Currently - 14th May

(This week I'm posting without links, because I'm running late and I need to get to work.  I'll post links tonight when I get home.)

Watching: I've finished season 3 of Great British Sewing Bee, I'm still working on the Big Allotment Challenge.  A lot of Masterchef, The season-enders of Flash and Arrow.

Reading: A lot of File 770 and Whatever.

Listening: Verity!, Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men, and just beginning to listen to The Lazy Doctor Who podcast.

Making: The dishtowel stole is getting closer and closer to done.

Feeling: pleased that something that was going to happen yesterday didn't.  There's cryptic for you.

Planning: well, there's that wedding thing...

Loving: the kittyboys, of course!

A project almost completed: the dishcloth stole

The dishtowel stole began its life as a project in 2010, during a discussion on Maundy Thursday.  My parents and I were staying with our previous Minister for Easter, and somehow got to talking about translations ot the word "stole", and a tradition that the stole was a towel that hung around Christ's neck (or possibly over his shoulder - it's not like we have eyewitness accounts, after all) during the washing of the disciple's feet.

From that conversation, I got the idea for a stole made from dish towels.

And it's taken me until now to get even vaguely closer to having my "proof of concept" version finished.

As of now, I need to finish sewing up the neck, remove the basting, topstitch once around the whole thing - probably at a half inch rather than the quarter-inch quilting I did on my previous, hand quilted stoles - and then add applique crosses.  Clearly, I should have added the crosses before I put the backing on, but see above re "proof of concept".

That said, if any of my clergy-type friends like the idea of a Lent/Advent stole (purple, obvs) made from tea towels and very simple in construction (so, more likely Lent), let me know.  You can have first dibs on this one, or I'll make you a fresh one in light of all I've learnt from this one.  And hopefully it won't take five years for the next one to be completed...

"Currently" Journalling - 7th May, 2015

RUKristin's Currently Journalling challenge is one of those float in-float out challenges that I like, but am not good at keeping up with.

That said, I'm hoping that trying to blog the challenge will help me with PL-ing it.  Plus, it gives me blog content :-)

So, for this week...

Watching: The Big Allotment Challenge, Great British Sewing Bee, lots of Masterchef, because a) it's just started and b) the episodes are very long.

Reading: Cranky Ladies of History, trying for one story per night.  Cicely's King Richard, by Sandra Heath Wilson.  See more on my book blog.

Listening: Galactic Suburbia ep 119; Verity! Extra: Sophie's So Ace.

Making: Mother's Day neckwarmer to deadline (Saturday!)

Feeling: the need to get into definite routines for the house.

Planning: Blog posts and new routines - and helping my partner plan a Cosplay subject for high school students.

Loving:  the Big Allotment Challenge.

Big Allotment Challenge, Season 1, Episode 1

So, the first thing to say is how impressed I am with the way that the story of the episode is edited. Having started at the point of first harvest/judging, the editors then take us back 14 weeks to when the gardeners first began working their allotments, choosing the varieties of seed to plant, etc.

It's relatively clear that they know what vegetable and flower will be judged: the flower design challenge seems a definite surprise, and there is such a variety in the coking challenges that they clearly had some broad choices there as well. 

Each week - they tell us - there will be three challenges; grow, make and eat. 

Grow - this week, it's radishes. My two comments on this challenge are that a) we've not yet tried radishes, although they are apparently one of those crops that you plant and then dig in to replace lost nutrients in the soil, and we will probably plant a crop and the end of winter in at least one of our plots. b) The specialised show techniques and requirements are brilliant. It makes me think of those few times I went to the Royal Melbourne Show with my dad. I don't actually know if they had a vegetable section: we spent most out our time watching the show dogs and then I insisted on visiting the decorated cakes. 

Make - the gardeners had to prepare sweet peas for show, and then make a 'hand-tied bouquet'. To me the flower arrangement challenge is the most pointless, but that may be because I don't grow flowers to cut and put  inside the house. I like my flowers outside the house, in the ground. 

Eat - this is essentially a preserving challenge. This week, it's a jam and a curd, and I have to admit I'm coming from the perspective of only ever having heard of a lemon curd. but clearly the gardeners thought of many other types of curd. My understanding of what a curd is is limited, and sadly it seems that the British audience all knows this automatically, so no explanation was forthcoming. 

I really love this show so far. I'm trying not to post spoilers at the moment, and maybe in the next post I'll post more about the pairs of gardeners, for many of whom I have affectionate nicknames. 

The Big Allotment Challenge - introduction

Last October, I was down in Melbourne at a four-day conference, and thus enjoying the novelty of cable television.  When I have this chance, I tend to watch a lot of Lifestyle and associated channels.  And on one of these channels was a trailer for the Big Allotment Challenge.

I've become quite a fan of a certain genre of British reality show - the Great British Bake-Off, the Great British Sewing Bee being the two culprits - and the Big Allotment Challenge is right down that same alley.  And so the trailer I saw inspired me greatly, and I went to work to hunt down this awesome looking show.

And I couldn't find it at all, until a FB friend mentioned that it was on YouTube.  Which, okay, I hadn't thought to check, because I don't use YouTube that much in everyday life.

But the upshot is, I found it.  And a second season.  (Whoot!)

So in the past few days I've begun watching it, and it seems to me that this show is very relevant to the interests (admittedly widening) of this blog.  It did start its life as a gardening blog, after all - even if I haven't posted much in that arena of late.

So, over the next few weeks I'm planning on posting my thoughts on the show as I watch it.  Now, we all know how well my plans for blog series tend to go, but one can always improve - and in my case, there's plenty of room for improvement!

Things I hope I'll be posting about one of these days...

I've been gone for a while, but I really want to get back to the blogging to get back into writing generally - both here and on the reading blog, particularly, but also on the discernment blog.

I have a lot of ideas for what to write about, and I don't want to lose them.  So here, I shall list some of them:

• The Big Allotment Challenge, of which I'm currently watching season 1, ep 3
• The Great British Sewing Bee, which I've been meaning to blog for ages
• Netflix, possibly
• sewing more generally - because hopefully I will do some!
• My April/May wardrobe, and how I'm using Stylebook
• My winter + Perth trip wardrobe, as we get closer to June
• Current and recently completed crochet projects
• My almost organised craft room
• bento and mason jar salads
• the boys!

Clothes OMG

I'm trying to revamp/reinvigorate my wardrobe.

My current job requires an actual uniform: there are various options, but I've settled on a polo top and black bottoms, almost entirely black trousers in winter and black 3/4 length trousers in summer. 

But having worn a uniform for five years, my general wardrobe has fallen into jeans and pop culture t-shirts. This summer I had two church-worthy tops to swap between Sunday by Sunday. 

But it's jolly difficult to buy anything that looks good, fits well, is good quality and isn't out of my budget. I've been scouring blogs: from Putting Me Together to the Vivienne Files to Unfancy.  I like the idea of capsule wardrobes; I'm trying so hard. 

Thing is, I'm not skinny. Or well off. I've got an overseas wedding to save for, and previous credit card debt to pay off. I want more purple and bright pink in my wardrobe and as much as it suits me, I'm getting sick to death of coral.

There's a long way to go.  As much as this weekend we're going to the city, I can't imagine that I'll really have time for shopping.  Even if I did.. cost.  Always an issue.

I'm investigating other options.  Buying online and such like.  People in the US make it sound so easy, but of course here in the damned Antipodes...

Updates as necessary...