May...ing

I have decided to do an 'ing' post as Jo at Three Stories High and  Christina at a colourful life always do these and I think they are fun. The month is just flying by and I realise I have been a little blog absent these past few weeks so here goes.

Making - many things for the garden but I can't take credit for that it is my husband doing all the woodwork. He really has missed his calling there I think as he seems to be able to knock together just about anything. He has replaced more of the decking, made his own design for a little fence panel and decked the floor just outside the back door yesterday.

I said I think he should make those fence panels to sell, he does have a day job though!

This little area is much better with the decking on, it was just concrete same as the step below and that was fine except that there was a crack, also a manhole cover.  This meant there were certain places where you couldn't sit back with your chair without falling into a gap.  This has levelled it all out and made the space more usable.

I am currently making this dress with a simple pattern from a magazine, the fabric is left over from a dress I made for my mother in law last year.

I hope to share this later in the week, no rush as I am taking a relaxed approach to my sewing while the weather has been a bit better.

Growing- a mixture of flowers and vegetables, I thought I would try and grow more flowers this year as they are so expensive to buy and an ongoing cost in the summer if you want the pots to look nice.  I have nasturtiums, pansies, giant godettia and various other that I can't recall the names of!  On the vegetable front I have planted lettuce, peas, purple kale and radishes.  There is also some basil and parsley on the go. 

 Some of these really need thinning already, I did a few the other day but they looked a bit sad after.

 These radishes have been put up high out of the way of the dogs, they seem to think growing veg outside is a buffet just for them, or at least one of them does.

Bigger plants  are already moved on to bigger pots, I think I will put some more seeds in now to keep things going.  The only thing with this is the waiting, obviously popping to the garden centre you get instant colour.

Reading- having recently read Atomic Habits that has been the best read for ages, thinking about you habits, the order in which you do things, chunking new habits to old to make them stick.  Also the idea of deliberate practise and accumulated hours was really interesting.  If you are interested in changing a few habits and want to understand a bit more of the psychology of why habits stick or not then this is worth a read.  If you don't feel you have the time there is also a podcast you can watch/listen to on youtube Atomic Habits James Clear.   It is quite a long one so maybe watch it over a couple of sessions.

I also read The Summer of Impossible Things, this had a little bit of time travel, a bit of a love story and I would definitely say it is a beach kind of book, nothing heavy and not that I've been near a beach of any kind for a long time.  It was enjoyable if a bit sentimental in places but worth a look if you don't want anything too taxing.  

Currently I have on the go One hundred years of Solitude (again I didn't finish it last time)  and People in the Room by Norah Lange. I 'll let you know how I get on with that later.

Learning- Norwegian, I started a month long futurelearn course and I am also practising on Duo Lingo but I have to say that has you learning some bizarre sentences.  In addition to that I have ordered some CDs from the library.  It keeps my brain learning new things and I am doing a little every day with no excuses.

Planning- decorating my hallway and stairs, at the very least I want a new stair carpet but the whole drama of having to book people to come out just puts me off. The painting I can do but the carpet fitting needs professionals. People in and out talking and three dogs barking, I am not looking forward to it. 

Enjoying- sticking to my pilates routine every evening, I have done a month  now without missing any and it really has just become part of my daily routine.  The plus is that I always feel better after and not just because of the moves but  also because I know I have completed it.

Watching- a good selection  of world television, this last week we watched a series called The Night Out, it was Colombian and based on a real case. It was very interesting and there are other cases in the series.  We are currently watching Border Town and that is set in Finland.

Regretting- having more than two glasses of wine on a rare night out on Friday, I was up early yesterday with flu like symptoms? This must have been my body having a weird hangover as I am fine now!  I was tired all day so a bit of a waste of a Saturday.

Catching- up on all my blog reading, I love seeing what you are all up to and it is so lovely to have such a wonderful community to share with.

Well that is all for now, I have the usual Sunday evening ironing pile to tackle so I am off to do that while listening to a few podcasts.

A Quick Thrifty Skirt

Today I made up this very quick skirt with the fabric remnant I bought last weekend, I had a pattern from a magazine a friend gave me for an A-line skirt  but it seemed such a waste of time to cut out a pattern for such a basic shape that I didn't bother.  There is also the fact that as an untested pattern I don't know if the shape  or size is going to be any good so I opted to just cut two shapes using a dress of mine as a guide.  I didn't cut it exactly the same as the dress as the fabric wasn't wide enough but it gave me a rough idea of size.

The fabric was £1.50 so an amazing bargain, when I picked it up my husband said 'but there is a bit cut out of the bottom!' I said oh it will be fine the skirt won't be as long as that.  The zip I already had in my sewing box, I always salvage zips from things also I didn't use any interfacing in the waistband. 

On the inside I hand stitched the inside of the waistband it looks neat and I quite enjoy doing hand stitching.  The fabric is a bit like scuba and didn't fray so I haven't bothered with edging on the inside seams apart from the bottom hem.

So overall this was very quick and just goes to show you don't always need patterns and lots of supplies to get a project finished.  After flicking through some of my donated sewing magazines I got the impression that some of the articles suggest you need to spend an arm and a leg before you can get any sewing done.   There seems to be a gadget for just about everything, threads for any emergency and don't get me started on feet!   

I have to say that when I began making my own clothes at sixteen it was not only for the love of it but also because it was cheap.  I could see an image in a catalogue ( yes it was catalogues back then) and then try and copy it, often with whatever cheap fabric I found on the market and never with a pattern.  Now I tend to think if people are buying really expensive fabric they are going to be nervous about starting things.  There is also the fact that patterns are not always accurate so it does not really follow that just because you bought an expensive pattern it will fit you beautifully.   I hope more people will try out doing their own thing with cheap offcuts or clothes in a larger size from the charity shop, it really is the best way to learn.   

Here is the dress on the table as you can see it was not an entirely accurate copy of it 

but I feel it still works really well.  The main thing is that is wide enough, I knew that any problems with tapering the sides could be sorted later, as it happened it was fine first time.

Springing Awake

I feel like the cobwebs have really been blown away with all this lovely weather we have had recently. Easter weekend you could hardly get us inside in typical British fashion we were out, sandals on sorting the garden, with the odd bottle of beer in hand of course!  My husband has built us some amazing raised planters down one side, we need things like this as the dogs have a tendency to jump on dug soil and dig.  Sometimes they just walk through it just to get dirty and annoy us I think.

Anyway these will be really useful for the summer, they took quite a lot of filling and I have to say that buying soil is not fun.  The rest of the garden was given a wash down and a weed and now it is looking much better, I hope we haven't scared away the rest of the sunshine now.

So as things start to grow in the greenhouse there will be more plants to fill them up, just looking a bit sparse for now.  We bought an ornamental tree and a pear plus we moved a couple of aisas to the boxes.

I didn't feel much like being indoors sewing while the weather was glorious as you never know how long it will last, we also had a trip to Castleton and a bit of a walk around there.  The rest of the time was just spent in the garden . I

Now that the evenings are lighter I have felt much more productive and various ways, I am sticking to practising my guitar every night, doing 20-30 minutes of pilates and I have started a Norwegian course that I have been doing for just over a week. So that I don't forget anything I made myself a little tick calendar.

I managed to repair three pairs of jeans and turn another pair into shorts, I did a few tops and alterations for people I know and I completely reshaped a jacket I made a while ago but forgot the before and after photos.

I have been getting more books read, this is in part due to being more strict with my online reading.  I do love to read online but I have a tendency to jump through the links on a topic when I am interested.  This can be good for learning but also bad for concentration so I am trying to  limit my use of online articles or  read them alongside a book where I can.  I will share more on this another day as it is a topic all on it's own really.

On Saturday we visited a fabric shop in Barnsley as I needed a zip, only to find a closing down sale!  This is sad as the shop has been there for years however the last we visited it had new owners/managers or whatever  and the boss was clearly humiliating a member of staff in front of all the customers, we were embarrassed for her. So maybe there is a reason it is closing if that was a reflection of life for staff at the shop on a regular basis.   I did manage to bag a £1.50 remnant while I was there, it is not very big but enough for a small skirt, I will share another day. I'm off to work on my to do list :)