Holiday

I'm going away for a short break and have been busy sorting outfits. I can only take a very small suitcase with me so I have to pack carefully. Here are the outfits:

Outfit 1:

This outfit is my new brown cords (that I have been working on this week), they are pleated at the top and three quarter length with turn-ups. The cream top with peach, dusky pink and red small flower pattern was made last year. You can't see clearly from the photo but there is a faux suage and fur hooded bolero that I made about three years ago from an old coat that my daughter had, Now that its turned a bit chilly I have added the gold scarf and gloves that I knitted last autumn and o course the outfit is completed with a Fairysteps belt and boots.

Outfit 2:
A pair of denim blue skinny jeans made four years ago and a new cream jersey fabric top that I made this morning when I had the sewing machine out fiishing the cord trousers. As the top only has three quarter length sleeves I have added the rose arm warmers that I made recently and a velvet and silk scarf that I made from remnants years ago. Once again the outfit is completed with Fairysteps boot and belt.

Outfit3:

This outfit is a very long olive jersey skirt that I made a few weeks ago but didn't get round to blogging. The cream shirt was made about four years ago and used to be a long tunic top, but got reincarnated as a shirt last year. The olive and purple neckwarmer also featured in an earlier blog. Another Fairysteps belt completes the look (and the brown boots from the first picture.

Lastly I shall take a few of my home crafted bags. A brown tweed bag with a long strap that is one of my favourites and was made at least five years ago and a huge bag (made from an old curtain before a holiday last year). The large bag is needed to hold my projects that I'm taking with me.

Must dash now as I still have things to do before I go.

In progress

Dispite having a sticking bad cold, I have started the teal cardi, well more of a sleaveless bodywarmer type thing really. Its a really chunky yarn and I'm knitting it up in reverse stocking stitch with a cable up the front. It's knitted in one piece, split for the armholes, then I shall finish the shoulder seams with a three needle cast off and pick up the armhole edging with a circular needle and rib a few rows. Then pick up the sitches round the neck edge and make a hood (continuing the cable design). It will have a single closure at the neck, but I can't quite decide if this should be a button or a kilt pin ar something else.

I have also been making some prototype material slippers. My friend at work had a pair that she bought ages ago that were nearly falling to pieces and she asked if I could make something similar. So I had a bash. These are prototype No. 2, and still not quite right but they are getting there - and are currently on my feet. I took prototype No.1 into my friend on Thursday and she didn't take them off her feet all day. Not bad for a first effort.
I think I have worked out the next set of 'adjustments' but I have got to find the time to make prototype No. 3 to see if they are better. I doubt I will get time this week as I am going away on Friday (to brothers in Devon) and really want to make a new pair of trousers before I go. I have this lovely peice of brown and a new pattern I know I said no more brown - but it goes with so much stuff that I have). Hopefully will be able to cut out this weekend. I won't be able to have Sewing Sunday as I have other things to do, but I will try to make time during the week (in the evenings) to do the sewing.

busy bee

I have been busy this weekend. It stared with baking bread and ended with making pumkin risotto. In between bags were made, dogs were walked, Chill jam was made along with spicy apple cake and rock cakes. And there was even time to go to the new theatre in Aylesbury on Saturday evening to see a show called 'Circus Hillarious. I was a bit dubious, but it was very funny.

Here are a few pictures of what I have achieved

now to do the boring stuff - ironing, making beds and tidying.

Next week I hope to show my plans for my next knit ( a teal jumper) and a skirt that I plan to revamp to go with it.

Sold my soul...

Last week I heard about people in their late thirties/early forties having mid-life crisis'. I am begining to wonder if I'm having one. First there is all this bag selling stuff. I was brought up very strictly to view craft activities as nothing but a hobby, and even though I don't expect to make much/any money selling bags I somehow feel that I have betrayed this upbringing.

Then something worse happened. I have worn glasses since I was 8. I am very shortsighted with a prescription in the region of -9.00 (if that means anything to anyone). Apart from a brief dabbling in contact lenses when I was in my late teens I always had glasses. i like glasses even though the thick convex lenses make my eyes look small and the heaviness often makes them hurt my nose. Glasses are a part of me. I went for my annual opticians visit, and as always complained about headaches and as usual I was told it was because of the strength of my lenses - the glasses only had to get knocked or slip a little and I'm not looking through the correct part of the lens. They always tell me this and always offer me contact lenses. I always refuse because of the extra environmental impact and the chemicals used. However this time I said 'yes' to a trial.

So now I have lenses, and the optician was right I haven't been getting so many headaches. Everyone I know says how nice I look without my glasses. They can see my eyes (which I have now started to enhance with a little bit of make-up) and my eyes are large/a lovely shape etc. Son (aged 14) paid me a back handed compliment after I had had them about three days by saying he didn't notice before because I didn't lok weird!. This week I have to go back for a check and say 'yes' or 'no' to keeping the lenses. If I keep the lense, I'll feel that I have sold out on my principle's and if I don't keep the lenses I have to go back to having headaches and a sore nose from the heaviness of the glasses.

Everyone else is more sure than I am

Well I'm not sure how to put this, but I started an Etsy shop. I'm not quite sure what has pocessed me to do this right now, and as you can tell from this blog I am far from certain about the whole thing. I know I should be more positive, but I'm not quite sure that the world is ready for me or perhaps I'm not ready for the world. However I have been talking about selling bags for over three years and I have sold my bags before, but only to people I know. But everyone has more or less told me to stop procrastinating and get on with doing it.

The first three items are listed - all upcycled bags. I'm not sure that they will sell on Etsy (I'm still having problems with the pictures), but several people I work with are interested in them. Tomorrow I start on my real designs. I am going to take the three designs that over the years have been most popular and make several colourways in each.

Anyway without further ado here are some images of the first three items.

Before I forget, my Etsy shop is called BuckinghamGirl

Pumpkins and presents

Here are the pumkins, and thats not quite all of them. Rain delayed collection of the final few, and I couldn't quite fit them all into this picture (even though I stood on a wall to take it). Most of them will be given away or sold to raise money for the allottments - where some of them were grown.

As usual I eagerly await the next seasonal product and then after a few weeks of eating nothing but it, I'm heartily sick of it. However it's the start of the pumkin season and I eagerly spent my afternoon making the season's first pumpkin pie and stuffed pumpkin (stuffing mix made with lentils and chilli's and tomatoes - we have a glut of the later two items as well).

Enough of pumpkins, now for the presnts.

The slippers for mum are finished and have been completed with a crochet edging and crochet butterflies, I was going to add flowers but daughter said that she thought it should be butterflies. (there are two slippers but could only get the butterfly if I photographed from the side.)


There was pleny of yarn leftover and so I made a pir of fingerless gloves and matching scarf for a birthday present.




and here's the birthday card

Must add a little thank you here to daughter for being a hand and foot model for the gloves and slippers in the above pictures.

gloves and in-progress

Here are my finished fingerless gloves and snood.

And here is the first 'in-pogress' present. It's a pair of slippers for my mum's birthday - I can say that as I know she doesn't follow this.

.

Late result

Sorry this is a bit late, but here is the result of my sewing sunday efforts - The black hooded and belted short cape. It ended up being photographed whilst 'modelled' by an office chair! But it doesn't look too bad, the picture doesn't show clearly that it is fully lined and the hood lining is a rather lovely paterned ctton (and there's enough left for a blouse).

I'm just darning in all the ends on the intarsia rose gloves, and hope to post them early next week , along with the matching cowl.

I have also completed my list of presents to make, so these should be appearing on the blog in the next few weeks as well, minus any mention of the recipient of course - just in case some of them look in.

Of bags and berries

Here's a picture of the bag I made my friend. She was thrilled with it.

and these are the blackberries and elderberries that we collected on Friday lunchtime when we went on an impromtu berry collection , unfortunately we were only armed with my rather small lunchbox so the cache wasn't huge. They are now safely stowed away in my Freezer with a few that were collected last week. When I have a few more I will make my blackberry, elderberry and apple jelly - if I can get it to set. I think the vibes are all wrong in my house this year, none of my jam is setting well. Even the apple and ginger jelly that I made earlier hasn't set properly and that always sets.

I'm just about to order some lining fabric. I'm planning to make a walking cape from some thick black coat fabric that I was given a few years ago. There isn't much of it but I have had the cape pattern quite a few years (at one time I made a tartan version!) and I suddenly realised that there was enough black material to make a cape, but I don't have any lining so I will need to buy some. I have found a zip salvaged from a fleece top about four years ago and some buttons from an old cardi, so the lining is all I will need to buy.

Oh I nearly forgot to add that I had my hair cut into a neat 1920's style layered graduated bob. It had been getting quite long and with the 'new' wavy hair I was beginnng to resemble Crystal Tips. The cut was suposed to help me make it lie straight like it used too, but I can only acheive this with hairdryers and straightener's - neither of which I use (and I don't even own straigtheners). So my hair is still wavy and is now a little bit to short, but quite cute and very me!

Sewing Sunday and Monday!

I've spent a restful weekend sewing. I finished a rather boring coffee coloured jersey dress and then decided to liven it up with some crochet. I've been planning a top like this all summer and it jst didn' happen until now. I've also dug out some of my more autumny clothes (from the suitcase in the loft) and given them a wash and lne dried them. Mental note to self whilst ironing, not to make anything else in brown. I also made a rather cute little bag for a good friend of mine at work, who has been very encouraging recently and deserves a little treat. I'll post the picture tomorrow, after I have given here the bag - just in case she reads this blog.

Knitted items and future plans

Here's a quick knit cowl that I made last week. My mum bought me the yarn when she was staying with my brother in Bovey Tracey (he lives there). So whilst mum was staying with me I knitted it up so that she could see what it had become.

As son has broken his big toe, he can't walk far so we aren't going anywhere this Bank Holiday weekend, so I'm planning to use the time to finish off some projects that are in progress. I'm off to get the sewing machine out as soon as I have finished doing this.

I'm also knitting a rather lovely pair of fingerless gloves from the new Rowan book. They have intarsia roses on the arms, here's a sneak preview of the first glove.

black top

Well it's been a while, and I can't even claim to have been very busy crafting but I'm starting again with this rather simple project. I had a plain black long sleeved hooded t-shirt that I made last year. It was very boring so I transformed it. I used an image of my wonderful boots (thanks Ren) transferred onto iron-on image paper and material and sequined lace from an old bolero that was wonderfully pretty but didn't actually fit. The lace went round the hood and the cuffs and I frayed the dark burgundy lining fabric and transferred the image onto it before sewing to the top and embellishing with beads. I even changed the sides of the top with some chiffon to make a handkerchief hemline.



and a close up of the front

Card Making

I've had a terrible head cold for the last few days. It's slowly clearing, but I have been very bunged up and can't breathe properly. I spent the time making a load of cards, I have so many birthday's and thank-you cards to send in the next few weeks, I thought I needed to make a start. I do buy the card blanks mostly due o lack of time to make my own from card. I sometimes buy backing papers to make the cards more 'interesting' and about once a year I buy a new cardmaking magazine to spark a few more ideas and stop me getting stale. I also find a lot of the mag's give freebies which are quite useful and you can cut out pictures to use on cards. Apart from this I recycle old cards and any other bits of 'scrap' paper, fabric, ribon etc. So here they are:

These ones are (from left to right) a thank you card for my son's teacher, a birthday card for my friend, a thank you card for my child-minder and a birthday card for my brother - thats the 'boot' at the front.

and this one's for my daughter's friend, who is eleven (could you guess!!!)

and it's a shame this one has come out so dark because its for my pretty little neice who will soon be four.

It's not bad what you can achieve with a bit of card some glue and scraps and a spare evening!!

Feeling blue

Finally here is the picture of my lovely daughter wearing the blue top and culottes that I made for her. On this occasion she had been to the football presentation, she plays goal or defense in a local girls footie team. She was presented with the clubgirl of the year presentation and was thoroughly embarrassed about going on stage to collect it.

The next time she wears the outfit it will be to the school leavers prom. She's in year 6 and leaves her primary school in July. Personally I think the whole 'Prom' thing is a bit OTT for 11 year olds, especially the amount of money some people spend on the dresses and getting the girls hair 'done etc. Although I guess it's a good excuse for the girls to dress up (those that like to!). Anyway daughter will wear this outfit, it has navy velvet bolero to go over the top if it's a chilly evening and a hair band that matches. As daughter has scalp dermatitis which forms crusts that stick her hair together, she doesn't like going to the hair dresser so I usually do it. But my friends eldest daughter has trained as a hair dresser and used to cut my daughters hair. My friends daughter broke the zip of a rather expensive dress when she went out the other day, so I'm going to replace the zip in return for a free haircut for my daughter before the day of the prom. It seems a good deal to me.

Mum's skirt

Finally here's the skirt I made to cheer my mum up as she is so ill at the moment. It's in her favourite purpley colours and has an adjustable waist so it should fit her even though she's lost so much weight. The picture was taken rather hurredly before I had to pack it up to send to mum. She's phoned me up and says she loves it.

I'm planning to make a short sleeved top with the remaining flowery fabric.

Hello, I'm back

Sorry no photo's but I have been away from this for too long. I managed to get myself really stressed last week and give myself a migraine that I didn't really shake off until Tuesday. But I'm up and running again now and should have some lovely picture's of my blue dress and crochet cardi (now finished) and a fab skirt I made for my mum to cheer her up as she's still poorly. Also my daughter in her 'posh' top and culottes at the fotball presentation.

Hair again

I wanted to do an update on my hair. As mentioned in an earlier blog I have more or less always hated my straight fine limp hair, especially as my brother is blessed with the curliest hair ever so that it forms natural ringlets - I have always been so jealous of this (and his long dark eyelashes!!). In a final attempt to like my hair in it's chin length bob and allow it to grow to shoulder length rather than the cropped, I decided to stop using shampoo and use bicarbs and cider vinegar. It took a couple of weeks for it to settle down during which time it looked a bit greasy and then got a bit dry. I only use the bicarbs about once a week and this has stopped the dryness and in between I either wash with just the cider vinegar rinse or plain water. As we have loads of eggs at the moment I indulged in an egg hair mask on Saturday. I just mixed it up and rubbed it into my hair after I had washed it with bicarbs, it was a bit gloopy but I've used gloopier things that have been bought in pots. The I lay back in the bath and relaxed for a while, before rinsing it out and finishing off with the vinegar rinse and a blast of cold water from the shower. I couldn't have got better results from my hair if I had used heaps of specially formulated products. My hair definitely has lots more volume, although I often tie it back for work as in the pictures from last week. I can't claim that my hair has gone curly, but if I brush it before washing and just leave it to dry after washing it certainly has more movement than before, which I am not displeased about. It's more shaggy than wavy but any natural movement in my hair is an improvement. I'll get a picture next sometime during the week as the kids are away now there's no-one to take a picture.

Thursday

As per last blog, I got a little bit behind with everything and I seem to have completely missed Wednesday because I didn't have anyone to take a picture. Here's one I took of myself in the mirror in the ladies. It's a bit weird taking a picture there but it was a bit of fun taking a picture of myself.

Oh I'm sorry I didn't complete the blog posts for last week, my mum's been ill. She's had diverticular disease for some time and just keeps losing weight. She's now retired and I think that she may be a bit depressed, we went out for a meal today and she was talking about how she had chosen the coffin she wanted. It's all most upsetting and I'm not sure what to do, because she would never admit to being depressed. My kids have gone to visit her this week, along with my brother and his wife and daughter (she's only 4) and I'm hoping that this will cheer her up, but I don't think it will solve the problem long term. She should go to the doctor, but she won't and so thing just keep getting worse. I need to sort something out but she doesn't live close enough for me to cook for her or pop round every day so I need another solution.

Tuesday

Sorry today's picture doesn't really do me any favours. The trouble is now I have to get son to take the pictures and to say he's not very enthusiastic is an understatement. Any way todays ensemble is some linen trousers made eight years ago a top that I bought as a sundress about four years ago. I bought it on impulse because I liked the material and as a dress it looked awful on me, so it was turned into a top and the little cardi thing is knitted from a patern in Ravelry http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/anthropologie-inspired-capelet

I always amazes me how two people knitting essentially the same pattern in the same yarn can produce quite different items. I admit I did make some changes to the pattern so that I could knit it with the two yarns that I had available and as I didn't have a button I made a crochet flower closure. My friend also knitted one of these, she used the same type of yarn, but hers was a sort of 'teddy' brown colour and she had a georgeous large button for hers. She also adapted the pattern to make hers longer (I would probably have done this as well but I had a very limited amount of the yarn).

Monday - My week in clothes, day 1

Here is the little sundress made from the skirt and white shirts yesterday. It turned out well considering the skirt was only made from remnants of material in the first place (two of which were curtain fabric). I made the belt about five years ago from some leftover fake suade that I had made place mats from.

I also finished the crochet cardi yesterday, but more on that later in the week. As daughter has gone away for most of this week I won't have to share the computer so much and so I have decided to do something that I wanted to do when I started this blog. I want to blog 'My week in clothes' and put a picture of what I am wearing on the blog everyday this week.

ou may notice my sandals in the above picture these were made by the lovely Ren, they are an absolute favourite when it's hot like today. You can find them on the following link
http://www.fairysteps.co.uk

I keep promising myself another pair, but I just can't decide on the colour!

It's now so hot I needed another sun dress. I remembered an old skirt I had made with some remnants about six years ago. I loved the skirt and had kept it although the top tiers which were made of lilac linen had faded terribly. I found two old white school shirts that my son had grown out of and a pretty hanky and some ribbon that matched. I have taken the top two teirs off the skirt and cut out the white shirts for the top of the sun dress. I'm hoping to sew it up later and wear it tomorrow.

I've also made good progress on the special outfit for my daughter, the top is finished. It just needs a good press and the culottes are nearly done. They just need hemming and a waist band. Daughter's away this week so I will hopefully have it finished for when she returns, in case of last minute adjustments. She needs the outfit for a football presentation evening on 5 June, and both children are visiting Granny the week before the presentation so next weekend will be the only time for adjustments (what will I do without the children for a whole week!!!!).

Sorry about the pictures being sideways, they show alright when I view them in my picture gallery but somehow when I upload them they revert to being sideways!!

Painting

I've been having a few technical hitches with the photo's but these are fixed now. Meanwhile, I have been decorating the conservatory. I use this room a lot as my workroom as the light is so good, but it does get a bit (lot) untidy, so I gave it a good springclean. I cleaned the windows, washed the blinds and repainted the few bits of wall that it has. I also sorted out the furniture something that I have been meaing to do for about a year. Last year a friends mum died and he asked me if I wanted her sewing box, so I said yes. It contained quite a few treasures, but the box itself was an old oak veneer type which didn't really go with the other furniture in the conservatory (or anywhere in my house). So I have finally painted the box and stencilled roses on the front. It now houses sewing paterns in the actual box, knitting and crochet patterns on the shelf below and there is a little draw that now contains my knitting needles.



I put up a shelf to house some of the items I have glass painted over the years and also to hang the picture my daughter made me when she was recovering from appendicitis.


And remember the dress in the last blog, well when I finished it I still had some material left that I had cut off the skirt - from the skirt itself and the lining. I combined these with a few other bits of material, some ribbon (from the shrug) and some lace that I inherited from my nan and had two new cushion covers for my chair.



I'm really rather pleased with the finished look, but I do wonder how long it will stay tidy once I start sorting out the materials for new projects.

I'm just starting on a posh top and culottes for my daughter, she has a presentation evening and a ball to go to in the next few months, but she refuses to wear a dress so I've sorted out a top and culottes pattern for her. They will take some adapting as the smallest size they go to is a womans size 10, my daughters only eleven and so doesn't really quite fit into womans sizes yet. I have some nice blue taffeta that was given to me many years ago by my mother-in-law, it's electric blue which is a really suits my daughters colouring (and also appeals to her hatred of anything to 'girly' as it's not pink!). As she has quite short hair, I'm trying to convince her to let me make a covered alice band with a little bow to match, but I'm still working on that one.

Party Frock

I've been wanting to share this for a while as I was very pleased with the result. In January my work had a big 'do' and I needed a party frock. I didn't really want to spend much money so I started looking round charity shops. I found a lovely dusky pink long dress - it looked like it might have been a bridesmaid's dress. It fitted me a treat but had a stain on the front, the lady in the shop said it would need to be dry cleaned. I looked at the material and reckoned it could go in the mashing machine and as it was cheap (because of the stain) I bought it. I put it in the washing machine on cold setting and it came out beautifully, it didn't shrink, tear or have any other ill effects and the stain was gone. So I set about making my alterations. I chopped it to above knee length and drew in the bottom with elastic, then I sewed some lace from my 'bits' bag round the bodice and made a tie to go round the waist from another fabric found in my bits bag. The original strap was missing so I made a new one from a bit of the material that I chopped off the bottom. I spent the rest of the christmas hols making a bag from more of the cut off skirt fabric and using a clasp from a rather hideous red bag that had come free with something several years ago. I hand stiched a variety of white and cream vintage buttons on it that I had been given by a friend after his mother died. I also knitted a cabled shrug to go aver it all - after all the party was in January. There was some material left from the skirt and I have recently used this to make some cushions.

From old to new

A few weeks ago I went into a charity shop one lunchtime. I don't usually do this because the ones near my work aren't the best and I'm usually too busy. There at the front was a lovely chunky sweater. Or rather the yarn was a lovely variagated mix of pink, purple and grey, the rest of the jumper was out of shape and in some places a bit worn looking. However I had to have it, I just knew I could reinvent it.


I couldn't wait to get it home and start unraveling it, so much so that I forgot to take a picture until it was nearly all rolled into balls. I did quickly manage to take this one before it was completely unraveled. It does show how matted it was in places from not being looked after properly.

I have a fab patern for a bolero that I got from Ravelry some time ago and have knitted in several different forms. Its basically a pair of bell shaped sleeves that extend across the back and are joined together with ribbon. It knits up quickly with chunky wool and size 12 needles and so is good when a quick craft fix is needed.



and here's the finished item. I salvaged the pink ribbon from a top I made a few years ago (the ribbon was used to tie the waist), but the top never suited me. I tried adapting it by putting elastic in the waist but it still didn't work, my body seemed too long for it!!! So I gave the top to a friend, by that time minus the ribbon which I kept and it was ideal for this. I love this pattern its lovely and thick and extends down over my hands, which are always cold, but it doesn't add bulk round my stomach which is often the case with chunky knits. And as the weather is refusing to get much warmer it's just right for putting over my summer tops so that I don't have to half freeze to death.