February...ing

 Hello everyone I hope you are all keeping well I thought I would do a little 'ing' post to get me back into things for February.

Making so many things recently that I am losing track of it all here I will add a few things below, this last week I also made a dress for a friend as her daughter graduates this week in York and she wanted something special.  She ordered a pattern I have made recently and I cahnged the style of the sleeves as she wanted a longer sleeve.  She was very happy and has promised to send photos when she is all dressed up.  She did try it on wearing socks and we both had to agree that was not a good look. 

                       As you can imagine it looks much better with the correct fitting body in the dress. 

A favourite make of mine from last week that I did remember to take an image of is this dress below, it is a bit of a vintage feel I think and I can't wait for warmer months to wear it.

These are cute...

I am struggling to find some of the the things here on my laptop and also finding it very lacking now that I use it for video making etc. I have to clean up daily and put videos on external storage as it it can't do the the most simple of tasks if it has even one video stored. It just crashes, so not great and it is only just over a year old. 

This sweater has been a good one for the cold, made with this fur back sweatshirting...

                    There is much more I will have to share them in future as they are worn I think.

Reading  I finished the Dutch House and while it was very well put together it didn't really excite me, I have read reviews that say it is her best work yet and if that is the case I am not encouraged to rush out and read more just purely because it never really went anywhere.  If you disagree I apologise as i know books can be a very personal thing.  I then read The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker and I felt that one was dreadful! Boring the whole way through and I had not connection to any of the characters, at leats with the Dutch House the characters were real and alive in my mind but his last book was very dull.  Currently I am reading The Seal Womans Gift, I have only just started so I hope it is a good one.

Enjoying some incredible skies just recently, I do keep trying to capture them on my phone but they never look the same through a screen do they?

Planning I am still writing everyhting down every day and this has served me well so far this year, I am clearly a slave to a list but hey it gets things done so why not.  I have a number of notebooks in fact I think I may have a notebook problem,  I even asked for some for Christmas 😃 but the book I am using every day is this Alice diary that I bought myself from Asda at the beginning of the year.

Cooking new things, now some are from my many books and some I just make up, and don't you just always find that they never have half of the ingredients that are in these recipes anyway. Or that may be just that I shop at my local Asda and it is pretty basic when it comes to supplies.  Sunday I made a sort of tart thing that I made up and I was so pleased with it, only got an image when it was half finished but very tasty.  I made my gf scone recipe for the base but savoury with herbs, covered it in tomato puree, cooked lentils, spinach, vegan feta, tomatoes, olives and more herbs and cooked in the oven.  It came out a treat!

I also made a chocolate and ginger cake last week another expreiment that came out very well, all GF and vegan. It does look dark but it is the Black treacle.

Today I am going to have a go at buckwheat bread, my husband managed to source some from the big supermarket near his work as they do not have buckwheat in ASDA along with the many other things that they don't have!

Trying a new routine morning and evening for digestion, I found it  on youtube it does say yoga but from what I have done they are just the same moves as I use in Pilates but done in a certain sequence for your gut.  It has a lot of people saying good things so I am trying it morning and evening for a time to see how I go.  I did used to do my pilates daily and have to say I have been poor at it this year so maybe that could part of the problem? I don't know but I am up for trying it to sooth my constant griping stomach. 

Eating out and being shocked, we went for a vegan meal at a new to us restaurant with family and while we enjoyed the company and being out the food was barely there. You know when you watch a fancy restaurant on TV and they bring tiny portions that will not feed anyone well that is what it was like. We ordered lots of dishes too, but there was till not enough to make up a plate.  It tasted nice but we all left hungry despite a heafty bill, we will not be going there again it had incredible reviews too which makes me think people must just have money to burn.  Here is a picture of me and my Step mother in law, happy but hungry😂

Well that is all for today I hope you enjoy the coming weekend and get lots of making done. Take care.

Sewing this and that

 Hello, we have been having a few more brighter days so the weather has definitley improved from the dark dreary days of a few weeks ago.  My daily walks have been bright but cold, I hope it has been as nice where you are.

I have got into a little pattern of going straight to my room to do my sewing every day, editing my listings on Etsy and writing everything down so that I don't forget.  I have started making brooches this week and I am enjoying doing that as it is a great way to use every last bit of fabric and mix all the colourful bits together.  Here a re a few few of those below...

Fortunately I had some card with butterflies on with my card making supplies they are just right to mount them on.  I may run out quite quickly though as there were only a few sheets I will have to create something else myself. They are about 15cm at the longest point so they are not a small thing. 

We have been watching Ozark this week and as we watch an episode every evening we are all caught up with that now.  I sometimes wonder if it was a better idea when we had to wait for the next episode a week as now we just watch things all in one week.

I made another Windmill cushion and a little lesson to go with it, if it is not required I will post it on one of my own areas such as here or YouTube.   

I have a few of these as I love making them they are such a good way to use up fabrics and make something pretty and useful.

In bag making here is todays make...

                                                                               Etsy Shop

Also watching more of The Last Homely House on YouTube, I mentioned this in my last post and Kate is such an industrious, creative lady, full of ideas and very easy to watch so if you love watching craft videos go and have a look.  I have it on in the kitchen sometimes while I am chopping veg and prepairing the evening meal it is like having a friend in the kitchen with you while you cook. 

Well I need to get on with more sewing now as I usually get back to it after tea for an hour or so, I hope you are having a good week and looking after yourselves. 

Week Three

 Hello everyone, well I began the week with a broken tooth/filling! I wasn't even eating anything hard oh dear, hopefully I am not falling to bits.  I managed to get in the dentist  Wednesday so that is all fixed, she was able to just redo the side of it without any need for numbing, I think that is always the worst bit so at least I was spared that. So possibly I will be eating very carefully around that tooth now for ever more, or at least until I forget. 

I have been watching some lovely videos on youtube at The last Homely House if you have never seen any of these go and have a look she makes the most amazing quilts and does all kinds of crafting plus she is a lovely lady to listen to and chats about all sorts, like listening to a friend. 

Tuesday I thought I had discovered the best ever GF Wraps and had two for lunch, only to find I had the most horrendous stomach ache for the rest of the day and all night.  After looking at the packet I noticed Xanthan gum!  Well that will teach me not to look, I had to throw this away when I had some as it plays havoc with me and unfortunatley most Gf recipes for bread have it listed.  That is why I bought some a few years ago but I soon got rid of it, it is tricky though as they sneak it in all sorts,  that and certain preservatives or artificial sweeteners they are another trigger, I know I think I just wont eat!  Bananas are good I'm ok with those 😀

Keeping up with the list making but I have noticed one thing I had one item that got moved three days running! Perhaps because I do put rarher a lot on these lists and also because I sometimes underestimate just how long things take. So my soloution to this is the item has gone to the top of todays list and it is the first thing I am doing this morning. 

Yesterday I made a bag that I am not sure I can part with, well I have listed it in my Etsy shop however I keep looking at it, it is so colourful and the flower turned out so well.  Some of my gifted  recycled fabric here, plus lots of odd bits.  This was one of the jobs I mean where I allocated time then it took twice as long, mainly because I was experimenting with the fabrics and colours then putting it all together.

Etsy shop here

I do a number of layers of fabric between the lining and the outer fabric so they are very stable, all recycled and a zip on this one also recycled.

Today on the list is to take some declutter to the charity shop, I have a confession to make I did buy three books last week from the charity shop, so this may sound like it is defeating the object of decluttering. However I am looking at it like this I am making sure  more goes out than comes in so that way I stay on top and I don't buy books every week it is just if I see them plus it supports the charity shop too. 

Here are the ones I picked up...

The one on the end is by the same author as The Mercies which I have just read and really enjoyed so I thought I would give that a go. The middle one was up on a shelf and just caught my eye, The travelling Cat Chronicles just looked a bit different. Waterstones eat your heart out ha ha. 

Well I am off now to get on with todays list, have a lovely weekend where ever you are.