I’ve not really had much to talk about. I haven’t done much of anything, I loved the long summer we had and now I am missing it terribly and am dreading the winter. I have never enjoyed this time of year, the darkness, the cold, the wet weather. It makes me feel really low.
In between work, procrastinating and doing nothing, I have attempted a few little creative bits but not a lot.
Whilst G works on the house in his spare time, I do the mundane things in the flat; cooking, cleaning, tidying, ironing and then it’s time to try and sleep and then do it all over again.
I’ve done a little bit of crochet, just little bits and nothing too exciting or time consuming. I’ve made a few more face scrubbies and have started on a back scrubber for the shower, who doesn’t love their back being scrubbed!? I found this tutorial which is super easy and shouldn’t take too long, hoping if I do a little each evening before bed then it should finished and ready for a test drive on the weekend.
Here are a few of the scrubbies I’ve made so far.
I also got the Autumn Craftpod which has a lovely embroidery kit that I’ve made a start on, its currently in the WIP pile 🤦🏼♀️ but I will go back to it soon.
I want to make some more reusable items for around the house, the amount of waste we produce (and by we, I don’t just mean myself and G, but we as a society) has really been bothering me lately so I want to try and reduce it. I’ve stopped buying kitchen roll, face wipes/cleaning wipes, cotton wool pads and the hardest thing I’ve parted with is bottled water. I know a lot of people think that buying water when it comes out of the tap is stupid, but I only drink water. I don’t drink tea or coffee and never have, I rarely “drink” (alcohol, just in case you didn’t get that) and I only occasionally drink fizzy drinks and when I do they don’t really quench a thirst so the only thing that does it for me is water and I am sensitive to the taste of it. Bottled water (and only a select few) is really the only thing I enjoy drinking. However, I’ve now made the painful switch to a filter jug thing you keep in the fridge, but even the filters don’t appear to last long and they are made of plastic (but they’re fully recyclable, apparently) but it just doesn’t taste nice at all and I hate it. And now I don’t drink as much as I did. Which is probably making me feel worse, but hey ho.
On the list of items I want to make is more face scrubbies to replace cotton wool pads, lots of multipurpose wipes which I imagine will be cotton one side and probably towel on the other for use in the kitchen and softer wipes for hands and face.
I also want to make some mesh bags for use at the supermarket when buying loose fruit & veg…although after my last shop I realise how difficult it is to buy stuff that isn’t packed in plastic 😤. I find this really frustrating especially when it comes to fruit and veg, when cooking for two people I really don’t need huge bags of anything, it would be nice to be able to buy just what I need for that week. I don’t have a huge freezer space so where I try and freeze what I can it’s not always possible and then things end up going to waste. I hate waste.
I did notice in Tesco the other day that they had something about bringing your own containers to put your food in, unfortunately I didn’t have the time to investigate and ask what exactly the deal was (there were two identical containers on a table, one with a ✅ and one with a ❌ so I was a bit confused) but this is definitely a positive move towards reducing plastic bags and packaging and I would definitely buy more stuff from the deli counters if I can use my own containers.
I’ve read that there are entire shops now in some places where everything is package free and you take your own bottles, boxes and bags to purchase your produce. I wish there was one near me. Not only are you reducing packaging waste, but food waste too as you are only buying what you need.
On a complete change of subject, the house is coming along amazingly well and I am getting excited now about moving in. We are aiming for the first or second week of December so there’s still a few weeks to go but the last few weeks have gone in a blur so no doubt we will be moving in before we know it.
It’s little things like when I’m in the kitchen and I suddenly imagine myself in my new kitchen in our new home, all bright and airy and organised and having enough plug sockets for all my gadgets 🤣. It really is the little things 😁.
Here is a little “before and after” pic of the kitchen 😊👏🏻 I’m so happy with it 💞.
I know we are going to be really happy in our little slice of heaven and I can’t wait to get in.
Switching subjects again. I’ve still not found my sewjo, I’ve repaired a couple of things and I’m itching to make a bag but I just can’t bring myself to get started, I spend most of my spare time looking at all the beautiful creations on Facebook and Instagram and I marvel at the gorgeous new patterns that are constantly being released by great designers and I have all I need to make them, I just can’t get started. I have a million patterns and loads of supplies, hopefully I’ll have more motivation once we move.
There’s a new pattern subscription called Carried Away Pattern Collective which is an incredible collaboration between Alicia Miller from Swoon Sewing Patterns and Celine Allaert from Blue Calla Patterns. They are three months into the subscription and the patterns are just fabulous. Part of my problem is deciding on what fabrics to use 🙄 too many decisions. Once I’m all set up in my new home and in my new creative Bubble (that’s what I call my craft room 😊), I’m sure the creativeness will be back. However, the planning for my new Bubble will be a project in itself, it’s a smaller room than I have in the flat so I need to utilise every single inch and make sure I have a place for everything. I want shelves and cupboards and drawers and pegboards and I also need a good cutting area that’s the right height and size. I already have a millions ideas so watch this space 😉.
I hope all my lovely readers are ok, but if not then that’s ok too. But keep on crafting and creating and let me know what you’ve been up to xxx💜H💜xxx
Helen Lightly Makes... 
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