Easter Holidays Part 1

 

It's strange but after exhaling deeply when the blogging challenge finished in March, I found myself feeling slightly bereft.  I certainly wouldn't want to blog every day for any length of time, but feeling more comfortable in this space; this little corner of the internet world that is mine, was good.  I want to try and keep up the commitment to this space and so I thought  the Easter holidays would be a good place to start.

I don't really celebrate Easter as I'm not a practising Christian.  I was christened but that's as far as it goes for me.  I didn’t get married in a church because I don't have a faith and I didn't want to be a hypocrite, promising things that I don't believe.  Easter is an important festival for so many people, including some good friends of mine, but to me it's mostly about chocolate eggs, the school holidays and the promise of spring.  There is the saying that “nature is my church” and that is how I feel.  I’m interested in religions in a philosophical and historical way but any spirituality I have is connected with the natural world.

The schools in our part of Kent didn't break up until the day before Good Friday, so Easter arrived quite suddenly, especially as my youngest had been doing mock GCSEs just beforehand.  There was a collective sigh from three of us in the house on Thursday night ( two sighing with relief and joy and one sighing with the knowledge that there would be no quiet alone time for two weeks….can't think who that was) but poor Chris was working all through Easter, other than on the Sunday.

On Saturday morning Chris had gone to work around 7 am and I was happily crocheting some festival grannies in bed when I heard banging and clattering downstairs.  I rolled my eyes thinking one of the teens was up early and being particularly clumsy.  It carried on for about ten minutes and so I got up to see what they were doing.  As I opened the door I was greeted by Trixie looking like butter wouldn't melt and then I noticed the stressed starling on the bay window. It started flying across the kitchen banging into the next window and then sat on one of my bowls on the shelf.  

It must have been brought in through the cat flap then escaped from her jaws resulting in Trixie pursuing it madly. I shut her out, opened the windows wide and waited in the cold for it to realise it could leave. Twenty minutes it took! I was nithered! I'm so glad it was unscathed but it's amazing just how much poo one frightened bird can make.... 

There seemed to be an Easter egg shortage in this part of Kent, possibly due to everyone feeling totally fed up with the pandemic and wanting to gorge out on chocolate. When Chris went to look in Tesco the aisles that would have had eggs in were bare and in Sainsburys the man stocking the shelves with eggs was being depleted of them as soon as he placed them on the shelf.  We managed to get a couple for the teens and a dark chocolate orange for Chris.  If I get a packet of mini eggs then I'm more than happy.  I didn’t even make a cake this year.  

We started Easter Sunday with a late breakfast of American style fluffy pancakes, the recipe of which can be found here. 

I love them so much and have them covered with fruit, whipped cream and maple syrup.  They are incredibly indulgent and filling. My daughter then spent the rest of the day with her friends in their garden as they've all been catching up with social opportunities now that restrictions have lifted slightly. 

Chris and I decided to go for a walk after lunch as it was beautifully sunny and warm.  We were honoured with Tom’s company and it was really lovely to be out in the sunshine and to have one of the children with us - voluntarily!  

Sailing boats were out on the water as it must have been the first meeting of the Herne Bay Sailing Club.  Lots of families were picnicking together or walking along the coastal path.  We headed up the middle path as it's quieter and it's easier to avoid people.

I breathed in the fresh air and felt much better.  Sea air most definitely does you some good.  My dad used to say there were lots of negative ions in the air by the sea and although I don't quite understand the science, I believe they are supposed to have a good effect on your physical and mental health.

It was so quiet up on the middle path that Chris and Tom saw a fox but I was lagging behind, taking photos and breathing in those negative ions.  Hopefully I might see one another time. A fox, not an ion...

A lot of this week has been taken up with making a shirt for my brother.  I needed to crack on with it as soon as the blogging challenge was over as I have the intention (and hope) to give it to him next week when we are in Yorkshire.

The fabric was chosen by him in Liberty’s of London over two years ago and although I made a mockup of a shirt, he then lost a lot of weight and so a new pattern needed buying.  The next delay was the covid pandemic meaning that I just put it off ( thinking that I'd get on with it at some point ).....hmmmmm.  Well that some point just kept getting pushed back and back and then I started to feel more and more guilty.  It's the starting of things that's the problem for me.  Once I've started I'm generally ok.

I cut the fabric out, checking and double checking that I hadn't done anything stupid.  I remembered running to my friend Charlotte’s house in tears back in 1991 after cutting out a panelled dress in tana lawn, but every other panel was upside down. I was hysterical!  As a student I didn’t have much cash and even though I finished the dress, it was a trellis design and I just knew it was wrong so it didn’t get worn.  Such a waste of time and money.  It was all to look beautiful for my then boyfriend who was such a toxic person in my life - so even more of a waste!

Luckily I have learnt from my mistakes ( in men and in sewing ) and all was well cutting it out.  The shirt however has proved to be rather tricky.  After struggling with the collar, talking to my mum and not being able to fathom out what was wrong, I googled the pattern and sure enough there was an error in the collar.  Thank goodness for YouTube as a video there showed me what to do to rectify the problem.  It was pretty annoying though.  It just goes to show that I kept thinking it was me, when in fact it was a pattern error. I never expected a pattern to be wrong.

Even though I've been incredibly careful making this shirt, I can't say it's my best work.  It's not finished yet. I've been practising button holes and I've got to do the hem and those then that's it. Things are not quite perfect and as it is for somebody else, that bothers me. I've learnt that dressmaking isn't half as much fun making for someone else as it is for me!!  Interestingly, it hasn't put me off; in fact I've just bought a dress pattern for a pinafore dress that I fancy making.  I have however checked out some video reviews first to see if there are any problems with this pattern.  It's this one here which I fancy making in a large gingham linen/cotton mix.

If anything, this sewing project has reignited a part of me that's always made clothes from being a small child making them for my toys, to a teen and young adult making clothes for parties and for work and  then on to being a mum myself, making clothes for my children.  

Once I learned how to crochet in 2012, dressmaking was cast aside for my newfound yarny passion.  It's as though I've found a way back to who I always was - kind of reconnecting with that part of me that is still there inside, in spite of all the changes in my life.  It’s actually really comforting and the only other time I feel that sense of comfort is when I return to York where I grew up.  My mum was a needlework teacher and I've certainly inherited my love of sewing and fabrics from her.  I'm pretty sure that when researching our family history, some relatives were seamstresses in London.  It's in the blood!

The other project that I did actually finish was a little chair cushion for my doll's house. I started embroidering it ages ago but it got pushed to the back of things whilst I concentrated on the shirt.

I wanted to use colours which would work with the chair colour, a dark purple and that would also work with the bedroom ideas of greens and purples. I'm going to wallpaper one of the bedroom walls with something like this miniature William Morris wallpaper here. I'm very keen on the Arts and Crafts style and so I wanted to incorporate that into this dolls house.

The stitching is very small using a single strand of embroidery floss in chain stitch to fill the whole area with stitch. I'm really pleased with how it turned out and I'm already planning on two sofa cushions and one for the bed using the same technique.

Styling it for a photo to post on Instagram the other day was fun. I enjoy miniature things so much. It just takes me back to my childhood such a lot.

That's about it for this post as the shirt finished pictures will have to wait until next time. Hope you're enjoying a lovely Easter break. x