What to Eat This week

So what are we going to eat this week?  I do have a process for the weekly menu and it starts with the veg box delivery on Thursday.  This is what we received this week...

New Potatoes, Onions, Salad Leaves, Lettuce, Cucumber, Carrots and Spring Greens.  I have to admit this is not the most inspirations selection I have ever received, but it made the decision that Fluffrick will be having salad for lunch an easy one.

Of late my trusty copy of River Cottage Veg Everyday has been my first port of call when deciding how to make best use of the weekly veg box.  It is a wonderful book with a vast selection of great veg recipes, the Spouffle has made a frequent appearance on the weekly menu.  

So what is actually on the menu...

Friday

Tartiflette - veggie style made with potatoes, onions, cheese and double cream

Saturday

Salmon & Prawn Skewers and salad

Sunday

Roast Chicken, New Potatoes, Carrots, Spring Greens and Stuffing

Monday

Chicken Biryani and Naan Bread - this is not an authentic biryani more of a spiced Chicken rice really, but very yummy

Tuesday

Chilli Cheese Polenta with Tomato Sauce - courtesy of Mr Fearnley Whittingstall

Wednesday

Toad in the Hole (with Veggie Sausages) with Carrots, Spring Greens and Onion Gravy

Thursday

Macaroni (well Penne actually) Cheese

I also plan on making a simple Apple Cake at some point this week, which I will document if I can get the camera working again.

Someone Loves His Duckie

We had a meeting with a dog trainer last week, we're referring to it as Hagrid's Gentleman Training.  He definitely is not the most social of dogs, but we hope that with some training we can make him a happier boy.  One suggestion the trainer gave us to improve our bond with the Big Lad was to play with him more.  The trainer had several different toys to play with and the one Hagrid loved the most was a pink squishy octopus; sadly we have not been able to locate the same toy, but Duckie has been a more than adequate alternative.


A few times today we have a mad five minutes playing with Duckie and jumping around the living room.  I have made Hagrid another tuggy toy, but nothing matched up to his Duckie.  We are also hoping to reduce Hagrid's pulling on walks and so for the first time today we walked him with a Halti and for the first time we actually took him for a walk rather than him taking us.


He really is a lovely lad, but as we know next to nothing about his history before he came to live with us, we will probably never know why he reacts so much to other dogs. But it just makes us love him and want to help him all the more.

Me Made May'12 Days 25,26,27,28,29,30 and 31

So the last week of Me Made May'12.  Apart from having my photo taken everyday, I've enjoyed the process.  I've made some new clothes, worn several things I haven't worn in ages and of late bemoaned the horrible hot weather(I have to complain about the weather, I'm British).  So here are the final week's clothes.

Day 25

A thrifted Wallis skirt and my 1970's style t-shirt with my new gladiator sandals.  I don't know why I am pulling that face?

Day 26

This picture was taken late in the day (not at 7am like most of the other pictures), so my blouse is looking a little the worse for wear.  Helped in no small part by Hagrid giving me a through soaking when we gave him a bath.  He is such a good boy, in so many ways, we just have to get his behaviour with other dogs under control.

Day 27

This may not be the most flattering dress in the world, but it is very cool.  Comfort definitely was more important than style here, have I complained about the weather enough yet? 

Day 28

I made this blouse from some thrifted vintage fabric a couple of year ago and I think this may only be the third time I've worn it.  I have a White Stuff tunic top that I love and keep looking for patterns to replicate it, but this pattern was not it, the sleeves are a little tight, I may try to rectify that so that I will wear this more often. 

Day 29

An entire Me Made outfit here, both refashioned.  The top was originally a pillow case and the skirt initially a man's shirt.  There was a trend a couple of years ago of converting men's shirts into dresses, but for women far more petite than me.

Day 30

A repeat of my outfit from Day 16.

And Finally Day 31

The ubiquitous purple chambray skirt and my new Wiksten Tova blouse that I finished on Tuesday. It's a lovely pattern and fairly straight forward to make, this is really a wearable muslin and it's made from a sheet I bought for £1.29 (and that I have enough left of to make another 2 garments).  I was slightly depressing to have to make the XL size, as I don't think of myself as an XL person, but that minor quibble is not going to stop me making it again.  I have quite a few pieces of fabric that I can use to make this top.

As I said earlier I have enjoyed the challenge of Me Made May, but I probably need to create my own challenge rather than follow someone else's.  I definitely could do with utilising better what I already have, before I go out an acquire more stuff.  And even though the above shirt was made with a thrifted sheet, it did require the purchase of a new pattern. I have more fabric and patterns than I will probably ever need, so what I probably need to do is impose an embargo on  buying any new fabric or patterns for a while and try and use what I already have.

Watch this space and see how that works out... 

Me Made May'12 Days 16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23 and 24

Day 16

I made this skirt last month, it's an adaptation of the same pattern I used to make the purple chambray skirt (New Look 6106).  I bought the floral fabric as a remnant (my Achilles heal) last year, but it wasn't quite enough to make a whole garment, so I bought some plain turquoise fabric to co-ordinate with the floral.  And this is the result, I think it goes beautifully with my Ness t-shirt.

Day 17

The Chambray skirt again, this time teamed with woolly tights and a jumper.  A week later I am missing the cooler weather.

Day 18

My Bustle Skirt, but not a very good picture of it.  This is quite a dramatic skirt to go about in, but you do have to negotiate sitting down in it.  I keep meaning to make another one, but haven't quite got round to it yet.

Day 19

The same outfit as on Day 10, but here with the addition of my 1940's style apron (I was making Sunday lunch).  This is what I wear when I'm trying to be a Domestic Goddess, I don't know how well it works.

Day 20

As Hagrid's behaviour with other dogs is less than exemplary, we take him for his walk at 6 am, so here I am ready for the walk in my home made jeans and a hooded top I made about 15 year ago.

Day 21

I made this t-shirt a few years ago using a vintage 1970's pattern, but the instruction were not as good as they could have been because I've never felt the collar lies quite how it should.  Or it could just be my aversion to working with jersey, that makes me feel this t-shirt didn't quite work.

Day 22

I lovely cool floaty skirt I made last year. I didn't think a gathered skirt would suit me, so I actually made it by making long darts in the fabric, it required a little trial and error in the fitting, but I think it worked well.

Day 23

This dress is made with the same pattern as the top on Day 4. I bought the fabric in the John Lewis sale, long before I bought the pattern, consequently I didn't have quite enough fabric for a traditional layout.  I therefore cut out the side panels and collar width wise rather than length wise, but I feel it actually improved the design.  

Day 24

A whole self made outfit for a change.  The skirt I made last week, again using New Look 6106 (one day I will actually make the skirt with the contrast border as on the pattern).  I'm sure it would have been simpler to just use regular fabric, however it is actually refashioned a charity shop find, a pair of size 22 cropped trousers, to make the skirt.

The top must be at least 15 years old, it is also a refashion, but of a something I made that didn't fit.  I had tried to make a shirt from a pattern designed to be made with stretch fabric in decidedly unstretchy fabric, so I converted it into this little top as I couldn't bear to abandon this fabric.

Avengers - Thank You Joss

Avengers

Avengers is awesome.  If you haven't been to see this film yet (and from the box office that is only about 3 people in the world), you should rush out and see it now.


Fluffrick and I went to see it for the second time last week and I'm trying to see when we can schedule seeing it again without feeling like we're abandoning Hagrid.  


I should confess that I am a huge Joss Whedon fan.  Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Serenity, Dollhouse, Dr Horrible, I love them all.  But this should not detract from the fact that this is a brilliant film, full of great characters, humour, peril, action, sibling rivalry, oh and awesomeness and a bit of Hulk. Who knew the Hulk was funny? Joss Whedon did.


So a huge Hulk sized Thank You Joss, please do it again, now!

Me Made May'12 Days 9,10,11,12,13,14 and 15

This post should actually be called, "Why can't the weather make up it's mind!".  I have discovered that there are far more handmade summer clothes in my wardrobe, but the weather has most definitely not been summery. So what to wear?

Day 9

This is a favourite skirt of mine, it's made with the same pattern as my denim skirt, which is from an old issue of BurdaStyle.  It's a very soft dark green moleskin and what you can't see because of Hagrid's lovely head are my white, green and red argyle socks, they have brought a smile to many a face.  Why do people find socks funny?

Day 10


This is my new favourite dress, I blogged about it here.  It is just so comfortable and I get to wear turquoise tights with it. 

Day 11

A whole outfit made by me.  The denim skirt again, which I have taken in so it doesn't sit quite so low on my hips.  The blouse is an old one, probably from the early 90's, it's from a "style" pattern and they went out of business a long time ago.  Of course when I put it on I remembered why I don't wear it very often, the buttonholes are large and come undone, of course I could fix this in about ten minutes, I just haven't got round to it.

Day 12

Here is a lesson in why I should take better care of my paper patterns.  I made these trousers a couple of years ago and they are really comfortable.  But I didn't put the pattern pieces back in the packet and now I don't quite know where they are.  That may not sound like a big problem, but I have 30 years accumulated fabric and patterns to look through.

Day 13

This is a blouse I refashioned from a charity shop skirt, the detail of the inset lace doesn't show up in the picture unfortunately.  The picture had to be taken as soon as I put it on, as it is made of linen and creases if you look at it.

Day 14

I wear this little top a lot.  I am a sucker for remnants, if I can get something at a reduced price I'm happy.  This top was made from less than a metre of fabric. I think it turned out quite well, even if none of the pictures with me looking to camera didn't.

Day 15

The t-shirt again from day 5, with the addition of a jaunty scarf and a Hagrid who is far more interested in the neighbourhood cats than having his picture taken.

Sewing, sewing, sewing

I've actually been doing quite a lot of sewing the past couple of months.  I had a little time off after sewing all the costumes for the show last November.  But now I'm back in the groove and it was something I could do and still keep Minnie company when she wasn't well.  I have been meaning to make a wristband pin cushion for a while now.  If I have a pot of pins when I'm sewing it will inevitably end up on the floor up side down.  This pin cushion is always handy and I don't know why I didn't make one years ago.

So this is the shirt I was making for Fluffrick when I got side tracked by my denim skirt.  I did get the shirt finished, Fluffrick has worn it many times and even tolerated having his picture taken.

I finally got around to making Minnie a new collar.  I had made her previous collar, but it was getting rather threadbare and worn.  She only got to wear it for a handful of weeks and now it's sitting in the top of the box along with her ashes.  We will scatter her ashes and those of Bonnie one day, I'm not good at letting go.

This is a bag I made for a friend's birthdays.  She is a Mum of 3 so this has plenty of room for all those Mum things, plus six pockets, that should be enough, shouldn't it?