Last days of Summer and Saving Energy

 Hello everyone I hope you have all had a good summer, I say that like it is over I am hoping not just yet but it is feeling a touch cooler and the nights are getting darker already so unfortunatley it is on its way out.  Still tme to embrace the Autumn I do love the colours and in past years there has been still lots of sunshine into September and the beginning of October so fingers crossed. 

I have been trying to think of ways to winter proof us this last few days, there is so much talk about the energy prices that it puts you off turning anything on but I think perhaps the main culprits are anything that heats up. We have a mini oven (very small) for the caravan and although you can only fit a couple of things in it, it is very energy efficient.  So we have brought that in and whenever I want to just heat up spring rolls or a garlic bread for family to hve with dinner I am using that.  All this time I have been putting on the main electric oven but when you think about it all that heat for one thing.  People do say use it to its capacity but what if you only need to heat one thing?? So we have brought that in but as I said it is tiny.  If I had the room I would buy another slightly bigger mini oven, or I am even considering removing the main one and just replacing in the space there.  There are only three of us and when we have company it would be hob top meals!  Drastic I know but up to 6K a year on bills for a family, I don't think so.

We had some of  our double glazing replaced earlier this year, the front of the house as that was the worst but there is one back window not done that is a bit drafty.  I have had the idea that my husband will make a secondary frame for that, we have turned the water heating temperature down and are experimenting with how far that can go. So the main thing is going to be the heating, now people lived without heating for a very long time and we didn't have it when I was a child up to a certain age, then our second house didn't have it at first for the first winter we were in. Therefore the thing is we don't need it on as much as we all do, unless you are older or ill.  Have we become just too soft? I am speaking mainly for myself here so please don't take offence, I have always said I don't see the point in being cold at home but now no way am I contributing to the profiteering, yes there may be a shortage but why then are companies having record profits?  I will be wearing lots of layers, exercising and keeping a close eye on our usage.  If you have any tips please leave them below.

Right back to sewing, over the weekend I made the Bertha Cardigan from Make it Simple.  My friend has let me borrow this book and while it is a lovely book I am pushed to find much I want to make out of it.  Mainly because a lot of the patterns are just things I already know how to make as they are just very simple shapes.  Great for a beginner though so still worth a look if you are just starting out and don't have these patterns, and as laways super instructions.  One thing I did like was the Bertha cardigan, so I ordered this fur backed sweatshirting to make it.  It is a quick make and I really like the shape so I think there will be more of these for my winter layering up.

I think I might choose a more sweater style fabric next time, so something softer like a nice drapey knit, any suggestions.  If you have made this and it worked well please let me know what you have used, I really need to make them in some solids but there I went again chhosing a print!

Well that is all for today, a bit of an energy rant really take care everyone. 

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.