Taking photos in the garden

One of the things on my 'to-do' list in the lockdown is to take more photos.  I used to take a lot of photos of daily life and make albums of them, but recently I have simply run out of enthusiasm!  I took my camera out in the garden a couple of days ago and took some close-up photos of flowers.  Here are some of the best: 

And finally, here's one of my collection of houseplants in the dining room window.  They are on an East facing aspect so get the full sun in the mornings.  I haven't had houseplants for a long time because I kept forgetting to water them!  These have mostly been gifts and I am taking great pleasure in keeping them thriving with water and feeding.  

A close up of the orchid flowers.  They last for months!  

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! 

Completed in January

In the spirit of my word of the year 'Complete', I thought I would list things that I have completed here on my blog:

I knitted a tea cosy!  I am not a good knitter, but had been given a lovely tea pot for Christmas, and decided to knit my own tea cosy.  I used some left over chunky wool from a shawl I had crocheted, and here it is.  I am quite pleased with it.  I have almost completely used up the wool!

I sewed this lovely fabric into a tunic top.  I had bought this fabric for another top pattern, but decided to use this one from which I have already made 2 summer tops.  This one has long sleeves and looks great over black polo neck and jeans or black trousers.  I can see me wearing this one a lot.

I started sewing this little bag a couple of months before Christmas and then left it while I sewed Christmas items.  It is really sweet!  It has a zip across the top and the front and back are made from patchwork panels.  It is from a pattern by The Birdhouse Patchwork Designs, an Australian company.

I did have 1 failure!  Hence my bemused look in this photo!  This green top started out way too big, and I ruined it by trying to take it in.  See how it pulls across the front shoulder?  It doesn't look too bad in this picture, but it is practically unwearable!  I have left this photo uncropped despite the vacuum cleaner in the side because Barney looks so cute photo-bombing!

Remember I made quilt tops last year?  Here's one of them all finished with batting, backing and quilted ready to parcel up for one of my daughter's friends who has just had a baby girl.  I am intending on working through them all over the next few months.

I like to make a scrapbook of each year, and I finished up the 2019 album in January.  I like to use some pocket pages (Project Life) and some 12 x 12 pages.  Here are a couple of examples.

I also finished some pyjama trousers that I had made for Maurice for his birthday back in July!!  All they needed was the elastic in the waist!  I made a black t-shirt top to go with these, but he has been wearing them with a long sleeve top recently as it is so cold.

There is one thing that I forgot to photograph, and that's a little bag I made for my craft friend Burnice for her birthday early in January.  She had been given a vintage sewing/knitting basket for Christmas so I filled a little bag with vintage sewing notions for her.  She was really pleased!  We celebrated by going for afternoon tea.

It's been a good month for completing things!  I love to be able to tick things off my list, but I am trying to slow down a little, and take more care, especially with sewing projects.  I am also trying to keep going with each item through to completion, rather than 'making progress' with several projects.   

My word for the Year - COMPLETE

I have had a word for the year for quite a few years now.  I have chosen words that help me approach and focus my goals.  Way back in 2009, I picked the word 'Simplify'.  I wanted to simplify areas of my life to give me more time to do things I love to do, such as spending time with my family and creating things.  I spent the year tidying away clutter and trying to get into routines each week. As I do not have a job, I have a lot of time to myself, and I like to use it productively.  I have found a way of  using my time intentionally that works for me.

Half way through that year I found a wonderful website 'Simplify101'.  Aby Garvey was running online courses to help with organising, and I straight away signed up for the 'paper clutter' course.  Sadly, Aby's business is not running anymore, but 10 years later, I am still in touch with the friends I made along the way.  Aby was kind enough to host our little forum until she closed the website last year, and we posted every day about our goals and how we were doing.  I have been lucky enough to meet my friends from around the world in real life!  I have met Shari in New Zealand, Cynthia in San Francisco, Lau in France, Nancy in Oregon, USA, and Kathryn from Australia (we met in London).  Now the forum has closed we are not in touch every day, but I am sure we will still keep in touch regularly.

Other words that I have chosen in the past include LIGHT, SLOW, BREATHE, and GROW.  See this post from last January about my word LIGHT for 2018.

I have written goals each year for a while now, and basically they are very similar every year, and are centred around my health and fitness, my family, my home and garden and my crafting.  This year I have decided not to write goals as such, but to use a word to help me focus, and I am partaking in an online class run by Ali Edwards, One Little Word.  Ali provides regular prompts and discussions to keep the word in mind, and to explore how the word's different meanings can be incorporated into everyday life.

So for this year I have chosen COMPLETE.

I first decided on this word as I do have some projects to finish, including completing the quilt tops I made last year.  With the help of Ali's prompts and worksheets I have some other ideas:

*Completely use up stuff around the house - eg fabric scraps, paper craft stuff
*Feeling complete - when my family is around me, feeling healthy in body and mind
*giving things my complete attention - less distraction, eg from social media!
*how well I complete things - perfectly complete or completely perfect
*complete rest - I could definitely do with resting more.
*working on 1 project until I complete it - 1 project at a time

A word about perfection.  I tend to finish things off quickly, tick them off  and move onto the next thing.  Sometimes this is at the expense of perfection.  I am not saying that I want to be a perfectionist as such, but I think I need to keep it in mind, especially when sewing. 

I am looking forward to this year and how my word pans out!  I am keeping a journal to see which aspects of COMPLETE will inspire me the most.  I will keep you posted.

Spring Flowers

Bluebell woods are one of the spectacular sights of the countryside in England at this time of year.  The English bluebell is a lovely flower with its drooping bells in stunning shades of blue, and carpets the woodland in a haze of blue.  One of our favourite dog walks at the weekend is Slindon Woods about 30 minutes drive from here.  We decided to go over there on Bank Holiday Sunday to see the bluebells.  The weather was cold and a bit dull, and some of the bluebells had already finished!  But we found enough to take some photos:

 We took a flask of coffee and sat under these intriguing branches of an oak tree to drink it.

A few days later the sun was shining, so I took a walk around my garden with my camera to try and capture some spring colour:

And finally, I potted up 3 tomato plants and a Black-Eyed Susan in my greenhouse.

Me Made May 2019

It is that time of year again!  Zoe from SoZo blog has been hosting MeMadeMay now for 10 years!  The idea is to wear Me Made clothes all month.  Lots of sewists join in posting on Instagram (#MeMadeMay2019) and blogs etc, making all sorts of pledges to wear more of their home made wardrobes.  I am linda.pierce.5623 on Instagram.

I have taken part a couple of times before, and have generally pledged to wear at least 1 item of Me Made clothing each day.  This year I wanted to change it up a bit and try to wear items that I don't wear very often, my skirts and dresses. 

Before I started sewing my own clothes again, I hardly ever bought a dress or skirt.  My measurements just don't coincide with RTW skirts and dresses - I am too pear-shaped!  This is one of the reasons I started to sew again, and the reason I go to classes each week.  But, even though my me made dresses and skirts fit Ok (most of the time!) I still don't wear them. I am happiest wearing jeans and a top.   I want to try and find out why that is.

I love this skirt and have worn it quite a bit in the autumn and winter.  The shape lends itself to boots and pleather jacket.  The pattern is Kwik Sew 3877, and I have made it several times and will definitely make it again - maybe in a plain colour.

Another Kwik Sew 3877.  I bought this fabric from Fabric Land, and tbh it is not very good quality.  I originally made it shorter but recently lengthened it.  I inadvertently scorched the fabric a bit with the iron so I think this skirt will go to the charity shop now.  The jumper is a bit small and has joined the skirt in the charity pile!

I love this pinafore dress!  I feel quite cool and trendy in this (LOL!).  The fabric is a printed baby cord, and has lots of colours I can pair it with.  In fact, I bought an orange-red top and a cream top today, both of which will look OK.  Here I am trying out a new look (to me), wearing my sneakers with a dress!  The pattern is the Cleo dress fro Tilly and the Buttons.

Off to my niece's hen party - dinner at a local Italian restaurant.  I decided to wear this red crepe fitted dress with the unusual jewel neckline.  Somehow the neck doesn't sit quite right , and I find it really difficult to pair with a cardigan.  I can't say I feel very comfortable in this - not really me!  But it was nice to wear to the hen party dinner.  Pattern is Simple Sew Loretta jewel neck dress.  Below is a selfie at the hen party with my Mum.

Back to my Cleo pinafore - can't you tell I prefer something more casual?  This time paired with light grey tights and brown ankle boots. In the past, I have worn this with black jumper, tights and boots, or with a t-shirt in the summer.  It is very versatile.

This is my latest make, a shirtdress in this gorgeous embroidered denim.  I have made the waisted version of this a couple of times and feel very grown up in them.  This one is a little more casual.  I don't usually wear blue, except for jeans!  I was a little apprehensive both because of the colour and the loose fit with a belt - would I look like a sack tied in the middle?  Looking at this phot, I am pleasantly surprised and am thinking that I will wear this alot, both layered and on it's own in the Summer.

Finally, this long autumn leaf print skirt.  I love the fabric, but hardly ever wear it!  I am wearing it now as I write, and have realised that there are several things I don't like about it:
*it is too long on me
*it is a bit small and sits too high on my waist
*hence I feel frumpy in it
*it crumples too easily and needs ironing all the time

By the way, the pictures were taken as selfies on my phone in my conservatory, in my garden, in the spare bedroom, and the last one in my bedroom.


One week in I already have some thoughts:
*I need to make some items out of plain fabric to go with the myriad of patterned items of clothing I have!
*It's been really cold this week, and I find tights and shoes a real problem!  It's OK if my boots go with my dress/skirt, but I just don't know what shoes I should wear.
*There is a certain length I feel comfortable with - it is just about knee length.  Some of my dresses and skirts are a bit short and some too long.

Holidays Part 2 - Scotland

Our next holiday came about because Maurice's nephew, Mark, decided to cycle the length of the country, ie Lands End, Cornwall to John O' Groats, Scotland.  Mark actually lives in Australia now and flew over specially to do the cycle ride with some old friends.  Thus, we couldn't resist motorcycling to Scotland and meeting them in John O'Groats!

As we live on the South Coast of England (straight down from London), we had a lot of miles to cover.  We organised our route and hotels and B and B's along the way.  Our first stop was in the Lake District, just 5 minutes off the motorway.  It was a lovely country hotel, and after a lovely dinner there we found this lovely canal just opposite.

We set off early the next morning as we wanted to see Hadrian's Wall, a wall built by the Romans which spanned the north of Britain.  We went to a really great visitor centre called 'Vindolanda'.  We found it really interesting especially the Roman tablets which were found there quite recently.  They are one of the few surviving examples of Roman handwriting.

We still had a long way to go for our next overnight stop at Loch Lomond, in Scotland.  We had booked a farm B and B, and we were not disappointed!   This is the view from the dining room!

Our host was really friendly, and we spent some time talking to her about the sheep farm before heading into the little village of Luss for dinner.  Luss is a pretty 'conservation village', situated right on the shores of Loch Lomond, and is full of pretty cottages and flowers.

The next day, after a lovely breakfast with some fellow German guests, our travels took us through Glen Coe, a famous glen where many battles between the clans of Scotland were fought.  The mist covering the tops of the hills made it more evocative.

Further on north we stopped at the town of Fort William for lunch.  Whenever we are here we like to stop at the Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge, which overlooks the training grounds used in World War 2.

We were now well and truly in the Highlands of Scotland, but still a long way to go! It was a long gutty ride after this to get to our next night's accommodation.   Eventually, we turned off the main road on to the Mam Ratagan pass and were treated to some glorious views.  The pass is about 10 miles of single track road.  It must be an interesting road in the winter!

We arrived in the little village of Glenelg, situated right on the coast at the narrowest point between the mainland and the Isle of Skye.  We stayed the night in this inn, and were treated to a fabulous cèilidh band while eating dinner.  

It was a gorgeous morning and we woke to this view across the strait of Kyle Rhea to Skye.  

We decided to take the little ferry across to Skye and ride round and back across the Skye Bridge.  The Kyle Rhea ferry is the last operating manual turntable ferry in the world!  It is just a few minutes ride across the narrow strait. The water races through here and there are very strong currents.

Onwards and upwards - we rode right up to the top of Scotland for a night's stay on the north coast at Durness, stopping at Ullapool for lunch.  Durness has the most beautiful white sandy beach!  The weather over the summer had been hot and sunny, and even the north of Scotland had temperatures in the high 20s!  Lovely for all the RV holidaymakers up there.  We had a lovely dinner in the RV camp, and a sunny evening stroll along this magnificent beach.

The following day was the day the cyclists were on their last leg - and here they are cycling the last few hundred yards into John O Groats!  They had completed over 900 miles in 12 days, starting at the most extreme south-west of the UK, to the extreme north-east.  I am in awe!

 After we had celebrated with the cyclists we all made our way back down to Inverness for dinner and a night's stay.  The following day we set out for Aberdeen, somewhere we had not been before.  Lots of people told us not to bother, and apologies to Aberdonians,but they were not wrong!  It is called the granite city because it is built from granite.  Unfortunately, this gives it a fairly motonous grey tone, which is not very joyful!

So we were not sorry to leave Aberdeen early the next morning on our way to Falkirk.  We wanted to see the Kelpies, two 30m high horse heads built to liven up the park by the Forth and Clyde canal.  They are awesome, and certainly lifted our spirits!  These photos give you some idea of the scale.  

We also wanted to see the Falkirk Wheel, a rotating boat lift linking the Forth and Clyde canal with the Union canal.  We had tickets to go on a boat trip and had time to take photos and have a coffee before it was our turn.  It is quite a feat of engineering!  

 

The view from the top

Our holiday was coming to an end now and we left Scotland the next morning.  We decided to stop near the town of Dudley so we could visit the Black Country Museum, an open air living museum.  I have a family connection, as my great grandparents were chain makers near here in the late 19th, early 20th centuries.  We were especially interested to see  the chainmaking demonstration, and I was thrilled to see an exhibit about  the lady chainmakers strike in 1910 for a minimum wage.  I wonder if my great grandmother was involved?  Something I am interested to research further.

And so we made our way home.  I hope you have enjoyed my whistle stop tour of Scotland (with a little bit of England).  I have really enjoyed writing this and looking back on our holiday.  We did a lot of miles, and it was long days of riding on the bike.  There were other places we would have liked to have stopped at along the way, but we ran out of time!  I am glad we did it, especially meeting nephew Mark and his cyclists, but I doubt that we will go back up to the very north of Scotland again.  It is a very long way!