Everything Looking Springlike in the Garden

In the last couple of weeks our garden has started to come alive again after a long wet winter.  Here's a picture of what it looked like back in the depths of winter. Very bare with very little going on at all.

 

 

This same border now looks like this.

Lots of fresh green foliage growing and the recent rain has made all the greenery look even zingier.  Even the blackcurrant bush is starting to burst into leaf again

 

 

The cherry tree has some beautiful blossoms on it.

 

 

 

The border geraniums have even started flowering.

 

 

 

As have the bluebells (Spanish I think) under the peach tree.

 

 

There are also several clumps of Forget-me-nots doing their thing. 

 

 

It makes it a pleasure to look out of the patio doors and see everything changing on a weekly basis.

 

  We were going to completely overhaul the garden this year, on account of the small lawn of grass getting into a terrible condition since we got the dog, but as we both quite like our garden as it is, we have decided to limit the dog's access to the grass (as she tends to just run up and down it barking, creating a nuisance and wearing it out) and get it re-turfed professionally and some small fences put up around this area to protect it.  This may seem hard on the dog, but she does get lots of good walks and will still get access, but it will be supervised and only if she behaves, as she has been causing some problems with our neighbours in recent months.

 

 

 

Getting back to the rest of the garden, the herb planter I planted up a few weeks ago for Project 52 seems to have taken on a life of it's own and the gap left, where I (unsuccessfully) sowed some chive seeds, is closing up all by itself.  Yesterday I sowed some parsley seeds in there and I'm hoping I will have a bit more luck with these.

 

Talking of seed sowing, the seeds I sowed in March were a mixed bunch.  Many were old seeds that I was giving one more chance, as they were flowers and vegetables I have favoured in previous years, but I haven't had a lot of success with many of them, so the seeds will need be thrown away if there are no signs of life in the next month.  What has germinated are some salad seeds, the carrots I sowed in a container, a few tomato seeds and a few peas, which I will need to take to the allotment in due course, if the snails don't get them first.  I can feel another bout of seed sewing on the horizon.   Is anyone else having any better luck?

 

 

Eating Down the Freezer

Our freezer is quite small, consisting of only two shelves, but never the less it can hold quite a lot of food and periodically I tend to fill it up with meat, breakfast items (i.e muffins, crumpets, potato cakes, etc), frozen vegetables, meat pies, etc., buying the food when it is on offer, taking account of it when menu planning and keeping food spending to a minimum.

During March through to the first week of April, I was steadily working my way through the freezer using the contents for some meals, using fresh food for others and was shopping strictly in accordance with the menu plan and what was required for it.  As a consequence of this, I wasn't buying more items to fill the freezer and by this weekend I had successfully almost emptied it.  As someone who hates waste, and likes to use everything up, this feels very satisfying.  

There's still a couple of bits of meat in there, some bacon lardons and some pork steaks, but I intend to use these in the next week or two.  There are also some frozen vegetables and minced garlic, from last years allotment excess, which desperately need using up, and which I tend to put in casseroles and stews when I remember. Perhaps now that they are all that is in the freezer I will be more inclined to use them.  Other than that and several trays of ice cubes there's a couple of spoonfuls of ice cream left over from Little Bird's smoothie making, a few oven chips and a yoghurt stick.  It's really strange to see it quite so empty, it makes me feel a bit like a modern day Mother Hubbard, but having said that I am reluctant to fill it up again.  The other thing of course, is the waste of energy if I'm not keeping anything in there.  Seems silly.

Anyway,I did my weekly Lidl shop this morning, but didn't get as much as I usually do, as we may be going away for a few days later this week.  I just got some frozen vegetables and a couple of other bits to go in the freezer and other weekly fresh food items that I keep mostly in the fridge.  No wonder the bill was only £33.33 for the shop.  I still got 3 bags full though.

I'm now thinking of starting to cook more and more from fresh in future and buy more things as I need them.  I will still put some meat items in the freezer, when I divide up larger packs and make more than one meal from them and I will still have the usual frozen vegetables for convenience and breakfast/bread products likewise, but I am going to try to make more room to accommodate produce from the allotment from now on, so that nothing I do manage to grow gets wasted.

I don't know why, but I just feel I want a clean sweep of the cupboards and freezer before the new growing season gets fully underway, so that I can start from scratch and maybe start to think differently about the way I shop, where I shop and what we eat. 

It has occurred to me lately that perhaps one of the drawbacks of menu planning, is that you don't realise how often you eat the same dish until it is written down on paper.  Don't get me wrong, I  enjoy using a menu plan, as I find it means I often put a better meal on the table, rather than throwing something together last minute from the fridge or cupboards.  It makes me more organised and keeps me knowing what I need to do/get each day/week.  I will continue to menu plan for this reason and on account of the fact that it does reduce waste and save money, but I do need to inject some more variety into the process and add some more meals to my repertoire.  I'm looking forward to the challenge though.  I'll keep you posted.

Project 52 - Week 14 - Making a Bean Bag for Little Bird

This task is one that I've had in mind to do for at least a year now.  I had the fabric I wanted to use which had been a homemade curtain for Little Bird's bedroom when she was in the small bedroom, now my sewing room.  I wanted to re-purpose it as it was the right colour to go with the quilt I made her at Christmas i.e. purple, a colour that she likes at the moment.

When I say I wanted to make her a bean bag, my version was more of a bean filled floor cushion, not the round kind you see in the shops.  A very simple construction that I was going to sew with an extra strong wax coated thread. 

I'd put it off for a while, as it was going to cost at least £15 to buy some beanbag filling and I couldn't quite justify it with the expense of Christmas and her birthday and everything, but then I had a spot of luck and found an old bean bag in the charity shop for just £6.  It wasn't much to look at, but was large (i.e. adult sized) and had lots of filling inside it, which was perfect for what I needed. 

Originally, I decided I was going to just put it inside the floor cushion cover as it was, but as it was a completely different shape this didn't really work, so I decided to transfer the polystyrene beads from one bag to the other.  I thought I could do it without making too much mess but yes you've guessed it, it was a disaster.  (You did warn me Penny, I should have listened!) 

After a very short time the sewing room floor was completely covered in the things.  It looked like it had snowed indoors.  They were sticking to my socks, slippers, trousers, the bed, everything.  Whilst I pinned and sewed up the bean bag, Little Bird tried to help by shovelling up the polystyrene beads from the floor, without much success.  Once the rest of the beads were successfully contained in the bean bag/floor cushion, I joined her making equally little progress, so finally I gave in and out came the vacuum cleaner.  Thank goodness for this amazing invention.  It made super light work of it.  I'm hoping I've not completely jammed it up with them, but to be honest I was just glad they had been cleared up.

I've double sewn all the seams of the floor cushion and along the edge that I sewed after filling it, I've also hand sewn some binding on as an extra measure.  I'm pleased with the outcome, but am just hoping it doesn't get jumped on from a height and burst open again.   Here's a couple of pictures of the finished floor cushion/bean bag. 

 

 

It'll make a nice place to sit and read a book, use the laptop or just listen to music, but I've warned Little Bird to treat it with a bit of TLC.

Joining in with Dreamer at Living a Slow and Simple Life in her Project 52 challenge to complete a task every week for a year.

Alphabet Blogging - Q is for........A Quiet Week

After the busyness of last week mostly spent preparing for visitors, it was a great relief to have a quiet week this week.  I really needed it.  I didn't have anything planned, other than attending my usual exercise classes and keeping up with household chores.

It felt great to be able to find some quiet time in the week just for me, to read or get on with projects I've been meaning to start for a while.  It's been very restorative.  I even took to my bed for an hour  one afternoon, as I was having trouble keeping my eyes open, which is very rare indeed.  I think I just needed a little bit of down time or perhaps it was a delayed reaction to the clocks going back/forward, whatever.  It wasn't helped by the fact that there was no electricity, the power being off whilst the electrician worked on the circuit boards, so I couldn't go online, do the ironing or watch TV. 

Little Bird has had a busy week this week with spring concerts, school discos, test results, smoothie making, cinema trips, etc.  So I've been playing a supportive role this week, making sure she had everything she needed.  Fortunately, the end of this week marks the beginning of Little Bird's Easter holidays, which means plenty of quiet time at home together and the normal daily routine suspended for a while.  This always makes a welcome change.

Joining in with Mum at Mum's Simply Living in her Alphabet Backwards blogging challenge.

A Year in Books - April

I can't quite believe we are in April already.  This month seems to have flown by.  In March, I read this book by Sue Townsend.

On the book jacket it had good reviews and I was expecting it to be funny and a little absurd, which it definitely was.  It did, however, surprise me (in a good way might I add) as it was also very touching and thought provoking in parts.  On the very first page was a quote attributed to Plato and others, which went as follows - 'Be kind, for everybody you meet is fighting a hard battle'.  I appreciated these sentiments as soon as I saw them, but as you got to the end of the book, the relevance of the quote hit home even harder.  In the latter chapters of the book, I became concerned for the welfare of the main character with whom I had some sympathy, who was deteriorating both physically and mentally by this point.  I won't spoil anyone else's enjoyment of the book by elaborating any further, but suffice to say, this book really made me think about the importance of being kind to other people.  It certainly delivered more than I expected when I first started reading it and was well worth the read.

I also read this book in March by Gil McNeil and at the risk of being accused of always giving positive reviews, I really enjoyed this book too.  What I most enjoyed about it, was it's lack of sentimentality.  I have read many books with similar plots in recent months, but this one was far superior, as a consequence of it lacking sentimentality, and I really enjoyed the knitting references too.  There was even mention of the Knitting and Stitching Show that I attended the other week.  I believe that a sequel has been written to this book, which I would be interested to read if I ever came across it.

In April, I've set myself the goal of trying to read some more serious literary fiction.    I used to read much more serious fiction when I was younger, but after having my daughter, I found the concentration necessary and the opportunities to sit down and really get stuck into a book have been been harder to come by.  This month I've already read this book by Margaret Attwood.  I read a few of her books in my early twenties - The Handmaid's Tail, Cat's Eyes - to name a couple.  I found them very powerful and thought provoking.  I found this book Moral Disorder on a favourite market stall, for sale for £1 brand new, and couldn't resist buying it.

As I entered April, I was already over half way through this book and enjoying it immensely, which I wasn't altogether sure I would.  I liked the honesty of the central character, of most of the characters actually.  I thoroughly enjoyed reacquainting myself with Atwood's literary style, although I do find the fact that the chapters are quite long, make it harder to dip in and out of, which means I often only pick it up when I know I have time to read a chapter in it's entirety.  Having said this, I finished it pretty quickly and am now reading this book by Amy Tan,

 

I think I have read the Joy Luck Club, but I have definitely read several titles written by Chinese/Japanese authors in the past and have enjoyed learning more about their very different customs and religious/cultural beliefs and practices.  The beguiling outline of the story, on the back cover of this book, both intrigued me and drew me to it.  I'm hoping I enjoy it as much as I think I will.  A couple of chapters in and I'm finding it very readable.  The print, however, is very small so there is much more packed into each page and as a consequence, it may take me a while to finish this book.

Joining in with Laura at Circle of Pine Trees in her A Year in Books challenge to try to read more in 2014.

 

A Spending Drought

I don't know what's come over me of late.  For the first time in a long time, if not ever, I'm finding it very difficult to actually spend money.  Maybe, I'm currently just feeling happy with my lot and what I have and I don't feel the need to acquire anything else, or maybe I realise that I actually have far too much already and don't need to add anymore to it.  

Take yesterday for instance, it was the beginning of the month, I had money in my account, I went out shopping to finish the grocery shop and get a few other bits, but I kept an open mind, had a good look around a few shops and was willing to buy other things if I saw them and liked them.  Only I didn't.  Save for one book from Poundland.  It hardly broke the bank.

Later tonight, I took Little Bird swimming and then strolled into town and had a look around Primark (as it's just about the only shop still open at that time) and I couldn't find a single thing I wanted to buy, either for me or Little Bird, which is highly unusual. 

Going down the West End this weekend, going into shops such as Liberty, I wasn't even tempted to spend any money and I didn't.  I just bought the few second hand sewing patterns in a local market here before we went.

My charity shop shopping habit has slowed off dramatically in the past year and I missed my favourite jumble sale this weekend due to spending the day with our visitors, so another opportunity to shop was missed.

More surprisingly, I've been finding it increasingly difficult to fill Approved Food orders.  I limit myself to one per month and try to get enough to justify the postage costs, but lately, there's not enough on my order to warrant sending it.  Partly, I think it is because it is such a popular site at the moment and good things sell out very, very quickly, partly I seem to be a bit more reluctant to fill the cupboards with lots of food that doesn't always get eaten, the February Food Challenge bringing this to my attention, and partly the Beauty and Household challenges I've been taking part in have stopped me throwing extra things into the basket and overstocking on beauty and household products.  Maybe I need to just place an order every six weeks or two months these days.  This in turn will make my credit card expenditure fall further, which is all good.

It does make you think about what causes you to feel the need to spend money on things you don't honestly need.  Perhaps, because I don't buy glossy magazines very often these days, or watch much television, I'm not bombarded with as much advertising imagery as I have been in the past, or maybe I'm able to see through it when I do encounter it.  Maybe I've now finally started really asking myself - do I really need/want this? 

As mentioned, I think the challenges I've set myself have helped a great deal in this respect, as they have really slowed down my spending in certain areas and made me think hard about what really is necessary spending and this approach seems to be filtering into other areas of my life too.  Don't get me wrong, I love shopping and could happily shop 'til I drop, but I have made an effort to limit opportunities and it does work.  The longer you limit yourself for, the more you get used to not spending money and acquiring new 'stuff' and the harder you find it to actually commit to buying new things unless they are vitally necessary.  This might change as the challenges end I suppose.

Maybe, I'm just more accepting of myself  at the moment, and have got to that point in life where I have just about everything I could ever need, so feel less prone to trying to impress, by having the latest thing or wearing the latest styles.  Whatever the reason, I'm enjoying the moment, but I can't honestly say that it's more than that, as who knows, I may suddenly decide I need something and find myself going off on a shopping spree at some point in the near future.  How fickle I am.

Make Something Every Month - March - Making a Pencil Skirt

Apologies for the delay in posting this, I intended to post it first thing, but we had the electricians in and the power off, so I wasn't able to go online until now.  For this March's make I was determined to get my dressmaking hat on, but didn't actually find the time until the very end of the month.  Sunday afternoon, with a clean house and our guests having departed, I ventured up to the sewing room and started work on one of the projects in my dressmaking 'to make' pile that I had collated the week before.

To keep it simple, I went for a straightforward pencil skirt without a waistband, that I could run up in a few hours.  It was a pattern that I hadn't used before and had bought at a local market whilst out and about this weekend.  It was similar to others I've made previously, so there wasn't really anything too difficult about it and as it was a Very Easy Vogue pattern it was simple and had clear instructions.  I picked a fabric from my 'to make' pile that I was going to use with a different but similar pattern, with a print that didn't need too much matching at the seams, and off I went.

This was the pattern which was a bit large, but I adjusted it accordingly to fit me

and this the fabric.

Initially, I cut out the pinned the pattern pieces for the skirt to the fabric and cut them out and then I put in the tailor's tacks, ready for sewing together the following day.

Monday afternoon I resumed work on it.  I sewed the double darts front and back, sewed up the back seam and put the zip in, stitched the front to the back at the side seams, attached the interfacing to the waist facing and attached it to the skirt, topstitching it to keep it in place.  Finally, I completed the back slit and hem by hand whilst watching TV later in the evening.  As I didn't have my over locker working to neaten the edges, it isn't as perfect as I would like, but I pinked the edges of the fabric to try to prevent them fraying and did the best job I could in the circumstances.  I am quite happy with the result.  I will definitely use this pattern again.

This type of skirt is really one of the simplest to make and I really enjoyed getting back into my dressmaking groove.  I already had the fabric, interfacing, zip and thread, none of which cost very much, so the only recent outlay was the pattern itself which cost £2.  The fabric wasn't the simplest to use, as it was synthetic and the edges frayed a bit, but I liked the print, it was incredibly inexpensive at something like £1.50 per metre and as it had a bit of weight to it, it wasn't too bad to handle.

Here's a picture of the finished result.  This is the front view (excuse the darts, I haven't properly ironed them),

and this is the back view.

As an added extra I added a Merchant and Mills 'Made in England' label.  I always think it makes for a much more professional looking finish! (Tongue firmly in cheek at this point).

I'm pretty happy with it and am looking forward to wearing it at some point in the very near future.  I'm also looking forward to my next dressmaking project now that I've recut my teeth on this one.  I'm hoping it won't be such a last minute dash as this one though.  Fingers crossed.