Thank you for all your warm and wise words on the last post. Dr Blog prescribed me blogging-lite with a little fasting period to kick start  things.  I think it has done the trick.And  in my period of abstinence, I got stuff done.  Want to see? Yes, the Clothkits Trellick Skirt, which has been waiting patiently for me to sew it up all summer. Worth hanging on for though.

I have wanted to sew something for Izzy for ages. But, I don't know how. So, my friend Lucy, aka Pinkphish, recommended I get a dress kit from - it comes with patterned fabric that has the dress fabric printed on it, thread, buttons, lining fabric and very good instructions for someone who doesn't know how to sew. Here is the result... a gorgeous dress! I am so impressed with myself. She wore ...

... you like to wear an 1880s bustle making the back of your skirt stick out? Or how about wearing a boy's dress? Items on show include a stunning 1700s wrapping gown, an 1800s boy's hat, a muff made of peacock feathers and the popular 1970s 'snorkel' parka coat." Oh, I would so love to go to this exhibition and see the snorkel, and some vintage Clothkits and other children's outfits from history!

people who were brought up in the 70s and early 80s might remember clothkits (particularly if you were brought up as a girl and had vauguely trendy or hippyfied families - my parent were emphatically not hippys but one of my auntys was). well they are back with a range of women?s and children?s clothes. Most of the kids clothes pretty girly so my neiceling is in luck but this years crop of boys ...

... ’d have had one, I reckon. The rumtopf had the aura of a homespun, ‘crafty’ activity – yet filling one required no expertise whatsoever, unlike jam-making or macramé or making Clothkits pinafores to humiliate your kids. It’s only a guess but I’m not at all convinced anyone in the UK ever drank the soupy, boozy fruit that emerged but in a way that wasn’t the point. By slinging in some blackberries ...