Reappearance

Happy New Year! We might as well do all the holiday greetings in the one post, since the blog will possibly miss out on them too. Poor neglected blog.

For you bloggy peeps here’s a new house block (sorry about the friggin poor light)…part of that sew-a-thon swag late last year? I know, I know. There’s been a drought of crafty projects round these parts. Lots of stuff cut up and started. None finished.

I can't promise to be regular in this space anymore, since I've proven abysmal with appearances. I've been too preoccupied with a new online obsession, too. Pinterest? Some of you would have seen it around the interwebs. I've been waiting for the invite for what seems like ages. So when I spotted it in the inbox I pounced. Best online invention ever! And if I go missing again, you know where to find me.

Hope everyone had a great time over the holidays!

Cheerio!

Knitter hacker

In the spirit of full disclosure, I'm keeping this blog real and show you the trial that is this cardigan. This may be the cardigan that never will.

The pattern was from this Knit Simple issue. Of course they left out the collar till the on-line errata. Months later.


To be fair, I did finish the dang thing Sunday night......weelll into the night. I tried it on, in the humid heat and it looked several kinds of daggy awful. The collar was attached on the wrong edge, as I figured out a bit later on. The buttons were too small, they kept popping out of the humungous button holes.

And it just didn't sit right around the waist area. The shoulders and sleeves were good, so it wasn't the tension. Maybe I need a new waist?


Hacked into it, I did. Removed the buttons and the collar. Now I'm going to rest this project awhile until I find bigger buttons and get to grips with failure. He he he!

Anyhow, I'll start another winter cardi for the kiddo. Sucker for punishment? Yep, that's me.


While I'm here, anyone want to take this Interweave Knits Weekend mag off my hands. I stupidly bought two by mistake.

Cheerio, bloggy peeps! Hope your week is good!

PS. Thank you for your kind words about the kiddo's top!

PPS. Sorry for the delay....I blame the day job. Lesley, the magazine is yours! Please send me your snail mail addy to jade(dot)ghenzer(at)gmail(dot)com.

Ice cream top

You know a finished sewn thing is a winner....


if the wearer starts pulling....


goofy poses. Lots of them. Now she won't take it off. (Sorry about the dark pics, atrocious light!)


I used the blouse version of this pattern from Oliver + S. Fabric is some cotton flowery print from the stash. I can't for the life of me remember where I got it from.

Easy peasy pattern to sew and I love that little notch on the neckline. I have some gingham checks queued up to sew in this same pattern next.

But next on the list.....must finish the cardigan tonight!

Cheerio, peeps!

Sew-a-thon swag part 2

Fixated. I've been so fixated with finishing up the cardigan, it's eating up my very scant blog-reading and posting time.

Anyhow, this is the other garment I managed to zip through the sewing machines all those weeks ago now. So long ago, I'll be needing another soon.


It's my summer linen frock, made of Italian linen from the stash. But if I recall I picked up this gem from Tesutti three years ago, saving it up for the perfect pattern marriage. The fabric colour is navy with a slight charcoal grey tint to it.


I used a Citronille pattern called "Suzanne", which almost didn't happen. Ack! I thought I cut the correct size, sewed and ironed, tried it on. The frigging thing was swimming huge. I wanted to throw that dress into the nearest bin to burn. Thankfully, the craft camp ladies provided ideas and support to rescue it from disaster.

To make a long story short, that frock has lots of modifications from the original pattern. Not that I could read it anyway, my handy frog wasn't around. But that shouldn't stop anyone from trying Citronille patterns. So go forth and sew!

I'm going back to the couch and knit some more sleeve rows. It's late Friday evening here right now, so I'm turning off the computer, get a cup of tea and put my feet up.

Hope everyone has a good weekend! Cheerio!

Sew-a-thon swag part 1

Could not decide which finished garment to show first....it was a toss up. Please excuse the creases. We were in a rush and the geezer was literally snapping these pics as we walked out the door yesterday.


Anyhow, you may have seen a different version of this dress here or here. I personally love this pattern. Just cut in one piece from extremely drapey knit fabric. I chose this soft mauve cotton modal from where else.

This was the already cut-up dress pattern and fabric that was patiently waiting to be sewn up......for three months. I was planning to take this to Hawaii. Gah!


Slightly different neck and armhole finishing than the pattern. I also left the hem unfinished, as I like the slouchy look when it sort of rolls back on itself. I've decided to use it more as a tunic top instead of a dress, scrunching the bottom up to get the grungy, slouchy look.


Looks great with this pair of purple tie-dye tights I picked up for ten buckeroonies in a hippy market up in Taree last month. Just throw on a jacket and you're ready to go.

Cheerio!

If you can't beat em

I'm the most apathetic blogger ever. Two weeks feels too long to be away from the internets...and I did get my crafting mojo back by the way. Thanks, bloggy peeps, for the encouragement!


I ran away and joined this merry bunch for our regular sew-a-thon last weekend. The geezer and the kiddo had to fend for themselves. I was super productive, I even surprised myself!

Ah, ladies, thanks for another fabulous getaway! I so needed it. Work was driving me around the bend.

Anyhow, last weekend there was much talk about so-and-so tweeting this and that, I knew I was seriously out of the loop. Dang this day job! And since, I've been so sporadic in this space, I've taken the leap and joined the tweeting sisterhood.

I'm right here @dizzyjadey, wanna be friends? Don't get your hopes up, though. Blogging with only a few choice words takes real skill. So if you receive a twitter invite from me recently, I'm not stalking. Just joining.

Cheerio!

PS. I'll save the sewing show-and-tell for a few posts.

Nada

I seem to have lost the crafting feeling.....but part of me is wanting badly to be sewing, knitting, stitching, anything-making. Consequence of this sporadic blogging perhaps? Consequence of a five-day very full-on work week. I feel like I'm hardly ever here anymore. *woe*

That knitting project hasn't moved since I rested it in late August. And I'm procrastinating again. Really I need to get off my arse and kick my own backside if I could. Cos I really want to sew some summer clothes.

I even deliberately took work home this weekend, so that I can procrastinate on that with some sewing. I did some reading and web-surfing instead. Hmmm.

Here's hoping this will pass soon!

Cheerio, bloggy peeps!

Cheese-y shots

I hear you, peeps! I'm here....and I've been gallivanting. So get set as I inflict you with some cheese-y holiday pics. Two glorious, warm, sunny weeks in Hawaii. Ah, I'm missing it already!


We took a drive through the middle of the island, looked at a look-out and instructed the kid to strike pose.


We boarded a boat that took us to a submarine.


We went down the hatch and said hello to the fishies. Lots of fishies and giant sea turtles.


We also took in our first luau. By the way, its the geezer's 12th time and my second in Hawaii, and yes we were all luau "virgins". Anyhow, we came for the hula dancing, the fire eating and the plain old lots-of-eating. Cue another cheese-y shot.


And another.


And yet another (are you tired yet?)......the kid wanted a photo with the parrots. One of them nearly gouged my scalp!


Well, that's it till the next trip.

Nothing crafty to report, except I've got a cut up dress near the sewing machine waiting to be whizzed through.

There's also the last third of a cardigan sleeve to knit up. I'm in a bit of a conundrum about that. The instructions for the second sleeve just says "knit up as with the left sleeve but in reverse"....que??? Totally lost I am. I'm sure the fourth time I try muddle through it'll fall into place and presto! It'll be done.

No other craft-related happenings, just lots of boring ordinary life "stuff" getting in the way of blogging. Which I won't clutter up this space with.

Here's hoping the next post is crafty. Hope you've all had a great long weekend!

Cheerio!

Woolly minded

Sorry about that, bloggy peeps. Getting you excited, then pulling the disappearing act.

I had picked up the dreaded lurgy about a fortnight ago and haven't been able to shake it off. Perhaps the kid sneezed into my face, perhaps the cold snap is seeping into my bones, perhaps I picked up the germs from the office.....either way I was bunged up again last week and in bed with lemon tea.

Nothing to do but turn this yarn (purchased from here)


Into this warm beanie for the kid's noggin. I failed miserably with the double pointed needles, but managed to do well using the magic loop technique, thanks to Claudine.


The geezer's neverending scarf is also finished. Phew!


Except it seems to be warming my neck more often than his.....oops.


I've acquired some yarn to make him something in time for next winter. In the meantime he can share this with me. Hee hee!

And just to get linky with you, if you're a mad John Mayer fan like me, then you'll enjoy this. I can't stop listening to it over and over. Unfortunately, the mp3 file is no longer available, but nobody's stopping me from hitting "play".....which I'll be doing again shortly, while the head's still feeling fluffy.

Hope you're weekend is good!

Cheerio!

Yet another liberty print

I was going to be clever and organised having already pre-written this blog post last week. (Photos materialised this week when the rain stopped) Except after a week it all seems contrived and silly now. So here you go.....new week, new fresh words to caption these pics.

I've been playing with another liberty print from Tesutti. This was my take-along project to the sewing weekend a fortnight ago. I used pattern B from this japanese craft book.


I can't rave about this pattern/fabric combination enough. The Liberty fabric is so pretty. I believe its called Hall Drive. It's now sold out in Tesutti, but I think it's still available online from the usual purveyors of Liberty.


Testament to how great the blouse is, I've actually deemed it good enough to wear with my corporate pinstripe skirt to my very corporate-y work place. And I have. Twice.


In fact, I'll remind myself to sew on a label this weekend. Then I can pretend I bought it from a boutique. He he he!

Anyhow, I've got another project awaiting to be sewn, and the night is still young. If we're all lucky, I can finish it tonight and we can do show-n-tell tomorrow.

Have a good weekend, bloggy peeps!

Cheerio!

Craft weekend

Oops, didn't I mention? All that pattern tracing and paper cutting was in preparation for going away. To the sea side holiday house with these lovely peeps.


Another great weekend of sewing, eating and laughing last week was had by all. Thanks very much, ladies! I managed to forget about the kiddo and the geezer......which is ahh ummm, bad, but also good.


I had so much fun! I'm hanging out for the next one already.


For the rest of you bloggy peeps, here's the traditional feet portrait. I'll reveal what I whipped up next post

Cheerio!


PS. Photos courtesy of Belinda, our resident pic-snapper and organiser.

Craftless

But full of hope. Always full of hope.

There's still no finished project. However, I've been spending our cold, wet and drippy weekend tracing and cutting out patterns on tissue paper. Two blouses, to be exact. They're waiting to be pinned and the fabrics sliced.


I also re-threaded the overlocker first go without having conniptions. Hooray! Fireworks! Dancing monkeys clinking cymbals! Star jumps and the kiddo walking like the egyptian.......you get the drift. It doesn't take much to celebrate around here. Cheap thrills? You betcha.

So just checking in before a whole month goes by without my blather. How fast is this month going?! Gah!


Whoever thought up that being busy is a virtue should be slapped. I'm longing for the long, lazy, lots-of-time-to-write-up-a-blog-post-in-my-head kind of days. I'm crossing my fingers we can change the status quo around here.

Hope your weekend is smashing!

Cheerio!

A lot less slippery

Another month bites the dust and still no finished scarf for the geezer. (a whole month's disappearance from the blog, too) It's a tad slow growing. Whereas the month has been a blur.


In between several slow-poke rows, I managed to trace, cut up and sew a new blouse. Except this isn't the best angle, no?


It's getting on in the late afternoon, the light is poor, but here tis. A very floaty drapey cotton-silk blend from Tesutti, with darts and three-quarter sleeves.


I found the pattern in this japanese craft book, another goody.


Here's another pic to show where the hem falls. I cut the hem a full three inches longer than the pattern, so that it falls below my hips a la tunic length. Kiddo, of course, had to think she was the subject of the photo.


The top creases easily, but otherwise wears very well. It looks cute on with both jeans and those low slung crotch pants, which I have a pair of.

Another adventure I had to go through while sewing this top was learning how to thread the overlocker 'cos I needed to serge the seams in black. What a debacle that was!

Ooooh, I love this fabric so much that I'll be sewing with more cotton-silk blends from now on. Just gotta find the next perfect pattern. And while I'm looking, its back to the geezer's scarf rows for me.

Till next time.

Cheerio!

Brown paper packages

I don't normally gush about craft books in this place, but I just got this from here and if you're into sewing clothes......what a great resource! I've been thinking about the winter wardrobe lately, having had enough of this humid heat. Doesn't help when I'm ogling swoon-worthy boots like these and these. Ay caramba! Thank heavens one of them is out-of-stock or I may have to list the kiddo on ebay.


Having checked the state of my wardrobe, I will be needing a new tailored winter jacket, preferably woolly. My mum, of all times, comes to my rescue. Cos lookee!


Don't even ask me how much metreage is in there, I haven't been game to un-roll and measure it. Three different colours of Harris Tweed, one of which will be the future wool jacket as soon as I find the perfect pattern and tailor (cos I don't want to ruin the fabric).

To top that, my mum also handed me the bottom of the two below, also tweed last week when we visited. The grey fabric on top is a soft light-weight wool flannel, I think.


Actually, she was handing me two more bags of fabric to take away, but the geezer put his foot down. The sewing room is now overflowing, there are no more free cupboards.

If I wasn't me and looking right now at myself I'd probably think I'm a hoarder. Hmmm, maybe I am. Maybe one day I'll show you how big the stash has grown just to see how out-of-control it is. Eeeek!

Anyhow, back to the cutting of the next project. Gotta eat into that stash somehow.

Cheerio!

PS. Thank you, bloggy peeps, for your nice words about the kiddo's pink dress. I was going mental with her wanting everything pink overnight. A lady who used to babysit told me once that all girls go into this princess stage, where they want lots of over-powering pink and princessey toys. She also mentioned not to make a big deal out of it and it will pass....into the next phase, no doubt. Whatever that is. So I'm okay to give in to a bit of pink. For now. Hope you're having a great weekend!

Embracing the pink

I gave up and gave in. But there's rules, mind you. Absolutely no head-to-toe pink! Over my dead body! Okay, this pink frock is kinda subdued. Fine. But I still get the last word while you're living under my roof, young lady.


It's from this japanese craft book, pattern D-1.......except I scooped and shirred the centre front. I also played around with my spanking shiny ruffler foot, to add some length to the bottom and more drape to the dress.


One last modification (I couldn't help myself), a separate elastic casing to the back, to match the fabric on the ties. It looks so sweet!


She's been prancing around in it for the last couple of hours, so thumbs up I reckon!


Yes, I'm back to stroking the fabric and revving the machines again. It felt restful to be pottering around in the sewing room. I've already queued up the next project.

Okeydokes, I gotta potter back to the meatball pasta. The troops are grumbling.

Hope you're all having a great weekend! Cheerio!

Holiday snaps

Can I still be on holiday? Puhleeze? I'm in big-time denial. Huge.


We had clear skies, hot sunny days.....really the best weather, even though it was sprinkling back in Sydney.


This is the view from the front porch of the cottage.....where I did a bit of knitting. I can almost smell the salty sea air just looking at these photos.


As you walk up to the lighthouse and look down to the beach, you can see the main lighthouse keeper's cottage. We stayed in the assistant keeper's cottage, just behind the trees to the right.


And that was the perfect beachy, do-nothing, laze-about holiday!


I'm still dealing with the yarnage. He he he!

Cheerio!

PS. Thank you everyone for your lovely comments about the kiddo's cardi. Even though it's madness in this heat and humidity, I have this weird compulsion to work on yarn projects. I'm sure it will soon pass. Then we can get back to feeling up the fabric.