going to bed. My son went out early to the cinema and then around the pubs with his friends he was telling me how insanley crowded it was, how they couldn't get in anywhere to eat etc.  I thought yes that is exactly how I remember it and give me my evening over that any day!

We have had a nice relaxing day today, got up and did my quick pilates routine, then down with the tree and decorations.  I like it up early but once new year is done we like to clear it all away, though it does look bare without it. Then I made some coffee and walnut muffins in the mini oven.  I bought myself a six muffin tray that just fits my mini oven and I tried it out earlier.  The  idea being to still bake with less electric, they came out well if a few were a little caught on the top.  The thing with the mini oven is that everything is always so close to the elements top and bottom, you don't get that in the standard oven.  It does use a lot less power however and we have used a lot this last month.

Then did a bit of tidying up in the garden and off for a walk with the dogs before making the Sunday lunch when I got back. Also making some roasted pepper humous so I am going to do that shortly.

A  few intentions for this year...

• So one that I mentioned the other day was to do a little bit of art every week, I always used to just do this without any plan but it has somehow dropped off my radar so this will get me back in the habbit. There  will be no definite day for this I just want to create something each week for me, for fun.
• I am going to try and timetable my day a little better.  Work gets done, but sometimes I find myself tagging the dog walk to the end of the day or frantically running to the shop just before my husband gets home.  I also often skip lunch as I am busy sewing and always think to myself I will have something when I am finished but then it is too close to dinner time.  This is not good so I need to give myself some space and factor in some breaks to at least eat or walk the dogs while it is still light.  
• All future sewing projects are going to be noted in my scrapbook rather than just on paper, along with the sample and any notes.
• More trying out new recipes, I did quite well with this but then got into a rut as the year went on this year.  So I will try and document those to keep me on track.

That is as many as I am adding for now, I may add more as time goes on but they do say try to do too much at once and it is asking for failure.  It is also true that it takes a while to develop a new habit so getting a few to stick before adding in more is the way to go. 

Because I felt it was going to feel bleak now that the tree is down my husband took my little bottle from the homemade gin my friend gave me and put some of the little lights inside.  It is now on the mantle piece I just need to take the label off the wire.

It is not blue in real life just a cool white.

Just in case any of you would like a better peak at my sewing space I filmed a little tour for youtube yesterday and here is the link if you want to watch.

See it here, watch the video

Have a lovely evening and I'll be back soon. 

Busy Inbetween Days

 I hope you are all enjoying the break, it can feel a little like limbo land that bit between Christmas an New year and you tend to forget what day it is or I do any way.  I have had a very productive few days and one of my intentions is to keep working through new recipes and all my cook books.  There is a beautiful one that one of my sons bought me for Christmas last year and I have used it a fair bit, todayI made two recipes from it and I will share those below.  I also have in mind a better way in future to document all my sewing makes especially as quite a few of them will be going back to Minerva for in house videos.  I do like to keep track and this year I have been using the papers that come with Minerva fabric for project planning but this means I have a stack of those knocking about.  What I am thinking is a scrap book with images, fabric swatch and an actual photo in it, yes this does sound like even more work but it will be lovely to look back on and remind me how much I get done.  Sometimes I can be hard on myself even though I know I complete multiple tasks, garments, etc a week so it will be a nice record.  There is a scrapbook in my possesion that has been waiting for just this job I feel. 

I will share one of my Christmas gift makes here and it is my husbands Hoody.  I made him one a little while ago from Burda magazine and he loves it so I made him another in a different colourway.  It was right to the wire as I was busy making it on Christmas eve.  This time I went for the colours in the original magazine image of navy and orange, well the orange I chose is more of a bright rust colour but it is lovely together.  He loves it, here is a picture of him in it but I think he has splashed it here with water as I cornered him in the kitchen for a pic.  

                                      It has been on since he opened it, and now needs a wash.

Todays sewing  was my brand ambassador make for Minerva and as I had made a lovely sweater with a Simplicity pattern that has been worn quite a lot, it felt suitable to remake it but this time in the dress length.  It is a lovely comfy french terry so hopefully this will be another much reached for garment.  I will share an image of it on the mannequinn but need to do full write up for minerva so please catch up with me over there for the full post on that. (it is not on yet as this is only just finished!)

My reading is going well and The Magpie Murders is keeping me turning the pages, this is a good thing as my husband bought me four books by the same author in the same genre!  There have been a few duff reads over the past months so glad  I am to get my reading head back on.

We are keen to get out and meet some family for a dog walk but so far those palns have been rained off, lets hope that the next few days will bring some dry weather so we can get out in the fresh air.

There was a lucky find by my husband in the ASDA  yetserday in the form of discounted LOR advent calenders, the coffee.  They had been priced at 25 pounds and are now down to three pounds so he brought home two.  He said it was quite funny as a couple were looking at them at the same time as him and the man was saying we should get these to his partner  and she said but we haven't even got a coffee machine.  I am intrigued to know if they could be used without?  I mean it seems to me that all the machine does it perforate the pod and slowy pour hot water through it, I could be wrong so let me know your thoughts on this.  Youngest son is a big coffee drinker so he was super pleased with this find.

From one of my cook books today I made a butternut squash soup...

I also made a fabulous fruit cake that has so many ingredients in it and luckily I had them all bar one which I subbed.  It is a vegan cake so all suitable for me and I added my gf flour mix too.

This is the book my son bought for me.

Here is the cake cooling, there is a fair amount gone already!  Sneaky gin in the background that a friend gifted me, it is rather depleted. 

So there we are a bit of an inbetween catch up, I thought I would blog while I have the time as I have not been as consistent with this for the last year and I aim to to better.  So two in a row but if I don't do things while they are on my mind I blink and a week has passed.  

Thank you for stopping by.

A Crochet Hat

 I finished the crochet hat this week, as I mentioned last week I am not very fast at this so it was just a case of doing a little each evening.  I didn't follow a pattern although I did see an image I liked and that has three coloured striped so that is what I aimed for.  It was also made up as a flat piece and then gather at the top so perhaps not how may of you would do it but like I mentioned I was just making it up as I went.  The colours look well together and they are just odd bits I had from a few years ago, my main hassle was making the pom pom!  Oh my I have not made a pom pom in so long and the way I remember it with two pieces of card did not come out right, then I tried it around my hand and that was big and messy so finally I settled on a fork as I saw this on you tube.  Now there was still unravelling when I came to tie it but I did get a shape that is not too bad.  I know you can get pom pom tools, are they any good? The thing is I don't feel I will be making enough to warrant a special tool, I have started another hat though as I found the process very relaxing.(Apart form the pom pom! ;)

I didn't plan on matching my hat today it just happened. 

It had a road test when we went for a walk yesterday and it did keep my head warm, so that is the main thing.  I am sure it could be neater but I have not had as much practise with this skill.

There was some more baking yesterday in the form of cake, I did say I wanted to try a new cake each week so we will see how  long it takes me to run out of reasonable bakes.  I say this because the ingredient lists for some cakes are ridiculous and would cost a fortune to make, I am also not a fan when they state about three different sugars in a recipe in large quantities.  Cake is a sweet treat yes but I don't like sickly sweet.

So the recipe I chose to try out this week was from one of my Aine Carlin books The New Vegan, now the cake is called gluten free Orange Polenta cake but that went out the window straight away as Asda did not have any polenta and an assistant saying they had never heard of it and don't have it but I have had it there from before! So they do have it just not that day, so the first substitute was coconut (Ok it is nothing like polenta but I thought I would try it anyway)  Then they had no agave so that was quickly changed to maple syrup.  On the whole my changes worked just fine and I still followed the recipe but I have to admit to halving the sugar, we are so used to less sugar now none of us would be able to  eat it with the stated amount in.  The cashew frosting worked out super too and I might add looks very pretty with the pistachios.  In all it feels like a very posh coffee shop cake that I would normally not be able to eat because they never have gf vegan and this one is so it is one of my prouder bakes.   As usual fading daylight in the photo's and lets face it I am never going to be a food photographer. 

Another job for the weekend was finishing up this bag, again this is continuing the folk art inspiration.  It is actually based on a doodle on my notepad from some art I saw on pinterest but with a few changes and bits left out.  Sewing everything down is the most time consuming bit.  I think these ones are a little bit quirky so I hope they appeal to someone, I certainly like quirky so lets pray that others feel the same or I will have one large handbag collection.

I hope you are all well and have a good week ahead, bye for now. 

January Dress

 I have made my first dress of the month for myself this time, I had this lovely quilted jersey from minerva and wanted to make something practical but fun.  I have made another dress like this in the past, it is a sweater dress  with a big pocket at the front but this time I decided to add a  pocket in a different fabric to make it more interesting.   If you want to know  how I made this one have a look at my post on the Minerva site as this one was posted there.

I was hoping to get a few photographs in the pristine snow but as you can see the dogs had just run all over it with their little paws by the time I got outside.

This was very easy to make and is comfortable and practical so I know I will wear it a lot.  I also have a dress to alter for someone and a few more masks to make.  I have had a bag cut out on the sewing table for a week but I have changed my mind about three times as to what to put on it, so there it will sit until I make a decision.

We have been watching a new drama called Lupin, it is French and I have been enjoying that we also watched a film the other night called Perdida, that one was set in Argentina it was ok but not great and husband thought it was a load of rubbish ( it wasn't that bad).  I think I enjoy the different languages and picking out words and phrases I know while following the subtitles of course, I don't think he enjoys that side of it so even when these things are not great television I still feel I am getting something from it.    We always watch something together from about nine onwards, before that I am doing other things so most of out viewing is on Netflix or iplayer.

We have enjoyed walking in the snow while it lasted briefly, the dogs were  very excited and one of them had a limp the other evening I think he over did it a bit.  He is ok now and has been walking normally today, I think it is because they seem to bounce over the snow he must have just pulled it a little.

I have started to crochet a hat, I saw a picture on pinterest but didn't have those colours so I am working with what I have but it also wont look like the image in that I am just doing double crochet (at least I hope that is what I am doing!)  I haven't done this for about a year and I had only just started then so stay with me this is just an experiment.  I am basically making it as a rectangle that I will gather in then make a pom pom for.  I will share in a few days when I have added a few more rows, I know many of you would do a hat in an evening but I am  a novice at this you see, sewing is my first love. 

This afternoon I made  this Lemon tart from Best of Vegan, I had to adapt the pastry so it was gf so my pastry had gram flour, gf plain flour, flax seed and pure vegan spread in it.  It came out really nice so follow the link if you want to make it, if you are not GF you could just make the coconut crust from the original recipe.

We had alpro soy cream on it, it is very tangy but I like it like that, I am going to try and do a new desert each weekend until I run out of ideas.

I hope you are all keeping safe and have a lovely week. 

Days Indoors

 Hi, I just thought I would do a bit of a catch up while we have the extra time. I am keeping busy around the house and also I had time to get my car booked in and checked out this morning first thing, this is always easier when we don't have work to get to.  The way back was very wet and cold but I took advantage of the uphill walk through a farmers field by dashing up it and then I can count that as part of my daily exercise. I was a little breathless when I got to the top and the cold seams to add to that (or is that just me?)

When I got back I thought I would do my Pilates for the day and of course the dogs have to try and join in, this usually involves the little one trying to climb on my legs and then looking offended when I make him get off because he is so used to sitting on laps.

Yes I had to get off the mat to take the photo and they always look a bit alarmed when I point the phone at them!

There has been a bit of sewing today, I had in mind a pattern from one of my Burda magazines but I have changed it quite a bit, it was 114A from November issue but the neck was not for me and the bagginess a bit big so it has been changed.

There is some gathering into  straight band that you can't see, the printed fabric hides it too, if I had more fabric the bottom band would have had the stripe going vertical but I didn't have enough for that.

This afternoon I did some experimental baking and made mince pie buns, gf pastry is not great to make so I made my own with gram flour for the pie bases, then baked and filled them and then I made banana cake batter for the tops.  So they are a bit of a hybrid, but they do taste good and my husband who is not a fan of actual mince pies ate one and enjoyed it.

Just a bit of what I am up to at the moment, I am now off to make something else but it is my final gift to make so I won't say what it is I will share after the big day.  

That is all for now, back soon. 

  

December...ing

 As December is well under way I thought it was maybe time for an 'ing' post, just one more week for us in School but out of School I am busy as ever and the weekends just never seem long.  Here goes...

Loving the children's attitudes in School at the moment as they have all been so amazing!  They came back after the summer with everything different and weird after being off for so long, they have taken to constant hand washing, being escorted for every toilet trip and segregated from the rest of the School and still carried on without complaint and lovely smiling faces every day.  I just wanted to say that first of all as I am sure it is the same every where, children are just so adaptable and brilliant.

Reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, this is set in Barcelona and the story revolves around a discovered book and its mysterious author. I started it ten days ago so this is slow going for me but it is one of those books you can't rush.  I am fluctuating at the moment between loving it and wondering come on where is this going?   So I will let you know my final thoughts  later.

Also enjoying Imagine a Forest, this is a book on folk art that I treat myself to and it has been inspiring some of my latest handbags.  I am using tips from the book and then adding my own twist, of course it is a bit different as I am creating in fabric so anything I make cannot be too fussy or it would take forever to stitch. 

Making a few bags this past week, as I mentioned I am enjoying the folk theme so this is what I have been working on.  First of all I am trying to get back into writing down what I do each day in a creative way and adding any ideas or doodles to that.  If I get down things on paper as they come to me I find I have more ideas for what to make and in effect I do more. Here are the last two bags...

 

I have still been making my regular bags too, these more recent ones take me more time to complete as ponder what to put where and there is a lot more stitching.  Here are a few of my others...

The difficulty at this time of year is always when to take the photographs, I don't seem to be able to get good daylight in the house even at weekends and in the week it is impossible as you leave in the dark and come home in the dark. Speaking if which...

Walking in the dark and in the rain, there has been plenty of that. Wiping down dogs constantly and cleaning boots.  We went to Chatsworth to see it lit up the other evening as we really wanted to do something a bit Christmasy.  You have to book a slot and ours was 5.30, it was raining and very cold but we wrapped up and went in good spirits.  Now I have been to Chatsworth twice this past year and loved it both times but this did not do it for me.  It was £30 for the three of us and the part that was lit up maybe took twenty minutes to walk around (slowly) you could explore the rest of the gardens if you wished but in the pitch black nobody was doing that of course.  If you had an earlier slot you could have made the most of the rest of the gardens and then just enjoyed the lit part just before you left.  So without sounding like a party pooper please do that if you go and get your slot while it is light.  Other wise the only way you can stay for very long is if you stand around in the lit parts drinking over priced mulled wine.  Here are some very dark shot of it anyway...

As you can see out camera was not up to the task of taking such dark images, the bits we saw were nice but with an hour trip there and back you can see my disappointment that it was such a short event.

We have seen some lovely lights in out local neighbourhood for free, and I would urge anyone with children to take them on a dark walk around your area at the moment to spot all the lovely house lights. These are in the local community garden near the park, they look lovely lit up but I thought I would show them in the daylight so you can actually see what I mean.

Baking chocolate cakes, I have got quite good at vegan gf chocolate cake now though it takes a slightly different theme every time I bake it.  This time it was Belgian dark chocolate, apple and coconut, I know it sounds odd but I just got all involved in it then realised I had no bananas!  So applesauce it was and of course there was coconut milk that needed using up, it all worked a treat and my son preferred it.

This evening I am making date, banana and cashew bars as I now have the bananas and these will keep in the fridge. No images as they are still baking.

Watching The crown still, we are on the final series now and only a few more episodes  to go it has really brought home just how little I know about the royal family.  I know it is a dramatization but all the facts at the end and who they are related to is just so interesting, I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I have.

Wondering what to make with the dress fabric I have bought and also my extra piece from Minerva, I have not been very inspired by the last few Burda magazines and I have two very pretty pieces that Don't want to cut until I am sure what to do.  I have also ordered a piece today to make a vintage style dress for my son's girlfriend for Christmas, that one is from Burda from the vintage edition.  She chose the pattern herself so I will have that to crack on with too. 

Shopping for a few bits for our sons today, we don't go mad here with the whole presents thing but we like to get our children something (well they are grown men now) and then they have money to do as they wish. We ventured out today to get them something to wrap up. 

Feeling very blessed that we are all safe and well, take care everyone and have a good week.

A Suuny Day Dress

What another glorious day and a chance to wear this dress that I made for a Minerva make and this dress needs just the right weather as it is not really one that I can layer up.  Me made May day 9 (is it only day nine?) and I am not used to this daily photograph business, happy to make the clothes and write the blog but I always feel  a little foolish in front of the camera that is why you usually see a lot of my makes on the mannequin she is much more confident!  The pattern for this dress is a Kwik Sew one and I do like the style and I think it would look good in a jersey, mine is a sort of chiffon so I have had to line the skirt.

I opted for an indoor image today as the sun is so bright out I could hardly see what I was doing.  Here is the pattern if you want to try it out.

There has been a lot more planting going on and I am now in need of another  bag of compost or possibly two.  A few seedlings were potted out on the front and more started off in the greenhouse.

Here are few lovely things making me smile in the  garden because they are just returning and taking care of themselves.

I am still rescuing these from all over the place I love how they just get on with and grow any where, even if you dig them out of paths and pop them in some soil they come back completely undisturbed.

This little beauty has never seemed to die off, it was flowering in winter!  There are loads of new buds on it.

These little buns were made just using up lots of bits that needed eating, over ripe bananas, nearly a full carton of coconut cream, half a bar of dark vegan chocolate plus some raisins and almonds for good measure.

I made 24 so you are only seeing half of them here, I really need to buy myself another cake tray as the rest were put in cases with no support so they look a bit mutant!  Never mind they will still be consumed, one disappeared as soon as they were out of the oven they never last long.

We had a nice drink in the garden today, making the most of things it felt a bit like we were on holiday.  Best not to think too much on what  is going on while at the same time being sensible.

I hope you are having a good weekend wherever you are. Back soon.