Monthly Clothing Purchases - June 2025

I'm afraid it's a long one this month. I got off to an early start in terms of buying clothes, when I ordered this dress on Vinted, that was being sold by someone that I follow on YouTube. 

It cost £5.70 including postage, which was very reasonable. Although I like the fact that it is leopard print, I'm not entirely sure that I will wear it as a dress. I may just use it as a night dress or to wear around the pool or on the beach on holiday, as I'm not sure it's really my style. A bit of a fashion fail to begin with, but not an expensive one.

I then visited my favourite out of town charity shop during the first week of the month and came away with the following few items:

This floral sleeveless top came home with me, as I thought it was very pretty. I think it is made of viscose and cost £2.

I bought this classic navy linen/cotton top for £3, which I intend to shorten a little. Excuse how crumpled it looks, I took it out of the ironing basket to take this photo.

This black and white ditsy print dress was probably my favourite purchase. It's fairly flattering on and I've worn it a couple of times already. It's nice and floaty and cool for the summer and is made of viscose. It cost £5.

Finally, I bought this linen dress. It isn't really my style, but my intention is to cut it down to make a skirt. I like the colour and print and the fact that it is linen, I just don't like the top half of it. It also cost £5, which I think is very reasonable for a linen dress.

 

I did buy one item from where I work this week, namely this gym top for £8. I really like the colour and the sleeveless style. It is a little sng around my midriff, which isn't yet honed, but I'm hoping to get good use out of it.

My final clothing purchases from charity shops this month were the following items:

First, was this Miss Selfridge sundress. It is a lovely print, but I didn't like this as a dress on me, as it wasn't too flattering at the back, it seemed to create a shelf around my backside. As a consequence, I intended to make it into a skirt, but when LB came home, I showed it to her and she liked it, so she is going to keep it and wear it as a skirt. This cost £5, but is made of cotton, making it good value.

Second, was this 100% cotton top. This is quite a thick cheesecloth like cotton fabric, but I liked the style of the neckline. I have significantly shortened what where crazily long and voluptuous tiered sleeves, which were a bit too impractical and dramatic for me and I may yet shorten it a few inches as it is quite long. This cost £3, which is good value for cotton and I can see myself wearing this with lots of skirts and trousers in my wardrobe on cooler days. It could also be worn for work too.

I also bought this black longsleeved cotton t-shirt. I wear these kind of tops a lot in the autumn/winter, as they are great layering pieces. This one had a pretty flower/plant print, was new with tags from M&S and was cotton. I'll look forward to wearing it the autumn/winter. It cost £3.

Next, I bought this pair of grey pinstriped cotton summer trousers for £3. They are nice and loose and light for wearing in the summer months. They do look a bit like pyjama bottoms, but I don't mind that. I may do my favourite thing of elasticating the bottoms as I find this style more flattering and wearable, but I haven't decided yet.

This pretty cotton shirt went quite nicely with the trousers above. It is 100% cotton with a paisley print and a ruffled sleeveless design. At just £3, it was not a difficult decision to bring it home with me.

Finally, I bought this Linen/Cotton mix button down skirt for £2. It was a much bigger size than I wear, but I have taken a big chunk out of it at the back, creating a new seam to reduce it in size. I like this button down style and it has pockets too, what's not to love. 

For £19, I think I did okay on this particular visit, as I got some great pieces made from more natural fabrics for an absolute steal. In total though, I spent £52.20 this month, which is a little less than I've spent in recent months, but I did get a lot of items of arguably better quality, so I'm very happy with what I bought.

As always, I'm hoping to buy less next month, but I'm sure I've said this before and then gone on to spend the same or more money on clothes.

 

Finally Seeing The Light at the End - W/E 5th July 2025 - Part 1

This week was a week of finally seeing the light at the end of what feels like a long tunnel, but which has only been a couple of months in reality. They've been an intense couple of months though, that's all I can say. On Sunday, I wasn't working for the first time in weeks. I got up and did some financial stuff, as it was virtually the end of the month. I then did some laundry and went out to do the weekly shop locally. I had a voucher for 10% off to use at Lidl and as we were going to collect all of LB's stuff from her flat on Monday, I wouldn't be able to do my weekly shop then, so it had to be done a day earlier.

By the time I got home and unpacked the shopping, it was lunchtime, so I had some lunch, did the washing up, hung out my laundry and then finally got down to working on my college work, which was the whole point of having the day free. It took the whole of the rest of the day to get it done and send some of it off to my tutor, but by 11pm I was finished and could finally go to bed knowing that I'd done my best. I may need to make some alterations if I get some feedback, but I'm hoping I've done enough to pass and just submit everything. The test will be on Wednesday when I go into college for the final sign off. 

On Monday, I woke early and read for a little while in bed before getting up. We needed to head out quite early to go over to LB's flat and load up all her stuff into a van and bring it home. We set off about 9.20am and got there for about 11 am. I got straight down to the cleaning. It was pretty bad, as LB had been busy with her uni work and the cleaning had been put on the back burner for months.

OH gradually loaded all of her stuff into the van and we managed to get the living room and LB's bedroom cleaned fully. We vacuumed the rest of the flat and then had to take the vacuum home and leave LB to do the rest, so that we could get the van back in time and also miss any traffic that builds up around rush hour. We got home about 4ish and unloaded the van, putting most of LB's stuff in her bedroom for her to sort out when she came home. She was due to have an inspection and hand over the keys the following day, so she stayed at the flat for a last night to get the rest of the cleaning done and do the handover. Her flatmate had already moved out earlier in the week and gone back home.

On Tuesday morning I got up and ready to go to a class at the gym. I did a bit of cleaning before heading out, ready for LB coming home later in the day. The class was okay. I dropped into the charity shop on the way home, but there was nothing that appealed to me. It's rare for me to come away empty handed, but ti does happen sometimes. 

Later, I got ready and headed out to my sewing class. It was so hot. I was glad of the air conditioning in the classroom when I got there. I did some more work on my dress. I finished the bodice and finally figured out the sleeves and then attached the bodice to the skirt, so it's slowly coming together. I think the next job will be putting in the zip down the back and then putting some elastic in the sleeves, before I tackle the neckline. I'll have to see if I can do it at home on my own following the pattern. I just need an invisible zipper foot for my machine before I can insert it.

I finished my book from the library where I go to my class and returned the remaining books I had taken out, as I won't be going back there for a while. The library is being refurbished, so all the sewing classes are being transferred to another venue in September. I'm not sure if I'm going to return. I may do, if I can get a place.

When I got home, LB was in bed asleep. I imagine she's got a lot of sleep to catch up on after a super busy final term and then moving out of the flat. It's lovely to have her back home for however long it may be for. I was very tired tonight and retired to bed early, as I had to be up early for my last day at college the following day. I'm going to be so happy when it's all done and I finally get some free time for sewing and doing other things I enjoy.

I was up super early on Wednesday morning, getting ready for college and making sure that I took everything I needed to submit with me. The tutor spent and hour making sure we had completed all of the required pieces of work and then she went off to do an assessment on another student.  When she got back she signed off all of my work and I was free to go which felt good. I then went to the gym to do a last session. At this point, I'll explain that the course I was doing was to gain a Certificate in Gym Instructing. As part of the course, we got free membership to the gym that the college uses for it's sports students, so I got to work out for free once per week for the duration of the course.  It was useful to get to know the gym environment too, especially when it came to practical assessments, which we did in there.

Some of my fellow students came into the gym later to do an assessment, so I arranged to meet up with one of them when they'd finished and we had lunch and a chat, as I'd not seen her for weeks. We'd all been off preparing for and doing our assessments at different times. I then left and came home. It felt strange to have finally finished.

When I got back home, I spent the afternoon sewing, as I'd just had no time at all to do any (save for at my sewing class). I altered a skirt and top I'd bought from the charity shop a couple of weeks ago, so both are now wearable. A sun dress I was going to alter and make into a skirt, I gave to LB as she liked it and she's going to wear it as a skirt. 

I also did quite a bit of work on a patchwork skirt that I started back in May. It's coming together nicely. Whether I'll be brave enough to wear it is another matter. By the time I'd finished for the day it was supper time, so I packed up until I next have some spare time to sew. It was lovely to get back to my sewing projects though. I've really missed having time to work on them.

Monthly Finances - June 2025

Financially, it was quite a good month in June. I got paid less than I have for a while, as I'd not been given many hours in May. This changed drastically from the end of May, as I was scheduled for as many as 30 hours per week some weeks, due to staff holidays, which has frankly been exhausting, but the money I've earned will come in very useful. It didn't come at a great time, as I was busy with my college course, but as a consequence, I've not spent as much money as I have done in other months, in fact, my expenditure was the least it's been since last September, which is good.

One of the main reasons, it's been a good month is that I got a £500 or thereabouts tax rebate.  This was used to pay off some dental treatment on my credit card and I put some away into savings, i.e. the car fund and other accounts. It really saved me this month. I also won £100 on the Premium bonds again, which was fortunate and which got reinvested and I got some dividends from some shares I own to the tune of £150, which also got put into savings. So quite a fortuitous month for me really. I cannot grumble.

On the expenditure side of things, I overspent slightly on food, which is a regular occurence these days, probably due to prices rising constantly. This will go up more from July, when LB comes back home, but it's worth it to have her home. I overspent a little on household and miscellaneous expenditure. The latter was mainly due to buying a new cabin case for our summer holiday.

I spent nothing on our home and garden this month, but then overspent on myself to help get me through a very busy month. I bought a weighted vest for walking in, spent £80ish on mostly thrifted clothing and other bits and pieces. This took me way over my £25 thrifting budget, but I consider this a necessary slip for my mental and emotional health during an exhausting month. I also bought some fabric for a new project, I spent £37 on gifts and made some charitable donations. I was pretty happy with how it panned out.

Moving into July, we are planning a holiday this month, so I will need some spending money for that. Luckily, all the overtime I've worked will nicely cover this. I don't have any birthdays or anything to buy gifts for, so other than the holiday, it's a regular month. However, LB will be back home and I may treat her to some things.  She probably needs an outfit for her graduation this month and she may need a few bits for the holiday, so we'll see where that takes me. 

I am looking forward to July, once I've finished my college course. It will signify freedom for me from trying to juggle too much at once. Self inflicted, of course. I'm itching to do more sewing, that I just haven't had time for recently, and as soon as I have the time I will be getting the sewing machine out, which should keep me out of the shops, but I can't promise this.

I hope you've had a financially stress free and enjoyable month.

Still Trying to Get Everything Completed - W/E 26th June 2025

This week started with another 12 noon til 6pm shift at work on Sunday. It was a busy shift and I was late getting home and felt a bit stressed. OH was still out when I got home, as he'd been cycling, so I decided to do the washing up, as there was a massive pile from the previous few days. When he got back, he made supper and I chilled for the evening, writing my grocery shopping list for the next day and catching up on a bit of YouTube/blogging, before heading to bed quite early.

On Monday, I was looking forward to being able to head off to do the weekly shop out of town, with no shift at work to get back for. As a consequence, I could take my time and enjoy the day, for the first time in a few weeks. There were quite a lot of things that I needed to buy, as we'd eaten down most of the food in the fridge and freezer, so it was quite an expensive shop this week, but it was the last grocery shop of the month. I just had to make sure that I kept spending to below the amount that I had left in my bank account, which I did.

I visited my favourite charity shop whilst out, and yes, I did buy more items of clothing and go even more over on my thrifting budget, but I justified it to myself as a treat, after having had such a busy and stressful few weeks. Not ideal, but I don't care. I like the things I bought, some of which I will be altering to make them more wearable and some that I'll wear just as they are. Once again, I looked solely for natural fibres of which I managed to find a few nice things. I'll post about them in my monthly clothing purchases post at the end of the month and some of them will no doubt feature in future clothing alteration posts.

When I got home, I unpacked the shopping and chilled for a few hours before making supper. I even went to bed for an hour for a nap.  When I got up I started doing some college work whilst making supper. I did some research and made some notes about another piece of work I have to do and then input quite a bit of work I'd already done onto the computer ready for submission. There's still quite a bit more I need to do this week before final submission on Monday next week. I'm just hoping I can get it all done, along with the final practical assessment that I have on Wednesday this week. I may need to arrange a tutorial with my tutor to get some feedback on some of the work before finally submitting it.

LB informed us today that she didn't get a post graduate internship that she'd been interviewed for last week. We were a bit disappointed for her, but if it's not meant for her so be it. I'm sure something else will come her way and she seemed philosophical about it, which is good. It would have provided her with valuable experience, but it obviously wasn't meant to be. She did well to get an interview though, so we're proud of her whatever.

Tuesday morning, I got up early and booked into an early session at the gym. I didn't go to my usual class again, as it is a bit later in the morning. This way, I had time to do more college work before going to my sewing class.

I almost didn't go to my sewing class, but decided it would be nice to do something enjoyable and sociable. There were only two classes left to attend. I had been having problems attaching the sleeves to my dress. Whichever way I tried, I kept ending up with extra fabric. It took me to cut out new sleeve pieces to realise where I'd gone wrong. I'd sewn the wrong sleeve pieces together, which was silly of me. Anyway, I managed to get one sleeve sewn on and the other will have to wait until next week now. I won't be finishing this dress this term. It may have to be a project for next summer, unless I can manage to finish it at home somehow. Everything has just got away from me in recent weeks.

I've felt under a lot of pressure this week, to get all of my college work done, so some things have had to take a back seat until next week, when it's all finished and submitted. An added pressure is that we are moving LB out of her flat and back home next Monday, which is college hand in day, so I needed to get everything for college done before then and I was also scheduled to work quite a lot of hours towards the end of the week too. This meant that I had to make the most of my time at the beginning of the week.

On Wednesday morning I had my final practical assessment at college. I was pretty nervous going in. We do the assessments in pairs and this time my fellow student went first, which helped me get into the right mindset and calm my anxiety. I was still a bit nervous when it came to my turn, but it went okay and we both passed the assessment, which was great. I now just need to complete the written coursework and then attend college next Wednesday for the final sign off, to make sure we've done everything we need to. It feels like a big weight off my shoulders, to know that I've passed the practicals. I now just need to make good use of what time I have left to do the coursework. I'm glad I stayed the course, instead of opting out of the practical assessments, it's definitely been worth the effort and I've learned a lot in the process.

When I got home, I just chilled for a couple of hours after lunch. It's all been a bit manic these past few weeks. I just needed to decompress and reset. We got some good news from LB today, in that she'd got her degree grading and she'd done really well, achieving a 2:1 for her work. We were both super pleased for her, as she's worked very hard these last two years.

I was due back at work on Thursday afternoon, so I spent the morning doing very little. I did do a bit of college work and am slowly getting on with the coursework, bit by bit. I started work at 3pm, but went early as I needed to collect a suitcase I'd ordered from our local ASDA store. I was happy with it when I got it. Work was busy. I guess it's another Payday weekend, so lots of people were out spending money. 

Friday morning, I got up and had breakfast and then spent the morning working on my college work. I'm over it already, but still have work to do. Later, after lunch, I got ready and went to work. It was crazy busy, but passed quickly. The store was very messy at the end of the shift and I didn't leave until after 10. I've got a few days off next week. I arranged with my manager not to be given any extra shifts until later in the week, as I need the time to do my college work and move LB back home.

When I got home, we watched main stage live at Glasto, The 1975, not OH's bag, but I enjoyed it and then we watched some of the other highlights. We love it, but always end up staying up way too late.

On Saturday, I got up early to go to the free session at the gym. I was tired, but I needed to get another workout in this week. I'm doing more weights and a lot less cardio at the moment and finding my weight is much more stable and I'm not overeating so much.  I think eating a bit more protein helps, when I make the effort. I also think that the stress that cardio puts on my body, especially the running, may have been causing more cortisol in my body, causing me to eat more and hang onto weight more as a consequence. I'm going to continue in the same vein and see what happens. I'm in a learning curve at the moment with macros and weight training. It's interesting.

OH came with me to the gym and when we got back we went to the allotment to harvest some of the gooseberries and blackcurrants. Needless to say I got scratched to bits. I took the day off all college work and did other things instead. I needed the mental break and knowing that I had the whole of Sunday to finish my work helped a lot. After lunch, I needed to get to work again. It wasn't quite as busy today, but was still very tiring. Almost every week, I find out that someone else is leaving, today I found out one person had already left and another was leaving the following day. I was glad to get home, knowing I had a few days before I needed to go back.  It felt so good to fall into bed at the end of another busy week.

A Small Charity Shop Haul

I paid a visit to one of my favourite local charity shops this last week after not visiting for probably a couple of months. The shop itself is an RSPCA shop, so I'm always happy to give my money to a charity for animals that have been cruelly treated.

I found a few small things on this visit, the first being this book about craft for £2.50:

This is the second book on the subject of crafts that I've bought this month, but I love to read about makers and making things. It helps to inspire me to be creative and get sewing, although I don't have much spare time to do any at the moment. I'm so looking forward to getting all my college work completed and submitted, so that I can indulge in my favourite past time once again.

On the subject of crafts, I also bought these three balls of cotton yarn for £1 each. I haven't a specific project in mind at the moment, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

The next item I bought was this pack of three pretty card envelope folders for £3.

These will make a pretty storage solution for paperwork, so I look forward to using them.

Finally, I succumbed to buying these two lovely tin vintage brooches from Japan. I have many bird brooches, so the kingfisher appealled to add to this collection, but the moth was also lovely so I bought that too. They cost £2 each. 

In total, I spent £12.50 this visit, which I think was good for the items I bought. I think after being so busy this month on college work and working, I just needed a bit of an outlet for the stress, and charity shopping seemed to hit the spot this month. There are worse things I could do, as the song goes.

Ditto, But Some Positives Too - W/E 20th June 2025

Another week, another shift on Sunday. I was working 12 till 6 this week, which was a bit longer than normal. OH was away on a cycling holiday with some friends. He departed on Friday morning, and I'd been home alone since then. I didn't mind it though and I was working most of the time, doing college work or at college, so I was very busy.

When I got home on Sunday night, I finally had a few hours to do some college work. I spent about 3 hours doing some prep for my practical assessments, which was tiring after work, but I couldn't waste the opportunity.

On Monday morning, I woke up feeling a bit groggy. I'd slept well, but had gone to bed way too late. I couldn't lie in, as I had to do some food shopping. I went locally this week and just bagged the absolute essentials to get me through to Wednesday, when I could do a top up shop in time for OH coming home in the evening.

I then just had enough time to get lunch, pack up a something for supper on my break, and head into work to do a 1pm till 10pm shift. This was the last shift for a couple of days, and it went okay, more so because a certain member of staff wasn't working and I had a good chat to a colleague, which was very illuminating.

When I got home, I was shattered. I did some financial stuff, as I had some bills to pay, did a bit of blogging and then went to bed. I probably should have done some more college work, but just didn't have the band width after a long intense shift.

Tuesday, was my usual day to go to a gym class, but I decided not to go to the class this week and instead, booked myself into the gym, as this meant that I could go in early, get my session done and get home. I also decided to skip my sewing class, as I had my first practical assessment on Wednesday and needed the day to prepare.  I had to message my tutor a few times with some last minute questions, but I think I'm as prepared as I can be in the circumstances. I just hope it goes okay.

I had a shower in the evening so I could get up early and not need much time to get ready. I aimed to get to college early and do a bit more prep before the assessment. 

I was super tired when I woke at 6 ish the next morning. I had to drag myself out of bed. I didn't quite get to college as early as I'd hoped, but managed a little bit of  revision/prep before our tutor arrived. To be honest, I don't know if much went in, as I was so nervous. 

My actual assessment was a formative one, before a final assessment next week. As such, it was like a practice run, but still had to be done correctly. You could repeat parts of it, if the tutor felt it necessary, which I did need to do, as on a couple of occasions my mind went totally blank, but I got through it okay and so did the person I was partnered up with. I got some really good feedback from my tutor too, which gave me a bit more confidence going forward.

I felt so relieved once it was done. I was glad I'd persevered with it and it felt worth the effort. I needed to stop off on the way home and do a top up shop at Aldi and Home Bargains nearby. It felt like a luxury to be able to do such things, as I haven't had the time to do any but essential food shopping lately, and then always with a time limit hanging over me.

When I got home, I had some time to just chill, for what felt like the first time in ages. I ended up going back to bed for a few hours, as the last week has been really intense and I just needed to catch up on some sleep and reset. Besides it was really hot and the heat made me feel sleepy too.

By the time I woke up, OH was almost back in the country. I had arranged to pick him up from a local train station. I just had time to drop into the allotment, as I'd not managed to go whilst he was away and everything desperately needed watering. It thought it would look worse than it did, which was lucky. We did have a downpour on Friday night, so I think that helped. There's lots of stuff growing well and some berries to harvest, which I didn't have time to do on this occasion.

I came home, watered the garden and then had half an hour to chill, blog, watch YouTube, etc., before going to pick up OH. It was good to hear all about his trip. He'd had a really good time, despite the cycling being hard going.

On Thursday, I woke early. I've been sleeping well lately, but waking quite early. I got up and had some breakfast. OH and I headed out to the allotment after breakfast to harvest, feed, weed and water the plot. It was looking good. 

After lunch I got a call from work, asking if I'd go in a couple of hours early. I ended up going in for 3.30pm instead of 5pm, but we left by 9.30pm, which was good. It was pretty busy.

Friday morning, I booked into the gym for 10am. I walked there and had a pretty good workout. I've changed my routine around quite a bit, which I'll explain in another post at some point. It's working out well for me and I look forward to my gym sessions rather than them feeling like a chore.

On the way home from the gym, I dropped into a local charity shop that I haven't visited for a couple of months. I bought a few small things and did go over my £25 monthly thrifting budget, but I haven't spent much money this month as I've been so busy, so I don't feel too bad about it. I'll post separately about what I bought.

I was due at work for 4pm, so after having some lunch and chilling for a while, I got showered and ready for work. Work was busy, but OK. I was glad to get home though, knowing that I had Saturday off to go to see LB's degree Show at her Uni.

On Saturday, we drove over to Wimbledon in South West London, to see LB's work in her degree show. We got there at about 1.30pm and met her at a nearby pub for lunch and a catch up, which was nice. We then walked down the road to her University campus where we wandered through the degree shows of the various courses on the campus. There were film, costume design, technical arts and theatre design course work on display, so it was really interesting to see the students' work. Some of it was amazing. They were so talented. I have to say that being a sewist, I particularly enjoyed the costume design work, which was done to an amazing standard.

It was lovely to see LB's work too, of course. She's worked really hard for the last couple of years and we're very pround of her for completing her course and doing so well. We hung around until 5pm, when the show finished and the students could take their work home with them. We ended up bringing LB's model home with us, so that she didn't have to carry it home herself. We then took her back to her flat and chatted for a while with her and her flatmate. They will be both moving out at the end of this month. It felt like the end of an era. They've both enjoyed living in the flat though, so it's been mostly a good experience for them.

We then headed home and brought some of LB's stuff back with us. We will be returning in a week to collect the rest of it in a van.  Both OH and I were really tired when we got home and were both in bed quite early, which marked the end to another busy week.

A Week of Too Much Work and Not Enough Play - W/E 14th June 2023

The week began with work as usual. I was working from 2pm til 6pm on Sunday and I was tired after working the previous three busy days. It was fairly busy, but it didn't pass as quickly as some shifts do and I was super glad to get to the end of it. On the way home, I was disappointed to see that I'd been given 5 shifts again next week. I'm finding all these extra hours a bit too much at the moment. It's hard to get any kind of work/life balance.

On Monday, I headed out to do the weekly shop as usual. This week, I just did a whizz round the grocery stores to get what we needed. I didn't have time to hang around, as I was due at work in the evening. I really didn't enjoy my shift in the evening for a couple of reasons. One was that I was tired, as it was my 5th consequetive shift and the other reason I won't go into here. I'm just grateful to have two days off now. I feel like I'm too old for this.

On Tuesday, it was lovely to have a bit of a lie in and know that I didn't need to go to work. I don't really get much of a lie in, as the builders next door start work at 8am each morning and it gets noisy. They do tend to knock off before 3 though, which is good on the days I'm not working, as I get to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet and can venture out into the garden.

I was booked into my usual class at the gym, but I had a bit of time before I needed to head out, so I made a small start on my sewing class project, winding some thread onto a bobbin ready for class and also sewing a couple of seams on the dress bodice. I then headed off to my class which was okay. When I got home, I had lunch and then got ready to go to my sewing class.

It is really lovely to sew in a different space where you've got room to spread out all your things on a double table. There were only 6 or 7 of us there this week, so there was plenty of room. I did some more work on my dress, sewing together the pieces for the sleeves and skirt. It's getting a bit tricky, as it's not really coming together perfectly. It's my fault, because I cut some of the fabric pieces bigger, just in case and now I'm struggling to get everything to fit together well. I need to work on it at home and figure out a solution. I enjoyed the couple of hours there though and it passes so quickly. It's quite peaceful and meditative.

I took a couple of library books back whilst there, as I'd finished reading them, I think that 's 5 or 6 books now read this year. I got one of Nancy Birtwhistle's books out this week and started reading it on the bus home.

OH had made us a curry when I got in, which was a treat. After supper, we both headed down to the allotment. I did some harvesting of strawberries and raspberries and then a bit of weeding and OH watered and fed the plants. It's choc full now, no room for any more plants until we harvest some potatoes or lettuce. The baby fox was out and about, but kept his distance from us. He's very cute.

When we got back home, we sat in the garden for half an hour and had a drink. I potted on a verbena bonariensis that OH bought me at B&Q the other week. There was 20% off all plants, so it only cost £5.60 which was a steal. It's got an amazing root ball and really needed a bigger pot, so I just decided to give it one.  In all, it was a lovely day, just great not to be working.

I booked myself in to see a film on Wednesday, at our small local independent cinema on our high street. The film was The Salt Path, and I went on my own, as it's not really OH's bag, plus he was busy and couldn't spare the time. The showing was at 11.15am, so it was a nice treat for myself after working so much these last few weeks. I really enjoyed the film. I've heard some people have suggested that it was boring, but I don't know how they could find it so. It was based on a real story of resiliance and finding hope after difficulty. A real storyline. I thought it was really good and the scenery amazing. It made me want to get my walking boots and rucksack on and just go do it.

I came home after the film and had some lunch and then shortly afterwards I needed to head out to meet some friends for supper. The timing wasn't great, as I have so much on my plate right now, but I didn't want to be a party pooper. I walked all the way to a fabric warehouse on the way, to get some steps in, where I bought some fabric to make another dungaree dress and maybe a skirt too. It was a camoflauge design, which I think is a high percentage cotton and cost £4 per meter, so I bought 3 metres. I also picked up some elastic, a floral patch and a zip, which the guy threw in for free, which was nice of him. Here's a picture of my little haul:

I then hopped onto a bus and met up with my friends at our usual haunt. It was nice to catch up. I ended up walking all the way home, as the buses were being diverted. It was probably 3 miles or so. I got a bit hassled by some guy part of the way, but I managed to shake him off eventually.

On Thursday morning, I headed out to the gym for a session, which I enjoyed. I've changed my gym routine now and it's feeling a lot more strenuous and beneficial. LB was coming home for a few hours later to pick something up, so I had a small window of time to try to do some college work. I then discovered via an email from my tutor, that I had more multiple choice quizzes to complete for the course, so I got distracted by that and didn't do the actual work that I needed to. I did get some of the quizzes completed though which was good, but still had a few more to do.

LB came home and it was lovely to see her and catch up with her news.  She's been so busy with Uni work and is now on the final stretch, as she's preparing for her degree show, which starts at the weekend. Unfortunately, I can't visit until next week, due to work commitments, but I'm hoping to go with OH next Saturday. Once this is over, she's just got her graduation in July and it will all be finished. She's due to come back home at the beginning of July, so I'm looking forward to that. We will need to hire a van to pick her up and move all of her stuff out of the flat. I'm thinking of staying over a night or two to help her clean up the flat and pack, work allowing. It might mean missing my last sewing class, but I'm fine with that.

I was then due at work for 5pm, so I had to head out. Work was okay, but I was just happy to get through it. That seems to be a recurring theme at the moment.

On Friday morning, I was due at college for 9am. I was supposed to have some work done, but I didn't get it completed. I made a start over breakfast, but didn't have time to complete it. I am still hanging by a thread in terms of staying on the course and doing the final practical assessments. I explained this to my tutor and fellow students in class when I got there and they were really supportive which was helpful to me. We then had to do some practical role playing work, which did give me a bit more confidence, but I've still got a lot of work to do and very little spare time to do it due to work committments.

I had to leave promptly at 12.30pm, as I was due at work for 3pm. Work was okay, but it felt like a long shift and I was very tired. I did get a break, which helped. I'm just taking it a day at a time at the moment. It's all I can do.

Saturday, I decided not to go to the free gym session as I was too tired. Something had to give and on this occasion it was this. I then got a message from a neighbour asking if I could look after their dog, as they were going out for the day and couldn't take him with them. I agreed to have him for the morning and then drop him home when I went to work for 3pm. It was an extra thing I could have done without, but he's a sweet boy and I didn't like to think of him being home alone all day.  Besides, I figured a walk with him late morning would be lovely. He settled quite well, made himself at home and we did have a lovely walk, so I did get some steps in.

I finished all of the remaining multiple choice assessments for college on Saturday morning, so at least that is all completed now and I can focus on the practical stuff going forward, which is currently the most pressing, as I have my practical assessments coming up in the next two weeks.

Work on Saturday night was busy but okay, ending another crazy busy week. Once I get to the end of June, I'm hoping things will calm down again.

Trying to Get My Act Together - W/E 7th June 2025 - Part 2

The first half of this week I was busy with work, the weekly shop and classes and although work was due to resume in the second half of the week, on Wednesday, I had a day of respite from needing to be anywhere or do anything in particular.

When I got up, I did need to finish the wardrobe clear out, by putting away the clothes I took out that didn't fit and rearranging the out of season storage to make it more accessible. Once I'd done that, I got ready and went down for breakfast.

I decided to go for a 3.5km run this morning, thinking that it would be my only chance to do so this week. I had it in my head that I was in college on Friday, instead of Wednesday this week and had shortened a shift at work as a consequence. When I checked my timetable, I realised that I wasn't in college at all until next Friday, which was a relief if I'm honest. I hadn't even looked at my college stuff since before half term and it was calling to me, as there's quite a lot of work that I need to do.

I was even considering not bothering to complete the course, as I was feeling overwhelmed with having so many shifts at work and all the college work to do. Today though, I got my books out and made a bit of an effort to do some work. I went online and completed 9 out of the 10 online open exam sections that I needed to complete. There's just one left, but I'm really struggling with it. I had to give up on it eventually. I felt a bit better for doing some work, although there is still a lot left to do, but I should have a bit of time next week to do what I need to do before I go back. Most of my deadlines are the end of the month, but I do have to complete something by the next time I go in.

The hand shredder that I considered getting and did eventually buy, was delivered today. It only actually takes one sheet of paper at a time, which makes it a little slow going, but I finished off what shredding had built up and I will do any future shredding as it arises, which should make it less laborious. It seems to work okay. I don't know how long it will last, but it was cheaper than the electric one that instantly broke, doesn't have a motor to burn out and doesn't need any electricity to use it, which is all good.

Later, we watched the penultimate episode of Race Across the World which was good. I always enjoy this series.

On Thursday, I didn't want to get up. I felt really tired. I did eventually get up and headed off to the gym. I did some new strength training exercises on a machine that I've never used before at my gym, which was good. After my workout, I felt exhausted, so I must have done something right. I came straight home and had lunch and then needed to get ready for work at 2pm. Work was very busy, with some additional stuff going on in the background which had us all on our best behaviour, but the eventual outcome was a good one. 

I wasn't working until 5pm on Friday, so I was very happy to have most of the day to do as I pleased. I did not do any exercise. I needed a day off. I had a lie in, as I'd gone to bed late after a hectic shift at work and then decided that I was going to use the time I had to do some more sewing. As a consequence, I spent the morning altering a pair of trousers from my wardrobe clearout and transforming them into a skirt. It went okay. I was quite happy with the outcome. I'm doing a separate post about clothing alterations, as I've got a few planned for when I get the time to do them.

Work was busy again on Friday, so I just put my head down and worked through it.

On Saturday morning, I got up early and headed off to the free gym session, which was good. I'm developing the courage to venture into a different part of the gym and do some new to me exercises and the workouts do feel more strenuous in a good way. 

When I got home, I chilled for a bit before getting ready for work. I was due to go for a mammogram before work, in a mobile screening unit. Luckily, it was round the corner from work. My work schedule had been changed at the last minute, to start work a couple of hours earlier, so at least this meant that I didn't need to kill two hours in the shops after my appointment, as that could have been expensive. Work was very busy and I was shattered by the time I got home. Working all these extra hours is taking it's toll a bit, if I'm honest, so I ended the week feeling pretty tired.

A Week of Feeling Overwhelmed and a Wardrobe Sort Out - Part One - W/E 7th June 2025

This week began as most weeks have lately, with a shift at work on Sunday. I was due to work 11am to 3pm, but almost as soon as I got there, I was asked if I would work until closing at 6pm, which I agreed to do seeing as I was already there.  I did have to go out at my break and buy a very unappetising and a not too healthy lunch from a nearby shop, as I'd not taken anything in with me, but such is life.  

The shift itself was probably one of the most stressful I've experienced in recent months. It was Payday weekend and we were very busy with shoppers, which is good for business, but I seemed to get a lot of complicated transactions come my way and by the end of the shift I was mentally and physically drained. 

I was so happy to go home and chill, but then didn't sleep well, as I got to thinking about LB, who was facing her final Uni deadline and I knew that she would probably be pulling an allnighter, which she was, as she messaged us to that effect the following day and to tell us that everything was finished and done. I was so relieved for her.

I headed out of town to do the weekly shop as usual on Monday. It was quite an expensive shop as were were out of quite a few things and I needed to get a couple of small gifts for OH for Fathers' Day. I also dropped into the charity shop for the first time in a few weeks. I had a good look through the rails, but this time I concentrated only on items made with materials made from natural fibres i.e. cotton, linen, viscose,etc.  

I tried quite a few things on, but many of them looked awful. I did come away with 4 items of clothing though; a navy linen top for £3 (which I intend to shorten), a blue floral linen dress for £5 (which I'm going to cut down to make a skirt), a floral viscose top for £2 and a very pretty viscose dress for £5. 

It really makes looking a lot easier, when you're only looking for natural fibres, as there are so few of them to look at. Most clothing in this particular shop, as in many charity shops these days, is synthetic, so it rules out a lot of what is on the rails. I've been inspired to do this by the books I've been reading lately, as they suggest that these fabrics are more sustainable. ( although viscose and cotton not so much!) I'll post about my finds in this months clothing purchases post.

I was working again in the evening, so after getting home and unpacking the shopping, I had to get ready and head into work. A couple of new staff started work tonight and I caught my first glimpse of our new Store Manager. It was busy again tonight though and as it was my fourth consequetive shift, I felt really tired and overwhelmed. I was so glad to go home at the end of the night, knowing I had a couple of days off, before it starts all over again.

On Tuesday, I managed to get booked into my usual class at the gym. I was looking forward to it as I'd missed the previous week on account of my dentist appointment. I made myself boiled eggs for breakfast and then did some financial stuff before heading out. I'd received my tax rebate, so I redistributed it into savings accounts. I also checked my Premium bonds and was happy to have won £100, which was a major bonus. 

My gym class was okay, not as good as usual though. When I came home, I made some lunch and then got ready to go out to my sewing class. I was looking forward to going back, as I'm loving sewing at the moment and feeling very inspired by some books I've been reading lately and the camaraderie at the class. 

I enjoyed the class. I didn't do any real sewing, just prepping of my fabric pattern pieces ready to start constructing the garment. The teacher did a little teaching session on different types of zips and how to install them and also demonstrated how to change the thread on the overlocker which was useful. It feels lovely to be amongst fellow sewists, as it's often something I do alone at home.

Talking to another class member, I discovered one of the reasons why I'm probably working so many shifts this week. Eid is taking place at the weekend and many people are buying gifts for family members, which is partly why work is busy. In addition, I think that many of the staff may be taking time off to celebrate with their families, hence my getting more shifts, which is fair enough. It's just come at a difficult time for me, as I have a lot going on out of work at the moment, which makes life a bit overwhelming at times.

Anyway, I took out a few more library books after my class (which takes place in a library), as I've almost finished the previous book I borrowed and will be returning it next week. Here's a picture of the books I borrowed:

After supper, I decided that I needed to sort out my wardrobe. I've been buying quite a few items of clothing lately, and I think it partly stems from feeling like I haven't got any nice clothes to wear that fit well. To be honest, my wardrobe was so packed full, I couldn't see half of what was in there, so it was quite enlightening to go through and try everything on, remove what didn't fit well and just leave what did, so I know what I've got to choose from. It made me realise that I had more choices than I thought. 

I think I'm just feeling annoyed with myself for putting weight back on. Some of the things I used to love wearing when I lost the weight, I can no longer wear, and it is so disappointing. I'm hanging on to quite a few of them, just in case, and some other items from my wardrobe I may alter to make them more wearable, or cut them up for the fabric to make something else. Some other things I will donate. 

One positive from doing this, aside from having much more room in my wardrobe and a clearer idea of what I can wear everyday, was that I found some extra clothes to wear for work this summer that still fit (just). 

Here's a photo of how it looked when I'd finished:

Everything is now much more accessible and seasonally appropriate which should make getting dressed every day much easier. I do feel much better now it has been done and it may just curb my urge to spend money on more clothes, although I don't like to make promises I can't keep.

A Week of Just Going with my Sewing MoJo

Half term week from both college courses meant that I had a few days to myself, to do as I pleased. I haven't had much free time in the last few weeks, so it was wonderful to be able to choose what I did each day. I probably should have been doing college work, but my heart was telling me to sew, and I didn't take much persuading. I seemed to have lots of ideas of things I wanted to make, so I just decided to go with the flow.

The first project I started was a patchwork project. I wanted to make a patchwork skirt to attach to a t-shirt and make a dress. The t-shirt was a brown colour with pretty broiderie anglaise sleeves, so I picked out brown, gold and green fabrics from my stash which I thought would go with it and made a large piece of pieced together fabric to make the skirt from.

When I tried to put the two together, I decided that I didn't actually like the fit of the t-shirt on me. It looked too tight, which wasn't flattering. As a consequence, I decided to just make a skirt in a completely different style, using an old pattern that I've used numerous times before, so I proceeded to cut the pattern pieces out of the patchwork pieced fabric.

I didn't get any further with this project this week, but it doesn't actually take long to make this skirt, if I can find some spare time. I just got distracted with other things I wanted to make.

The next project I decided to start, was to make a quilted vest, using the one I'd recently bought from Primark to make a pattern. This had been something I had planned to make before I bought the vest, so I'd already put some fabric aside for it.

To begin with, I created a paper pattern by drawing around the bought vest. This was a bit tricky, but I think it turned out okay.  I then cut out the fabric pieces and also some lining pieces in a co-ordinationg plain fabric that I had in my stash.

I wasn't originally intending to use any kind of wadding, but the fabric I was using was quite flimsy unlike the denim of the original, and as I had some thin wadding, I decided to include a layer of it, so that it would give a better quilted effect. Luckily, I just had enough wadding in my stash. I then pinned and tacked the wadding and layers of fabric in place ready to iron and quilt.

Here's a picture of the pieces ready to quilt:

I am a bit nervous about quilting the pieces, as I need to keep the lines straight and even. I decided not to use the diagonal quilting on the bought vest and to instead just quilt in vertical lines 2cm apart, as I thought there might be less room for error doing it this way, or that errors might not show as much. The pattern on the fabric that I am using does have rows of polka dots on it, so I'm hoping that this might help me to keep my lines straight by following the dots as much as possible.

Once again, I didn't get any further with this project this week, but I made a start, which is something. Sometimes, that's all it takes to get your creative ideas flowing and I do like to have lots of different projects on the go, so that I don't get bored with any one of them.

The final project I started during this week, was to make a patchwork duvet cover for the spare bedroom/sewing room. It was a bit of a random idea, but I've seen some on Pinterest and it's such a great stash buster.  Besides, cotton duvet covers are very expensive these days, so why not make my own with cotton fabric I already have and don't use. I used some of the same fabrics that I'd used for the patchwork skirt, as I wanted to use them up. I stuck to greens though on this project, to go with bedding we already had (i.e. fitted sheets and pillow cases). 

I think I managed to cut enough pieces of fabric to make the duvet cover top, as can be seen from the photo (Please note that some of the colours don't show true on camera). I may still need to add the odd row or two once I start sewing them together, which is what I now need to do. Again, I didn't really get the time to do this during half term week, so this is still an ongoing project, but one that I look forward to moving forward with. I'm not sure what I'm going to use for the back of the cover yet, but I do have some vintage flat sheets, so one of those will probably do the job.

I'll keep you posted with progress on all these projects, but I'm not sure when I'll get chance to work on them again for a while.

Monthly Finances - May 2025

This month has been a much more expensive month than the previous one. The main reasons being OH's birthday falling within this month, on which I spent about £100, as he didn't really want much. I also needed to pay for more dental treatment that I had done this month. I paid £75 as a deposit for my treatment and then another £235 for the filling and clean that I actually had done.

As a consequence, it was a very expensive month. I was a little over on the food budget and also the household budget, as I bought quite a few household items this month, stocking up on washing sheets, scent booster beads, eco washing up liquid, toilet cleaner, dental products, etc.

I also bought a shredder, that broke after just a couple of minutes. I'm contemplating now buying a hand shredder, in the hope that it might work better and not break so easily, although it takes only 2 sheets of paper at a time, so will take longer to do any shredding. If I shred as I go, it might work for me.

As usual, I did spend some money on clothes for myself, namely £68, but I've gone into more detail about this in my monthly clothing purchases post.

Other things I spent money on this month included some notions for my sewing class and other projects to the tune of about £20, plus the bus fares to actually get to class. I topped up my oyster card twice this month at £10 each time.

I also put £10 into a leaving kitty at work and spent £44 on bits for the house, including a new cotton sheet and matching pillow cases and a large bath mat. They were things that we needed, so I don't regret this expenditure.

In terms of my £25 charity shop budget that I allow myself, I only spent £9.79 in charity shops this month, which was progress for me. This was spent on a few sewing bits, some packing cubes and a book.

I didn't win anything on the Premium bonds this month, but I did receive £175 in interest on a fixed rate Isa I'd set up a couple of years ago, which has now come to term and this ended up being shared between the car fund, rounding up balances in various savings accounts and also used for the purchase of more Premium Bonds.

I managed to put £200 in the car fund, £100 in the birthday fund (although £50 of this was spent on OH's birthday) and £50 in LB's overdraft fund to help her clear it when she finishes Uni next month.

Despite the expense, I feel like I've still made progress financially this month, but I'm hoping to spend a little less next month and maybe save a little more.

(OH spent about £1100 this month, on bricks and sand for the new garden patio, which is virtually complete and looks great. It was definitely £1000 well spent, as it probably cost us a lot less than paying someone else to do the work. We're both very happy with how it turned out)

Next month, I don't really have any big expenses on the horizon, save for paying off my credit cards (I use these for online purchases and some other expenses, i.e. dental bills) and getting by. It will be a month of working quite a lot and focussing on getting my college work done and my floral dress made at sewing class, so I might not have too much time to trawl the charity shops or spend money, but then being busy hasn't stopped me in the past.

I hope you've had a much less expensive month than I have.

Monthly Clothing Purchases - May 2025

This month I spent £68 on clothing which is quite a lot for me. All of the items I bought were new from high street retail stores.

The first item I bought was a gym t-shirt which cost me £8.80. I did my usual thing of slightly rolling up the sleeves and sewing them into place, as I prefer a boyfriend style of t-shirt.

I then made a visit to a large local Primark store and whilst looking around I decided to buy the following items:

The first item was this quilted denim waistcoat. I've wanted a quilted vest/waistcoat like this for a while, but not found one I liked until I saw this one. It's useful on those colder days when you need an extra layer, but not necessarily sleeves. I'm going to use it to make another one myself using a cotton print fabric, as it is a very simple construction. It cost £20, which is quite a lot for me to spend, but I like it and have worn it a couple of times already.

The second item I bought was this long tiered black cotton jersey skirt. I thought that this would be a nice item to wear over the summer months when it gets hot. It is loose and comfortable and not unflattering. I wore it to my sewing class the other week and it was very easy to wear. This cost £12. I don't actually wear this at it's full length as it is a little too long, but it's easy to roll up at the waist and wear a loose top over the waistband. I may alter the length at the waistband, if I can be bothered. I'm happy with this item, it's just what I needed for the summer months.

I then bought this pair of jogger pants in a petrol blue colour. I already had a similar pair in black which I really like, but which are elasticated at the ankles. I do prefer the elasticated ankles, so I may alter these to be the same style, as I think it will make them more flattering and easier to wear. Just a great casual pant, looking a bit creased in this picture though.

Finally, after paying for the above items, I was on my way out of the store when I saw these grey running shorts by Kappa. These are my favourite style of running shorts, so I decided to buy a pair too. I have worn them to run in and for the gym and they are comfortable with zipped pockets to keep keys in, which is good. These also cost £12.

Although I did visit a couple of charity shops during the month of May, I didn't find any clothing that I wanted to buy. I do prefer to buy second hand, and prefer to look in charity shops, but if I see something in a regular store that I like, think I will wear a lot and have been looking for, I will buy it.

These items have given me a bit more choice in my current wardrobe, so I'm quite happy with my purchases and look forward to wearing them on repeat.

An Expensive Week, But With a Few Good Surprises - W/E 31st May 2025

This week began with a couple of shifts at work on Sunday and Monday over the Bank Holiday Weekend. I was working 2pm til 6pm on Sunday and 1pm until 9pm on Monday, so work took up most of the rest of the Bank Holiday weekend.  It was fairly busy at work, which meant that time passed reasonably quickly.

I did the weekly shop on Sunday morning, as I had a bit more time before work, but it was a bit of a rush - shopping, getting lunch and getting to work on time, but at least it was done. I had a dental appointment on Tuesday morning, so I couldn't do it then.

Whilst I was working over the weekend, OH was working hard on the brick patio. He's just got a little bit of finishing to do and it will be done.

It was just as well that I worked extra hours over the Bank Holiday Weekend and that I've got more hours for the next couple of weeks, as my trip to the dentist on Tuesday morning was very expensive.  When did having a filling and a clean cost £300? I was shocked. So, there may be very little money put in savings next month, as it will all be going towards paying the dental bill. I was glad to get it done though and I don't need to go back for a good while. I'm even contemplating moving to a different dental surgery, if I can find one, as it's become a lot more expensive at my current one recently.

The remainder of Tuesday, I decided to spend doing exactly as I pleased. It was half term, so there was no sewing class, but because I'd not had time to sew at all for a week, I was feeling like I wanted to do some sewing. It is my happy place afterall and I had an idea for a new project that I wanted to get started on, something I will be doing at home, not at class and that will use up more fabric from my scraps and stash. I'll create a post about it at some point.

I also wanted to finish the dungaree dress, which just needed hemming and the buttons attaching, so I did that first. I had a bit of trouble with buttons, so I'm just hoping they work out okay.

I then did some work on the new project which was fun. By the end of the day, I'd totally changed my plans about what I was going to do, but all will be revealed at some point. I've still got more work to do on it.

We got the news today that OH's brother is going to be leaving hospital in a few weeks and going back home, which was good.

On Wednesday, I had a long lie in. I think my body was still traumatized from going to the dentist. I laid in bed reading my current book, which I'm enjoying, before getting up and making a good breakfast of two soft boiled eggs, as I was planning on going to the gym.

I got some good news today, which has saved me financially heading into June. I was notified that I was due a tax rebate, so I quickly got onto the HMRC website to claim it. I probably won't receive it until next month, but it will nicely cover the cost of the dental treatment,  thankfully. I knew I was due a rebate, as I'd paid tax last year, but hadn't earned enough to merit it, it was my tax code which was incorrect for some reason. I was hoping to put the whole of the rebate into savings, but this will now sadly not be possible.  On the positive side, some of it will get saved. I guess health must come first, dental or otherwise.

I eventually got ready and headed off to the gym which was okay. I then walked into town to check the balance on my building society account, as I was due some share dividends, which hadn't actually gone in yet and I wanted to check out and use my new account card for the first time. I also picked up a few things that I needed whilst out and dropped into our local charity shop on the way home for a mooch, but I couldn't find anything I wanted to buy, which is rare for me.

After lunch, I decided to do some financial stuff, as it was almost month end. I did a bit more sewing later on and I also created a pattern for something else that I want to make, using an item I already owned as the template.

I had another lie in on Thursday. I think because I've been so busy in the last few weeks, I just needed some downtime at home, doing very little aside from sewing. My soul just needed it. I probably should have been doing some college work, but my heart just wasn't in it. I know I'm just procrastinating, but I'm enjoying the process.

I read more of my book, which is interesting. It's like a social history of work and clothing combined and I do like social history, so I find it fascinating.

After breakfast, I did some cutting out for two new projects. One using the pattern I'd made the night before, the other was cutting up fabric for another patchwork project, but not a quilt this time. I'm using lots of fabrics from my stash, which is all good. It needs using, instead of just sitting in the drawer.

I had a no makeup, t-shirt and tracksuit pants kind of day today, where I dressed down knowing that I was going to stay home and potter and not go out of the house. These are my favourite kind of days and besides, it gives my skin a rest from wearing makeup.

In the afternoon, I retired to the sewing room to do more work on one of the  new projects I'd started. I also cut out all the pattern pieces for the dress I want to make next at my sewing class. I now just need to stitch in the notches before I go back to class next week.

Later, I did some laundry and hung it out, so I'd have clothes for work over the weekend and in the evening, after supper, OH and I watched Race Across the World, which was good. OH did the last few bits he needed to do on the patio today, so now it is all finished and I'll be posting about it shortly.

Another lie in on Friday morning, reading my book, making the most of it whilst I can. I decided to go out for a run this morning, when I eventually got up and ready. I was due to work in the evening, so I didn't have a lot of time to do much today. 

After lunch, I decided to do a bit of cleaning, well, vacuuming and mopping through the house, as there was lots of sand on the floors due to the patio building in the garden. By the time I'd done that it was time to get showered and go to work. I've enjoyed having some time to myself this week, doing my own thing. Pity that it's now come to an end, as I will be working over the weekend.

On Saturday morning, I read for half an hour in bed and then got up and ready to go to the free gym session. Afterwards, I dropped into the supermarket for a few food bits and then tried the building society again.  This time my dividends had gone in, which was good news, as I'm always happy to get extra bits of income that can be put towards savings. 

When I got home, I did a bit of blogging and blog reading, then made some eggs for lunch. I was working at 5pm again, so I couldn't get settled into doing anything much. Work was okay, but I wasn't doing a job that I particularly liked, so it dragged a little and I was glad to get to the end of another working week.

It's hard to believe that another week has passed, it's gone by so quickly this week, probably because I was having so much fun sewing and planning new projects.

I hope you've enjoyed your week.

Garden Update - May 2025

This month has seen OH make really good progress with the garden renovation. At the beginning of the month the garden looked like this:

It was a bit of a building site with the bricks and sand ready waiting to be laid to form a new patio area in front of the shed. OH started out by clearing the area and then laying down a few brick patterns to help us decide how to proceed.

The first Bank Holiday weekend of the month saw OH make good progress and half the patio got laid, until he'd virtually run out of bricks. It then looked like this:

The following week, we ventured into Hertfordshire to try to find some more bricks that blended well with the first shipment. We weren't able to get a half pallet from our original supplier, so we were forced to source some that were a good match elsewhere.  We got lucky and got another shipment delivered for the approximate number we needed.

OH got straight down to laying them the next day and laid almost the full patio, minus the edging bricks which needed cutting to size.

The second Bank Holiday Weekend in May, OH cut and laid the rest of the edging bricks, laid bricks under the compost bin, created a new step where the gate used to be and then filled in between the bricks with fine sand. He used every single brick we'd bought. Only a few small broken bits didn't get used. He could never do that again.

By the time I'd finished work on Bank Holiday Monday evening, he'd almost finished the patio. It looked great. 

He just had to brush a bit more sand into the cracks and tidy up a few areas which he did through the week and it was completely finished.  Here's a picture, with table and chairs out in readiness for us to enjoy it:

We are super happy with it. It feels so good to finally have a virtually finished grown up garden. Just the job of laying the flag stones down the side return to do and a bit of planting in the borders and the garden will be completely finished and we will be able to fully enjoy it again, although we are enjoying it as it stands now and had lunch out on the patio for the first time yesterday.

What a difference a month can make.

Another Sewing Post - Making a Dungaree Dress

 In April, I purchased a lovely denim dungaree dress for £10.50 from my local charity shop. It was labelled as XL, and as there was no fitting room, I bought it and took it home, hoping that it would fit. I really liked it because it was a longer length than many dungaree dresses, which tend to be quite short and tent like.  This one was longer and a straighter fit, which I thought might be more flattering. 

However, when I got home and tried it on, it wasn't XL at all, it was more like a size 10/12. I got it on, but it was tight in all the wrong places. I was a bit disappointed, as I really liked it, so I hung onto it hoping that I might be able to fit into it better if I lost a bit of weight again and I'm still hoping that this might happen, but I'm not counting on it. Here's a picture of the original dress:

Anyway, as it was a pretty simple construction, I decided to see if I could make a larger version that fitted better. I had some black cotton fabric that was originally salvaged from the full skirt of a dress that I cut down to a shirt. There was quite a lot of it and just enough to try to make this dress.

I then proceeded to create a paper pattern from the original dungaree dress, adding an inch or three to each side of the front and back. I kind of just winged it if I'm honest. I then cut the front and back pieces and the front and back pockets out in the fabric and set them aside intending to eventually sew them together.

Whilst at my sewing class, I realised that the machines there could be used to sew a double stitch that you see on most denim items, where two rows of stitches run parallel to one another. I'd never seen the double needle that you use to do this before, but my tutor had one, so I had a play around at class and then brought my pattern pieces in and over a couple of weeks I managed to make a larger version of the dungaree dress.

There were some tricky moments, as I only just had enough fabric to make the dress and had to piece together some leftover strips of fabric to make the straps. They turned out okay in the end and once the fastenings were attached, they looked great.

The double needle had it's challenges too, as it isn't easy to sew around a corner, but I managed okay. The finish isn't perfect and there might be the odd wobbly line here and there, but as I stitched using black cotton on black fabric, the mistakes aren't so noticable and most of them are on the back, which I don't actually see whilst wearing it.

Luckily, LB had some silver coloured jean buttons that she'd bought to mend a pair of dungarees she has and she let me use a couple of them to add to my dress. They are a different colour from the remainder of the fastenings, which are blackish in colour, but I may paint them to make them blend a bit more or even just go with them as they are. This dress is really only for casual use, so I'm not bothered about the buttons being a different colour.

Anyway, here's a picture of the finished dress:

It looks a bit shapeless in the photo, but looks better on and fits me a lot better than the original with room to spare. I'm looking forward to wearing it over the summer and might even make another one in a different fabric i.e. a lightweight denim like the original dress or a camoflage/animal print denim if I can find one.

I'm very happy with it, but now need to see if it stands up to the wear and tear of actually wearing it. Wish me luck.