Almost Midsummer

Normal life has started to tentatively resume here and it's strange. I'm back at work full time, although not in the usual classroom or with the usual children, and Angus has returned to school, but he sadly won't be going off on his Year 6 residential as he was supposed to next week. I noted with regret that Bella's parents' evening should have been last week (I always like going to Bella's parents' evenings - teachers love her) and that, like so many other things, has been cancelled. Bella is still learning at home, and John is still furloughed so we're fifty percent there. It's been good for Angus to see his friends at school and Bella has been able to meet up with cousins and friends in the park - time away from family and the house has done them both the world of good. We were able to have lunch in my parents' beautiful garden yesterday and the Zoom catch ups are still going strong.

But, strangely, I am finding the easing of restrictions harder than the full, early lockdown. I think I felt a sense of togetherness and solidarity with everyone else that I don't feel now. I was motivated by the unexpected time at home, we powered through our list of DIY tasks, unsure how many weeks we'd have altogether. And then spring was over, and now we're almost at Midsummer and the weeks drift by. I think I've just completely had enough of it all. Of course I understand why it must be so, and I obediently follow all the rules, but my heart isn't in it anymore. I can only imagine how those still shielding must feel, with no tangible end in sight yet. 

But there has been good stuff happening, so much good stuff. John celebrated his birthday on a gorgeously hot day and we ate cookies and cream cake (looked better than it tasted if I'm honest) and went to the beach.

We've had some really lovely walks lately. 

Just our usual, local places, nothing that exciting, but everything is just bursting with that early summer green, full of wild flowers and lush ferns. 

These walks are so good for me, and for us as a family. Even if it's just an hour, together, wandering along the footpaths. 

Thank you all so much for your comments on my lockdown sampler. I am glad you enjoyed it as much as I did. I did miss the rhythm of sewing a letter a day at first, but after a few days break I went straight into the next project - my English Paper Piecing patchwork quilt.

I have been slowly sewing hexies over the last couple of months in the evenings, in front of the TV, and have now used every single scrap of spare fabric I had, which feels wonderfully satisfying. I have the box above of coloured pieces, plus the neutrals below.

I have (I think) 995 hexagons altogether which is enough for 142 flower shapes made from 7 hexagons. My plan is to make them all then arrange them, for that pleasing random effect (that isn't actually random at all) and then sew them together. I don't know if this will give me a big enough quilt. I don't really know what I'm doing, let's be honest, but I'm having fun. I'm really loving the slow, organic, hand-sewing process of EPP so far. I think it's a good fit for me. 

Lockdown Embroidered Sampler

Hello my friends! I hope you are all well. Last weekend I sewed the final letter in my lockdown alphabet sampler and I wanted to show you the final sections. I have enjoyed this project enormously; making an hour to sew every day was a mental health lifesaver, and sharing one motif each day on Instagram made me accountable, so I made sure I did do it each day. I thoroughly enjoyed thinking about and sewing every single picture and keep changing my mind about my favourite. The rainbow for K. No, the books for R. No, the retro-looking sunshine for W which reminds me of vintage toys and childrens' picture books. No, it's the ball of yarn for M....etc...

I believe I had just sewed a sourdough loaf for S when I last shared this with you, so let's continue.

T was very nearly for Teaching (all that homeschooling!) but in the end was Tea, or a satin stitch cup to tea to symbolise the hot, caffeinated drinks that have kept me going through lockdown. When your day involves meals, homeschool, a dog walk, and not a lot else, those moments that punctuate your day become rather special, whether that's a well-made coffee from the machine mid morning or a cup of tea with something sweet late afternoon. I find people tend to be either tea or coffee drinkers whereas I love both. A cup of tea first thing, then coffee throughout the morning (the number of cups is dependent upon where I am and what I'm doing) and tea in the afternoon and evening. I've no idea why but there it is.



U is for utensils (thank you Jo!) to represent all the cooking we've done in this house during lockdown, in particular a satin stitch knife, wooden spoon and fish slice. On a good day, I am living my dream life, pottering around the kitchen all day with the radio on, but on a bad one I feel resentful of every meal I must prepare, serve and clean up, with absolutely no motivation to do anything. Fortunately those bad days are rare and I generally seek solace in our kitchen.

 

V is for Virus. What else could it be? I used French knots to create this version of covid-19 under a microscope.

 

W is for Weather, represented by a chain stitch sun. I am very thankful that the weather this spring has been so warm and dry - the sunniest spring since records began, apparently. It has made everything easier; time in the garden, walks, just my general mood and energy levels. Can you imagine how much harder lockdown would have been if it had rained every day?

 

X was hard but thankfully I have a son (and husband for that matter) who enjoy playing on the Xbox so I sewed a satin stitch controller. Since chatting to his friends online while playing Minecraft is one of Angus's main ways of staying in touch with his friends, I've had to reframe the way I think about his screen time and accept that, during lockdown, it has been more than usual and that is fine.

 

Y is for yoga, so here is someone in tree pose, done in satin stitch and I tried so hard with this one because it had to look like what it was - a person doing yoga. (No she's not a ballerina. I'd have sewn a tutu if she was.) I used to attend a regular weekly yoga class but since my teacher had to move premises the lessons stopped, and I miss it so much. During lockdown both John and I have been working our way through Yoga With Adriene's 30 day yoga programme, and now it's finished we're just trying different videos each day. I cannot recommend it highly enough. I'm much more likely to continue this than HIIT workouts.

 

And finally, Z is for Zoom. Of course, what else could it be, so I sewed an applique laptop. Ten weeks ago I'd never heard of this video conferencing app, but since then I've hosted a birthday party, attended staff meetings with colleagues, drunk cocktails with friends, shared quizzes with family and even "met up" with all my old friends from Leeds, all via Zoom. Thank goodness for technology.

And there we are; twenty six letters and twenty six images to commemorate this strange time in our history. I am going to get it framed as soon as the framing shop opens up. I have been wondering if I should add the date. I think I will, as this embroidery is so much about 2020, I feel that the year needs to be stitched on there too somewhere.

Half Term Bubble

If feels like we've quietly slipped from spring into summer over the last week. The weather has been mostly beautiful here, warm and dry and breezy, and we are eating all the meals outside that we can.

I am very thankful that the weather has been so lovely, especially over half term. It makes not being able to go anywhere or do anything easier, especially for Bella and Angus who are pretty bored by now, but not too old to be messing around in the sprinkler.

We're in iced coffee season - my favourite.

It felt strange to go into this half term break having already been at home so much. Usually, I go in to half term tired, relieved and ready for a rest, but also motivated by all the things I will finally have a chance to do after six or eight weeks at school. But this time there was none of that. Just more of the same, pottering around the house and garden, but with the absence of homeschool. I have tried to stay motivated though, doing my usual spring cleaning - if anything the house is more in need of cleaning now, not less, as we're all at home all day - and ticking some jobs off the list in preparation for going back to work full time.

Despite the gradual lifting of lockdown, we haven't strayed far from our usual local walks. I am very keen to go to the beach but have been wary of too many people there and, truth be told, I'm quite happy just to be in the garden enjoying the weather. 

Our local woods are looking so lush and green at the moment, despite the lack of rain, and I remember how much I love early summer. It's a pleasure just to be outside under the canopy of leaves, walking through the cow parsley and buttercups.

We got up bright and early to avoid the queues at B&Q during the week. We'd ostensibly gone for some DIY stuff but I really had my eye on the plant section. I have tried so hard to grow from seed this year but sometimes you just need a bit of instant colour.

I spent a very hot but happy morning in the garden, finding homes for some new plants and potting on things I've grown myself like these rananculus. 

I gave the houseplants a bit of love this week too, repotting and moving them around. I am very pleased with this monstera below, which was a cutting I took from a much larger plant a few months ago. It took a while but finally grew lots of new roots in water, so I moved it into compost in this rather beautiful terracotta and ceramic indoor planter (a bargain at only £14 from B&Q).

My lockdown sampler continues to bring me so much joy.

I have just finished it this weekend, and I'll do a proper post on it soon.

Something else I love about this time of year - it's peony season and I treated myself to a bunch last week in the supermarket.

They started out as hot-pink buds, tightly curled into balls, before unfurling into the most beautiful, blowsy blooms.

After a few days they began to fade into a more delicate, apricot-tinged pink which I loved even more. This single bunch of flowers gave me so much pleasure. It is indeed the little things. 

Of course we've been baking. I have been working on my sourdough starter, trying to get it a bit thicker and more bubbly, a bit more lively. It's worked and my last loaf had the best rise yet plus lots of holes in the centre. I know not everyone likes sourdough but I adore it's tangy taste and chewy crust, in fact we all love it in this house. Baking my own saves me about £3 a week in the bread I don't buy and yes, while the method is more time consuming than a regular loaf, I enjoy the process and find it both mindful and satisfying. 

I tried some new recipes this week, including these coconut and jam sandwich bars which were lovely, plus these cookies. 

There has been lots of DIY and home improvement going on here. Our balcony railings, previously, mint green, are now blue.

This is a hot and messy job, which we put off. The railings need to be scraped/sanded and then treated with a primer on the rusty bits, before the painting starts. Our balcony is at the front of the house and south-west facing, so from mid-morning till sunset it is about 100 degrees out there. We have to get up early and try to get a coat done before the sun moves round, otherwise it's just the sweatiest job ever. Anyway, it's done now, and John's finally agreed that I can paint the front door to match which I'm ecstatic about because I can't tell you how much I dislike our front door.

Other fiddly lockdown jobs I've been doing include painting over the woodwork in the dining end of the kitchen, on the two green-blue walls, which was white as you can see here.

We always paint our woodwork white, as much from habit as anything, but I felt it just didn't work against the dark wall. We already had a tin of eggshell in the same colour, bought for when we painted the radiator, and so it didn't cost me anything.

I am really happy with the result. A non-essential decorating job that I would never normally have bothered with, but since I have the time I may as well do it.

That's all my news. We're just pottering around at home, trying to make the most of the lockdown and the weather, and the time with Bella and Angus too, because I will soon be back at work full time, and so will John, and Angus will go back to school soon, and then this strange bubble will be broken.