Octobering

Enjoying - the slow season change this year. Nothing to harsh or nasty all in one go; a slow wind down into Autumn.

Wearing - my new autumn inspired shirt in a plum colour cotton lawn.

Celebrating - The youngest's birthday with a Death by Chocolate Cake from her new cookbook 'Jane's Patisserie'. Meg had followed this blog for a long time and asked her Nanny to get her the book. We had a kind of 'Bake Off' moment where we sat watching it cool down and were too impatient for it to do that properly. We iced it anyway and the icing melted and oozed out of the sides. Luckily, it was in the fridge during this process so it set at a funny angle. Who cares? It was the most delicious cake Meg has ever made.

Hanging - from a harness at Go Ape in the Wyre Forest as a birthday treat. We all went on it so we only have terraferma photos!

 Using - my Jamie Oliver 30 minute meals recipe book. I love it because obviously it takes around 30 mins to make a great meal but the best thing is there are a range of side dishes I would never have thought of which include lots of veg. This is a broccoli pasta sauce ( I may have been a bit more liberal with the other veg there) accompanied by melon and prosciutto ham salad with a strawberry smoothie dessert. It was a big family hit.

Buying - some re-usable plastic straws which you can slide open and wash easily in light of this smoothie hit.

Loving - my new vase. I saw it in an antique shop for £8 and thought that the short 14cm height would be perfect for home grown flowers which often have shorter stems than shop ones. Modern vases are either too wide in the neck and leave a big hole in the middle or are really narrow and make the flowers stand to attention. 

Being - blown away by a rainbow I saw over our house on Tuesday!

Patching - THE jeans. Yes, they are still going...

Finishing - a huge pile of log cutting ready for colder days. Bloke has really relished this task over the last few weekends.

Pulling - up most of the Cosmos and courgettes to give the garden a general tidy before it all gets really slimey. 

Teaching - my eldest how to skin a pheasant. I appreciate that this photo and concept isn't for everyone but it is important for us to use what we have and not waste anything.

Slogging - it out making curtains. I hate making curtains, however my friend has a stock trailer and I have a sewing machine. He took my sheep to market and I have made his curtains. Sometimes that is how things work.

Mucking - out the studio. It had all gone a bit feral in there but normal floor space has been resumed.

Watching - the views as ever from our back door. 

Thanks for dropping by. Are you enjoying the changing season?

Jo xxxxx

Young Stitchers

Today I would like to show you some needlework from my young stitchers. It was our village produce show over the summer bank holiday weekend and there was a handicraft class. I put in a crocheted blanket and came third but I was pipped to the post by my youngest and her demon stitchery who came second. The first prize went to a beautiful fair isle knitted hat with the most complex pattern.

They both picked up some embroidery this past week that they had started a while back and used the show as a bit of a finishing target.

Aren't they fabulous? They also do this thing that I have in no way modelled where they won't start a new thing until they have finished the last! Little M completed a cactus cross stitch but chose one of her hoops from earlier in the year to enter.

She is back on a new embroidery now...

Big girl has started an epic elephant cross stitch which will be wonderful. Look at her little magnetic needle minder, isn't it fab? Both the cross stitch kits and the magnets were sent as much appreciated gifts from their auntie.

We are getting quite a gallery above the inglenook of their endeavors. All of these were completed by the girls except the big one on the easel which is mine from about 23 years ago. 

In the end I won show champion because I entered loads of our veg, fruit, jam and baking. It was all a bit of beginners luck, that and I entered nearly everything which seemed to be a good strategy!

Our last week before the new school year starts which will be a big one for youngest as she starts secondary school. All very exciting... Jo xx

August...ing

Making - fleecy PJ's for my girl even though it is August.

Selling - our house! Only showed round one person with it on the market for five weeks. We will be moving to our smallholding very soon.

De cluttering - every cupboard and drawer in the house. The dross, honestly. This is the contents of the pine kitchen dresser drawers.

Building - our carpets are now fitted at the new house. I laid all the underlay and gripper rods myself. The guy said I put a lot of carpet fitters to shame!

Admiring - this local garden. I walk past it every day with the dog and get to peep over the wall. It gets better and better: phlox, hollyhocks, verbascum, mallows and yarrow.

Watering - two neighbours gardens while they are away with permission to pick what we can eat.

Making - beetroot chutney with the above: beetroot, apples and onions.

Eating - down the freezers so we can move them whilst still continuously filling them with courgette soup!

Revamping - my grans Victorian cabinet with Orla Keily gift wrap and PVA glue.

Knitting - the boring grey bit of my alpaca sweater but it is so soft to handle. I probably manage about two rows a night of mindless but comforting knitting. There are always socks when the mood takes me.

Saving - a beautiful quality M&S T-shirt with a vintage doily I bought in France 4 years ago. I got a huge grease stain right in the middle of my top but I've covered it with this little beauty.

Celebrating - having a teenager in the house with this awesome red velvet cake made by her sister. It was a faff but totally worth it even with the ermine icing. She coloured it with beetroot powder and added freeze dried raspberries as a topping with rose petals and fresh raspberries in the layers. Just divine!

  

Feeling - a little bit overwhelmed.

Thanks for dropping by. Enjoy the sunshine. Jo xxx

Ahoy there!

Just sewing along at the end of week 8. It was my little girls time for a new something. I could tell she was getting a bit green with envy sat on the sidelines watching me make everyone else clothes. I said she could have first pick out of my new Ottobre magazine when it arrived in the post.

This fabric was a gift from Christina at A colourful life, she didn't need it and was having a clear out a while back. Thank you my friend. Meg loves blue so she snapped it up, it was the perfect fabric to use right now.

The Ottobre magazine I bought was in French - I didn't mean it to be but I must have clicked the wrong one on the drop down list. Anyway with a little French and an understanding of how most things fit together, it worked out well.



The pattern is called Olive star which is actually a dropped waist dress but when she put it on she didn't like it, usual behaviour from this one. I made this however after my Bettine dress so I used the same elasticated waist technique from that adult dress to add a waist to this one. Problem solved.

This pattern is easily adapted to a T-shirt which is next on her wish list but I am out of jersey.

We rummaged through the motif pile and found a funky strawberry which she liked and I did a lot of swearing with a popper tool before deciding on buttons for the shoulders.

One happy customer! Thanks for dropping in. 

Jo xxxxx

Maxing Out

We get a great deal of our clothes from my network of friends. Every season or so a bag of clothes arrives from either my friend who has three girls older than mine or from another two friends who send us stuff too. Eventually when we have finished with them, we pass them on to younger children. It works for us all: it is cheap, sustainable and fun.

In a bag that came to us this summer was an M&S maxi dress aged 9/10yrs. Megan will not wear spagetti straps or a full length dress but she loved the butterfly fabric so we popped it on the refashion pile 2 months ago.

Firstly, I made a skirt using the shirring chest as a comfy waistband. I cut off the straps and folded it over to make two layers. Make sure you use a stretch stitch to sew this down to allow the shirring to continue doing its job. I used a zig zag on 0.5 width and 3.0 length. Hemmed, there was a skirt before my very eyes!

With the remaining piece I really wanted to use the maximum amount of fabric so I made a peasant top. Megan loves these and wears them on their own or with a long sleeved T-shirt underneath.

I squeezed one out using pattern pieces from an Ottobre pattern. I managed to get the length by using the original maxi dress hem. Recycling to the very end, I used one spagetti strap to make a bow for the front.

I don't know if she will ever get to wear them together but as two pieces from one unwanted dress it was very successful.

That left over fabric pile is getting smaller. The spare room of a crazed sewing woman!

 Have a good week whatever you are up to. Jo xx