I don’t know who you are or what you do or where you go when you’re not around

 Cardi: thrifted. Top: H&M. Skirt: White Stuff via eBay. Shoes: Clarks via eBay. Necklace: Next

Well look at me, standing in a sunbeam! It’s a pity Mother Nature didn’t rustle that up during the long Bank Holiday weekend, but never mind – and I do find it much easier to get up when it’s sunny, which means getting more firmly back in the workout saddle. My weight doesn’t really fluctuate all that much now – I gained about three pounds over the holiday we took the other week, when we were eating out and eating socially much more and I was walking but not doing my usual weights, abs and occasional yoga to balance out the cardio.

What I notice most, though, is any change to my tone, strength and overall fitness. I guess they’re the sort of things that only I’m likely to notice (It’ll be a while before I post lingerie pictures on here, I think!) – but regardless of a thousand media messages which make weight loss the focus of exercise, they’re what really matter. You can see why new fitness site Spikes and Heels appeals to me, can’t you? The way those inspirational ladies write, they’re even tempting me to get over my lifelong ‘but I don’t like running…!’ feeling and see if just maybe I could give it a go these days.

I’ll be in your arms, like a Moonlight fantasy

 Dress: Joe Browns. Belt: thrifted. Shoes: Clarks via eBay. Necklace: made by me

I currently have what seems to be called in business ‘a nice problem to have’. In other words, I’m now smaller than most of last year’s Autumn/Winter wardrobe. The only things that still fit are the stretchy things, the wrap dresses, and the things that were on the snug side when I bought them. So, lots of shopping ahead of me.

But before I did that, I wanted to go back to colour analysis. I ‘had my colours done’ a few years ago, but to be honest although it gave me a bit of a steer and a few ideas I’d not had before, I never really felt quite satisfied with the results. I was, for the record, pegged as ‘Soft and Warm’ within the Colour Me Beautiful system – it’s all about muted colours and low contrast, which is true to some degree but my sister and I both had a feeling that I could take stronger colours than the Soft and Warm palette would suggest.

So, a couple of weeks ago I went to this lady for a much more personalised experience. Jane really took her time to explain her thinking, and spent a good hour draping me with oodles of swatches of fabric in every colour you could think of, determining what looked great, ok, and awful on me. Once she’d gone through everything, she gave some thoughts on how to combine my ‘best’ colours and on make-up, and then sent my custom swatch book through the post a couple of days later. I’d definitely recommend her to folk local to Nottingham who are interested in having a bespoke colour analysis done – she really knows her stuff and was a pleasure to spend an afternoon with.

It’s amazing the difference it makes to see the colours a) on you in natural daylight and without any other distractions and b) in comparison with one another – it really helps illustrate what works and what doesn’t, and given how far my resulting custom palette differed from the standard selections it makes it pretty clear that trying to figure out which box you fit into is never going to work completely. I’d say there were a few surprises as well as a few things I’d expected and a few things which explained why I’m drawn to or avoid particular colours.

Muted is definitely the way forward for me. True brights – think zingy and almost neon – and true pastels are a really fast way to make me look like a zombie. I visibly winced when any of those shades were draped on me, put it that way! My dislike of pink was vindicated by every single shade bar a lone fuschia that made it into my wallet looking decidedly awful on me.

But I’m not entirely warm-toned – there were a few cooler shades which looked good on me that have made it into my wallet. And I can wear both gold and silver jewellery – it’s the brightness that’s key, so antique shades work where bright gold and bright silver don’t look so great. Mustard and salmon surprised me as looking great. Black actually looks ok on me – it just didn’t make it into the wallet because very dark brown is a better neutral base. There were quite a lot of medium light shades that looked ok-but-not-amazing on me so none of those made the cut. Whites – well, I wasn’t wrong that pure white looks terrible on me!

So what are my best colours? Well…

Pretty palette, isn’t it? There are fewer blues than I would have liked, but they’re the shades I do tend to wear anyway. And look at all those reds, greens and browns! Pleasingly, there are a few purples, too, though not all of them have photographed well – same goes for the teals at top right.

All in all, I’m really pleased with my palette – and with how many of my existing clothes fit within it. It’s given me some great ideas for colours I wouldn’t have thought of without seeing them on me (orange! mustard! fuschia!), and, well, I do have a whole new wardrobe to buy…

She makes my head spin around

 Cardi: White Stuff. Top: H&M. Skirt: Per Una via eBay. Shoes: Clarks via eBay. Necklace: Next

This week’s Making Monday is largely about making progress, for me.

I’ve made progress on my second Beignet skirt:

And on my Mata Hari jumper:

I’m in the thick of both projects, so there’s a fair possibility that I could update you on them both next week and you’d not see a massive difference.

But what that really brings home to me is just how much I enjoy the, well, making part of making things. Sewing and knitting are different things, for me. They’re similar in that they are creative while also requiring spatial visualising skills and maths to a greater extent than non-participants might expect (well, they do if you want to turn condensed, jargon-filled on-paper instructions into a 3D garment that will properly fit a curved body!). Beyond that, though, once all the calculations are done and proposed amends are made, they fill different spaces in my life.

Knitting is relaxing. It’s something that I do while watching a film or to destress a little at lunch. I can knit a fair amount of things without looking at my needles, so once I’ve got the calculations done and cast on it’s a way to occupy my hands. They’d fidget otherwise – I’m one of those people who can’t just… sit still.

I’m a tactile person, too, so I always knit with things I like the feel of – the yarn is flowing through your hands for a long time, so even if I didn’t want something that was soft to wear next to the skin I’d want something that felt good during the process.

Sewing works differently for me, or should I say I approach it differently? Where knitting can live on the sofa next to me and be picked up and put down as I please, sewing feels like much more of a project. I go upstairs, to the sewing room (oh all right, the little box room that has the sewing machine and a whole heap of filing in it!), put some tunes on, and spend a good couple of hours methodically working through the pattern.

It doesn’t come as naturally to me as knitting, so each thing I sew expands my skillset and improves my precision. And what I’ve realised is that as much as I want the finished project, I work best if I take the time to enjoy the process too. There’s no point pushing myself to spend any longer than I feel like at it, just to get another stage of the item made – who’s watching besides me?

So I go upstairs when I feel like it and have a chunk of time to spare and I get in the zone and I sing and I sew and press seams and slowly turn 2D things into a 3D thing for as long as I’m enjoying it and stop when I’m tired or fancy a change. And eventually, I end up with a finished item.

There are faster, neater, more efficient ways to work, I’m sure. But why hurry through the process when I enjoy that as much as having a unique finished product?

I made a whole apple cake, though (yes, the tree fruited well this year!):

You’ll find me under your spell. Secret safe, I won’t tell.

 Cardi: Gap. Top: H&M. Skirt: Vintage. Shoes: Clarks via eBay. Necklace: Next. Belt: thrifted.

Busy day today, so I’m all brained out at the moment – even applying Dolly Mixtures to the situation didn’t assist!

I did, though, have the pleasure of offering someone (someone who was born the year I started secondary school, no less!) a job today, which is always a nice thing to find yourself doing – let’s hope we didn’t put him off at interview

The possibilities suggest themselves to me

 Cardi: Zara. Top: H&M. Skirt: Per Una via eBay. Shoes: Clarks via eBay. Necklace: Next

Yes, I have been on a bit of an eBay spree involving skirts of this sort of shape. Don’t ask me why – it just seems to have been what’s caught my eye lately. I am, though, half-looking towards Autumn and things which will be suitable for at least a little while to come if I add boots and thicker hold-ups.

Speaking of boots… I am in the market for new fairly simple knee boots in black, brown and possibly other colours. But last year I struggled to find boots that were narrow enough to fit my legs without adding a sort of Posh Leather Wellies touch to any outfit. I made do with narrower style casual boots available from Dune that looked ok with jeans tucked in, some slouch boots and an old and on its last legs pair. But it’s smart heeled boots that I want for outfits like this, and my legs are narrower than they were this time last year.

It looks like I’m going to have to take a deep breath and place a Duo order, unless the high street fancies expanding the range of its knee boots to fit a slightly more variable group than those with approximately 14″ – 15″ calf circumferences!

You don’t need any money – just a bit of imagination

 Cardi: Wallis. Dress: Kushi via eBay. Shoes: Clarks via eBay. Necklace: made by me

Since for some reason this week’s conversations seem to have been oddly underwear-centred, I might as well ask you guys. Where do you stand on shapewear?

Me? I’m not a fan. I mean, I enjoy lingerie (A lot. It’s a whole nother place to play with colour and fun.) and if we’re talking the type of gorgeous girdles and sexy Vargas dresses created by Kiss Me Deadly (I have got to get me to somewhere I can try on their range and come away with beautiful, beautiful things!) I’m absolutely all for them . But I have a bit of an issue with things like Spanx, all the non-retro styled ‘hold it in’ stuff.

I know a lot of people love it and feel much more confident in it, and if that’s true for you then fair enough. My concern with it is that it’s generally pretty utilitarian stuff sold purely for the purpose of smoothing out lumps and bumps. And the thing is, I don’t think there’s any reason why lumps and bumps should need to be ‘smoothed’. We all have ‘em, after all, and while I can completely understand, society being what it is, why people feel better with them smoothed I think it’s a shame that people feel as though they ought to do the smoothing.

I’m not innocent of such garments myself – I never wear them now, but when I was younger and a little larger I did wear them occasionally. But I hate that I felt I should, that I didn’t feel that my body was, well, presentable without them.

The vintage-style ones get a pass for me because while they do use powermesh they’re styled in such a sexy way that I can only imagine feeling utterly fabulous and devilishly dressed up in them. It seems to me that you’re clearly meant to feel fantastic if that’s all you’re wearing, that they’re there to make  a special occasion that bit more special.

I can’t really say the same for a pair of beige spandex high waisted cycling short-style creations, you know? Those seem all about correcting perceived problems, the feeling good about yourself is supposed to come only from squeezing yourself temporarily into something closer to The Perfect Body and looking that way in your garments, to the outside world. They’re designed to hide rather than showcase, I suppose, and I’m not really ok with that message.

What say you?

Start a car. Get away. There’s so much you could see today.

 Dress: Joe Browns. Shoes: Clarks via eBay. Belt: M&S via eBay. Necklace: Next

Good gravy, this is one of those days where I’m grateful for both the fact that I only work a four day week and the fact that I am a fundamentally positive person!

It’s funny. I’ve been thought before to be a pessimist, and I can understand why but given that I know what’s in my heart and mind I don’t believe it to be true. I hope. I expect the good stuff. I just make sure I’m prepared to face any possible bad stuff, because I know from experience that if I have an idea of what could happen then I’ll deal better with it if it ever does and the whole thing will go more smoothly even if what I’m hoping for happens not to manifest itself.

The thing is, if there’s something I’m hoping for then… well, I’m terribly British and don’t really wear my heart on my sleeve about it. I’m more likely to make a joke of it, which often means joking about the negative possible outcomes because that’s easier to do than openly state a hope that’s close to my heart.

But that’s not what I believe will  happen. Secretly, I believe the good stuff will happen pretty much all the time. I have a pretty positive attitude to life – everything tends to work out in the end, especially if you get off your arse and help it in the right direction, and I’d rather try to squeeze a joke out of a situation and try to make a few people – self, obviously, included – laugh than mope and wallow.

I grant you, I’ve done the wallowing thing in my time, but… I’m not a teenager or someone in my mid-twenties who’s only just getting over some tough times any more. I’m older, more experienced, less brittle, more relaxed. I know that the things that seem foggy and unbearably confusing and frustrating become clear eventually. I know what matters. What matters is contentment. And you’re the person most instrumental in bringing about your own contentment.

Time goes by so slowly…

 Dress: Joe Browns. Shoes: Clarks via eBay. Necklace: made by me

A day of good news and birthdays at work. Can’t argue with that, but I’m afraid my brain is fried from all the attendant planning. Back tomorrow, eh?