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!

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.

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!

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.

Heat crazed

I'm definitely losing my marbles....since I seem to be the only ninny who would knit in this heat.


But I'm on a mission. So with the help of these two books, I finally casted-off, blocked and buttoned the cardigan for the kiddo. My second knitted thing and my first real knitted garment. Woohoo!


Soft, old rosy pink Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino yarn from I forgot where (it only took me six months to make this) and pink-ish tortoiseshell buttons from Tesutti, acquired last year.

Don't look too closely. There's so many mistakes in this one. Most of it is hidden in the seams and the rest, well, I'm not going to show. So let's just pretend its a pretty good specimen of woolliness. After all, this appears to be the year that I'm into up-skilling and expanding my crafty knowledge. First, the slippery sewing and now with the garment knitting.


Next I'll be casting on a scarf for the geezer, since apparently I don't make anything for him. It'll be the perfect beach holiday past time, 'cos we're off driving up the coast tomorrow (bound for here) and I'll need to keep my fingers busy.

Just to show you how hot and stinky it was today, here's little miss sweaty face on this morning's walk up at the Gap Park.


Cheerio! And for the locals......Happy Australia Day!

Small tiny quilt

I've taken a break from the clothes sewing to do a bit of a refurbishment.....with this tiny super mini quilt. Again, everything you see is from the scrap box.


The old quilt was hideous.


Why, thank you! I'm glad you like your new quilt. (Refurbishing the kiddo's doll house)


Okay, you run along now back to your party.


We got the kiddo the doll house last year for her birthday......its endless fun. For the kiddo and for me, as you can see.

Hmmm, I'll have to tackle that tablecloth next.

Cheerio!

Slippery

My first post for the new year! Woo hoo!....about my first finished crafty project.

I found out about this Cynthia Rowley pattern from this place in the blogosphere. It looked cute. It looked easy. I'll attempt it sewing with this digital print silk from Tessuti. Very ambitious. Quick project, no?


I have sooo much to learn! Argh! I'll sum up the entire ordeal with this - silk sewing is friggin' slippery. While cutting it was moving. While gathering the sleeve cuffs it was moving. While sewing it was moving.

I had to unpick, recut and reshape the neckline after a major stuff-up, where I couldn't get it to sit flat. Puckers everywhere, wonky stitching, you name it. I wanted to cut this thing to shreds.


So this is more of a boat shaped neckline (the aftermath of my scissor attack on the original neckline). Very comfy and with the right bling, kinda hip-looking.


I can see how this dress can be sewn up in two hours (it took me two days), if you're using a cotton-ish type of fabric. Next time, if there ever is a next time, I'll scale back to a silk-cotton blend.

Hope everyone had a great new year transition!

Trying out Liberty

Well, it was grey, drab and the skies were bucketing down in Sydney. I ended up picking up my fave rainy day distraction......sewing. This was me prepping the cutting table. Our dining table. Ha!


I was inspired by this starry Liberty fabric (cute frock!) but decided to mix it up with the pretty Meg pattern from Citronille. Really, if I can decipher japanese characters, I must be able to figure out the French language. After all, I'm living with a near-frog.


Except the geezer got schtumped with some of the sewing jargon. Ah well! At least he knew the bits that mattered, like seam allowance, stitching lines and fabric. We all have our limits.


So here tis, my version of Meg. Except, I modified the pattern loads by adding inside facings to the top part of the dress, shirred the midsection (didn't want the muu-muu look) and added some emergency length to the hem. Yep, I persuaded the geezer to drive by Tesutti this morning to get another half metre just to finish the hem. I already had the pretty Liberty fabric from a spur-of-the-moment online shopping session one night in November.


You can sort of see where I added to the hem in the photo below. Note to self, the French like their hemlines to mid-thigh. Very, very short.


Now I'm just debating if I should add two more rows of shirring on the bottom part of that waist. What do you reckon, bloggy peeps? Is it enough?

Hmm, I'm definitely looking a lot more hip-py nowadays. Bye bye, waist. Hello middle age spread!

Cheerio, folks! I think I'll do a power walk around the block and try get rid of Christmas dinner.