Completed In February

Not to forget my word 'COMPLETE' for 2020 (although I didn't expect it to mean complete isolation LOL!)  Here's my list of things I completed in February.  Not so much sewing this month, but more scrapbooking.

My Vision Board for 2020.

I loved making this!  This was on the February 'to-do' list in the 'One Little Word' class that I am taking with Ali Edwards.  I am trying not to buy new magazines or books, so I asked some friends for magazines I could cut up.  I made it A1 size so it would go in a frame I had already in the dining room.  I use this room a lot for my sewing, so I see it often.  I tried to find pictures to example each aspect of my life, eg Family, my dog, exercise, crafting etc.

Analysis of our Expenditure.
I try and keep an excel spreadsheet of our bank accounts, so we can keep a track of where our money is being spent.  I got way behind for 2019, so made a point of completing it.  My previous way of working would have been to work on it a little each day, but my approach is changing this year and I worked on it solidly until it was complete.

Photos.
My photos on the computer are not too badly organised, and this is something I  want to keep up with this year.  I want to use a system each month:
*upload them to laptop from camera and phone
*delete any I don't want to keep
*tag them, so that they are easy to find at a later date
*print out the best for scrapbooking

Here's a look at one of my January scrapbook pages:

Memorabilia.
I keep all sorts of tickets, brochures, invitations etc!  A few years ago,I had a big sort out and put them into files according to decade.    Just recently, I decided to get them into my scrapbooks, along with the photos of the holiday or event.  It has saved quite a chunk of shelf space!  Here is an example of a wedding we went to last year (BIL married his Chinese bride) with the invitation next to it:

Linens Quilt.

Remember I made this quilt top with old embroidered table cloths last year?  I bought a duvet cover in a ditzy green print to use for the backing.  Unfortunately, it is not 100% cotton, but not all the table cloths are either.  I decided to hand quilt around the squares, as I thought it would pucker badly if I tried to machine quilt it.  I spent a lovely week or so of evenings sewing this.  I find hand sewing very calming.  I found the blue polka dot fabric in my stash, and had just enough to cut into strips for the binding.  I am really pleased with the finished quilt!

Scrapbooked a holiday.
Another ongoing project is to scrapbook all our past holidays!  Here's a couple of pages from a weekend in Bruges which we took way back in 1998 for our 20th wedding anniversary.  It was the first time we went on Eurostar.  We had a lovely time except for the weather, it absolutely poured with rain all weekend!  Looking at these photos has made me want to go back and see it in better weather.

Well, that's it for February.  I'll be back soon with my list for March! 

Strange times

What strange times we are experiencing!  Here in the UK we have gone into lockdown now and can only go out to buy food or medicines, or once a day for exercise, and all non-essential shops must close.  Those in key industries can still go to work, otherwise its working from home or no work at all.  It is a relief really, as there are people who are not being sensible about the social distancing rules, and this is almost certainly the last big announcement to come from the government about lockdown.  Every announcement prior to this has led to huge dash to do another big food shop, stripping the shelves bare in all our supermarkets.  Surely the stockpilers don't have any more room for their stashes of toilet roll, tins and dried food!

Anyway, we are absolutely fine here.  We have a lovely home and garden, and there's lots to do here!  I have a huge long list of craft projects that are started or ready to start.  Last week at my sewing class, I bought several lengths of fabric for projects, and I have a huge stash of quilting fabric for scrap quilts.  Somehow I can't manage to get started on a new project just yet, but I think that is because I am adjusting to a new normal.  I find myself feeling quite anxious and overwhelmed at times, and then I check the news again!  Time to keep the news sites closed, and just read blogs.  Maybe blogs will come back in fashion?   I hope so!

Maurice can work from home as can both kids, and their jobs are secure for now.  So no work or money worries, thank goodness.  Maurice has this week off to use up the last of his annual leave, and we had planned some lovely countryside walks with Barney.  Barney has to get used to the fact we can only take him for 1 walk per day instead of his usual 2.  He knows something isn't quite right, but he does enjoy being in the garden with us.  So far, the weather is lovely and we are catching up on some gardening, weeding and tidying.

Take care friends, and stay well and safe XXX