I’ve got a big birthday this weekend so I’ve got 12 friends for dinner tomorrow night and I’ve just made myself a birthday cake, a few people have said ‘but that’s all work for you’ but that’s what I enjoy, I like it!
A few years ago I was given a cake decorating book for my birthday. It’s by Zoe Clark and it’s called Vintage Cakes, there are some stunning cakes in there. As soon as I saw the sewing machine cake I decided I would make it for my 50th birthday…and here we are!! Continue reading
My small but perfectly formed sewing room is upstairs, overflowing somewhat onto the landing, which luckily is pretty big! Our ironing board lives downstairs, so whenever I’m sewing I’m up and down those stairs every time I need to press something, which lets face it, is nearly every seam!
A few months ago I saw an ironing table on facebook that someone had made from a TV dinner table. It was just what I needed. First find your wooden tv table…I finally found one for £12 at Poundstretcher, the only downside with this one is that I would have preferred one with a wooden top rather than melamine.
I looked through my stash and found a remnant of furnishing weight fabric, I bought it to make bags only to find it was one of those annoying script fabrics where the words don’t follow the grainline, very obvious on a square bag! It was just the right size to cover the table.
To pad the table I used one layer of fleece and two layers of quilting batting, it gives a nice firm but cushioned top. I turned it under and tacked it down with 1cm tacks. Melamine is hard! You know I never really realised the difference between hard woods and soft woods until I did upholstery, I learnt very quickly when trying to hammer tacks in!!! The corners were a bit fiddly as they are curved, I cut some of the bulk away and turned the corner in first before neatening up the sides.
Time will tell how secure the tacks are, as they didn’t all go in perfectly, if needed I might borrow my OH’s staple gun!
I used my new ironing table last night when I was doing some quilting and it was perfect, big enough and sturdy too. If I’m making a big garment I might still need the downstairs ironing board but this one is very handy. I even treated myself to a new iron for upstairs, purple of course! I decided I needed one with an automatic cut-off as I have a bit of a habit of forgetting it!
We had torrential rain last night so quite a few flowers in the garden are looking a bit bashed and sorry for themselves. I was very pleased that my UFO has survived, this beautiful pink lily type flower appeared last year, well the foliage appeared last year, quite dramatically, but no flowers. I vaguely remember getting a free flower bulb at Harrogate Spring Flower show last year, I think this is it, but I have no idea what it is. The leaves are like an amaryllis, but the flowers are smaller than I would expect, I’m also not sure when the usual flowering time of an amaryllis is, in the UK we only see them at Christmas time! So if anyone recognises it, please tell me!
The clematis is still looking good, it’s like a tower of flowers at the moment, going up one side of the arch, there’s some pinky-mauve physostegia at it’s base which looks really pretty with it.
In the Amethyst & Amber garden at the top, the Echinacea are looking great at the moment, I put this plant in last year and its clumping up nicely. I’ve got a large patch of crocosmia in the AA garden too, I think they might need to be divided in the autumn, they are starting to take over a bit, but they do give a good show at this time of year.
August is a funny time in the garden, when I look at the garden, there is still a lot of colour, but so much is past it’s best or over that the garden doesn’t look it’s best, I almost prefer September when there is still a lot about, but somehow expectations are lower so the garden looks better!
I’ve taken a picture from upstairs to give you an idea of the layout of the garden, so when I talk about areas, you know where I mean! Nearest to the house and not so easy to photograph from up here, is the patio and the rose arbour. It’s actually up about three steps from the house, the whole garden is a series of terraces! An arch leads into this area with an obelisk next to it. Up another 10 steps and the Amethyst & Amber garden is top left, its got eight raised beds and a huge obelisk in the middle. Top right is the summerhouse and the pond, the pond is hidden in the foliage to the left of the summerhouse! There we also have our only bit of lawn, it takes my OH longer to get the lawnmower out than it does to cut it! The chickens are behind the fence next to the AA garden. Then there’s the front garden, which I won’t show you yet as it’s still knee deep in weeds…
I started this Positive Thinking sampler at the end of July, I was going to Tea and Tents, the WI camping and crafting festival, I wanted something not too big that I could sit and stitch in the sunshine. It fitted the bill perfectly and in many ways reminds me of the wonderful week-end, it’s even got a teapot on it!
Positive Thinking is designed by Nathalie Cichon of Jardin Privee, she released it as a free monthly release pattern last year, so it’s in five sections on her blog. You can even stitch it in several different languages, I was tempted to stitch it in French for a while…
This week I managed to complete the final section, I love the little tea pot and cup on a table with a pretty cloth! I was tempted to stitch the bird as a dove, but I decided against it as I would have the same issues with disappearing doves that I had with the sheep and the bird was a more complicated design, so it stayed as a brown bird.
I had the choice of putting the name of the poet or my name, I decided to just stitch my initials and the date.
I took it down to Artworks in Otley for framing on Wednesday and by Friday afternoon it was ready to collect, now that’s what you call service!
I’ve really enjoyed stitching this sampler, it’s grown quickly and I’ve already got my next pattern from Nathalie organised, but this ones going to take a few months I think!
Last night was Friday Night Sew-In over on Sugar Lane Quilts, I decided to buckle down and finish my sari dress in time for Show Off Saturday on Sew Can She…
I’ve often seen vintage saris for sale on eBay , even bid on a couple unsuccessfully, when I saw this one it was so beautiful I was determined to get it. I loved the colours and the design, I put a bid on for £20 and won, I was so chuffed! I’m almost embarrassed to say I paid £6.70 including postage from India, for 5 yards of stunning vintage silk, it almost put more pressure on me to make something beautiful out of it to prove how much I valued it. Continue reading
All my half hour slots for cross-stitch are adding up, I’m making good progress with my ‘Positive Thinking’ sampler from Jardin Privee. I started it at the WI Tea and Tents camping festival at the end of July, mainly because it was small enough to pack and I could quickly pull everything together I needed. I tend to do cross-stitch for half an hour or so before I go to bed, and also whilst I’m cooking tea! Continue reading
There’s a few good crafty events coming up in Yorkshire, so if you’re within striking distance of Gods Own County, put these in your diary…
15th August; Short notice I know but Wharfedale Quilters are holding a quilt exhibition in Christchurch in Ilkley
3-6th September; WI Centennial Fair. It’s our centenary in September and this is one of the national events organised over the year to celebrate, we’re just lucky they have chosen Yorkshire! It’s being held at the Harrogate Exhibition Centre and is being organised by the same company who do events such as the Country Living show. There’s demonstrations, exhibitions and of course stalls. It’s open to non members as well as WI members and is bound to be full of crafty things!!
4-6th September; Great Northern Quilt and Needlecraft Show at Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate. This is an annual event, they have an amazing display of quilts, quite a few stalls to tempt you. It’s a nice size show is this one, not too big, it’s usually held in the flower hall. It’s the same week-end as the WI one so you could do both!!!
12th September; Spa Sweethearts WI in Harrogate are holding their own exhibition in Christchurch, Harrogate. Show of members work and demonstrations, it’s WI so it should be good!
26th-27th September; Yarndale at Skipton Auction Mart. I’m determined to get to this one this year, so far I’ve missed it and it sounds so good, wools, spinning, dying…
Now until early autumn; York Quilt Museum, well worth a visit for their antique and modern quilts on display. Unless they have had a reprieve, I understand they are due to close in the autumn due to lack of visitors which is such a shame, so visit now if you can.
26th-29th November; Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate. This is our big one round here, it’s huge, full of sewing, embroidery, knitting, crafting, I’d better start saving now!
Please double check websites for details of the above events, I’m not perfect…
I’m beginning to see progress in the garden this week, I’ve had a few good weeding and tidying up sessions so the bottom part of the back garden is looking respectable, although now the geraniums have pretty much finished, they’re going to need cutting back to…it never ends in a garden!
I’ve always found the bed in front of the conservatory window difficult to plant, the problem is that soil level is only about 6″ below window level. Not only are plants being viewed from both sides, but there is also the issue of height. I didn’t just want low growing plants, so I tend to plant taller ones that are, shall we say see-through!! I’ve got lychnis and erysimums, the perovskia is in full bloom at the moment, I’m always amazed how well it does as it doesn’t look like the sort of plant that would like heavy clay soil! Continue reading
My final comment on my Positive Thinking sampler last week was that I need to concentrate more as I found I had made several little mistakes on the lettering…so the first thing I did was to sew the words ‘Live simply’ in the wrong colour!! Somehow it always seems to take ages to unpick cross-stitch, only to have to re-stitch it the following evening!
After this unpromising start to part three of the sampler, the rest stitched up fairly quickly, I love the little rabbit and I haven’t spotted any mistakes yet! Continue reading
The Gabriola skirt pattern from Sewaholic has to be one of my all time favourite patterns, it must be as this is the fourth time I’ve sewn it in the last twelve months, I’ve even made a chiffon one!
My fabric this time was a purple and gold batik, I’d seen it on line first but I wasn’t sure which colourway I liked, or if it would be too much. Then I spotted it in Samuel Taylors and I loved it, it feels lovely and soft and it was cheaper too! I bought 4m, knowing that Gabriola takes a lot of fabric. Continue reading
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