Half done...

I spent yesterday working on the christening gown, so it is now a lot further along than it was yesterday morning.  Smocking is all done, and blocked and has now been attached to the bodice.

As i have said, this is constructed quite differently than my usual way so there was a lot of reading and rechecking of directions. They were not hard, just not my usual way.  So now i need to embroider two more motifs on the front panel, do a little embroidery on each sleeve and then off I go again.  I still need to find some nice lace to go with what I already have. I have been having trouble sourcing some nice cotton lace so if anyone out there has any suppliers that they like to use, feel free to let me know. (Pleeeeease).

Other than that the school musical seems to be going well, none of the costumes have fallen apart (phew!!!)  This is his photo on the cast and crew wall at the front of the hall,

And this is the set he helped to build and paint.

He is extraordinarily proud of his work, and why shouldn't he be? We did try to burst his bubble just a little when we went to watch the show last night (we can't let his head swell too much, can we??). I am proud of the work he has put into this, and proud of what the group, as a whole, have managed to achieve. Good work kids!!!  (by the way; he painted the drainpipe that is behind his shoulder and is very pleased that all the cast and crew were photographed in front of it!!)

Waiting for mail....

I am not a patient person I have decided in my middle age. Was i ever; who knows!!  What i do know is that I hate waiting for things.  I hate waiting in line, I hate waiting for news and i hate waiting for things to come in the mail!
Monday i bought the pattern for this...

It is a perfect sewing bag, nice and big and has pockets all around the lining.  it can be found here at Joypatch. This is the one she made and can be seen on her site.   There are patterns for other things as well, such as a needle wallet, scissor fob and pincushion.  I am not needing those so much but really really like the look of this.
So, I guess i will have to wait until Monday now.  Poor me!!!LOL!!!

Today has been spent doing nothing much, i do have two slices in the oven so I will have at least that to show for my go-slow day!!
After lunch, if the sun comes out, I might bring out my christening gown and do the last two rows of smocking, then I can begin the construction. I know some people don't like the construction part of the process, and will leave smocking lying around for ages just to avoid it. Personally, i can't wait to get to this part of the process; it is only when it is done that you really get to see how your piece looks.  I get a bit excited as i sew it all together.  This gown is constructed a little differently to ones i have done in the past so I will have to go a bit slower and make sure I have done each step properly before moving onto the next one.  A regular square yoke dress i can whip up with no problems and no need for instructions.  So i will need to use some of my patience and do it slowly and carefully.  Hopefully next week there will be something to show of it.

baby presents

In the past week I have had two friends give birth to baby girls. It has been very exciting. Of course, neither of them live near here so I haven't seen either baby, but can't wait to do so.  As i am pretty sure she doesn't read my blog I am going to show you what I am sending off to one of them. (The other baby was given a huge basket full of goodies from a group of us a month ago). 
So, this is what will be on it's way to Ararat shortly:

This first dress I made quite a while ago. It is out of an issue of Inspirations (can't remember which one).  It is so pretty, and is the second one of these i had made.  This is in a winter twill so it will be nice and warm for the baby.

I was really pleased that the shadow work could be seen through the material; when i did it I wasn't sure that it would.
The second dress is a smocked bishop, an original pattern. I wanted to have a play with lace coming down through the smocking.  If I were to do it again I would flattern out the lace at the neck edge more.  It is a learning process, I think there is always something new to be learnt, no matter how long you have done something.

All in all, I am pleased with it, I think it is pretty.  I hope my friend thinks so too.  This is also in a winter twill; I do love this material for baby clothes; it goes through the pleater like a dream and seems so snuggly for babies.
No more pretty sewing on the radar for me at the moment; I have school musical costumes to be hemmed today and taken back tomorrow.  And then more during the week. The Production starts on Friday so by the weekend I can get onto my christening gown again.  I am enjoying doing it and can't wait for it to be finished so I can see how it looks.

autumn colours

It has been a busy week since my last post.  Work on the christening gown has slowed down lately, although the embroidered panel is just about done and one of the skirt pieces is smocked and ready to be attached. Hopefully there will be photos to come soon.
We have had bad news from some friends and then good news to balance it out with the birth of a baby girl; babies are always good news.  (that reminds me: i really need to get her present sent off).
I have also been running around to doctors etc the last few weeks trying to find out why my twelve year old is getting migraines.  Headaches are not unknown to my kids but not headaches that run for three days, making him nauseous and dizzy. In the past three weeks he has had more days with a headache than without; a scary thought.  So finally yesterday we may have found the answer; which is bad posture (possibly) and a heavy netbook that he carries every day. So one physiotherapy session down, many more to come.  Hopefully that fixes the problem. We have had blood tests done, his eyes checked etc etc etc.  I am very relieved to finally be getting to the bottom of it.
I have also been sewing for the school production the last few days; nothing much but as it is begining next week; it needs to be done in a hurry.  They are doing Little Shop of Horrors. I can't wait to see it; I watched the dress rehearsal yesterday; it was a bit rough around the edges but it will come together.
So in the absence of sewing photos, I leave you with some autumn colour in my garden. We have mostly natives so we dont get too much in the way of autumn leaves, but this is the best tree we have for it; our oak tree.  it is a decent size but not half as big as it is likely to get.

Some roses:

And a pretty little daisy that makes a great ground cover; this flowers for such a long time, I love it.

I hope that you have some pretty colours around you wherever you are.

Silly mistakes

I seem to have been playing around with lots of little things the last couple of months and itched to do something else.  So when I came across a wonderful christening gown in Sew Beautiful, I knew i just had to make it (or a variation of it anyway).  I rummaged through my material and found a lovely white cotton with tiny white dots on it so off i went.  The one in the picture did not have smocking on the skirt so I decided that would be my first thing to do. Off I went and had the first skirt piece smocked in a flash. Imagine my horror when a friend pointed out that the material was back to front; I had smocked the back.  No, I had checked the selvedge and it should be right. She was absolutely right however. It is hard to see unless you are in the right light. So I have had to pleat some more material, what I will do with the already smocked  panel is as yet a mystery!
The smocking is still waititng to be done but as it has embroidery down the front, that was my weekend's mission. In Sew Beautiful it has lovely embroidery that seems to be machine done. As i do not have the machine, or the inclination to do it by machine, I am hand sewing some little motifs. 

I am not sure how clear this is, I might have to redo it when i finish typing, I will see.  So, it will have a series of these little things down the front.  These come from Country Bumpkins Christening Gown book. Wont stand out as much as the embroidery on the original but I think it will be just enough with the smocking as well.

I have three more to go but may add two more right at the bottom, I will see how it looks when it is done.

By the way, the original gown looks somewhat like this:

Who will I make this for; no-one in particular. I just saw it and had to make it.  My next step will be to try and get some lovely lace without spending the kids' college funds!

And a belated Happy Mother's Day to everyone. We were at my mother-in-law's for the weekend. I had a nice day and i hope you all did too.

New Books

After five days of no mail, my new books finally turned up.  I bought them at the Book Depository; I do like this website. 
I will be honest; of the two books i bought, one I am really happy with, the other; not so much.  That is the chance you take when you buy things online, and I am generally happy to take that chance.
I will start with the book I didn't like.

I am very happy to follow other people's patterns and do what they tell me to do, unless I am smocking and then I usually just do my own design these days.  But i have been looking at this book online for a while now and thought it would get me out of my rut and make me more original. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad book but from the cover, and the title, i was expecting something that would encourage the design process, talk about the art of doodling and the process of designing from a doodle.  Instead this is barely mentioned.  Instead, it concentrates on following her designs.  I am not sure of the sense in this. It isn't going to encourage me to design my own. i thought it would be more about the process of forming a design.
There is nothing wrong with the designs as such, it just wasnt what i was looking for.

The other book is this one, which I do like very much;

It is separated into three sections: Breaking out of the box- trying new patterns and techniques; Feeling scrappy- using all your scraps; and Embracing tradition (speaks for itself really!!).  This has 15 projects in it which are all different. I like most of them and have already bookmarked a couple that I would like to make.  (After i finish some UFOs first!!).  I only bought this book on a whim and am glad I did.

Now I am off to finish some UFOs so I can start on one of these!!LOL!!

Strawberry bags

I am not sure if anyone out there has seen these; they seem to be all the rage at the moment.  While I was surfing the 'web the other day I found someone who was good enough to put a pattern up for them. Lorraine from ikatbag, I thank you for your generosity in sharing such things.
  As i had pretty much everything I needed (except the cord and the cord stopper) I decided to have a go at one.  So yesterday morning was spent making two of these (I can only show you one as I had to leave the second one almost finished to go and attend to other things.
Lorraine has lined hers as she doesn't like exposed seams. I agree with her on that but wasn't sure my material was light enough to scrunch up so small with a lining so it is just one layer.
I am really really pleased with the way it turned out. It was easy, looks pretty and hopefully will save the planet; unlike the green bags we were all convinced to buy and then we were told they dont (EVER) break down.  Not so environmentally friendly after all.
OK, off the soapbox and to some photos.

This was Lorraine's little strawberry bag; cute huh?

Mine looks like this opened out:

And this all folded in:

As well as leaving out the lining, I added a clip; saves you having to carry it; it can be clipped to the handle of your handbag.
I do like the cord stopper that she used better than mine; it is more compact and neater.  But I had to make do with what i could find when i dashed out yesterday morning to get one.
This is what mine looks like inside; I did French seams to make it neater; I do like doing French seams; they are like piping; I will use them on anything and everything.  To finish off the top edge I just made a facing. Easy.

I am not sure if I will keep these or give them as gifts; they are so cute they would make perfect gifts; but I think I like them too much to give away!  I think I will be making more of them in the future!

Before I go, a quick update on the status of the bridge. Bridge is done and is now in the garden where it belongs. It looks really good and will save us from having to walk through what looks like being a permanent wet spot in winter.  Good job Sean. (Hubby too!!)