August so Soon

 Hello everyone I hope you are all well.  I am finding the days are rushing past me this year so sorry for my absence on here.  I have a few sewing things to share but I have to keep most under wraps as I am making lots of things for an event.  I have managed to get some sewing done for me so I will share some of that. 

Most recently I made the Kielo wrap dress again with fabric that I bought way back in March!  I made it a shorter length as I only bought 1.7m I was being careful so as to not have lots of waste, making everyday has made me really concious of fabric waste and if you have followed me in the past you will know that I like to get things out of the least amount possible.  It worked and the dress is still below the knee so this is plenty long enough for me.  The first one that I made as a sample was full length and I really don't wear dresses that long as a rule.

This made me laugh, this dog was after his ball, I didn't know it was by my foot until after and the dog must have waited patiently it would appear while I had my photo taken. In this photo I am wearing my newish white sneakers that I was reluctant to wear due to all the rain we keep having.  I have now given up and strted wearing them anyway as trying to keep them pristine white is possibly not going to happen.

Still with the emphasis on not wasting fabric I made the top of the tilly and the Buttons Joni dress as a top. Now I had lots of little bits of a really nice jersey leftover from a dress I made for work  and the top is made from all these little bits.  I did do a video on it so if you would like to see it and haven't already it is here Joni Hack to top video .  I have worn it twice already so it was a good use of my time, as sometimes I do find I spend ages on a garment and then never want to wear it and that is a shame.  I do have to say that all my Joni dresses have been worn a lot as I do  find it a very flattering shape.

I look a bit startled in this image, also finding lots of needing many lights for filming this past month due to all the dark clouds and rain. Unfortunate to be using extra energy in summer months so lets hope it improves soon.

In other sewing I also made a strappy dress for a minerva post and a tshirt reworked form a burda mag pattern to my own liking, unfortunately I can't locate those images at the moment.  I have so many sewing project photos on my laptop currently I have to keep moving things.  Hopefully I can share them all with you later after the event in September.  

Recently I got back into doing more sketching again, I am enjoying this as a  switch for my brain from all the sewing.  While I do love sewing I think it is good to vary activities to give your brain a break from repetitive tasks, also to add in new things to keep learning.  Today I have given myself a little treat of a new art book I will share that in a future post.  My aim is to work through the activities in this one.

In fiction reading I have recently read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, I loved this book and read it over a couple of days while on holiday.  Sometimes I find that books that have been hyped are not that good but this one really had me hooked, it is about gaming and friendship in a nutshell but don't let the gaming bit put you off as the characters are really interesting and likeable. I also read the Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell, good but not as good as the last one and The confidence Solution a non fiction book.

On the TV we have recently watched A Small Light on the the Disney Channel about the Anne frank family and the people who helped to hide them.  That was really good and also The Crowded Room also very good. 

I also have to confess that I went to see the Barbie Movie and I found it funny, clearly not for children really but I do think that has been made clear by all the promo and trailers so can't really understand why people are now saying it wasn'r for their young children, no that is why is was 12PG. All very silly but funny as I think there is a lot of serious stuff so it doesn't hurt to have a laugh occasionally. I went with two friends and former collegues from School, so three ladies in their fifties all wearing pink!

We are away in few weeks for a weekend so I am hoping there will be some sunshine for that, I am wishing you well wherever you are.  Back soon.

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.