Fading beauty

Oh my word, the weather! Hasn't it just been absolutely amazing? Well, in my part of the world anyway. I love every minute of this hot and dry weather. Our wide bifold doors are open pretty much all day long, extending the outdoors into our kitchen-living area. The dining table is a nice place to sit at when the sun is too fierce outside. I spent quite some time this past weekend cutting out fabric for a wrap dress on this table. It was a slow process because all pieces had to be cut on a single layer and the light breeze didn't help with the delicate viscose fabric. But that's a story for another time 

On Sunday afternoon, most of the afternoon, all three children still living at home were out. No bickering, no unreasonable demands, just peace. I really enjoyed that. 

The vegetable garden needs watering regularly, towards the evening, plants look a bit limp. Actually, a lot of the garden looks like it is past its best, the vibrant greens from May turning dull already. I need to find some mid summer flowering perennials to give it a bit of interest during the summer holidays. I must admit that I find this a bit depressing, the fading beauty of the late July garden. 

On Sunday morning I went for an early run, before it got hot and I went up to the woods to take advantage from the shade the mature trees provide. My running has been a bit patchy to say the least but today was ok, I completed what I grandly call interval training, 2 min run followed by 1 min walk and repeat. I felt like an Olympian when I finished my last running interval and I threw my arms up in the air like a winner. So glad nobody saw me! It just so happened that the soundtrack for the last interval was "It's raining men" by The Weather Girls. A rather uplifting beat. Must make a running playlist with such uplifting songs only. 

I dyed my favourite dark blue linen dress, which I showed you here. The fabric was not well dyed in the first place and I don't know how the person cutting the length didn't notice. I should have returned it, but I figured the dye differences would slowly blend in. Alas, it didn't. I used a Dylon dye pod, so convenient. Much better. 

I am now piecing together Annie's leaving home quilt, she is moving in six weeks (eek). It is a total pain in the but (don't tell). The quilt will be pretty but the process is not. Some sections have multiple layers of seam, my sewing machine is complaining. I also made the mistake of trying to use up some random threads of unknown origin. The thread kept on breaking, which made me even more annoyed. It will get done. It will. Annie made some last minute changes to her colour scheme and I have now got a small pile of half square triangles to spare... I hope no further last minute changes are forthcoming. 

And now another week of work. It started as usual, I am still marking. It will take me another day or so to finish. I learned some new things from my students, which is always enlightening. I often say to them that learning is a shared experience and that we learn from one another. 

As always, thank you for visiting. Have a good week.