The Distancing Diaries - 12th & 13th March, 2021

 Again I was greeted by torrential rain when I let the lads out on Friday morning. I loaded the washing machine, put the plants on the kitchen shelf into the sink for a soak and then hung the laundry to dry in the utility room. After my Wii Fit workout, I wrapped my eBay sales and caught up with Blogland before joining Jon for breakfast. The rain had stopped so I was able to empty the recycling and composting bins and pop Jacob outside in his enclosure.

Jon did the post office run and a grocery shop while I mopped the kitchen floor and placed an order with &Keep for some cellulose cloths, coconut scrubbers and floor cleaner. Our MyHermes driver arrived with the skirt I'd found on eBay earlier in the week and I left glowing feedback as soon as I'd ripped the packaging open and washed my hands!

I polished the sideboard, the globe drinks cabinet and coffee table in the lounge and then reclined on the chaise with Loved Clothes Last. Far from being preachy or patronising, Orsola de Castro writes It isn't all about ditching all that is fun and exciting in buying clothes, and it's not about deprivation: but it is all about balance, thinking and acting. It's about discovering the joy and satisfaction of mending things yourself, the sense of purpose that comes from appreciating the things you own, and the free-spiritedness that accompanied positive action. I bought my copy from The Guardian's bookshop HERE.

What a coincidence that the kaftan I was wearing is one of the many garments in my wardrobe that I've patched and mended.

My Wear:Sleep: Repeat challenge is all about re-wearing the clothes I bought with love, am proud to own and no matter how many times they appear on my blog I never get bored with, changing my hair or my jewellery gives everything a slightly different look. Friday's outfit was the Alpnani kaftan I'd worn on Thursday, this time with a vintage Janet Wood for Monsoon Afghan waistcoat which goes so well that I can hardly see the join.  As you can tell from the photos, I was battling the wind once again!

The details: Close-up of the waistcoat, pewter boots (La Redoute, 2018), a tangle of bangles from my travels, Afghan-made carnelian earrings (eBay), vintage canister pendant (from Cheryl) and some vintage label porn.

After our lunchtime noodles, Jon did some work on Gilbert in readiness for his MOT next week, I continued reading indoors, it being far too blustery to contemplate taking eBay photos outside or litter picking the streets.

Tea was half a pizza with sweet potato chips and a glass of rose. Later we watched another couple of episodes of Deutschland 89 accompanied by rum & cola.

On Saturday, as usual, Jon got up first, saw to the lads and brought mugs of tea back to bed where we lay and read until 9am. While he sorted out breakfast I stripped and changed the bed, loaded the washing machine and put away yesterday's laundry. After our sausage sandwiches, we put the plants that I'd left soaking in the utility room sink back on the kitchen shelf and I swept the bedroom rug.

Richard arrived with two packages, one for each of us. Jon had been randomly selected by the NHS to take a Covid test at home and his kit had arrived. My parcel was a bit more glamorous, a 1960s kaftan I'd found accidentally when searching for something else - as you do!

Be still my beating heart! I can't find anything out about the maker, Aruna of England, but I'd loved to have known the original owner, what a cool chick she must have looked in this beauty!

For ages we'd been finding feathers in the bedroom which we'd assumed were leeching from the vintage eiderdown we throw over the bed at night, after close inspection, I spotted the rip in the fabric from where they were escaping.  

Inspired by Loved Clothes Last, rather than hunt for a similar fabric to patch the tear in my eiderdown, I went for a complete contrast, a bird cut from a clapped-out vintage block printed skirt over which I machine-stitched a grid in lime green thread before hand-sewing it in red cotton to the eiderdown. I'm not ashamed of having mended stuff in my home, I take pride in having owned stuff for years, the repairs are like battle scars of a life well-lived.

Have you seen Jenny Eclair's documentary on the BBC i-player, Craftivism: Making A Difference? We watched it on Thursday evening and were enthralled and, less than 24 hours later, discovered a chapter dedicated to Craftivism in Loved Clothes Last. If you're not familiar with the concept, here's Orsola de Castro's explanation; It was a term introduced by American maker and writer, Betsy Greer at the beginning of the millennium and later championed by the activist Sarah Corbett as a movement of its own - and as the introvert's agent of change. Craftivism affects change first by subverting the "domestic arts", long relegated to the home and dismissed as "women's work". It takes a quieter, more personal approach to activism. 

Source

Loving the concept of making the world a better place one stitch at a time, I thought I'd spend the afternoon doing my bit.

I used running stitch to form the words, felt, block-printed cotton, pom-pom trim, rik-rak and Indian sequin appliques from my stash and, horrified to learn that it takes a pair of tights 40 years to biodegrade, stuffed my protest banner with laddered pair of opaques (a lovely surprise for anyone who decided to take my hand-stitched protest away with them). Maybe a passing litter-lout might think twice before dropping their trash on our drive next time.  

I was so involved in my stitching that Jon had to tell me it was snowing! Luckily it didn't hang about and we were able to go for a walk around the block.

Wear: Sleep: Repeat continued - I'm wearing Friday's Janet Wood for Monsoon Afghan waistcoat, this time with my Ayesha Davar cheesecloth blouse and the block printed wraparound skirt that arrived yesterday. 'Scuse the state of my hair, I was a bit windswept from my walk.

The details: 1960s cranberry suede go-go boots (car boot sale), brass earrings (Indian women's charity), brass bangles (inherited from Mum) and an antique Hand of Fatima beaded necklace (car boot sale).

Tea was a salad with a vegan sausage roll Jon found lurking in the depths of the freezer. Tonight we'll be catching up with Grayson Perry's Art Club before the final Deutschland 89 and, needless to say, rum shall be consumed.

See you soon!