Friday 4 August 2017

Catching up: July

Nearly there!

July started with a sewing retreat, again organised by the lovely crew at Simply Solids
This time I gave a lift to Sue, who happened to be the person I'd made the secret sewer gifts for this time.  I'm keen, but not proficient, so it was a bit odd.


 I made this little purse using a Jelly clip frame.  I'd never made one before, and the glueing was a bit 'Blue Peter'










Sue does a lot of knitting, so I made her a pouch for her knitting things

And finally I made a Stash and Dash Organiser



There was a parkrun nearby, so a few of us did that on the Saturday morning!  I only managed one lap, Yorkshire has far too many hills!



I can't find the photos of my swap gifts. Here are 2 of them, a pouch with a really amazing heavy weight unpicker, and some bunting. But there was also a mini quilt, I know I took a photo of it, but can't find it on this computer.


What else happened in July?

J graduated from Liverpool John Moores University.

They picked up the caps and gowns at a building near to the Metropolitan Cathedral, where we met up with his friends and then walked to the Anglican Cathedral.
I don't think I've been there for a service since school - although I've been for a few school reunions.


I accidentally took a photo of myself!

And J took a selfie of us!


 I also went running a fair bit - including this one in Runcorn.

How's that for a view of the new bridge?

And I finished all the hand piecing on my Patchwork of the Crosses!




Catching up: June

I've nearly  caught up with myself!

I'm sure lots of things happened, but I can only go by the ones that are really vivid memories, or I have photos.

The major thing that happened in June was that J got his results.  My son got a First Class Honours Degree. Words can't express how proud of him I am.



And I realised that although I don't think I've lost weight, I've definitely changed shape.


Catching up: May

May was an EPIC month!

Couple of things happened.
I was still running reasonably regularly, if you could call a ploddy jog with lots of walking 'running', and I had my hair cut.

My son J finished his dissertation for his BSc in Cyber Security.   I proof read it for him, but it was mainly a check that he hadn't left random comments in 'put a picture here!' and then not putting the picture sort of thing. I've long since got past the stage where I actually understood it!


And he turned 30, on the day of his final exam.
Here he is, as a very cute tiny thing, only hours old.

And I went to Rhodes. Doing exercise. In the heat!
 Had an absolutely amazing week and met some fabulous ladies.
In this group were women who have never run before in their life, ploddy joggers like me, experienced 5 and 10k runners, and some who had run marathons. (Liza brought her London medal)
But we were all on a journey, and I learned loads.
By day 4 I'd plucked up the courage to wear a swimsuit and sit by the pool.
This isn't me!

We did yoga a couple of mornings, a couple of 5k's and some hills!

We also had lots of fun, but I can't find any of the photos!



Catching up: April

Absolutely no idea what happened in April.
I've trawled through my photos to remind me, and this is as much as I've got!

I've already posted this one - its the Retreat bag I made for my sister.  Or at least, I made it, my sister was going on holiday, so she ended up with it! Which amounts to the same thing really.


 This is a mini quilt I received. Absolutely beautiful, but need to find somewhere to put it!

I've presumably been to Scotland, as I have a photo of Teebay Services!
And I worked on putting my Patchwork of the Crosses quilt together


...and made myself a pouch to hold my passport and boarding pass

Thursday 3 August 2017

Catching up. March

March saw a surprise visit to Jersey.

I've never been before, and had a last minute chance to join Jersey Modern Quilters Guild on their weekend retreat.

The weekend started on Thursday, with the very short plane journey from Liverpool. Well it would have been short, if we hadn't been sat on the tarmac for hours because of a crew issue.


On arrival I made my way to the restaurant to meet the others, and make arrangements to meet my cousin the following day.

I had a lovely catch up with Jay, who I last saw about 6 years ago (in a family the size of ours, that's not unusual)
Here's Jay on the front at St Helier


We then drove to the venue - which was in an activity centre.




We had to bring with us a rainbow star block - this is mine - it was really tiny, but I only had a couple of days to prepare.
I made a couple of things during the weekend, heres a sample







Wednesday 2 August 2017

What a difference a couple of years makes! Lets start with a catch up.

Blows the cobwebs away, and dusts in the corner....

Ah, that's better!

Ive just found 2 blog posts in my drafts folder, that I meant to publish, but never got round to .

So I tidied them up and published them.
Why now?

Well, it's sort of about the 3rd blog post that was in my drafts folder; the one that was never meant to be published.
I went away to Rhodes in May, on a Health and Happiness Retreat  http://toofattorun.co.uk/tftr-retreat/ and one of the things they talked about was 'journaling ', which, to be honest, I don't really get.
I'm rubbish at lists, and not a creative writer, but decided maybe I'd be better just typing things up. And it sort of worked.
So I'm going to ramble away.

So I've published 2 posts, one from Early 2016 and the other probably from November.

I'm going to work out how to create different tabs or pages, because I have craft and sewing stuff, but also my fitness journey (horrid expression-may try to find an alternative), as well as random ramblings.

So a catch up on this year, starting with January

January
A retreat with Threadhouse where I took some workshops with Lynne Goldsworthy, Karen Lewis, and Jo Avery
Heres some of the things I started


 And this is my Retreat bag - a swap gift

This is something I made for a swap - really pleased with it. Such teeny tiny pieces!










And in return, I got this one

I also finished this mini quilt that I started over a year ago!

Oops! Where did the year go?

This post was written some time ago but only just published

Recently I went on a lovely sewing weekend organised by the ladies at Simply Solids. I went on a similar weekend last year and loved it.


When I got back, I thought "must blog about that" but somehow October started to disappear, and before I know it, I'll be off on my hollibobs.

And that's the reason for coming back here.

My very first blog post was pictures of my holiday at Cortijo Romero, in January, when we awoke one morning to snow. It was when I was looking for photos, that I came across that first post.
Obviously we hadn't expected to be sunbathing, average temperatures are around 15C, but although we were in a mountainous region, snow is rare lower down. It meant that a planned excursion was cancelled as the road was closed. In the UK we moan that 'they're never prepared for snow' imagine how that works in Spain!

Anyway, what have I been doing?
Well I went back to Cortijo Romero - this time on a tree planting week. It was November, the pool was cold, but some hardy souls braved it!


Many, many trees were planted, as part of a community initiative, with a wonderful group of people.


We were really lucky with the weather, warm enough for tee shirts most days.

And the view from my lounger on the final day was just great!


Lots of sewing







I made this bag for my sister - pattern is called Retreat bag


And this one I made for a swap






Some running, as a Christmas present to myself I joined a 5 weeks to 5 k group, and I've 'sort of' kept it up


Lots of driving round the country, and I bought a bike!

Tuesday 1 August 2017

Where does the time go?

This post was written some time last year, but I only just found it!
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I fully intended to blog more this year, but time has run away.

But what have I been doing?


I'm trying to lose weight, sticking to low carbs and lots of veg, and cutting out chocolate.

And I've signed up to do a 5 weeks to 5k programme. It's this one
http://toofattorun.co.uk/fiveweeksto5K/

Now let's be honest, I'm nearer to sixty than fifty, haven't exercised properly for years, and have a job that involves being in a car,, parked on motorways for many hours, and then sitting down, again for many hours.  I have a lot of weight to lose, but I'm getting there.

But what's the deal?

I get bored in the gym, the most I can manage is 10 minutes, and I get fed up. I've asked people, and suggestions about 'listen to music' don't work for me. The only thing more boring than being in the gym, is listening to music while doing it. I don't listen to music in the house, I'm not one of those people who have a radio on in the background, I find it irritating.  So being outside is better option,

So where am I up to.

I can't run, I get breathless quickly, but I've been getting out and doing fast walks, interspersed with jogging. (I suspect that my walking speed is faster than my jogging)
Today I managed 4 bursts of running, each over a minute, and consider that to be an achievement. And it was raining.
I can't do 5k in 40 minutes, at the moment I can't do 5k, but I will get there. I will.