Feeling Better

I spend a whole lot of yesterday running errands. Getting a quote on the car, planting up a pot in the front garden with spring flowering bulbs and something to add some green until then. That's more than 50 litres of soil in there! :-P

After that I finally got my teeth fixed. I have a new bridge at the front and I'm not embarrassed to smile any more. Some time today I'm getting a fridge delivered, so I was even able to pick up some healthier food, knowing it isn't going to go bad in the cupboards or freeze in my current fridge.

It tasted so good!

A Good Sunday For All

I spent most of Sunday at my parents house, reading and playing with the rats. They really enjoyed running around in the room mum uses for hers and I could let them because they can't reach anything that isn't safe or okay to play with. They have a cage for when they visit now, in the bottom of a sectional one that has a group of girls at the top.

I got to see my Grandad for the first time since he went into hospital. He was a bit forgetful, but he's got his new pacemaker in and it was nice to see him again. We all have our fingers crossed he'll get home for Christmas, and Grandma even has a hospital bed and a hoist all set up in the dining room for when he gets out.

As for the reading, I got all the way through 'Why Fashion Matters' by Frances Corner. I'm not sure I'd recommend it, generally. It doesn't have much that isn't talked about better elsewhere, and it's not incredibly inspiring. It felt like one of those books you buy as little gifts like 'For A Sister' or quotes about such and such, like the title comes first and the contents is just filler. Maybe I'm being overly mean?

More Stash!

I added more stash pictures to my Shopping the stash page today and I'm already getting ideas. Purple shirts? A flowery dress? The new year should be fun! :-)

A Quick Update

I don't know if you'd say I've had a busy few days, but at least I got out of the house and got some things done.

I walked about an hour to try and get to a bike shop that turned out not to exist. I only needed a bike lock, so I tried at Tesco's just incase and it turns out I should have gone there first. Sigh... That's what I get for wanting to support local businesses. Bedworth doesn't seem to have any that don't sell greasy food.

When I got back to the flat I passed a delivery man leaving the building. I found a 'we missed you' notice and chased him down getting into his van. Dropped my phone and stood on it in the process. The punchline? He'd left the parcel with the neighbour.

So my phone's a little messed up, but it can still take pictures so no real harm done?

I finally got some sewing done today! Not on the shirts, but on a hammock for the rats. One of the girls, I think it was Beatrix, fell from a plastic platform to the bottom of the cage and it got me a little worried. She was fine, but better safe than sorry. I made a hammock with some cheap black polyester folded four times and quilted it with my odds and sods thread. I used bias binding on the edges just to cover all the thread ends and make little tags on the corners to hang it with.

It seemed to go down well. Maybe it'll just get eaten like the shirt I gave them but at least they won't be able to fall all the way down until they chew through at least two of the corners, and I have a whole lot more binding if I need to repair it.

I tried to distract them with food while I was putting it in, but they insisted on 'helping'.


Oh yeah, and I got me some plants! I'm going to try and pretty up the front garden, plant up some pots so when the landlord finally gets around to flattening the lawn I won't loose all my spring flowering bulbs. I'm probably going to plant them early next week if it doesn't rain. Cross your fingers for me?

Feeling S.A.D

I think I'm having a glum. I haven't sewn in a few days and I've barely been able to get out of bed when I don't have to. Barely been able to when I do.

I've been spending most of the time when I'm not sleeping reading. I'm almost through a library copy of Vintage Fashion right now. Some decades are definitely more interesting than others but it has a lot of pretty pictures.

My little brother once suggested S.A.D for a reason for me always being down over winter. Seasonal Affective Disorder. I didn't even think about it being a seasonal thing. I don't know, maybe I should think about going on holiday next winter?

Shirt Adjustment

There isn't a whole lot to report on today. I made the adjustments to my little brothers shirt and I'm going to make another toile just to check I haven't completely ballsed it up. I can fit that next weekend. :-)

New Stash Page On The Blog

I had two fillings yesterday and just didn't feel like sewing. I still don't. I want to get the pattern adjustments for the weekend so I can try little brothers on him and see how well it worked. I don't know if I'm going to get a chance for another fitting on big brother.

I'm spending this non-sewing time watching more Mission Catwalk and cataloguing some of my sewing supplies and fabric. I seem to get sucked in by buying things in bulk, imagining all the savings and all the use I'm going to get out of it. When it goes right, like the £1 a meter white cotton, it goes really right, but when it goes wrong it goes really wrong, like the shifty black polyester pinstripe I tried to use to make a toile.

Firstly, a recent acquisition. I'm bashing my head on my sewing desk at the moment because I've just worked out this is over 150 meters of bias binding. It's in colours I use a lot but still... I'll be using some early next year because I'm going to be working on improving my finishes.

Now for thread. I got myself a big tray of different coloured threads when I first got back into sewing and haven't bought any since, which is a good thing, because I really don't need any more!

When I got that tray of thread I didn't take into account all the thread I already had. Some is from college, some is from sewing kits I was given as presents, and some (mostly the metallic ones) I bought for myself.

I stuck them all in a bucket that had halloween sweets in it. Now at least I know where they all are and I can go there first if I'm doing a toile or it doesn't matter if the thread is the right colour, like with sewing for the rats.

Next up, knicker elastic. I've never even made a pair of knickers! They're pretty, but it's ridiculous to just have these things lying around my flat.

And while I was cleaning up I found a little grow your own carrots kit that I got from Mum and Dad last Christmas! It's sitting on my windowsill now. :-D