A Week of More Sewing, a Photography Exhibition and A Garden Tidy Up - W/E 15th March 2026

This week, I was glad to get back to my normal routine. On Monday, LB decided to come with me to do the grocery shopping out of town, so it was nice to have company. I managed to buy most of our Easter eggs whilst out, as the supermarkets all had offers on small/medium sized eggs this week, which saved me some money. 

I did visit the charity shop and I bought one item of clothing for £5 and a couple of word search books for 50p each. The 'Clever kids' version is not by any means full of easy puzzles and I've been timing myself as I do them, just for fun. They are good to keep my brain ticking over.

The item of clothing I bought, was a knitted black dress. I know we are now coming into spring, but this dress is a lovely loose fitting one from Kit and Caboodal, which is a UK company that imports Lagenlook clothing made in Italy. The website isn't currently active, so I'm not sure if they are still in business, but this dress isn't too lagenlook and loose, it just fits nicely without being too tight and will look nice worn with knee high boots. (Except I do need to get mine re-heeled, so I may not wear it this year) I think it probably will have been quite expensive new, so I was very happy to buy it for £5. I'll post a photo in a monthly clothing purchase post at the end of the month, as I have bought a few bits of clothing this month after a couple of months not buying anything.

We got some bad news on Monday, that OH's brother had been admitted to hospital, which was a bit of a surprise, as we'd seen him only a few days before.  He had a bit of a health crisis after we'd come home and is now receiving treatment and undergoing some investigations, which will hopefully help him going forward.

On Tuesday, I was due at the gym for my Zumba class as usual. Fortunately, the music for this class was okay, which was good. When I got home I ended up going to bed in the afternoon for a 3 hour nap. I had slept very badly the night before and just felt so tired. I felt much better for it and then spent a while reading in bed once I'd woken up. As a consequence, Tuesday was a bit of a write-off, but such is life sometimes.

Wednesday, I didn't need to go anywhere or do anything, so I decided to have a day at home sewing. I managed to finish the ironing board cover project, which I was very happy with and I will post about this next month in my Monthly Makes post. I then deconstructed a pair of my old jeans to use for some future projects. They weren't really in good enough condition to donate, so I'll use them to make something else instead. It was nice to stay home and get at least one project finished.

On Thursday, my usual class at the gym was cancelled, as the teacher was unavailable. As a consequence, I decided to take myself off to a free Women's History Month event in the Docklands. It was a talk at a local library about the Women Gardeners of East London, who created parks and garden spaces for all to enjoy. I was really looking forward to it. I had to take two buses to get to the library, but when I got there, it was closed due to staff shortages. I was very disappointed and left a message on the library answer phone asking if the talk had been rearranged.

In order not to waste the day, I decided to stop off at another event on the way home, namely a photography exhibition by a lady called Joyce Edwards. It was in a small gallery and it consisted of a series of photos of a community of squatters in the 1970's, who occupied a small area of houses that had been compulsorily purchased by the GLC (Greater London Council - now disbanded) and were due to be demolished in order to build a motorway through the East End of London. Thankfully, the motorway never got built, and the squatters, who were a varied bunch of artists, actors, musicians and other young people, eventually formed a housing co-op, which bought the houses and refurbished them, with the help of the local council. I believe many of them still live there today. 

It was a very uplifting story about how group action and protest can have positive results. There were a few films showing as part of the exhibition, where members of the group talked about their experiences.  It was super interesting and on the way home, I walked down a couple of the streets and saw the results of their efforts. I was glad that I didn't just go home defeated and went on to learn something about this period of London history instead.

On the way home, I dropped into a nearby Buddhist Centre Charity shop. It's not a shop I've ever been in, but it was a lovely little shop, with lots of really good items in there. I have to say that I did buy a few things. Firstly, I bought a 100% wool sweater, which cost £18. This is a lot more than I would normally pay for anything in a charity shop, but it was very colourful and it is rare to find 100% wool sweaters anywhere nowadays. I'll post a picture of it in another post. I just hope that no moths get to it.

I also bought two large pieces of denim fabric. They are not heavy denim, but the kind of weight that will be easy to make into clothing. One piece was 4 metres long and I paid £7 for it and the second piece was 2m long and cost £4. I really don't need more fabric, but if it's natural fibre and can be made into clothing, then it is worth picking up, as denim usually costs at least £8-£10 per meter. I'm looking forward to making some items of clothing with them. I'll keep you posted. Here's a picture:

Finally, I also bought another non-fiction book, which is right up my street. This cost £3.50.

As a consequence, I have very much overspent on my thrifting budget this month, but as I'm so happy with what I bought, I do not care. Sometimes, you just have to buy certain things when the price and quality is right.

Anyway, I walked all the way home with my bag of charity shopping, which was no mean feat, as it was heavy and the distance was almost 3 miles. I did get 10,000 of steps in though, which was all good.

This week, we've started watching the new adaptation of A Woman of Substance. It's many years since I watched the original and I can't really remember it in detail, so it's quite like watching it from scratch.

On Friday, I was going to try out a new class at the gym, but decided not to in the end and had a lie in reading instead. I felt a bit lazy this week. After lunch, I took a walk to the allotment to bring the bins in after they'd been emptied and stayed for a while to start clearing weeds from the path. Here's a picture of the plot at the beginning of the growing season:

The fruit bushes are starting to sprout, OH has planted the potato tubers, but there's very little else happening at the moment. You'll just be able to see the very small bit of the path that I cleared towards the top left of the photo. It's quite time consuming trying to dig out dandelion roots between the pavers. I've got six weeks to clear the paths around the plot, so I should have time to do it all, even if I only clear a few rows each visit.

I've decided that this year I'm going to try to weigh all the produce we grow, which I've never done before and just see how many kg of food we produce on this small plot. It should be interesting, providing I remember to weigh it all each time we harvest.

On Saturday afternoon, I finally felt motivated to do some work in the garden at home. I just haven't felt like getting out there, even though we have had some good weather days. Anyway, I began by tidying up around the decking, pruning a few plants around the edges, then moving and sweeping under all the pots on the decking. Most are on rollers and easy to move around.

By the time I'd done that, OH came out and helped me, by removing all the cat excrement from the borders in the paved part of the garden. Sadly, it's a cat toilet every year, despite various efforts to put them off. He managed to fill 3 dog bags this year. TMI I know, but a fact of life in a small London garden, where it seems like the majority of people in the neighbourhood own at least one cat and some more than one. It's been worse since we lost our dog, as she kept most of them out. It felt so much better once that job had been done. 

Whilst OH was doing that, I focused my attention on the narrow border on the other side of the paved part of the garden. We created this border last year and it's not really very mature. I weeded, cut back some plants, planted a few bulbs and also transplanted some self-sown foxgloves underneath the cherry tree. It's a bit adhoc and the planting has not really been designed, but I like to garden this way. It doesn't currently look like much, but should improve as things grow bigger. I could do with buying a few plants for this border, but my budget doesn't really stretch to it at the moment, and besides, it's not a very sunny spot, so we're limited in what we can grow here.

It felt lovely to get out in the garden again and progress with making it a space we can enjoy.  We still need to move some wood in the middle of the paving, which OH is going to do once he's managed to do the damp proof course around the outside of the kitchen, then it can all go back down the side return and I will then be able to properly clear the paving of moss and weeds. I'll post again with photos once this has been done.

Later, on Saturday evening, I made some sultana scones.  I'm trying to use up items in my baking drawer and I had an abundance of plain flour that needed using. They turned out okay and it was nice to have something sweet to eat for a change, as I don't tend to buy or make sweet baked goods very often.

Sunday was Mother's Day. OH was out cycling and I headed off to the gym mid morning. I hadn't been for a couple of weeks and I could feel it. I felt very tired when I came home. I stopped off on the way home to watch a heron on the canal. It had a small fish in it's beak, wiggling around. It took a while for it to actually swallow it whole. (Poor little thing)

When I got home, LB presented me with this lovely handmade card and a very lovely smelling soy wax candle for Mother's Day. I was very impressed by her creativity. It is such a beautiful card. It made my day. OH offered to take me out, but I wasn't too bothered. I find places too busy on days such as these. I'm quite happy to stay home. He did treat me to some wine, chocolates and a bottle of gin later, which made me very happy.

The week came to an end watching a disturbing Louis Theraux documentary on Netflix about the 'Manosphere'. I do sometimes wonder what the world is coming to and feel sorry that LB has to navigate some of the atrocious attitudes out there right now. Luckily, she's on it and is well aware of the misogyny and other horrible prejudices spouted by certain individuals online. It shows a very dangerous side to the internet that I am happier knowing little about, but we all should probably be aware of it for our childrens' sake, in order to try to protect them from it.

A Visit to Yorkshire and Settling Back In at Home

On Thursday of last week, OH and I were heading off to Yorkshire to visit family. I was booked into the gym at 10am, so I headed off there on my bike, so I could get back as quickly as possible and pack in time for our departure.

The class was good, but the new music wasn't so good. I'm hoping that eventually the instructor will be able to find good enough music on the new system to enable her to continue with her regular class, otherwise we might find ourselves doing step routines, which I'm not that keen on, as I damaged my knee doing these classes many years ago. We'll just have to see how it pans out. It's early days.

When I got home, I showered and changed, packed and had some lunch before we headed off up the motorway. The journey wasn't too bad, although we did pass a car on the opposite carriage way that was engulfed in flames. Luckily, I think the passengers had got out, as there were a few people stood a distance from the car.  The fire brigade hadn't yet arrived, but we were surprised how close cars were passing the scene of the fire.

Anyway, we continued on and got to OH's mums around supper time. She had kindly made us some food, which was appreciated and we spent the evening chatting and catching up on news, inbetween watching a bit of Crufts on TV.

On Saturday morning, OH went off on a run and I drove to his brother's to meet him there, via the local charity shops. I haven't really had a look in a charity shop for a few weeks, as I haven't really had the budget, so it was nice to have a little browse. One of the shops had a half price sale on, and I ended up buying a 100% viscose dress for £3.

It's a flattering style, so I'm quite happy with it. I have made a small adjustment to it around the neckline, as it had two lots of ties. I removed both of these and stitched the neck slit closed, as it looks better on this way. I really like it and hope to get a lot of wear out of it. It's the first item of clothing that I've bought this year, which is good for me.

OH and I then visited his brother and his partner. Unfortunately, his brother is still not recovered from a major stroke, so is housebound. It was nice to see him and he seems okay in the circumstances. I took his partner out to do a bit of shopping whilst OH sat with him, as she struggles to get out of the house and it made a change for her.

Later, when we left, OH and I went over to Boyes to get a few bits we needed before stopping off at a pub for a drink on the way back to his mum's.

We spent the second evening at OH's mum's again. She had kindly made us supper. It was her 83rd birthday on Saturday, so we spent as much time with her as we could this visit.

Saturday morning, we got up and whilst OH's mum was at church we headed out to get a few extra bits for her birthday and to find a cake. We all later met at his brother's house, along with his sister who had driven over. It was nice to see her too and catch up with her family's news before heading back to London.

The journey back was quite good, with not too much traffic on the roads, but we were glad to get back to our house and settle back in. It was lovely to see LB too, when she got home from work.

I spent the evening working on the ironing board project. I miss my sewing when I go away and it was lovely to get back to it. It helps me stay calm.

On Sunday morning, I woke late, as I'd stayed up late watching a couple of movies on TV. I had a lie in reading for a while. I decided not to go to the gym today. I just wanted a day at home settling back in, making my shopping list for the week, unpacking, doing some laundry and catching up on jobs. I'll start back at the gym on Tuesday when I go to a class.

Later on Sunday, OH and I went to the allotment. He to plant out his potato tubers and sort out the new manure bin, that we need to store some fresh manure in to rot down, and I to do some weeding of the plot as a lot of small weeds were starting to surface now we've had some warmer weather. We took some spare York Stone pavers with us to sit the manure bin on. It was an enjoyable couple of hours pottering on the plot and it looked tidy as we came away. We probably won't be doing much else on it for the remainder of March. I may go down and do a bit more weeding of the paths, but only if I feel so inclined and the weather allows.

When we got home, I made some banana muffins from some overripe bananas that I had in the freezer. They'd been there a good while and needed using. I found a recipe on Pinterest and just gave it a go. They ended up being very tasty. I would definitely make them again.

We watched the best in show final of Crufts in the evening. We've enjoyed seeing all the lovely dogs.

A Return to Reading

For a few years now, I've done very little reading. I always used to be a voracious reader, especially as a child, but in recent years I've felt very distracted, and found it really difficult to sit down and pick up a book. I don't think the advent of smart phones and other online activities (i.e YouTube) have helped. Recently, however, my enthusiasm for reading has returned and it's wonderful. It's like being reacquainted with an old friend.

Whereas it used to take me months to work my way through a book, I've read half a dozen in the last couple of months and I am really enjoying myself. I tend to read in bed, in the morning when I wake up, as there are no distractions and I'm snug and comfortable under the covers. (I know I'm very fortunate that I can do this, due to not working at the moment) I do sometimes read at the kitchen table or lying on the sofa, but not often and only when I'm really engrossed in a book.

I've just recently finished an engrossing book and have now started reading another from my TBR (to be read) bookshelf, which has accumulated over the last few years. The book in question is called 'Feral' by George Monbiot, who is a writer and environmentalist and it concerns itself with re-wilding the land and sea and our human instincts for wildness. It's very interesting.

I've also lined up a couple of other reads on a similar subject, which seems to have become a favourite genre in recent weeks. Living in a big city, it is so easy to become estranged from nature, yet I find it very important for keeping myself sane and grounded in a chaotic and difficult world.

Reading is such a wonderful activity. It doesn't have to cost much, if you use your local library or buy books second hand, yet it can provide hours of entertainment.  I have to admit that, in general, I'm more drawn to non-fiction, which I know is not everyone's preferred choice, but it can be so interesting and enlightening about our world and our experiences in and of it.

I'm hoping that I continue to enjoy this hobby going forward and don't get too distracted from it again. Do you read much?

Monthly Make - February/March 2026

For the duration of February, I continued with my make for the month, namely to cover one side of a chair cover, using left over denim. It was a very slow and quite frustrating process, stitching each small piece using a zig zag stitch. Eventually by the end of the month I'd got to the bottom of the fabric I was attaching them to. I have to say that it was a relief, as it was a lot of work just to use up fabric scraps, but such is life. Here's a picture of the patchwork piece I created:

Before attaching it, I had to make a small repair to the velvet side of the cover, as a small hole had worn in it, but this was easy enough to do and it looked much better for it. I also washed and dried it, as I don't think I'd done that for a while.

Once it had dried, I could attach the patchworked denim backing and put it back into use. It was, however, March by the time I completed this, so I didn't actually complete this project in February as I intended, but here's a picture of the finished item anyway:

 

I'm happy enough with the result and at least it is now back in use and should serve it's purpose for many more years to come.

In between continuing with this make, I did also start a project to make a new ironing board cover and also made some fabric yarn for a forthcoming weaving project. I always like to have a few projects on the go, so that when I tire of one, I can distract myself with another, until I'm feeling motivated again.

My monthly make for March, however, is a slightly different project for me. I am intending to finally weave a reasonable sized rug for the sewing room. It will be in different shades of green, brown  and cream, to go with some new curtains I am going to put up. I have now finished making the fabric yarn for it and will weave it together later in the month.

I'm intending to weave it whilst OH and LB are both away, as I will have the space and lack of interruptions to set up a clothing rail as a loom in the living room. I'm hoping to get it finished, for the most part, whilst they are away and then maybe bind it by hand. It's a big new project for me, and I'm not sure how it will turn out, but it should be fun.

In between, I will also work on other existing projects and I'll update you on how these go next month. 

Have you got any interesting creative projects on the go at the moment?

A Short Week - W/E 8th March 2026 - Part One

This week was going to be a short week, as OH and I were heading up to Yorkshire to visit family on Thursday. LB was working, so wasn't able to come with us. As a consequence, I could be a little conservative with regard to the weekly shop. Some things I forgot to pick up, some items I couldn't find and a few items I decided to leave until we got back from Yorkshire. I still spent a lot this week though as some expensive items needed replenishing, i.e. xylitol and shampoo. (I use Alpecin and it's almost £9 per large bottle and Xylitol is £10 for a large bag)

There were lots of yellow stickered goods available in Tesco, but they weren't very heavily reduced, so I didn't buy many of them. I just bought some veggie bean burgers and some pork loin steaks to put in the freezer. I did also get some tangerines reduced, but nothing else, which was disappointing.

I did manage to get some crumpets reduced in B&M and Aldi and these just go into the freezer for my breakfasts, so they should last me a couple of weeks. I also had a 10% off voucher on my shopping at Lidl, so that helped me save £6+ pounds this week. I did probably buy more than we needed, but it will all get eaten at some point and I still needed to make sure there was enough food for LB to eat in our absence.

On Monday evening, OH and I continued watching a new drama series we found on Netflix called Dark Winds, it's set on a Navajo reservation in Arizona and it's quite interesting.

Tuesday, started off with an Aerobics class as usual. I was concerned that the change in music would make it less enjoyable, but it didn't this week at least. As it was a nice, bright, dry day, I took a much longer route home though a nature reserve, which was enjoyable and got me a few more steps in.

I did a bit of fabric yarn making for my weaving when I got home. I've almost made all the yarn that I need now. I then watched a couple of episodes of Silent Witness on BBC iPlayer and found a new series to watch on Netflix, which was quite funny. It wasn't a very productive day today, I have to admit, but some days are like that and I like not being busy rushing around and instead taking time to do things that I enjoy. 

On Wednesday, OH was out in the morning. I sorted a bit of laundry, did a bit of blogging/blog reading and then decided to do a bit of sewing in the new craft corner. I stitched the last 15 metres of fabric yarn together for weaving.  I was surprised at how little time it took, less than an hour. All the fabric yarn I need is now gathered together in a basket ready to weave. I'm looking forward to it.

I decided today, that my next weaving project, after the green rug for the sewing room, is going to be to make a colourful scrappy woven rug for the shed. It should be a good way to use up lots of colourful scraps of fabric I've accumulated. It will probably take a while, as it will take time to make all of the small scraps into fabric yarn and then weave them into a rug. It will, however, keep me busy and make good use of otherwise not easily usable fabric.

After making the fabric yarn, I finally finished stitching the seat cover, my February make. I attached the denim patchwork piece to the back of the old cover and trimmed up the edges. I had to hand stitch it closed as it was a bit too thick to machine top stitch, but it looks okay and will at least last a bit longer now. I've posted separately about this.

I then began working on the ironing board cover project that I started last month. I laid the EPP pieces I'd made on the board and then proceeded to hand stitch them together. I just need to add a few additional pieces around the edges so that it can be folded under the board, bound and strung. I'm liking the overall effect so far though. As a consequence, it felt like a much more productive day.

It's been quite a sewing heavy half of the week, which is all good, as I love progressing my projects.

Financial Round Up - February 2026

I love February, from a financial point of view at least, as it's a very short month. This said, I only just managed to eke it out through the month in spite of my spending being the least it has been in a long time, more than two years to be exact.

I'm now down to my last two months existing on what I saved from my last job. It should take me to the end of April, which isn't bad, as it will have lasted 8 months by then. OH does, of course, help out with food and other necessities, so I must give him credit for that, but it is surprising how little you can exist on if you put your mind to it.

From May, I will be using some savings as income, until some pensions mature later in the year, after which I'm hoping to use those going forward. Fortunately, I had a boost to the savings I will be using this month, when some dividends were paid out early and this account should now see me through until my pensions start paying me, give or take a few pounds. With a bit of luck, more money might appear between then and now, what with interest payments on savings due in April and possibly another dividend at some point. It is, of course, not ideal to eke out each month in this way, but until I find a job that resonates, which sounds very selective I know, I am happy to do so.

Spending this month was, as I've mentioned much reduced, probably by at least £150 on even the lowest months in recent years. I'm not quite sure how I did it, but I hardly bought anything other than food and household essentials. I did need to buy a few things on eBay for the allotment (potato tubers and seeds), some toiletries I can't get elsewhere and I spent £8 on a new fitted cotton sheet at Tesco using a £4 off voucher. 

The only other non-food/household expenditure was £5 on some books, £6 on various bits and £2 on some denim jeans for fabric, all bought from charity shops and well within the £20 per month limit that I allow myself for thrifting, so I'm fairly okay with these purchases. 

No items of clothing were bought this month, save for a couple of small accessories. Having got out of the habit of buying them, it does make me wonder why I was compulsively buying so many items when I did work and earn money.  I also bought a few consumable Valentines gifts, but these probably cost around £10 in total.

I didn't book a dental appointment, as I'm still on the fence about whether to move practice and I didn't book an optical appointment, as I didn't get a reminder from ASDA, but I'm intending to do that this coming month, as it is important and can't be left indefinitely. Not sure where I'm going to go for that though, possibly another optician's practice, as ASDA have in my experience, always been very slack on reminding me when I need an eye test.

Apart from this, I don't have any big expenses coming up next month, although Easter is approaching and I will need to buy some chocolate eggs for OH and LB. Also, it is OH's mother's birthday next month, so a present for her, which OH and I will take up north with us when we visit family this month.  It will be nice to have a change of scenery. 

OH and LB are also both going away at the same time later in March, so I will be home alone for a while, but I am intending to use this time to weave a rug using a clothing rail, as I need space to put up the rail and take my time using it to complete the weave. 

Once the weather warms up a bit, I will be able spend time on the allotment and in the garden, both of which are very inexpensive hobbies that I enjoy. I've also earmarked a few free events for Women's History Month that I'd like to attend in various parts of East London, so that might be interesting.

I didn't make it to an exhibition this month, as the weather put me off going out and I wasn't really feeling motivated to do it, but I'll try to do something next month. I was thinking of going to The Stitch Festival in Islington, but at £20 for a ticket, plus nearly £5 booking fee, I've decided not to bother, as I'll only want to spend money when I get there. The booking fee does seem particularly expensive too.

I hope you've had a good month financially in February and have lots of nice things planned for March.

Ekeing Things Out at the End of the Month - W/E 1st March 2026

The last week of February started with a lie in. I finished reading 'Worn - A People's History of Clothing' by Sofi Thanhauser. It was one of those books that I was sad to finish, as I have enjoyed it. I relished delving into a new chapter every time I picked it up. 

Anyway, I then read the first chapter of another book, which is essentially about food waste. It was written in 2009, so it is probably a little dated, but hopefully I'll enjoy reading it. I think perhaps there is more done to prevent food waste these days, as lots of supermarkets now seem to be on board with distributing their unsold items to charities or foodbanks.  There is, however, probably still a lot of food waste happening in the world, so it is still worth reading. We try very hard not to waste any food in our house, but occasionally we have little option than to throw out or compost some items that are beyond redemption.

After getting up and ready, I headed out to do the weekly shop. I had a limited budget this week of around £82, which I knew wasn't quite enough to get everything I needed. I did put £13 worth of stuff on my credit card, which will be paid off next month, and the rest came out of the £82 budget. I managed it just, with 8p to spare. Hopefully, I won't need to spend any further money this week, but if I do the credit card will have to come out again.

I managed to get quite a few yellow stickered items again this week, which was good and the freezer is full, so we've got more than we actually need for the week. I seem to have overspent on food this month by £60, which is probably on account of stocking up on quite a lot of things. It's fine though, it will all get eaten.

LB made use of the new crafting table on Monday afternoon, which is good. Talking of crafting, I started a new patchwork project on Monday evening, using some of my favourite fabrics in my stash. I've been saving them for something special for years, but I figured why just hang onto it, I need to use it and see it in daily use.  

Whilst making some fabric chains in the lead up to Xmas, I ironed some interfacing on the wrong side, sticking it to the ironing board, which was very stupid of me, so I've decided to make a new ironing board cover. It's an EPP project (English Paper Pieceing), so I've cut out some pieces, which I now need to baste and then start sewing together. As usual, I'm jumping from one project to another, but I like to have several projects on the go. I can't help myself.

Tuesday morning, I headed out to Zumba which was good. When I got back I spent a couple of hours sewing on my machine at the new craft table. It was nice to have a big space on which to sew and one that was in a different location in the house. LB was working in the afternoon, so I had the space to myself.

I then spent most of the rest of the afternoon working on other hand sewing projects, hanging out some laundry, etc. I finished a couple of small projects I'd started last week and did a bit more work on the new EPP project.

In the evening, I finished watching the Irish version of The Traitors which was good. No spoilers here though. Then, OH and I watched this week's episode of Industry.

Wednesday, I had a lie in in the morning and read a bit of my current book. It was a beautiful day, the best so far this year, with blue skies and sunshine, so I decided to finally get myself outside and walked into town to visit our newly refurbished library. I had a couple of other errands to do whilst out, so I did those too. It feels like it's been such a long wet winter, it was so lovely to feel the sun on my face again, whilst getting nearly 7,000 steps in.

It was very busy out and about. The sunshine had obviously had the same effect on many people. At the library, I found a few books to take out that sounded interesting. Here's a picture:

I also decided to order a particular book that I want to read. It's on my eBay watchlist, but rather than pay £12 -£13 for it, I thought I'd borrow it from the library for free instead. Although I'd like to own it, it isn't necessary to own every book I read. I also picked up a leaflet about London Open Gardens for charity and also one for Women's History Month, which takes place next month. There were a few events that I wouldn't mind attending, many of them free.

When I got home, I had a couple of hours on the sewing machine at the new craft table again. I'm trying to finish my February sewing project before the end of the week. LB was working again today, so I got to use the new crafting space, but for most of the rest of the week, she'll be using it herself.

The evening was spent watching another episode of The Lady on ITV that we'd recorded and then we watched a programme about painter L.S. Lowry which was interesting.

On Thursday, I was up and out to my class at the gym. It was the last class before the music changes, as the company that run the gym are refusing to pay license fees for Zumba and other music from March. Apparently they will have their own playlist of presumably non-licensed music. Sounds horrendous, but I'll just have to see how it pans out. OH came along with me today, to use the gym, but went home before I'd finished my workout, so I joined him at home later after taking a longer than normal route home, making the most of the weather being dry.

I didn't do a lot in the afternoon. I started watching a new drama series on BBC iplayer called The Walsh Sisters, which was about an Irish family with five daughters. It was good and I ended up binge watching 3 episodes before doing a bit of reading of one of the books I got from the library, called 'Homesick - Why I Live in a Shed' by Catrina Davies. I'm really enjoying it. It is well written and informative and talks a lot about rural and urban housing issues and poverty, which is very pertinent today for young people. It's taken priority over my current book, due to the fact that I will need to return it in a couple of weeks.

Friday, was a totally free day, with nothing planned. I had a long lie in reading the above book, which was enjoyable. After lunch I did a bit of financial housekeeping, as it was the end of the month, wrote a couple of blog posts and then made some deodorant, air freshener and a reed diffuser from some ingredients I had to hand.  Not sure how the latter will work out, but I make the other two regularly and they work well enough.  I then took a walk to the shops to get some milk and pick up a prescription.

On Saturday, we had next door's dog again. I did a bit of sewing for a couple of hours and finished attaching the small denim patches for the seat cover. I washed the actual cover and now just need to wait for it to dry before I can attach the new backing. 

We took the dog with us to the allotment after lunch and did a few small jobs. I say small, but we were there for 2 hours. We then took him for a walk. The sun even came out for a while, which was lovely. The dog came to us having just had a bath and by the time we got home he was stinky, having rolled in something not very nice at the park. OH had to shampoo him before sending him home.

In the evening, we finished watching The Lady and then I watched a couple more episodes of The Walsh Sisters which is really good. I didn't get to sleep until late as LB was out with friends and I never really settle until I know she's home safely.

As a consequence of a late night on Saturday, I had a lie in on Sunday morning reading my library book. It is so good, another book I will be sad to finish reading. I would definitely recommend it. I dug out a few books from my 'waiting to be read' pile, that I feel in the mood to read. I really need to work on getting this pile down this year and donating any read books I don't want to keep.

I was late going out to the gym, so I didn't get home until 2.30pm. I did a bit of hand sewing and chopping up waste fabric from some jeans I'm dismantling in the afternoon. Nothing exciting. I'm trying to get my current and ongoing sewing projects in some kind of order, as they got a bit messy and were sprawling all over the kitchen table.

It's been a quiet month, mainly due to the weather and financial limitations, but it has passed quite quickly. I'm hoping things will pick up a bit when the weather warms up and I can get out in the garden and onto the allotment more. I am, however, pretty happy living a slow and self determined existence, as opposed to being at the beck and call of a large corporation, always hungry to increase their profits. Life is much simpler and less demanding and I'm slowly learning to live within my new more restrictive means without too much difficulty.