I've Lent 40 Hours in 40 Days.......

I don't have any religious connection to Lent but often it's good to have a focus and recently I've had little focus or concentration. I'm not surprised at all as it's winter and the following on from the very busy period of Christmas and New Year and of course recovering from removal and treatments for a third cancer so I've happily allowed myself plenty of down time.

However time for a little kick up the bum! For the past few years Daughter has run a Facebook group where members should devote 40 hours during the 40 days of Lent to something extra they normally don't get round to. She is giving her time to piano practise. So this year I've decided to join in. Posting an update every day will definitely give me focus.

I'm giving my time to being in my craft room, because...

1. There's a huge pile of ironing in there I keep ignoring
2. I need to rearrange what's where so I see and use more of my stash
3. I can't get to any surfaces to keep it clean
4. So many "ongoing projects" that I need to find and get on with and finish
5. I need to find all my missing tools (crochet hooks, knitting needles, sewing things which are no doubt hiding with the "ongoing projects")
6. I need to remind myself it's a nice place to be with great desk, comfy executive office chair, sofa and tv etc

And now, at the end of the challenge, I've a good little list of my achievements!

I took a little of the spare interfacing from deconstructed ties and cut them up for makeup pads to save using cotton wool. I could have made them the traditional round but then all those corners would have only gone into the bin so I left them square. They work really well. Now I need to find a bit of netting to make a bag to collect the used ones in so they can just be thrown into the washing machine.

Couldn't find any suitable netting or loose weave fabric so I played around with lace work knitting and used 2ply cotton yarn and big needles and think it made quite a successful laundry bag. 

I honestly did try to clear some of the clutter on the desk top but failed, will keep trying.

I'd a jumper that was quite thick and a bit too warm for most occasions so very rarely got worn. I decided to brave the scissors and turn it into a jacket. Roll on spring weather so I can test it out.

With our surname Shepherd it seemed ideal to repropose a toy sheep as a doorstop! It used to have a sound box inside that I removed and in the cavity it left I filled with small stones to give it weight and sewed it up very securely. I added a little non-slip rubber under each foot and it works beautifully.

M has found the perfect premises to build his own school, realising his dream. It took months of negotiating, the owner to build toilet and kitchen, the council to approve change of use to an education establishment and M having meetings and presentations to get lots of corporate sponsors on-board. So the day he received the keys was a big deal. I made a card.

Daughter asked me to shorten her new curtains, she did all the measuring, cutting and pinning and I did the machining. With the huge amount cut off I made four cushions and two small table cloths, making the cushion pads from a sheet and duvet both long ago retired.

And while I was still putting those bits away, for myself a small neck cushion. 

While having a little sort I found a large piece of shower curtain fabric and turned it into a huge waterproof tote bag.

I'm also having a go at sashiko/boro stitching, which is the Japanese art of visible mending.

And yes I've done some of the ironing many times during 40 days but it's only done till the next lot of laundry is done!

This has added up to about 44 hours for the 40 hours challenge. And definitely got me crafting enthusiastically again 😉
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So, what's been going on here......

And in no particular order, some of the stuff that's kept us busy.....

Finally finished knitting this jumper (ongoing project most of the winter) which was a prototype to get a top-down pattern that's my size. I like baggy but not hanging off my shoulders or sleeves for an orangutan. Neck is too wide but great with a shirt under.

Corrected the neck and knitted another. 

My friend has just bought a beech hut so I made her a present. This is a doormat made from ties and t-shirt. The ties were taken apart and the outer fabric cut into strips and twisted into cord. The cords were then finger crocheted into chains to make them wider. The chains were then hand stitched together. The outer border is a single crochet chain of t-shirt yarn. It's very wonky but my friend was thrilled to receive it.

More upcycling. This stripey top used to be a jumper but it had a very low v-neck and wearing something else underneath made it a bit snug so I never wore it. By adding the collar and front panel cut from another top I rarely wore it's now a lightweight cardigan/jacket which I think will be ideal for my holidays, although I keep wearing it now anyway.

A pretend black layer stitched underneath meant I could open the sides of this top layer. Making it looser and longer (but not warmer) all because I love the sleeves

Hubby and I went with Daughter for a pub night were she was Tudor busking. The chef at the community owned pub Daughter knows from Kentwell so they both thought they'd give a Tudor night a try and he cooked pottage too. Only a small audience but really appreciative and Daughter kept us all entertained with stories, descriptions, a rude song and of course her magnificent musical talent. 

R had managed to fit in a ride on the back of Hubby's blood bike. She'd love to go out with him lots more but never enough opportunities. 

Our beautiful girls have had another birthday! Sweet 16  :-)

R and friends have gone to Comic-Con again this year and were busy making their costumes. Kodama is the character name if that means anything to you. 

Daughter and E were going to Kentwell Through The Ages as visitors and I invited myself along. Beautiful weather, hot, sunny with a gentle breeze. Daughter knows so many participants so it was lots of stopping for long chats that she would never get the chance to do when she is her normal Tudor self. E was taking the opportunity to play with a retro film camera. I was so pleased at the end of our busy day that I'd walked around for nearly 7 miles (according to my phone app), the most I've done since damaging my knee, so I'm considering myself mended (although I'll still keep on with the physio).

Daughter came over to sort out all the camping kit needed (as it's mostly stored in our shed) and O decided he wanted to make the cat-cakes he'd read about on the Internet. Took him ages to find it, then announcing he must save it as a word file for next time, turns out it wasn't a receipe he'd just read a description of "fluffy white cake with whiskers painted on and shards of chocolate for ears, they were yummy" So I found him all the ingredients for the vegan sponge and suggested we could improvise as I didn't have any chocolate. Half the batch had chocolate digestive ears and vegan biscuits for the others and amazingly I found a very small tube of black icing that hadn't dried up. O used to be a very enthusiastic cook but recently he seems to come up with ideas, make a half hearted start then walk off leaving me to it. So I made these and Daughter and I decorated them together.

And last but definitely not least, I've had my 6 month post-op CT Scan with results of internal scar all healed and clear with no signs of cancer! Blood test showed no decrease in kidney function, in fact a slight increase! 

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Another mixed bag.......

And on the subject of bags here's the latest one I've made

Totally free as the beige fabric front and back is the two back pockets of old jeans, the brown is some leftovers after making lounge cushion covers which was from my stash anyway after making trousers with it about 40 years ago lol, the zip was cut down to size from an old mac and the handle was once a belt, even the lizard and starfish I've sewn on to show me which is front were given to me as a gift.

Also had a crochet play and made myself a fedora style hat that can screw up in my bag but pull back into shape. I was really pleased with myself as I still find crochet patterns completely foreign so just made this up as I went along and only had to undo half and try again when the increases didn't look right. I'm hoping it won't be warm and I can wear it as a sun hat too.

As you can see I'm still into all my crafting and always look forward to our monthly gathering at Acorn Village at Mistley. Although most of us do more chatting than crafting lol.

This Monday was also our monthly coffee morning at home, yes they are still going, think there were 12 of us round the table. Lovely to have one of our old neighbours pop back to catch up with us too. Unfortunately Hubby hadn't been feeling well since Saturday afternoon so he stayed upstairs in case he had anything contagious.

That afternoon Hubby was still feeling rough enough to go and see a doctor who diagnosed suspected food poisoning and gave him antibiotics. I'm not convinced that's what it was but happy to report by the end of this week he is feeling about 80% better.

I've got a bit of a medical issue going on as my recent CT Scan showed a little something on my left kidney and because my right kidney was removed four years ago they want to further investigate. Not urgent so could be ages before I mention it again here.

More fun and games to report, as we had a rough evening and night Tuesday night as M's son D got rushed into hospital and had surgery to remove his appendix at about 10pm. Of course everyone was in different places and poor Daughter drove miles and miles all on the same roads getting different people where they needed to be and take food too. Op went well, and Wednesday morning Daughter was back at the hospital, I had O and he's a live wire as he is the only one who went to bed before 1:30am. Hubby did of course as he wasn't well so he was up before 6am which woke me so I was quite tired yawwwwwn. Op went well and D was discharged Wednesday, amazing!

While O was here he was showing me what he'd learnt about freeze frame animation then went off to make his own. I'm amazed at the understanding and knowledge of use by an 8year old. This one was my favourite.
https://youtu.be/3DxQmeMbI-M

And now my birthday which hasn't turned out to be the quiet day I thought it would as gradually it included a little childcare, catering for extras,  courier service, taxi service and barber! So many cards and social media good wishes, some lovely gifts and lots of them floral. All rounded off with a meal out with Hubby, our children, their partners and our grandchildren (all bar one). I'm very lucky!

Did you notice the candles?
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May Challenge......

On facebook I'm in a crafting group and someone has come up with the idea of setting a monthly challenge.

The first challenge for May is to "make your version of this card".

It seems the majority of crafters in this group are card makers that watch the crafting channels and buy the equipment they sell, use dies and mangle type machines for cutting, stamps and embossing tools and other fancy gadgets.
I don't make cards like that. I rarely make cards at all.

I do craft though and wanted to join in the monthly challenge mainly to show my support for someone trying to add a little fun to the group.
So my version of that card became a bag!

Yin and yang.......

Don't know why I'm not getting here much just now, unless it's a theatre trip which I tend to do straight away. Good if I'm busy and not fitting blogging in but bad if I don't feel there's anything worth blogging about.

We bought a new mattress, we really needed it! I hate shopping and researching and choosing, then my friend happened to say they'd bought a new mattress, really good price and it had very good reviews, so I said to send me the link and I bought the same. It's thicker so higher than the last one so I have to do a bit of a Fosbury Flop to get onto it and when new it did smell a bit but that soon went.......and it's really comfortable. We got new pillows too and because I must be sleeping differently I'm guessing that's why I'm dreaming more than I ever did, which is neither a good or bad.

While knitting the end came off a fairly new circular needle, so I contacted the seller and asked for a replacement. Not knowing how long it would take and wanting emergency spares I also did a next day delivery for a really cheap set of bamboo circular needles. The bamboo ones arrived and they were sooooo smelly I didn't want to use them like that, so I washed them in perfumed liquid soap and hung them to dry over a towel to catch the drips......then I couldn't unplug the sink! Had to stay like that all day till Hubby got home. Hubby fixed the sink but by which time the whole bathroom smelt like the cords on the bamboo needles, so they got thrown onto the garden table to be left outside for a couple of days. Now two weeks later they have finally lost most of the pong! Actually the metal replacement came only a day later so knitting commenced.

In January we ordered a four piece leather suite (more horrid choosing and decision making) and in April they were ready to be delivered. Daughter now has two pieces of our original suite, but only after Hubby and Daughter manhandled (womanhandled) them out of ours into a borrowed van and into hers (needing to remove and replace porch patio doors), then took her discarded sofa and arm chair out to go to the tip, although halfway there he remembered that our tip now stays closed on a Wednesday so that became Thursdays job before the van had to go back. And while our lounge was relatively empty it was carpet cleaning time. We sat like newlyweds on the one remaining two seater sofa for the following week. The new suite (what is it with very smelly new stuff?) is brown so most of the old blue cushions looked wrong, so with my trusty sewing machine, an upcycled knitted jacket and a piece of material which had been in my stash for years we have new cushions (for free)

Yesterday was a fun celebration for an old friend's 80th birthday. We were honored to be included with mostly family and a few very close friends!
Tomorrow is the funeral for a very old friend. At the crematorium we are honored to be included with mostly family and a few very close friends!
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Quick make......

....that actually took ages from start to finish although most of the time was me going off to do other things while thinking it through. I knew what I wanted just didn't know how to get there.

So I started with measuring the space it need to fit, then I found that the supermarket cartoon was near enough.

Cut the bottom out

And covered it with fabric which had to be held in place with clothes pegs. The fabric was actually one of my mum's dressing gowns so a little bit quilted and the pink flowers were perfect for this project.

Next came the trickiest bit as didn't know the best way to attach one to the other. First tried a back stitch but going through card made it hard to keep the line straight so took that out and then tried big needle and embroidery thread to give a decorative blanket stitch edge but didn't get far with that either. I then tried a small sample of card and fabric through my sewing machine and so long as I was slow it seemed to work.

Because of the size I moved my machine onto the ironing board into the middle of the room, and added a pile of books to extend the footplate to support the thing so it wouldn't bend, and I  had to stand for best reach. Very hard to control and a very wavy machine line but it got the job done.

Next dilemma was how to attach the chunky wool cross strands, which were poked through to the back and knotted off in twos apart from the four corners which had buttons for anchorage. Four more buttons to secure the central diamond and it was done!

And we now have a very useful notice board in the hall with the fabric matching in well with our bright pink walls.

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The ties between charities......

Yesterday was our first of the year visit to Acorn Villages for crafting and lunch. As I've mentioned before it's mainly a residential community for adults with learning disabilities and totally funded by charitable donations and they also raise funds by selling hand crafted objects the residents have made.

Our neighbour-friendsP&A and their church are also very involved in another charity in Romania and taking lorry loads of goods out to them. Recently they were given a huge amount of brand new school ties which unfortunately would be of no use to the orphanages or very poor in Romania.

How lucky they mentioned it to me, just in idle conversation. Well as a crafter I knew there were lots of possibilities and we all loved the idea of passing on a charitable donation straight on to another charity that could make good use of them and hopefully make some money too. I had about 40 here of three different patterns.

So far I made two prototype sample cases, for specs or mobile phone and a pen or scissors etc.

 I took them yesterday to show the other crafters and staff. The member of staff thought they were definitely easy enough for some of the adults there to make. The other crafters all loved the idea and a few came up with lots of different ideas and said they can make for Acorn to sell or make for themselves and make a donation to Acorn instead. As they are bright colours we've decided to keep all scraps too for making rag-rugs and rag-wreaths for next Christmas.

So I've now told P&A I can make use of them all, so think I've some huge boxes of ties coming my way.
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My first and maybe my last.........

Yes I'm sentimental and yes I'm a crafter who could now so easily make a new one, but my first real patchwork make that was useful was my peg-bag!

It must be about 40 years old now!
Tumbling blocks patchwork, all hand stitched. Cost me nothing but my time.

Only the very bottom hasn't faded from the almost original colours. The brown was an old curtain, the pink a linen shirt and the purple were trousers, all lined with what once was my favourite denim maxi skirt.

So again it's time to repatch some well worn places to keep it going.
Well you can't just replace an old friend, can you?
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Another busy week.........

Monday was the 7th birthday for O (doesn't time just fly by?). He'd had a big party at home on Saturday for friends and siblings, so today was visiting the grandparents to collect his present and for dinner, he had requested Japanese! So it was sushi plus other finger foods for a party buffet. Followed by cake of course. No time for a photo of him blowing out the candles as he was straight in desperate to eat it. Marshmallows on the outside as they are his favourite and the mini eggs on top should have been on the easter cake but I'd been unwell so this was a good time to use them. O was very happy.

Tuesday we popped out to the garden centre because we needed to fill a gap in the lounge. Last week we'd swapped satellite tv, broadband and phone to cable for all three, so while Hubby was prepping and tidying the wiring he declared the large hifi system redundant,  but as it was covering plugs, sockets and lots of wires we replaced it with the bookcase which now sits neatly by the chimney breast. 

But that left a large gap behind my sofa. I'd spent ages huffing and puffing and moving furniture around but nothing was better than where it all had been so it all went back and we bought this huge plant to fill the gap where the bookcase had been. 

Wednesday was an early start as the GP wanted to see me and made an 8:30am appointment for me that wasn't even at my local branch surgery it was at the main surgery in the centre of town. I did tell him retired people don't need to get up that early!  On the way back we stopped at Daughter's and had a quick cuppa then O came home with me while Hubby and Daughter hitched up her caravan to bring to ours so they can wash it. It really needed it. ...

The afternoon I was at the theatre seeing Invincible as already blogged. 

Then out again in the evening for dinner with friends in our usual pub in Felixstowe. 

Thursday started with a text from Daughter saying as the sun was shining she'd walk over with O to our house if someone could give them a lift home as it takes them about 50 mins to walk it so both ways is far too much for O's little legs. The evening I was with the art group, picking up friendDJ on the way (who was looking quite fragile). The road to his estate has had road works on it for months and tonight it was actually closed one way so I could get to him but we had a long detour to get back on the road to art. Afterwards together with friendM, friendDJ and I always head to Olive's Bar to meet friends and enjoy live music, however friendDJ asked to be taken home as he was so tired. This time the road to his was completely closed so a long detour in and out again getting to our friends about half hour later than usual. One of or favourite bands so that made up for it. 

Friday Hubby paid a visit to the surgery because he has a small patch on his back that has recently become itchy, one of our GPs is a dermatologist who happened to be in our branch surgery (very rare indeed) and he said it's BCC cancer which needs removal but isn't urgent so he's done a referral to the hospital. In the evening, like last year, one of my neighbours invited me to join them at the Mother's Union charity event to raise funds for AFIA (Away From It All) a project that helps people in dire need to have a holiday. It was a lovely sit down 2-course dinner and the speaker this evening told us he was the comedy writer for many famous people, his first ever public joke being told by Ronnie Barker on the Two Ronnie's Show. He managed to name drop throughout and read the jokes he had written for them.......only going to prove that the humour is definitely in the delivery of a professional comic not the writer as there were only polite giggles from this audience. I'm not going to mention his name as I actually didn't hear it when he was introduced so that will save him further embarrassment. When I got home R was here with Hubby as there was a little unrest at home that she wanted to escape and sleeping here makes it easier for us tomorrow. 

Saturday I was on duty to take R to drama at 10am and stay there and bring her home after plus we were supposed to be taking both granddaughters to meet their dad at Thurrock as Daughter had plans of her own, so we arranged to meet my nieceL for a coffee at Lakeside as it's near her and gave us the opportunity to meet her new boyfriend, however, a few days ago Daughter told us their dad couldn't have them this weekend as his car had broken down, not good when he had to do about 250 mile round trip to collect them and then to deliver them back on Sunday, so he cancelled. Couldn't cancel nieceL as I was so looking forward to seeing her so we rearranged location to midway between us. Before that I'd collected E and D and together with R they stayed at my house while Hubby and I popped out. Lovely meeting up with nieceL and her boyfriend, just a short chat over a couple of drinks because they were delayed arriving by a tragic jam and we had to get back to make dinner for our teenagers. They didn't want to sleep over so I took them home mid-evening. 

Add to this essential but minimal housework, laundry and some gardening over three different days, daily exercises for my very poorly knees which isn't helping  (physio next week) and lots of knitting and crafting as I've three babies due June, July and September that I'm making presents for!

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A present for me by me.......

I needed a foot stool that's not as high as the one that came with the lounge furniture and I've looked around for a while now but our suite is very dark navy leather but you'd only really realise it's navy if you try to put black next to it.....seems navy isn't a fashionable colour right now as I've seen almost every other colour in various fabrics that won't go, so I decided I'd have to make my own.

The last time it was mentioned I was out shopping with Daughter and E in a shop that had unsuitable ones,  and I thought just in case they decided to hunt something down or make as my Christmas present I'd better wait. They didn't and I got lots and lots of other lovely stuff (I'm so lucky).

Boxing day I made a start with a pair of jeans that didn't fit anymore and repurposed three large cushions that were just being ornamental on an upstairs spare bed. Because I was using ready made cushion shapes and not just stuffing a box all three sides of the base had to be hand sewn which took some time and pliers for the tough denim bits that the needle (and my fingers) struggled with.

I'm really pleased with my new pouffe, and it has pockets hahaha

High Summer hahaha........

Daughter, E and O are back at Kentwell for the Tudor high summer week so R has moved in with us. Not much like summer today (Monday) though as it's raining and the forecast is wet and stormy for much of the week ahead. Poor Tudors most of which are camping on a muddy field.

Sunday 23rd - Hubby did the long round trip to collect R from her dad and they got home about 8:30pm.

Monday 24th - I had a little help with some housework and while I was sorting out the drying laundry upstairs R made a start at painting some new bead project I'm trying out....dried potato shapes!

Hopefully by the end of the week they'll be painted, varnished and strung. I'm hoping to monitor these for sometime to judge wearability and durability as I've never made beads from potato before.

Tuesday 25th - and another wet and gloomy day. R spent nearly all of it on her laptop and I tried to use our sudden large crop of figs 

Open freezing seemed to work well, just need to test how they thaw. 

Almond cake and fig works really well, big and individual. The big one should have looked like flowers but reminds me more of stargazy pie lol.

The bread was my attempt at a filled couronne (crown) with figs, ginger and honey but that didn't work quite so well, think it needs a much sweeter richer dough. Took the photo from the wrong side too as that side had gone right over the tin and broke off! 

Wednesday 26th - still wet here and I came down this morning to three text on my silent phone from Daughter saying that both O and E are fed up with being soggy Tudors and may want to come home, today is awkward for her and me so they may be here early tomorrow if they haven't had fun today and changed their minds. R still hasn't left her laptop for more than meals. Apart from some housework I've made a few more beads using the neck of this green bottle and they are now drying out on a bamboo cane for about two weeks. 

Thursday 27th - and yes O arrived with Daughter about 8am, she stopped for tea and toast and left behind some wet muddy clothes to wash and then headed back to Kentwell. So we put on a wash while R went back on her laptop and O tried to use Hubby's old laptop for minecraft which really upset it......Hubby then spent hours rebuilding the poor sick laptop. So O decided it was a good time to play in the bath

The rest of the day was pretty much children on screens because when Hubby went to do some shopping he called into their house and M gave him the ipad, unfortunately that caused an O meltdown as he really needed the macbook-pro so Skyped his dad to ask if he could, so back I went with him to collect that and promised to return it later as M needs it for work in the morning. 

Friday 28th - took quite a while for us all to be up and ready to go out but by mid morning we did. A lovely warm and sunny day yaay! First a bit of QD shopping for some plants and Hubby looking for a new bench which they didn't have, then a lovely riverside walk and a bit of playing on the park. 

M finished work 2:30pm so we collected up their stuff from all around the house and took them home at 4pm. Missing them already! 

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