Why so much spending for holidays?

I have been out to the shops today to get some required bits for our holiday, that is what prompted this post and my shock at the amount of money that was being spent! I am really looking forward to my holiday in Italy and it is something we have planned for. My parents are coming to take care of the dogs and I went out to the shopping mall today as my oldest son needed some trousers, youngest needed sunglasses and light slip on sneakers, plus sun cream.  That was all we really needed and I had got some trousers for my younger son to take with us last week which were greatly reduced from £25 to £5.  I know people like to have nice things to take on holiday but the sheer volume of what some people were throwing into their baskets was just unbelievable!  I was off work today as school closed yesterday but the shopping centre was packed, is everyone off today?

This is what I saw

 The school holiday is next week so there were lots of people buying for holidays and I could hear a few conversations as I stood in the que but do people really need so much new  stuff?  All you hear on the news is about how everyone is struggling to pay bills and mortgages due to all the price increases and yet go to any shopping centre and I'm sure you will see loads of people loaded up with bags. Many of  those people will be unemployed.  Ok I'm making assumptions but this is based on conversations with people, parents of children etc who complain about their finances and then buy unnecessary things, tell me that their children would never wear clothes from a certain shop (What??) or make sure their children have  a new outfit for every single kids party, disco or whatever.  It is I know, none of my business and I  want my children to have what they need, however I work for it and I don't buy excessive amounts of anything I feel for myself or them.  I will be hemming a couple of pairs of trousers later down into shorts that are a bit short in the leg but are still good, I will be taking away with me some of my refashioned clothes and I will be very grateful that I am in a position to able to travel.

Looking forward to seeing this

 Florence

I hope to have lots of images to share when I get back, we are just going for 5 days as the flights worked out so much cheaper to go Sunday to Thursday  as I always need to travel in school holidays. We also booked it all back in September and we have found that the hotel is really expensive for anyone booking last minute.  

I hope all the people out doing their insane mad shopping trips today also enjoy their holidays  and haven't ran up too much debt to spoil it all when they get back. 

Fabric Print Ideas

I nearly bought some fabric last week from a lovely website I found through the blog Four Square Walls (It's a really good blog and she must never stop sewing!) however being an american site the postage on the fabrics I chose was just ludicrous, $27.00 for just 2 metre.  I was really disappointed as they had lots of print jerseys which you just don't see here and I have not found anything similar on any   other online fabric shops. I went through the process of signing up, creating a password and entering all my details before they informed me of the postage costs.  I think it would have been a site I frequented had it not been for the cost of postage, I really do not understand why they are charging so much and they are probably missing out on a lot of UK customers due to this.  The site is Girl Charlee and I've just had another peek and got cross all over again, I may drop them a message and ask why the high postage.

How cute are these? This is just a small sample.

   Anyway after that little moan it got me thinking about having another go at creating some of my own designs on fabric  using fabric ink.  I had the disaster dyeing incident earlier in the year and haven't really tried that again since but I think some delicate prints on a plain background may work and hopefully be more successful.
I would like to do some screen printing at some point but that is messy, uses lots of ink and getting the repeat right over large areas could be difficult.  I saw some great ideas on Handmaker's factory blog here are some images...

I love this orange on a neutral background and using the toilet roll tube, fab idea. I think I would like a skirt in that design and I hope they don't mind but I'm going to copy it when I get back off my holidays.  I will share the post with them when I do because the blog is all about sharing ideas and encouraging others to reinvent items.  I just wonder about the staying power of the ink through washes once you have completed it? I'm sure there will tips about such things out there.
I have also brought home the fashion design drawing books from the library that I ordered.

This one is £18 to buy

This one I've been looking through and had a go at some of the tips, it is really good I may jot down notes but after 3 weeks if I still feel a need for it the price is only £3.99 on Amazon.

This one has gorgeous illustrations but maybe more complex than the last so I will pick the bits I need but it wouldn't be one I would invest in. Maybe for the  more advanced.

This one is more basic but feels like a child's book ( maybe it is)

Not one I'd buy

So I will work through these over the next few weeks and see what I get out of it, i may find that the book on  my wish list is no longer required now that I have these. I think the library is good for learning all sorts of things and it doesn't cost you anything to try something new that way. One of the annoying things when you sign up for paid courses I have found is that there is always a number of set books you have to buy which are generally quite expensive.  It makes you think well couldn't I have just got the books and done it on my own.  I did eight years worth of courses with the OU and I'm glad I did and sometimes you need those qualifications on paper.  I do  think however that anything you are learning for your own personal development can be done now using books and there are so many how to videos on the internet.  There is no excuse really not to try something new. Just don't go trying to operate on yourself!

Tree Seat

I was busy last week but I said I would share what my husband had made with the free decking boards  he was given.  It has been a week but to be honest the next day when I wanted to photograph the finished seat it rained, I managed to take a good photo as soon as the sun made an appearance so here are the images of our new tree seat.

Here is the shape all cut and laid out on the floor, he made a tiny one first which I forgot to take a picture of just to check his measurements. The whole deck below it needs re-staining, that will be another days job.

Here it is complete with legs, I don't think it needs a back rest. It just gives this little corner of the garden a bit of interest.  We had some paint left from the garden arbour so he managed to paint it all to match at no cost, he just finished painting and then it rained.  The paint was ok, it's under the tree and I think it was quite quick drying.  I had to wait a couple of days though to take a picture without rain.

The rather past it fence has come down at the side also this week as we have opened up that top bit of garden. The remaining fence at the back is a bit mismatched as you can just see the other fence panel poking over the top in the picture. We are going to get some reed screening to cover the back fences to make it more attractive.  The arbour is also moved to the top in new position so I will take more photos as it all takes shape up there.

I was really pleased with this as it didn't cost anything, the bits of deck were given as the owners were throwing them away and the bits of paint were left over.  The tools my husband already has as these mount up over time when doing jobs around the house, also some were passed on from his dad. 

 I saw a garden tree seat here...

It's very nice but £129. If anyone is interested in a seat like this but doesn't want to make one the site is Coopers of Stortford