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;)

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.