Autumn fashion....Yes Please!

I seem to be having a skirt fest at the moment!. Despite the fact that as a hands on nanny I spend most of my time grovelling on the floor, or leaping about like some mad woman playing on the wii and therefore am more likely to be in my jeans, I do like to wear skirts and dresses.
Over time my taste has gone from the tailored smart to the comfy casual, preferably with thick tights and boots!
My pattern of choice at the moment is the pencil skirt from Angela Kane. After downloading a couple of her free patterns, which I quite liked, I decided to sign up. Now for just £25 joining fee I can download as many patterns as I like. Since there are about 28 ( and new ones being added) I think, that's not bad value at all. One of the best things though is the you tube tutorials. Even as a fairly prolific sewer, I have learned some excellent tips and short cuts.

My first attempt....1991 curtain fabric! I love it and am tempted to make a coat too. I have enough material!!

 You only got the bottom of this photo 'cos I was pulling the most stupid face!

A lined wool tweed, and a close up of the back pleat which I much prefer for Autumn/Winter skirts, much less drafty!

I also made an unlined brushed moleskin with patch pockets, but I loved it so much its been worn and is now in the wash.

I have made another Ponti dress.....

I wouldn't have thought of wearing the mustard with orange, but couldn't be bothered to change. However since the scarf does have both colours in I might be tempted. At least its very Autumnul!

In between busily sewing cushions, bunting and Christmas decorations for our next Olive & Edna pop up shop, I have also downloaded a 1940s dungaree pattern which I hope to wear on the day.......

Saturday 15th November 2014

 Liberty Roses Tea Rooms

I'd better get a move on or I could be wearing them with the pins in still...not a good look and somewhat dangerous!

If you are in the area do pop in if only to say hello and taste the wonderful cakes!

TTFN

Jenny xx

Gone Fishing......

Well hello, it seems like ages since I wrote my blog and when I checked the date of my last post... It was!!

So this is a bit of a marathon, grab a glass and probably a small snack, put your feet up and try not to drift off................................

I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas, but I know for some it was a traumatic time with our freak weather. We were lucky enough to escape with a few rough windy days but otherwise unscathed. For those not so lucky I hope 2014 brings you some better times.

So what have I been up to to keep me quiet for so long (I know a very unusual occurrence). 

Well there was a super weekend break at the beginning of November in Clitheroe, where we discovered an amazing Antique and Collectible emporium covering 2 or 3 floors in several warehouse buildings, and returned needless to say with one or two little treasures. We visited Whalley Abbey and took a lovely walk alongside the Whalley viaduct, an amazing construction with 48 brick built spans...

 I took another trip to Scotland to visit my sister and had a wonderful few days including a trip to Edinburgh, where we looked around the German Christmas market and even went on the 'Eye'......

made jars of mincemeat, Christmas cakes and hubby pickled onions by the score...

We made table decorations from old fruit crates......

But most of my time I went fishing..........!!

You know whats its like when you make what seems like a simple statement which then somehow explodes, well this was one of those. My DD found out just before Christmas that a supplier of one of their regular Christmas products was no longer supplying trade, and being mother when I discovered that 'these' were cat nip filled fishes, I immediately said 'I'll do some if you like'. I mean what could be more simple!!
So I made a couple of prototypes, she chose her favourite and a made up about 3 dozen! I naively thought that she might want a few more, but didn't reckon on the 300+ that I eventually made before they turned the ordering off. Okay so they  weren't the most technically challenging. I could cut and sew 4 dozen in an evening....however you wouldn't believe how long it takes to stuff one and sew the opening up invisibly. If you then add to that the fact that I went into the workshop for several days to help out in the last manic couple of weeks and you will see that my absence was more necessity than desire.

I have managed to read a few of your lovely blogs each day though, so have kept in touch a little, and hope that now I will be able to get back to some regular posting.  Despite all that I had one of the most organised and enjoyable Christmas' ever, surrounded by my family and friends and count myself very lucky indeed.

 We even had a fleeting visit from you know who.................

 So all in all it has been a busy couple of months but very happy ones.

So finally I would like to wish you all a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year from myself and family and hope to catch up with you and all you get up to in 2014.

Cheers

TTFN

Jenny xx

A CHRISTMAS BANNER......Tutorial

I don't know about you, but I love bunting. Somehow it always looks so festive, so what could be better than to use it to decorate our homes at one of the most festive times of the year.
So here is a little tutorial for a festive bunting banner. Although I have gone with a French theme
(because it's going to decorate my bed in the newly decorated bedroom), you can of course use any words or phrase you want, but the method will be the same.

First gather your materials

Lettering to trace or printout.
You can find loads of free printable alphabets on line, or just trace some from a magazine or book. They do need to be fairly simple and not too narrow as you are going to cut them out of fabric. I found a set to print out here.
Base fabric to cut out the flags.
As a rough guide you should be able to get enough flags to spell  'Merry Christmas' out of a a piece about 12 inches by 36 inches.
A variety of scraps for the letters
Bias binding or pretty tape or ribbon to attach the flags to.
Bondaweb or similar cut from a roll.
Scissors for paper and fabric.
Ruler
Pen
Paper, to make your template

First you need to make your flag pattern. Take your paper and ensure that the top and right hand edge are completely square. I used an A4 sheet of printer paper
From the right hand edge measure 3 1/2 inches along the top and make a mark.  Then measure down the right hand edge 4 3/4 inches from the top.

Make two more marks 4 3/4 inches down from the top edge and draw a line through all three marks. Measure along this line from the right hand side and make a mark at the 1 3/4 inch mark. Then draw a line from the top right hand corner to the 1 3/4 inch mark, and another from the 3 1/2 inch mark at the top to the 1 3/4 inch mark. You now have your triangle pattern for your flags.

This will be the finished size of your flags and you will need to add 1/4 inch seam allowance all around. I cut myself a new pattern with the seam allowances added to make cutting easier as I was using one fabric for all my flags. If you were using scraps you could just add the seam allowance at the cutting out stage.

Using your base fabric double, place your pattern as shown in the following picture and cut out the number of flags required for your chosen phrase.You will probably want to iron your fabric first which as you can see I did not!

Next you need your lettering in reverse. I did this by saving the printable to my computer and then printing it out using the t shirt print option on my printer. If you aren't able to do this, cut out the letters, but just remember to use them in reverse.
Next you need to cut small pieces of bondaweb, big enough to fit each letter on, and with a hot iron iron these onto the reverse of your lettering fabric.

 You should then be able to draw around your reversed letters on to the paper backing.

Cut out the letters. Then peel off the paper and place each letter right side up on the flags. They need to be pressed on with a damp cloth to ensure a good bond.

It's at this point that you can either sew around the letters with your machine, either just a straight stitch , small zigzag or decorative stitch or do as I did and do some on the machine and some by hand. You could of course miss this step altogether since the letters will be well stuck and your banner is not likely to be frequently laundered.

Now it's time to sew the flags. With right sides facing, join the two parts of the flags with a scant 1/4 inch seam down the 2 long sides. Trim  the edges of the point to get rid of some of the bulk and then carefully turn the flags right sides out. Use a chopstick or other blunt ended object to gently ease out the point.

You should end up with something like this... (spot the mistake, I forgot to take a picture of all the flags actually sewn together, so these are after I had finished all the lettering but before I sewed and turned the flags)

 Finally you need to sew the individual flags onto either tape or ribbon. I have used ribbon this time and because it was not wide enough to fold over I had to use two lengths long enough to fit all the flags with a small gap in between each flag (about 1 inch as these flags are small) and enough for an 8 inch piece either end to either tie or form a loop to hang the finished banner.

I sewed the flags onto the facing ribbon first, then just turned the whole thing over and keeping the two ribbons level stitched again at the bottom of the second piece of ribbon and then joined the two together at the top.
On reflection it was easier to use bias binding as shown in this bunting tutorial.
However I do like the finished look .......

And so there you have it, a pretty festive banner to decorate a dresser, a window ( you could go that extra mile and do the letters both front and back for this, remembering of course to make sure the words read the right way from each side!), or your bed as I have done.

Hope you can understand my instructions but I am always happy to explain if anything seems a bit vague and I would be thrilled to see some of your creations and will do a post nearer Christmas if I get enough feedback.

Off to make a bundle of catnip fishes for 'GiddyKipper' now so I could be gone some time.

Hope you have a great and creative week (and that you dont get blown away)

TTFN

Jenny xx

...A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL...

Well hello again...its been a while, but I guess you might have an inkling why....some sort of holiday going on,  too much to do and too little time.......but was it all worth it for you?

For me it has to be a resounding   'YES'.

Lots of precious time with those we love......

 Enjoying morning cuddles with little visitors who came to stay during school holidays.....

Finally finishing home made decorations and loving them so much they are staying in place after the celebrations.......only the garland I hasten to add I think the letters and baubles had better go away....!

Receiving the most beautiful and most useful presents....the grey bag held my new shopping trolley....beware all those who have run over my feet in the past... woman on a mission coming through.....at least I'll be able to fetch the wine now....

  And the fabulous clock now gracing my mantelpiece..it was intended for the bedroom but is too nice to hide away so we are swapping things round....

watching the grand children's faces as they opened their presents, a privilege and a joy....

 We have been royally wined and dined by our great kids and have had a wonderful party here at home with them all and my brother and brother in law. It has been what Christmas really is about, family , fun, sharing and caring and all the rest has been an added bonus. It was of course tinged with a little sadness that my beautiful Sylvia wasn't there to share it with us but we loved having our BIL and though we were perhaps a bit noisy for him I think he held up well and enjoyed sharing it with us.

And finally among all the wonderful books and gifts that we have received DH and I were presented with tickets for TWINWOOD 2013 by our darling girl and her family. I am still in shock, and am already researching 1940s costumes and finding patterns for hats etc. My SIL is as excited as us as she and her hubby will be going with us. We're stopping 2 nights and have tickets for the Sunday so will be able to attend late into the night.

Ummmm.....that gives us about 7 months to learn the jitterbug....but then perhaps not....I think we will be happy enough to watch all the experts and just revel in the atmosphere...I cant wait.......anyone know of a forties hairstyle for very short silver hair.....help!!

So thank you to everyone for making our Christmas a true time of joy and happiness and for those of you who have not been so fortunate I hope that 2013  holds better things for you and new beginnings.......

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Wherever you are

TTFN

Jenny xx

ONLY 132 DAYS.................and a GIVEAWAY..!

Yes....to Christmas, but I have to say in the last week or so it has seemed much nearer.

Firstly at work there has been talk about Christmas catalogues...then I received 2 fabulous parcels, which were just like receiving  early Christmas presents and then this weekend........

Well it wasn't exactly Santa's Grotto, but a snow festival in of all places Basingstoke! We had come for a weekend break at a lovely Spa hotel and took a ride into the town before dinner and this is what greeted us at the entrance!!

The fabulous parcels I received were this....from the lovely Aija of CraftySmiles...

....loads of scrummy things for her own Seaside swap.  I received fabric, and a handmade fish. A necklace and some seashells thoughtfully sent by one of her daughters. There were also sweets, candles and a pretty bag of assorted beads.

As you may know if you follow Aija's blog she has recently returned home after an operation and I was  so surprised that she rushed to get this parcel to me before she was admitted. I had told her not to worry about it, so I am glad she received mine before she went into hospital.

Thank you Aija ( and your daughter) the gifts are lovely.  I hope you are taking it easy and are on the mend.

My second wonderful parcel was from Emma of Silverpebble....

I was only a runner up in her Pass the Book giveaway and just look what I received....

As well as this little book...packets of seeds and.......(please forgive the awful photo, I got a bit too close!)

This exquisite little silver cotton reel, hand made by Emma together with a pearl and a button on a silver chain.  I am so thrilled with it. 

Thank you Emma you are so kind.

Well as these lovely bloggers have made my week another special one I would like to pass on something too...I am going to carry on the PASS THE BOOK giveaway by sending this book

Dandelion Soup by Babs Horton. If you have not read this and like something a little different you will not be disappointed.  A bit of a mystery with shades of Joanne Harris, it really is one that you can't put down!

So if you would like to win this book, (and a small gift too) and would be prepared to read it and pass it on, or pass on a book of your choice just leave a comment on this post.  If you would like to grab the piccie too and pop it on your sidebar that would be great.

I will leave the draw open until next Sunday 22nd August at midnight and post the result in the next week.

Well I think thats enough for one post, I'll be back later in the week with some projects I have been doing.

Hope you have had a good weekend ,

TTFN

Jenny x x