Monday, 31 May 2010
Hair again
Sunday, 30 May 2010
Thursday
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
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
Monday, 24 May 2010
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!
Sunday, 23 May 2010
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!!
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Painting
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.
Thursday, 13 May 2010
Party Frock
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
From old to new
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.
Sunday, 9 May 2010
I have been busy...
Monday, 3 May 2010
Running,washing and cooking
Then I had to come back and try to get some washing done. There was a good wind as long as you missed the showers so it was fairly sucessful.
As the kids go back to school tomorrow and I go back to work, I had to do some baking for lunch boxes. A batch of rock cakes, cheese and bacon scone round and more bread. I bake cakes nearly every week for lunch boxes, one per day per person is proably frowned upon by the school but they have got to be better than biscuits.
I usually bake a savoury snack as well for lunch boxes and I also take this to work for lunch with some homemade soup if there isn't a savoury snack I just take bread . The soup frozen in individual portions in containers. I leave it defrosting at work during the morning and heat it in the microwave at lunchtime. I have found this to be an excellent way to use up lots of garden produce gluts. Unfortunately at this time of year there's not a lot about so my soup is mostly potato and leek (although these are definately worse for wear now) or for variety I make a batch of spicy lentil. If I'm bored of soup I have cheese and homemade chutney sandwiches. I am sure most of the people I work with are convinced that I am mad and do get some odd looks when heating up my containers of soup.
On the homegrown food front we do have asparagus and lots of rhubarb. Anyone got any good recipes for Rhubarb?
Sunday, 2 May 2010
My aim in life
Everyone in the office seems to wear black or grey trousers with a shirt for work, but I have been wearing my handmade cothes for the past five plus years. I am probably known as being a 'character' but not in a bad way, a lot of people don't realise that I make my clothes and think that I buy them in trendy boutiques!
I see my mission in life as trying to prove that you can live a conventional life in a fairly tradiional and environmentally friendly way and without being seduced by advertising and hype.
I aim to make as many of my own clothes as possible (time constarints means that this limits what I have), make as much of our food as possible from organic produce quite a lot of it homegrown. I try to avoid big brand names and mass produced items.
Of course I can't smell and I do need to look cean and well presented but this doesn't mean I have to use a lot of products which may contain harmful ingredients and use valuable resources in their manufacture.
Help my Hair
I soon realised that part of the problem was that my hair was too clean and that it why it was limp and unmanagable and that is why I had been told to add the mousse. But what is the point of washing hair and then putting stuff in it. I decided to experiment and started washing my hair with baking soda and cider vinegar rinse. I week later and it looks fabulous. It looks thicker, is behaving itself and no one has noticed that I am not using conventional shampoo.
So far so good. Has anyone else tried this? Are the results good long term? I have some other 'non-soap' alternatives for both skin and hair that I intend trying. I'll keep you posted about how I get on. I would also be really interested in any home made natural hair and skin care recipes that other people have used.
No time for anything this week!
I worked on this jumper for ages and it wasn't very portable as I had two big bags full of wool 'odments' in order to acheive all the different colours. I wear it with some old flared jeans with flowers on I meade them about four years ago and they had a bit of a revamp. Here are some more images.