Kitschy Coo’s Sew Along

Now my sewing machine is up and running again I need to work my way through my fabric stash. Then I spied a sew along on Amanda’s blog – Kitschy Coo. Working from Design-It-Yourself each member makes a skirt and then posts pics to the Flickr group, I get to buy myself a crafty book out of it and a skirt so I signed up straight away!

As soon as I’ve figured out how I’ll be adding a link in my sidebar, I’ve joined the Flickr group and ordered the book from Amazon. I cleared out my clothes drawers this morning (not knowing about the sew along) and was thinking that I could do with some summery clothes, can’t afford to buy any but I have a sewing machine and a stash of fabric so hopefully this will work out.

No doubt I’ll get photos of what I create up on here, not sure if I’ll be modelling them! Mind you, today I set up a standing order to Tim’s account so if I don’t get to the gym three times a week then he gets £10, I worked out that if I only managed to get there twice or less a week and Tim gets the £10 every week between now and the wedding, he gets enough to buy himself an iPad! That’s £300 I could spend on myself plus I use my gym membership and hopefully fit back in to half of my wardrobe. Quite a good motivation I thought so we’ll see how it goes. See you all next week!

UPDATE – Look! In the sidebar! Look what my clever fiance taught me how to do! Follow the picture to see what I’m talking about!

Alice in Wonderland swap

Yesterday I received a parcel from my Alice in Wonderland swap partner. For those not in to craft swaps an explanation, I read a lot of craft blogs and every so often one of the bloggers will hold a swap. Apryl is really good at these and I’ve done a couple. This time the theme was Alice in Wonderland in relation to the Tim Burton film coming out next month. You have to make a parcel containing something you’ve made, some sweets plus whatever you think would make a good parcel that you’d like to receive yourself.

Normally, I forget to take photos but I remembered to get the camera before I sent off my half and before I opened the contents of Fiona’s parcel so here you go:

My parcel contained this

And I was very happy to receive all these lovely things

Sorry the photos aren’t embedded in the post but I’d have to compress them all to get them on and I thought it would be nice to get a good view!

As you can see, what I received was of such a high standard. The necklace looks very professional in all its details, there’s silver beads, red coral beads and polymer clay beads and TizDuster made all the catch too.

I love the pincushion, it made me laugh when I opened it and there’s really lovely details in this too. There’s little beads inbetween each of the felt discs that make up the caterpillar, and the pins have different coloured heads. I was just thinking that morning that I needed to get some pins like that for a wedding project I’m thinking about.

The dolly mixtures didn’t last very long, I managed to restrain myself until after lunch but there wasn’t much hope of keeping them til after Lent. I kept the topper – love that, and the jar has been added to my collection for jam/chutneys. I also got some bay leaves – I never ever have any when I need them so they have been put in the cupboard ready for use. It’ll be really nice to have the right ingredients for once!

Head reset

I’ve almost finished my half of Meridien Ariel’s Alice in Wonderland swap, just waiting for a couple of items to come through the post and one more item to make closer to the date it’s getting sent off. I was just doing the finishing touches and remembered to take pictures as I was packing the items up (shock!) and I’m so excited. I don’t think I’ve ever been this organised or proud of what I’ve made, I just hope my swap partner likes it too (no pressure!). Anyway, now I’ve written that I’m thinking I could have done better on my homemade items, ever the perfectionist.

I had a bit of a meltdown yesterday due to my expectations of myself, luckily Tim’s been with me long enough to know it was coming and what to do. I’ve got a big project on at work, and the first presentation of my work on Thursday morning. The trouble is, I never have time to do work on projects at work, we have loads of support calls come through and a lot of customers that I like to deal with personally so there’s never really a spare moment. So I thought I’d take it home with me, and I had all these amazing ideas of what I could do that I just found I didn’t have the breadth of knowledge to do. Queue mini meltdown and now I have a todo list as long as your arm, and a more realistic expectation of what I’m going to do. It’s like a reset of my head!

Last night I made Chocolate Souffle Cupcakes from Smitten Kitchen and they were gorgeous, I made with half 40% chocolate and half 70% chocolate (I don’t really like dark chocolate but could see these needed a good cocoa solids percentage) and left out the mint cream (I don’t need the calories!) but they are so light and airy I managed to inhale three of them without noticing. Good thing Tim stopped me eating more as now we’ve got some for pudding later. Obv I’ve got to eat them before Lent starts, I’m giving up sweets and chocolate – the reason I’m not losing weight. I’ve got a face full of sweet teeth, can’t eat fruit and crave sugar like nothing else. I did manage to do it a few years ago, and felt so much better for it. I felt really calm and could think better, normally I go from one extreme to another and it doesn’t do me any good.

Sweet baby Nathan I sound boring and pious don’t I? I’m off to inhale a cupcake..

I’m still here!

Evening all, apologies for the recent lack of posts, I’ve been ill…well not so much ill as utterly, utterly exhausted. Last weekend I woke up looking forward to spending a day at Abakhan with my mum. I felt really dizzy and nauseous, but I quite often feel like that and it’s usually when I’ve drunk bottled water (think its my princess and the pea tendencies, who gets ill from bottled water?!) so drinking tap water and getting some breakfast usually sorts it. I couldn’t concentrate at Abakhan which is such a shame as I really need quite a bit from there for the wedding and for the Alice swap, but I couldn’t stop the room spinning and felt really quite ill. I fell asleep whilst my mum drove me back to her house. I drove back to my house where we had friends coming over, I managed to stay awake for dinner but fell asleep through Tim and his friend playing Call of Duty, through next door but one and their music, all the way to 9am the next morning. I had some breakfast but then went back to sleep for most of the day. I then spent a few days feeling depressed – something I’ve not been since I was a teenager, I really could not see the point in anything, no appetite, all I wanted to do was sleep! On Wednesday I just snapped out of it, makes me think it must have been a virus or something.

It was a good thing I got back to normal as I’ve been so busy at work and home, and today is our one year anniversary of when we got engaged so I’ve got a gorgeous card by Belle and Boo and a bunch of roses from my lovely fiance . Hopefully over this weekend I’ll be able to post a pic of the card I made for him – it features my first adventure in to crochet a granny square. It’s a bit wonky but at least I’ve learnt how much I like to crochet, way more enjoyable to me than knitting. I started to knit my first sock but I was so tired I couldn’t concentrate so I ended up throwing it across the room in frustration of dropping half my stitches yet again! I’ll try again though, I like the thought of knitting socks.

Still going with my resolutions, I made the effort to measure my height properly. I always thought I was 5′5″ but I’m 5′6″ so that makes me a healthy weight for my height…just! It’s a nice feeling and a bit of encouragement after a difficult couple of weeks. Grooming – went to the hygienist for the first time ever. I don’t remember seeing a hygienist when I was under 18, so this one had her work cut out for her! It took 40 minutes and a lot of blood but now I have very white, separate teeth – they feel quite odd now. Ooo and I got my hair cut too, my hairdresser is also doing my hair at the wedding and it was so exciting talking about what we could do. I’ve got quite fine, curly hair, so she suggested some hair pieces – something I was considering so was very excited when she said she could do it. Tim says he wants a hair piece too so he can have a mullet, I wouldn’t put it past him either so look out for mullets in the wedding pics!

Oh and if you’ve never been to Abakhan – GO. The best one is in Mostyn and contains everything you could possibly want for sewing, knitting, papercraft, bridal, everything. If anyone can suggest something similar in the Midlands it owuld be much appreciated  I’ve heard there’s something in Birmingham but not sure.

Sunday again already

Oo it’s all go round here, well yesterday was. I did a spring clean (and heard the first wood pigeon down the chimney his morning!) and got a few plans done. I made a new cover for the cat’s radiator bed, it was looking pretty manky and thought that it was probably best to make a new cover rather than wash the current one, not sure the washing machine would have coped with the amount of fur in it – you could make another cat with it!

Finally got round to hemming the curtains too, it’s only been 18 months since the cats destroyed the bottom of them. Its been bugging me for a long while, but obviously not enough to sort it out. I’ve been thinking it’s funny what different people will put up with in their houses. I was asked at Christmas whether we’d finished doing up our house, and why we hadn’t finished after being in it for three years. Suddenly, not having the money didn’t seem like a good enough excuse, I mean, we have large expensive jobs that need to be done – we need to replace the boiler but the current one works, we just can’t sell the house with the current boiler. The friend I was talking to (as with a lot of my friends) has a very strong work ethic and I know that she would have done the house up before even thinking of saving up for a wedding. Other friends have worked three jobs at a time to finish their houses. But I let things slide so much that the curtains don’t get hemmed in 18 months, we have patches in the stairway where I couldn’t reach to finish painting it. All I needed to do was attach a roller to a broomhandle and I could have finished it. I think I’ve thought that the boiler is such an expensive job that any money spent on the house before then is wasted when it could go towards the boiler costs.

Ah well, it’s not the first time my head is a big ball of contradictions, most of the house is finished thanks to the bathroom imploding in August and I know deep down that working more than one job in order to finish the house would make me unhappy. I’ve never lived in a house for longer than nine years in my life, so I know that as soon as I finish this house I’ll have itchy feet to move again.

In better news I’ve sorted my Mum’s birthday card, all ready for sending tomorrow. I used up some stock that I’d been given in the bake swap, and some felt that I’d bought just before Christmas year before last. All used up to make room for more! I also learnt to crochet a granny square this week, I enjoyed it a lot more than knitting and think I could create enough squares to make something whilst sitting in front of the tv on my veg out night.

No resolution news this week, I wasn’t feeling up to it so let myself off for a week. I didn’t go crazy, but wasn’t very good either. I’ll have another go this week and see what happens.

Foundations

I must have slept very well last night, I bounded out of bed in to the shower, then made breakfast for me and Tim, read a bit of Anna Karenina, then did the weekly shop. I’m now making up for all that exertion by wrapping myself up in a duvet, listening to radio 7 and drinking copious amounts of tea – all that activity so early on a Sunday is no good for the nervous system you know.

This week has been pretty bad, I was given some criticism at the beginning of the week that I didn’t deserve and was the result of a colleague being in a bad mood. It put me in an awful mood all week, and I did wonder briefly whether I would have got that criticism had I been older or a man (I felt it was disrespectful, and not constructive at all), but it’s not worth mulling over. I’ve had worse (one manager asking me when I was going to give up working in IT to have children) but I’ve also had very good experiences and I love working in IT, it’s everchanging and so broad a subject you could never get bored. Men are very straight forward to work with on the whole, and people are pleased when you’ve fixed a problem no matter who you are. I just need to grow a thicker skin and shake it off, I know I’m not a waste of time and that’s what counts.

I started my Alice in Wonderland swap, I wish I could put a picture up of it as I’m very proud of what I’ve done so far, I even managed to remember to take a photo. I’ll put the photos up once it’s been received in late February like I should have done with the last two swaps. I’ve still got to figure out what I’m making for my mum, and send it next Saturday so I’m cutting it a bit fine. I’ve got too much month left after the money, as for most people after Christmas, and not much time this week to do much. I’ll think of something, probably after being paid.

Resolutions went well this week, as of this morning I’ve lost 2.3kg (5lbs) over the past two weeks, a bit fast but it’ll slow soon. I went on weightwatchers about six years ago and lost two stone over a Uni summer holiday, I used to make very little progress after one week, but suddenly drop over the second week. I did that for three months, so I’m not expecting much weight loss at the end of this week. Also, I took so little time to get to goal weight when I was on weightwatchers, I couldn’t get used to myself and didn’t feel right. I wasn’t doing any exercise either so I wasn’t allowed to eat much at all and I was always grotty. It took me a long while to get to goal compared to the quick progress I made losing the first stone and a half. This time I’ll take it slower, do more exercise and make sure I eat the foods I like, just less of them and hopefully the weight will stay off. Well that’s the plan anyway.

Apologies for another wordy post, I’m just laying the foundations for the rest of the year so there’s not much to take photos of at the mo. I might do a before and after pic once I get to goal weight in July, and of course there’ll be pics of the swap to come soon – lots to look to if I do the work!

Sunday…eurgh

Sunday is not my favourite day of the week, when I was little I hated it because the shops were closed and my parents spent all day sleeping or reading the Sunday papers (I’m sure we did other things too but unfortunately those memories haven’t stuck), now I don’t like it because the thought of Monday is worse than actual Monday. Once I’m there it’s not so bad, like work. I’m booked to drive to Salisbury tomorrow though they were in for a load of snow this weekend so I’m not sure how the roads will be.

An update on my resolutions; losing weight – I lost half a pound, very disappointed but at least it’s in the right direction. The snow made travelling to the gym an unappealing prospect so I only managed to go on Monday. I went ballroom dancing on Tuesday and then did bog all exercise for the rest of the week so I’m not sure why I was so disappointed, it was to be expected really. It’s also taking a little while to shrink my appetite after Christmas, so I’ll try again this week. Being more polished, again I managed to keep up the effort until Wednesday and then it all went a bit wrong. My workload at work is pretty high at the moment, servers going down left right and centre, so I spent Thursday and Friday nights slumped in front of the tv and the mornings sleeping as much as I could. January is a rubbish month to have resolutions, as many many people have said before me. But surely if I can triumph over January it can only get easier, no?

I’ve found my blogroll again, and will update with my ten favourite blogs. I read loads and loads of blogs, so putting them all on the blogroll would look a bit messy I think. So I’ll keep it updated every month or so, perhaps it could be a ‘Today I am mostly reading…’.

No crafty bits this week, but with my mum’s birthday coming up and a lovely swap to be sent soon after I’ll be planning out my activities. There’s an embroidery exhibition going on soon in Derby, and I’ve recently found some more crafty blogs to follow. I bought a crochet hook just before Christmas that I haven’t touched yet, and a crochet book somewhere in the house, I just have to find some time for everything I want to do!

..and a Happy New Year!

Dearie me, that was busy. Christmas Day was spent eating, and eating and then eating a bit more. It was lovely, we spent Christmas Eve with Tim’s childhood friends and drove home in the snow. We opened presents Christmas Day morning and then went to Tim’s parents house for dinner and to give his family their presents. I got some gorgeous and very thoughtful presents, I like it when everything I receive I use pretty much straight away.

I made some Cognac truffles for Tim, and the extra I gave to my mum with some homemade mince pies, a Christmas cake and chutney. She seemed to like the scarf, and the hamper went down well so not too bad. I also got to have a good chat with my sister and her boyfriend, we don’t really have that much in common so don’t speak regularly, they’re quite quiet too but once the ice had been broken a little we all got on really well. She’s very excited about the wedding and is helping my mum with the flower arrangements, and her boyfriend is one of the ushers so they’re both very much involved and created a talking point for a while.

I want to make this year a great one, obv I’ve already got a major event to organise later in the year and Tim tells me off every time I make more plans, but I can’t help it – its very exciting to have plans! I’m not going to call them resolutions, to me they’re more than that. A resolution makes me think of something that I break within days and then berate myself over them for a few months. No, this year I have goals and plans and it’s on its way to working. I have two stone to lose by 17th July, that will take me to the middle of the weigh/height I’m meant to be and that’s the weight I’m staying at. I’m fed up with being overweight, and definitely don’t want to feel overweight on the big day, it makes me feel self conscious and under confident and there’s no reason why I eat too much.

I also plan to become a little more groomed, I got some very posh beauty products for Christmas and having a regular grooming routine makes me feel a million times better. I’ve used the excuse of working in IT as an excuse for not looking after myself properly and looking at it objectively, it’s just odd. I have a membership to a gym I love going to, but don’t go to as often as would make a difference, and a cupboard full of potions and creams that would make me feel a million times better after a long day at work, but somehow I’ve convinced myself that I crawl about under desks and fix mucky PCs and servers so I shouldn’t make any effort. I’ve got the beginnings of a long term plan to become a project manager and I think I must start as I mean to go on. If I was a customer and met someone who had hems trailing, crazy hair and who wasn’t very confident in themself then it wouldn’t inspire me to let that person manage my project. No, I think it must be time to grow up a little!

I got the e-mail today for Meridien Ariel’s new craft swap (hello if my partner is reading this! Sorry there’s no crafty happenings in this post, service will resume shortly!) which is Alice in Wonderland themed. I have a few ideas, but think I’ll dig out my copy of the book for a bit more inspiration – Christmas seems to have taken away any craft thoughts that don’t involve Christmas cake and mince pies!

Happy Christmas

I FINISHED IT IN TIME!!!

That scarf has taken me two years to complete – not continuously obv, I’m not that slow. There it is, all blocked and ready to go to my Mum, who probably won’t wear it but I’m past caring. I’m just happy that I don’t have to look at it anymore. It’s ended up like a snood (cowl? funnel scarf? what’s the difference?) so that it won’t flap about like a normal scarf. I wore it round the house when I’d finished it and it’s really soft and warm, so if my mum doesn’t like it I’ll have it! I might make myself one, but the next knitting project is socks. I’ve got a sock related present idea for Tim as a groom’s present so expect lots of pictures of half finished socks until Autumn next year!

I’ve got a set of four cross stiches to finish this afternoon for Tim’s Christmas present, I think I’ll only finish the one but at least he can see what he will get when it’s finished. I’ve also got some cooking to do this afternoon for my mum’s hamper – yes I know it’s Christmas Eve and I’m at work for most of the day, but there’s nothing like last minute present making to make you feel Christmassy. So far I’ve made a marzipan filled Christmas cake, and some spiced plum chutney, there’s still quite a bit to make but I’ll take some pictures when it’s all put together.

Most of all, I want to wish everyone a really Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 2009 has been a horrible year to many of the people I know and whose blogs I read so here’s to 2010 and hope it’s a good one!

I went a bit bling this year

This year we weren’t going to have a Christmas tree, we’re saving every single penny for the wedding at the moment so a tree seemed a bit unnecessary. Then a friend of ours said that he had a fake tree that he didn’t want anymore and loads of tinsel so it would be a shame to pass up the offer. I’ve never had a fake tree before, I rather like the fact that I don’t have to pull needles off the floor and not having to take a trip to the tip in the new year will be nice too. However, I got a bit overexcited when decorating it and it looks a bit bling now, couldn’t be bothered with tasteful this year!

The most important bit is our fairies that go on top of the tree every year, I think I made them when Tim and I had our first tree together, about seven years ago so they’ve lasted well. They’re made of wire covered in scraps of fabric and then card wings covered in feathers. I said that when we have a first Christmas together as a married couple then I’ll remake them to be a bit sturdier (they fall back quite a bit and bend all over the place) and make a little Lion-O and Betty too.

My mum and dad used to put an action man in a dress on top of the tree so I don’t think I was ever going to have anything traditional on the top of our tree!

I’m knitting like a mad thing to get my mum’s present ready for Christmas, I did notice that the new ball of wool that I went on to is a slightly different shade than the first ball. I don’t know if you’ll be able to see on the picture above but there is a definate colour change from about four inches away from the needles. You can tell that I normally knit in the evenings as I only noticed today when I was knitting next to a window. Hopefully once it’s all finished it won’t be to noticeable!