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After such a cosy Sunday pursuing normal life can be positively unglamourous.
Some bright colours always cheer me up.
Sometimes I feel like I'm "playing house" and you know what... I like it :)
Of course, a little Morrissey always cheers me up! Happy Tuesday, everyone!
Today has been one of those great, relaxing Sundays. I have a love-hate relationship with Sunday: it has the potential to be a day of rest in the broadest sense of the word. A day where we as a family can relax and be together in a way that doesn't happen throughout the rest of the week. On the other hand, being so close together without the normal structures of work and school can occassionally cause irritation and boredom as well. However, today... a good Sunday!
The children had spent two nights with their grandparents, because Michel and I had a mini-break. More on that later, but yay for mini-breaks! We didn't have get up early and had a lazy breakfast of croissants and coffee. I spent quite a long time wrapping presents for Sinterklaas: I can't believe I'm already sorted with 8 days to spare! Amazing and what a relief to have all of that done.
Then lunch and a chat with my parents and the kids. We bought the children a few secondhand comics and they were happily and quitely reading. I did some crochet with my new yarn (no, I haven't forgotten about my challenge, but I just couldn't wait to start a new project). Michel helped Amber with her homework.
Other ingredients of today: cooking pudding for tonight's dessert. Some photo and book time. Hot chocolate with whipped cream. The kids watching a film together.
Now I'm off to make dough for our homemade pizza... apparently good Sundays go hand in hand with good food!
Life has become increasingly more busy for us over the past weeks. Amber started musical classes, Simon does judo, Michel has drawing lessons and I have my sewing class. Michel's job has become more demanding as well, I work and volunteer at school. It's all good, but I did feel that more structure and organisation was needed in order to keep things running smoothy around here.
People that know me well will not label me as an organised or structured person; I'm sure that chaotic and impulsive are words that in general are more applicable to me. Nonetheless, I've been doing pretty well if may I say so :)
First of all I sorted out our finances. I created an online cashbook that gave me insight in how much we spend and what we spend it on. This wasn't a particularly uplifting job, but I did feel good about taking matters into my own hands. For the first time I saw just how much I was sponsoring our local supermarket. Of course, I did know I was spending a lot of money on groceries. I went shopping several times a week, often without a proper list. I was buying things I didn't really need and I made too many unhealthy choices too. But no more!
I cleared out our pantry and freezer, chucked out the things that needed chucking and put everything back in an organised (!) way. Then I started planning our meals, so that I could do weekly shopping. This is a big change for me! Now I need to think ahead, while mostly I just live by the day. This also created the urgent need of a proper diary, so I ordered a family planner.
I put together a basic shopping list as well, so that each week I can simply check whether I still have enough of something. I didn't do all this on the same day, mind you... I'm trying to take it bit by bit in order not to feel overwhelmed. Anyway, not only has all this planning resulted in spending a lot less money on groceries, but it has also been motivating me to prepare healthier meals. I'm actually enjoying cooking again and I find myself making more from scratch. Not having to worry about WHAT to cook is providing me with more time to spend on the actual cooking itself. So: I have MORE time, MORE money and I'm MORE healthy (ok, healthier...), I'd say... win, win and win!
In the house I'm slowly ploughing through all our stuff, trying to get rid of things we don't use. I cleared out the kid's wardrobes, I still need to do ours. I sell things online and the rest I take to the recycling store. I'm trying to stay on top of the laundry. It's an ongoing struggle, but since we are again in the possession of a dryer, it's become a lot easier.
All in all, I'm optimistic about these changes. These things can be a slow process sometimes for me, but I really think that I'm on the right path here. At least for now it makes me feel good to be in control.
Ok, to finish off this post a look at my freshly cut t-shirt yarn... happy weekend all (it promises to be a good one)!
I wrote about Sinterklaas before. We are getting in the mood!
Admittedly, these photos were taken (in our garden) two weeks ago, but I was amazed how many flowers were still in bloom then. We've had such a mild autumn up until recently. Now, however, autumn has well and truly arrived, bringing the first frost and lots of mist.
Today I emptied the small cabinet in the livingroom where I keep a few sewing things. I have my sewing room upstairs, but the most basic things as well as the projects I'm currently working on I keep downstairs. The cabinet was a mess. I'd been stuffing far too much in there and I couldn't open the door without a whole lot of craft supplies tumbling out. So today I decided to clear out and organise all that.
What I found were a whole lot of Works in Progress and I decided to take some photos of them. Hopefully it will motivate me to finish some things :)
1.I crocheted these blocks while I was on holiday in France. I was just trying out different stitches. I think the colours are great together. Will most probably become a cushion.
2. A whole bunch of granny squares in different sizes. I will make these into a small blanket.
3. Since I learnt how to sew on a button properly in sewing class I felt I needed to practise some more... this will become a cushion.
4. Bunting to be. I just need to sew the bunting onto bias tape, but somehow I keep postponing it.
5. Patchwork of vintage sheets. Initally intended to become a kitchen mat, now I'm not so sure. Perhaps a bathroom mat would be more useful?
6. Several (I have more) unfinished tissueholders. These will not take long to finish.
These are just the projects that I found in the cabinet, I'm sure there are more hiding in other corners or drawers. However, these six... I was thinking that it would be really lovely to get these done before the end of the year. I feel a personal challenge coming on ;)
I will keep you posted on the progress on these projects!
Crochet bunting. I just have to sew the bias tape on and they are done.
Crochet tissueholders. I've always enjoyed sewing tissueholders and now I enjoy crocheting them :)
I'm thinking of trying to put together a little tutorial for either one of these projects.
Happy news! I'm so honoured to be featured on the Whip Up calendar! I'm Miss August :) If you like you can order a copy here.
A little project that I did a few weeks ago was to make one of my own tops fit Amber.
She was sincerely in love with the top and tried to wear it a few times. Of course it was far too big for her and it looked a bit silly because of it, so I decided to resize it.
I started by cutting away a strip of fabric in the middle to shorten the whole garment.
As a guide for the upper body I used an Ottobre pattern. I merely used it as a rough template and that worked well. Then I took in the sides and finished the seams with the serger.
After sewing the two halves of the tops back together (I gathered the lower part slightly to make it fit the upper part) and hand sewing the front gap close I was finished.
And it has Amber's stamp of approval, so a job well done!
Just because I'm a little quiet on the blog doesn't mean that I stopped doing anything.
Normal, everyday, busy life.
And crochet.
Still crochet.
Of course.
