Blog 4: Sewing, Weekend Website, and Crunchy Bran!

Hi Wednesday Weasels! I’m blogging a little late this week and going forward because it makes sense, logically, to publish after 5pm (UK time) so it comes out when more people are free… So let’s go!

I made my first dust cover bag, and it went a lot quicker than I expected! I had an old set of curtains which I ended up choosing not to put up, so I separated them from the lining to use them for my bags. I realised that the fabric wasn’t even close to strong enough for my purpose, so I nipped to Hobbycraft to get some plain, strong fabric to use underneath my main fabric for support, as well as some thread to match a little offpiece I cut for matching. Here it is (mostly) finished:

I’ll write a tutorial next week for anyone else who wants to try. I’m also going to try to make some last little changes… perhaps a pocket, a top closure, and perhaps a way to make it stackable (although with the weight of the machines it likely won’t be possible without some serious hardware!) I’ll make another for my overlocker once I’ve finalised the design. Functionally it works, it’s strong enough to easily hold my <7kg machine (a Brother FS-40 available from Amazon here, although I’d suggest finding a model that offers spread payments, because it appears it may no longer be available to buy on instalments). Disclaimer: I’m in no way an expert, but I learn by watching and doing, and plan to pay it forward with hints and tips dealing with unplanned issues!

I’ve also been thinking about my plans for woodworking and have decided, instead of using my dad’s tools, I’ll probably check out my local Makerspace instead. I do this because a)using my dad’s tools would eat up time from the weekends I spend visiting them and b)because I’m a big believer in the idea of makerspaces… even if I’ve never used one. They’ll also have more tools and equipment that I can play with use!

Well I decided to create some icons for the sections of my blog… they’re pretty juvenile, but they’ll do for now! I also chose last weekend to test myself in building a website from scratch in two days using only html, css, and a little javascript and I’m quite pleased with the result. Check it out here. I took around four hours to plan, four hours to build it visually, a couple of hours to write the content (although looking at it I don’t know why it took quite that long!) and a couple of hours to make some little improvements, build in functionality for the tabs and polish it up.

I didn’t make all that many applications this week. As you can see above and below, I’ve been fairly busy this week! I wouldn’t have necessarily included this section this week, but I wanted to show off my new logos!

Yesterday I managed to get one of my cats, Missy (Miss Kitty Fantastico in formal situations), to the vet. She’s been quite withdrawn and sad lately and has lost quite a bit of weight. I’m waiting for her blood test results, which I should have by tomorrow. In other news my nana, having just recovered from pneumonia, has developed some issues with her legs and feet and has decided that she can’t live alone any more, so she’s going to a home. I’ll be going down to visit her possible the weekend after next. She lives in England, so I don’t see her too often.

I somehow managed to find the time to watch some Trae Crowder videos on Youtube. He’s also known as the Liberal Redneck, he’s a political comedian best known for his videos during the height of the whole transgender bathrooms issue a few years ago! I also marathoned some of the X Men movies; I’ve never watched so many at once, but it definitely helped me keep up with the storylines better this time! They helped keep me distracted from my Missy worries yesterday! I’ve not seen Logan or Dark Phoenix yet, but I think that will be rectified soon enough!

Not really a rant this week, it’s kinda lame actually, but I want an excuse to use the two pics I made yesterday ! I tried Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Asda to try to find Crunchy Bran the other day with no luck! ‘Sup, Weetabix??? EDIT: I reached out to them on facebook (because I’m that sad!) and it turns out they are having supply issues at the moment with a few products so, if anyone else has no life and is missing Crunchy Bran as much as I am, they’re hoping to get stock back out by the end of the year…

Call To Action

On my weekend website I’ve made a note of some project ideas that I’ve had… let me know if there are any you prefer to help me decide! Or if there are any other projects you’d like me to try… I’m all ears!

As always if you have any likes, dislikes, or questions let me know!

Until next week… have a good one!