A jar of red roses freshly picked from the loaded climber in the garden, displayed on a just polished table. No finger prints, no colouring pencils and books. Wonderful.
Happiness is….
The $7 dress
Oh, the angst this dress caused me!! I wanted to make my own dress to wear to my sister’s wedding. I spent a good deal of time pouring over patterns before deciding on Simplicity 3503. Then I agonised over fabrics for about a week. I haven’t made many garments for myself and I’m not good with knowing what colours and style suit me.
So… after carefully measuring I started the dress and finished fairly quickly. I tried it on a lot before finishing, but somehow it ended up with problems. Like it was way too big. The neckline was too low and gaping. It was extremely long. And the waistband was completely wrong. Then the worst part – the style made me look about 6 months pregnant!!!
I was determined not to give up. So I did something that really surprised me. I put the instructions and pattern away. I said a prayer. I took the dress apart and started again. Don’t ask me what I did – I cut, sewed, gathered, put in darts and somehow it all came together for a perfect fit!
Now here is the cool part. The fabric was off the Spotlight clearance table. At $2 a metre the dress worked out to roughly $7! (Not including the pattern cost)
I received many, many positive and flattering comments at the wedding. My husband gazed at me all night long. He is still gazing at me 4 days later. It was great to feel “pretty” again, it’s been a long time!
I couldn’t mention the wedding without showing my gorgeous sister being presented by Dad. She was so happy and beautiful. Marriage is a truly beautiful gift.
Disclaimer: The shots of me were taken by my 10 year old “photographer”. He needs practice!
Traditional fudge
You either love or hate this type of fudge. Some people love the grainy texture, others like the more modern and smooth fudge. Being an extreme sweet tooth, I like both!
This recipe only has 4 ingredients and is easy to make. My son actually made the dish and we took turns stirring (it needs a lot of stirring!)
It’s really delicious and very rich, so you only need a small piece – well, that’s the idea anyway. It’s kinda hard to stop at one piece. You’ll find the recipe here.
From scraps to….
Experimenting with dyes and paints is lots of fun but can leave you with a lot of swatches. Being the despiser of waste that I am I’m always trying to come up with ways of using the scraps.
My embroidery scissors had been housed in my needlecase, which was just awful as they were forever falling out.
Ah – much better! If I was going to have a scissors case it needed to be bright so I wouldn’t lose it!
I sewed together bits and pieces of painted and dyed swatches, then practiced my free motion embroidery to make it really interesting.
I love a project that brings together a variety of skills and techniques. I machine embroidered spirals on the front.
And stippled all over the back. Now I think I’m ready to tackle a bigger machine embroidered project!
Rainbow doll
Finally – a new doll for the shop! This one is a little bit special because she has a lot of hand dyed elements.
Her dark purple dress was hand dyed by me (the frill is from some fabric Nic Wood sent me). The silk cape was dyed in the shibori method by me. Her flared pants were hand painted by my son.
Then there is the hair of course. The gorgeous rainbow hand dyed and spun yarn from Nell.
I don’t think I’ll be too sad if this doll doesn’t find a home for Christmas, there are always other possibilities!
A few things I’ve been sewing
Another busy week but at least I managed some sewing time! I found a cute monkey printed jersey at Spotlight on the clearance table and made some “non girly” pyjamas for the “non girly” girl. The good news is she loves the shorts and wants to wear them 24/7 – the bad news is she hates the top and refuses to wear it. Sigh.
I had dyed a mandala on some broadcloth that was just the right size to make a little dress for Half Pint. It’s very cute but next time I need to make the straps longer and the dress less “boxy”.
From the back.
I love these moments! I caught the boy teaching the little one some piano. These two may be 10 years apart in age but they are terrific friends.
It’s pouring rain here today after yesterday being warm and windy, so the garden is drinking it in. I must show you some photos of the garden soon, it’s such a wonderful place to be at the moment.
Happy weekend and God bless you all š
Bloggrrrrrr!!
I have things to show. I don’t really like texty posts, I like to have something nice to look at too. Blogger won’t let me upload images. Not yesterday. Not today. Is it me? Is it them? What if I can’t fix it? Am I destined to become a text only blog?! Hmm, a little dramatic perhaps, but I want my image uploader back!!
My husband’s Spoonflower fabric
My husband used to draw. A lot. Since the children came along and he became a “professional” anything artistic has taken a back seat and been almost non existent. I wanted to encourage him to start drawing again so I ordered some fabric from Spoonflower with some of his old designs as a surprise.
I’m so glad I did. He has become so inspired and it’s so great to see him feeling more like his “old (young!) self” again. The best part is seeing him hunched over his sketch pad again and imagining all the applications for his designs. He says he has found a part of himself that had been “dumbed down” and forgotten.
Naturally, this is all a dream come true to Mrs. Artsy Crafty!
Regarding my last post – I’ve temporarily switched to the old editor in order to post pictures, hoping that it will somehow just fix itself and I can go back to the new editor. Old editor is, well, old!
My biggest musical influence
No words necessary, just listen.
Buddha's Tears
My husband brought home some Buddha’s Tears tea from T2 yesterday. He was actually buying Strawberries and Cream tisane (a family favourite) and asked for a sample of the very expensive Buddha’s Tears (also known as Jasmine Dragon pearl). The obliging person gave a very generous sample.
It is the best jasmine tea I’ve tasted – no hint of the usual bitterness. This tea is very mild and suggestive and if it wasn’t so expensive I could drink a lot of it!