Simplifying Things

 Hello everyone I hope you are all having a good week wherever you are I am trying to keep  things simple here and doing more decluttering, this time I am branching into digital decluttering too.  Just now, as in a few minutes ago I have just closed my Etsy shop.  I have been on the fence about weather to do this for some time and it is odd as I just listed a number of little brooches a few days ago and my husband said I thought you were stopping with that?  Well I kept putting it off as it seemed a shame, even though I hardly ever got any views or sold anything.  However it was one of those things, even though it didn't make anything it had this invisible thread so I had to check just in case there was a sale and I needed to post something, or I would be thinking maybe if I just made more things I would get more views etc.  In the end I have just accepted that it is just one more thing I don't need to have on my mind, plus Etsy just passively makes money from me and others every time our listings renew, then a big chunk if we are lucky enough to make a sale. So that is that, my husband did joke the other day that if I do decide to close it I have a good stash of birthday gifts ready to go.

Now I only check Facebook for the groups I am in these days, so a caravanning one and a frugal group so that doesn't take up much time but I do have a little look on instagram but I have to say I am not checking that as much anymore either.  I do need to post on it for some makes as a work thing, but I am not falling down the rabbit hole of spending ages on it. Someone said to me the other day oh you should go on tick tock too, no I thought enough!  There are just too many platforms now, we need to live in the real world too.  

I have been feeling very exhausted recently and I do think that having a bit of a fractured focus may be in part to blame.  That  feeling that sometimes I am forgetting things, or being distracted is possibly just having too many thoughts, loops to keep up with.  So for this next month I am going to do things differently and try to get back in to a more relaxed routine, relaxed meaning I will have set times for posting things I need to, a bit of a detox from it other than work related posts and getting back to my old pen and pad lists which are much more fun in my opinion. 

So I can continue to clear and sort one cuboard at a time but from on I will be slowing the social media input too.  

Here is a little image of a family of ducks that I tried to capture, I didn't spend too long over that as I wanted to enjoy watching them rather than taking the picture. That is the direction I am going in.

Well after that strange ramble I will share with you what I am reading this week, I actually started it last week and it is Circe by Madeline Miller.  I am enjoying it now that I have settled into it, and I have enjoyed a few Greek Myth retellings recenlty.

On TV I have watched Inside Man, I found that interesting too and we do tend to watch a series over a few nights.

That is all for today, a rather odd non sewing post this time, take care.

Quilt Finished

 Hello everyone.  I am pleased to say I have finished my patchwork quilt that I have been working on for some time.  Now this is not an expert job as I know some of you are quilters out there and this is not my usual thing but I am happy with how it turned out.  In the end I went with straight lines for the quiltingand I ended up doing it by hand after starting it on the machine as it was very bulky.  It reminded me of when I used to work in a factory sewing taupalins but then we had very large machines and very long benches.  The border around the edge is just a polycotton with little daisies on, currentlyit is on my bed over the origianl duvet so in the winter it can be an extra layer but in the summer I thought perhaps just a sheet under it?  Well here it is...

So there is a bit of everything in there, minerva fabrics leftover scraps, shirts, a few craft cotton scraps I bought for bags and someof the gifted fabric from the bag I was given by a friend.  The backing is also out of the gifted bag of remnants, it was a large blue and white piece I just had to put a join down one side. My husbamd looked at it and said 'yes very busy'.

The next thing I did was to remake this Burda top that I have made before.  Now it is oversized but I have worn my other version quite a lot so I thought I would use up this leftover piece of inky grove jersey on this.

It is one of the cool tops that doesn't cling and in the summer I think it is good to have loose fitting clothes, then in the winter I want it all snug and tucked in. 

This week I was given a big bag of Rhubard, my husband has been insisiting he doesn't like it but i said I would do soemthing good with it, so I made a Rhubarb and Custard cake.  Now I saw the name of this recipe but couldn't make anything like the one I saw as it had, eggs and milk, wheat alsorts in it.  So I just made up my own GF vegan version and it came out fabulous.  I did roast the rhurb first beofre adding in layers to the cake.

It tastes good so that is most important and yes, my husband did like it.

Last Friday we made the most of the lovely weather and had a day at Knaresborough, it is only an hour away and such a pretty place.  We didn't eat there but we did stop outside a pub for a drink, had a lovely walk around the castle and along the river.

In other news I am trying to get back into the decluttering mode, I have taken quite a lot of things out of my sewing room in terms of scraps and old clothes that I was going to revamp.  There is only so much we can hang on to and it is very hard when you create fabric waste as part of your job but are trying to be as green as you can be.  I send back, rehome or use all the items I make but the scraps continue to plague me.  I had a big trip to the charity shop and finally got rid of some greek style vases and decorative paltes from years ago, I was a bit attatched but never had them on display so it was time for them to go.  The latest thing has been that I have bought a few books from charity shops over recent months.  That doesn't sound like much however I usually always get them from the library and just recently I have been having that 'I like to own the book'  feeling, now that is something I have got over in the past and I tend to just keep a small selection on my bookcase.  Really I need to reming myself that once I have read it, it just sits there gathering dust and go back to getting them from the library.

There is a lady on youtube and her channel is 'a to zen'  she messes about quite a bit but has a lot on decluttering.  Now I wouldn't want to have a bare home that just isn't me although I am trying to strip things back a little, especially in cupboards, I am terrible at shoving things in cupboards that could go!

Well I hope you are having a super week and I'll be back soon.

A Little Absence, A Holiday and Some Sewing

 Hello everyone I hope you are all well.  We have a lot going on here at the moment and I am aware that I have not posted for some time. That is ok because we have to do what we can, when we can and it was never my intention to turn this blog into a chore. It is something I do for fun and to share with fellow dress makers.  That said here is what has been going on.

I may have mentioned but one of my older dogs has a spinal disc problem now that means we are at the vets a lot or have been, it has just slowed down now and the appointments are further apart.  She is doing well now and has steroid tablets.  They seem to be doing the trick but she can't walk far, has to be  carried in and out for a wee etc but is bright eyed and happy.  We have a range of things to help her and have settled into a routine.  My husband made her a dog wheel chair, she has a carrying bag, and a large dog trolley but we are going to try and list that as it is too cumbersome for us.  It would be ideal for the back of a bike though and has the trailer bar for that. The other problem is she is sometimes wetting on her dog bed so lots of extra washing. 

We have just been away on holiday finally after cancelling two mini breaks due to bad weather!  We drove to Somerset in pouring rain towing the caravan.  It rained Friday, Staurday then brightened for Sunday and we had a day in Bristol (a lovely place)  Bonnie got loads of attention in her bag.  Then it rained all night, then all of Monday, by the evening our pitch was flooded and we couldn't get to the toilet and back with out soaking wet feet and were drying the dogs off one at a time and pasing them in the caravan.  On Tuesday we were ready to call it a day and come home early but the lovely freindly owners were  saying let's move you to another pitch and the weather is set to improve.  So with the help of some kind people we moved the whole set up quite quickly to another pitch and after lunch it did start to clear a little.  The rest of the week was better, with the odd shower.  After all that we stayed and extra night.  The campsite is gorgeous and we have been before we just seem to be having really bad luck with the weather this year on all the breaks we have booked.  Years ago you could book a weekend if the weather looked good, but with more people taking a holiday in the UK now you have to book a long time in advance.  

So I thought I would pop in a few holiday pics here as I know this is turning into something of a ramble.   Above is Bristol and I found this a lovely vibrant place to visit.

Here wearing a recent make a shirt dress in Crane dance viscose challis from minerva.com  the pattern is New look 6651.

A shot of Clevedon pier and anther nice day there.

Above is the little village of Axebridge, very pretty and a really nice dog friendly pub.

Here we have Cheddar Gorge on a quiet day, oh the joys of not having to holiday in the school holidays, it was transformed from the last time we visited, then we could hardly move.  This quiet take on it was much more me.

We do take all three dogs away with us, the other two are stood with my husband, or carried. 

Wells Cathedral, a dog friendly cathedral how good is that, they actually let us take the dogs inside. Very beautiful,  it always astounds me the architecture of places all those years ago.   Wells too is very pretty and I will visit again when we are in that area of the country.   This is Wells Somerset, not to be confused with Wells by the sea.

On with the story...

So once home and we have all the caravan washing, plus pet beds, blankets, son at home so his weeks worth of stuff to wash.  Then catch up on some work, visit mum and after all that I get in and Clyde (my other older dog) has a stroke! Fipping over, constantly very fast, got up disorientated and head swaying.  So we have had him at the vets me fearing the worst again, but he said they often recover well.  So he has had a steroid injection and we are back tomorrow, he has to be carried outside too now because he is falling to one side but apparently this will get better.  The vet said he will get us a season ticket, somehow I'm not laughing.

Today I have had my car in for a diagnostic, it failed on emmisions acouple of months ago, they put it though a full service, ca-ching! Then coudn't find the fault, said to book in a dealer but that has taken ages as everything fully booked. Well they have found the problem so after the daignostic cost, then repair, another MOT, I am looking at a very large bill for that too. They are keeping it in to do next week. 

Now if you have managed to stick with me through all that I will share some sewing with you.  

So this one is not one to keep but it is rather stunning in this fabric I think, I made as a size UK 16 and the fabric is called Beetle Jewels. It is Simplicity 9265 and the ruffles are very fun.

This fabric is Polymorphic prism and the pattern is New look 6594.

These very wide leg trousers in aubergine triple crepe, it ia a vogue pattern 9361

This one I just love the trim on, it is viscose challis, called hounds tooth confetti.  The pattern is Simplicity 8872.

Now there have been a number of other makes but I am going to leave it there for today, I am hoping normal time will return soon as I feel I lost April completely somewhere along the way. 

Take care and enjoy the weekend.