Still Busy And A Nasty End to the Week - W/E 16th November 2025 - Part 2

The second half of the week started with a session at the gym on Thursday morning. I didn't get there until 11am, but I had a good work out and then headed home for lunch.

I was happy to potter at home in the afternoon. I needed to put away some laundry, put on a load to wash and then hang it out, tidy up the kitchen, which was a bit messy and then tidy upstairs a bit, where things were starting to build up in clutter hot spots.

OH was out most of the day at a professional development day, so it was just LB and myself at home. Later in the afternoon/evening, I did more hand stitching on the gilet. I almost finished it. It just needed the pockets sewing on and the ties.  I did some of it whilst watching this week's Celebrity Race Across the World, which was good.

Friday, was a completely free day for me. I wanted to go for a walk but it was quite rainy all day, so I didn't make it out. Instead, I stayed home and worked on some sewing projects, trying to finish a couple of the ones I'm currently working on. 

A couple of the projects were alterations and I did some work on these, although I didn't finish them, as they ended up being more difficult than I thought. I did manage to finish making the gilet, which felt good, so at least one project got completed.  I also started and completed a new small project, making a couple of  items that I created a pattern for the other day. I'll post about these and the gilet in a separate monthly sewing post.

On Saturday morning, I didn't get to the gym first thing, as I was late getting up and just wasn't feeling it. I was also due at the allotment at 11am, to help dismantle the shed and clear up lots of rubbish around it, ready to take to the tip and for a new shed to be erected.  OH headed down there first and I followed and hour later taking our nextdoor neighbour's dog with me, as we were looking after him again for the day.

By the time I got down there, the shed was already down and OH and a couple of other plotholders were clearing up the detritus. It was going well until a man from the flats next door came out shouting at us about the banging. He got pretty abusive and made threats of physical violence, which wasn't nice. We ended up locking ourselves into the site, in case he got any ideas about carrying out some of the threats he was making.

Anyway, after he'd gone we carried on and within 3 hours we'd completely cleared the area ready for OH to go back another day and level it before the erection of the new shed. He'll probably do that some time next week. Here's a photo of the cleared area:

As usual, I forgot to take a before picture. OH and I will be taking all the rubbish to the tip, once we've booked a slot and hired a van, another job for next week. A couple of the plotholders have recently left, so there are a couple of plots up for grabs, but I don't know if they've got anyone interested in them.

Once we'd done everything we could at the site, we came home for lunch. I needed to do a bit of banking and pay some bills in the afternoon. I then spent the rest of the afternoon lying on the sofa with next doors' dog watching Steel Magnolias, which was lovely.

On Sunday, I got up very slowly. I'd had a late night, as I'd decided to stay up and watch Bridget Jones - Edge of Reason, which was on the TV. I do like these films. They remind me of a particular time in my life.  Anyway, as a consequence, I slept in and had a very leisurely morning reading in bed. 

OH came back from a cycle ride with bad news. His phone had accidentally fallen out of his pocket whilst on a ride and he'd lost it. We hoped that he might be able to track it and go back for it, but on trying to do so, he quickly became aware that someone had picked it up and was moving with it. He immediately started to contact his credit card companies, as he uses telephone banking apps on his phone and one card had already been used, which he subsequently blocked/cancelled. What could have been a quite simple matter of retrieving his phone, had it fallen into the hands of somebody honest, became a lost afternoon of trying to secure his cards, the data on his phone and his sim. 

We are not sure whether information has been mined from his phone, possibly to be utilised for unscrupulous purposes, only time will tell. He then had to go out to the local mall to purchase a new phone and sim. Herein lies a cautionary tale about telephone banking, one which has always been a concern of mine, hence I don't use it and after this, I am unlikely to, ever, no matter the inconvenience of having to carry cards. Sadly, there are so many unscrupulous and down right dishonest people out there who are happy to prey/capitalise on a moment of absent mindedness or an accidental loss as in this case. Such parasites are everywhere and can cause enormous inconvenience and potential financial loss.

Whilst he was out, I did some sewing to calm my anxiety about the whole situation and continued with a bit of weaving too, whilst I contemplated the state of the world that we now inhabit.

Not a good end to the week, but such is life sometimes.

A Bit of Decluttering

After returning to London the other week, I was inspired to do a bit of decluttering.  It was long overdue. Staying in a very small cottage had got me thinking about whether or not I could live smaller than we live now. I often think about this and the idea really appeals, but I rarely do anything about it.  

When I got back home, I decided to make a start by finally decluttering our mug cupboard. It had been in my mind to do it for months, but I'd just never got around to it. It was completely full of mugs and cups, but I use the same 7 or 8 all the time. OH maybe uses another 7 or 8 and LB uses only 2 or 3. The rest just sit there unused from one month to the next. It was time for them to go. They were all chip free and in very good condition, so they'll be going to the charity shop. 

Here's a picture of the ones I'm donating: 

And here's a photo of the mug shelf afterwards (I forgot to take a before picture): 

I then continued to look at what I could declutter from other shelves in the cupboard and decided to let go of these Orla Kiely eggcups and salt and pepper shakers. I've had them a good few years, but have hardly used them. I decided I'm probably going to try to sell these too, as I think they might be more collectable. I'll see how they go.

A few plant pots also got donated, as I have way too many and I want to reduce my plants as they die off. These are probably my least favourite ones.

 

I also pulled a few cups out of another cupboard and put them into cirulation in the mug cupboard. They've been sat unused for years until OH recently started to use a couple of them for drinking his expresso coffee. I figured that they may as well all come out and be used in rotation. I don't want to let go of them, as they are vintage Poole Pottery and I like them, but they do need using if we're going to keep them.

In this session, I gathered around 21 items to sell or donate. It's not a huge amount, but it was a start.

The next week, I decided to do a bit more decluttering by tackling 'the cupboard of doom' in our kitchen, which contains all the jars for preserving/storage, tupperware, spare salad spinners, lunch boxes, etc. I'm sure everyone's got one. In our house, we all dislike this particular cupboard, as it's the kind of cupboard where everything falls out when you open the door. I've tried numerous times to reduce and re-organise it, but it's still a nightmare.

Anyway, at the back of the cupboard are my recipe books. I never use them, as I'm not really very interested in cooking these days. OH tends to do most of the cooking, but we do really need to add a few new dishes into both of our repetoires, so I initally got them all out to search for inspiration. It very quickly became apparent to me, that very few of the books inspired me at all and I decided to donate most of them. I'm hanging onto a few, such as one particular Delia Smith book, which is my go to for some things if I make them from scratch and various others that I think might be useful. This did help a little, as it created a bit of space at the back.

In addition, I went through my folder of recipes cut from magazines, picked up at the supermarket, etc. and threw out any that no longer inspired me or that didn't suit our tastes. I managed to combine two folders into one to create more space. To be honest, most recipes you can find online or on Pinterest these days, so as someone who isn't really a foodie, recipe books are virtually redundant here. Most of them have been picked up in charity shops at some point, so it's not as if I've spent a lot of money on them. It felt good to get rid of so many (12 in total) and make some space. Here's a picture of the pile going to the charity shop:

Later in the week, I decided to tackle the pantry cupboard. I'd tackled the food shelf a couple of weeks ago, but shelf below was very messy. It was largely full of items I use to make beauty or household products. It needed a good tidy and reorganisation. Here's an after picture as I forgot to take a before again:

There wasn't much there that I wanted to let go of, but it is all now much more organised and easier to access. I was even inspired to make some homemade deodorant again, which felt satsifying, as I've been meaning to make some for a while.

To be honest, most of the items in our kitchen are used regularly, so there isn't a whole lot to declutter. I did find some grapefruit spoons that I could donate. They have a serrated edge for cutting the fruit from the pith, but I can't eat grapefruits anymore, as my doctor told me they are contraindicated with one of the medications I now take, so I decided to let these go. They were a useful little tool when I did eat grapefruits though. There were also a couple of other pieces of cutlery that I don't like, so they got donated too.

That just about concludes my decluttering for now, but hopefully I'll get around to doing a bit more at some point in the not too distant future.

Keeping Busy - W/E 16th November 2025 - Part 1

This week, it was back to normal shopping on Mondays again, out of town. We didn't need a whole lot, because we'd been away part of last week and I'd shopped later in the week for some things, so we still had quite a few things left over. As a consequence, I just managed to keep within my £90 budget for the week, even though I did forget a few things when I lost my list whilst shopping in Lidl.

I used a £6 off a £40 spend voucher in Tesco, which was well worth using. I didn't really struggle to spend the £40, but I did buy some things there that I wouldn't normally. I don't think I paid more for them though.

I picked up a couple of small Xmas items and I also paid a visit to the charity shop, mainly to look for a couple of books I'm searching for. I did buy a jumper for £4. It was from Hobb's and was part cotton, part wool, which I thought was good value and quality for the price. It needs to be hand washed, but I can do that if I have to. I also tried on a 100% cashmere M&S sweater, which was priced at £4, but I didn't buy it. It was light grey, not really my colour or style and the moths in our house would ruin it. I think it was erroneously priced too. I left it for someone else. I noticed whilst in there, that they had some jeans on the £1 rail, which was annoying, when I'd just spent £2 a pair on some for a craft project, but never mind, I was happy with the ones I did buy last week.

All in all, it was a good shop this week and I've got one last voucher to use next week. I'm quietly hopeful that I'll be able to keep within budget for the rest of the month, but we'll see.

On Tuesday, I was booked into my usual class at the gym. which was taken by a different teacher this week. I quite enjoyed it, as it was quite challenging. Afterwards, I walked into our local shopping area to pick up an online order from M&S. It was part of OH's Xmas gift. He needed a couple of new long sleeved polo shirts and the M&S ones were very good value. I picked up some salad whilst there, as I'd forgotten to buy any the day before.

I then dropped into our local Primark, as I was on the lookout for more sports socks for the gym. I didn't find the socks I was looking for, but I did find a very nice denim shirt, that I bought for OH to give to me for Xmas.

Last stop, was the pharmacy on the way home, to pick up my prescription. I changed my pickup location to a different pharmacy last week, as when I was trying to order a repeat prescription, the pharmacy where I used to pick it up from had system issues and I had to go direct to the GP to re-order it. I took the opportunity to move it to a pharmacy a couple of minutes walk from where we live, which is much more convenient.

Being out and about a bit more meant I did quite a few more steps, which was a bonus and I got a few errands done to boot. For the rest of the day I chilled at home. I had a nap, today as I hadn't slept well the previous night, waking up at 4am having had an unpleasant dream.

On Wednesday, LB and I decided to have a day out together. She's got a few weeks with very few shifts at work, so we thought we'd make the most of it and have a mother/daughter shopping day. The main destination was a Sostrene Grene store in the Jubilee Place mall at Canary Wharf. I had already visited one of their stores in Coal Drops Yard, Kings Cross a few weeks ago, but I deliberately didn't buy anything, as LB and I had been planning to visit a store together for ages.

We caught the bus late morning and by the time we got there it was lunchtime, so we ate in the Market Halls which has lots of food options. We then headed off to do some shopping and first stop was Kiko for LB to buy me a new cream face powder for Xmas, as I'd completely used mine up. I then bought her an item she wanted for Xmas and got a lipstick for myself for OH to give me.

We eventually made our way to Jubilee Place and the Sostrene Grene store. I ended up buying a few items for LB for Xmas, namely some lino cutting ink, a roller and some lino. I already have some of the cutting tools at home, so I didn't buy her those. I also bought a few small things for me, spending about £3 and a couple of Xmas hamper items for OH.

Neither of us needed much else, but we did look in the odd book and stationery store before catching the bus home. I stopped off at Lidl on the way home, between buses, for a few bits I'd forgotten earlier in the week and to pick up my free birthday doughnut, which LB and I shared on the bus. I'm happy to take a free sweet treat when I'm offered one, especially as the doughnuts are the least calorific bakery items.

When we got off the bus, the bus stop is close to our favourite local charity shop, so it was only natural that we would drop in for a look. LB found a couple of small items she liked and I found a 2m piece of black cotton/polycotton fabric, which is just what I needed to make a quilt for the shed. It cost £4. I also bought a Seasalt Linen mix dress, which was reduced to £6 on the sale rail. It's a bit big, but I'll probably wear it under a sweater, so it won't be that noticable. For the price, I didn't want to pass on it, as it is a good quality brand and I'd rather it be roomy than too tight in any case.

When we got home, I did some hand sewing on the second gilet I'm making, stitching on some of the binding. It's coming along okay. I also did some prep for the shed quilt, which I'd made a start on a while back using some fabric scraps. I can now progress with this when I get the opportunity. I'm slowly getting back into sewing again, after being away and getting out of the habit. I keep thinking up new projects to work on, but I really need to finish the one's I've already started. I've currently got at least 5 or 6 on the go at the moment, which is more than plenty to keep me busy.

It's been a busy first half of the week, I'm hoping for a bit of stay at home sewing time in the second half of it, I'll keep you posted with how I get on with that.

A Short Week - W/E 9th November 2025

After returning home from Yorkshire, it was a case of getting back into a routine. I was going to go to the gym on Thursday morning, but decided to go and do the rest of the grocery shopping instead, to make sure  that I didn't get stuck in traffic. I had only done part of it on the Sunday before we went away, so there were still things I needed to get and I had a couple of vouchers to use too before they expired.

It wasn't a cheap shop. I needed some more of an expensive mouthwash that I use, but I managed to find it on special offer at Boots, so I stocked up and ended up getting the equivalent of 3 for the price of 2, which should help the budget in the long run.

I used a £4 off a £40 spend voucher and another Clubcard voucher for £3 off at Tesco, so I made a good saving on the shopping I did there. I threw the odd Xmas item into the trolley, to be put in the freezer until Xmas day.

I front loaded the grocery shopping this week, buying a few pricey bits and a few multiples at a good price, to save money later in the month. It does mean that I only have £90 per week left to spend on groceries for the rest of the month. It will be a challenge, but I'll just have to make it work. I do, however, have some more money off vouchers to use over the next couple of weeks, which should help. I just have to make sure I spend enough to qualify, so I have to buy some things from Tesco that I would normally get at Lidl. I try not to overpay for things though and choose things that are a very similar price or sometimes, if I'm lucky even cheaper.

Talking of Lidl, I also managed to get a couple of freebies at Lidl this week, using the Lidl Plus app, one being a 1.5kg bag of potatoes and the other being a doughnut from the bakery. Not to be sniffed at. I'll always take advantage of the freebies and if it's something I don't want for myself, I usually put it in the foodbank basket.

I enjoy my shopping trips, I like the challenge of getting things at a good price. I always check out the yellow stickers, although there wasn't a lot I wanted from there this week, just some bakery items to go into the freezer. It's got to be done these days to balance the budget and I'm not too proud to do it.

In the evening, OH and I watched the final of Celebrity Traitors. At least with this series, all the money goes to charity whoever wins.

Friday started positively, when the scaffolders finally came to take away all the scaffolding from our side return and next door. I was so pleased to see it go. It's still pretty dark in the kitchen, because the weather is a bit grim (although dry), but on a sunny day, I'm sure we'll notice a big difference.

As it was dry, I decided to take myself off for a walk and get some exercise. It started drizzling as soon as I set off, but I persevered and it stopped. It felt like a long walk, but I only managed 8,000 steps, better than nothing though. I also stopped and used a few machines in an outdoor gym in the park.

On Saturday, OH and I headed out early to go to the free over 50's gym session. It was busy in the gym, but we both managed to get a good workout. 

When I got home, I headed out to the allotment for a couple of hours, to do some weeding and digging over. The part that I tackled was pretty grown over with grass and weeds and needed clearing to prevent them spreading. It was quite back breaking though, as the ground was quite wet and heavy. I did what I could. 

It was a lovely clear morning and way too good to spend inside at home. I needed to make the most of any good weather we get at the moment. Here's a picture of the half of the plot that I worked on:

I made a start, but there's still a bit to dig over at the end. I removed most of the deep rooted weeds to make it easier when I do go back. Whilst there I took a photo of one of my dahlia plants which is still flowering profusely:

On Saturday afternoon, I decided to try to make some banana bread. I'd never made it before and was super late to this particular party. It reminded me of when, during Lockdown, everyone was raving about and making banana bread. I think I resisted at the time, because it was so popular. Anyway, I had some ripe bananas in the freezer, so I used some of those. 

I used a recipe I found on Pinterest, which seemed pretty straight forward, but I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Let's just say it tasted nice, but didn't look like a banana bread, hence why I haven't posted a photo. It was nice with some Greek yoghurt and it all got eaten wtihin a couple of days. It's a healthier pudding than most though, as it was made from just bananas, oats, eggs, cinnamon, baking powder and just a quarter cup of demerara sugar (I didn't have brown). I also added a few chocolate chips.

On Sunday, it was another beautiful day with blue skies, so I headed back to the allotment and finished digging down the side I'd started the day before. I also did a bit of work on the other side, but there are fewer weeds on the rest of the plot, so it shouldn't take long to dig over. I then pruned the gooseberry bush and blackcurrant bush, so I got a bit further with putting the plot to bed for the winter.  I enjoyed just being outside, taking my time to work around the plot. It was very peaceful, as there was no-one else there.

On Sunday afternoon, I put the denim that I'd bought last week in the wash before using them for LB's pouffe. I decided to start work on the pouffe and began hand stitching a hexie panel for it with some dark denim that I already had. I'm intending to ombre the panel from dark to light at the top. Each side panel will be done in a different style of patchwork, as will the top. I've saved lots of ideas on Pinterest to inspire me. Here's how far I got this weekend:

I'll continue upwards with lighter coloured denims once the items I bought have dried and been ironed. It's quite hard on the hands, handstitching denim though.

Anyway, I ended the week by watching Game of Wool on Channel 4, which was good.

Hope you've had a good week.

Recent House and Garden Improvements

This year has been a busy one in terms of making improvements to the house and garden. I have to give all the credit to OH, as he has done virtually all of the work. Thankfully, he's very practical when it comes to DIY and can put his mind and hands to most things and he often prefers to do the work himself, so that he has control over the quality of the work.  In addition, it also allows him to save us a lot of money in the process.

As next doors building work was nearing completion, they were having scaffolding put up to render their exterior walls, so OH took the opportunity to get some scaffolding put up in our side return, so that he could paint the exterior of the house at the back. It probably hadn't been done in a good 12 to 15 years, since we initially renovated the house and then later had the basement renovated, so it was well overdue.

He started up on the roof where he needed to do a bit of work on a roof window and adjust some tiles that were damaged and then he worked his way from the top floor down to the the ground floor prepping and painting windows and walls as he went.

In addition, he renewed the guttering, putting larger gutters in that wouldn't block so easily, he replaced a few roof tiles making the roof watertight for the winter and re-pointed some parts of the chimneys too. 

Once that phase of the work was done, he then hired a scaffolding tower to paint the back end of the house. This part of the house isn't as high, but it needed quite a bit of work filling cracks and remedying a bit of damp to make it good. (The damp proofing is still outstanding, but will get done eventually)

This job took another week or two, so in all, it probably took him a month or more to complete the work and probably cost a thousand pounds or so all told, in materials and scaffolding costs (which aren't cheap). It would, however have cost much more than this, had he hired someone to do the work and there would be no guarantee that it would be done to his standards in these matters.

It's taken a while before I could document the finished result, as I had to wait until all the scaffolding came down and the job was fully completed.  Here's a couple of before pictures of the back of the house (these pictures are quite old, but they are quite representative and are the best I have, as I didn't take any before the work started):

Here is what the back of the house and side return looks like now:

There's still a bit of tidying up to do after all the work, but it is a vast improvement. I'm so grateful to OH for all his hard work in getting it to this point. He has completely transformed the back of the house and garden in the last two years, making it a lovely space and he has probably saved us thousands of pounds if not more. I'm now looking forward to next spring, when we can fully enjoy the lovely spaces he has created.

A Few Days Away in Yorkshire

This week we embarked on a trip up north to visit family. We'd booked a small cottage in the village where I grew up, so I was looking forward to the break. As a consequence, Monday morning was spent packing my suitcase and any food we needed for the trip. I also had to post a letter before we left and dropped into the allotment on the way back, to deadhead my dahlias, as they were still going strong. I'd been meaning to do it for a while, so it was good to get it done. There had been a lot of chat on the allotment What's App chat the previous few days, around the purchase of a new shed and dismantling the old one, which is something we need to assist with on our return.

We eventually set off on our travels at about 12.30 pm and drove up north. Luckily, the traffic was good and there were no hold ups anywhere. When we got there, OH went to visit his brother, whilst LB and I did a bit of food shopping and visited a couple of charity shops. I didn't buy much, just a dust pan and brush for £1.75 that we needed at home and that I wanted to use to clean my parents headstone in the churchyard. It always gets covered in grass cuttings, so I like to brush it down when I visit and decorate it with some flowers. (I did this the following day). I bumped into another family member whilst out and about, that I hadn't seen in a long time and it was nice to chat to her and catch up with her news.

We then headed to OH's mum's house for supper and had a meal and a catch up before retiring to our cottage and getting settled in for the evening.  It was a lovely little cottage and was ideal in terms of what we needed for our visit. OH walked up to the local pub for a beer, whilst LB and I watched back to back episodes of Daisy May and Charlie Cooper's new show about hunting for ghosts and chatted. They didn't seem to find many ghosts, but their dog had more luck in one episode, when it got very sensitive at one point and refused to go into a particular room at a castle. I have to say that this was the most convincing bit of the show, as animals can't act. Our dog was also very sensitive to particular energies. I'm convinced there's one in our house, not necessarily malevolent, but our dog would often bark at one particular corner of the dining room, when there appeared to be nothing there.

Anyway, I didn't sleep too well the first night, so I was a bit tired on Tuesday morning, but we got up and ready and headed out. OH ran all the way to his brother's house and while I was waiting for LB to get up and ready, I watched Episode 1 of The Forsytes, which aired on TV the other week. LB and I then met OH at his brother's house before heading into Hull town centre for a few hours. We visited the old part of town, which is always interesting and had a good mooch around. There are lots of vintage shops and record shops and a few very inexpensive charity shops too.  We had lunch in Trinity Market, which had lots of lovely food kiosks. We all ate Indian food, which was really nice.

LB and I visited a couple of the charity shops en route. I bought a few pairs of jeans in different coloured denims from both Emmaus and a local hospice shop.  The prices were so good at around £2 per pair. I just couldn't get them cheaper anywhere else if I tried, so it was a good opportunity to buy them for the fabric I need. I bought 3 pairs of jeans and a denim skirt, which if it fits, I'm going to swap out with one in my wardrobe that I bought last time we visited Yorkshire, as I prefer the style of it.  The one I like the least will be cut up along with the jeans, to create one of LB's Xmas presents.  She wants me to make her a patchwork denim pouffe for under her computer desk. I ended up spending just over £10 on denim and denim clothes for fabric for this project and I'll post about it when I get around to making it. I think I've got plenty enough fabric now and I may even have enough to make another for myself too.

Other than this and buying some flowers and groceries, I didn't spend much else on the trip, as OH treated us to lunch and then supper at the pub with his mum.

We spent the remainder of our last evening watching TV back at the cottage, as we were all super tired. We started watching a new series on Netflix called Untamed, which is set in Yosemite National Park in the US. It was pretty good. Thankfully, I slept really well the second night and we then got up, packed up, made our final visits to family before heading back south to London.

OH and I will probably make one more trip north before Xmas, but we'll be staying in London for Xmas this year, as LB is working the Panto and we won't be leaving her home alone. I'm looking forward to a quiet Xmas not working in retail this year. It's probably going to be our lowest key Xmas ever, as we're keeping gifting minimal this year. With only 50 or so days to go, it's not that far away now.

A Quiet Week With Lots of Sewing W/E 2nd November 2025

This week started in the usual way, with a trip out of town to do the weekly shop. The traffic is getting worse on the roads around London. Slow moving traffic everywhere. It puts me off going anywhere, but I do like to get out of town and have a change of scenery once per week. We found out the other week, that a new Lidl store is opening quite close to where we live, so I may get a granny trolley and walk there to do my weekly shop if the traffic gets any worse.

Anyway, I did my absolute best to keep the costs down this week, buying only what we'd run out of and would use this week. I was shocked when I couldn't get the cost down below £100, even after using a £6 off voucher at Tesco. There weren't even any particularly expensive purchases in this week's shop either.  It is what it is, but I wasn't impressed. As a consequence, I've gone over budget by £63, which will have to come from next month's income.

Tuesday, I went off to the gym in the morning for my weekly class. It was good, but it makes me realise how much I've lost my aerobic fitness and need to work on it. In addition, the teacher informed us that she is going away for a few weeks, so I don't know who'll be taking her class. She deserves a holiday though, as she's there rain or shine, week in and out. Everyone needs a break.

The rest of the day was quiet and not very productive really. I did a bit of knitting and some work on my finances, as it was virtually the month end and I don't intend spending any more money between now and the end of the month. OH did more work outside today, so that he could take down the scaffolding tower, as it was due to be collected on Wednesday. He's virtually finished the back, anything he still needs to do can be done from a ladder or the ground. It's looking so much better.

We're planning on going up north to see family again soon, so I searched out some accommodation for us to rent for a few days. I found us a really reasonably priced small house in a good location, so OH booked it. LB is coming with us, as she's got a few weeks with very few shifts at the theatre between shows, so it's the best time for her to go. It's unlikely that she'll have time to go up nearer to Xmas, as she'll be working a lot more for the Panto season and on some days over Xmas, but she'll be getting paid double her usual rate for those, which is more than I've ever earned anywhere over the Xmas period and is definitely not to be sniffed at. It will probably help her to completely pay off her overdraft and start the New Year with a clean slate.

In the evening, we all sat and watched the fourth Hunger Games film, which made for a nice family evening. The only film we haven't re-watched is the Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakes, as I don't think that one is on Paramount. We've enjoyed re-watching all the others though. OH and I have been continuing to watch Riot Women on iPlayer and I have to say, it keeps getting better. It's good to see good British Drama on the TV again.

On Wednesday, I had a bit of a lie in and then got up and showered. I intended to head out for a walk to get some steps in, but it was raining and it continued to rain all day. Instead, I decided to continue making the fabric yarn for weaving and started sewing up the strips I'd made previously to make the yarn. It took a bit of concentration and the sewing machine had to work hard, but I ended up with these balls of fabric yarn. 

It's not a huge amount, but it's a start, and the beauty of this method is, you can use up any kind of fabric that you have no other use for, so long as it's not too thick, although you can use denim too, which is pretty thick and harder to stitch. It would also be great for using up damaged/worn out clothing or linens.  I had a few more balls to make before I could start weaving it, as I needed some lighter colours to mix in with the darks. 

I decided to try weaving one ball and see if it worked on my loom, before I made too many more. It did work well, but made me realise that I'd set up my loom incorrectly and had used the wrong kind of thread/yarn for the warp. I also needed to change how I'd attached it to the loom. It's a learning curve to me, as I've not done this craft before, but it's interesting. I found another great channel on YouTube called Spruce & Linen which will be a great help in getting me started.

Whilst making the fabric yarn, I had an idea of something that I could weave that would be useful. My loom is pretty small and isn't really big enough to even make a rug, so I thought that a mat to go under my sewing machine might be useful, as when I use it on the kitchen table the vibrations and noise from it being on a hard surface are quite loud.  A woven mat placed under my machine should soften things a little and make the noise less penetrating. It's an idea for a first project anyway.

On Wednesday night, I didn't get to sleep until 3am. I was pondering an issue I had with my gym membership, which I'd recently renewed. I couldn't figure out what the issue was until I looked back at my payments and realised that I'd applied to renew two memberships instead of just one. Luckily, the senior membership that I had accidentally enrolled in and was causing me problems (as they needed verification of my age), only cost £1.70, so I didn't lose much money if I don't get it back. I was glad to finally figure it out and be able to get some sleep.

Thursday, I was back at the gym in the morning. Thankfully, the rain had stopped and it was a nice morning. I couldn't get a slot at the gym until 12 noon, but when I did eventually go, I was glad to get out and get some exercise. I was very happy when I saw that some of the machines that hadn't been working lately, had been repaired and I could use them again.

Whilst I waited to go the gym, I continued with making the fabric yarn. I made a couple more balls in lighter shades and I think I will now have enough for the small loom that I have and can now start weaving once I've re-strung the warp.  Although it's been quite time consuming preparing the fabric yarn, I have quite enjoyed it, as it has been something completely different and it has been a great stash buster too.

Before I went out, I also mended a vintage duvet cover that's been in my project box for a while, as it had a rip in it:

I ironed on some fusible bonding and then stitched over the rip with a zig zag stitch. It's not the best repair, but hopefully it will prevent it ripping further, so it will do for now. It was tricky to get the part of the duvet that was damaged under the machine, as it was quite far from the opening and I nearly stitched two layers of it together at one point. 

When I got back from the gym, I had some lunch and then decided to quilt the second gilet that I'm making. I rushed it a bit and didn't do a great job, but it will be okay. I tend to wear them around the house as an extra layer, now it's getting colder. I found it difficult to work with the cotton wadding, as it wasn't easy to stitch. I had to really push and pull the fabric through the needle. I got all the quilting done and sewed the shoulders together. I now need to make some external pockets for this one and stitch them on, before stitching the sides together and then binding it, probably by hand again. 

The sewing project basket is now a lot emptier. Some of the things I'm currently working on are no longer in it, and they're not quite finished. They are hanging out around the kitchen table waiting to be completed, so this picture isn't really an accurate representation, but it now only really contains some bits of denim for making a gift for LB, (I need more and different shades of denim before I can start this), the pattern and fabric for a skirt that I want to make (which will probably be a New Year project, although it won't take long), some cut out fabric for some underbed storage (I'm not sure I want to continue with this project), and some fabric to make Xmas/birthday gift bags and fabric gift wraps.  

Now that I have the overlocker, the latter will be made a lot easier. As there are now less than 60 days until Christmas, I should really get on board with this one, although I do already have a lot of gift wrapping stuff in the loft, so it's not crucial that it gets done. I'd really like to empty the basket of projects by the end of the year and then my mind can dream up new and exciting things to make next year.

We forgot to watch Celebrity Traitors on Wednesday night, and having seen a spoiler at the gym, we made sure to watch it on Thursday night, before watching that night's episode. 

On Friday, I woke up to the sound of scaffolders outside adjusting the scaffolding on next doors house. I wasn't impressed. I thought maybe they'd taken our scaffolding away, but no, it's still there, for how much longer I don't know.

I got up and ready and headed downstairs. I did some laundry and then spent the morning doing a few clothing alterations at the kitchen table. Two of them were the dungaree dresses I made. I needed to re-hem them and make them shorter. I'd worn one on Monday and it was just too long, which made it difficult to get in and out of the car. It had to be done or I just wouldn't reach for them, which would be a pity considering the time and effort I took making them. I'm happy with the outcome though. 

The other alteration was to a COS top I bought from the charity shop. I just shortened it and re-hemmed it. I've included this alteration in a separate post. The final thing I did was to re-stitch together some black linen fabric strips I was going to use for weaving, but have subsequently decided to use as binding for the gilet. It will save me buying some and means that I can get on with it when I get the chance.  The strippy scraps from all of these alterations was added to the weaving bag to be made into fabric yarn, as they were just the right width. That was enough sewing for me for this week. I decided to take a break from sewing for a day or so.

In the evening, OH and I watched the last episodes of Riot Women and Landman. I started a bit of weaving on my loom, but didn't get very far. We now need to look for something else to watch going forward. I'm definitely going to watch Tom Daley's new knitting programme starting Sunday night, but I don't think OH will be interested.

On Saturday morning, OH came to the free session at the gym with me. When we got back, we collected next door's dog and took him to our house for the day, as they were out all day. I took him for a lovely long walk. It was a beautiful day, I was really grateful for it, especially after all the rain we've had recently. I took a picture of next door's pumpkin en route. It's cool, but disgusting at the same time.

In the evening we watched a film on Netflix called Steve and starring Cillian Murphy and Tracey Ulman. It was a very good film, but a hard watch.

On Sunday, I did the weekly shop locally and a day early. I managed to get £8 off my shopping with a 10% off voucher at Lidl, which was a good saving. When I got back, I decided to clean the window sills in the kitchen and downstairs toilet. They'd got covered in paint dust when OH was preparing the outside windows for painting. Now he's finished, I could finally clean up and I made sure to rinse my plants too and give them a good watering. It was long overdue. Unfortunately, there was one plant casualty, which was beyond saving.

Later, I tackled the ironing basket, which was mainly full of towels, so it didn't take too long. We were going away for a few days on Monday, so it was good to get it done before we headed out.

Hope you had a good week.