Quilt Finished

 Hello everyone.  I am pleased to say I have finished my patchwork quilt that I have been working on for some time.  Now this is not an expert job as I know some of you are quilters out there and this is not my usual thing but I am happy with how it turned out.  In the end I went with straight lines for the quiltingand I ended up doing it by hand after starting it on the machine as it was very bulky.  It reminded me of when I used to work in a factory sewing taupalins but then we had very large machines and very long benches.  The border around the edge is just a polycotton with little daisies on, currentlyit is on my bed over the origianl duvet so in the winter it can be an extra layer but in the summer I thought perhaps just a sheet under it?  Well here it is...

So there is a bit of everything in there, minerva fabrics leftover scraps, shirts, a few craft cotton scraps I bought for bags and someof the gifted fabric from the bag I was given by a friend.  The backing is also out of the gifted bag of remnants, it was a large blue and white piece I just had to put a join down one side. My husbamd looked at it and said 'yes very busy'.

The next thing I did was to remake this Burda top that I have made before.  Now it is oversized but I have worn my other version quite a lot so I thought I would use up this leftover piece of inky grove jersey on this.

It is one of the cool tops that doesn't cling and in the summer I think it is good to have loose fitting clothes, then in the winter I want it all snug and tucked in. 

This week I was given a big bag of Rhubard, my husband has been insisiting he doesn't like it but i said I would do soemthing good with it, so I made a Rhubarb and Custard cake.  Now I saw the name of this recipe but couldn't make anything like the one I saw as it had, eggs and milk, wheat alsorts in it.  So I just made up my own GF vegan version and it came out fabulous.  I did roast the rhurb first beofre adding in layers to the cake.

It tastes good so that is most important and yes, my husband did like it.

Last Friday we made the most of the lovely weather and had a day at Knaresborough, it is only an hour away and such a pretty place.  We didn't eat there but we did stop outside a pub for a drink, had a lovely walk around the castle and along the river.

In other news I am trying to get back into the decluttering mode, I have taken quite a lot of things out of my sewing room in terms of scraps and old clothes that I was going to revamp.  There is only so much we can hang on to and it is very hard when you create fabric waste as part of your job but are trying to be as green as you can be.  I send back, rehome or use all the items I make but the scraps continue to plague me.  I had a big trip to the charity shop and finally got rid of some greek style vases and decorative paltes from years ago, I was a bit attatched but never had them on display so it was time for them to go.  The latest thing has been that I have bought a few books from charity shops over recent months.  That doesn't sound like much however I usually always get them from the library and just recently I have been having that 'I like to own the book'  feeling, now that is something I have got over in the past and I tend to just keep a small selection on my bookcase.  Really I need to reming myself that once I have read it, it just sits there gathering dust and go back to getting them from the library.

There is a lady on youtube and her channel is 'a to zen'  she messes about quite a bit but has a lot on decluttering.  Now I wouldn't want to have a bare home that just isn't me although I am trying to strip things back a little, especially in cupboards, I am terrible at shoving things in cupboards that could go!

Well I hope you are having a super week and I'll be back soon.

A Little Absence, A Holiday and Some Sewing

 Hello everyone I hope you are all well.  We have a lot going on here at the moment and I am aware that I have not posted for some time. That is ok because we have to do what we can, when we can and it was never my intention to turn this blog into a chore. It is something I do for fun and to share with fellow dress makers.  That said here is what has been going on.

I may have mentioned but one of my older dogs has a spinal disc problem now that means we are at the vets a lot or have been, it has just slowed down now and the appointments are further apart.  She is doing well now and has steroid tablets.  They seem to be doing the trick but she can't walk far, has to be  carried in and out for a wee etc but is bright eyed and happy.  We have a range of things to help her and have settled into a routine.  My husband made her a dog wheel chair, she has a carrying bag, and a large dog trolley but we are going to try and list that as it is too cumbersome for us.  It would be ideal for the back of a bike though and has the trailer bar for that. The other problem is she is sometimes wetting on her dog bed so lots of extra washing. 

We have just been away on holiday finally after cancelling two mini breaks due to bad weather!  We drove to Somerset in pouring rain towing the caravan.  It rained Friday, Staurday then brightened for Sunday and we had a day in Bristol (a lovely place)  Bonnie got loads of attention in her bag.  Then it rained all night, then all of Monday, by the evening our pitch was flooded and we couldn't get to the toilet and back with out soaking wet feet and were drying the dogs off one at a time and pasing them in the caravan.  On Tuesday we were ready to call it a day and come home early but the lovely freindly owners were  saying let's move you to another pitch and the weather is set to improve.  So with the help of some kind people we moved the whole set up quite quickly to another pitch and after lunch it did start to clear a little.  The rest of the week was better, with the odd shower.  After all that we stayed and extra night.  The campsite is gorgeous and we have been before we just seem to be having really bad luck with the weather this year on all the breaks we have booked.  Years ago you could book a weekend if the weather looked good, but with more people taking a holiday in the UK now you have to book a long time in advance.  

So I thought I would pop in a few holiday pics here as I know this is turning into something of a ramble.   Above is Bristol and I found this a lovely vibrant place to visit.

Here wearing a recent make a shirt dress in Crane dance viscose challis from minerva.com  the pattern is New look 6651.

A shot of Clevedon pier and anther nice day there.

Above is the little village of Axebridge, very pretty and a really nice dog friendly pub.

Here we have Cheddar Gorge on a quiet day, oh the joys of not having to holiday in the school holidays, it was transformed from the last time we visited, then we could hardly move.  This quiet take on it was much more me.

We do take all three dogs away with us, the other two are stood with my husband, or carried. 

Wells Cathedral, a dog friendly cathedral how good is that, they actually let us take the dogs inside. Very beautiful,  it always astounds me the architecture of places all those years ago.   Wells too is very pretty and I will visit again when we are in that area of the country.   This is Wells Somerset, not to be confused with Wells by the sea.

On with the story...

So once home and we have all the caravan washing, plus pet beds, blankets, son at home so his weeks worth of stuff to wash.  Then catch up on some work, visit mum and after all that I get in and Clyde (my other older dog) has a stroke! Fipping over, constantly very fast, got up disorientated and head swaying.  So we have had him at the vets me fearing the worst again, but he said they often recover well.  So he has had a steroid injection and we are back tomorrow, he has to be carried outside too now because he is falling to one side but apparently this will get better.  The vet said he will get us a season ticket, somehow I'm not laughing.

Today I have had my car in for a diagnostic, it failed on emmisions acouple of months ago, they put it though a full service, ca-ching! Then coudn't find the fault, said to book in a dealer but that has taken ages as everything fully booked. Well they have found the problem so after the daignostic cost, then repair, another MOT, I am looking at a very large bill for that too. They are keeping it in to do next week. 

Now if you have managed to stick with me through all that I will share some sewing with you.  

So this one is not one to keep but it is rather stunning in this fabric I think, I made as a size UK 16 and the fabric is called Beetle Jewels. It is Simplicity 9265 and the ruffles are very fun.

This fabric is Polymorphic prism and the pattern is New look 6594.

These very wide leg trousers in aubergine triple crepe, it ia a vogue pattern 9361

This one I just love the trim on, it is viscose challis, called hounds tooth confetti.  The pattern is Simplicity 8872.

Now there have been a number of other makes but I am going to leave it there for today, I am hoping normal time will return soon as I feel I lost April completely somewhere along the way. 

Take care and enjoy the weekend. 

Spring start

 Hello everyone I hope you are all well. It is starting to get a little brighter now so that is really lifting my energy, I think I slow down a little during the darker months no matter how I try to avoid it.  It is as though I am solar powered, not a great way to be living in rainy England but I suppose we all have our favourite seasons.  

The garden is bursting into life and every day I spot something new appearing through the soil, I have put in a few seeds but I never hold out much hope for the ones I plant straight into the soil as the ones started in the greenhouse always do better.  This is strange as the things that self seed manage perfectly well don't they? So that is ever a mystery to me, it is bound to be me that is doing something wrong.

We have just taken delivery of a rather large dog cart to pull Bonnie one of our older dogs around in on holiday, we always take our dogs with us and she can't walk far now but we of course wnat to be able to go on  long walks.  This is mainly what we do on holiday, so the cart is big enough to take her and her brother, there are harnesses inside it too.  Then we can let them get out and have an explore for a little while then get back in when they have had enough.  I will let you know how we get on with it.

Last month I made a blouse for #sewfrugal23 from a pattern company I have not used before, Maison Fauve.  Sam at #frugalisama shared this company as they had a free pattern to print off so I thought I would give that a go.  The sizing I found really good although next time I will lengthen the arms as they need to be longer on me.  It has a nice effect with the panel details and also looks good in three different fabrics, a good one for stash busting.  It is called La Blouse Tribeca.

I used gifted fabric from the stash I was given by the lady whose mother recently passed away, the navy is a cotton lawn from John Lewis and I am not sure of the pink a crepe I think.

I really enjoyed seeing all the things that other people had made too by using up their stash and all the free patterns that are available. 

 We went for a meal at a favourite restaurant last week in the evening, so I took this opprtinity to wear my new blouse. I have to say I did not enjoy the meal.  I think the sparkle may have worn off this particular place, we don't go out often and it is not cheap so you want to at least love what you eat.

While on the subject of food, my husband ordered me a food mixer a few weeks ago.  It looked lovely and was pretty shade of mint green too.  However as I had expalined to him I have never had one as my GF baking is not to be over worked, it was also very large and our worktop space is limited so we sent it back. I felt a bit ungrateful but there is no point spending money on things you won't use and that take up lots of space.  He understands, I could really do with a nice mixing bowl and jug  as mine are old and plastic. 

 This is a dog I made for a recent work project, I am very pleased with it although a lot of people have thought it a bunny.  There is a bunny on the pattern but this one is a dog, very easy to make too.

This was a very lovely carrot cake I made last week, gf and vegan of course I don't use a recipe as such for this it is rather my own version and I always sort of wing it a bit depending on if I have to sub a few ingredients it never lasts long.   This week I made a lemon cake.

My husband very kindly got the glass out of the oven door so it could have a good clean and I can now see what is going on in the oven again.

This was my lunch yesterday, I made a pink potato salad with some oven roasted chickpeas in maple syrup and chilli.  The crackers are nairns Gf seeded they are definitely some of the better ones.  I am trying to make sure I eat at lunch time as I work from home I often don't and I don't think that helps with my energy levels.

While we were shopping the other day I was looking for a bunch of flowers for my table and found these gorgeous tulips reduced to 75p a bunch so I bought two.  They looked as good as the regular priced ones, in fact the others were very overpriced.  I am thrilled with them, someone said put 2p in the vases so I have done.  It is supposed to keep them upright longer.

The downside is the water discolours straight away from the coin.

In other sewing news I have made a few bags using patchwork in a bid to use up my fabric scraps, I am going for more of a tote bag as these do not require all the various fittings my handbags do.  It is proving a good way to use them up, fun and if they don't sell I will have the most glamorous collection of shopping bags.

They are lined inside to make them more sturdy.

I have been keeping up with my reading and have actually really enjoyed the last few books, most recently I have read 'Educated' by Tara Westover.  This was shocking in places but also very inspiring in terms of perseverence and well worth a look, it is a memoir.   The Lamp Lighters by Emma Stonex was last weeks book and again I really enjoyed this, there were things about lighthouses and how they used to be that I had not really considered and the story is very descriptive.  The Family Upstairs was another good one, now I picked this one up in a charity shop when out with friends and I am glad I did.  My friend had heard of it so that encouraged me to buy it.  I have been keeping track of them all by posting them on instagram each week so if you want to follow me there you can @sewingreenlady.

Well that is all for today, have a lovely week and enjoy the beginning of spring.  (if you are on this side of the world that is;)