This Month so Far

 Hi everyone, it has been a busy month so far  and we have been off on our travels again this time to Cottingham in Leicestershire.  We always try to stay at CL sites as they are set in beautiful countryside and usually part of a working farm.  Only five caravans allowed and just the basic toilets and showers on site.  What more do you need?  I know for people with children you may want the playgrounds and pools and things like that but we just want some peace and quiet and a bit of nice scenery.

The site we stayed at this time was called Rockingham CL and was excellent so if you are a tourer you may want to give it a look, we will definitley return to this one a s it was so well maintained and the view was spectacular.  I will share a few photos but they don't give the full effect as it was panoramic!

A b it grey when we arrived but it did brighten up.

The view from the awning while eating my dinner, it was a bit brighter here but we eat in the awning with the door and front window flap down to keep all the dogs contained.

 

              Just as we were leaving I took this one, trying to capture more of that wonderful view.

We had a few days out from there as always so one of those was a day in Cambridge, it did pour with rain on and off all of that day so we saw what we could while it was dry and then ducked in a pub with the three wet dogs.

I love little side streets with unusual shops, I am not big on shopping I just like to look in the windows.

Kings College

Corpus Christi College

We also visited a few little villages and passed this...

Gretton Viaduct

So a lovely time and not expensive at all, well fuel but the less said about that the better.  Oh almost forgot we had another reservoir excursion to Rutland water, we will return to this one day too with the bikes jus for a day trip perhaps.

On Thursday evening we went to see the new Top Gun film, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.  It was very much a rip off of the original but I think it must be the nostalgia as it was such a long time ago it made me smile anyway and the place was full.  We saw it at our favoiurite cinema the lovely old fashioned Penistone Paramount with original seats, curtains and half time interval.  My two sons are fans as they say you can't recline in the seats and there is no cup holder, well you can sit up for the duration of a film surely.  They did not come with us they prefer the modern cinema experience. 

I have almost finished Mrs England by Stacey Halls and I have really enjoyed it, I enjoyed her other books as well.  Also read a few books on sewing and I did a youtube video on those, and made the Lilou dress from Tilly Walnes Love at Firts Stitch.  I also have a sew along about that and will share the video link below.

I used a viscose tencil for this and it was not the recommended fabric but I like it so that was what I bought.  Also opted to change the back as a full one as that is what I prefer, it is no good making things if you wont wear them so I do change patterns up to suit me sometimes.  Here is the video link if you are interested  The Lilou Dress sew Along

Well I hope you are enjoying the month so far and I will be back soon, take care.

                                         

The Mimi Blouse

 This week has been a bit disappointing here in terms of the weather, lots of grey skies and I have to say quite cool.  May is often a good month but it has not really properly warmed up yet, I hope it does soon as we have such a small season of good weather here in the UK.  

I have made another pattern from The Love at First Book this time the Mimi Blouse, this was a nice make and one that I will definitley return to.  For this blouse I used a piece of crepe fabric that was gifted to me from a friend,  she had a clear out of bits she wouldn't use and I have made my way through them.

There was a bit of creative placement with the pattern pieces to get it out of 1 meter, this also meant that I used a small amount of plain blue on the inside facing for back collar and under collar.  The rest I managed to squeeze out of the piece.

Now the piece I used on the under collar is slightly heavier fabric but it doesn't seem to have it affected the look.

The back has a yoke.

I didn't have any white buttons but I did have some cream ones so I just turned them to the wrong side as they are white on the reverse.   There is also a nice pleat detail to sleeves that I like. Have you made any patterns from this book and if so which ones were your favourites?  I do like these books and I think they are really clear and also really stylish.  The images inside work really well with the colours and styling.  When I went on the library website yesterday I spotted a few other sewing and refashioning books so I put those on hold.

There has also been a bit of filming this week, every day in fact and alterations for people.  Not a lot of out and about as the weather as I said was not very inspiring, just a few local dog walks. This week I hope to improve on that and we will be getting ourselves out a bit more no matter what the weather is doing!   

I hope you have a lovely week wherever you are, back soon. 

The Megan Dress

 Hello everyone I hope you are having a restful weekend.  I have had a good week, yesterday I made the Megan Dress from the the Love at first stitch book that I got from the library.  I am currently working through it and making videos for that on each item so I will link that below if you want to take a look.  If you do can you please subscribe and leave a comment as it is like a drop in the ocean being on there and I don't know how you ever get seen! 

Anyway I enjoyed making the dress and I used fabric that I bought a while ago as a treat but have not used because I was saving it until I knew what I wanted to do with it.  So this dress was on my mind but I only had 1 meter.  Well the fabric suggestions always state too much don't they so I got out the fabric and faffed about with the pieces until they fit and hey presto they did!  I was very pleased about that and I think the simple style of the dress goes well with the patterned fabric. 

A few adjustments that I did make were...

• Altering the shoulder as things tend to stand up on my small shoulders so I have taken a cm out of each side.
• I used a regular zip then topstitched down each side to hide it. (I like to use what I have in. )
• The hem is finished with bias binding as I had to cut the length  a fraction smaller to fit the pieces on the 1 meter of fabric, binding the hem means it still has a good hem on the inside.
• The sleeves are also about a cm shorter but that is not much is it?

So I would recommend making this dress it is easy to follow and if you are not sure just watch my video 😊  as I go through it with you step by step. 

                                                   Sew along video for the Megan Dress

We also had a night away in our caravan last weekend, I did think it was a bit much going for one night with all the stuff and getting the caravan off the drive but it went smoothly the weather was lovely and it actually made the weekend seem longer!  We went to Carsington water, we have been there before when our boys were young twice and it is lovely, plus it is just about 1 hour 20 minutes away so not too bad for a quick get away.  We did the walk and it felt longer than it use to, we must be getting on.  Lots of families with children refusing to go any further, hah, that brought back memories.   Here are a few photos...

How glorious is that sky?  You don't have to go far to see such beautiful places.

Lots of lambs in the fields too and that is always lovely to see.

Of course I have to pop in a picture of our little orange holiday home. 

We didn't bother with the awning as it was just for the night, as it was dry this ok.  Sometimes it is better to have the awning up if it is wet so you can store things out there in it but the weather was gorgeous.

There was a bit of bag making at the beginning of the week too here is the latest one...

Find my etsy shop here

Well that is all for now have a super week and take care.