Warm Weather Dressing?

Yes me made May day two and I am out of jeans again although wondering if it is such a good idea, I looked out of the window this morning to glorious sunshine so I put on a dress. However on venturing out to the greenhouse first thing I was shocked by the cold wind, especially on my bare legs.  Well I held out and I am still in the dress but once more a zip up hoody has been added to the outfit as the day goes on.

So today I am wearing a dress that I made about seven years ago, I only know it is that long because an old photo popped up in memories  last week of me with my boys and it said six years ago!  Well that shocked me as these things do because the memory felt so close, also I know that I already had this dress before that holiday so it gave me a bi of a time frame.  The fabric is ponte roma and once more there is no pattern as I just used another dress for the bodice measurements and two rectangles that I pleated for the bottom.  This is one of the dresses that I took in and removed the belt loops from quite recently, I don't always want to wear a belt with it so I thought it was best to take them off. I also moved the shoulders in a little as they were a bit wide on me.

Looking very much in need of the sun in this photo!

This dress has always washed really well and if hung out to dry hardly needs an iron so my kind of thing.  It is also really comfy so I like this style and I have a few, I do have a new piece of fabric that is on my table and I think this will be another dress along these lines.  The only reservation I have about it is that it is really bouncy and I'm wondering if the hem will be ok.  Sometimes really stretchy fabric can pull out at the bottom and spoil the shape even with binding due to gravity pulling it down.  I may just go for it and see, here is the fabric...

 Now I thought this looks nice and summery but at the same time it has black in it so I can wear tights if necessary and if I do short sleeves maybe a little cardi over it if it is cold, it often is here.

Yesterday I dug out another old book that I gave up on some time ago What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell.  Now I really like his writing but I got bored with this first time around, it is a series of articles  of his that were in the New Yorker so it is not one continuous book as is his others have been.  So yesterday I picked an article at random and really enjoyed it, and then another also very interesting. This time around I am going to approach the book that way and only read the odd article as and when it interests me, which just goes to show looking at things with new eyes in a new time etc. We are never the same two days in a row and neither is our perspective so it is good to revisit things we thought we had finished sometimes.

Now my cake tin is finally empty so I am off to go and do some thing about that. Bye for now.

Me Made May 2020

Day one of me made May and it was harder than I thought to get started as I stared into my wardrobe wondering what to wear.  The problem being the weather, the reason that is a problem is that we are at that funny in between stage here in the UK where some days it is warm and other really cold.  I had decided that during the month of May I will try to wear something different each day rather than reaching for the trusty jeans and a handmade top whenever I am home.  The thing is I make a lot of dresses and today is not a bare leg day! Especially when out dog walking, so I was pondering the clothes in the wardrobe and thinking what days I am at work, what if it rains and so on.  I know I am over thinking it but I thought as this is the first year I have done this I will make a good effort, my wardrobe is packed with handmade clothes but I do favour the summer months.

So today I have opted for my grey jersey t-shirt, self drafted pattern with a ruched v neck (made quite recently) with a skirt I made a few years ago also own pattern but this time using the Sew What Skirts book.  I have mentioned this book before as it is fabulous and have used this for a few of my skirts.

Here I am wearing this with tights but due to the length of this skirt I prefer to wear this one with tights anyway.   It is a lined skirt and as it is fitted and made from cotton I do tend to get a crease across the front when I have been sat, small problem as creases are mainly unavoidable.  The sun was out earlier but it has now gone in so I have grabbed a hoody now (not handmade but years old!) to wear over my t shirt while out dog walking.

From the book I used instructions for straight skirt with fitted waist, added darts and belt loops.  As I have had this a number of years now I tend to be able to do it without the book, make my own modifications, darts and details etc.  If you haven't heard of it, it is well  worth a look.

Yesterday I made another bag, I tend to have a little run of making these when I am home.  This time I made my own patchwork design on both sides of the bag so this one took quite some time to complete. You can see my shop here

There has been more baking and my son asked me the other day why I was making more when the last cake hadn't been finished (er... I have lots of time;) well it didn't matter as it was all gone pretty quick.  I made the recipe for  gf vegan ricotta cake but I didn't have the correct size tin so I just used fairy cake cases and that worked out fine, I think they would have risen more with more space but my mixture was pretty much up to the top.  Still they were light and fluffy which is not always easy with GF vegan baking. 

We have already been at them here as I made twelve, so yes another good little cake recipe from Vegan and Gluten- Free Baking. I think I only paid five pound for that book a few years ago and everything I have made has come out well. 

That is all for today, on the days my clothes are made from patterns I will of course include the details but I have quite a few items where I have just made my own patterns.  I think I have used more patterns since posting for Minerva as people need to have something to work from if they want to recreate what you are showing.

Take care. 

Making and Doing

Well another week passed and we have sort of settled into a routine here, my husband and oldest son are working from home again this week and they seem to be getting on fine this way.  A lot of what they do is on the computer or the phone so I suppose that sort of work is more suited to home working.  My husband was based in the office for the last two weeks as they are alternating the number of people actually in one place at a time, a sensible way to do it and that way it varies who gets to work from home.

I have been varying what I do during the day and also where I do it, having a change of room can be helpful I feel and that is why I never understand why my youngest lives in his bedroom. I know I was that age once and I'm sure I did the same but I at least went out in the garden.  The weather has helped and I have been busy planting more flowers, weeding and watering.  Yesterday  I treated the newly cleaned deck with a coat of protective oil so that was a couple of hours work.  It needs another coat but it won't be today as it looks like rain.   The lettuces I planted are just starting to come up and all kinds of flowers, I keep going into to the greenhouse for a peep and I am sure they are coming up by the hour just now.

My sewing scraps are greatly reduced but this is making me even more inventive with my bag making, I had a woven throw my friend passed on to me some time ago so  some of that has morphed into a bag.  Also I turned my sons chinos into knee length shorts last year for his holiday and saved the legs, these have also been repurposed into a bag and I really like they way the teal colour goes with the mustard scraps from one of my handmade skirts.

Just small pieces pattern fabric as that is all that is left of that.

I thought I would applique the birds to the pocket to bring it together a bit.

My daily walk is more appreciated than ever and fortunately we have had lots of sunlight to do it  in, I decided  to take a few photos the other day as the light was so beautiful in the park but a couple kept stopping about ten meters behind me so I had to carry on as I didn't want to hold them up. So I went a different way so that I wouldn't have to rush on and they stopped and changed direction and still came the same way!   How very odd, we wouldn't normally notice these things I suppose but with the social distancing we are all very aware that we don't want to get in each others way.  I did manage to snap a few so here they are...

Getting these three to sit down and pose is near impossible so I had to be very quick.

This week I changed my supermarket shopping day, I have been doing it Mondays while I have not been at work but after a fifty minute wait in the queue last week I thought I'd have a change.  It worked as the queue was moving along the whole time so I was only in it less than ten minutes, so Sunday morning first thing from now on. While I am on the subject of shopping I  had got into the habit of buying us these individual vegan pasties, not very cost effective at all but they were well received so I sort of got in a rut of getting them.  So this week I said no this is ridiculous as I make everything else I will make some, even with ready roll pastry it is much cheaper.  Yes I can make the pastry but this way it still keeps it a reasonably quick meal and you can get gluten free ready roll too.

It is a shame that the regular ready roll is £1 and the GF is £2 but that is the case with all free  from foods.  I used a whole pack of ready roll pastry and it made four pasties, but mine are not very pasty shaped more of a rectangle with a lid so little pies, but they tasted good.  Here is the breakdown if you are interested.

Lentil and Mushroom Pie

ingredients

one onion   20p

one can lentils in water  400g ( I like napolina)  60p

one pack mushrooms   70p

one knorr herb infusion stock pot   25p  (these are a £1 on offer at the moment)

one pack ready roll pastry  £1  (£2 if gf supermarket own)

oil

Method

Fry the onion in the pan until soft, add the mushrooms let these cook a little then add the stock pot and lentils.  Stir so it all heats together for a few minutes, arrange half of the pastry on a baking sheet and score either as a large piece or four small pies.  Score around the edge about a cm in then add your filling to here.  You won't need all of the filling you will have a little left to eat with a baked potato another day. Then arrange the tops of the pastry, cook in the oven but check your pastry pack for timings as they vary mine was about twenty minutes on a medium heat.

Here is one that was left, as youngest son doesn't like lentils.  I am no food photographer but they were really tasty and the verdict was better than the overpriced ones I have been buying.  So that is £2.75 for four pies or £3.75 for the GF ones.  Now the vegan pasties were £1.80  each so a big saving making your own and depending on the cost of your other ingredients/where you shop/if you make your own pastry etc it would be lower cost still.  So let me know if you try it and what you think.

That is all from me for now, back soon.