October...ing

 October in our house has been a fine mix of indoor and outdoor activity. Foraging, putting the garden to bed, sewing and making of course and general small holding pursuits.

Foraging - these parasol mushrooms for a tasty soup.

Matching - our salad to the weekly vase of flowers. There are carnations I grew from cuttings, scabious, dahlias and a few more choice stems.

Arranging - home grown flowers for Harvest Supper. I do love a bit of flower arranging.

Curating - some of my fabric scraps into ready cut garments. There becomes a stage where there are more scraps than I can mentally deal with. A good old cutting out session matching pieces with like-minded companions, committing to cutting them out and bagging them up ready to sew feels like a big step forward.

Watching - the changing view during October. It is the best time to look out of our kitchen window and appreciate where we live.

Celebrating - My youngest becoming a teenager with a death by chocolate cake decorated in mint aero. It was requested. I delivered. 

Catching - a few rainbows this month. Some of them were absolute screamers.

Collecting - conkers. I don't know why. Meg does it every year. She marvels at the texture and colour and then I find them all mouldy in her room about two months later. That is how it has worked here for 13 years.

Scooping - up tonnes of crab apples. It was a full on family job. We all had aching backs afterwards but they are in the sheep field. Now, sheep can eat the odd apple or two but too many is not good for them and you just can't trust sheep not to gorge themselves on something that is right there under their noses.

Putting - the greenhouse to bed. I picked the last few tomatoes this week and have swept through. The pots, troughs and sinks have all been emptied.  I started off two years ago with the three geraniums at the back, took four successful cuttings last year and this year I have taken 24 more. Hopefully these can then go back into the Belfast sinks at the front of the house next summer.

Finishing - off with my two latest Autumn makes. A cosy Paige Hoodie by Chalk and Notch and a refashioned skirt made from a rather unsuccessful dress attempt.

A very brown and orange post today but a reflection of the Autumnal season I feel. Thanks for stopping by. Jo xxx

Sewing with a purpose

Even though my job is to sew samples and make clothes for myself, sometimes I am commissioned to make things I am not sure about. If I think of someone in mind when I make an item of clothing, it helps me to feel focused on the project.

 

This is the Tilly and the Buttons Lyra dress which I made for my friend Hannah. I already had one and I didn't want to video myself making another one which I knew I would not wear. The colour looks amazing on her. The fabric is called pop cheetah.

I have also made an unusual top for myself which I was not sure about. The sleeves, although beautiful are completely impractical. Who wants a top that would impinge access to a buffet? It would be fine for some people's lifestyles but for me, I am too messy. After making the video to show its construction, I altered the sleeves and it has a really wearable shape now. This fabric is called Shingle path but when I wear it, I like to think I am a really tall giraffe -in my dreams - I am 5"3!

I made a wrap skirt for my mum which was fun in a large print fabric called Herbal Halo.

Sometimes I make clothes just for myself, no work or pay required. This is a Tee from my favourite quick sew pattern Newlook 6217. I also did a tutorial on how to make the headband and I love wearing this little combo.

Now, a dress I do like is the Stevie dress again from Tilly and the Buttons. So easy to sew and wear, it is one of my favourite styles at the moment especially as I knock on a bit and wonder where my waist has gone!

  

Thanks for checking out my little round up. I wonder who will be my next victim/recipient?!

 

Jo xxxxxx

Nevertheless she persisted

 After eight months of struggling with tennis elbow, my arm is easing up a bit and it has allowed me to knit again in very short bursts. I have been setting the timer on my phone and trying a few rows a night. It has in fact helped me to get my dexterity back in my right hand which had really gone to pot. 

I have been using my left hand so much over the last year that I kept dropping things when I used my right hand because the muscles had not been receiving signals from my brain to use it in a fine motor capacity.

Aaannnyywayyy, the punchline is that I have completed my One and Done shawl which is a free pattern from ravelry for using up a single skein of sock yarn. I can't say that I would recommend the layout of the instructions but it is interchangeable and you can mash up the sections however you like which is what I have done here.

The yarn was purchased at Wonderwool in April. It was hard to buy yarn when I knew that I could not get stuck into it straight away but I really loved the green colourway.

This shawl needs an essential blocking to reveal the dropped stitch ladders. It is not perfect, there are a few knobbly stitches here and there but it served a purpose to get me gently back on the needles just in time for the nights drawing in. 

Unheard of for me but this year I have only finished one started shawl and crocheted a necklace. That's it. I have an unfinished tank top left now which I started in May. That is next on my 'gentle' list.

Hope you like it. Jo xxxx

A teeny ray of hope

 After not being able to crochet with a painful elbow for eight months I have tried my hand at a little crochet just to get me started again. I have made many of these necklaces with buttons, beads or a combination of both which have been gifted as birthday presents in the past. 

This one was for me. The pattern is free from ravelry and is super easy. They are never quite the same as the pattern but it is a good starting point.

Hopefully this teeny project will mean I can start yarning again for Autumn. 

Fingers crossed. Jo xxxxx

Keep it going

 My gardening post this month is in the stages of petering out in the veg plot. It has been hard to keep everything efficiently watered but I am still calling it a success. 

The runner beans are still producing beans which we try and eat as we pick them although I have frozen quite a few batches. They need constant picking to keep them going. The French beans were OK to start with and then a rogue guinea fowl kept getting in and eating them. In the end they were little sticks in the ground but I had a good amount before he (?) got to them.

The tomatoes have been OK. Not as many as last year because the plants looked so stressed under the heatwave conditions but the ones we did have were fantastic. The variety is called Marmande. It has an orange flesh, hardly any seeds and the sweetest flavour. 

We have picked our fifth cucumber. The cucumbers seem to have faired better than anything else in the hot greenhouse. For fear of sounding like a right old woman, they taste like cucumbers used to taste! This is my last little pick before I tidy down in the greenhouse for winter.

Even my courgettes were a bit slow and let's face it, if you grow veg, you can grow copious amounts of courgettes. I do have my ego to blame here through because I let one grow to a huge weight to win a veg category at our village show which slowed the plant down and discouraged further fruits to appear - lesson learnt!

The best part of the veg patch has been the fruit. In total we had 7.5kg of strawberries and we are in the midst of a raspberry fest from the Autumn raspberries. It always feels such a great thing to grow because they are so expensive in the shops. I have had so many that I even made a batch of wine. That colour :)

Success has also been huge with my sweet pea fence. In some respects I created a monster which needed constant picking in order to keep it going but it smells sooooo good.

The rest of the floral garden is going well. I tried on my initial plan for the garden planting to ensure that there would be interest all year round. My flower vase which has been on my table since I put daffodils in it in March has been a constant show of what has been flowering week in week out. This week we have moved from the purple of the sweet peas to warm oranges. 

More alstromeria, dahlias and fennel this week.

These cranberry cosmos are destined for next week's vase.

In Beth's Wedding field she has the most amazing dahlias. Nothing like the kind of thing I grow. Huge colourful heads of all shapes and sizes for weddings and events. Sometimes she pops in the studio with a stem that has broken off too short for a bouquet and I stare at the shape of the petals in wonder. She arrived with these two beauties exclaiming they were too yellow for the wedding order. Yes please! The huge one is called cafe au lait.

I think I can keep the lettuce production going for a little while longer and then I will put the whole lot to bed soon.

 Did you folks grow anything good this year?

Jo xxxxx

September...ing

September has been a month so far of harvesting and preserving. I know this kind of activity is a rarity nowadays but I love the way it punctuates my year and reminds me of my farming grandparents. So here goes...

Picking - Autumn Bliss raspberries. The canes are only one year old and last year we had a few but now we are picking a bowl full every night. I have made raspberry vodka, jam, muffins, pavlova... you name it, we are eating raspberries with it.

Receiving - some specimen stems from my flower growing friend every few days. These are the 'seconds' that don't quite make it to a bridal bouquet but always make it to my window cill.

Taking - a photo of a bee on one of her dahlias. It is dahlia central round here. 

Collecting - apples from lots of my neighbours. I purposefully did not plant a cooking apple tree when I chose my fruit trees because there are always plenty to be had.

Processing - is the only way I can describe using this round courgette that I missed when picking. I had a cooking session and made courgette and apple chutney, courgette cake and then soup. All delicious.

Filling - my table vase with this week's garden blooms from my own garden. I have cosmos, roses, dill, kanutia, gaura and the most beautiful snap dragons.

Deciding - to step away from the sewing machine for a while. I sewed for 7 hours yesterday for work and the sitting position made me a bit stiff today. I went for a good walk up a hill with my dog. 

Returning - to a small bit of knitting. After suffering with tennis elbow for eight months I can feel it easing a bit lately. I have been strict with myself and done 2 rows a night for the last two weeks. This curly caterpillar needs a good blocking to turn it into a butterfly of a shawl. 

Fixing - the handles on my favourite knitting bag which I bought in the South of France a few years ago. It looks as good as new with new handles.

Starting - a craft group in our local hall. The village requested that the hall be used more often so we have been meeting every week. I have taught four neighbours to crochet!

Sewing - up some lovely things which are all secret for Minerva but always keeping my hand in with our day to day wants and needs. At the weekend I made eight pairs of knickers for my girl. It started out as a lockdown need thing and now she won't wear shop ones!

Brewing - lots of homemade wine. I have bottled rhubarb and strawberry, blackberry, raspberry and bloke has had a go at cider. It may be getting slightly competitive!

Waiting - for the damsons one or two days more. We picked a few which are good for eating but the softer ones are better for wine. I am hoping to get my plum port brew on. It won at the local show but I have a habit of never being able to quite recreate the same wine twice. 

Leaving - you with the view as always. Life is treating me kindly.

Thanks for dropping in. Jo xxxxx