Thanks, it’s my own recipe. I use cheddar cheese instead of water.

Hi everyone! I've been meaning to blog all week but time has really managed to get away from me. And anyway, it's all been pretty quiet in Clackett Towers, with the exception of the quite ridiculous soaking I got on Monday when Nic and I were doing an errand for my dad in Coventry. Exciting times, I has them.

It has been a good week, though. For one thing, the cold weather and the snow finally did one, so I was able to stop wearing wellies and a frajillion layers (and that's just what I had been wearing in my house.) Leamington looked reliably beautiful in the snow, but I had no real interest in it. I didn't go sledging or build a snowman or make a snow angel, and I was fine with that. I didn't even really take any snow photos. But I did go out in it, and here's a very outdated outfit shot from a snowy day in Leamington:

 

Sunday 20th January - Colette Patterns Three Sisters Peony dress, Hard Hearted Harlot 'Reply' boots and vintage bowler hat

This dress is a good example of the importance of perspective and distance. You might remember from my original post on it, it took me ages to finish this dress because of my fitting issues with Peony. So when I finished it I felt a bit like 'yeah, it's fine, I'll probably wear it.' I was a bit underwhelmed. When I wore this a few Sundays ago, however, I felt awesome in it. The fit is so much better than I had given myself credit for, and I liked the whole outfit so much that I wore it again yesterday. It is good to give yourself a bit of distance from finished objects - especially if they caused you some stress in the making - to really appreciate them. All of that said, I don't regret giving my Peony pattern away. It's a lovely wee dress and all, but two is enough, even for a serial pattern-repeater like me.

And, while I'm on the subject of sewing, the other thing that has been occupying my time recently has been volunteering for a local charity. Action 21 is based in Leamington and promotes sustainable living and I've become involved in their new skill-share programme. Last Saturday I spent the day teaching a group of lovely ladies how to make their own knickers! This was exciting and enjoyable, especially as actually teaching is the bit of teaching that I miss. I was so proud of all of my students - every single one of them went home at the end of the day with beautiful handmade pants. The other fun thing was that me and the workshops were featured today in the Coventry Evening Telegraph:

I honestly never thought I'd be in the paper with my knickers on display.

I was interviewed over the phone, which was fine. And then the photographer came out to take the photos which, due to time constraints, had to be taken AT WORK. So here's me in a meeting room at work with my underwear. The meeting rooms have glass walls, too. Thank feck no-one walked past. Anyway, the whole thing was very entertaining and if you'd like to read the article, you can here. I'm so glad the workshop was a success, and I'm really looking forward to running some more in the near future!

Now, to celebrate my success and my new-found fame as Coventry's number 1 pants-brandisher, as well as the fact that I have tomorrow off, I'm away to the pub.