Well, bless my soul. I have actually been sewing. Cut down an old dress which I love, made from denim coloured cheesecloth, into a tunic to wear over trousers, and changed the buttons on it. That was the easy bit! then today I made a new knitting needle wrap and matching craft bag (from wonderful, clear instructions, from here). The reason is that I rashly bought some fabric in the John Lewis sale, which is lovely, but really not suitable for the tunic top I intended it for. So. Here is what they look like. The material is patchwork, which makes it quite easy to match and so on, but I did have problems with the bottom of the needle wrap as there were so many layers. One machine needle broke, another blunted. And they were intended for heavy use, with denim for instance. The bag was easier. You’ll see the lining and straps are a bit startling – it’s the remainder of the Ikea bed linen I used to make a set of matching curtains for the bunk room. Which I’m also very pleased with, so as smug as hell now. Ha!

needle wrap, open

needle wrap, closed

craft bag, open – note pocket!

craft bag, closed

Now I’m looking for a free pattern for a pinafore dress (I think it’s called a “jumper dress” or something in the States) for a little girl of three and a half, because I have 1.1 metres of 90 cm wide of the patchwork material left and thought it would be nice made up.

Also have gradually been re-organising my wardrobe – chucking stuff out for the charity shop and rearranging the space so it’s a bit less fraught. A new bedside table/chest of drawers is on its way from John Lewis so that should help too.

Will post again soon . . .