A Family Oriented Week - W/E 12th April 2025

This week, as I've already mentioned, LB was home from university and it was great to have her around. The week began with a mother/daughter trip out to the Car Boot sale. Like me, LB loves a mooch around a Car Boot and as OH was still up in Yorkshire visiting family, I drove us out to our regular Car Boot venue. It was a lovely sunny day and it was super busy again, with even more stalls than the previous time I'd visited. 

We started off mooching together, but soon went our different ways, as we both look for completely different things to buy. I was mainly looking for tops to wear for work and sewing items, but to be honest, there wasn't much that caught my eye. 

I started my purchases on the fruit and veg stall where I bought two bowls of avocados (6 in each bowl) for £1.50 each, which is way cheaper than buying them in the supermarkets.

I didn't find a whole lot else to buy, just some coloured felt and a vintage sewing/knitting basket for the living room, which is quite good for coralling all my current bits and pieces together in the hope of keeping things a bit tidier. Here's a picture of it:

It cost just £1 and is made with a pretty ditsy floral fabric. I also bought this vintage Irish made ceramic jar for 50p (which is now housing my collection of vintage knitting needles)

and a couple of small cross stitch kits for 50p each, which I mainly bought for the wooden hoops that came with them, although the thread will also come in handy.

My final purchase was half a dozen tomato plants for OH, as he'd been looking for them on his previous visit. They cost £1 each and I got 3 Moneymaker, 2 Italian plum and one cherry tomato, which will be great for the allotment. We no longer grow them from seed, as it is much easier to buy small plants grown by other people. We can't get them for £1 where we live, although OH did think that these were expensive.

In total, I spent £15 and came home with £5 left out of my usual £20 Car Boot budget. I did see a beautiful brand new M&S summer dress which was being sold for £7, but I resisted buying it and then kind of regretted it, when I ended up going home with cash in my pocket. But such is life.

When we eventually got home, we chilled for a while until OH came home from his travels and updated us with the story of his weekend with his family. I then did a bit of research on holiday accommodation for our summer vacation and earmarked a few villas in Portugal. We probably need to book something quite soon if I can secure the time off work.

Talking of vacations, later, we began to watch the NOW TV series The White Lotus on TV, as OH signed up for a membership specifically for us to stream and watch this series. LB was keen to watch it too, so we all spent the evening watching it together. Once we've finished watching it and anything else they are showing that takes our fancy, he will cancel his membership.

On Monday, it was weekly shop day and LB was happy to come along with me, as it meant that she'd get to visit a few shops she hasn't been to in a while. I stopped off at the library on the way to return the books I'd take out a few weeks ago, then I picked up a prescription from the nearby pharmacy, so I was able to combine a few errands en route.

We started off the shopping in Home Bargains, as I needed a few things from there. As usual, I managed to pick up a few extras and some foods that I don't always get, but I was fairly restrained for me and most of the shop was either food or necessary toiletries.

Next stop was Tesco, where I dropped off our soft plastics recycling. I needed to buy some seed sowing compost for OH which cost £5, and managed to find some yellow stickered bargains to fill the freezer, so I was happy. LB wanted to go into TK Maxx, so I joined her in there and ended up buying a few small gifts for OH's birthday next month. I like to start early and spread the cost.

We did stop off at the charity shop, but I only bought one item of clothing for £2 and that was a shirt to wear for work, which is on my list of things to look for when thrifting, so I was happy enough with that. I did  try a few other things on, but they looked terrible, so didn't come home with me.

The last stop was Lidl, where I did most of the food shop. It was an expensive week this week, as I did buy some things that I wouldn't normally buy, due to LB being home, and I threw in a few extra bits here and there. 

I've started to be a bit more mindful when shopping this week and am trying to buy as much as I can without packaging. I used to do this, but have fallen out of the habit and need to get back into it. 

When we got home, I made a roast chicken for supper. It's kind of our Easter meal celebrated early, as LB will be back at Uni for Easter and we won't be able to celebrate with her then. I'll be sending her back to Uni with  her egg and a couple of other small gifts.

On Monday night, I hardly slept, so was quite tired when I woke on Tuesday morning. I was booked into a class at the gym, so headed off there. When I got home, I had lunch and then felt really tired, so headed to bed for a nap. I woke at 6pm, so it was a bit of a lost afternoon, but I must admit I do like an afternoon nap on the odd occasion that my body needs it. It feels kind of self indulgent, but sometimes it just has to be done.

Wednesday was another homey day. LB had some uni work to do and I went for a run and did some sewing in the afternoon. I hadn't done any in a while and was getting withdrawal symptoms. It's kind of my happy place, so always refills my cup, so to speak.

On Thursday, I was booked into the gym at 10am and when I got back, LB wanted to go for a family walk in Epping Forest, which is a large ancient forest on the outskirts of East London, about a half hour drive away. We had a lovely chilled walk and then retired to a cafe for lunch before heading home. It was good to get some fresh air and exercise outdoors.

We finished watching the first season of White Lotus on Thursday night. It was okay, but didn't exactly grab me as some series do. I'm not quite sure if we'll continue to watch it once LB goes back to Uni. We might give the second series a try, but we have also started watching the series of The Day of the Jackal, which was also on Now TV and it is really good.

On Friday, I went out for a 5km run and then spent the rest of the day sewing and chilling at home. A friend of LB's came over and they went out all evening, so we didn't see much of her on her last night home, but we were happy that she was out enjoying herself and catching up with friends.

Saturday was quiet. OH was out cycling all day and LB left to return to her flat at lunchtime, so I was home alone most of the day, which I don't mind. It gives me time to think, catch up with myself and think about the week ahead. I had a late lunch and pottered around tidying up after LB's visit, doing some laundry, etc. It was another lovely day. I miss LB when she goes back, the house always seems quiet, but she's got a busy last term ahead of her and lots of work to do on her final project. She always likes to get back at least a day before her week starts so she can settle back in and be ready for the week ahead.

I wanted to do some work on my hexi quilt in the afternoon, but I didn't have any hexies made and needed some papers printing off my computer. I don't have a connection to a printer at the moment, so I couldn't do this, so instead I got out an older English Paper Piecing project that I hadn't worked on for nearly 2 years and did some work on that instead, as I did have some paper templates to use for it. It will keep me going until OH sorts out the printer connection for me and it was quite nice to work on something different and make some progress on an unfinished project.

It was a nice and relaxing week all together. I enjoyed it, but it's time to get back to reality now and go back to work. I hope you had a good week.

Upcycling Jute Shopping Totes

For years now, I've been using jute shopping totes for my weekly shop, as many people do these days. I've got a selection of them from different stores, probably about 6 or 7 in total. They get used every week and loaded up with shopping. I find them very useful and they are strong and good quality for the most part and have for lasted years.

Lately, however, I've noticed that a few of them were looking a bit worse for wear. Occasional spillages or breakages have taken their toll and a couple of them (the M&S ones in particular) had started to split and unravel a little at the seams. 

I was thinking of investing in some new jute bags, but I didn't like the idea of just throwing the old ones in landfill (as they are coated in plastic on the inside), spending £'s on buying new ones, nor of continuing to be a walking advertisement for any large supermarket. So when I came across the idea of covering them with scrap fabric on Pinterest, it seemed like a good way of upcycling them. 

Now, you might think that this is a pretty pointless thing to do and that I have way too much time on my hands, as they are only used for doing the shopping, but the bags themselves still had a lot of life in them, the handles were still strong and covering the bags would make them stronger still. Besides, I enjoy making scrappy fabric, so this idea gave me the perfect excuse to make some more and use up more of my scraps and fabric stash to cover them and keep them in use.

Here's a photo of one of the bags before I began:

I stitched it up where the bag was coming apart and then set about making a fabric cover for it. I used the same process that I always use for making scrappy project bags, ensuring that the fabric pieces were large enough to cover all sides and the underside of the bag. I did go for darker colours, as the bags do get a bit dirty being lifted in and out of the car, so I didn't think the dirt would show so much if I used darker colours, besides, I had plenty of these in my scraps basket.

Sewing all of the scraps together to cover the two bags that I had took an afternoon. I then pinned the scrappy pieces to the bag ready to stitch them into place by hand, as it was too difficult to do it with the machine, unless I unpicked the whole bag, which would probably compromise it's integrity. Here's a picture of the bags with the new covers pinned to them:

I decided to embellish with hexies and patches, as usual. As you can see from the photos, I will need to bind the edges of the outside of the bags to neaten them off.

The next stage was to attach the scrappy pieces to the jute bag. I decided that the best way to do this was to 'stitch in the ditch' of all the seams where I'd sewn different pieces together. It took a while, but it did mean that the scrappy pieces were firmly attached to the bag and not gaping. I then stitched some black binding around the edges to neaten it all up.  I was very pleased with the result at this stage, it looked much more finished.

Here are some videos of the finished bags.  I say finished, but there is still one very small flower to be sewn on. I did think about lining them, but for the moment I have decided not to, as there is a plastic layer inside the bag, so any spillages could be wiped clean, which seems more practical. I may change my mind at some point, but in the meantime, I'm looking forward to putting them back into use when I next go shopping.

Scrappy Sewing Fun

I've been at it again, engaging in some scrappy sewing fun, one of my all time favourite pastimes. I just love using up small fabric scraps and reducing the amount of offcuts in my scrap basket.

Last week, I decided to create another scrappy project bag. I'd been watching videos on YouTube about making fabric from scraps and it just inspired me to get the scrap basket out again and see what I could come up with.

I find it good fun to piece together lots of different scraps, take a photo of the layout and then sew all the bits together to make a bigger piece of fabric.  On this occasion, I went with a different colour scheme from the usual dark coloured fabrics, I decided to use paler fabrics ranging from white through beige, a few pale greens to browns and rust colours. I had lots of vintage scraps amongst these colours that I love, but just couldn't really think of anything I wanted to do with them, so this project was ideal.  

Here's a picture of the scraps laid out:

At this stage, it never really looks like anything special, but once you start sewing the pieces together, it always starts to look a lot better. I did make a few changes as I sewed it together, but nothing too noticeable.

I picked a cotton sateen fabric to line the project bag. I think I bought it for a few cents in an Op Shop in Australia over 10 years ago when visiting my sister and just hadn't found a use for it. It's not something I would really use for anything else, so I was glad to use some of it for this project and the colours matched perfectly with some of the fabrics used.

This is the finished bag and I love it. The top can either be folded over to close or rolled back exposing the lining, to make a kind of fabric basket. I may add a fastening of some kind to it. I think I'm going to use it to keep my dressmaking in when I start a new course next month. It will nicely keep everything I need all together in one place, so it will be easy to pick up and head to class with.

The second scrappy project I've been working on this last week, has been some scrappy rolls or strips, using adding machine roll to hold them all together. In doing this project, I was able to use up some of the smallest scraps in my basket by sewing them together until they were long enough to cover the width of the paper tape.

The only rules I followed in doing this was not to use the same fabric twice in any strip. I also did try to move seamlessly from one colour to another, but this isn't necessary. I was reasonably happy with the first couple of strips I made. Here's a picture:

I decided to use them to make a cushion cover for the shed. I combined them with some scrap offcuts of black linen, leftover from making the shed sofa cover, which made the multi-coloured strips stand out. 

I didn't have enough of this black fabric to make the backs of the cushions and I don't have many plain fabrics, but I did have a mustard coloured plain fabric, which did tie in with some of the scraps in the strips, so I used this and made an envelope closure on the back of the cushion cover.  Here's the completed cushion cover:

 

I'm quite happy with the outcome. It's not perfect, as always, but it is colourful, has helped me to use up lots of scraps which is always very satisfying and isn't bad for a first attempt at this technique. I may make another one at some point, as I think I just about have enough black linen and mustard fabric, but that will be a job for another day.

Finally, I made a small gift for OH's sister, namely these fabric jar openers. I've made them in the past, use them myself and find them invaluable. Is it me or do jars seem more tightly screwed on these days? Maybe it's that I'm aging and find it harder to open them. OH does too. I think I originally got the idea from Pinterest.

Anyway, OH's sister must have used some that I gave to his mum and mentioned to me when we were on holiday in Tenerife, that she could do with some herself, so I made her a pair using some offcuts of fabric. I find using a pair is better, one to grip the lid and one to grip the bottom of the jar.

 I hope she likes them.

Counting Down to a Week Off Work - W/E 5th April 2025

This week started off with my working a couple of shifts on Sunday and Monday. I didn't sleep well on Sunday night and was consequently really tired on Monday morning when I headed off to do the food shop locally.  I didn't have time to go out of town this week, due to being at work for 1pm.

The day didn't get off to a good start, and I apologise in advance for the rant, but I had an altercation with someone in the supermarket queue, when they saw fit to comment on the way I organise my items on the conveyor belt.

I told them in no uncertain terms that it was none of their business and if I want to make my life easier I will, as I wasn't holding up the queue - the cashier hadn't even started on my shopping yet. I pointed out the self service if he was in a hurry, but, of course, he didn't want to use that. He preferred to try to wind me up.

I did feel a bit guilty later, about getting stroppy with him, but he really annoyed me. I did let him in front of me in the queue, mainly so that I didn't have to listen to anymore unsolicited comments. Safe to say, it's not my favourite store, I often come across people with a bad attitude in there, which is why I tend to shop out of town, who needs it. I won't be rushing back, not unless I have to, like today, I'd rather drive 10 miles out of town and have a more positive experience. 

The only good thing about this shopping trip, was that I got £10 off my shopping with another voucher and I stocked up on lots of things, so future weekly shops should be a lot smaller going forward.

Anyway, I eventually calmed down when I got home, had some lunch and went to work, which was okay, save for the odd person behaving badly there too. It was my last shift for two days, after a four day stretch and the tiredness made it feel like a long afternoon. I was so happy when 5pm came around and I could go home and chill. I love to just stay home and not have to deal with people. 

I was in bed by 8pm that night, as I just couldn't keep my eyes open and despite waking for an hour or so at 4am, I managed to get back to sleep until 9.30am, when I had to get up and get ready to go to the gym.

My class at the gym was good and then when I got home it was lovely to have the afternoon to myself and not have to go to work or anywhere else. I didn't do much, just some laundry, some ironing, put some laundry away and read for a little while. I just needed some time to decompress from work. 

I joined the Recycle at Boots scheme today on their app, so that I can now recycle blister packs from my regular medication and also beauty product packaging, such as makeup, pump action bottles, toothpaste tubes and toothbrushes. You get 500 points on your Advantage card (worth £5) for recycling 5 items of packaging if you spend £10 in store at the same time and then 100 points (worth £1) for recycling 5 medicine blister packs. As I need to buy some of my dental care there now, this won't be difficult to do, as it can be expensive and the points will help with the cost of it, plus it helps to recycle things that are difficult to recycle and you can't put in household recycling.

I also joined the Co-op membership scheme today, as our local high street supermarket is a Co-op and we often drop in for the odd top up shop or to get milk. I thought I may as well benefit from reduced prices when I shop there.

In the evening, we watched a programme about the infamous 1970's The Good Life comedy series on TV, which was a lovely trip down memory lane. Such an iconic and funny series and still inspiring to people today in many ways.

On Wednesday morning, I was a bit tired as I'd not slept well again. I stayed in bed and finished reading another book, this one:

I started reading it on holiday in Tenerife in January. It was an entertaining read and is the second full book read this year.  I used to be an avid reader, but I really don't read much these days and really need to make an effort to read more.

I eventually decided to go out for a 3km run in the morning and stopped off to pick up a Vinted parcel on my way back. I'd ordered a new blouse for work in the summer, as I'd damaged one of my only short sleeved tops using a light coloured permanent marker and needed to replace it. It was actually terribly bobbled anyway, so it was probably a good thing that this happened, as it stopped me wearing it. 

I've currently got very few tops to wear for work in the summer and need to buy a couple more in the coming months, especially now the weather is warming up, if I can find them at a good price that is. This one wasn't expensive at £5 including postage. When it arrived, I realised that it was the exact same top as the one I'd damaged only bigger, which was perfect.

The remainder of Wednesday I stayed close to home. I did a little bit of sewing and a bit more reading. There's stuff going on in the background of our lives at the moment, so I'm trying to just chill and not get stressed by it, when there's little I can do to change anything.

On Thursday morning, OH was heading off to visit his Mum, as he needed to do some work in her garden for her over the weekend. He also wanted to go and visit his brother in hospital whilst there too. I didn't go with him, as I was working on Thursday and Friday afternoons and LB was coming home for a week on Friday. Hopefully, I'll get the chance to visit him soon.

I booked myself into an earlyish session at the gym and headed off there. When I came back I had to jump in the shower and get ready for work, get some lunch and head off, as I'd been asked to go in an hour earlier. The shift was okay as it was quite short. I got asked to swap my evening shift on Friday for another afternoon shift, which I was happy to do with LB coming home.

I was glad to get home on Thursday night. It felt strange to have the house to myself, but not horribly strange. Just quiet.

On Friday morning, I had a bit of a lie in, got up, did some laundry, got ready for work and did a bit of cleaning before LB came home. I managed to catch half an hour or so with her catching up before I had to head out to work.  Work was okay. It started off slow but got busier as the afternoon progressed and before I knew it I had finished work for the next nine days and was on my way home. Bliss.

LB was chilling in the shed when I got in, so I joined her and we had a good chat before heading indoors for supper. We both just chilled tonight and enjoyed some downtime. It's great to have her home for a little while. I'm looking forward to us getting out and about together over the next week.

On Saturday morning, I woke up early and decided it might be a good day for LB and I to head to the mall to get our hair cut. I'd promised her I'd take her for a hair cut whilst she was home and I was in desperate need of one and to be honest I just wanted to get it over with, as I hate going to the hairdressers. 

We hopped on a bus at the top of our street and were very lucky to both get an appointment straight away, which is rare. Twenty minutes and £105 later, (it's almost becoming unaffordable to have a haircut) we were done and did a small bit of shopping before heading home. 

It was crazy busy at the mall, so people must have plenty of money to be out shopping, but we didn't and didn't want to stick around, so we came home, had some lunch and hung out in the shed for the rest of the afternoon chatting. It's so lovely to have LB home. OH comes back tomorrow, having finished the work he needed to do for his mum, I'm sure he'll be happy to see LB too.

March 2025 Clothing Purchases

As I've already explained in another post about my low spend disaster in March, it wasn't a particularly good month for reining myself in financially. Consequently, there are were a number of clothing/accessory items purchased this month.

I have already posted about a few of my purchases, namely a belt (£1) and a pair of chunky boots (£5), so I won't post another picture of these, but I also did buy the following items of clothing this month.

Some underwear for £4.80 and a baseball cap for £5.40 (the latter for running in).

A pack of 3 pairs of gym socks for £4.50 and this leopard print T-shirt for £3, both from Primark

(It's a lovely petrol blue colour, which I like)

I bought a gym t-shirt from a local charity shop for £1.50. I did make a slight alteration to this in that I rolled up the sleeves and stitched them to turn it into a more boyfriend t-shirt style, as I prefer this. It's nice and long, loose and baggy, which is how I like to wear them in the gym.

A second pair of boots, Chelsea boots this time, from Matalan on sale for £17.50 

and some gym leggings from Matalan for £18.

A second pair of Matalan gym leggings from the charity shop for £3,

plus this pair of  Phase Eight navy checked trousers from the charity shop for £3. They are a smidge tight, but I really like them and I'm hoping that once I get back on track and lose a bit more weight they'll fit perfectly.

Finally, I spent £2 on this khaki animal print dress at the car boot sale, but I'm going to turn it into a skirt, I think, as I didn't like the style of it when I tried it on. It felt like a big tent, which wasn't a good look.

Yep, over £60 spent. Note to self:  This is not low spend, must do better next month.

Low Spend March - A Complete Fail

Well, I have to admit that on the low spend front, March was a complete fail. I really don't know what happened to me, but I was in way too spendy a mindset, which was not good.

The first week wasn't too bad, but by the end of the second week things got much worse. I got it into my head that I needed some new gym leggings. After trawling Vinted for a favourite brand that I know fit well, are reasonably priced and good quality, I couldn't find what I wanted, so I decided to head to the actual store and buy a pair new. These cost £18, which isn't that bad, but I then found a really nice pair of Chelsea boots in there that I couldn't resist at £17.50. Now, I have wanted some new Chelsea boots for a while. I'd been wearing my old ones at work and they were looking shabby, so I stopped wearing them for work in the hope I could preserve their life. At least now, I can start wearing them for work again, as I have the new pair for wearing outside of work now.

I then visited my favourite charity shop, and whilst I only had £8 of my thrifting budget left to spend, I went ahead and spent £19. It just so happened that I found a pair of gym leggings in there, from the brand I like. I could have taken the new ones back, but decided that it would be good to have two new to me pairs, as this second pair cost only £3. I also found a pair of Phase Eight trousers whilst in there for £3, which seemed a really good deal as they are a good quality brand, so I went ahead and bought them. It was the small additional items that took me over by £11. I found a massive industrial sized reel of black thread, which will be perfect for slow stitching for only £4, a pair of brand new thermal gloves for £2 (I'd recently lost a pair), a couple of bits of stationery for £1 each and then I spent £3 on a bag, solely for the strap fittings, for a project I was planning to do. (I took a look on eBay and it would have cost more to buy them new, so I bought the bag to save me a little bit of money). Not disastrous, but not good either.

A few days later, I bought a silver ring on eBay, one that I've been watching for a while and which was reduced by a couple of pounds and I then went on to compound this online damage by spending £30 on an online order for some slow stitching embellishments, mainly fabric patches and trimmings of varying types. I really shouldn't have, but temptation and my current obsession with slow stitching got the better of me, but it will keep me going for a good while and some of the trimmings were for a project I'm starting for LB, so I'm glad I bought them, as hopefully, they'll improve the outcome. That's the problem when I get a new obsession, it often leads to a bit of a splurge. Hopefully, I've scratched that itch for a while now.

The next splurge was attending a car boot sale mid way through the month. I'd not been to one for ages and with the weather being a bit sunnier (although still very cold) it made for a nice trip out when I had a Sunday off work. I did go with a fixed budget of £20 and a list of things to look for, i.e. anything good for slow stitching (but had to be very inexpensive on account of what I'd already spent recently), a vintage tin for buttons, plants to brighten up the garden, particularly pelargoniums, anything else that caught my eye, so long as it was necessary or very inexpensive. I've posted about what I did buy and I did get a lot for my money, but it did signal to me that I needed to stop spending on unnecessary things for the rest of the month, as I'd already spent way too much.

For the rest of the month, I tried very hard to keep away from any spending temptations, which wasn't easy. I did book a dental appointment and had to pay a £45 deposit in advance, which was quite annoying actually. It was an extra expense that I really wasn't expecting. I also signed up for a 9 week sewing course towards the end of the month, which again I hadn't been planning on doing, but I'm glad I did and it only cost £53.

On the positive side, March wasn't too bad for savings. I did manage to put away £200 towards the car fund and I put £6.39 into a savings account to round up the balance in there to the nearest £100. I also won £125 on the Premium Bonds which was a major bonus and which got reinvested in more bonds and I put money aside for LB's bills and Xmas/birthday gifts as usual. So all was not lost. I also opened a new cash ISA to get a better interest rate on some savings this month, which hopefully will benefit me going forward. I may put the car fund money into this account too, so I don't have to pay tax on any interest I earn.

Next month, is going to be a difficult one financially for me. My wages this month were probably the lowest they've ever been since I started this job, as I got very few extra hours over my contracted hours. I'm not particularly mad about it, as I enjoy working less hours, but with all my expenditure this month, some of which was on my credit cards and has to be paid off next month, this will mean that I will have an extremely limited budget for spending on anything other than the absolute essentials of food/household items, which kind of serves me right for being so spendy this month. I have also promised myself and LB a long overdue haircut which will make a big dent in available cash. It's also looking pretty unlikely that I will be able to put much money in the car fund next month, we'll just have to see how things go.

So, next month will certainly be a challenge, but I'm actually looking forward to it, as it might help me develop some financial discipline. I'll let you know how I get on.

A Busier Week - W/E 30th March 2025

For some strange reason, I convinced myself and my family this week that Mothering Sunday was Sunday 23rd March. OH reminded LB to send a card, which she did, along with a parcel of seeds as a gift for me, which was very sweet. She knows me so well - flowers, lettuce and beetroot - perfect choice. OH bought me some flowers and chocolates too, Maltesers, of course. (My favourite)

After reminding OH to send a card to his mother too, LB then informed us that it was actually next Sunday 30th March. Anyway, it turned out okay, as LB was going away for 10 days on Tuesday, so she would have missed it whilst she was away. Maybe that's why I got it in my head it was this week.

With Mother's Day celebrated a week early, I had to head to work for an afternoon shift.  It was super busy, busier than I've experienced in a while, which made it pass super quick.

In the evening, OH and I watched another couple of episodes of 1883 on Netflix. (Thank you Jackie for telling me about the next series 1923, we'll be watching that next if we can get it)

On Monday, I had the day off and headed off out of town shopping. I took my newly made leopard print handbag with me to try it out for the first time. It survived the outing and worked well for me. I had a 10% off voucher to use at Lidl this week, which saved me over £10.

After putting the shopping away, I went up to the sewing room and did a bit of work on the scrappy rolls I'd started over the weekend. I sewed together all the very small scraps into long enough lengths to use and then created a couple of long scrappy pieces using the card machine paper, before tidying them up with a rotary cutter.  The only difficulty I found was that my rotary cutter was not very good.  A case of buy cheap, buy twice, as the saying goes. It will do for now, but it isn't the greatest. I may invest in a better quality one at some point. I now just need to decide how to use them. Here's a picture of the strips I made:

On Tuesday, LB flew off early in the morning to visit a friend for a few days. Thankfully she got there okay as it was very foggy at the airport when she got there. I'm hoping she has a nice time.

I was booked into my usual class at the gym and then after lunch I went up to the sewing room and continued making more scrappy lengths. I've decided on a project to use these for and made some progress with that.  I also did some work on the scrappy project bag I started last week and now I just need to do some hand sewing on it whilst I'm watching TV and it will be finished.  I'll do a separate post about these projects when I've finished them both.

On Wednesday, I was due at work for 1pm, so I went out for a 3km run in the morning and then showered and got ready for work. At work I was given an extra task to do, which kept me very busy all shift and made the time go by super quickly, which is how I like it. I was informed that we've been given a pay rise, which sounded good, until I worked out that it's not much more than current inflation. I guess anything is better than nothing, I do consider myself fortunate to have a job at all.

On Thursday, I headed to the gym in the morning, as the Saturday sessions have now ended, and had a good workout. It was a lovely sunny day, which does make a difference. Life feels a little more hopeful when the sun shines.

In the afternoon, I went upstairs to do some long overdue cleaning. I wanted to get LB's room clean and ready for her coming home at the end of next week and the stairs and main bedroom desperately needed cleaning, vacuuming and mopping. It took the whole afternoon, but I threw the windows open and let some fresh air in, changed the bedding and towels in the bathroom and it felt great to get it done. The sewing room still needs a good clean, which will get done eventually, but the next job will be to clean the downstairs of the house, as it is more of a priority.

On Friday, I got out for another 5km run. It felt like a really long run. It didn't help that I kept my phone on my pedometer page, so was looking at it constantly, which made the distance seem longer. I was due at work in the evening. Work was good and passed okay. I am working all through this weekend and on Monday too, so I'm getting some extra hours in for a change and I'm also working a couple of extra shifts next week, as it is Eid Mubarak and many of the staff will be celebrating and spending time with their families. The following week, however, I have booked a week off work in order to spend time with LB while she is home from Uni for a week and I'm really looking forward to it.

With no gym class on Saturday morning, this meant that I could enjoy a lie in for as long as I wanted. Bliss. I stayed in bed and finished reading this book that I got from the library a couple of weeks ago. 

It was my first full book read this year and I really enjoyed it. It did get me thinking about sustainability and what I could do to make more effort in this regard.

After lying in on Saturday morning, I eventually got up and ready and headed to the sewing room for a morning of sewing. I worked on four different projects. The first was cutting down a 100% cotton dress to a blouse that I can wear for work and creating a whole big length of black cotton fabric from the voluptuous skirt to use for other projects. I've still got to finish the hem of the blouse. I'll post again with pictures when it's done.

The second project was making a couple of jar openers for OH's sister, who he is seeing next week. I had given some of these to his mum and his sister must have seen and used them, as she told me she could do with some herself, so I made her some. I had quite a bit of difficulty sewing the rubberised fabric, as my sewing machine foot kept sticking, but I came up with a way to overcome this by using the adding machine tape to cover the rubberised fabric and then ripping it away once sewn. It worked like a dream.

I don't know if it's just me and ageing, but I increasingly find jar lids are screwed on way too tight and these really help to unscrew them. They are very easy to make from the rubberised kind of draw lining fabric you can get from the pound shop. I wouldn't be without mine. Even OH sometimes uses them.

The third project was to finish the scrappy roll project I'd started, but I'm posting separately about this, so I won't go into detail here.

Finally, I made another elasticated seat cover for my sewing room chair. I'd made one previously but it was looking worse for wear, so I made a new one in the same fabric, as the back has been covered in this fabric.

So, it was a pretty productive morning and I really enjoyed progressing these projects and using things from my stash to do so.

I then had a late lunch and headed off to work for the evening. Work was very busy again which was good. Another colleague left tonight, which was sad and hailed the end of another week, albeit a busier and more productive one.

Making Homemade Air Freshener and Reed Diffusers

On a few occasions in the past, I have attempted to make homemade air fresheners and reed diffusers, with varying degrees of success. I have a number of essential oils and thought it would be a good way to try to use them up and save money on buying more chemically based products.

Initially, with regard to reed diffusers, I bought a carrier oil and used it with essential oils, which I read somewhere was the way to make them, but this didn't seem to diffuse the scent and it was expensive using oil, especially these days when the price of any oils has gone up exponentially, so I gave up on the idea and continued to buy them.

I then saw an instagram post by Nancy Birtwistle, which suggested that a good way to make reed diffusers was to add 10 drops of essential oil to a bottle full of water and then to disperse the essential oil, which tends to float on top of the water, she suggested adding 10 drops of this too:

The Polysorbate 80 is used in soap making and emulsifies the essential oil so that it disperses in the water. It does make the water look a bit cloudy, but this isn't noticable in a coloured bottle like I used. I bought this bottle of Polysorbate on eBay for about £7, which sounds a lot, but using 10 drops at a time, it should last for ages, so next time my reed diffuser runs out, I will try this method, hopefully, with better results.

In the meantime, I ran out of air freshener, so I reverted back to my original homemade air freshener, which was just water and essential oil combined. Despite the oil not dissolving in the water, I did find that it continued to give off a scent without any polysorbate added, but when another shop bought bottle that I use upstairs ran out, I decided to put Nancy's idea to the test. 

With the air freshener/clothes freshening spray, Nancy does suggest using alcohol instead of water, but I preferred to stick with just plain water, as alcohol seemed like an expensive option and I didn't need it to freshen clothing. I made the air freshener in a spray bottle this time, with water, lavender essential oil and polysorbate 80. I gave it a good shake and it seems to work okay and is definintely preferable to spending £2-3 each purchase on a bottle full of chemicals, so I'll stick with this from now on and see if I can find any other uses for the polysorbate too.

Have you ever tried to make homemade reed diffusers or air fresheners?

A Quiet Week With Lots of Sewing - W/E 22nd March 2025

This week started with a treat. OH took a day off from cycling and took me out to a Car Boot Sale on Sunday morning. I had a great mooch around for a couple of hours whilst OH went for a run and got a cup of coffee and then we headed home via Selco, to look at some bricks to build a brick patio in the garden. There were some nice ones, but we just have to price them up now and make a decision about which ones we want to use.

When we got home, I spent the afternoon writing some new blogposts that will be published over the next week or so. I also needed to find a home for my car boot sale purchases, so I headed up to the sewing room to put most of them away. 

Whilst up there, I did an hour or so of machine sewing, on both a new slow stitch project for LB and on making a bag from a skirt that I purchased at the charity shop last week for £1. I put the zip in and sewed the main bag pieces together. I now need to work on the lining and then figure out a way to attach the straps. It's coming along. I'll probably post about it when I've finished it, if it turns out okay.

After supper, we settled down to watch the final episode of season 4 of Yellowstone. It's been our go to for weeks now, so I'll miss watching this now we've completed all the available seasons on Netflix.

On Monday, our neighbours on one side were having builders starting work on building into their side return. As a consequence, the lovely mature honeysuckle will have to be cut down. I have tried to root some of the new shoots, but I don't think they've had time to root, but I'm hoping they will before the fence comes down.

My calorie counting has been successful in that I've lost 3lbs in the last week, which feels good. At least my weight is finally going back in the right direction. I went for a run on Monday morning, but just a very slow 3km, as that was all I was feeling.

I then went out to do the weekly shop locally. I'm staying well away from any charity shops and any other spending temptations for the remainder of this month, as I've spent way too much money already on things that aren't essential. I was at work for 5pm on Monday, which went okay.

On Tuesday, I was booked into my usual session at the gym. Over breakfast, I decided to do a little bit of financial work, namely finding out the balance on a couple of small pensions. One from an ex-employer isn't worth much, so I'm contemplating cashing that one in come the new financial year.  The other, my current employer is also small, as I only work part-time, but it was interesting to see how much it is currently worth. I have a couple of other pensions from jobs I did way back, which will give me some income when I reach the age of 60. (Not long now!) I really need to get updates of their current value as they are getting close to maturity.

My class was good and then after lunch, I had to take a walk up to the pharmacy, as I needed them to provide me with an emergency supply of one of my medications. I thought I had another blister pack, but had completely run out and it takes at least 2 days for the prescription to come through. Thankfully they were very helpful and gave me enough supply to see me through until then. At least it helped to increase my steps for the day. I also dropped into the library whilst out, for the first time in ages. I borrowed these books and am currently reading the book about sustainable living which is quite good.

On Wednesday, I had a lie in and read for a while. I decided to have an exercise free day, as I was waiting for a delivery and just wasn't feeling like going for a run. I took pleasure in hanging out at home doing some sewing and reading. I did a bit more work on the handbag that I'm making from a thrifted skirt. I'm now just waiting for the webbing for the strap to arrive, so that I can finish it.

I also did some work on my hexi star quilt. I thought that I was close to finishing it, but realised tonight that I need to make more of the hexie diamonds to fill in some gaps around the edges. I think this project is going to take a full two years at the speed I'm progressing with it. (I started it in November 2023)

On Thursday, I got up and had breakfast, whilst creating more hexies for my quilt. I eventually went out for a 5km run. It was pretty warm and sunny today, which was lovely, but it made it quite hot for running. When I got home I spent most of the afternoon making more hexies, then a bit later I retired to the sewing room to finish the bag I've been making. I've posted separately about this. I was very happy with the results. 

I then decided to start work on a new scrappy project bag. I've always got so many projects on the go, I can always make use of another one. For this one, I used lots of scraps of lighter coloured vintage and other fabrics, that I really couldn't imagine using for anything else. I didn't quite get it finished, as it got late and I don't like to disturb the neighbours with the sound of my sewing machine. I don't know why it feels so satisfying to use up scraps, but it always does. I decided that from now on, I'm going to keep all the very small bits of offcuts and bits of thread from quilting and sewing and try to use them as stuffing for projects, rather than throw them into landfill, which is what I've been doing up until now. It will be interesting to see how much I collect over time.

On Friday, I got up in a leisurely manner, as I didn't need to be anywhere until much later in the day. I spent some time on my hexi quilt project today and then did a little more work on the new project bag, but once again I didn't get it finished as I had to get ready for work. Work was good tonight, I enjoyed my shift doing my favourite job.

On Saturday, I had to get up and out to the last free gym session until May. To be honest, I'm not sorry that the term has finished, as it will be nice to have a lie in on a Saturday morning, especially for the next couple of weeks as I'll be working late on Fridays. The sessions will re-start in May. I'll just have to make sure I go to the gym in the week instead.

On leaving the gym, I headed into our local town centre to get something I'd run out of and then walked back home via the pharmacy to pick up my prescription. By the time I  got back I'd done almost 10,000 steps, which is just as well as I won't be doing many more for the rest of the day. It got a couple of errands done though, which is good.

In the afternoon, I decided to enrol on a new sewing course. It's one I used to go to many years ago, probably more than 10 years ago, more like 15 actually. It's a nine week course, attending 2 hours per week on a Tuesday afternoon. There was just one place left, so I thought I'd better book it before it got snapped up. I did check with my manager at work that it would be okay to be unavailable on Tuesdays whilst attending, and she was fine with it. It wasn't too expensive either. I paid just £53, which really is a bargain for the tuition. I want to attend mainly because I want to make a dress using a pattern I bought at the car boot sale, but think I'll need the guidance of a teacher, as I haven't done any dressmaking for a long time. To be honest, it will be nice to get out and do something outside of the home and meet new people too. I'm looking forward to it starting in late April.

The rest of the afternoon, I spent doing some more fun scrap fabric work in the sewing room. I decided to start on some scrappy rolls and see how they go. I'm just jumping from one project to the next at the moment, but I'm enjoying myself.

We finished the week watching a new series on Netflix, which is a prequel to Yellowstone, set in the late 19th century when the Duttons are on the move to Montana. It's quite good and will give us something to watch over the next week or so.

Making A New Handbag From a Thrifted Skirt

This last week, one of the sewing projects that I've been working on, has been to make a new handbag from a skirt that I bought from the charity shop from the £1 bin. It's a new feature in one of my local charity shops, so it's worth a rummage. I bought the skirt with the intention of wearing it, but when I got it home, despite it being my size, I didn't like the fit and felt it was probably a bit short. I could have re-donated it, afterall £1 isn't a big loss, but I did like the fabric.

The skirt was made of a thick upholstery type fabric in a leopard print, and I do love a good leopard print. In fact, I'd been tempted by a leopard print bag in Primark the same day I bought the skirt, but decided not to buy it as I wasn't 100% keen on the style of the bag. Anyway, the idea of using the skirt to make a bag came to me and I decided to give it a go. I'm afraid I was so enthusiastic to get started, that I didn't photograph the skirt, so you'll have to trust me on that one.

I'm currently enjoying using this bag on a daily basis, which I bought from Primark 18 months or so ago. I use it regularly and it's a great size for me. It fits my purse, keys, travel card, phone, tissues, lipstick, shopping bag, etc., which is all I really need to carry around with me. I wear it cross body and it sits comfortably. It's my ideal bag currently, so much so, that I bought a second one in brown to swap out when I feel like it. 

It's a pretty simple design, so I decided that I'd try to make my own pattern from it to make the new bag. I basically drew around the side and base of the bag onto a sheet of paper.  I then cut out the pieces from the skirt to make the bag from. I also cut out the same pieces in black linen (left over from the shed sofa cover) for a lining. I didn't make a pocket on the front or inside the bag, as this was complicating things too much for my liking, so it's a pocketless bag, but it will still be fine for what I need, as I'll probably use it more for days/nights out rather than everyday use.

I bought a pack of 3 black zips that were the right length from Home Bargains for 79p and sewed one of them into the leopard pieces before sewing them together and then I hand stitched the machine stitched lining into the outer part of the bag. These were the relatively easy bits to do and here's how it looked at this point in the make:

The next job was to attach some straps to the sides. I used some more of the leopard fabric to make small covers for the ends of the bag to give a neat finish and made them wide enough to stitch some webbing into.

I ordered 2m of black polypropylene 38mm webbing from eBay which cost £3.50 and also I bought a bag from the charity shop that had suitable hardware on it to use for the strap. 

This is the bag, it cost £3. It's not in great condition, as some of the trim is flaking, but the strap hardware is perfect for what I needed and it would have been more expensive to buy the hardware separately, so I decided to go with this. I will probably donate the body of the bag to the next Zero Waste event, in case anyone wants to use it as a handbag organiser or for storage, rather than throw it away, as it is colourful, well made and has lots of pockets and might be useful to someone.

Once I'd figured out how to attach the strap, I was able to put it all together and finish the bag. It was a bit tricky, as the skirt fabric was too thick to attach the small end covers by machine, so I had to sew them on by hand, which may prove to make them less strong. Only time will tell. The second hand fittings worked perfectly and I made the straps the same length as my current bag which works well for me.  Here's a couple of final pictures of the finished bag:

It can be worn quite long or quite short, whichever you prefer. I personally prefer to wear it short. It can even be worn inside a big coat, which is especially good if you're in a crowd and want to keep your bag secure.  I'm really happy with how it worked out. It was tricky to attach the handles as there are so many layers of thick fabric and strapping to sew through, which was difficult with a domestic machine, but I think I managed to make it strong and secure enough. Only time will tell. I'm now looking forward to using it next time I have a night or day out.

In total, I spent £7.77 to make this bag. I probably could have bought the Primark bag for less, but where's the fun in that. I now have a pattern, two more zips the right size and the know how to make more of these bags if I so wish, which is much more satisfying.

Car Boot Sale Haul - March 2025

On Sunday morning, OH and I ventured out to my favourite Car Boot Sale. It was the first sale since probably October, so it was lovely to go back and have a mooch around again. It was a lovely day for it too, although it was pretty cold, especially early on.

We got there at about 9.30am (it started at 9am). This time, I decided to start at the end of the boot sale and work my way back, as I never tend to get to the last few stalls, so I thought I'd do it differently and try to get around all of the stalls.  It was very busy with lots of stalls and lots of shoppers.

I went with a limited budget of £20. I tend to always limit my car boot visits to this amount as it's way too easy to spend a lot of money if you take it. OH had a quick look for some tomato plants, but nobody was selling any, so he headed off for a run, leaving me to look around.

I hit the jackpot on the very first stall I came to. Everything was either 50p or £1 and I spent £6.50 but got a whole heap of stuff, mainly for slow stitching, but a few other bits too. Here's a few photos of what I got from this seller:

These vintage postcards cost 50p each and date from the 1920's. I couldn't resist the dog and puppies as it looked a little like our dog that died last year and the vase of roses card was just delightful too.

This is a little Royal Doulton Marbella jar or pot. It's a bit grubby, but it's lovely and is in immaculate condition. I think it may be missing a lid or maybe not but this was 50p too. It will be great as a pencil pot.

These lovely matches in a little glass jar were also 50p. Once they've been used the little jar will be useful to store something.

The remaining items were all sewing related and for the remaining £4.50, I think I did okay. Here's a few pictures:

Wide black cotton tape great for scrappy or snippet rolls.

This was probably the best item I bought. It is a pack of 30 Liberty lawn cotton fabric squares, 2 each of 15 different designs. This was a total steal for £1.

A small cross stitch kit, which although pretty, I will probably only use for the threads.

Another huge cross stitch kit, which I won't be making but which provides masses of thread to use for slow stitching.

A bag of bright green buttons.

Another small packet of colourful buttons.

A brand new 20m reel of burgundy satin ribbon which will be great for gift wrapping or slow stitching.

And finally, five fat quarters of cotton quilting fabric. I know I don't need any more fabric, but the blues in this pack were very pretty and for 50p or £1 this was hard to leave behind.

From other sellers I bought the following:

This huge pack of fabric patches for slow stitching. These cost just £1 for over 30 patches, which was fantastic value.

This cute crochet pattern book for LB who loves all things Japanese and enjoys making small crochet animals. This cost 50p.

This lovely uncut multi-size Butterick dress pattern for £1. I have a dress already in a similar style and it is very flattering, so it would be great to be able to make something similar myself using fabric from my stash, although I would probably make it a slightly longer midi length.

Four lovely greetings cards for 50p each. These will all get used in the next few months.

This super cute vintage Xmas decoration cost just 50p. I just love kitsch vintage Xmas decor and this was a total bargain. So happy with this.

I bought one item of clothing, namely this khaki animal print dress, for £2. I love the print, but sadly when I tried it on at home, it just felt too short and  tent like which wasn't at all flattering. I do, however, think that it could be made into a midi skirt without too much difficulty, so I may try to do this at some point, as I will be way more like to wear it like this. Any offcuts can then be used as scrap fabric for other projects.

Last but not least, I bought 4 bright pink primroses for £1 each to put in the metal boxes in the garden. They will help brighen things up until everything starts growing.

There were a few other very small inexpensive items bought, plus I bought a bowl of 9 oranges for £1.50 and then I was spent up, just 50p left, but I think I did okay with my £20 and I'm very happy with everything I purchased.