Caravan Seats and Odd Jobs

I was asked to make over the caravan interior upholstery for my husbands colleague last week. The curtains were complete last week but she didn't buy enough fabric for the seating so we have been waiting on that.

It was not an easy sew!  The fabric was woven so one side of the piece when you cut it kept unravelling in massive strips, it also got tangled around the needle a few times, oh awful stuff.  Anyway they are finished now, well I just have two scatter cushions to do tomorrow and they won't take long.

I also had some panels to sew inside some motorbike jeans this week, they are to hold the protective pads, that job was a first and also quite tricky to stitch through the padded denim. 

My job for tomorrow is to make some Mr Tumnus trousers to look like his furry legs.  I need to dress up at school next week, I will try and share  a picture but not sure if I'll do so while I'm wearing them.

So there hasn't been much in the way of garment making recently but lots of repairs for others and household style sewing.  Perhaps the brighter days will inspire me, I tend to stick to my same sets of layered clothes when it is cold.

It has been quite tricky to find something to get interested in on the TV recently, all the Scandinavian dramas I like appear to have finished and have not been replaced with anything to grab my attention.  Broad church is quite enjoyable and also The Replacement but really there is an awful lot of rubbish across the channels.  I came into the living room the other evening after doing some alterations and turned on the TV, across three channels these were the options; Britain on Benefits, Britain on the Fiddle and Britain After Brexit, I turned it straight off again!

Schar Gluten Free Pizza Base

Being gluten free I have to admit that I miss pizza, these days also being vegan that would be a
cheese free pizza but still I do miss it.   I have tried various things to satisfy this including many gluten free bread products, it is never the same. We visited Zizis the restaurant because I read they did an amazing GF vegan pizza, it wasn't, but it was wafer thin, overpriced with practically zero topping on it.  Did I mention how I hate to be ripped off and we don't even go out that often.

So when I saw these Schar pizza bases I was excited, I love the Schar bread and although it is expensive I will pay the extra for this as I am so limited in what I can have and their bread has quinoa, linseed goodness and tastes super.  We brought the bases home today and I piled on all my lovely toppings, fried red onions, cherry tomatoes, sauce, garlic mushrooms, Italian herbs and vegan cheese. 

Now these bases were two for three pounds so again not cheap for a bit of bread but I had high hopes.

When it came out of the oven I cut it up and sat down to tuck in.  Well, dry powdery bread just like every other  gluten free product I tend to try, I was disappointed to say the least.  The loaf I buy by this make is so good I expected too much I think.  You see I had resigned myself a while ago to the fact that bread based meals are a thing of the past.  On the occasion I have some it is beans or tomatoes on the Schar toast so this moistens the bread.  I would not recommend buying this product but their loaves are good if pricey.

The best and closest I have come to enjoying something resembling a pizza is when I used a wrap as a base and just topped that with lots of veg.   The reason that may have worked better is that a wrap is so thin so you don't experience the dry floury texture of a thicker dough.

If anyone has tried anything better I would love to hear about it.  I am usually pretty good at improvising with the GF, vegan foods but sometimes on a Saturday you just want to come home and have a pizza like everyone else!

Decluttering

Today I have had another bit of a clear out, I was looking for a particular top this morning and thought I needed a little sort through.  Many things have just been moved along and put together.  For example summer dresses that I want but don't need yet.  I know many people take all of their seasonal stuff out altogether and rotate but I am not going through that every season.  There is also the fact that some items can span seasons with a top under and thick tights.

There  was also a few items that needed a bit of care.  A dress with a belt loop hanging off, a nice next t-shirt that has always been too baggy, jeans that can turn into shorts and a levi jacket that has always bothered me because the shoulders hang over.  So this little pile has been brought down for action, first up was the levi jacket, I marked where the shoulder should sit by laying another little jacket on top that fits me well.  There was quite a lot of unpicking involved due to all the top stitching.

I have had it years but it is such a lovely soft cord, maybe it will get more wear in the summer now the shoulders are better fitting.

I removed thirteen items of clothing that have not been worn over the past year and that I can't see me wearing again. In truth some of them should have gone with the last lot that went to the charity shop but I don't find this easy as I am not quick to buy new.  There is a little bit of me thinking I might need that so I have to be ruthless with myself.

There were also two books on the pile, a shirt of my husbands (I had permission!) and a fleece one of the boys had outgrown. I have not been far in way of walking due to mad weather yesterday and todays business, just the usual places.   I have begun to do the reupholster job on some seating and curtains for a colleague of my husband, it is for a small caravan. The curtains are finished but she needs more fabric as by the look of it she just guessed and there was no where near enough for all the seating.  So more on that next week.

Quite a few people have gone on their travels, we have done this at February half term in the past but after cold weekends in Amsterdam, Paris, Lego land and Loch Lomond we decided to give this one a miss.  Unless you are following the year round sun it can be a bit chilly and with three dogs now our holidays involve a lot of being outside.

Whatever you have been up to this week I hope you have had a good time, I know a lot of you not working in education will have had a regular week but maybe you managed a day off with the children.