 Nothing like starting your Sunday morning doing a whole hot, hot, hot, water, nothing. And now it's lunchtime when we literally just got dressed a few minutes ago. But, you know, I also forgot to close the vlog last night. Oops. Again, I can't even say it's an accident because at this point it seems to be a habit. Anyway, we're gonna start our day, albeit late, by getting a good walk in. And then I want to do some sewing and, yeah, draft a pattern for a little bag that's bugging me. And, yeah, all right, let's go get some steps in first and see what we can see. I'll be back. It's Sunday afternoon. What time is it? 4.30. And I've been doing some sewing since we got back from our walk. And out of what I think was two or maybe three yards of this knit material, I have this much left and a thrifted pair of shorts, some kind of exercise shorts I have this much left. And what did I make out of that? This and a pair of pants. I mean, I'll throw some photos here. I love them. The pants are a mood fabrics pattern, the Bria pants, I believe is the name of the pattern. I'll put a link down below. The top is actually a dress pattern and it's a German pattern. If I can figure out the website, I will include it down below. I can't read German, but it's a pretty easy like tank top dress pattern. Any tank top dress would work. Or if you have a tank top that fits you well, you could make a pattern from that. But anyway, I use the part of the leftover shorts for the top and the one whole piece for the front. And then I pieced together some smaller pieces of this knit for the back. It's the back. It doesn't matter. And so anyway, I'm pretty pleased. All right. I also discovered that if I'm up here sewing and making my self things, yes. The mannequin comes in very handy because I was able to measure how long I wanted this pattern to be for the top anyway. But I still am going to want to try it on. So bike shorts and a workout top underneath my dress was a great idea. So something I got to put in the back of my brain there to keep doing. Anyway, I'm going to clean up my mess onto the next. Other than buying the pair of shorts that I use to make this, which that part at least I kind of consider an upcycle. I didn't buy anything else. I had the fabric in my stash and I found it when I was doing a recent fixing the flow video and I was going through things. And I forgot I had like two or three yards of this knit fabric. I don't even remember now what I was going to make out of it, but I love these baggy knit pants. They are so comfortable. Anyway, so, you know, I consider it using up my stash. So it's a good thing. Of course, the daughter gave me that pile of white linen. So I don't know if I've used up anything as much as acquired more. I don't know. But anyway, pretty pleased. What do you think? I'll be band-a. March 27th, I think. Do we need to know? That doesn't say. Yeah. March 27th. Just before lunch. I spent this morning sewing again. I'm sewing again. I know. So I have this pattern somewhere that I think is a, here it is, 1970s era wrap dress. And it has the pants, which I actually might use for the pants. I want to make that dress, which is like four sizes too big for me into a top and pants. I might make these pants and just shorten them. They're actually, they're bell bottoms. I'm pretty sure this is a 1970s era wrap dress and pants or wrap shirt and pants. I always meant to make it out of this fabric. I found a whole bunch of this fabric when we first moved here before COVID. And I never did anything with it. So we're using it up today and I've cut it out and I've got the thing three quarters of the way put together. This out of the three yards of fabric I had, this is all that's left again. Happy about that. Anyway, I'm going to give it a press. Iron is heating up over there. I'm going to give it a press. I'm going to do some top stitching. I'm also going to, I'm going to add some pockets to the front of it. On the bottom one in the center top. And yeah, I think it's going to be pretty cute. So I don't know if I'll wear it as an apron or if I'll wear it as a dress. I'm not sure yet, but it's turning out cute anyway. All right, let's get to it. I don't know if I'm going to wear this as an apron or a dress, but hold on, let's see. You'd be worn over a dress and I actually have something in mind. I can also see wearing it as an apron. Instead of making it a tie closure, I added a clip. I did a leather, a burned leather design a la El Harp. And how cute is that? I don't know exactly when the pattern is from because it doesn't say. It's from Newberry. I mean, if anybody remembers the store, Newberry. I know when I bought it, it was two or three sizes too small for me. So I thought I was going to have to up size it. I didn't really have to do that. So always a surprise, but a good one. All right, now it's time to eat some lunch. I'll be back. It's Monday afternoon. It's getting pretty late, 3.53 p.m. I haven't edited the vlog today. I haven't done this morning's dishes. I haven't done laundry. I haven't done my weekly posts for the Facebook groups, but I did get another upcycle done. So I don't know if you remember from vlogs past, but this was a double XL dress and I didn't take it in a lot. Although I did take it in just because I kind of wanted it loose and baggy. But obviously, as you can see, I turned it into a top. Oh my goodness. Hold on. Okay. First thing I did was cut the top off at a length plus like a half an inch where I wanted it. And when I was, I did take a half inch off up here and two inches off on each side on the bottom. So that's four inches off around the bottom. So I did take quite a bit off on the top. And when I was sewing up the side seams, I left this little slit. I thought that was cute. It had pockets which were up here, which I took out, right about where the slit was, took them out and saved them. I took what was left of it and I took the pattern from the 1970s apron dress I just made that had pants in it. And I used them to pattern out these pants. And I used the entire width of the dress and the pockets back in. I mean, and I just did a simple elastic waist. How cute is that? Great summer outfit, simple, easy to wear. Hey guys, I would say good morning, but it's after lunch already. I spent the morning working on another sewing project. I know, right? This time we're upcycling a pair of black jeans I got recently at the thrift store. They're really big jeans and there's a lot of fabric in them that's in really good condition. So I had this and I've spoken about it before. So when I don't have things with pants or something with pockets to put my wallet in, I like, I don't like to carry a handbag anymore since COVID started, but I do have sort of a hip pocket, sort of the hippie version of a fanny pack. And I have a green one I bought years ago from Earthbound Trading Company. Probably 10 years ago I barely used it. And then recently I looked at it and went, ah, that's what I need nowadays when I have no pockets. But I need a couple more colors. I had a couple of belts in my stash, including this one that's a brown one that I don't really wear anymore. But there's nothing wrong with them. They're nice quality leather. I don't remember where I got them from. Anyway, I had a black one and a brown one. So I took the black jeans apart and I made a bag. Now, I haven't sewn this on yet, but I'm going to sew this on right here. And my sister, Elizabeth, years and years ago had a wedding. I was in her wedding. It was a Renaissance Fair Fairy wedding, and I was the white fairy of the North representing wisdom and guidance and age. I don't know how I feel about that still, but I mean, I was happy to participate. Anyway, these were part of my costume outfit. And there's three of them. I'm going to hang one on each of my new hip pockets. I'm also going to take some of the clothing from the costume closet, the Renfer clothing, and I'm going to repurpose some of the fabric. But I'm also going to incorporate some of the clothing into my regular everyday wear, because why not? That stuff is up here sitting in a closet. I'm not going to try to do it all at once. And there may be some things that just stay up here in that closet, but I mean, why not? Life is short. So anyway, and today I have this on. I love this sort of floaty, blousey thing. I've had it in my closet a long time. I've got it on top of a tank top and some leggings. And it's cute. Anyway, I like the idea of adding the bells. What do you all think? Anyway, I'm going to go put one the green one downstairs, maybe this one, and save this one for the brown one. I also found my earring I wore that day, which is a long earring that fits in like two earring holes. That has a chain. I didn't know where this went to. I'm so glad I found it. I'm going to put it downstairs in my jewelry box. Anyway, what are you all up to today? I'm making a mess again, but you know, I'm having fun doing it. I'll be back. I haven't dyed fabric in probably 20 years, but this is what we're doing today. This is supposed to be sage. It looks very blue to me, but yeah. And then this is their teal. Anyway, we're going to dye it. We're going to see what happens. Is it in enough water? Probably not, but you know, we're going to see anyways. All right, I'll be back. Guys, I got so much done. I got some. I picked out four of my favorite watercolors that I've been doing lately. I framed them and I hung them up around the house. The rest are for sale. So if you've seen something that you like, let me know. They are listed in a Facebook marketplace listing. So go over there and search my name. Stuff will pop up. I went through our old run costume stuff. Renaissance fairy wedding costume stuff. I took out my, one of the crowns I had in there. And I hung that on the wall and here over in the other nook. I hung up my, I had some fans in there made out of feathers. And anyway, I hung those up. I had some butterflies that were in my hair at one point. I think for the wedding, they're up on the hanging wires above my desk. I got some fab, the fabric died as you saw. And I did the 20 minutes soak to fix the color and then a final rinse. And now they're in the washing machine doing another rinse in there. And then I'll pop them in the dryer. And the way I usually do this, when I do anything that I'm not sure is color fast is I will wash it by itself. And then I do a load of towels or rags with washing machine cleaner soap. Seems to be working so far for the last 35 years. Anyway, I'll also search my stash for anything that was the right color brown or solid brown to make another hip pocket from for the other belt, the brown belt. I don't have anything actually fun fact. So I think I'm either going to go to Joann's and buy a little bit of like brown corduroy or denim or thrift for something or both. I have to pick a day and go run errands this week. It may not be tomorrow because I have counseling at 10 a.m. And it just depends on how counseling goes for me and what kind of mental space I'm in. If I'm doing all right, then I will go do them tomorrow. But otherwise I might do it Thursday. What else? Have I gotten anything else? That just seems like a lot. I've gotten the dishes done. Yeah, I got the table cleaned off a couple of times to reset to do some painting. I know painting. I know I haven't done a lot of that lately. But you know, don't beat yourself up about it. If you're doing creative stuff, you're doing creative stuff. It doesn't matter what stuff. I did figure out what to do with one of the things in the art room. I've had trouble letting go of, but I don't like my chalk pastels. You know, you can crush them up and make paint out of them. I don't know why I didn't think about that before. It's not a new idea. It's been around a long time. I think I need to crush them up and add them to the pigment wall. Because yeah, I'll get better use out of them there. All right, I'm going to watch some YouTube. It's already like 5.30. I don't know if we're going to go walking or not. I think it's still raining outside, but we'll see. I'll be back. Hey guys, good morning. It is Tuesday morning, March 29th, I think. It's 11.07 a.m. I just got down with the counseling. We're going to go out and run some errands. And including thrifting, because you know. But as I was sitting in the car warming up the car, just a big giant doe walking across my driveway in front of my car. I was so startled I didn't get the camera turned on, but you know. Anyway, let's go get it done. I'll be back. I don't know what time it is. It's after 6 o'clock. It's 6.26. 6.26. We're going out for a walk. The sun is out. It's very bright. Yay. Yes, I have no jacket on. I had to take my vest off that I had on because it was too hot. Anyway, got some fabric dying. While it's dying, we're going to go get some steps in and see what we can see. I'll be back. You're going to see that a lot, but there's a pair of ducks over there. My guess is they either have laid a nest nearby or they're thinking about it. They seem to like this little part of the pathway. You know, I wish I brought bread with me. Hey guys, we're in my upstairs bathroom. And yes, they kind of resemble pajamas, but stash busting, some knitted fabric I had. And this and the waistband are from a pair of sweats from the thrift store. It's pretty cute and very comfortable. Although, yeah, they do resemble pajamas, but I mean, that's okay with me. I did a lot of sewing today. Made a pair of pants, another tank top. I also made a dress. So I have this pattern from Etsy called the metamorphic dress from So Liberated. I'll link it down below. It's a really cute pattern. I did change it a little bit and it's a reversible dress. And I really like I use bed sheets. I dyed one of them blue. I'm going to put it on the mannequin rather than change in front of the camera because nobody wants to see that. I'll put some pictures of me in the dress here. And let me get the dress form dressed. Okay, it's supposed to be oversized and sloppy. That's like the style of the dress. I did make a few changes. First of all, I used a vintage handkerchief. I added that to the dress. This greenish tan color, that's a bed sheet. I added some ties to the waist. Okay, I added some ties to the waist to just give it a little more shape. At the same time, it's a woven fabric. So you can't make it too fitted without putting a zipper or buttons or something in because it doesn't have any stretch to it. So I added the ties, which I think is good. I took the straps on the original pattern are a little wide. So I just, rather than being doing them, I just put a tuck. I did a sort of sloppy tuck over here just on one side of the skirt. It isn't uneven hem anyway, so it's fine. It has a pocket here, which I lined with the handkerchief and then I put the left over here. Both sides have side pockets and are you ready? Oh yeah, both sides have pockets and both sides are equally as cute. Both sides of tucks and ties. I like it. I could see me making this again. We're taking some ideas from this and altering another pattern. Anyway, it is dinner time and I should probably clean up now. That was more than I intended to do today, but cool. Good morning everybody. Yes, I'm in the car, I'm running errands again. I need to prep the April daily drawing journals today because it's the last day of March and I haven't done that yet. But anyway, family dinner night is tonight. I need groceries and we are celebrating Son-in-law Paulias' birthday, which is I think Sunday. Daughters do any time now, so yeah, anyway. But we're gonna have one last dinner or so before the baby comes. I don't have on the new dress I made yesterday, but I do have on one of my new hip pockets. It's a little too cold for the dress and I need to make some other things to layer it with to make it look good. Anyway, I kind of want some gauze. I kind of want to make some of these dresses out of gauze and just buying fabric at the shops is really expensive. I remember when gauze used to be like 99 cents a yard. That was a long time ago. Anyway, all right, let's go get some errands done and then see what we can get up to for the rest of our day. I'll be back. Guys, it's just after 10 a.m. and on Saturday, sorry, April 1st. April Fool's Day, I guess. Anyway, we're gonna head out in a bit and go get some errands done. Specifically, we've got to make a Costco run, which is a big box warehouse store here in the U.S. for those that don't know. I think we're gonna do a little thrifting. So I'll probably try to shoot some footage and take you with us. That's what I find, if anything. We have this room here, which is set up as sort of a library game room. There's actually, sorry for turning too fast. There's a little bit of a bar back there. Kind of a room for all those things we didn't know where to put in the house. We're toying with the idea now that we're having our first grandchild of turning this into a kid-friendly playroom. I have no idea where to get started on that or where any of this other stuff is gonna go. If you have any ideas, websites, inspiration, let me know because I'm interested. All right, let's go get our errands done and see what we can see, find what we can find. Yeah, I'll be back. Yes, it's hailing. Oh my God, we're gonna go into my closet. So when we were at the thrift store earlier today, I found some really cute clothing pieces to wear. But I also found some really great scarves. This is a scarf, it's huge. And then I also found this one to maybe go with some of the scarves, silky type scarves that my friend Laura Gurgain sent me to make a sort of kimono. And then I found this is like a giant moomoo thing. I don't know, it's huge. I have an idea for that. It's not gonna stay that way. But I also found some patterns. Hold on. So I got off of Amazon because I couldn't find it with the fabric store. And then when we were at the thrift store, I found this one. I also found this one. I already own something like this that I bought when I was in Hawaii that I love. So I'm so excited to get a pattern. I don't know if they're completely not. But at first glance, it looks like it's never been used. And this one. And that one also looks brand new, factory-folded. We're out trying to get a few steps in in between hail and rainstorms. Yes, hail. Hail! I said hail. All hail. Anyway, it was hailing a little bit as we got a block or so down the road from our house. But it stopped pretty quickly. Anyway, gonna get some fresh air and stuff. We spent today running errands. Did a little thrifting as you saw. I did pretty well. We also... You know, took a second look at a few bills and when is the last time you reviewed some of your utilities and things like internet, cable TV if you have it, satellite TV, whatever. Cell phone. We do that periodically. Not as often as we should. We both are of the set it up and use it and forget about it kind of tendency. But we finally took a look at things today and we were able to save over $100 between just only two. We have one more to do. So, that's pretty good. That's on a monthly basis. Per month. Yeah, so per month. We have one more to do and if we do this other one it'll add another almost $200 to that. So, I'd recommend taking a look at some of those things. Making sure you're not paying too much that you're not paying for what you don't need and all that stuff. Check the plans that you have and they may be changed. They may be changed. They may have altered prices but most of the companies they're not going to tell you they've lowered the price if you're paying higher and you don't say anything they're going to just let you keep doing that. Yep. And the way the economy is going they're going to want your business. Yeah, so we're going to go walk see what we can see. I can tell spring is coming because my aspen has been kind of acting up but go as far as we can. I've got a pocket full of cough drops so I'm good. Alright, I'll be back. We have ducks and a crow somewhere. So cool. We haven't been by the duck pond in a while so it's nice to get over here but we have to watch out for that. Alright, let's go home. Guys, while Mr. Bob there tries to peruse our options on a TV because we're sorry, ooh, dark. We're thinking about making some changes on our television service because we don't use what we have and we pay too much for what we don't use. It's a long complicated story but anyway we've finished March journals a day late and a dollar short maybe? Anyway, it was a fun day today. We got a lot of steps in. It was interesting because hello hail you know all the things, hold on lights and gotta get the box out, hang on. So we have this box for 2023 journals and things, memories so all done. I have this journal which I glued something in and it was wet so that's dry. So you can put that away. Let's go sit down for just a second, okay? Anyway put a pile of stuff on the art table to take care of more sewing I know, right? Maybe if you guys want it I'll film a sewing video garment making video I'm no expert by any stretch but I mean I got some stuff to upcycle so maybe I can share my thoughts on some of that and some of the patterns I got Anyway yeah it's been a good week, exhausting week Grandson's do anytime now and he's gonna be a big baby by all guesstimation so might as well enjoy the peace and quiet while we can, right? Anyway, no it's all good, I'm kidding. Alright if you have any questions, comments or concerns leave them down below and if there's anything in particular you'd like to see on the channel do let me know. I am going to be working on an abstract watercolor video per request it's probably gonna be a short video and we'll start with the really basics the tools or what I think are the basics anyway and then we'll do an actual painting it'll probably be again a multi-parter I'm not sure if I'm gonna release them all at the same time or one at a time like over a couple of days I don't know yet but if you have thoughts or suggestions let me know alright comments and concerns down there because I'll reply if you want more direct contact with me or you want to support the free content here on YouTube or any relevant links or anything like that please do check out the video description Anything else? If you want to join my Patreon the first of every month they get some free downloads for me over there they have ready access to me on the daily with a private Facebook chat on my own private YouTube channel so much more stuff I can't even think right now because it's late and I'm tired alright that's it for right now I hope you guys have had a really good one and that the next week is good too like share and subscribe and don't forget the most important thing go out and do something nice for yourself because you deserve it we'll see you next week, bye guys