My Pocket

compact living

Yesterday we finished putting together my sewing corner and I'm so happy about it! It turned out just the way I wanted it and I'm amazed at how much fits into that little alcove. There is plenty of room for more fabric in the hanging stash storage :o) and lots of places for tucking away bits and pieces.

The whole place, our home, has been quite transformed by all this rearranging and it makes me smile every time I go to the kitchen or between the rooms. The vibes are so much better! We live in a very small place really, compact living indeed, and it has the feeling of a loft in some ways with the windows set so low, no dining room, tiny kitchen, two bedrooms (mostly people here share a flat - we just happen to be a couple) and a tiny porch at the bottom of the carpeted stairs. I'll show you photos of it all once we've cleared away all the homeless belongings littering the floors. I can show you a limited view of the fireplace wall in our bedroom though - blue! :

From orange...

Enjoy your day!

catching up

Happy June to you!

I feel lucky in that the warm sunny weather we had in April gave me a chance to have my summer holidays then, in those precious weeks inbetween my college years, and now that the May weather has been blustery and rather cold I've not had a chance to complain anyway with assignments to write. I always love this time of year though, remembering the last days of school as a kid before the summer break that began in the first week of June, lilacs flowering and the fresh green everywhere, whispering promises of free time adventures.

I feel like I've got some catching up to do, so here are the things I would have blogged about had there been the time:

Goodbye old friend...

Hello new sewing machine!

I've been so happy with my old Singer handcranked machine that for a long time I saw no need to have a modern one. It's handled making bags, mending clothes, hemming, sewing stage costumes for the school play, the curtains for the school concert (oh the mileage of black fabric!) and outfits for the dancers, but my imagination gradually started nagging me about the things my friend just can't do. So now I have two.

First thing to make I think will be something with the fabric with spots, perhaps with the green linen I bought a while ago. I've really got a thing for green lately, and always for linen. The fabrics above are from Superbuzzy by the way.

I found this linen skirt in the charity shop and I love wearing it as an apron. Digging my hands deep into the pockets.

I've been exploring taking self portraits of myself lately. For a long time I've just abhorred having my picture taken and the only progress I've made is to allow people to do it on the condition that I don't have to see it afterwards. A good friend that I trust inspired me to look into it though and I want to try it for a while to see what might happen. It is different if I'm the one taking my picture as the control is with me and I can be alone with it, so it's not quite the same as the real thing, but it's a good start for me. Also, deciding to put the photos on flickr makes it more of a challenge. My aims with this endeavour are:

- to feel more comfortable, if not relaxed, in front of the camera
- to get used to what I look like to other people, something I haven't wanted to face
- to let go somewhat of the importance my appearance has to me
- to challenge the image I have of myself in my head, something similar to what I'm doing with this blog
- to show who I am to other people, something I dread and again want to do with this blog

Last thing is - these bracelets:

I'm thoroughly enjoying exploring what it means to be a woman, something that takes a bit of courage for a tomboy like me. Bracelets is the latest thing and those colourful little beads have been the sunshine of my day since I got them on our Isle of Wight camping holiday. The bigger bead bracelet was a gift from a very good friend who visited from the States the last couple of weeks.

Well, that's quite enough for now... Enjoy your summer days!

Here I am.

Well, where were we? Feels like I haven't been here for ages. For a change I have actually been busy though, normally I'm Miss Lazybones content daydreaming away. I did my daydreaming fidgeting on a chair in the classroom for six days last week. The beginning of the second year of college. I don't mind getting back down to business, best get on with it right, but oh were the homework-free days lovely...

I stitched this needle case in the sunshine on our porch:

I found a table for my craft corner but have yet to put the shelf up (with my new powertools kindly left by my very good friend next door when he moved - thank you Kwabena!).

My new desk!

I sanded and stained the top and I love the old worn feeling it gives to the wood. The green Stokke chair is another gift (thank you Kwabena!) and I'm intending to live in it for hours at a time poring over my study books.

I've read so many books over the break that I lost count - The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (wonderfullly touching way to mess with your head), Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman (magic, witches, gypsies, soul animals and strange worlds - yes please), Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes (third time I read that one, the power of fairy tales in women's lives - the only self-help book I read now), Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian (any book where adults are wise and children are allowed to exist as they are is good in my view, but this one is excellent), The Plains of Passage and Shelters of Stone by Jean M Auel (I began reading this series when I was 15 and I still find them enchanting and inspiring - simple, natural life).

Well, that was my break, now back to the heavier books...

happy easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Spring has arrived - with sunshine, warmth and fresh green everywhere. I've been soaking it up with my parents and youngest brother who came to visit for three days, being proper tourists discovering some places I've never been in the New Forest. I was able to wear my new summerdress for the first time along with the sandals I've already insisted on wearing for a couple of weeks, come rain or shine.

One of the projects on my list for the college break is on its way. I want to create a crafty corner (where there used to be a bright green homemade cushion sofa that never got sat on), a place where I can have a little table for my sewing machine and a shelf with my fabrics, yarn, knitting needles, sewing notions and other stuff from my stash.

Stage one - clearing out said sofa and surrounding items was completed a week or two ago. Stage two - replenishing stash: wooden sewing box, embroidery thread, craft books and sewing tools accomplished last week. Stage three - acquiring shelf, table and desk (related project part of grand plan of improving room interior) not quite successful yesterday as table was not available in any IKEA in all of Britain. However, I'm inspired so am sure I will find something for the purpose eventually. Pics to follow.

I wish you all lovely spring days and inspiration for everything you do.

yarn

This is the yarn I'm thinking of using for my cardigan/shrug type knitting project. It's Jaeger Extra Fine Merino Aran in a slightly tweedy green. Still trying to find a good pattern for a beginner like me, something not too complicated. Today I've spent the day in bed though, sore throat and sniffly. Sun shining in through the window, lovely outside...

Forgot to post about the lunar eclipse whenever that was - did you see it? We took a photo, hanging out the window every now and then to check the progress.

braving it

Never mind that it's pouring outside and the bluebells are from last year (here they are one month away still...) I'm happy! Point location exam over {passed - hehey!} and the contents of my head can go down to less alarming levels again. I intend to do entirely mindless handfuls of projects and lots of aimless walking over the next seven weeks that I have off before the second year begins at college. Bought two knitting books (this and this) to finally get the courage to move beyond straight stockinette and bag-making. I've told myself these last two years since I took up knitting again (mum taught me how to when I was ten I suppose) that I was quite happy sticking with {very} simple stuff and anyway didn't know how to do anything more complex. Duh - can't do something I've never learnt how to! So here we go, thinking of making a simple cardigan that I can pull on over a vest, just for the warmth of the sleeves basically. Straight down from the shoulders, no need to be able to button or close it in any way. Will take some pictures of the yarns I'm thinking of using tomorrow.