Wittering and Whittling

 With the summer having been more than a little tardy with putting in an appearance this year, I actually took layers and wore my knitwear when I was away. It most definitely wasn't warm enough for shorts at a nippy 14C! However, the mercury has now risen and even Aril has brought her modest summer wardrobe down from the loft. Since my return I've been diligently going through our clothes and weeding out the ones which really are now officially worn out. We are lucky here in that we can book a free doorstep textile recycling collection and by the time I've finished we'll have a few bags worth between us. The button tin is enjoying a bit of a top up too.

Not all items have made the final cut though. These jeans had a hole in the knee, but I've decided that they can still be kept for walking in as it won't matter if they get muddy. Ticks are aplenty round here though so I didn't want to leave them any access points. With that in mind I plundered Mr GBT's old jeans for their unworn back pockets and dug out my fabric paints. Might as well have a bit of fun with your mending eh...

That done I'm now on a bit of a roll with small projects. I have to grab the opportunity whilst I'm in the zone because previous experience tells me that it will soon pass😀 Recently I attended an event put on by the Wellderness which is a Sussex based enterprise offering people in the community access to nature. It's held on private land in the South Downs and on this particular day there was a chance to have a go at whittling. It's not something I've ever done before, but I found it very relaxing. In the end I simply whittled a stick, but it's allowed me to drop the final piece into completing a project which I rather aimlessly started back in the first lockdown. These folkart pieces were handstitched from stuff I just had laying about....in the spirit of make do and mend they were old clothes which I had cut up and the stuffing came from an old pillow. I got as far as finishing them, but then couldn't work out what I wanted to do with them. I now have the answer and they are destined to go up on to our bedroom wall where they will be very much in keeping with what we've already got in there.

I know that I'm going to have to get on and make a new dancing mask as the current one is tatty and spliting....thank goodness I've got another idea up my sleeve for another small project so that I can put it off for just a bit longer😁

Arilx