Weekending.

Blimey, I need a weekend off to recover from my weekend !

Saturday saw me try to go greener with my weekly shop. As hubs went to collect my new to me bookcases I headed up to 'the village', not that it a village any more but its been called that ever since it was built, way back when !First stop was the butcher, meat bought for the week. I was surprised how busy it was, queuing up ! The butcher is one of the longest standing shops in the village, Then off to the greengrocer, fruit/veg now replenished for the week. Whilst there I decided to pop into the £1 shop, picked up some bargains for the boys packed lunches, then dropped into the charity shop. Couldn't believe my luck when I found this little beauty for £4.50

A French & Teague- sixteen -47 , tunic.....these normally sell for about £70 and their reductions normally drop them to about £50. I have been after one of these for such a long time, I just couldn't bring myself to pay that much for a tunic, but £4.50, well it had to be done. There sizes are numbered 1- 5 I think, this is a size 2 so is about 1 size bigger than I would normally buy, buts is a loose drapey top so looks ok. Am really pleased with it.

After my little trip to the village I then headed out to Asda, dry goods and tinned stuff, Junior also needed some more shirts and trousers for school. After Asda I popped into B&Q for paint for the downstairs office and snagged some reduced picture frames for my photo wall.

Feeling shopped out I headed home and entered the' lets move all the furniture about to get the book cases in' scenario ! Then It was 'lets fill' the book cases. Blimey, I slept well on Saturday. 

Sunday was a laundry/ ironing and chill day. The weather has been horrendous all weekend, its not stopped raining. Sadly our guttering just above the front door needs repairing so we had our own version of Niagara falls all weekend. Which made getting in and out quite tricky.  I managed a few rows on my Lundy sweater so hopefully it should be off the needles this week, but other than that no crafting. I did however love getting a bit more of my picture wall done, it brings a smile just looking at it. 

Sunday evening saw us all share dinner together at the table and then watch a movie,[ lord of the rings part 3] it was lovely to finish the weekend with some quality family time. 

This weeks goals are to get the radiator fitted in the down stairs office and get it painted. This room has always been a bit of a random room, it was the boys playroom when they were smaller, then a games room when they got older, now they rarely use it and as I have my own little pink den up stairs it really doesn't see much activity. However it does home my cross trainer, and as I need to start using that , it will be nice to use it in a more roomy sort of room, if that makes sense. 

Another goal for this week is to try to find one of these stores where you can buy your cleaning fluids in refillable bottles, like the Ecover brand. I am pretty sure we will have one somewhere in the city, I just need to locate it. That's stage 2 of reducing our plastic consumption. 

Pretty happy with my weekend, I hope you all had a good weekend too.

Back !

Another working week done, this year is zooming by, I can't believe we're 3 weeks into the new year.

 I've had a busy but productive week at work, commute traffic is still a nightmare, an hour each is the current pace! good job I enjoy listening to audio books. Still no no news of an office move date, its still under staff consultation ! Can't come soon enough for me, hopefully it will be around March/April time.

Had a bit of a doubting Thomas moment this week with the blog again, hence it went offline for a few days,sorry if you popped by in that time. I live an ordinary life, a good life. Quite well balanced I think, I don't have any particular struggles. I see myself as very lucky. I really wonder why people stop by and read, its a pretty boring blog as far as I can see. But I like to pop in and write a few lines, I like to be able to look back and see what I was up to. I still worry about people who know me reading it though, hence the limited amount of personal info and lack of people photo's. 

So after a few days of pondering what to do, I'm back. I think this year the blog will probably be more about crafts and  'my making' ,I really want to try and improve my sewing skills and knitting skills . I do hanker after that handmade wardrobe, and I so want to be able to do calligraphy. My writing is a bit like a cats scrawl to be honest, I'm not surprised  I am generally writing with a key pad these days!

This weekend I am off to Hobbycraft to buy a cutting mat & rotary blade, am thinking this will help with my pattern cutting, currently I am using the old fashioned pins and scissors method. I will be honest, sometimes my cutting is not perfect and I end up with mismatched seams ! I also need to get that seam unpicker thingy so I can unpick that double stitched sleeve from last weekend. 

This coming weeks plan is to cut out the next lot of fabric , I love this fabric and as luck would have it, I found some great yarn in my stash which matches perfectly so  have had to cast on another scarfy shawly thingy ! I'm still not sure about the neckline on this top, have decided to do the shorter sleeves omitting that bell shaped sleeve bit. And if your reading Christina I have washed the fabric, its so much softer and I think it did shrink a bit, thanks for that tip. ! I might be brave and go for the cutout neckline!

Also on the list of to do jobs this weekend  is to go and collect some lovely wooden shelving units a friend is selling, she is closing her shop so I have snagged a couple of gorgeous bookshelves for a fabulous price. The next room we are focusing on ' doing up' is our downstairs office, which currently resembles the upside down world and is full of things we need to 'store' as well as a pile of ' don't know what to with this so will leave it here and see if the fairies take it away' . 2 shelving units  should enable us to see the floor again ! My cross trainer is in there too and is currently being used as a hanging rack, maybe if I clear it I may actually use it !

Its looking like a busy weekend but I may just squeeze some crafty time in.

Hoping you all have a great weekend, I'm looking forward to mine, hubs is on his weekend off so I get to have his company too.

working ,stitching & knitting..

Blimey, where did that week go?

One blink and its gone. Works been pretty busy and of course we are now back to the usual traffic jams during commute times. I am so looking forward to being back in a base in the city where I can get uses in and out. What a luxury that will be.

Nothing exciting has happened this week, just the usual Monday to Friday routines, nothing that you'd be interested in reading about. I did manage to get a knit project finished this week, remember the yarn I hand dyed 

well its finally been knit into a cowl to wear with my denim dress, I love it.

 Terrible light/pic sorry.

My goal this weekend is to finish the Lundy sweater, I am almost done on the last sleeve so should easily get it done. As long as I don't get distracted by this

I dug out the sewing machine this morning, I've not used it for months and really want to try and develop my skills this year. I have a box of fabrics that are just itching to get transformed into garments. I'm please to say it worked perfectly !

This is the first thing I want to get done

Love this fabric, bought it at the Craft4crafters event I went to last year. I want 2018 to be the year I wear colour ! I really admire Sonja over at 100 acts of sewing, she is inspiring me to be brave enough to wear my own hand made colourful clothes ! Ivyarch has also made some fabulous clothes, go check out her blog. But first I need to make some !

Those of you that have been reading the blog  for a while will know that I have been tinkering with making clothes over the past few years but have always been conscious about what others think, due to my body size and being a novice sewer. Well no more !! 2018 is the year I finally do it. When it happens I will even put a pic up on the blog !

So this morning I grabbed the bits of fabric I had cut to try this pattern out. Cheap as chips cotton, not necessarily to wear but more to play around with the pattern so its fits my shape. 

Well I did it. I managed to alter the pattern enough to get a good fit first time out ! go me.

I removed the bust darts as they really don't suit my body shape, altered the neckline as didn't want that dip thingy and couldn't be bothered to faff about with trying to sew pretty matching ribbon on it. Here is the finished top. 

Its actually a very bright lime green !

 Its a stiff fabric, I  really should have washed it first. 

I haven't done the hem.

Things that didn't go so well were setting in the sleeves, I pulled up a 'sew over it ' tutorial which was really good , but as I had decided against the bust darts my cutting was a bit out. I also didn't manage that nice loose stitch gather before setting in the sleeves, a washed softer fabric would have helped. But I did it. However it does look like I have put pleats in and I really don't like puffy sleeves !  Then, when I went to try it on, I realised that I have stitched up part of the arm to the seem, not much but its obvious, went to get my stitch ripper and its broke, so have left it as is until I can unpick it. I will do the hem then as not sure quite how long I want it, this will be a house top as I really don't like the fabric . No idea why I bought it to be honest, must have had something in mind for it.

Now that I have made the first draft top, I am undecided about putting in the dip front thingy, without that shape the neckline is quite high, which I like, but the tye dye fabric lends itself to the dip cut out I think. Especially if worn in a relaxed way with jeans.The sleeves are bell shaped, so need to get the fabric washed first as the shape does not lend itself to stiffer fabrics. If it doesn't soften up with washing I think I will save it for something else. 

I am feeling quite pleased with myself I must say. I just need to remember to take my time and remember to do the prep before I get carried away with sewing it up.

 I  have this lined up for a bigger project but want to feel a bit more confident before I try it. 

The Farrow Dress by grainline studios.

pic from grainline studios

i'ts an advanced beginners pattern, but that whole diagonal seam with pockets scares me. there's some great dresses made from this pattern though. It is definitely a make for 2018. 

A Sunday walk and a new skill in the making.

Yesterday was a lovely day, the sun was shining and the sky was blue, still blooming freezing mind you.  Hubs and I decided to go for a walk to get some fresh air and exercise !

We agreed on a walk across the Clifton suspension bridge, take in the new visitor centre then walk back across and down in to Clifton Village. It was lovely, just the sort of Sunday Stroll that was needed. I really do love Bristol, so much to see and do. 

Here's some pics taken on the bridge, used my phone, forgot my camera !

Today was back to work, first full week of 2018, 1 down 4 to go. Not that I wish my life away but I have so much I would rather be doing ! Like learning Calligraphy !

This is one of the books that hubs bought me for Christmas,[ he also got me the pens], I am going to try to get half an hour in tonight, but I really must knit, am on the last sleeve of my Lundy sweater , I am almost there.... So desperate to cast it off, hours and hours of stocking stitch have gone into this sweater, at times like this I wish I had stuck to the darned diet and was about 4 sizes smaller as knitting a jumper for me would have been a breeze!