Thursday, 27 June 2013

garden inspection










In a piece of good fortune for our lawn, we've managed to wean the doglet off playing balls on it every morning and afternoon. It's not perfect by any stretch, but at least we've lost the huge missing clumps where her skidding bottom scuffed the turf (very embarrassing on a shared lawn).

So instead we have much quieter mornings doing a thorough garden inspection.

Monday, 24 June 2013

k 3 6 5 5







Living in Glasgow, even when it's sunny, requires jacket mindfulness. I don't think I've experienced a day yet when a jacket isn't needed at some point. This just isn't a city where you can get away without some kind of 'wind cheating'. Using complex justification principles, I decided that I could allow myself, therefore, to buy a Toast jacket that seemed to deliver everything I desired for those glorious days when waterproofing isn't actually necessary -- colour, texture, stylishness. I went for this very tempting example.

But it was huge. So I tried this one. And it was also huge. I love the idea of Toast clothes, but the boxy shapes that look great on tall people look ridiculous, if I'm honest, on short ones. Boxy-ness is okay, but you need some indication that you are there inside its folds if you are to avoid looking like a walking pile of fabric. Or like you've stolen a jacket from an 80s stockbroker, or from your Dad and you are five.

So I had a go at making my own, using Kwik Sew's K3655 pattern (adapted quite a bit to drop the buttons and introduce a kimono-style tie, as I couldn't quite forget that lovely yellow Toast one). I could go through all it took, but it wouldn't make for interesting reading. It was time-consuming. In general it was pretty satisfying, although required total concentration and careful planning. And as I decided to line it, that took a Herculean effort essentially to start again just as you were nearing the end and making another jacket. Deep breaths. I box-lined it using this tutorial.

But now it's done, I like it. It's a tiny bit too fitted for total perfection -- I'd like to have been able to wear a cardigan underneath it, but perhaps that's just me being a bit too nesh. It is supposed to be Summer, after all.

Monday, 17 June 2013

around the house










Things are very steadily busy here. Slightly terrified by how quickly time passes, and a teeny bit scared of what I need to get done over the Summer. So I'm just working on slowly ticking things off at the moment. Over last week and on the weekend I set about tidying up mistakes and niggles.

Despite the great expense of it, our sofa has always had an incredibly irritating habit whereby the cushions slowly, almost imperceptibly, ease their way off the frame over the course of the evening. So you finish a film either almost on the floor, or wedged down the gap at the back. It's almost as though they are alive. So this weekend I sewed the damn things in place. One of the worst jobs I've ever had to do -- awkward in every way imaginable and two very nice curved quilting needles were sacrificed. But it seems to have worked (so far...) and I washed and pressed the wool blanket over it for good measure. So the doglet is very pleased to be tucked in and cosy.

The bread I've been making lately has been completely hopeless. It refuses to rise and splits badly. Looking this up, I find that this is likely to be the yeast, but isn't helped by shirking on the kneading. So I bought new yeast (now it's a potch to do with water) and did more kneading. Result -- SO much better! Lovely bread now, springy and light and very nourishing. So worth the effort.

Again, despite the expense of it, our flat has never met my other half's privacy requirements -- which are on a very high American setting. We are on the street, and our bedroom is at the front, to be fair. And my privacy settings are probably a little too low, being British. So I made these voile 'shields' for the window. Again, a total potch to do, but worth it. Very pleased.

This fabric is gorgeous (from here). Here it is, pressed and waiting to be cut out and sewn into a jacket. My first attempt at something so complex and ambitious. Will post results.

Roasted vegetable lasagne for tea last night, inc. aubergines. I realised suddenly, while thinking of something totally unrelated earlier, why it was slightly disappointing. I used self-raising instead of plain flour in the béchamel sauce. D'oh.

Hope everyone's weekend was nice and less tricksy.

Friday, 7 June 2013

l a t e l y







Lately has been a mixture of happy and sad, and of busy and calm. An old friend came up to stay last weekend as a break from caring for her very, distressingly, ill father. It was a lovely and special time. White wine in the sunshine, a mushroom and chicken pie (for which the pastry was really, good though I say so myself -- somehow I managed to get it so that it was crisp and firm, but flaky), a day in a gorgeous spa outside Edinburgh, prosecco several times and ending with coffee and shopping. The sun shone so warmly and we talked about anything and everything.

The week then was very busy, a bit tense and stressy with emotions running high (exam boards all day long) and feeling drained. But the sun has kept shining, and now things are clearing again and I've had time to cook and to plan for the weekend. Lamb tagine for tea tonight, after fresh brown bread for lunch. And this incredibly decadent nectarine and blueberry juice for breakfast, which tasted astonishing really. I haven't stopped thinking about it all day -- it was like summer nectar.

My friend's father died yesterday afternoon, in the sunshine, holding hands with his wife. The family were all around and the dog on the end of the bed. A peaceful, beautiful end after such a terrible struggle.