Midsummer Weekending

We were tempted to have a weekend off house building but we went to a festival last weekend so we need to keep the momentum going on our house build while there are light nights and non-rainy days. To ease the blow, we slept in the cabin, ate al fresco and tied everything in with a little kitchen building and shed demolition. It felt like a good way to please everyone.

 The early evening was warm and sunny, an ideal time to walk around the fields and catch the foxgloves. It is the first time we have slept at the cabin since last Summer. Everyone was really looking forward to it.

We had chicken on an open fire with salad. While the girls and Bloke walked to a nearby ford, I put some bananas and chocolate (yes, we are still eating chocolate rabbits from Easter!) on the dying embers. Bloke thinks they are disgusting but I was hoping Little M would get full towards the end and leave me some - she did!

Beano was exploring new areas. He is a very attentive puppy and always stays close to our legs. We did wonder what he would be like in the dog crate in the cabin but he slept soundly like us. Sometimes, contrary to the tranquil images, it is really difficult to sleep at the cabin due to animal noises, the sheep or the wind and rain. But this weekend it was perfectly quiet because the sheep were in another field and the sun shone.

The girls dragged out an old T-pee I made from a double duvet when they were little. They still enjoyed the den building aspect of putting it up and sitting in it together to eat marshmallows.

I sat at 10:30pm and watched about ten bats in the dusk catching insects from the pond. They fluttered and swooped close to me but I really liked the feeling of sitting on my own amongst them.

We all sat and watched the sun set from the cabin door, took some silly selfies in the orange sunset glow and did some grass identification with a reference book. I managed one row of crochet. Wholesome stuff folks.

Thanks for checking in. Have a good week. Jo xxxx

The Story of a Perfect Swimsuit

This is a long story - grab a cuppa or a poolside cocktail. Is it interesting? Who knows? but I thought I would share it anyway. 

I had a go at making a bikini way back in June 2016 as part of the vintage pledge challenge. There were peaks and troughs as it were in this 1960's pattern. The bottoms were totally brilliant but the top popped over my breasts when I did breaststroke in the pool! I had made the straps so short, to create support, that there was just too much tension. I like to take the positives so after one holiday I kept the bottoms and binned the top after salvaging the plastic clasp.

To ensure I could continue wearing the best fitting bottoms ever I then made a tankini top to match them, luckily I still had some of the same fabric left over. I modified the Tilly and the Buttons Fi Fi boudoir set top. I had finally cracked it and it is still in holiday-suitcase-circulation two years later.

But then I wanted a swimsuit. In Feb 2017 I tried the flojo Belle swimsuit to test their new release at the time. Again, there was mixed success. It was groundhog day;the bottom was brilliant, the midriff was marvelous, the straps were super and the top was TERRIBLE. It was so flat, there was no shaping or support and it  was really quite unflattering. I stuffed it in a box on top of the wardrobe and wore a swimsuit my mum gave me for 2018 - she didn't like it, I gave it a home.

Then by chance, I found another half started attempt at swimwear in my fabric cupboard when I was having a clear out in February. I had cut another pair of the 1960's bottoms with lining but had never sewn them up. Maybe I needed to shop for elastic or something and it fell off my radar. I don't even remember cutting them out...but in 2019 it got me thinking again.

I made them up and they were indeed as nice as the first blue pair. I hunted out the old Belle swimsuit and salvaged some fabric from it. The straps were good and there was enough front and back fabric to make a top.

I had been on a blog called cookin' and craftin' where there was a brilliant list of patterns for sewers who wanted to try incorporating twists and ties in their sewing: one of them was the Nautilus swimsuit. I took the 'plunge' and bought it. I wanted to make the full swimsuit but decided I had the opportunity to make a few fitting decisions by making just the bikini top first.

My machine didn't agree with the rubber swimsuit elastic I all ready had which ensued a month with a broken sewing machine. Although it is a super fit, some of the sewing is what you might call a sh*t sandwich. It is still wearable though and taught me a few things for my main swimsuit make.

I now had a new stripy set (by recycling the old costume, some cups from an older swimsuit and the original clasp) Keeping up?? I felt more confident about cutting out a full new Nautilus swimsuit. 

I was making my swimsuit in the week leading up to a swimsuit being made on The Great British Sewing Bee. My partly made top half was featured on the Minerva lycra swimsuit mailshot that week. It was easier to make this time because I had been through the pattern once before. It is not an easy pattern to follow but it is supported by photo tutorials on their blog which held my hand through the trickier parts. 

I now own: a tankini, a bikini and a swimsuit all made by me.

I got there in the end, it has only taken 3 years!

You can, if you think you can. Jo xxxxx

Making Stuff

I am always making stuff. My family makes stuff. It is what we do. Nothing overly exciting but here is a little round up of what we have all been making over the last week or so.

Heidi has made a rather top quality apron from a Sewing Bee apron kit which she had from Father Christmas. It has an adjustable belt, pockets and even a little label. 

Megan made some cream bars from a recipe in Pom Pom magazine. She likes making soap but these had different ingredients.

I tried one after a particularly dusty day at the farm. The shea butter, coconut oil and beeswax made for a pretty waterproof skin coating - I could have swam the channel! But my oh my it made my skin soft by the next day. I could not risk having a shower covered in it because I would have slipped over and broken a hip but relaxing in the bath was lovely. She added lavender or calendula petals to the bars.

I am on my second set of Roman Blinds. In order to make these for the new house I have taken down a pair of curtains at home to recycle the fabric. I love this woven blue check, it was from Laura Ashley 15 years ago but I really want to keep it - it seems timeless. A friend gave me a set of unwanted curtains for my home window as a stop gap so that I could take the blue ones down to recycle the fabric.

After a postage stamp quilt mention the other day a comment below said, "Don't forget to make a date label." I winced because I realised I had not made one for my king size quilt which was finished last year. My stamp quilt is a long way from this stage but I rectified the 2108 one with a little mini cross-stitch.

Nothing fancy, just my name and the date. I was sat next to Heidi who was doing a rather stunning embroidery so it seemed silly not to do it when everything was laid out next to me.

She has learnt stem stitch, back stitch, lazy daisy stitch, chain stitch and star stitch. French knots are on the horizon. I surprised myself that I remembered them enough to show her and that she is really accurate when making them.So lots of making here. A bit of this and that to keep our creative brains ticking over.

Our town has a street music festival this weekend but it is looking a little showery. We will don wellies and coats. Have a good weekend whatever you are up to.

Jo xxx

Window Plants

I have learnt a new skill. I don't need a new skill. Bloke says my hobby is having hobbies but I wanted to find a solution to not having curtains in a bathroom window.

Our new bathroom has misted glass and is not overlooked, only by sheep so I started to ponder whether making a faux blind that would never be functional was a good use of time and resources. Instead, I scouted around pinterest for some ideas and saw some marvellous macrame designs. What if I hung three trailing plants in the deep window as an alternative to fabric blinds or curtains?

While at Wonderwool in April, I chatted to my French friend Chantal and she said she had a book of designs, there was only one snag - it was in French! She said she would help me follow the instructions. By chance, as we walked around the yarn festival, I got completely over excited when I saw some Macrame kits complete with instructions, rope and metal ring. What's more, they were £6.20 per kit. I bought three. 

They are from Airdale yarns. I am pleased to report they were very easy to make and easy to adjust in size. I needed three that hung at different lengths to fit within the window recess. These hangers have given me the starting point for how I will decorate the bathroom. 

 

I just need to give some spider plants some TLC now to make them sing. Ever done Macrame? I think as a child of the 1970's, it is surprising that I have not filled my life with these before.

Jo xxxx

June...ing

Making - Another baby blanket.



Getting - A few more scraps to use for my postage stamp patchwork. Thanks Christina, some wonderful new colours. Pop over and see her June...ing post and quilt inspiration.

Baking - An apple tart which my little girl made.

Eating - A wonderful vegetarian risotto.

Building - Well, demolishing again mostly. We have taken a farm shed down which has made the house so much lighter inside.

Waxing - Worktops, doors, door frames, 88 metres
of skirting board...waxing, waxing, waxing.

Disliking - Making the children go to the house build at weekends but needs must while there are light nights and warm days. Heidi chose an afternoon nap in the sun this weekend.

Loving - The light nights.

Avoiding - Summer dresses because it is still too cold but I have a bulging wardrobe of unworn clothes.

Finding - Beano the puppy asleep in my knitting basket.

Thinking - How sad I am that one of my favourite blogs Cozy things has retired. I loved her words, her style, her knitting, her humor and her craziness to knit amazing and wonderful things through all the odds. I don't want to join instagram, I really don't, but I just want to see her sweaters...

Enjoying - Reading Yarn harlot as an antidote to missing Kristen at Cozy Things. 

Growing - Roses in the garden. There are so many all out at once.

Fixing - Nothing but so much needs fixing. Wobbly doors, peeling windows, a boiler, our shower, the washing line, the front door lintel. It is so hard to build one house and find that the one you are living in is falling apart!

 Deciding - To take a new job back in the Primary school classroom and get rid of one that has run its course. 

Looking - For wallpaper. I have never done that before, it feels like a big commitment somehow.

Feeling - Like things are moving in the right direction.

Jo xxxx

Mamma Mia

Today I am sharing a few photos of our trip to Italy. It rained a lot during the week but we were happy to all be together eating, drinking, playing cards, knitting, crocheting and visiting places.

 

Looking - at views of Capri island...just about.

Dipping - our feet in the sea at Sorrento.

Learning - about Roman life at Pompeii

Eating - Ice cream in the sunshine.

Drinking - Limoncello

Wearing - my new blouse and lots of other clothes to keep warm on a train in the mountains.

Crocheting - a summer top on a 2mm needle.

Knitting - Merino cable socks. The pattern is tucked under my hem to stop it blowing away. At one point, I also put the completed one on to keep a foot warm!

Happy Holidays but Mamma Mia the weather was rubbish. I will do my usual ing post for June but I just got lazy today and used the verb format to post a quick holiday one for my family and friends.

Thanks for checking in. Jo xxxx