How to lose 40lbs in a year

My New Year's Resolutions last year were to stop biting my nails, to be less shouty with the children and to lose 3 stone (aka 42lbs). Well, my nails are still bitten to the quick but I did manage to shout less (not congratulating myself too much there - having both children in full-time education helped enormously) and, as you may have guessed from the spoiler in the title, I lost 40lbs. Not quite the 42lbs I'd aimed for but it still translates as 4 dress sizes, which is really quite significant. ("Really quite significant" is of course hugely underplaying the pride I feel in this achievement. A more realistic description would be "yyyaaaayyyyyyyyy!!!!! I'm slim! slim, I tell you!)

This weight-loss has not gone unnoticed by friends, family, or anybody who knows me. And do you know what is the thing I am asked most often? It is "Have you been trying to lose weight or...erm...?" The alternative to 'trying' is never vocalised and at first I thought people might be wondering if I had lost loads of weight through some kind of illness, but since they invariably then say "you look so well!" this was clearly not the case. And I finally realised that they are hoping I am going to tell them that weight loss is actually terribly easy once you know the magic secret. So I do tell them the magic secret: hunger + sweat = weight loss. And their faces always drop.

Because the truth is that losing weight is, in fact, really quite hard. The theory is simple enough - you eat less, you move more, you lose weight. Back in March 2011, I tried moving more when I started running (using the Couch Potato to 5k programme - highly recommended by the way). I could see my body changing but I wasn't losing weight. So I moved a lot more - I did hooping, cardio tennis, ballroom dancing. All great fun but the scales still didn't budge.

The penny was starting to drop so I added in some eating less - you know the kind of thing: cutting out sugary snacks; eating less fat; yada, yada. My portions remained the same and .... you've guessed it!... the scales didn't budge. So I eventually joined Weightwatchers and the scales finally started to oblige.

Don't believe the Weightwatchers advertising puff. Believe me, if you do Weightwatchers, you will know that you are on a diet. For the first 4 months I was hungry for 19 hours every day. Truly. But eventually, I got used to eating so much less, and now only feel hungry at the normal times. And I have only 7lbs left to go to reach my ultimate dreams-come-true target.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that losing a lot of weight is a serious commitment to make. It's especially hard to do when you have small children because it involves making time for yourself. This is not trivial. You have to be selfish - even a 30 minute run never takes only half an hour. If you don't want injuries, you have to warm up and cool down. The time all adds up and we all know that mothers of young children do not have time to spare. And this is where I do have a magic solution to offer.... and that is Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred! (NAYY)

This is a flipping brilliant DVD for the reluctant or time-starved exerciser. It takes just under 30 minutes to do, including stretching, and as long as you take the DVD out of the sleeve, put it in the DVD player, and follow Jillian's instuctions, it really will work. Or at least, it did for me. Not on its own - I like to vary my exercise regime so as to reduce boredom and injuries - but when you need a short burst of indoor exercise, Jillian's 30 minute workouts are the business.

Not least because they helped me to realise that exercise can be fun.

I know lots of mums who run. I suppose I can see why - it's free and it's effective, but by golly, it's dull. I never really took to it. The good news is that there are lots of other forms of exercise that are nearly free and much more exciting. For example, I do taekwon-do with James, so we get some family time while working out. It also helps his coordination and confidence so we all win. Zumba is great fun and very social and not hugely expensive either. Ballroom dancing won't get me thin, but it's fun to do so, why not? My husband has lost 3 1/2 stone using a stationary bike. Now THAT is dull, but it's working for him and I think that's the key. Find something(s) that work for you and suddenly, exercise becomes to fun part of losing weight and keeping it off.

So there you go... how to lose 40lbs in a year! But what would any gloating weight-loss post be without the before and after photos? Truth to tell, I don't have many before photos. When I was fat, I hated having my photo taken. By December 2010, I tipped the scale at 'obese' and I wasn't queuing up to have pictures taken of that. But Nigel snuck one in....This is from our summer holiday 2010. As you can see, I'm not slim. But I still managed to add another 8 or 9lbs before Christmas 2010.

Christmas Eve 2010. That's actually a fairly flattering picture by the way - thanks Nigel!

And now for the after. Again, I'm not so photogenic that I like having my picture taken, but in the interests of inspiring other mummies, here goes....
As you can see, still a bit of a way to go - 7lbs to be precise - but I now feel as though I can eat cake in public without people tutting at me (yes my slim friends, people - even some fairly rotund people - do audibly tut when they see fat people eating cake in public. It is not helpful.)
And I finish with a different kind of 'before' and 'after'. The above photograph is of a coat I made in winter 2009/10. It was a fab coat - swingy and flattering, from the Ottobre Salma pattern, and it fit me beautifully and got loads of compliments. It was also size 18 to 22. I hated it. I could now fit two of me in it. So out of the 3 or so metres of fabric, I made this beautiful formal coat for Laura. It's also an Ottobre pattern. Now this coat, I unreservedly love!

Credits Thank you to Maria who dragged me to cardio-tennis in January 2011, thereby making me realise that I was quite frighteningly unfit, to the guy who developed the C25K programme, to Jillian Michaels and Weightwatchers and all those people who complimented me over my hungry journey for the last year. Especially thanks to my darling supportive husband. I couldn't have done this without you. Mwah! Mwah!

Birthday overload (dodgy photo overload, too)

If you are thinking to yourself "well blow me! Kathryn Driffield's done a new blog post. I thought she was dead!" then I don't blame you. As you can see, I'm not dead, but I have been manically busy. Up to my eyes in birthdays, sewing orders, face painting, summer fetes, and other fun but somewhat draining activities. No time for blogging (though I have rediscovered Twitter and am now a proper fan).

Anyway, dealing with the procrastination sewing first.... a skirt for me. I have since Christmas been exercising hard and dieting reluctantly. With the result that I urgently need some summer skirts that actully fit and have pockets for my phone. When I'm a size 10 I am going to treat myself to a Desigual skirt but since I am still two sizes away I ran up a Desigual knock-off. It's kind of hard to achieve that edgy Desigual look when you mostly have kids' prints in the stash, but I gave it my best shot....
It's comfy, it fits, and it has pockets. Result!

Then onto Laura's pressing need for summer skirt & leggings combos. These are intended for wear at Hatton Country World and other places where protection from fast slides and grazed knees is required. I ran up 4 sets over the course of a day - it's an Ottobre pattern and has pretty much gone viral in the sewing for girls community. I love it!

And now for the birthday sewing... James turned 6 last week and here's his new jacket. Ottobre strikes again! It's in an outdoor wear fabric that was very cheap at Fabricland in Bristol. It was an absolute swine to sew, so I bitterly regretted choosing a pattern that featured welt pockets. It's not my best work, but it's the best I could do and James really likes it.

Though not as much as he likes his new shorts. Also an Ottobre pattern and huge fun to make.

Then came a crochet aquarium for my father-in-law on father's day. Trouble-free fish! He saw the funny side.

Laura's birthday is the last on the list. Believe me, the four weeks from June 9 to July 8 is tough going in this house - five birthdays, one after the other, with Father's Day thrown in just to make life interesting. I hardly have time to catch my breath! But Laura's is the last birthday where I feel the compulsion to sew. This is her birthday jacket. It's an Ottobre pattern (no? really?), which should have been made up in wool but which I did in fleece. Laura does actually need a fleece jacket and I was getting tired of hearing about her best friend's coat which is pink with flowers, so I embellished the fleece with heart pockets and some flowers. And pom-pom trim just for fun.

It even comes with a zip-up hood. She will simply love it!

I'm not so sure about her dress, and I think she'll be a bit 'meh' too. She really wanted something twirly, and this combination just isn't. Also, I screwed up the collar somewhat which doesn't add to my dress-love, but I think the real problem lies in the fabric choice. Both are pretty enough but lack drape, so they somehow don't flow. I suspect the pinafore will get a lot more wear than the dress, especially once I've added the strawberry buttons.

I felt a wee bit guilty about imposing my own dress choice on the birthday girl (I can't tell you how much she wanted a twirly dress) so I painted some faux Lelli Kellys for her. Don't get me wrong - I don't think they rival the real thing, but they cost me a mere £12.50 (and a fair amount of time). I used sequins, fabric glitter and fabric paint from stash, and hoped to keep them secret from her until Sunday. Unfortunately, she opened the box when they were half-finished, and the cat was out of the bag. She liked them then and now they're blinged up, I just know she'll love them.

Speaking of cats, she decided last week she wanted me to make her a kitten costume for her birthday. With claws on the hands. Now that's a challenge I decided not to try to rise to but watch this space for a Halloween post!

Thank you, Lord, for this fine day...

Today, my mum walked again. OK, so she was gripping two handrails at the time, but it was so great to see her on her feet. Two weeks ago she had a stroke and we weren't sure if she'd even be able to use her left hand, never mind walk. Tonight, I am thankful, and am back blogging again. I even did a bit of sewing last week - James prayed last week that God would make granny better so that I could finish his helicoptor hoody. Don't you just love that 4 year old honesty? I did finish the hoody using the Imke pattern from the Nancy Longdon book, and will post pictures some time.

In my absence, I was surprised to see that the blog got huge amounts of traffic via DailyKnitter.com. It's funny - I consider myself to be a sewer first and knitter second, but most of my visitors arrive via my free knitting patterns. So, by way of paying forward my extreme good fortune in having a walking mother again, my next post will include a free pattern for the above crochet bolero, complete with hand-written chart!

MIA for a while

Owing to a family illness, I'll be MIA for a while. I'll still be reading other people's blogs though - peering into other people's lives and crafts is a great way of losing oneself for a time. Almost like online respite care! Hope to be back blogging soon...

It's a new day and a New Year!

After a handmade Christmas, I had an only slightly less handmade New Year. I have been thinking for a while about doing boys' clothes for the shop and I started the new year by making a shirt for James to wear to a New Year's Eve party. I am so tired of seeing him trot along to parties in t-shirt and jeans, no matter how nice they may be, when the little girls are arrayed in their sparkly twirly finery. His friend Benny attended the last party in a super-smart shirt and tie, and while James wouldn't be persuaded on the tie, he did think he'd like to have a nice shirt. So I got out Winifred and set to work. It's a very simple short-sleeved shirt (both James and I being new to this shirt business). I put my foot down on the yellow theme and made the shirt in a good quality quilting fabric featuring helicoptors! He really likes the print and while it'd look a bit naff on a 10 year old, it's cute for a 4 year old. He doesn't like buttons, in common with quite a few of his classmates (what IS this button thing about? I really don't get it...) so I used poppers. I have a smarter version planned with cuffs, collar stand and back yoke. Time to do a bulk buy of cheap muslin I think!

Anyway, here's a little gallery of the Christmas and New Year makes. Everyone got at least one handmade present, even if it was only a hat, and everyone seemed to really like what they got. So I had lovely holidays too!

Socks for Nigel. The self-striping yarn was such fun to use I didn't even mind making the socks extra long for my husband's extra-long feet. No pattern required because these were pretty simple, but I unfortunately did one sock in 3+1 rib and the other in 2x2 I and didn't notice until I was wrapping them up. Nigel doesn't mind though.

Milo Armadillo for Laura. My first attempt at a soft toy. He looks a bit lumpy in the tummy but that's just the photograph.

Two pairs of socks for my mother in law. She asked me for socks and I thought "Aha!" She is thrilled with them. The patterns came via Ravelry - there are so many gorgeous free patterns out there for socks - the internet knitting community is uber-generous.

Walking socks for my father in law. No pattern required - it was very simple!

Hat for sister's boyfriend - the free Lillehammer pattern found somewhere on the internet.

Beret for my sister (no pattern - it's just a beret with stripes!).

Self-drafted dressing gown pattern for Label Bear, James' special bear.

A fleece jacket from James. It's a much modified Ottobre pattern and is going to be modified more. I lined it with microfleece and so it's a little snug. It could also be reversible if it weren't for the zip. So I am going to take out the zip, add some width with a yellow placket and put on poppers. The blue microfleece is the perfect colour for my boy, so we'll both be happier once I've done the alterations.

Cabled cardigan for Laura. Hold your breath because I actually bought this pattern! Mind you, I did serious searching for a free version first before biting the bullet and parting with the cash. It's Sirdar pattern and was lovely to make and lovely to wear. I am about to start a version for myself using the Cable Luxe free pattern from Lion Brand.

I even made an Ottobre top for myself, which I absolutely adore. In fact, I've ordered 2 more Ottobre Woman magazines on the strength of it.

Hat, scarf and mittens to go with Laura's upcycled coat.

Laura in her Mary costume for the Los Posadas party. Very cute though not exactly a masterpiece of stitchery. I used one of Nigel's old t-shirts for the tunic, which is worn over James' old t-shirt.

James wore his innkeeper costume to Los Posadas.

An experiment in making bloomers. Very cute and practical. Super for soft play! I just embellished an RTW t-shirt to go with them because tempus was seriously fugiting.

Laura's Christmas outfit including the pettiskirt (I had yet another hack at it to improve the proportions... I reckon there's 14 hours of sewing gone into this one skirt.) A fleece hoody from the Olivia pattern, with some fun fur around the sleeve edges. A pair of viscose leggings completes the outfit. It is even cuter in real life - we were mobbed coming out of Mass by people wanting to tell her she was a gorgeous little angel!

Fleece digger romping trousers for James. Self-drafted pattern.

A skirt for my sister (no pattern required - just two skirt shaped pieces attached to an FOE waistband). I made her another one from an old jumper of Nigel's. This is more of a spring weight skirt, in some aqua and orange hearts I got from Nature's Fabrics Black Friday sale.

A Fair Isle beret for my mum. It was a rush job (I only started it on 21st December!) and I made a screamingly obvious mistake in the pattern. But it's still a nice beret and she really likes it.

So that's the Christmas stash. I'm looking forward to a handmade 2010, with lots of ideas for the Spring collection for both boys and girls. I hope you're looking forward to a 2010 filled with whatever it is that you do that makes you happy.

That was the week that was...

My week was a very mixed bag! On Monday James "saved the day" by pushing Laura and her trike out of the way of the electric garage door as it was closing down on her. We had to do several re-enactments at the bus-stop with Laura playing the Hapless Victim, James the Noble Hero and Mummy taking the dual role of Forgetful Mummy and Garage Door.

After such heroic behaviour, it's probably no wonder the children went berserk in our local Co-Op the next day. My children rarely embarrass me - not that they're little angels, I just take the view that if people are tutting then they probably don't have any children of their own and therefore their disapproval is irrelevant. And most parents actually like to see other children misbehaving - it helps us realise that our own children are not demons - they're just normal! But Tuesday evening was on another scale altogether and I did feel a bit embarrassed. At one stage James announced that he was going to build his own house and go and live in it On His Own and YOU (pointing at me) can't come in and YOU (Laura) can't come in either. I was impressed by the lucidity of his argument; rather less so by the volume of expression. (That wasn't the worst incident by the way - it's just the only one I can bear to remember.)

On Wednesday I dropped my mobile down the loo. If this should ever happen to you - and do not mock, it's more likely to happen than you think if you leave your mobile in your back pocket - then the tip of the day is: remove the phone back, the sim card and the battery before putting everything into the airing cupboard and just leaving it all to dry out! I'm not convinced the camera is quite recovered from the ordeal but otherwise the phone is working fine so it could have been worse.

This morning I knocked a hot iron onto a cheap carpet. There is now an unattractive iron shaped hole right by my sewing desk but since the floor is often covered in bits of thread and scrap fabric, I think I can live with it!

But great things happened too - apart from James' heroism of course. A large box of gorgeous destash fabric arrived from Jennifer Miller of Bella*Tessa Designs on Wednesday, and I finished a nice little skirt for Laura this morning using some of the said fabric. It isn't my usual choice, being yellow and pink (I get wa-a-ay too much yellow from making things for James!) but the print is just divine.



I was going to make it into a ruffled patchwork skirt using the Vivi pattern from Mamu Designs, but when it came to it, I couldn't cover up large chunks of the yellow print. So I added a pink ruffled lining and turned a couple of the patches into pockets.

With hindsight (and how often have I posted that!) I'd have done the smaller size because even with using buttonhole elastic, this skirt is miles too big for Laura. But the smaller size is age 12-18 months and although she's dinky, age 2 clothes generally fit her OK. This is an age 2-3 and clearly it doesn't fit her anything like OK! I also wouldn't have done both a yoke and a waistband - in fact, I may just cut off the lower skirt and reattach it to a simple one piece waistband. That would make the skirt shorter too. But I still really like the skirt and Laura loves it.

And I knocked up a hoody for James using more of the digger fabric. This one is (for everything is relative) pretty tasteful, being a nice shade of teal green. It's too big but the colour suits him and he likes the pocket and the sleeves and the hood so perhaps he's not going to build his own house and move into it after all. My mother, however, is keeping an eye out for second-hand furniture for him. Just in case!

The t-shirt's so bright you gotta wear shades

I finally got round to using the Tyrrell Katz Working Vehicles fabric in a t-shirt for James. It was made to his specification: yellow, a hood, and diggers. I used the #14 reversible raglan sleeve t-shirt pattern from Ottobre 04/09 in size 110. He's at that irritating stage of being in between sizes so the 110 looks enormous on it, which doesn't add to its beauty. I only did one layer for the t-shirt, apart from the hood, which is double-layered so that the reverse of the digger print fabric isn't on show. Otherwise, it's fairly quick and dirty - I wanted him to have something new for a party this morning so I only spent a couple of hours on it.

It isn't my best work (I will have to fix that wonky pocket or it will forever bug me) but James said it was 'fabberooni' and insisted on wearing it immediately. So I'm happy that he's happy, even if yellow is so not a good colour on him!

Incidentally, if you're in the West Midlands with a train-happy child and want to give a party with a difference, then I thoroughly recommend the model trains at Illshaw Heath. They are pull tiny carriages that the children and adults can perch on for a ride. It was one of the best two hours I have ever spent and the children had to be prised away at the end of the party. So hurray for the Birmingham Society of Model Engineers who operate and maintain all the trains and who made the party so special for the children.

Not that he deserves it, mind.

James has been composing a song. I have not yet heard it, but I understand from my husband that it goes like this:

I love daddy.
I love granny.
I love grandpa.

Chorus (loudly and with relish): And sometimes I love my muuummy

I love aunty.
I love Laura
I love nana.

Chorus (con amore): And sometimes I love my muuummy.

Repeat loudly, inserting different people in the verses, but always having mummy in the chorus.

I wouldn't mind, but we hadn't even fallen out!

I have an overlocker, wooo hooooo!!!!!

So thank you, darling DH! It's a second-hand Husqvarna Huskylock 905, bought on Ebay for an excellent £210 including postage. It even arrived ready threaded. So far, I've just serged the edges of some fabric ready for dyeing but it even made that tedious job fun. I can't wait to do an actual garment with it!