Gathering speed

I have been feeling a little under the weather today, a mix of a cold coming on and a chest infection. I am off to see the doctor tomorrow, but until then I thought I would do some sewing to cheer me up and help me to feel better. 

So, this evening I have been mostly sewing the layers of my petticoat by hand.  I attempted to machine sew it, but it didn't quite work. I love my sewing machine, it is sturdy and mostly reliable. However the major draw back I have with it is that it does not have a longer running stitch (to help with things like gathering).  It has a stitch that is a little longer than the regular stitch but this ended up eating some of my lovely tuile. A little patchwork and mending later, I got to work sewing the lengths and lengths of beautiful teal tuile. I'm almost there, but there is a lot of tuile! 

 The mess of (almost-all-gathered) tuile on my living room floor

I should finish the gathering shortly, then I need to pin and sew the tiers together. (There are 3 in total, so not that many at all). Tomorrow I need to go in search of some twill tape for the top seam. 
Hopefully it will turn out, I have never attempted to make a petticoat before - I hope my calculations were right and it ends up being the right length! 
I intend on posting pics of the finished item, and also the lovely dress that I finished a while ago. 
It's almost sleepytime, so I will post my progress soon. 
Night all.
 

Has a week gone by already...time for a bit of a ramble

It has been a rather strange week and weekend - it has disappeared! I was in London at the beginning of the week and then went on to Colchester for work. Work was good, but I was glad to get home. I had had to stand all the way to London on Sunday, (as Chiltern Trains weren't running and everyone seemed to be on my train to Reading and again from Reading to London) so I was really glad to have a seat on the way back home on Wednesday evening, especially after a long day. 

Thursday through to today has gone in somewhat of a blur... I have baked a little, watched LOTS of Madmen (thanks Roisin!), crocheted, struggled with safety eyes, lost my lovely cupcake pincushion (has anyone seen it around?), cooked a little, and won a prize! I received a sample pack of fabrics from the wonderful Fiona at The Sewing Directory.  I never win anything so I was thrilled - the fabrics are stunning. The range is called Keiko and they are Japanese inspired florals and dots. I am very excited about using them in my next sewing projects. 

Speaking of sewing, I have finally gotten around to putting the zip in my dress, that I (ashamedly) started to make quite some time ago... only the hem to go. I'm not sure about the length though, I think just above the knee might be quite good, although I'll have to pin it and see... I also want to make a petticoat for underneath it (I have beautiful teal tuille that would look very cute peeping out below the hemline of my dress), but that could take months yet! :)

I came across a wonderful blog today - NewDressADay - it encompasses some of my most favourite things: charity shopping, customising and dresses! I have spent far too long this evening looking through back posts, but I just love it. 

I think that's enough rambling for one evening - I am in need of cake and we have ONE more episode of Madmen to go! Better put the kettle on! :)




 

A spot of baking

Two blog posts in one night! I am on a roll (that I will most likely fall off shortly!). 

I love baking and I have done quite a bit of it this week. I am just glad I have lots of lovely friends and family that are willing to eat what I bake. ;)
So far this week I have baked:
Mini muffins (plain and nutella filled)
Nutella brownies
Polka dot Victoria sponge
Lemon drizzle cake
and a banana cake is not long out of the oven (although it is more like a fruit cake as I put lots more in it than just bananas).  
That is not all for this week though, I will be baking at least 2 other things before the week is done - I'm not entirely sure what yet, but I will try to remember to photograph them so you can see. 

Let the baking continue!!

Something is a-changin'

Originally, this blog was supposed to be all about my freaky talent for spotting loveheart shapes randomly as I wander around - but as I have lost my usb thingy to get the photos off my mini SD card, I won't be able to show you any of them for a while. 

So I've been thinking... I need to write more - I'm doing quite a bit of writing for work at the moment and my head is wrecked from it. I used to love writing but I am losing my grá for it as I am just writing works stuff  these days. So this is my solution, my poor readers (so few as you are!) - I am going to write about whatever seems to flow out of me and sometimes stick in the odd image of a random loveheart. 
Don't expect anything profound though, most of it will be mundane. I am not going to be writing sense or write coherently all of the time, but it may help me to get over the hurdle of the blank page when doing my serious writing.