Mystery Sewing

 Hello I hope you are having a good week and enjoying the occasional bit of sunshine.  I got out in the greenhouse at the weekend and put a load more seeds in of various kinds, I also have some on the sunny windowsill upstairs but I am choosing not to leave them there too long as they will just get a nasty shock when they go outside!  I let them pop up and then off to the greenhouse with bubble wrap ove r, just until it warms a bit more.

I have made a decision and said if it means we can have a weekend away soon I will tolerate the porty loo in the caravan;0  up to now I said no I want the facilities open but do you know what if they say you can camp with your own facilities then we are off.

Last week I was working on a dress and i really like how it has turned out, I can't share yet though as it is going on instagram for the frugal frocks on the 31st.  I heard about this and thought what a nice idea so you all use fabric you have already no buying new for this, and then source a free print off pattern.  You all share your makes on the 31st of the month along with your source of pattern.  That way I suppose everybody gets a whole list of ideas for free pattern and some inspiration too. You have to tag in the yorkshire sew girl and frugalisama.

Here is a peek at a bit of my dress, I will share the rest after the 31st.

Ha Ha that is all I am sharing of that for now, it is really sheer material so I am wearing a slip that I already own under it, the slip is orange but there is a bit of orange in the daisy.

In bag making this week I made another retro style one...

The flower design on this bag I keep thinking is a wine glass or is that because I haven't had a glass of wine for over a month??

There are lots of flowers about in my house at the moment they are very cheery and it reminds me to have some about the place more often. 

The lovely tulips were from my friend but they have since dropped their petals.  Everything else is gradually going but I keep moving the bits that are still alive to another pot so the arrangements keep changing.

Below is a bit of card making for my husband, it is quite a big card and I drew the birds over a few days then stuck them to the tree that I made.  They are birds that we have been seeing in our garden, the 50 is cut from silver card too.  

                                  I like to draw and they are not perfect but it is at least personal.

These are the extras for my current project, I will share that soon too.  I have had the main fabric a few weeks but I have been waiting  for these bits to get on with it.  Any guesses what it will be  based on the extras??

Yes I know big cord small holes, I may need to rethink some parts of it.

Well that is all for today enjoy the rest of the week and take care.

Burda Dress 123

 Last weekend I made up this lovely fabric with hummingbirds on it into a dress from the March burda issue.  The image in the magazine  has the model wearing a fussy blouse underneath a plain black dress, my fabric is already a print so there will be no need for that and it has turned out to be a really good fit this one.

This dress has a frill at the bottom and this is not  something I would usually go for but I am trying to make different things this year rather than always going for the same styles. I do like it now that it is made up which just goes to show that we can surprise ourselves.  This fabric is a ponte roma and was so good to work with, everything just fell together with this dress, sometimes you make a garment and it is such a relaxing make and others you tear out your hair.  Funny that!

The colours on this fabric are just my thing so I know it will be getting some wear, it also feels very comfy so if you have this magazine I  would suggest giving this particular pattern a go as it is a good fit and a nice one to work through. 

Here is the image from the magazine.

I think my dress is longer because she is taller than me!

I also made a little bag, a slightly different shape to some of my others I am playing around with different variations at the moment but keeping them not too far away from the same size.  Anything too  big and I will  not be making any profit. 

 

We have had all the children back in school this week so it is nice to have  full class again, it makes life feel more normal.  I am looking forward to when we can get away for a little break and have a change of scenery.

I had a go at hand drawing a couple of cards this week, they all feature birds I have just realised I only took a picture of one of them and the others are upstairs in a box, I may get a few more images another

 day.

The leaves and flowers are cut from paper.

I have a few drawing books I got around Christmas time I am hoping to make more time for this too but there is always so much I want to do that I struggle to fit it all in.  I do find drawing very relaxing though.

The Midnight Library was finished this week too, if you haven't read it I would recommend it.  It is not a  very long book but it is quite an interesting concept and I really enjoyed it.  

On my trip to do the weekly shop I bought another pot of tulips. I am adding to my little collection of plants each time I go shopping.  I will be putting  in all my seeds soon but there is all that time of waiting for them to take off at this time of year so I decided each food shopping trip I will just keep adding a bit of instant colour. They often have some nice pots outside of the supermarket and what I do is I save on something in my shopping budget and allow for a plant, we don't miss out as I just get creative with the food.

Well I hope you are all enjoying your week whatever you are up to, take care. 

Saturday Pottering

 Hello, I hope you have all managed to get out and enjoy at least a bit of the sunshine this weekend.  Yesterday morning it was such a wonderful sight to see it streaming through the window first thing that I got up no problem and started my day on a positive note.  What a big difference the sunshine makes and there were signs of life everywhere when we went out with the dogs, so many plants have popped up in just this last week it really is lovely to see.  My husband took a few pictures, he has bought us a new camera mainly because we kept trying to take pictures of birds and they were coming out all fuzzy.  He bought a reconditioned one so new to us and with a huge discount from what it would have been new.

I did a few a little not too exciting sewing jobs such as, a couple of my handmade tops were just a bit loose at the wrist now they have been washed a few times so I sorted those so that they don't bother me when I wear them.  There was also my little sewing kit that I keep in my handbag for emergencies that needed repair.  My dog decided to pull it out of my bag one day when I foolishly left it in the living room open, he ran under the sofa and chewed all the edge of it.  It must have looked like a good chew toy, it has a plastic coating on it!  So that looked a bit worse for wear and it also had a little mock handle like it was a mini handbag, well that just made it take up too much room so I removed that and recovered the outer bit.  It was so hard to sew through being a plastic coating I should have probably just started again and made a new one, oh well it is done now. 

I had to hand stitch this with it being plastic coated and as you can see some of the stitches are large, I had a job getting the needle through.  I think I will put a trim around on the inside to cover that it is only me that sees it but it will bother me otherwise.

The garden has had some much needed attention, I was out yesterday tidying up all the beds and cleaning out the greenhouse.  I put a few primroses in front next to the door so it will be interesting to see if they last but that is all for now as it is early, I may start a few things inside on windowsills.

I have one of these at either side of the door, I may change the paint colour at some point soon.

Our printer packed up a few days ago so that is the next thing to break this year, we have another in reserve that was passed on to us at least so my husband set that up.  I had a free pattern for a dress I was going to make for frugal frocks next month but it prints all wrong!   It really makes no sense with lots of blank pages in between so I will be looking for another option.    The challenge is you use fabric you have already and a pattern you have found for free online then we all share, I found it on youtube but it will take place on instagram.  I am trying to take part in more of these things this year to be more sewciable. (Yes I know I did intend to spell it like that!)

I have a dress picked out of my magazine that I want to start this week, I just need to check my baking paper supplies first as I may need more.  It is from this months Burda and the image in the magazine she has it in plain black with a very fussy blouse underneath.  Well I am trying to move away from buying so much black so I have gone for a print and I may do the sleeves a little longer.

We have gone from excited back to a bit disappointed again this week planning our trips in our caravan, as now they are saying they won't be able to open sites at first due to shared toilets and showers.  Yet pubs will have far more people using their shared toilets all day long than say a small farm campsite with only a few pitches, or service stations??

 Who knows because the logic has not really made any sense all along and I use shared toilets at work every day as do many other people.  The issue with the cleaning well you take it as a given that you will wipe it all down as you go in as well as when you come out, just in case the person before you forgot.  That way it is up to each of us to keep our selves safe but maybe that makes too much sense.   My husband is busy booking a few in now as he has noticed the free cancelation option just in case. 

I hope you have a good weekend, take care.