What a Beautiful Day

 

A perfect day was had by all yesterday!  Here's my husband, daughters and boyfriends just enjoying our picnic after paddling in the beck, having just had a very pleasant walk near Buckden in the Yorkshire Dales.  It's about an hour and a half drive from where we live now, but it's familiar territory from where James and I grew up.  It's where we often went with friends in our Minis in the early 1980's when we had just passed our driving tests.  Gosh, that seems a long time ago!

 

Then, later on we drove on to Grassington (another small Dales village) where they were holding a Festival.  We'd bought tickets to see the Levellers - my favourite band.  They were absolutely brilliant!!!  We were standing right at the very, very front and had the perfect view.  I can't begin to explain how amazing it was.  Take a look at them here.
I'm completely exhausted now, we didn't stop dancing and singing the whole time.  I hope I'm not getting too old for this lark! 

Long Time, No See

First of all I must apologise for my lack of posting these last few weeks.  However, I've been very busy setting up my new venture, which is a new online shop on Etsy called Hedgerow Bags.  It specialises in bags and purses made from waxed canvas.
It involved a lot of research into new fabrics and fastenings.  A lot of ordering and experimenting with the new materials to get the look I was after. A lot of sewing (of course), and then photography - which I still need to polish up on.
Here are a few items to show you, but please do take a look at the shop.

I'm still busy adding more items and trying out ideas but I'm hoping it's worth it.  Thank you for looking and if you do like the new shop please tell your friends to have a look.  See you soon.

Brown Suede

I just found another fabulous bargain in the charity shop; this extra long brown suede skirt. Don't worry - I'm not going to wear it!
It has been made from lots of pieces sewn together, quite large pieces, perfect for cutting up.  I decided that it would be an autumn project but I couldn't resist taking it apart there and then.

I've ended up with some good sized rectangles that will pair up perfectly with some of the tweed fabrics that I already have left over from making shoulder bags last winter.  I think some purses and pencil cases will be just right.  Plus there's a large amount of satin lining which I can re-use and also a good zip - all that for the knock down price of £2.50
I'm looking forward to next autumn already!!!

Linen Tunic

After a lot of deliberation I decided to use my bargain blue linen for a sort of tunic top.  It has a scoop neck, three quarter length sleeves, side slits at the hemline and a large patch pocket - useful for a large handkerchief when my hay fever starts!  It's quite a loose fit but that's good for layering throughout different seasons, and the shape is not very flattering - more of a comfy, pottering about garment, but I think I'll get a lot of wear out of it - I'm good at pottering. 

Notice how I joined some small bits together for the pocket, so as not to cut a chunk from the rest of the spare fabric; there's just enough for something else to be made from it.  Also, I couldn't resist making some spotty bias binding for the neckline, a bit of hidden fun!

Tweed Crotchet

After completing my last little crotchet project I couldn't resist sorting through the other wool to see which colours might go well together for another little project.  I put all the greens and browns together and created my second small rug.

It's a long narrow one that fits just nicely on another of the stone steps in our garden.  It's rather cosy and reminds me of tweed fabric and moorlands.

Oh, and some excting news that I heard this morning is that I became a Great Aunty to my niece's new baby girl which they are going to call Heidi.  I can't wait to see her, it doesn't seem 2 minutes since I was baby sitting for my niece herself - how time flys!  I'm now sorting out pastel colours in the wool basket, I can feel another small rug coming on!
Here is the welcome card that I made for them, it's just small triangles of fabric and ribbon atttached to the card with a line of machine stitching, simple but effective.

Short Cuts

I was following a woman through town yesterday morning -  well I wasn't actually following her, just going in the same direction - and I was inspired by her skirt!  I came straight home and thought "that's exactly what I need to do with those two old skirts in the wardrobe."  You see I have these linen skirts that I can't possibly part with because, well, they're linen.  I haven't worn them for a few years because they're ankle length and look rather dated now.  So, here's the solution.

 I cut the skirt about 2 inches above knee length and hemmed it.  Then I cut a piece about 4 inches wide from the bottom of the bit I'd cut off, therefore utilising the existing hem.  I had to take it in a bit down the back seam to make it the same width as the newly shortened skirt, and then I placed it underneath and inside the skirt and stitched it in place to create a layered effect.

My other skirt then had a similar treatment but with a slight variation.  I gathered the bit that was to go underneath and then added some bias gingham tape that I had.
I can now wear these skirts with thick coloured tights and boots until we get our summer!

A Fair Exchange

Recently I made a couple of bags for a friend and as I don't like to take money from friends we did a swap.  You can't beat a good old fashioned barter!  I'd suggested to her that I wanted to try my hand at weaving and so if she had any left over bits of yarn they would be appreciated.  However, I wasn't prepared for the amount she had spare.  Carole is a very prolific knitter and I was over the moon with the stash she gave me - this is a very deep basket as well!

So, because I couldn't decide what to make from my recent purchase of linen (beautiful, lovely linen) I got to work sorting out the wool.  First I put it into colour groups, then changed to types, ie wool, boucle, cotton, manmade etc. then finally settled on just groups of what looked pleasing together.
Unable to stop there - the night was still young - I started to crotchet.  Using four strands together and a 8mm hook it only took a couple of evenings to produce this little blanket.  It's simply done in trebles and when one colour ran out I just introduced another one.

It's just a rectangle of wooly colours that suggest tweed to me.  I thought it would be nice to sit on in the garden on the stone steps - a bit of padded warmth with my elevenses.  It was so therapeutic that I want to make another one - maybe greens and browns next time.