Cropped Marlo

 Hello everyone I hope you are all well. We have had a different time this past week and a half as one of my older dogs is not well.  So many trips to the vets and on two occasions last week he sort of said that's it because of her age. However she is still with us and hobbling around the house but not I must add unhappy.  She is still herself very bright eyed and loving all the attention, he thinks it is a disk in her back but she is at an age where they would not entertain operating and we wouldn't put her through that ordeal either.  She is on steroids and pain killers but has not really shown any sign of being in pain just unable to walk as she did.   So being carried down the steps to do her business,  and escorted on the garden but she can get around just slowly and with a wobble.  My hsband has bought her a harness that support if she needs further help but obviously she can't go for a walk and for a dog that is the thing isn't it?  We are back next week unless she gets worse but at the moment she seems much better so we will see ehat happens.

So it has been a bit up and down, I am sure many of you who are pet owners can understand as dogs do become family members.  

Changing the subject entirely onto sewing now, a while ago I saw this woodland sweatshirt fabric and really loved it.  It is furbacked and I know more suited to children's wear but I love it all the same so I put it on my wish list.  Now I have done this a number of times and by the time I get around to purchasing any they are usually no longer in stock so I thought I would treat myself to a piece.  My husband is not a fan of it but I am, so there!  Any way I decided to make another Marlo sweater by True Bias and last time I made the long line version so this time I opted for the cropped cardigan.  

The pattern still states 2 metres, and as this fabric is not cheap I chanced it and bought a metre.  It is wide so I made this work, but there were a few things I needed to do to eak out the fabric.

I had to keep the fabric design all in the correct direction but I did manage to cut the bottom band in three pieces (it should be one on the fold)   I placed the small piece center back and it is barely noticable.  Also the front bands were just running short of what they should be on one side, so I tapered them slightly where they meet at the back neck.  Again this is not really noticable when worn, none of these things would have been an issue if the fabric was plain but mine had a directional print.  

Here it is...

Now I am wearing a print skirt here so I won't be doing that but it is very warm, I only had mismatch buttons of this size and they don't bother me as they are both white with four holes.  It is oversized enough to get other garments underneath so that is a good thing and very quick to make up. I know I will be making this cardigan many times in the future as they are just so handy.  My husband said but who wears cardigans these days? Er lots of us! 

If you have made this pattern let me know how you got on, I think it is a very good pattern if you are a beginner as  it comes with a nice little booklet with clear instructions.  They are not cheap though so make the most of it!

I also made McCalls 7802  in Tropical Tiles viscose challis from Minerva.

This was really one of those fabrics that came alive once made up, I particularly love the big sleeves and midrif panels.  A few details sometimes can make all the difference.

Today I have been working on a bag, amongst other things and I dont think I shared the last one so I will pop that one below too.

I have a skirt in this fabric which is a favourite of mine.

There are of course quite a few other things tht I have been up to making and what not, I will put them in the next post before this turns into too long a ramble.  Take care, where ever you are.

Denim Quilted Jacket Make

 Hello everyone I hope you are all having a good week.  What a funny one it has been with deep snow and beautiful blue skies, the snow here is mainly all gone now and I am hoping it will warm up enough for us to have our weekend away in the caravan soon.  

So this past week or so I have been working on a quilted denim jacket inbetween other jobs.  I didn't want to rush it as i had a very specific idea in mind and couldn't find it among my patterns.  I had thought of using a pattern from my book Basic Black but I know the sizing is tiny and on further inspection the pieces looked too small to my eye. When you look at patterns every day you can often tell when the size is wrong just by looking at the pieces so I abondoned that idea.  Then after much thought I decided to use burda 6053.  Now this is more of an edge to edge cardigan pattern but I knew I coyuld tweak it and the size and shape were along the right lines.

I cut it out just a touch bigger to allow for the quilting I was going to add, also I planned on lining it.  My next idea was to add a small stand up collar.  Well I must say my son suggested this when I was showing him what I thought, he suggested rib like on a bomber but I went with the same kind of shape but in denim and I quilted it the same as the rest of the jacket.

Next was to change up the pockets, the ones on the pattern felt too small for a jacket so I drew my own shape on paper and cut, quilted and lined those.  

The biggest most time consuming part was drawing the grids on the denim ans sewing in all the lines through the denim and wadding.  I am so glad I did this though as the end result is just what I wanted, I have lined it with leftover viscose challis from another project but the sleeves are lined with regular red lining fabric.  I hand stitched the lining to the denim facings and bottom on the inside.

Finally it closes with a good zip with metal teeth.  I am sort of sad it is complete I enjoyed the process so much, that is a good thing and I think I need to have more slow projects on the go as I complete most things in an afternoon.

It is very warm so the wadding has done the trick.

I think the wild lining goes well with the denim, it was also good to be able to use these pieces of fabric as the denim was a piece that was in the large amount I was given when a lady passed away. It now has a purpose and each time I make something  I think what a kind gift it was from her daughter.  I only bought a small amount of wadding and the zip for this project so I spent £7!  Not bad .

A lot of photos but I am very pleased with it!

That is all for today, have a super week and take care.

Recovery and Dress Making

 Hello everyone I hope you are all doing well. We have not had a very good past few weeks as we all came down with the winter sick bug a week ago and it wiped us all out for a week barely able to get out of bed!  Then we have recovered but are still all very lethargic, I think this is due to lack of sleep as we were very sick and while trying to rest you can't really when running to the bathroom all the time plus lack of food for a week.  There is is not a lot on us to start with so going without food all week has left us seriously depleted in fuel.  Anyhow sad story over and know there are people dealing with much worse but it does set you back, March is here and I would love to say I am raring to go for spring but just puttin one froot in front of the other at the moment.  We do have a little break away booked so I am hoping we will be in full health by then. 

I have caught up on a few quilt blocks these last few days, made some more undies and also my work.  A few days ago I made this cord skirt using some of the fabric I was gifted a while ago.  Even the lining was gifted.  There was a mishap with rushing to get on with it as I made it with the nap going in two different directions!  Tried it on and spotted it, so I had to unpick the whole thing and recut a front and back panel.  It all worked out well in the end and i wore it yesterday, it is very comfy.

I have made this skirt before so I think this is possibly why I was so complacent cutting out, but I should have known better with cord.  In my defence I had been ill so maybe that was it. 

Here are a few of the things I have made since I recovered for work projects...

This is a Burda top that ties at the sides and can also be worn as a dress full length, this one is being sent on so not for me.

This one is New Look 6866, it does not have a belt on the pattern but it was a very loose fitting shape and I do like things to fit to me so I made up this belt to bring it in at the waist and I really love the look now.

Burda 6632 blouse, I really like the details on this although again it is very oversized on me and I made the size 8!  Maybe it is the lack of food last week!  All these fabrics and patterns are from Minerva with the exception of the olive gifted cord in the first image.

I love this blouse although there are such a lot of pieces to this blouse, the whole botton is interfaced and lined but it does give it such a lovely shape.McCall's 7978.

                                                       This is the style arc Courtney top.

I also made this little bag for my Etsy shop as I haven't made one for a while, some of the fabric was in the gifted lot, the charm pack scraps I already had, recycled denim and other repurposed bits.  very bright for spring.

My next plan is to make a quilted demin jacket by quilting some denim fabric that I have,  I have so far changed my design three times the last time being earlier when I was about to cut it out.  I think I am settled on a final plan now? Also changed my mind on the lining fabric, I will now cut out tomorrow before I dither any longer.  I am quite excited about this so fingers crossed it works out how it looks in my head.

That is all for today, enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Staying on Track and The Gertie Bow-Tied Blouse

Hello everyone how are you all doing? Also how are your plans holding up into February? Well for me it is so far so good I have been sticking to my intentions and I find for a few thigs this works well if I do them straight away when I get up. Now I know this is not ideal for everything or even everybody come to that. For example if you have to be at work early you don't want to have to cram in a lot of habits before you even leave the house. Although I do have a book that says you should get up at 5am to do just that! Well I could see my husband loving it if I disturbed his rest everyday to do that, also you have to go to bed really early to get up at that time and that is just not for me. However a few things do work well first thing and this has made them a habit for me, does anyone else prioritise anything first thing in the morning? Please let me know if you do and how it works.

I have made  these knicker this week  from the free Megan Nielson Pattern on  the website for the acacia knickers.  I didn't have enough of the elastic so I used stretch lace on the legs.  One pair is cotton Jersey and the other is frech terry I will let you know if they are too hot to wear ha, ha.  I have ordered more elastic so more on the way  and also made my own pattern from some favourite fitting knickers.

I made the Bow-Tied blouse from my Gertie Book yesterday and I am very impressed with how well her sizing works for me.  I used some of my gifted fabric and another odd selection of buttons, this time various purple ones. 

I made a video so if you would like a peak here is the link. video here

 I am going to have to go as blogger keeps auto changing my words and I don't know what I have caught!  This has taken me ages to keep correcting.  Back soon making more sense I hope.  Take care.

January...ing

 Hello everyone I thought I would do an ing pist for the end of the month and try and get back into that habit.  I hope you are all having a good week it certainly has been a lot brighter these last few days and that makes all the difference.  Here goes..

Starting a spring quilt, so I follow Frugal Queen in France on her facebook group and she has organised a spring quile along.  Everyone making their quilts to be ready for spring.  So I thought this was anice idea to join in and also to do some each week will keep it progressing nicely.  Now I certainly would never do these for work as Quilts take so many hours and I wouldn't want a strict deadline or have to try and explain the manhours but as a thing to plod along with it is a nice change.  She shared her block and then everyone is digging out their colours with the aim to do six a week for six weeks and she did say not sashed. So a sofa size, now I am really liking the blocks I have done so far so I think I will sash mine and then that will add quite a bit to the finished size.  Here is a block...

I am not a quilter so I am finding I am not that precise, so having to try and be more so because the seams allowed are tiny on this design. A few pieces of the gifted fabric are being used here so the cream and green, the rest are little scraps I am digging out.

Reading more, now always a reader but trying for a definite book a week this year and so far so good.  It is not always easy when occasionally the book is huge, but enjoying what I have read and also trying to vary the genres.  This last week I am reading Pandora and the previous week I read Fevre Dream by G.R.R Martin and I enjoyed it but had to skip a couple of grisly paragraphs as my brain will not let me forget somethings!  That is why I am not into horror, but this was an old fashioned vampire story and I did enjy Game of Thrones so I thought I would give it a go.

Eating out so we have taken advantage of a few lunch time deals this last month usually at the weekend.  We found a pub not too far from us that did a lunch deal wed - Fri so went on my husbands day off a few weeks ago.  Then a walk last Friday and a meal at the Plough Bradfield agian lunchtime special.  Then last night we met family for a teatime drink and a curry then home for 8.30!  We have never been people that go out much and this is over the course of a month so we are just enjoying it.  It is also nice to see that more places have vegan and vegetarian options now too.

Keeping with my sewing scrapbook so that has been fun.  Now when I want to know what this top is I am wearing for a work video I just flick back in my book and I have all the information I need, very useful.

Watching 1883, that was the origins of the Yellowstone drama we have watched and I thought it was good.  My husband was not a fan of the main character narrating all the way through it, he does not like that effect in drama or films so for him that spoilt it.  Maybe keep that in mind if it is something you don't like.

Listening a lot this week to songs from New Jersey by Bon Jovi.  These were my favourite group as a young teen and I had forgot just how much I love this alsbum in particular.  I have been playing it on spotify, which is somewhat different to how I would have listened back then.  I had all their albums on cassete, then Album and later CD.  These Days,  eh!  That's a Bon Jovi song in case you missed that!

Enjoying walking our dogs and appreciating that I can amuse myself.  After a few conversations with various family members I am left confused as to why so many of them do not know what to do with themselves if they don't have work to go to.  I am talking about jobs they are not enjoying here as well, so we are talking people at retirement age here. Now if you love your job I can imagine never wanting to stop but going just because you are afraid of the free time is something that I cannot fathom.   Therefore I am grateful that I have never been bored, if I don't have work to do then I always have lots to fill my time.

Looking forward to spring, we have a few little holidays booked in our caravan so it will be good to get back into that.  We are returning to a few tried and tested sites and a new one we have never been to before. I think everyone starts to feel the need to book something to look forward to at this time of year.

Making clothes of course  and here are some of this weeks projects...

New Look 6632 dress

This Marlo Cardigan will be made in future in the cropped version.

Well have alovely weekend whereever you are and I hope you manage to get outside and make the most of the weather. Back soon.

Keyhole Blouse from my New Gertie Book

 Hello, this weekend I made my first make from my new book, Gerties New book for Better Sewing.  I bought this for myself as a Christmas present and this was the first thing that caught my eye.  Now the fabric I bought some time ago from John Lewis in Sheffield just before it closed down and I don 't normally having much fabric hanging around I usually have a purpose in mind when I buy but this piece must have been waiting for this blouse.  I think so because the pattern just has the right kind of feel for it.

So completely out of character for me is that I did a little dummy run on an old duvet cover piece just to check because well, this fabric has waited long enough so I did not want to spoil it after all this time.  It was just as well I did that as I found I had to adjust my keyhole neck a little.  Other than that the fit is good, I really recommend trying out the neck shape though to get it just right if you are making this blouse.

For the buttons I made regular button holes, the book suggest bound ones but as the pattern is busy enough just regular ones here.  Also I chose to alternate the colours as I had these colours in my store which go really nicely with the fabric and they are big ones too. There are five rows of shirring stitches at each shoulder that you probably can't make out in this photo.

Overall I think it is a really lovely blouse, you do still need some know how though as you are adapting the pattern given for the bow tie blouse. The book is full of lots of useful advice if you are thinking of buying it.  Mine was purchased second hand from wordery.  I don't know what I will choose to make next I will have to have a think.  The blouse was made over a few relaxed sessions and this was nice as many of the things I make for work are done  in one sitting, I quite enjoyed doing a bit then coming back to this over the weekend.

The book The Lighthouse Witches was finished yesterday, I really enjoyed the book however it is so sad that so many women had to die over the centuries for being accused of witchcraft. I have read a few books that are based around this subject and it still astonishes me the kind of ludicrous charges that were passed along with the brutal cruelty. 

So today I have started Fevre Dream by George R.R Martin and so far so good however it is about vampires so I may have to pause if I get scared!  I picked up this one a while ago at a charity shop.

We are still watching Yellowstone but nearing the end of this series so we may watch on eof the origins ones next.  I may have mentioned before we only watch TV after nine in the evening as we like to do other things before then.  Although that said I did watch a ballet early evening one day last week, Coppelia, it was not one of the best not enough dance content for me too much pointing and gesturing if you know what I mean.  Apperently it is a comedy, it was not funny so in a way I am glad this one of the ones I have not seen on the actual stage.

That is all for today,  have a lovely evening.

Stretch Sewing

 Hello everyone, what a rainy week we are having here in the UK. I hope you are well wherever you are and keeping safe I know our rain is nothing in comparsion to the weather conditions going on in other parts of the world, but being English I am preoocupied with the weather always. 

I am making quite a lot of French Terry projects at the moment so I though I would share some of that with you.  It has also given me a scrap busting idea as it is cotton and so soft I have decided to make some knickers with all the little offcuts from it.  Now I have only just decided this today so nothing to show as yet  but I know a lot of people like the Iris Pattern by Tilly and the Buttons, well I had a look and the price! Well I won't be buying it, for a pair of knickers, there are only a few bits to them.  So I am going to use my own as a pattern and work from there.  I have made some quite a while ago but I seem to remember the fabric wasn't quite right I am hoping this will work better.

Here is the fenix sweatshirt by style arc that I made on Monday...

It has side panels with topstitching and the pattern call for twin needle around arm holes and at cuff and bottom. I only chose to do the twin needle around the neck as it is so patterned I felt it would just get lost every where else.  There are also pockets into the side panel seams, I am wearing it today and it is very comfy.

Yesterday was another Style ARC make this time the Kristin dress, these colours are lovely and bright.  The sizing came out right on this dress although I did taper across sizes at the shoulder as I am small there.  

It was evening when I photographed this so it is a little dark. There are lots more to come and I have to say stretchy soft fabrics are the comfiest, not all are going to be made in my size so the manneqinn will be doing the modelling for me.  That said my mannequinn feels like she is about to fall apart if I size her up, the whole point is supposed to be you can adjust them but mine doesn't seem to like it.  I already had an incident once before where the whole top popped off that is why I have ribbon around the top now, it is hiding tape!

I am really enjoying reading the Lighthouse Witches, made even sweeter by having come from the library after I had picked it up in Waterstones before Christmas.  I may have mentioned that already in  my previous post but I love it when that happens. 

Tomorrow lunch is booked to take my mum out,  part of  this years aim to get her out more.  It won't be a weekly thing but I thought maybe once a month for lunch and also when the weather is fit maybe somewhere she can have a potter around markets or garden centres she has not been to, so that could be two outings a month.  Not too far for her  to walk though I will drive of course she is 84 but just a change of scene.

What have you all been up to so far this week, anybody doing anything exciting?

Take care everyone. 

Busy Inbetween Days

 I hope you are all enjoying the break, it can feel a little like limbo land that bit between Christmas an New year and you tend to forget what day it is or I do any way.  I have had a very productive few days and one of my intentions is to keep working through new recipes and all my cook books.  There is a beautiful one that one of my sons bought me for Christmas last year and I have used it a fair bit, todayI made two recipes from it and I will share those below.  I also have in mind a better way in future to document all my sewing makes especially as quite a few of them will be going back to Minerva for in house videos.  I do like to keep track and this year I have been using the papers that come with Minerva fabric for project planning but this means I have a stack of those knocking about.  What I am thinking is a scrap book with images, fabric swatch and an actual photo in it, yes this does sound like even more work but it will be lovely to look back on and remind me how much I get done.  Sometimes I can be hard on myself even though I know I complete multiple tasks, garments, etc a week so it will be a nice record.  There is a scrapbook in my possesion that has been waiting for just this job I feel. 

I will share one of my Christmas gift makes here and it is my husbands Hoody.  I made him one a little while ago from Burda magazine and he loves it so I made him another in a different colourway.  It was right to the wire as I was busy making it on Christmas eve.  This time I went for the colours in the original magazine image of navy and orange, well the orange I chose is more of a bright rust colour but it is lovely together.  He loves it, here is a picture of him in it but I think he has splashed it here with water as I cornered him in the kitchen for a pic.  

                                      It has been on since he opened it, and now needs a wash.

Todays sewing  was my brand ambassador make for Minerva and as I had made a lovely sweater with a Simplicity pattern that has been worn quite a lot, it felt suitable to remake it but this time in the dress length.  It is a lovely comfy french terry so hopefully this will be another much reached for garment.  I will share an image of it on the mannequinn but need to do full write up for minerva so please catch up with me over there for the full post on that. (it is not on yet as this is only just finished!)

My reading is going well and The Magpie Murders is keeping me turning the pages, this is a good thing as my husband bought me four books by the same author in the same genre!  There have been a few duff reads over the past months so glad  I am to get my reading head back on.

We are keen to get out and meet some family for a dog walk but so far those palns have been rained off, lets hope that the next few days will bring some dry weather so we can get out in the fresh air.

There was a lucky find by my husband in the ASDA  yetserday in the form of discounted LOR advent calenders, the coffee.  They had been priced at 25 pounds and are now down to three pounds so he brought home two.  He said it was quite funny as a couple were looking at them at the same time as him and the man was saying we should get these to his partner  and she said but we haven't even got a coffee machine.  I am intrigued to know if they could be used without?  I mean it seems to me that all the machine does it perforate the pod and slowy pour hot water through it, I could be wrong so let me know your thoughts on this.  Youngest son is a big coffee drinker so he was super pleased with this find.

From one of my cook books today I made a butternut squash soup...

I also made a fabulous fruit cake that has so many ingredients in it and luckily I had them all bar one which I subbed.  It is a vegan cake so all suitable for me and I added my gf flour mix too.

This is the book my son bought for me.

Here is the cake cooling, there is a fair amount gone already!  Sneaky gin in the background that a friend gifted me, it is rather depleted. 

So there we are a bit of an inbetween catch up, I thought I would blog while I have the time as I have not been as consistent with this for the last year and I aim to to better.  So two in a row but if I don't do things while they are on my mind I blink and a week has passed.  

Thank you for stopping by.

December...ing

 Hello, I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas and have managed to do the whole thing stress free.  I never really understand why people get themselves all whipped up into a frenzy at Christmas time as there really is no need. I can understand people feeling lonely or missing loved ones but not the need for a perfect meal, gift or experience.  It is after all what we make it, so if other people do not appreciate your efforts then  that is their problem so let's just all be happy with what we have and what we can do.  That said we had a lovely christmas day, my oldest son came over and my mum. So with me, husband and youngest son that was the five of us, we cooked a chicken for the meat eaters and I did a Veg Wellington that was fabulous details below.  Here we go...

Cooking The Veg Wellington, recipe from the Happy Pear guys on youtube.  If you have not looked at their videos beofre please do check them out especially if you are thinking of eating more plant based recipes in the new year. It is such a good one and formed part of their two euro dinner ( that is per person not two euros for the whole thing).  Now I know with inflated costs it would cost more than that now but it was still really good value, we had enough left to have it for lunch again today.  I did not get an  image as I was busy enjoying the day and I did have rather a lot of cooking to do so got sidetracked but I will make it again in future so I promise to take a pic next time.   I also did their spicy cabbage recipe, again so tasty! I will only cook cabbage that way in future, it has chilli, ginger, sesame oil and a little maple syrup.  That dish even got my younger veg adverse son eating it as it is so good. 

For desert I made Christmas pin wheel pastries with mincemeat in (the sweet kind) again no image due to Christmas day busyness. 

I also made cranberry cookies with walnuts and almonds twice this last week, green and blacks chocolate drizzled over the top.  My food photography is somewhat lacking but here is a peak...

I know the decoration also leaves something to be desired but they taste lovely so who cares, I find it very tricky to drizzle with a spoon. 

Dressmaking Of course there is always plenty of this, the latest makes were both dresses and one is the style arc Patricia Rose dress.  I was sent the larger pattern so I have sized it way down with tracing paper, origami and lots of faffing.  It worked but the dress is a loose fitting dress with no closures and now it is complete I have also added darts at the back as I do like a more structured look.  Here it was just after it was finished.

I also made a vogue dress in a blue soft washed chambray...

Sewing more hexies on my ongoing piece of handstitching, my thing with this now is that I have come to the realisation that I do not want a full sized bed quilt in all these colours, much as I love colour.  I feel that I would rather have a more definite pattern and carefully selected fabrics for such a large piece.  The main reason I am thinking about this is that I made a quilt some years ago called lone star and spent a lot of hours on it. The fabric were manily offcuts from the market near where I worked and part way through I knew they were  a bit dark and I didn't love them, still I carried on and completed it, quilted it etc.  A lot of hours and I had it a while, I was pleased to have finished but never really loved it.  That said I don't want to be in that situation again, so I am thinking maybe a large cushion cover to be used out on my bench in the summer and also continueing with the colourful hexies for scrap busting but using them in my handbags?   Here is the  piece so far...

Let me know your thoughts, but I have seen so many pretty designs for quilts and there are such a lot of hours that go into these that maybe it would be best to invest my time in one that I will treasure.

Eating out, with my mum.  As a christmas treat I drove my mum to Wentworth for breakfast and we had a little look around, youngest son came too as he was off work using up hoilday days.  She did take a bit of convincing as she gets stuck in aroutine but she really enjoyed it once she was out and said she would like to do it again so that was nice.

Watching a new series called Yellowstone with Kevin Costner.  I am quite enjoying it although my husband has just informed me there are another four series to go.  I will let you know if I still like it after all that.

Reading The Magpie Murders, now I have only just started this but I am a good way in and I have to say it feels a bit like Father Brown to me, I like Father Brown so that is not a bad thing.  My husband bought me a set of books for my birthday and I had said that I wanted to try something a little different.

Promising myself that I will do more art in the new year, I don't always do resolutions more intentions so this is my first. A promise to myself that I will set aside some time each week to do some art and also learn a little more about it, a new technique or style to try, anything as long as I sit down and create something with pencils or paint.  I love to sew and I am really enjoying working at it as my day job again but I think this year I have let a few of my others hobbies slide.

Enjoying the lights, decorations and cosiness that is Christmas, I will be sad to see them all come down as I am every year.  So I will be looking for new ways to cosy up the house for January, any suggestions welcome.

That is all for today, enjoy yourselves wherever you are.