Perspective

I find it is much harder to maintain perspective on annoying days, tough days, delightful days and challenging days, now that I am not working.  My working life got me out of the house, doing something different each day and seeing different things in the shops and the streets where I worked.  Being at home all day, sewing, knitting, writing and spending time with the children, has been much more satisfying and fulfilling than work was for me, but it does leave me with a regrettable tendency to navel-gaze.

The best way to step back, get some perspective on those 'annoyances' that actually barely qualify to be termed 'minor inconveniences', is to spend a day with friends and leave the care of the home and children to your husband for the day.

I had such a good time with my friends that I didn't take any pictures of the Power of Making exhibition at the V&A (I was too busy freaking out about the cake designed to look like a naked newborn baby, and admiring the knitting needles the size of tent poles).  Nor did I take any pictures while we were window-shopping in the Liberty haberdashery department.

We marched with purpose through Soho to Gordon's Wine Bar at Charing Cross and I didn't take any photos there either because I was too busy chatting to everybody, drinking a welcome glass or two of wine, and scoffing delicious cheese.

You might have thought I'd have managed to take some photos at the tapas bar on Goodge Street later that evening, but no.  The patatas bravas needed to be eaten and we were having a wine-fuelled conversation about feminism and motherhood.

I came home barely able to remember the things that had made me so cross at the start of the day.  And this morning, after a cup of tea which put back some of what all that wine took out, I found that G had not just spent the day doing all the household jobs I normally would have done, but he had also bought me flowers.

Flowers from G on my desk

Flowers from G on the mantelpiece

I need to get out more.

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With many thanks to Naomi, Sophie, Noni, Cath, Michelle and Liz for the laughs and for giving me back my perspective.

A quietly satisfying Sunday

Yesterday O and I went Christmas shopping and then on to meet Auntie Alison at the Diaghilev exhibition at the V&A, which was excellent.  I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in ballet, theatre or early 20th Century music and art.  O enjoyed it too, although it was a HUGE exhibition and she flagged towards the end.

The family calendar is looking rather full for the next few weeks too.  That'll be Christmas.  Between the four of us we have this ballet, this Christmas market, a school Christmas play, visits to grandparents and cousins, meeting up with friends, celebratory meals and this half-marathon all lined up before Christmas Eve.

So today seemed precious.  An ordinary, quiet Sunday with nothing planned beyond a few household chores and some relaxation.

This morning I raked up the last of the leaves from our poor, mangled, snow-sodden lawn, and I cleaned out the eglu.  As is always the way with garden chores, I put them off for far too long, thinking how cold and boring they will be, and then end up thrilled and energised after I've done them.

This morning as I pulled leaves out of the flower-bed I discovered vivid, green bulb shoots amongst the mess and mud, which were certainly worthy of a photo.

The tangle of bare branches, the wintry pale-blue sky, and my favourite yucca trees had me reaching for the camera too.  It feels so good to see blue sky again after the grey and white of the snow days last week.

Back indoors, there were the delights of a simple, warming stew and freshly baked bread. And then suitably warmed and filled, I could pore over a new, very exciting book.

This is such an achingly beautiful book, crammed full of projects I really want to make right now.  Over the last few years I've made several Clothkits dolls and their clothes for O, and the monsters for my nephew, but that's the limit of my toy-making.  Now I have this book I can see myself expanding my horizons.  The fact that all of these dolls only need small pieces of scrap fabric, and can be assembled so quickly is very appealing.  I love the boy doll on the cover best of all, and the little pink mermaid runs a close second.

And as the afternoon drew to a close, there was a sudden blaze of sunset-sunshine on my quilt, folded up on the back of the sofa.

I ran for my camera, and barely ten seconds after I'd taken the picture the sun dropped behind the houses at the end of the street and the sunshine disappeared for another day.

But there's still the sofa, and the Wee Wonderfuls book, and even a little bit of leftover stew.  So my quiet, satisfying Sunday is not quite over yet.

Reminding myself why I love London

Seen on the tube between South Woodford and Piccadilly Circus:

• 3 people wearing Converse plimsolls
• 5 people listening to iPods
• 4 people reading the Metro
• 4 people reading books
• nobody reading an e-reader
• 1 person asleep
• 2 women wearing black woollen tights (one of them with black Converse plimsolls - very good)
• 3 people texting, emailing or playing games on their smart phones (or maybe reading ebooks actually?)
• 2 men wearing suits and ties
• 1 sleepy-looking teenager carrying a yellow vuvuzela in a matching yellow Selfridges bag

Seen at the Sargent and the Sea exhibition at the Royal Academy:

• sunsets over the mid-Atlantic
• boys playing on a Normandy beach
• Breton oyster sellers carrying unwieldy baskets on their hips
• pencil sketches of rigging and furled sails
• stormy seas
• the grey skies of Whitby
• the saturated heat of a Mediterranean beach
• gondolas in Venice

John Singer Sargent, 'En Route pour la pêche (Setting Out to Fish)', 1878.

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I met my parents at the Royal Academy today, and we went to see the Sargent exhibition together.  Every aspect of my day reminded me why I love living in London so much:

• The entertainment that is to be found by people-watching on the tube.
• The ease with which the tube whizzes us around this enormous city.  Londoners like to moan about the tube, and admittedly commuting endlessly on it is tiring and crowded, but secretly I think it is wonderful.
• The endless exhibitions, shows, plays, sports and other activities that are put on for Londoners and visitors all through the year.  There is no need ever to be bored living in London.

I am starting to put together a list of the things I want to do around London this autumn.  So far my list looks like this:

• Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes Exhibition at the V & A
• trips to Kew Gardens to see autumn colour and smell the damp earth
• The Glasgow Boys exhibition at the Royal Academy
• A late evening visit to the Natural History Museum.  Like almost all of the big London museums, the NHM opens late on a Friday evening and puts on special events, free to the public.  I really like the look of this one next week, and am wondering if the children would be up for an evening trip out
• A series of walks to explore the Lee Valley Regional Park, which runs within walking distance of our house, and about which I know almost nothing.
• A visit to the Olympic Park, which is going up really fast and gives me tingles of excitement every time I see it.
• Another visit to see the Egyptian mummies at the British Museum, because O is studying the Ancient Egyptians at school this term, and I never tire of the British Museum and its amazing roof.

What are your favourite London destinations? Where do you head for first if you are visiting for a day?

What to wear?

Sometimes, when you've got nothing to wear because it is so darned hot outside, the simplest solution is to sew yourself something new.

• This is a version of the trapeze sundress from Heather Ross's Weekend Sewing.  I made the original dress in the book during the last hot spell, a few weeks ago.
• To make it into this top, I shortened the pattern to fall at mid-hip, and left off the pockets.
• I didn't put in pleats, as the pattern instructs, instead I put in gathers.  You just need a very small bit of gathering at the centre front and centre back.  I find gathers much easier than pleats.
• The main fabric is from the V&A quilt exhibition collection.  I started with a metre length, and ended up with a fair amount leftover.
• The contrasting fabric is some linen from my stash - I first used it for O's cropped trousers here.  I think it originally came from IKEA - they often have good linens in stock.
• I added some fancy stitching to the shoulder straps - and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.
• I thought the front needed something as well, but more fancy stitching might have been a bit much, so I sewed on two little flower buttons.  I'm really pleased with this addition too.
• Made in the evening.  Worn the next morning.  Excellent.

10 things

There is a great deal happening around here at the moment.

• I finally finished the remaining clothes for O's boy Clothkits doll (renamed Bob, by O.  Love it!).  He now has this wonderful hat, a man-bag and a very natty pair of bright red, owl-festooned pyjamas to go with his jeans, check shirt and waistcoat.
• Thank you all so much for the good wishes for Cam's and Graham's races last weekend.  They read all your kind comments and were delighted.  They're planning to do another parkrun this Saturday.
• I made a lightweight summer outfit for Livvy (hoping for some seriously hot weather in France and Switzerland this summer) using two favourite Simplicity patterns.

The top is made from Simplicity 2986, using a really luscious (and precious) metre of Amy Butler Belle fabric, and the cropped trousers are based on Simplicity 3669 (modified quite extensively), using linen from IKEA.  Both the top and trousers are hemmed with thick velvet ribbon that my Grandmother gave me.  I fully expect these to get worn and worn all summer long.

• I'm finally reading The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters - she is one of my most favourite writers.  I love it, and am racing through it far too fast.  Up next will be this one, or maybe this one.
• I have really enjoyed considering all your suggestions for small, portable sewing projects.  Currently on the go are small bits of embroidery, sewing suffolk puffs, and little felty projects,  How could I have forgotten about felt?  And my favourite felt book?  Great fun.
• I've been baking biscuits, using a delicious recipe in Rachel Allen's Bake.  I have written about this book before, but it really is excellent, and I keep going back to it.  The recipe I used was the Basic Cookie recipe, with added orange zest.  A lemon version is on the cards for this weekend.
• I got Debbie Bliss's book Simply Baby out of the library last week, and I am knitting the two tone baby socks, which are just too sweet for words.

• I have such a large stash of Debbie Bliss's Baby Cashmerino yarn that I might have to buy this book and start up sock production for all the babies I know.
• This weekend I am planning on making my own bagels.  I've been meaning to do this for months and it is time to stop promising to do it and have a go.  Any tips?
• The other thing happening this weekend is a return trip to the quilt exhibition at the V&A with my sister.  Very exciting!