A Week of Finishing Projects and Jobs W/E 11/11/23

On Sunday last, I woke up to a new week and a lovely sunny day. It was great to have a break from all the rain we've been getting lately. My first job, after breakfast, was to buy a jacket for LB on Vinted. It was a particular vintage jacket that she had put on her Xmas list. 

I'd spent most of the previous night trying to find one that was both in good condition and a reasonable price and we eventually settled on one, so I bought it. It's the first time I've bought anything on Vinted, although I've heard good things about the app. I'll reserve judgement until the item arrives, but I have been having a look on there for some work items, mainly trousers and shoes. I haven't bought anything for me yet though.

I took the dog for a long walk in the morning, which was nice. I had lunch when I got back and then headed off to do the weekly shop and use a 10% off voucher at Lidl, that I'd earned through the month.  I then dropped into our local Tesco store to pick up a few other bits including a few treats and used a £4.50 voucher there, that I'd been sent last week.

When I got home, I cooked up lots of offal for the dog. She's got a bit bored of her food lately, so I went back to making her some home cooked dog food, which she used to like. I then pickled the last of the beetroot from the allotment.

I'm now starting to get a bit excited about Christmas. I bought our first minced pies today, just little mini ones that are less than 100 calories each. I enjoy knowing I can eat just about anything I want to, but just need to adjust the amount of what I eat to fit in with my daily allowance. Nothing is really off limits which is good and helps to prevent me craving anything in particular. Having said this, however, I think Xmas might be a challenge, with all the temptation that there will be to overindulge.

Monday was a strange day. OH took the dog out in the morning, so I had a lie in as I'd not slept well the night before. I eventually surfaced and had breakfast around 11am. Later in the day, I received an email about the new job with a whole list of onboarding information that I had to read/sign. It took most of the afternoon, but I was glad to get it all completed. It was quite interesting too, in terms of finding out more about the company I'll be working for.

Once I'd finished with that, I took the dog for a walk. We're taking her for a second walk again, as she keeps waking OH up at 3 or 4 am wanting a walk and to play out with the foxes, so we're trying to get her out of the habit, as it's so distruptive to his sleep. She still woke him at 4.30am on Tuesday morning though!

I didn't do a lot else on Monday, after making supper, cleaning up and then watching a bit of YouTube, I was ready for bed.

On Tuesday, I got up early allowing plenty of time to take the dog out.  She always wants a two hour walk when I take her and I get stressed if I've got to be somewhere and start running late, which spoils the walk. We had a nice walk this morning though and I was back in time for my class.

I had to get there in a rush as I was pottering about when I got in and lost track of time, but I got there before the class started. It was a good class. I always come away feeling a lot better.

After lunch on Tuesday, I decided to go up to the sewing room and try out a new small project. I bought a small tissue holder from a charity shop when we were in Whitby a couple of years ago I think. It could have been somewhere else. It's pretty and I find it useful to keep in my handbag. Looking at it closely the other day, it looked very simple to make, so I decided to have a go. I started with some Christmas fabric, to make a Christmas version. I found a contrasting plain fabric and I was away. 

It was a bit of trial and error to begin with, but it looked okay when I'd finished. Here's a picture:

I made it a little big, but I thought it was cute, so I made a couple more, one of which I decided to donate, as I didn't really like it. The other one I made and am keeping is this one made with a scrap of African waxed fabric that I had in my scrap box:

I liked how this one turned out. I'll probably put the original bought one in my dog walking bag, as I often need a tissue on dog walks. It needs a wash first though, as it's been knocking about in my handbag for a couple of years. If I'm honest, the ones I made weren't finished as well as the one I bought, but as they're just for my personal use, I'm not too bothered. The person who made the original one, took every care to make it look good inside and out and stitched it by hand too. I was impressed.

When I'd finished sewing, I decided to wrap the shoebox for Operation Christmas Child, so that I can take it to the toy shop and drop it off. I don't enjoy wrapping shoe boxes, but it looked okay and was another job done.

I then decided to make a gift for LB for Xmas.  She's big into mushrooms at the moment, not the psychedelic or edible kind, but decorative one's. I decided to make her a mushroom cushion. I had some red and grey felt and some white fabric to make the spots. I cut out the shapes to make the mushroom and then backed them with fusible interfacing. I now just need to sew them onto a cushion cover that she already has. I'm hoping it will look okay when finished. I'll post a picture when it's done, she doesn't read my blog.

So, I had a lovely creative afternoon. The best kind in my book, so satisfying to the soul. I found a great instagram account today, that focuses on using the scrappiest fabric scraps to make beautiful things. It really inspired me and is called thesweetstitches. Check it out if you love using up the tiniest fabric scraps. One post really resonated with me. It was about preferring scraps to fabric lengths. I think that's me in a nutshell. I almost never want to cut into a length of fabric, as I don't want to spoil it and often prefer to make things with the smallest offcuts. No wonder I've got so much fabric in my stash. I am getting better at using it these days though. I decided that it just doesn't make sense not to and have it stashed away in a box. If I make it into things, I can see it, admire it and use it everyday.

On Wednesday, I went to my usual Soca class and then went onto our high street to get a few bits we needed. I also dropped into Primark to buy a couple of things to wear for my new job. Just some flat shoes and a couple of sweaters. I spent about £20. I also dropped into our local charity shop and found another top to wear for work which cost £7. I now feel like I've got everything I need for the moment.

When I got home I spent the afternoon working on the new quilt. I made quite a bit of progress on the second block. 

On Thursday, I found another great instagram account, a quilting one this time, which inspired me to start labelling the quilts I've made in the past.  It's called chalcraftdesign. There was a lovely post on there about labelling quilts, and I've had it in my mind to label mine, but never got around to it. I was so inspired that I immediately jumped out of bed and made some labels, that I now just need to sew onto my quilts to remind me of when and why I made them.

Later, I worked on the second block of the new quilt again, but unfortunately, I miscalculated the amount of fabric I had for the last row of the block and was five hexies short. I ended up having to buy some more fabric on Etsy to complete the block. As it was the only thing I've spent money on so far for this project, I didn't mind. (It cost £5 or so) I could only find one seller with the exact same fabric, so I just went ahead and bought it whilst it was there, for the sake of continuity in the pattern.

OH took the car into the garage on Thursday, for an MOT, service and to change an internal battery that powers the ignition, as we've been having problems with it not starting lately. It came through everything okay and didn't cost too much. It's nice to know that it's been attended to, especially if I need to use it for work this winter.

In the afternoon, I did some sewing up in the sewing room. I made and attached some labels onto some of my quilt projects and then worked on the cushion I'm making for LB. I finished it later in the evening whilst watching a really good film about long distance swimmer Diana Nyad on Netflix. Well worth a watch. It stars Annette Bening and Jodie Foster.

On Friday, I'd booked myself into the gym, so I headed off early. I had a good long session in the gym, as I won't be going on Saturday morning this week, because OH is going on a cycle ride and I will need to walk the dog.

I had a pretty quiet day on Friday.  My order for the LB's jacket on Vinted got cancelled today, which was very disappointing, so we're back to trying to find another one. I was a bit annoyed if I'm honest. It's so flaky to just cancel and order 6 days later, for no apparent reason.

Anyway, I finished sewing the binding onto the Xmas wreath quilt in the evening and attached a label. I'm very happy with the resulting quilt. It's lovely and warm with the wadding I made inside it.

On Saturday morning, I woke up to beautiful blue skies with not a cloud in sight, which was lovely.  I had a two hour walk with the dog, did some washing and then in the afternoon, I headed out to do our weekly shop. It was a bit more spendy this week, as I added a couple of Xmas gifts onto the shop. I received a call whilst out to say that I need to report to my new job on Sunday morning at 10am for an induction, which will make an interesting start to a new week.

In the evening, OH and I were invited to a 50th birthday party. I was a bit worried about leaving the dog home alone, on account of all the fireworks that have been going off lately, but it was nice to go out and meet some of OH's cycling friends. There was, however,  a bit of an altercation between a couple of individuals in the group, due to the overconsumption of alcohol, but apart from that it was a nice evening. We didn't stay out late though and I didn't drink, as I was driving and was starting the new job in the morning.

I'll keep you posted on how the job goes.  Hope you had a great week.