Making it up as I Go

Hello has it been hot enough for you in the UK? Currently have a fan on in the living room much as it pains me with the energy prices so high but the dogs are just panting away so it was a case of having to.  We are not having much luck with the garden it is in flower but I am having so many casualties despite trying to keep them watered.  I was looking at the plants while shopping in Asda earlier but thought no, they are just all withering and dying at the moment and they didn't look that well cared for to be honest.  I don't understand why they stock all those racks outside the supermarket with plants then not water them??

I have made a little off the cuff top yesterday and a video of the process, I had fabric left over from another project and had in mind  what I wanted to do so just made it up my way.

I have already made wide leg trousers in the fabric which I made to my mother in law's measurements, they have since been given to her.  I did model the trousers for a minerva post but had to hold them at the back as they were never intended for me;)   The video link is below if you are interested in how I made the top.

                                                                           Here is the link

I really need to give my wardrobe a good going through but as it has been so hot I really don't want to be in my bedroom not even at night, we have big bay windows and in the summer it is like sleeping in a greenhouse.  So as soon as it cools a little I will be sorting through that and either ebay, donate or refashioning the things I don't wear I find it hard as I make them to get rid of things, does anyone else have that? Time spent on making things makes you more attatched, so more often than not they will be unpicked and turned into something else.

In that frugal mindset, the  supermarket shop has turned into something of a personal game for me.  I am determined to still spend roughly the same as I always have despite the ridiculous increases in most things.  That is also the case if I need something extra, so today I saw some paint at £9 for a really big tub while I was shopping. The reason I bought this is my bathroom needs doing and I am just about out of white emusion.  I was being extra mindful then about what I bought so that the end cost still came in about right.  Don't worry we are well fed, I like to cook so I work around things. At one point I had some filled pasta which I put back as I thought I like my own pasta dishes, also a bottle of fevertree tonic water was returned to the shelf as I enjoy water from the fridge with lemon so I don't really need that.  I came in on target even with the paint! Result.  That may seem an odd game to you but it makes you be more creative with you have and buy. 

Well I hope you are all having a super week wherever you are, take care.

A Little Kitchen Update

 Hi everyone I thought I would share this DIY project that we did a couple of weeks ago, I have been meaning to share but keep forgetting.  So ever since we moved into this house about thriteen years ago I have had above worktop units all the way around.  If you have seen previous posts you may know that about two years ago I painted the cabinet doors grey to give it a little facelift.

Still not feeling like this kitchen needs replacing as it is a perfectly good kitchen, but there was a little niggle that did bother me.  The main stretch of worktop that I have to work and prepare on is below some of these overhead units, that means that you are working with them directly in front of your face and this has never been the best. For sometime now I have liked the look of open shelving and often save the images from pinterest, however as it is a small kitchen my husband has always maintained that these particualr units can't come out.

Well two weeks ago I decided to get everything out and have a look at the situation, the top shelf I am ashamed to admit had quite a few things out of date as I can't reach it without a chair. So they went straight in the bin, I also had a good tidy and found new homes for the rest of the items, including sorting a lower level cupboard, raising an internal shelf in one of those and putting all sauces etc in little storage baskets so that they can easliy be lifted out to use.

It is amazing how you can fit things into less space when you think about it and also look at what you use regularly or not at all. When all the cupboards were empty and clean I asked my husband to take them down (three over head cupboards) he said you will regret it but took them down anyway thinking it was a bad idea. 

This was on a Sunday, on the Monday morning as soon as I got up I got out my paint and set about painting all of the units again as a touch up, redid the tiles with tile paint, and painted the walls and ceiling  white.  When he came home from work it was all pristine, I arranged the shelves with some of the nicer things I had already in cupboards or else where in the house.   For me it is really just what I had in mind and I am very pleased with it, my husband is getting there he just keeps reaching for the wrong cupboard for the cereal!

The shelves are just loose shelving boards from Wicks and we just chose brackets ourselves, I reused some of the under cupboard trim and painted it grey so it would conceal the lights that are underneath. It is certainly much more light and airy and does not feel closed in anymore when I am preparing food.

 

The items on the shelves I had already, just today I found some pretty china measuring cups for baking my friend bought for me that usually live in a cupboard so I have added those now too.  The one thing I did buy was a print from Whitby at the top of the steps when we were away a few weeks ago, it is not in this image but sits on the top shelf. 

                                                   I still have the under cupboard lighting 

You may think I am crazy to get rid of three perfectly good cupboards but my feeling is the more cupboard space we have the more we pack things in, think about when you move house and have all those lovely empty cupboards.  They soon get packed with nonsense over the years don't they?  I think this is forcing me to be more organised in my kitchen.

Well that is all for today, let me know what you think.   Have a good week. 

The Saraste Top and Another Trip

 Hello, what a funny week it has been. What with the heat, I hope you have all kept yourselves well.

This week I made my first make from the book Breaking the Pattern that I bought a while ago, it does seem a bit of a faff about tracing all the pieces for the patterns when I have so many patterns already but I do like to try things out.  Also I made this into a much bigger job than it needed to be by making it into a refashion of a man's shirt. 

The Saraste top does require more fabric than you would first think for a little sleeveless top, because of the shape of it and the panels plus ruffles.  So I disassembled my shirt then thought oh, there is no way enough fabric to make this!  However I don't like to let things beat me so I set about using every last bit of the shirt, including unpicking the double yoke bit at the top of the shirt back.

•  I made the ruffles with lots of little pieces sewn together then top stitched.  This did also mean that some of those pieces were on the cross grain. I aslo only did the ruffle to the front panels.
• The front side panels are in two pieces.
• The back side panels are four pieces sewn together.
• I utilised the button band to save fabric there.
• The collar stand was carefully unpicked and re-used.
• The bias binding was some that I made previously from an old duvet cover.
• I placed the ruffles a little higher to further save on fabric required.

I don't think the joins are too obvious and of course you could see it as a design feature;)

It pays to think things through and not give up I think, I have made  two short videos for youtube showing the process if you would like to see exactly how I did it.

See the videos here

                                                                           Part one here

We went away at the end of last week in the caravan to the east coast and stayed just outside Scarborough on a lovely site, we stayed from Thursday to Monday and it was just as well because with monday being the start of the heatwave my dogs would not have coped I dont think I would either in the caravan.  So fortunatley we were back home just as it started to get hot, we had a lovely break and visited Scarborough, Whitby, Staithes and Bridlington while we were there. My sister in law lives at Bridlington so we got to visit her too.

I did not take as many photographs as I usually do as we visit this area alomost every year and I am sure I am just doubling up on the pictures so just a few this time.  The reason we visit so often is because not only do we like it but also because it is inly a few hour drive away.

Staithes is very pretty but only small, it was very busy on the day we visited but well worth a look if you are ever in the area.

The views below are from Whitby at the top, because you can't go to Whitby and not do the steps up to the Abbey.

We got absolutely soaked through in Scarborough on Friday as it rained on and off all day on Friday, it was umbrella up jacket on then ten minutes later boiling, jacket off sunglasses on!  So at least we dried quickly inbetween downpours. I bought the jazziest umbrella from a charity shop and my husband said I am not holding that, it had a design of a woman all the way around holding up her hands to the rain as if in praise, very 60's. Well the rain came down and he held it. 

Thursday I went to lunch with a good friend of mine, she had suggested a new restaurant on a farm and it catered for me with Gf and vegan options it was very nice.  I managed an image of my pudding before I tucked into it.  (It is sorbet on top)

I hope you all have a lovely week. Take care.