Randomness in past few days.

I am on a quilting train of thought at the moment. Sixty million ideas in my head and  a lot of frustration that I cannot find a certain book I know I owned about 15/16 years ago. Books to me are one of the most amazing things I love.  Story of how I became into reading and my love of actual books are one I might share one day. There I go off track again....... So I trawled Amazon and Ebay and discovered book I couldn't find was way to expensive to rebuy. Then Quilt in a day suddenly became a beacon in my mind and I found this one for a penny plus postage.Nothing like the original book I was after but it does have a few basics I can play around with and a simple version of something I forgot I REALLY wanted to make back then and now. 

Sunday night I finished my Bettine dress. Once it's washed I will get photos of it to show you. I had a giggle with then I sewed the ends of the elastic together.  Usually I sue a zigzag stitch and go back and forth to secure. This time I just did straight stitch and realised it looks like a shadow stick man. I have seen people online doing readings using melted wax and water. Reason I giggled was this made me think of tea leaf readings, Harry Potter and wondered what would be made of this if random stitches were able to be read? Yes OK my mind and humour is random and a bit warped at times but lets just pretend that's a good thing.

After my last version of this dress I was so pleased I managed to get the pockets where they should be on the front this time around.  With the joke about me and my pockets with my daughter I just had to show her my pockets on Monday morning before I headed out for a morning of shopping for birthdays.

Oh my word!  Some days I look round shops and my mind screams WHYYYYY?

Faux fur covered boots.  They came in black as well so you can mix an match to go with your outfits. Took a photo and came home to show hubby. His reply came back along the lines of if you had a pair of boots could you do that yourself? After checking he didn't actually think I liked these I said yes but why would I? Just can't see how these wouldn't be ruined as soon as it rained and you wore these outside. Saying that others obviously will love them and will think they are fab.  Would you wear them?

The cupboard on top of the stairs, fills my heart with dread as most of  the stuff in there is useless to us or even worse broke and no good, put there until it can be fixed or taken to the recycling center. Time to sort it out I think. There are some treasures like this plaque/ornament one of the kids bought me a while ago. Definitely need to find this a spot to display this as it is so true. Unless you are a clown or a spider then you can scare me.

Take care 

Jules x

Making and baking

The past few months has felt like there weren't enough hours in the day, then I had a brainwave moment of clarity. To much time with a screen and the Internet on around me.  My laptop and phone are usually around me so it was way to easy to just pick one up and start looking up one thing, then check emails, play a quick game, check pinterest etc etc... It is just so easy to fall down the rabbit hole that is the Internet and lose whole chunks of the day. Started to also think what could be done with the time instead.  What did I use to do? And what makes me happiest? Simple answer is being crafty/baking/cooking/sewing/reading/out exploring. Whatever my mood decides really.  Easy solution was limit the Internet activity to an hour a day. And in the time I am saving I can do the things that make me happy.

I baked a loaf of cheese and herb bread for the boys to go with tea tonight and I think they are having the leftover part for toast in the morning for breakfast.  I love to bake bread, it really is something that calms my soul and makes me smile.  These days however I don't eat much bread at all but, it will get eaten and will leave me happy and those that eat it. Here's the before baking shot.

Now the after baking shot is not as picture perfect as it could be. Mainly because I didn't think quickly enough to take a photo before getting someone else to start slicing it. Believe me though all good things were said though.  There was a discussion about it would be better with no herbs next time and just a cheese bread. We shall see how the mood goes though.  This is just a basic white bread mix with 90g of grated strong cheddar cheese, 30 g of grated Parmesan or similar, 2 tsp of powdered mustard and the liquid is luke warm milk. Just add either 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh herbs of choice or 1.5 teaspoons of dried herbs if you want the herbs to.

Also cooked Jamie Oliver's pork and mash gratin I think it's called. The picture looks great right? I figured out the mash here is probably just covering the pan.

Mine looks somewhat a burnt mess compared to the book. Made me laugh.  Tasted a lot better than it looked though and I have been told it's a definite make it again meal.

And this evenings entertainment? I am usually the last to go to bed in this house.  It's not that I go late, it's a case of everyone else goes rather early to bed these days.  This is where I end up trawling the Internet and playing silly games etc. So this is where I decided  could definitely cut down on Internet time and start using the time to make all the things I have plans for. 

I got out one of the many patterns I have lined up to make and found the fabric to go with it and started cutting out and started sewing this tonight. 

I have made this pattern before. I also have a confession, after it was made I realised I had put the skirt on backwards, resulting in the pockets being at the back not the front.  Lining up the notches apparently can work back to front to.  Luckily the fabric works in a way no one has yet noticed. It is such and easy to wear dress that I keep wearing it.  With a cardigan on no one will ever know. Plus it gives me a small giggle and a smile when I wear it. I would take the skirt off and turn it round but I had already created the channel for the elastic and finished that off and overlocked it all.

Tilly and the Buttons Bettine dress is a simple and easy dress to make and goes fairly fast to make

I'm using this elephant design viscose. Got as far as I could sewing without having to use the overlocker. As it was almost midnight and the overlocker is a lot noisier than my sewing machine I decided to not wake the boys and possibly the neighbours with it. Hopefully I can get this finished tomorrow after I get home and before I pick up my granddaughters from school

All in all a fairly productive day for once. The Internet is a brilliant resource yes but it is also a big time waster. She says while blogging and using the Internet!! I am going to set myself the challenge of keeping my laptop upstairs during the day and only using it in the evening quickly for blogging and looking up resources I need for only 30 minds in the evening.  Going to aim for a month and see how I get on. Hopefully I won't be found shaking with withdrawal and falling back into bad habits.

For tonight

take care

Jules x