Errant behaviour

Damian and Lula are away visiting relatives  so only 36 hours after they have left I am practically feral, having to remind myself to eat at regular intervals, returning to the house because I  am wearing odd flip flops- definitely not a matching pair.  My hands can't take the strain if I sew non stop- which is what I really want to so- so I have to break it up with dog walks, phone calls, paperwork, faffing around, but I have made good progress on my Portfolio Dress.

The main fabric is from some curtains I found at the car boot sale a few months back.  They are cotton with cotton lining so I cut the fabric as if it was two layers to make a lined dress the easy way!

The contrast fabric is Sweetwater Sunkissed- nice to have a bit of text fabric in clothing.  I have completed one arm- the left in this picture but I am going to make the sleeve detail the Sweetwater print too- it doesn't quite balance without the contrast.  It is a well behaved pattern with interesting construction, especially the front pockets.  It did come up quite large and I have taken the sides in.  I also put tucks rather than gathers down the front, I find it a more flattering effect!

I have recently had some great deliveries.  This was a large parcel from the states of a few Etsy vintage lots.

This was not an easy venture.  The seller hadn't sold overseas before, I gave her links to USPS website and the fixed price mailing system, she then agreed to sell and a few days later cancelled the purchase.  In the end I had to use my friend Kathy's mother's USA address and then have it mailed from there to UK, so I have Kathy to thank for its arrival.  It was worth it, there is fabric treasure within!  The fabric had come from an estate sale and had belonged to an elderly and life long quilter looking at the age of some of the pieces.  The sorting and washing of these has taken ages.  There is a large pile of scraps and also some bigger bits- mainly in red.   The print on the bottom is especially good- large sketchy grey apples and little red apples dotted on top.

These are solo scraps, bits that are just too precious to discard despite their marks and stains- I have soaked them so they are clean.  The designs are so reminiscent of different eras, I can't tell you how much I love them.

These are some of my favourite florals from the scraps- again these are mainly solo bits but I do have some multiples here.  

I have already started using them in my Pay it forward pincushions for Rachael, Suzanne and Leila

And these pretty Aurifil threads arrived today plus some testers for me.  I have already started my stringent testing procedure- lets just say these threads do not disappoint.  I'll add more details soon and I'll be giving these packs away so you can try them too.  Now the bath is probably overflowing as I am doing my usual trick of trying to push as much into the time as possible and over running.

Back soon x

Farmers Dozen (less one)

Twelve blocks finished, not quite the full Farmer's dozen- the numbers kept changing as I counted my completed pile. The nice thing about this type of quilt-a-long is I can do them when I please so I had a little flurry after a gap.  For the moment, I have abandoned templates and I have just been looking at the blocks and working out the size by eye.  I am lucky, my eyes like this kind of thing and quickly chop things up into squares and rectangles.

Box-Lakehouse Drygoods seed catalogue, Cosmo graph paper, Chloe's Closet check and Suzuko Koseki daisies and red polkas.

When I say do it by eye, I look at the blocks and if I can work out how many squares the block is based on, I can then work out the size of the pieces.  In Snowball- this is a 9 patch block so each square is 2 1/2

 inches before sewing.  For half square triangles, these need to be bigger- I cut 2 7/8 inches squares and then cut them diagonally for the triangles.

Snowball- Alexander Henry Farmdale turquoise, Michael Miller big red polkas, Windham's American vintage close together red polkas and vintage mid spaced polkas!

Half square triangles are easy to cut if you do the maths- or math depending on you where you are in the world. Add 7/8 inch to the finished size of the hst block- the square the two triangles make.  These are 2 inches finished so 2 7/8" to cut out.  

Windows Suzuko Koseki brown doodles, Michael Miller Dick and Jane Sentence structure, Sevenberry yellow floral- if you find this anywhere everyone wants it, me included.

For Postage stamps, the cutting was easy!  I am proud of getting my little squares to behave and line up- I sewed these in rows of 3, blocks of 9 and then put the 4 quarters together.  Seams are nestled-they are pressed in alternate directions for each row- for optimum fit.

Postage Stamps- Lakehouse Drygoods seed catalogue, Suzuko Koseki Red recipe print, Kona school bus, Kona aqua

And a blurry group shot so far- forgot to put the postage stamp one out for this but a shot like this helps to show me which colours are missing and what I need to include more/less of.

Next I am starting on a dress before summer disappears.  Dress making is always a bit of a risk- I can do the sewing bit ( with the exception of zips which will always make me squirm at least a little) but there is often a reality gap between what I like the look of and what actually suits me.  I love the drape and fall of the sort of dresses you find in Japanese pattern books but I tend to look drowned in things like that and possibly like I am in maternity wear, not the best look.  I am having a go at the Lisette Portfolio dress, hmm, I'll show you as I go along- I am prepared for it to look good on the hanger and not on me.  It'll be a learning experience.  Baby Go! is on its way too, or so I have been told...