Do you have a favourite sport you like to watch or take part in? I like to watch the snowy sports more than any others. For me, to curl up warm and toasty on my sofa and watch skiing, snowboarding or the fast and furious bobsleigh, is a real treat. Throw in a bit of hand stitching whilst I watch and I'm happy.
Me, on holiday last winter :)
My all time favourite exercise though is "Running Up". It's arduous and exhausting but it keeps me fit. Here's how it goes.
When I'm ready for my daily workout, first of all I make a drink - always keep hydrated during exercise! My preference is black tea with one sugar. Oh, and if I can find a biscuit, I'll take one or two of those with me, just in case I overdo things and feel faint. Then I make my way, slowly warming up, to my workroom. I make sure everything is pushed out of the way apart from the equipment I need for my routine. Then I make a start.
Sitting at my desk I run up a Lizzy pattern. I start on maybe something less strenuous like Dora or Nessa and work my way up to a pattern that helps me burn those calories and build up muscle mass. You know the ones I mean, Norbert say or Nicola. They're always good for getting the heart rate up. Then comes the cool down and I find a hand stitched binding one of the best activities for this.
I can thoroughly recommend this routine if you're thinking of upping your exercise, but work up to it slowly, once a day for several hours is plenty! If you haven't made Nessa or Dora yet, break yourself in with these.
Nicola, the first new pattern in November. She's a gorgeous curvy pouch bag and if you've not made yours yet, jump to it! You won't get fit by looking at the photo!
Norbert is the most recent addition to the huge catalogue of patterns to choose from, to suit your exercise needs. Cutting, folding and stitching fabric are all great fun and soooo good for you.
Take 3 ingredients...
Talking of fun, Lizzy and I (plus a fair few of you) had great fun on Thursday evening last week, in the regular weekly live in Lizzy's Sewing Group for our subscribing members. We challenged ourselves to use a pre-arranged short list of three "ingredients" to include in making a project each, during the live. This is the second time we've done this as we enjoyed it so much in October. This month we had to come up with a project made with scrap fabrics, with a pocket and a tab. If you're a member of the group and you missed it, go and watch the video, it's hilarious! There was such fun and games but we did make two fabulous little makes. (Don't let Lizzy know but I've bought her an Ear Trumpet for Christmas! Watch the video.)
Dora is Lizzy's gorgeous Key Keeper. It is a pocket, it has a tab, well two (have a look at the video/pattern), and uses tiny pieces of scrap fabric which we can all find in our stash.
It's a super pattern and really fun.
Nessa was produced by Yours Truly especially for hiding chocolate bars. Well, after so much exercise I do need to re-energise, so I need to keep the chocolate close by.
There's some crumb quilting on the pocket to use up scraps, and the zip has a tab at either end. I excelled on the tab adding, we only had to include 1 to meet the challenge!
By the way, all the above patterns are available on the website! If you're a subscriber, you'll only have to pay for one of them. Just sayin' ;-)
So stop waffling and tell me what's been going on...
November was a great month. I spent time with Lizzy in Suffolk and had an extremely busy weekend but the best of times.
Have you ever visited the Ely Cathedral Christmas Gift and Food Fair? If you have, you will know how wonderful it is. The Cathedral is the most glorious of settings and the stalls are magnificent. I must admit to not buying anything this year (except a curry making kit for Neil, don't ask!) but I loved browsing the amazing gifts on sale, many of which were hand made, the inspiration and soaking up the atmosphere. It was truly magical. If you've never been and you get the chance, try and get there next year. I've promised myself that I'll do my best to get there every year as a new tradition, I love it. When you see Lizzy next, ask her about the stunning necklace she bought there, if you've seen a recent live you may have seen it already!
November also saw the end of an era, but don't be sad! The Gold Membership option is no longer available. I can sense the panic from some of you that didn't know this already, but fear not! If you're a Gold Member, you can stay as a Gold Member for as long as you wish and enjoy all the benefits you get now. We have not abandoned our very valuable Gold Members and we never will. However, the Platinum subscriptions, annual or monthly, are the only new options now. This is for several reasons but mostly because we want to offer the best value for money and Platinum membership meets this criterion. I must re-iterate though that all our members, Gold or Platinum are very special to us, you're our friends, our community, and the backbone of the Lizzy Curtis family.
If you're a Gold member and you would like to upgrade to Platinum, this shows you what you get and by going into your account on the website, you can change. Or email me at hello@lizzycurtis.com and I'll talk you through it.
If you're not yet a member and wondering what all the fuss is about, here's a snapshot of the page on the website to look at, to see if it's for you.
(Note, this is just a photo, the "Click here to buy" button is not functional here, only on the website)
Winter sport anyone?
December has arrived and brought us bad weather. However, bad weather means roaring fires and staying indoors as much as possible, so I'm ok with that. Lizzy Towers is a hive of activity as usual, so the rest of us have loads to look forward to. Read on!
Tomorrow (Monday 4th) sees the release of the first December Members' pattern. It's called Declan and trust me, you will love it! As per the new regime, started on November 1st, the pattern will be added to the shop at the same time as it is made available to our members, so no-one misses out. So members, don't forget, it'll be on the members page for you to download, don't pay for it!
There's a video to accompany Declan that will be added to the Video Tutorials page of the website tomorrow. If you've not visited this page before, you will be staggered at the number of videos there to accompany patterns. It's a huge resource and it's free, so take advantage of it!
Note: Nicola, the beautiful pouch, not our lovely Nicola Moffat, will be removed from the members page at lunch time tomorrow to make way for Declan. Members, if you haven't downloaded Nicola yet, do it now or there'll be tears!!
Next Saturday (9th) is the Christmas Decorations Workshop in an exclusive FaceBook group. It's a 2 hour long workshop, making three decorations for the festive season. I'm so looking forward to spending a Saturday afternoon with Lizzy, just stitching and getting in the Christmas mood. We realise that not everyone celebrates Christmas but there is always something to celebrate in life and these are little decorations you can make to cheer up your sewing space, lounge or even the bathroom at any time of year!
There's still time to join in, have a look in the Workshop section on the website for more details. We are going to have great fun.
Platinum project number 5 (yes, we've already had 4 fantastic projects in the Platinum group in 2023) is now underway for Platinum members. This was launched on Friday 24th November so if you missed Part 1, the video is there in the Platinum Members FB group, for you to catch up and start on this magnificent project. If you're looking for a unique Christmas gift (I know I keep mentioning C******** but it is a big event!), this may well fit the bill!
On Monday, 18th the second members pattern is due out. This is another wonderful pattern from Lizzy who never disappoints us with her endless brilliant ideas and wonderful teaching skills. Just as a reminder, that's when Norbert will be removed from the members page.
And finally, Lizzy is again providing us with 12 fabulous live tutorials on the Lizzy Curtis FaceBook page, to make a wonderful project. This is FREE and OPEN TO EVERYONE!
At 7pm every evening, starting on Boxing Day, 26th December, Lizzy will be live on her page. You can join in, without signing up, every evening or catch up with the videos as you are able, they will always be available to you.
This is a huge Christmas Gift to you from Lizzy. So much time is taken to prepare and deliver just 1 live, but 12 is insane!
The very best way you can say "Thank You" to Lizzy for such selfless generosity, is to join in. Watch, sew along, make comments and just enjoy the whole experience. Those who took part last year will testify to what fun we had, the things we learned and the community spirit of sharing. See you there!
Wishing you all the very best December. May you and your loved ones enjoy the season of good will, in whatever way you can. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays.
I'll be back at the beginning of January 2024 to start the new year with another blog post.
Take care, and don't forget to do your Running Up exercise: Stitch a seam; sew in a zip; drink plenty; eat chocolate, repeat.
Kath xx
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