1. Tucking in
I wanted to eat in a restaurant every day for seven days, be it for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. This is something I tried to do during the week of my birthday last year. I failed, partly due to lack of planning, and partly due to eating waaaaay too much on day one!
I did better this year. I started with a meal in Ask with my Dad that ended with ice cream filled profiteroles, the next day I had my traditional birthday cooked breakfast with Andy. I then had Afternoon Tea with my Mum and a friend. Then lunch with some friends. Next year I'll get the full seven days!
2. Getting crafty
I wanted to make use of a bag of fabric scraps I'd been collecting. I'd seen an idea on Pinterest and had a go myself. I love the result and plan to make more...
3. Going Coastal
I'd planned to spend an entire day at the beach. I didn't manage a full day but I did visit Southwold with family twice in one week. Each visit included digging large holes in the sand with my nephew, a picnic, an ice lolly, paddling, and beach cricket. On the second visit I swam in the sea, it's the first time I have done this in years!
4. Rocking it
I wanted to paint and hide a #stoneofjoy or two for someone else to find. I hide the first one at Latitude Festival in a tree. Moments later a young girl spotted it and she excitedly pointed it out to her father. The miserable old git told her to leave it. But when I passed back that way later that evening the stone had gone, so it's out there somewhere...
Once the first one had been painted I was hooked, and six more followed, but I keep forgetting to take them with me when I go out, which is a significant hindrance to my plans...
5. Day tripping
I'd hoped to take a trip to Snape Maltings and Marlsford Mill. I didn't make it to either place.
6. Finishing off
The bedroom redecoration needed to be finished. I had three tasks to complete, the first was to paint a pine shoe rack white to match the rest of the shelving in my wardrobe. All the little nooks and crannies made it fiddly but it looks so much better now.
Next I needed to tackle painting a chest of drawers that I spilled nail polish remover down the front of. Once I started progress was swift. The result? I bloody love it!
Whilst varnishing the top of the chest of drawers I also sanded down and varnished a mirror, one reason being it had a few scratches that I wanted to deal with, the other was to match the rest of the furniture in the room.
7. Visibly mending
I had some jeans, a parasol, a picnic blanket, and a large bag that all need attention. The jeans will be an on going project, as as soon as I mend one hole another appears!
The parasol didn't get mended but the picnic blanket did. It was a victim of a beach fire that started spitting out red hot rocks that had been thrown into the flames over the course of the evening. They burned through and, in some places, stuck to the blanket. It was it's first outing and I wasn't going to throw it away. I'd put it in the cupboard at the end of the summer last year vowing to mend it.
I created some waterproof patches for the reverse of the blanket by fusing together some plastic bags, these were stitched on with a sewing machine. On the front I made it a little more pleasing to the eye by handstitching different coloured circles of felt.
The bag had split around the top seam. My Mum gave me this a few years ago and it's been used for storing wool and various knitting projects.
I mended the bag using some leftover pieces of cross stitch aida patched onto the inside, and some material scraps. It's not perfect but it's good enough to store wool, and with luck it'll last a while longer.
8. Baking goodies
I wanted to make a giant Jaffa cake, and Bourbon biscuit brownies, I got as far as buying the ingredients. But baking is more of an autumnal pursuit, right?
