will avocado wash out of felt?

Well – I finished the felt tunic I meant to do for Ida’s b’day – well past the date but finished. Yee ha – let us celebrate even slightly missed goals.

I’m really happy at how it turned out and am keeping my eyes peeled for any more charity shop/jumble sale wool jumpers. It definitely works best on 100% wool but I’d probably give a high wool mix another go. Lambswool doesn’t work…well hasn’t so far for me so I won’t buy any more.

Appliquing on the felt took ages, partly because I was distracted and partly because the arthritis in my hands is pretty bad at the moment. I have concealed from Steve exactly how many needles I have dropped and lost on the/ in the sofa. This could come back to bite me on the arse. Literally.

I’m feeling a bit low about this, especially as one of thing I do to fend off the black dog is making stuff which is harder with  gnarly claws. I have an appointment with a new consultant next month and am trying not to pin too much hope on it whilst being optimistic and open to new drugs or treatment. I may take up actual tightrope walking as well as the mental stuff, it’s supposed to be very relaxing…

I love these flowers – I’m going to use this style more and would love to do it by properly felting (needling etc) Might ask for some materials for my birthday. Ida likes them too. I also think on the next one I’ll cut up the jumper and then piece the bits together instead of cutting down the jumper to make the tunic because it’s a bit gape-y at the neck despite putting some darts in. Other than that – a success.

Really noticing all the things we  (ha! I…) need to do in the house today (no nice baking smells to distract me). I’m trialling a method where I don’t make a depressing and self-defeating list but try to do one small thing a day. Trouble is I like making the list..it’s only afterwards it begins to pain me. Maybe I could write the list and then burn it.

Of course I could have used those fifteen minutes to actually DO something. Sigh. 

 Going to do wraps for tea with various salads and leftovers in, (farewell baked bacon and beans in your final reincarnation as a kind of refried bean dish) and am toying with the idea of making my own tortillas – hello google. It’s very hard to recall life before google, it’s all misty and vague….

Todays BT – lunch was avocado and wasabi paste on granary toast, Ida made happy humming noises all the way through hers. Wondering idly if she’d eat avo til she burst she scares the bejeesus out of me and Mittens by declaiming YES! very firmly. Hmmmm. Her newly discovered telepathic skills seem to be limited to avocados  (or indeed my rational brethren, co-incidence).

Ho hum.

Disco fever

I woke up with a heavy heart this morning. It just feels like that sometimes. The day itself actually went a lot better than expectations so am feeling a lot more optimistic now.

I did a lot of flylady stuff today, and threw a lot of stuff out – lots of recycling and three binbags destined for various charity places. One was a bag of old toys for the Haven so I made care to get it out of the house before Z came home from school and unpacked it all, protesting bitterly about losing toys he hasn’t looked at for years. ( I am VERY careful not to get rid of genuine treasures – honestly! Steve is still reeling from his Mum offloading all his Starwars toys to a jumble sale while he was at university,  and it’s been years…)

It’s just so freeing – clearing away clutter. My parents are absolute hoarders and so is Steve. I’m not advocating constantly buying new things and I’m not claiming I don’t hoard things like fabrics and button (ahem.. and lone teacups..) but I just like a pared down collection of lifestuff. Was it William Morris who said – No beauty without function and every function with beauty. That’s where I’m aiming but its seems a way off yet.

I’ve also cut out the tunic dress for Ida from the wool jumper I felted and I’m starting to blanket stitch around the edges. I’m trying to finish it for her birthday tea party which is next Saturday (15th) We’re doing a disco party after school on her actual b’day with a few really good friends and Z and I had a brilliant time making a playlist for it,  it’s eclectic, veering from Scooby doo to Blondie to Skinny Puppy with a bit of JLS and some Johnny Cash…going to be a good party. It’s a disco party because she went mad for dancing with all the older kids at Z’s party in October when they were playing Musical Statues and was incensed by them sitting down one by one. I promised her a dance floor for her b’day and a dance floor she’ll have…must dig out that glitterball…

Managed to return the overdue library books that were slowing ticking up fines. I’d been dreading it but they were less than I thought – huzzah! Returning books on time is a personal weakness. I once lived in a flat NEXT to the library and still ran up fines. I’ve actually been doing quite well so far – it helps that Zeph is always desperate to go and change his books. I love the library and its thrifty green credentials are undeniable. I always come away with that “been shopping glow” and no cash spent. I also  feel the urge to use it while it’s still here. (big society… grrr *spit*)

The washing- up- before- bed regime is still on track – if I could just make it a weeks worth…

Stuff to make

Thought I’d list some of the craftish stuff I’m doing and what I’d like to do more of and try this year. That’s not a resolution list though!

I have a really bad habit of starting lots of stuff and leaving things unfinished so I really what to have less things on the go at once and actually  FINISH them. I also want to make stuff to put into a “gift chest” so I have a resource of stuff for birthdays and ready for next Xmas to try to lower the Xmas stress factor. I also have some vague plans for  maybe trying to do a couple of craft fairs this year.

so;

Knitting – I’m not a natural or accomplished knitter – following a pattern seems like a totally impossible proposition to me. I’m not deeply methodical or very good at counting. I really want to conquer my aversion this year though and progress beyond scarves and square things. What I do really enjoy is knitting with lots of different wools, ribbons and threads at once, weaving and adding them in as I go which makes lovely thick embellished fabrics with beautiful lavish textures. Good for scarves and I’ve managed a slightly shapeless tank top style top for my Ida but would like to branch out into hats maybe…p’rap a jumper…. I’m also planning to try to knit with ripped up fabric strips (similar to the ones that you ragrug with) to make a cover for a really shabby stool I’ve been meaning to refurbish for about three years. Also a few night ago I had a strange dream, part of which was knitting with garden twine and woke up with a really intriguing idea to knit a bag with twine and ripped up plastic bags…hmmm.

Felting – well I’d like to do a bit of real felting but read a brilliant crafty book which talked about felting up old wool jumpers in a washing machine on a hot wash and then cutting them up to make stuff with. It did talk rather airily as though everyone had old wool jumpers just lying around – which I certainly don’t! I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled in charity shops though and have picked a couple up to experiment with and have been really successful with a full wool jumper in chocolate-brown which I think I might turn into a tunic dress for Ida – I might applique some felt flowers onto it and a bluesy mixed wool jumper which I might cut into strips to make flowers with to embellish something else.

It’s always a struggle to resist the temptation to spend money when doing craft stuff. The lure of gorgeous fabric and buttons and fabulous wools and new tools for exciting projects can add up alarmingly and the ideas I have had for being thrifty end up costing me money we really don’t have. So I’m going to try to be really on the lookout for exciting recycling ideas and info sharing. There are so many brilliant sites out there with generous people sharing ideas and patterns. I also really want get more involved with some of the stitch groups and crafty stuff around me.

I made felt tree decorations for people for this year Xmas presents. Mostly felt owls with buttons for eyes – I was really pleased with how they turned out and would like to make a stock for selling, I’ve also got an idea for pincushions which might justify my weakness for old-fashioned single teacups in jumble sales and charity shops. 

Last christmas I made some angel wings for Ida – like those net fairy ones you see everywhere. I thought they might sell at a festive craft fair but I’d need to find some more gold material as I’ve used that lot up completely.     

I definitely want to sew more clothes from patterns this year, instead of bodging  them as I go along… and use more of the settings on my sewing machine. Had a go with a friends embroidery needle for a sewing machine last year….I’d like to do more of that.

Well now my mind is full of ideas I’d better go wash up and make some banana muffins for Z’s sandwich box. Tomorrow I’ll post the recipe – it’s a great one for diabetics as has not much sugar.