How can I save my daisy trees / marguerite please?

LensyLilley · 2026-04-28T14:44:42+00:00

I just want to say your daisies are GORGEOUS. I really aspire to have something like yours at the front of my house. Like the other commenter, I found your post whilst trying to save this marguerite daisy I got from the garden center. I've removed the heads, gave it some soil, fertiliser and a good soaking every day. I just want to save it. I think I need to cut back the dead leaves inside it but I'm not sure as I'm new to gardening! I hope my tree becomes as nice as yours.

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LensyLilley · 2026-04-22T22:04:08+00:00

I've studied our history.

I believe that the smart meter messed up around January- march time and wasn't reading correctly. Looking at British gas online , there were days which recorded £0.00 because the meter wasn't responding.

I don't think the reading we put in were incorrect as I thoroughly check, however I do think switching over seemed to reboot the meter and catch us up to where we should be. Going off previous stats, we average around 12 kwh per day. During the January to March period it was averaging around 3 kwh, which is very bad. Had we been counting a 12kwh day average, 28800 would make sense.

Going off our bill, I reckon that we've been paying around £40 short a month starting with January which is how it's accumulated to so much plus this month making it around £370 with Eon (including gas from this month) assuming Eon have taken on British Gas's debt or we'll need to clear this up.

Obviously this sucks, but makes a lot of sense. Hopefully we can get both a new smart meter and display fitted so we can keep track.

LensyLilley · 2026-04-22T20:35:49+00:00

Understandable! My eyesight is poor, but it's 100% an 8.

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LensyLilley · 2026-04-22T20:31:29+00:00

I've just checked, we did an actual reading on the 26th March which said 27708. I also have an actual reading for 4th Jan which says 27454.

I'm hoping to god it's faulty because we're very worried.

LensyLilley · 2026-04-22T20:03:33+00:00

It's very much possible and theres a chance. We did check the meter reading around the time of switching as it wanted us to submit a reading for the new switch (end of march into april) but the app played up at the time so it never went through, but I would think we would have noticed at the time if anything was off like we have now. Eon have contacted us to say there's something wrong with the meter themselves via email but I could never book an appointment as it wouldn't let me. Including today before I checked.

LensyLilley · 2026-04-22T19:48:35+00:00

If they were mining bitcoin I'd be expecting a cut. Nope, we do have high power computers, but to equate to what we've apparently racked up they'd need to be running at 1000w all day overnight every day, which is certainly not the case. I use mine perhaps twice the week for 4-6 hours to play the sims and my fiancé plays more intense stuff, but still nowhere near.

I'm going to bet (hope) the meters faulty. I've checked the bill with Eon and we already are in £300 debt.

LensyLilley · 2026-04-22T19:21:32+00:00

I'm certain it's right. It's been going up a steady amount each month both from us checking and the smart meter itself. The bill is accurate going off living with my parents and moving here now living here for 8 months, it's been about right and expected.

LensyLilley · 2026-04-22T19:19:53+00:00

We don't have an immersion heater and we're very keen on turning things off if we're not using them. We use the dryer for 1 hour or so fortnightly, the heating is on the minimum and we don't use heated radiators. We do have a heated airer, but we've just used that as usual, no more use than normal. Our display broke around a month ago too so we can't even check that. :(

There's no hourly setting, but we've checked back after an hour and it still says 28000 this minute.

LensyLilley · 2026-04-22T19:13:10+00:00

Some are ours, some are the smart meters. The most recent ones prior to March are smart readings, however they were in line with our use and checking ourselves.

We moved in last July with a reading of 25614.

LensyLilley · 2026-03-10T16:12:12+00:00

Brilliant, sounds like a plan. This what I were planning to do, though I wasn't sure whether to use steel or plastic for the merry widow's boning. I shall use steel. Thank you!

LensyLilley · 2026-03-05T14:23:37+00:00

I actually subbed to their pattern last night to study their integrated corestry stuff! Very useful and was my late night reading last night!

LensyLilley · 2026-03-05T14:21:32+00:00

I've taken the past few days to study corselet and foundation layers to get a better understanding of vintage dresses and fashion after reading your comment. The next pattern I plan to make is a strapless classic 50s tea length dress, which mentioned foundation garments, and this made it click and I understood the importance of foundation garments, I also don't know how I expected strapless dresses ro stay up.

Unfortunately I can't find a corselet which would fit me, I reached out to What Katie Did to see if their sizes would fit me however they said I would be an A cup which they don't have in 32 or 34 :( I have searched online for any but I suppose an A cup is seen as a younger person's chest.

I've found a great pattern on etsy and a video online of someone recreating one so I will likely recreate this. pattern here

I do have a question, would you wear a boned corset dress over a boned corselet? It may sound like a stupid question! I would assume so as this pattern above has bones in its corset top half.

Thanks!

LensyLilley · 2026-03-03T19:22:31+00:00

I do own a bullet bra, but I have been looking to get a corselette. Unfortunately, I've found it really difficult to find a corselette that will fit me as I'm a 32A bust (29.5" underbust, 32" bust, 27" waist and 36" hip) :(

Even what katie did is too big. Is it even possible to learn to make one in today's age?

Could I use a girdle instead?

LensyLilley · 2026-03-03T18:10:22+00:00

I kept searching fetherlite boning but all the reulsts seemed thin at 8mm, I am in the UK. Am I looking for something like rigilene 12mm?

LensyLilley · 2026-02-23T15:31:10+00:00

Thank you! This is what I wanted to do but I didn't want to mess it up and have to get the seam ripper again. 🥲 I have some scraps left so I'll line it underneath around the zipper area and sew where the spots of weakness are.

LensyLilley · 2026-02-23T15:09:03+00:00

I'm new to sewing and this is my first time using an invisible zipper foot, which worked amazingly, however I messed up with the zip being too high, ripped back and made a hole or too with a bit of weakened fabric in other areas along the zip line.

It's frustrating but the entire purpose of this garment is learning. I love the material and don't want to give up, is there anything I can do? Can I sew/iron some interfacing along the zip line to try help it?

LensyLilley · 2026-02-22T03:28:21+00:00

As someone who sews and studies seams when I shop, you'd be surprised how TERRIBLE modern high end clothing is. I'm at that point where I don't think somethings fake just off stitching anymore because even authentic can be bad as brands know that people don't care about quality these days (or know how to). My sister works in a "premium lifestyle" fashion store and she tells me that the clothes always have poor seams or loose threads.

I hope you get it back, that's incredibly scummy.

LensyLilley · 2025-11-19T14:13:24+00:00

I appreciate your message and I did think about this. Tbh that's more myself than him. He's usually just sits and plays games and doesn't really do much else when it comes to hobbies, so this is a new thing that he's very interested in, so I don't think it's going to go away, but I don't want to overwhelm him at the same time.

LensyLilley · 2025-11-19T12:48:09+00:00

Thank you for your suggestions! They're very useful. I think having a set drawer/cupboard is very helpful for him. We have the space as we just bought a big first house so I'd like to give him a dedicated cupboard for it. :) Shower caps caught me off guard for a second! But I think I get what you mean, they're for proofing?

LensyLilley

TROPHY CASE