I just want to be a superstar

We have been moving all the rooms around in our house this week and as a result I had nowhere to put my mending pile (I like to store up mending until it reaches the ceiling) so I was forced to face it and I have spent the day patching and mending, but at the bottom of the pile was a top I started sewing for Annis a year ago and then sort of left (a habit of mine).  It was hand sewn and I had just two seams left to finish.

I had my suspicions that it wouldn't fit but either she hasn't grown in a year or I made it a bit big because it fits perfectly (she has rolled the sleeves up).  The pattern is from sewing clothes kids love and was actually (for an absolute novice dress maker) surprisingly simple.  

The fabric she chose was a very slippery silky jersey (I would suggest you don't let your daughter loose in the fabric shop if you want an easier fabric to work with) hence my decision to hand sew it.  It was quite quick to sew if you ignore the year long gap in the middle.

and we are both rather pleased with it.  The book is gorgeous, especially if you have a girly girl who loves dresses and frills!  I am intending to try and convince Annis that she needs a few frills so that I can make the beautiful skirt and maybe progress onto a dress or two before she grows too much!

so now I can get on with my crochet camping blanket with a nice hot chocolate

and Annis can relax after all that posing!

flower stall

I've spent today messing around with ideas for flowers to go in the buckets and vases on the flower stall.

a few seed stitches

I've used two types of yellow for the flower heads

how could I not include french knots?!

little star flowers using a variegated thread

I am going to make this pattern much larger and (hopefully) therefore, less fiddly.  I'm thinking of A4 and A5 size.  It will still be possible to change the size on your printer settings, as I have only recently discovered on my own printer, just before it died on me :o(

so I'm off to start research on printers!

x

stitching to chill and cackhandedness

Quite a long time ago I bought this stunning pattern from this tiny existence.  I love everything about this shop from the name to the beautiful designs but most of all I love this particular pattern.  I thought how lovely it would look in my craft space but I didn't think about the tracing!

It has taken me a long time to brave the tracing (months) and (as with most things) when I finally did, it really wasn't that bad!  

Yes it took a little patience but it didn't take as long as I thought it would and it stayed very still for me.  There is an iron on transfer version of this pattern available now but, for those of us in Europe, the tracing isn't all that bad!  And now...  I just have to sew it all! 

I'm actually quite excited about it.  I'm going to begin with the top shelf and work my way down.  I'm not usually much into filler stitches but this is my chance to give them a proper go.  I absolutely love the effects on the fabrics, just look at that green and white spotted fabric!  So I will share some pics as I go along.

I have managed a little drawing this week, but (typically) the best one happened to be drawn on a scrap of paper with other bits of drawing on it but it has given me the idea of a set of market stalls.  I also like the idea of embroidery patterns like this (bits of stitching is with me on this).  Once I started thinking along these lines I got quite excited, bakery stalls, bunting stalls, fabric stalls, dress stalls.......

then I drew a jar of macarons (shamelessly taken from a jar of macarons in my Miette cookery book) which I was so very pleased with and in my excitement I dragged my hand across some glittery pen spots and smudged them half way across the page!  I don't even know why I used the glittery pen so early!  It's usually the last thing I do. So I got a little bit cross and there might have been a few sweary sounds but I've crushed my glittery pen to tiny fragments and I'm over it now.  

x

Folksy Friday letter writing

Recently Annis decided she wanted to write to her long lost far away auntie all the way away in America.  This coincided with a book I'm reading called In Praise of Slow by Carl Honore all about the way in which we have lost quality of life by speeding up so much.  Letter writing seems to be one of the things that has gone by the wayside and although it's nice to receive an email it is so much nicer to find a letter in amongst all the junk mail that the postie pops through the letter box.  So in praise of letter writing this week's Folksy Friday is all about notelets.

Little Black Heart has lots of lovely cards, monsters, zombies, yetis and even cute so today I've gone for ubercute.

I just love these little owl notelets from made to make, gorgeous button eyes

and look at these lovely cards from laura makes pictures

something a bit nautical (perhaps you could send them while out sailing) from craft hippy

More lovely designs from Sally Boyle

These just made me laugh!  I love the idea of moustaches AND chihuahuas from Senor Picklesworth

and finally this gorgeous address book because you'll need the addresses for all that letter writing!  This is from Sew Amy

I hope this has inspired you to go out and look for stationery and write a letter!

Our favourite place in the whole of Cornwall

Nanjizal is one of our favourite places.  You have to get the tide just right and there's no way of taking a car there so you can't take your windbreaks and barbecues and dinghies (unless you are practising for the army!)  Even then you never know quite how it will be when you get there

By late spring the hedgerows on the way down are usually in full flower and buzzing away with insects.  At this time of year they are still a little cut back but the gorse and hawthorn are there already

in the last few years wooden steps have been put in so it's a little easier to get down to the beach.  It used to be a little bit scary!  But this also means we have to share it with a few more people when the sun is out

and this time there was a sand bank island that the children could paddle out to.  For some reason Nanjizal changes from year to year. When we first moved here the beach was all boulders, 

then the sand came in and covered them over making a perfect beach and it has stayed for the last ten years or so.

the tide was so low this time that we could climb round the rocks

this pool is always beautiful but never gets warm from the sun, the children have always played and swum in it but it is toooooo cold for the adults!

the sun came out and it felt like August for a while

who'd have imagined swimming cossies at the beginning of April

and seals!  there is almost always a seal sighting down at Nanjizal but this one was the closest we have ever seen to the beach.  Perhaps he was taken by surprise by our lovely early summer.

Today it's raining and raining.  It looks as though it may never stop but those few days of sunshine have strengthened us and we can wait a little longer for the real summer to begin.

x