Random thoughts

Well  after taking another photograph straight after work today I have decided I will have to start and stop on places on my way home or all my pictures will be in the same area. That said it is half term next week so I can get out in the day to take daylight pictures so that will be better.  I do quite like a bare tree though, there is something beautiful and earie about them.  So here is todays picture I am not going to title them as I can never think what to title my posts.

I have just started reading  After You by Jojo Moyes which is the sequel to Me Before You.  I have got through a few books this last few months and I have started a little journal to document what I have read as I often forget over time what an author was called unless I have  read a few by the same person.  This can be annoying and also as I have a lot from the library so it is good to look back on, I will share more on this tomorrow.

At the weekend I had a disastrous attempt at puff vegan GF pastry, well I say disastrous but I ate half of it so it can't have been that bad but it wasn't mouth watering soft puff pastry either!  I adapted a recipe I saw and I thought it was all going really well as I rolled it between the plastic sandwich bags and it didn't fall apart.  It also didn't rise or go golden and was quite firm, shame as I was so looking forward to it.  I just added my fancy garlic mushroom and nut filling and ate it anyway. Gluten free flour Grrrr.

Time

I listened to a really interesting Ted Talk this morning while I was doing the ironing about how we use and define time.  You can find it here Ted Talk.   What was really interesting about this particular talk was that the main idea was that we have plenty of time all of us no matter what we do for a living or what our family commitments are.  What saps our time as we see it is that we feel we are busy with things we don't enjoy or that we feel are not of our choosing.

The point of this talk was that we always choose how we spend our time, our jobs, families and our hobbies were all the result of choices we made and we can choose to make different choices.  So this was a very different approach to looking at time rather than trying to save minutes here and there.  I don't think there is anything wrong with trying to save minutes but if you choose to cut an activity you can possibly save hours. 

This was really interesting to me because there have been many times when certain  people have repeatedly said they were too busy to make plans or whatever, while I on the other hand have said yes even when over stretched or sometimes even feeling unwell.  So yes we can all choose what we commit our time to or not.  If you are really unhappy with your career maybe it is time to move on, if you hate your keep fit class don't go! Choose a different activity, switch off the T.V, stop whatever you don't enjoy.

A lot of what we do is just habit and the sad thing is we don't always make a habit of the things we love but only the mundane.  I have been reading lots of posts by bloggers who are taking up running, swimming or retraining, I have a colleague who has just joined a gym so she can do all the different classes.  Choosing to make time for these activities will determine whether or not they become  habit.

The reason I watched this particular Ted Talk today was as a result of a little habit I have set myself that combines a dull activity with one I enjoy. So far this year I have stuck with the habit of ironing on a Sunday morning. Rather than this being a chore it has become a slot of time that I enjoy because I place my tablet on the side with my little speaker, select a theme and listen to Ted Talks on that particular subject.  I am hearing new ideas every week and it feels like a good use of my time, I know a lot of people who say they never iron but I cannot get this concept, I have a husband who wears shirts and now a working son, plus many of my clothes do not come out the wash wrinkle free so how??  I might also add I don't use a tumble dryer as they waste energy, wear clothes out  and so on.

One habit I have decided to try for thirty days is to take a picture each day, this idea also came from a talk and it will be just point the camera and shoot.  So I apologise in advance for blurred, out of focus pictures I am just going to go with it for a month then decide after that amount of time if I want to spend more time improving .

Here is todays picture, dark all day with flurries of light snow.

Problem Fabric

I made a dress over the weekend and I had decided to use one of the patterns that came with the magazines  that I got for Christmas.  A nice style but I felt the recommendations for the amount of fabric were way too much but then they always are.  I used the red fabric I bought before Christmas and I really wish I hadn't,  it was awful!  Such a woven nature to it that it literally fell apart as you cut it, but instead of trusting my instincts which said this was a bad idea I carried on and it didn't make for enjoyable sewing.

The  sewing pattern is very nice, I will make it again but I will add a little length to the body as I feel the waist sits a little high on me, I will certainly  not use this type of fabric again.

This is the magazine it came with.

I liked the style of the sleeve and neck on the dress but I am  sure I would have made a neater job had I not been grappling with a self destruct fabric.

When I tried the dress on I felt it looked frumpy, I'm not sure if I have taken a dislike to it due the  problems with it but I can't see myself wearing it.  This is a shame but not all is wasted, I know what I like about the pattern, I know it works with maybe a small adjustment to bodice length and I know what not to buy again.  So like they say you always learn something.

The fabric is also quite thick which doesn't really suit the style so the gathers hang in a bulky way.  Never mind, in all the years I have been sewing there have only been a few items that I have really not liked, it is just a pity it is the first item of the year.

On a positive note I did a few alterations for someone I know last week and a few repairs for myself I also made a few birthday cards.  I am trying to stick to recycled paper for the cards, I don't like the way there are ready made things to stick on cards as this defeats the idea of making them yourself if you ask me.  With that in mind mine probably don't look polished, maybe more rustic (ha).

Maybe this is just me showing my age but I can't quite believe we are already so far through January, with feeling a bit run down and the dark evenings I just don't feel like I am getting much done.  Making something however small helps me feel a little productive so maybe I need to concentrate on small projects in between the bigger ones.