Mornings

 Hello everyone I hope the week is going well for you all, it has been an early start for me as I feel my insomnia is back. So after fighting it I have decided to try a different strategy which is probably what I should have doneall along.

So after trying to get back to sleep for two hours this morning I got up at five, I know that may be a regular getting up time for many of you but we are not early to bed so that is not sufficient sleep but as I am not sleeping anyway laying there pondering is not helpful.  You know that pondering you do about anything and everything in the dark hours of the night?   For many years now I have tried to be still and just put up with it, in part because I didn't want to disturb, my husband, my sons, the dogs! However I know it is the worst thing you can do as the longer you lay awake the worse it gets, also all the things I have not got around to doing I may as well get up and do, then if I get tired later maybe I will sleep better the next night, who knows.  I have also noticed that when my husband can't sleep he will get up, what is it with us women that we feel we shouldn't disturb anyone, I have to say I was still creeping about this morning trying to not make much noise.

Anyway the point is I am going to look at it in a new way, as in hey I have some extra time I will go and do ... whatever that thing is that I want to do (probably quietly!)  I did used to have a very definite morning routine that fell out of favour, maybe I will start that again.  Do any of you have a routine that you stick to in a morning and by this I mean something for you and not just getting everyones lunches and everybody else ready for the day.  If so let me know, how it helps, what is the best thing about it.

I chose to stand outside and what the sky change for a little while, this was quite peaceful.  I often listen to the Huberman Lab and this is something we should all be doing every day he states.  In the morning as close to sunrise and also close to dusk to regulate our body clock.  I know this and yet very rarely do it.

I snapped a couple of images of the sky, as apparently I can't just stand there and be...

Well have a lovely day all of you I don't know if anyone will see this close to when it goes out but I would like to hear your thoughts on this.  Are you a stay in bed and try to get through it type, or do you just get up whatever the time and go downstairs?  I am sure there will be a mixture of us out there, but I don't feel this is going away anytime soon me being of the menopausal age so I need to get a better routine.

Thank you for stopping by.

Sew a Dog Collar, Recycled Project

 Hello everyone, I hope you have all had a good week.  Just when  I thought summer was over we are having a glorious day here, very hot and suuny all day and just when the children are set to return to school.  I think that seems to happen every year.

This week I have made three new dog collars and a dog bandana, I was just thinking the old ones were looking a little tired and I needed to buy new ones.  When you look at a dog collar though there is literally nothing to it, and as a dress maker the amount of small pieces of fabric that I tend to end up with it seems a shame not to make small things like this.  I also wonder why I have not made them before, they are not that expensive you may say, but I have three dogs so every time a piece of dog equipment needs replacing it is times by three, so that quickly adds up.

I used the existing clips and sliders from the old collars and doubled up cotton fabrics a number of times to make it thick enough for a collar.  I gave the clips a good wash first and pressed the fabric once folded.  In all these were very quick makes although I did have to sew very slowly down the length of the collars as it was thick enough to break the needle, I walked it over the fabric in a number of places .

The bandana was simply one pieces hemmed all around then folded in half with a channel sewn for the collar to thread through.  The hardest part was trying to get the dogs to be still and model for me.

This was the first, and if any of you shop with minerva you may recognise Inky Grove pattern!

This one actually has a floral design on it but this little guy doesn't mind at all.

He is not wearing the bandana now I just made it for fun and my husband is not big on dogs being dressed up either.  We may keep it for special occasions.

In other news we have started rewatching Game of Thrones from the beginning, this may seem odd but my husband put it on last week and I sat down to watch and now I am hooked all over again.

In books I have just finished The Dance Tree, and picked up a couple more from the library.  I had been very carefully recording my book a week on instagram all year but this last few weeks that has all gone a bit off.  Why is it you forget to do something once then it all goes out of the window, maybe that is just me. 

My Pilates which I have always done daily is also seriously out of favour too, this is something I will remedy this week.  I always think the start of a new week is like a blank page so I will get on top of things again. 

The last few evenings I have really noticed how much darker it is now early on, I do think this seems to happen all of a sudden every year though I am determined to make the most of the seasons.

Have a lovely week everyone. 

A New Channel

 Hello everyone I hope you are all well and enjoying the last bit of the er...summer. It has been a funny one hasn't it?  I keep seeing people now sharing posts about the start of Autumn and so on and I think is that it!  Is that all we are getting this year, and then I have to remind myself to embrace the seasons whatever they may be because after all it is nice that we get them.  It does give a bit of variety to the year so I am going to focus on that. 

Now about a month ago I started a new youtube channel as I don't how or to what purpose but my other channel has some sort of block on it, probably due to hacks or something that I know nothing about?? Anyway I decided to start over with a new one, I have left the other videos up for now so people can still use them but if you haven't already can you hop over and follow my new channel here...  Beyond the sewing Room

So this post here is my latest one, I show how to make a fabric storage box without an actual box, it is all just made from fabric scraps.  The pattern I show just uses A4 paper and it is really easy, another cheaky ask is this, if you watch any videos can you let run to the end please.  I have noticed that the watch time is either half or less of the videos which means that people just skip and watch bits of them and this a bit disheartening when you have put the time in making them.   

What I tend to do is watch youtube videos  of the people I follow while I am ironing, it is my treat and makes ironing less of a chore, I always do it on a Sunday and take my laptop and catch up on the vlogs I follow whaile I get all the washing sorted for the week.  It works for me, although I do know a lot of young people don't iron any more, this I can't get my head around as I like to see everything looking well pressed and cared for and I dont think you get this with things that are not ironed. So as I was saying doing it this way passes the time in a fun way and I do tend to watch videos right through as I am not sat over the laptop skipping.    Also if there is anything you would like to see on my channel please let me know here, or in the comments on youtube and I will try to include it in future videos.

This past week I have read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, now I have mixed feelings about this one.  I did enjoy it in a way but I also had moments of thinking it was very repetitive and a bit out there.  The thing that jumped out at me from it mainly was the idea that if we are meant to be makers and creators then we should just do it rather than thinking about the results, productivity and also how things are reccieved.  We should just do it, because it is what we are meant to do and it makes us happy.  Now I have always been a maker and I know that lots of you are too, a lifelong maker of all sorts of things and I have lots of interests.  However somewhere along the way we get sucked into this idea that we should be making more of it, making it profitable, having more sucess with it.  That can be a killer for everything that we want to do when we start measuring it all based on other peoples ideas on how valuable it is.  Is it worth our time, and also can we make a living from it?  

So this really  hit home for me as I am currently making a living from my making, and I am constantly aware of what other people are thinking about it, is it good enough, are people bored with it, how can I improve, what next etc.  Well this book did spell out the realization that regardless of whether or not I make money from making, or how many other people appreciate it, watch or like, I am still going to always want to make things so I may as well just do.  A funny thing is quite often when I have been making and it may have been with scraps, or painting or whatever it may be Ihave had the question from famliy members 'what are you going to do with that now?' as in are you going to list it etc.  So we are conditioned to think that everything we do has to have a monetary goal, a bit sad I know becasue much as I want to continue making as a living I still want to just do it for me too and not lose that joy.

A few years ago someone did say to me aren't you afraid that if you sew for your job you won't love it any more and it will spoil your hobby?  Well it has not done that but I do need to lose this preoccupation with how it can support me.  Gilbert does say in the book not to expect your creativity to support you, it's great if it can do that but just don't expect it.  She is talking of writing in her case but I suppose it can be applied to whatever it is that you love to do.

So that is my little ramble for today, I would love to know your thoughts on this if you have felt something similar and now I am off to create.  Take care.