Creative Ways To Beat A Storm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pfff!  What a month! March came in like a soft woolly lamb and went out like a savage wolf. What on earth happened?  Firstly, this happened-Beast from the East brought snow and freezing weather to my little part of the world (Scotland) where we saw the worst storm, drifting snow I may add, since the 70's.  I had no work for about five days as it was too dangerous to go out.  Any break in the weather we did get (see photos) we snatched the chance to get some provisions before hunkering down for the next round.  I think the only creature who loved it was my dog Bean. She happily bounded and raced around in the snow without a care in the world.  The more snowballs you threw for her to catch the better. Secondly,  I may have accidentally bought another machine; a sewing machine that is; the Janome Atelier 5.  I know,  I'm a Brother machine type of gal, but this was too good an offer to pass up, and I've always wanted to try another brand.  It's a previously owned machined,  in mint condition, serviced and it came with loads of accessories, way more than I would have received if I had bought the machine from new.  The person who owned it previously naturally passed everything over when they traded the device in, and the company who sold me the machine then passed these on to me. None of the extra pieces were even mentioned in the price.  So, you may be asking what did you receive? Well,  the most significant surprise was the quilting kit extension table with all the accessories.  I also received loads of bobbins, two new machine needle packs, extra seam ripper, thread the list goes on.  Even Paul was gobsmacked when I opened up not one big package, but two.  But don't worry, this doesn't mean I'm going to get rid of my Brother. Oh! No my Brother Innovis -350SE is too unique to part with,  it's my main machine and always will be, I know all its quirks and nuisances lol! Just noticed this mistake, should say nuances.   It's going off for a service and will be back on the table as soon as it comes home. Thirdly,  I've been sticking to my good intention of sewing some beautiful clothes, and I'm having a ball. To date, I've made four new garments, not bad for someone who would leave their machine sitting for months on end without lifting the cover off to use it.  My first non-clothing make was pyramid pattern weights; I've always wanted to make these but was never sure if I would actually use them. As you can see from the photos, I'm getting quite a bit of use out of them, but still using pins as a security measure (just humour me, pleasssee lol!)  This leafy grey georgette material from Sew Hayley Jane is being made into the Venus Kimono by Annie from Sew This Pattern.  This kimono was constructed from three large pattern pieces. All the main sewing consisted of French seams (a process I'd never tried before.) I found these very nerve-racking to complete, but after sewing a few,  I settled into the technique easily. The second technique that was new to me was a rolled hem. I found this extremely hard and fiddly, even though I was using a rolled hem foot. The foot just wanted to suck up more material which resulted in a puckering effect. The slippery material I was using didn't help one bit, but I persevered, and the result was stunning. Oh, before I forget,  if you ever get a chance to buy one of Annie's patterns, please do as they are awesome; they are fantastic to follow, they have clear instructions and are just a dream to construct. This is the first pattern I have purchased from her, and I've gone on to buy two other styles (I will blog about these soon).

And finally, I won another competition. The final photos are the prizes I received from Love Sewing Magazine. What can I say? I've already put these pieces to good use.

Have a good weekend, and I will see you in a couple of days to post some of my other makes (sewing, related of course).

Pleasant Ways to Recharge Your Body and Mind

I can't believe my last post was at the end of February!  Where has the time gone?  To be honest, I've been unbelievably busy, busy racing around for everyone else and not taking much time for me and now I kind of feel burnt out. So, the first few days of my Easter holiday have been spent lunching with my mum, lazing around and not doing very much at all, well, other than catching up with my Scheepjes Hygge Cal.  I'm about a week behind in this, but I'm not fussed as I'm taking it at my own pace and trying to get into the hygge moment. I've only started it back up again; I had to postpone it for a week after the wind caught and jammed my fingers in the garden door. Loads of blood, gore and pain and having two fingers strapped together.  You don't realise how much you need your index and middle finger until there incapacitated and bound together. My makeup looked liked I had licked and rubbed smarties on my face, my hair, well that looked like I'd been dragged through a hedge backwards and as for my writing; the words hen and scratching comes to mind.

On the crafting front,  I'm now onto the middle section or Week 7 of my Hygge Shawl.  I've just completed the Pastel colourway and half way through the Rainbow one. I'm about a week behind on this Cal but that's not too bad considering the hand injury.  As you can see from the photos I have a third colour; 'The Girls' Night In' box. I was going to start this and try and do the three shawls at the same time but I'm not going to start this one now until the other two are complete.  I just think doing all three at the same time would just become a chore, and I don't want that to happen, plus it gives me something to look forward to further down the line.  I'm also dabbling in the March edition of the Little Box of Crochet by the wonderful Amanda Bloom and her daughter Jenny.  I've been receiving these for about  4 or 5 months, I was only going to subscribe for a few, but I've decided to keep it on (a little treat to me, I know how many treats can one squirrel have lol!)

We've also started preparing for the better weather, by washing and clearing down all my clay pots. Paul thinks I'm crazy for riddling all the soil from these pots, but I did this last year, and my little garden looked gorgeous.  In the little full greenhouse, I have sown some seeds from packets and some harvested seeds from flowers last year; Sunflowers, Sweetpeas, Nasturtiums and on order are plug plants from Thompson and Morgan.  I've been using this company for a couple of years now, and I've always received fantastic service, plus they always have great deals on at this time of year. Just like last year, I don't really plan my garden it just seems to happen haphazardly.  I remember last year thinking my garden is going to be rubbish but by the summer it was in full bloom and I could hardly keep up.  Fingers crossed I achieve the same result this year. Third year in a row for looking after and maintaining my little sanctuary.

My favourite little being celebrated her 2nd Birthday in the middle of March.  You would think by two she would've have calmed down, but oh no she is still as silly and bouncy as the day we brought her home.  I am in fact talking about my little Rhodesian Ridgeback who is not so little anymore, but who does resemble a skinny giraffe. Hours of entertainment with this little one, she likes tearing through the house with bananas in her mouth, skin and all and grabbing letters while burling round and round in a circle.  She is just so crazy and in your face,  her show name certainly suits her; Walamadengie Lets be Famous. You are certainly famous to Paul and I little one, we've never met a pooch like you and I mean that in a good way.   Happy Birthday crazy little girl. 😉

xoxo xoxo

Yeeehaaaa! It's Halloween.

Today is Saturday, and I haven't moved from the couch all day. I've been knitting, playing fetch with my dog, opening squishy yarn parcels and watching Halloween films. Why? Because this week has been so hectic; I've been busy crafting since Wednesday in readiness for the nursery Halloween party.  Now, I thought about my costume a while back, and I knew for sure that I wasn't going to purchase it (past couple of years I have) as it was going to cost me a fortune, well £60 to be precise, and I thought 'Pfff! I could make it for less than that.' So I did. However, instead of starting the costume making a month ago, I did buy my hat and boots at that time, I left it to the last minute.  There I was on Wednesday night frantically cutting up cow print fabric for chaps and writing a shopping list for a man's shirt, fabric and other pieces for my O/H to purchase the following day. He meanwhile was stuck up the loft hunting through old trainer boxes looking for shoe laces for said chaps.  So you can imagine how frazzled I felt going to work on Thursday and how deflated I felt when I knew had to come home and do all the crafting again for the costumes shirt. Oh! And Paul thinking it was funny to say he had not got any of the stuff on my list. Normally I would've laughed at his little joke but being so tired I just wanted to poke him in the eye, but fortunately for him, he was driving at the time. Anyway, back to the shirt making.  As soon as I got in from work, I dumped my stuff and ran upstairs, I ripped open the bag and tried the shirt on, smart move me thinks.  Can you imagine making the whole thing and then realising the shirt is too small or too big. Then I spent half an hour staring at the yellow fabric and staring at the shirt thinking 'I'm so tired I can't do this!' Then another half an hour twisting and turning the shirt until my brain kicked in and a light bulb moment pinged in my head. I would trace the top half of the shirts collar, shoulder and arm shape and cut the fabric from the template. Only, problem I didn't have any tracing paper, so I ended up laying the fabric on the shirt and feeling my way around the seams and pinning as I went.  I even remembered (through my tiredness) to give myself a seam allowance for cutting the fabric out. Clever Squirrel! The rest of the evening was spent trying to keep my eyes open,  filling up spools of thread, cursing at my sewing machine, pricking my fingers with pins, crying at the ricrac ribbon moving around when I tried to make it into loops and lie flat and then frantically sewing on giant clown buttons.  I finally finished at 11pm; I was so tired I didn't even celebrate. All I could think as I stood in the bathroom brushing my teeth was, now I know how it feels to be a contender on The Great British Sewing Bee. Lol! After that, I collapsed into bed and conked out.

So, after all, my hard work the day of the nursery party came; I got up, showered and put on my costume.  I rushed out to the car as I didn't want my neighbours to see me.  I even managed to walk through the whole school and into the nursery without a soul seeing me. People gushed over my sewing skills, and the kids loved the outfit; I was known as Jessie from Toy Story for the whole day. And on leaving work everyone complimented me on my costume choice so I think it was a thoroughly worthwhile make all round.

                                                                            xoxo xoxo

p.s. Highlight of my day: Pixar liking my Jessie costume on Instagram.

Trying to Heal

 

The past couple of weeks has been very hard for Paul and I. We seem to cope okay when we are busy with work but as soon as we have some spare time such as days off, Chievo's passing hits us all over again, so we are trying to talk about our feelings and having a cry if we need to, just generally being there for each other. We are both still trying to find our new routines, as anyone who owns dogs will know they are a big part of the family and their needs come before yours at times. So when Paul is on shifts I'm busying myself with baking, sewing and housework; although I do hate the latter with a passion, but needs must.

On the crafting front I have been very busy, I had a clear out or rather a reorganisation of my craft area (I never throw anything away-I'm a hoarder) where I found some kits; cat and squirrel kit (to be precise) pictured, that I bought quite a long time ago. The cat embroidery was purchased from Nancy Nicholson's website. I originally started this piece on a whim, I needed something to occupy my heart, mind and hands, and this kit brought the peace I needed; the more I progressed with it, the harder it became to put it down. Now, originally I had no intention of giving this piece away, I wanted to be selfish and keep it for myself but then I thought my mum would appreciate this piece more than me, so, I gifted it to her for Mother's Day. The other piece with the squirrel, is crewel embroidery work (I nicknamed it cruel embroidery because it made my hands ache so much) it's staying with me, but it's still waiting for a frame as I'm not sure what colour the surround should be, sigh!

Finally, I celebrated my birthday right in the middle of Easter, it was a very mixed day one minute I was excited (I love my birthday and feel like a little kid) and on the other it was tinged with sadness as I wanted the one person with me that I couldn't have; my dog. However, Paul made sure that he was included by signing my card and gift labels from Paul and Chievs which made me smile. The icing on the cake though was the t-shirt with a picture of a dog on it. It took me a bit of courage to ask Paul if it was Chievs, and to my delight it was my little boy on the front wearing 3d glasses. To top it off the t-shirt had Ridgeback written on the back in orange letters; cause you see I always called Chievs my 'little orange.'