Phone? Home!

A hand holding a broken phone.
Hullo lovelies! How are you keeping? I know from the blogs I read that most of us are in isolation right now – and it looks like those of us with gardens are getting into tackling them. Every year I vow that I’m going to do the garden properly, but this might be the year I actually achieve it. Going out and grubbing up weeds, replanting pots, is a fantastic break from the news and the constant stream of AAARGH! on social media.

While I was gardening last week I dropped my phone. Now for years I’ve been dropping phones from great heights and they’ve always survived. How impressively robust, eh? This time it fell about a foot out of my pocket and the screen is horribly shattered. It still works. Apple will charge £130 to replace it, EE (my service provider) want £100 up front just to ‘upgrade’ early. So my plan was to get Timpsons to do it – I didn’t realise till I broke the screen that they did phone repairs, as I think of them as a cobbler and key-cutter – as they’ll only charge £50. Only like everywhere else, they’re now closed, so who knows when the phone will be fixed? I think Fate wants me to stop stressing myself out on social media and has kindly made my phone less available!
I am very stressed. No surprise there; I could get gold in the Anxiety Olympics. So this morning, having woken up and had a bit of a cry, I took my betablocker and decided to minimise my social media and news viewing. Once a day is enough for news, Instagram fine a couple of times a day, and Twitter probably best left alone for a bit. That gives me all the more time for blogs – I don’t view those as ‘social media’, they’re more thoughtful and take more time than the other major forms – and things like reading and sewing.
As well as gardening, I started work on a shirtdress at the weekend – pattern and fabric as above. I’m making it sleeveless, without the boob pockets (one place where extra volume is definitely not needed!), and with a simple, level-hemmed skirt. The pattern has armhole facings, but I loathe those and so will be doing a bias tape finish on the armholes instead. Removing those and the pockets means I have far fewer pieces to work with, which is a bonus. If I ever want to make a variant with sleeves, it would be better to do that once I've got the bodice pattern right.

I made some adjustments to the bodice, but wasn’t 100% sure it was going to work, so I used the remnants of an old sheet to mock up the basic structure. As always, I managed to get the fit fine at shoulder and waist level, but it was nowhere near roomy enough at the bust, so the mockup may have taken extra time but has saved me wasting good fabric. Working a full bust adjustment ought to keep me out of mischief when I get a spare moment. (I’m working from home, as is Mr Robot.)

I had planned to wear the dress on our trip to Malaga in May, but that's obviously unlikely to happen now. It'll be just as nice to wear in the garden, I'm sure.

Stay safe, and enjoy what sunshine you can get!

Comments

  1. Your blog title made me giggle!
    I've never owned a phone with the internet, it would drive me mad. I love just switching on the PC when I want to and turning it off when I don't. I'm sure it's much better for my mental health. Blogs are the best, it's like popping round to a friend's house for a cup of tea - IG's all well and good but it's too fast moving and lacks substance.
    I love the look of that sundress, if this weather's an indication of what's to come you'll be getting loads of wear out of it. Such a shame about your holiday, though.
    Keep us updated with your gardening exploits, I need all the tips I can get!
    Stay positive, Mim! xxx

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    1. I loooove my smartphone but I have set it to lock down my social media after a certain point in the day, and it won't play alert sounds after it knows I should be in bed.

      The dress will get loads of wear, I'm sure, though I am also really enjoying going through my wardrobe and seeing how the things I usually pass straight over look. It's encouraging me to move a lot more back into regular rotation.

      I have ordered MOAR seeds today. Good job we've got a good-sized bathroom; the end of it is now a mini plant nursery.

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  2. Not the best timing for your phone screen to get shattered, but I love that you can see the positive in it, as indeed now is also the time to reduce our social media and news intake. I'll keep on blogging, and reading blogs, and still do Instagram, but that's it. Like you said, once a day is more than enough for news! As for the Anxiety Olympics, I might very well beat you at that. One minute I'm fine, and the next I'm choking up and crying my eyes out. I'm still going to the office, but have reduced my hours, so that I can be home early. We'll be getting the garden back into shape, but it will be a bit empty as a lot of plants need replacing and nothing's open. This might also be the time to get to grips with my Mum's sewing machine, who knows! Do stay safe and sane, Mim! xxx

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    1. Oh, do get to grips with the sewing! It is honestly the best: stick some music on, and then get on with it. Because you have to focus your mind on what your hands are doing, all the other worries in your head get shunted aside for a bit. It's an absolute brain-freer.

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  3. Mim, you are being so very sensible. If you get stressed easily it is such a good idea to limit your social media. I check IG once a day; read and respond to blogs on Mondays and Tuesdays. I turned off notifications to my phone for FB weeks ago; as I found them very intrusive and I can now go days without looking at FB! I've never bothered with Twitter. I am more of a radio and tv news junkie.

    It is so refreshing to hear that Timpsons would only charge 50.00 to repair your phone screen. When this is all over I will take the middle grandson's phone to them to be repaired.

    I reckon we'll all be a little more 'crafty' by the time this crisis is over!

    Stay safe and well,
    xxx

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    1. I've never had FaceBook on my phone, as it seems to spy on absolutely everything. (No Alexa/Siri/similar for me for the same reason.)

      Timpsons are fantastic; they also do a lot of work helping former prisoners reintegrate with regular society. Such a socially-aware firm.

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  4. Yes, your phone is definitely telling you, "Stop looking at me!" :-P I also get really anxious when I start reading social media - and I don't do FB or Insta, so that's just headlines on Canadian news sites. Forget watching the news - that stresses me right out. I am not quite a medalist in Anxiety, but I'm certainly in the running for the Canadian record! Ha!

    I don't have gardening, but my boss has just told me after today/Tuesday not to come in again until Friday, so I may tackle either my closet swapover to Spring/Summer, or an art project that's been on the side for a while.

    Your dress project looks cool - I love the fabric you chose. Good luck!

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    1. Closet Swapover is a big job! Your art projects are always fab too, and following a creative impulse would definitely be a helpful and healing thing right now.

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  5. I do practically everything on my phone and would be seriously lost without it. Our internet has been horribly slow with everyone working from home, and it will be interesting to see how long it is able to hold up.

    I like the look of that dress, and the fabric. Hang in there.

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    1. My internet's been okay - one of my editors lives in a tiny village, and he was getting blips and hitches on the team Google Hangout this morning. Otherwise the only performance issues I've had have been with Google Docs in late afternoon, when I guess the US is getting online and using the same services. I'm definitely glad to be in an area with reliable, fast coverage. Mum has terrible connection out on the farm.

      Definitely hanging in here. My bounce is coming back - no idea for how long, but I'm making the most of it by zooming around getting stuff done in case I hit another low!

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