a leave of absence

After a while away from the blog I'm back.  I have been sewing, nothing fancy or new but I'm still plodding away.  I did my first market in March - Suitcase Rummage - which was a great experience. The idea of selling out of a suitcase kept it simple (for me), I made zip purses, oilcloth toiletry bags and covered coat hangers.  Surprisingly, I even made some money so have booked another market in June!

This week I've been watching the Great British Sewing Bee, I'm hooked.  It's like My Kitchen Rules for sewers.  It's the inspiration I need to start sewing properly again.  But, it will have to wait as I'm going to the US and Canada for all of May - I will be sewing-less but plan to stock up on fabric and ideas while travelling.  Can't wait.

not such a productive weekend

I have picked 178 tomatoes at my allotment since 12 January.  I've eaten them, given them away and yesterday decided to make some chutney.  I love chutney and am usually kept in stores by two Aunts.  I've never made chutney before and I won't bother again, I spent hours preparing and it looked so pretty in the saucepan.  Pity it tasted like poison.

So I rang one of said Aunts for her recipe and tried it this morning.  A more involved recipe than the first and two more kilos of tomatoes were used.  Not quite as poisonous but still bad.  I never want to see a tomato again.

Moving on, I sewed up an apron I cut out at Christmas, it's just not quite right. 

finished

After a few months of slow crocheting I've finished my enormous granny square blanket.

It seemed to take forever as this is the biggest blanket I've made but I'm really pleased with the result.  As this one wasn't a gift I didn't have a deadline so I left it on the couch and every time I sat down I did a row. 

I swore I'd never make another one but today is a new day and I'm thinking of using some more of my gifted wool to make another blanket.  I saw a photo yesterday online but can't remember where of a quilted knitted blanket, I think I'll do the same thing but with crocheted squares and rectangles of different sizes.  Then I'll have to learn how to sew them neatly together.

more purses

I've never sewn oilcloth so gave it a go today and made myself a new toiletry bag following a tutorial on Sew Delicious.  I made a couple of changes and it still turned out and fits everything that needs to go in it, apologies for yet another terrible photo.

I also finished another Nicole Mallalieu clasp purse for a gift, it is more Tokyo fabric and looks like a scene from Central Park, New York.  It's lined with some obligatory polka dot fabric.

Finally, I got as far as cutting out some fabric for another bag gift, I won't take a photo of the final as I've made a couple before.  It's a Nicole Mallalieu hobo bag.

new harvest

This morning I harvested my first crop of tomatoes and potatoes.  There must be about 100 more tomatoes to turn red and I'm beginning to think about what to make with them.  The tomatoes are a bit blotchy so I'll have to read up about why that's happening.  I fear I'll have loads of potatoes too so will be distributing them.

I also recently bought a great book/journal called My Garden : A Five-Year Journal by Mimi Luebbermann.  It's a handy way to record how the garden is growing, successes or failures, visiting insects, sketch garden plans etc.

dinosaur party

It's my nephews fifth birthday today and he is having a dinosaur party.  I've been tasked with making dinosaur biscuits.

It's a great Nigella recipe called 'rainy day biscuits' - it's anything but rainy today and I'm sure the icing will melt off the biscuits at the outside party but they taste nice.

happy new year

After a break from technology over Christmas I'm back.  My focus of late has been the veggie garden and harvesting produce with every visit, I can't keep up with the zucchini, cucumber, snow peas, beans and rhubarb.  All delicious.

I made a two more gingerbread houses a couple of days before Christmas (nothing like a last minute production) and some bunting to make the garden more festive.

Today I made something I've been wanting for ages, a tea cosie/cozy/cosy.  Another Nanna crafty item I love.  I followed a tutorial on The Purl Bee which was very simple, the bits in the tutorial I decided to skip are obvious in the final product.  Best to follow the instructions more closely next time.  I used some more of my Tokyo fabric and lined it with polka dot fabric (of course).

In the pipeline for the next week are two more Nicole Mallalieu bags and I have to seriously think about branching out sewing wise. 

gingerbread house

For the last five or six years (I can't remember) I've made a gingerbread house with my friends two daughters to take to their family Christmas do.  In the early years I gave them help with the icing and sticking on the lollies.  Now I bake the house and 'glue' it together and leave them to it, this year they wanted to cover it in lollies.

They do a side each and take turns doing the front and back each year.  The weight of the icing and lollies have given the house a bit of a lean this year but fingers crossed it will stay together until Christmas day.

It's such a fun project for everyone, I stick with the same design as it works for me but would like to branch out one year.  I always love seeing what the White House comes up with each year, maybe a bit too grand for me but it's amazing what can be made out of gingerbread.

a bit of christmas

In the last week I've 'made' two Christmas trees.  As my flat is quite small I had to make something suitable so I've gone with some decorated sticks in a vase.  My niece was very worried that I couldn't afford a proper tree.

I made a tree out of books at work, it's a tad wonky.

And I made my first Christmas pudding in a cloth, it was time I learnt the family recipe.  This pudding is the spare to go into the freezer.  Looks a bit revolting but I'm sure it will taste good.

no gift tags

I tried a Christmas decoration instead, it's not really appropriate for an Australian Christmas so maybe I'll finish it and send it to my Nordic friends.

stitching

After reading about the book launch for 'Stitched Gifts' by Jessica Marquez on the Purl bee I felt inspired to try a bit of stitching.  So of course I bought the book.

By the way, the book is lying on a gorgeous quilt made for me by a friend.  I know it's Amy Butler fabric and I think the range is daisy chain, but I can't be sure about that.

Back to stitching, I think I'll attempt something easy to start with.  I really like these gift tags.

a tiny bit of sewing and gardening

Another week has passed with lots of thinking about doing things but not actually getting anything done.  But I did have a couple of lovely days in Sydney visiting a friend and her new, very sweet baby. 

I made another Nicole Mallalieu bag, the pattern is 'Hobo' - love that name.   This bag is for a friend because I was sick of the one she was using (another bag I made).  I really do have a problem with polka dots, I love them.  I lined it with some red poplin, the photo didn't turn out too well of that. 

And there was a small harvest from my garden, a crop of turnips.  Not so sure what I'll be making with them, someone suggested Cornish pasties.  Yum.

still no crafting

It has been one of those weekends of going out at 8 each day and getting home late, I've now got a spare hour to do some things before heading out to my allotment when it's a bit cooler.  My weekend started with a bit of junk shopping, I love it and have to remember I can't fit everything in my tiny flat.  I picked up a few things from a fete, a metal filing cabinet thingy, a couple of pottery canisters (I love the colour), two cake plates which remind me of crockery from my childhood and a sticky tape holder - I've been meaning to buy one for ages.

A friend and I went in the Tour de Femme this morning, it's a 20km ride in the inner south of Canberra.  Not be pro riders we weren't racing but in it as a 'participation event' - so the Canberra Cycling Cub calls us leisure riders.  The weather was glorious and it was loads of fun.

And I did some more shopping.  I saw a cushion ages ago at The Style Emporium and wanted it but thought I shouldn't buy it and didn't really need it.  I was out that way this afternoon so thought I'd pop in on the off chance it was still there... success!  It's made by La cerise sur le gateau (can't work out how to do the thingy above the 'a'), it's obviously French and I think the fabric is Liberty.

my first snow peas

It has been a quiet week on the crafting front, hopefully this weekend will produce something.  However, I discovered this morning that I have grown my first snow peas!

As well as my allotment at the community garden I'm growing a few things on my balcony.  The snow pea success is especially exciting because I love them so much I could eat them every day.  Happy Saturday.

more spots

My mother asked me to make a little baby gift for her neighbour.  I've made this elephant a few times, it's adapted from an applique pattern I saw somewhere.  The hardest part is stuffing it, I like it to be quite hard but it seems to take forever and so much stuffing for that to happen.  To make it as colourful as possible I use different fabric and felt on each side. 

sewing clothes

I have never been good at sewing clothes for myself, I tend to not follow a pattern properly, not buy enough fabric, don't iron as I sew and force fabric where it shouldn't be forced.  I haven't attempted sewing myself anything for years until today.  Inspired by top notch and some Salme patterns Kirsty had tried I thought I'd give it a go myself.  I bought the Kimono Top pattern and some cheap polka dot fabric to make it up and see if my sewing had improved.

The photo is less than flattering but I'm quite pleased with how the top turned out, all the pieces seemed to fit!  It needs a bit of tweaking at the side to give it a little more shape and less of a front verandah look for me, I think some softer fabric would help that.  The pattern was easy to follow, it was a beginner pattern and only had about four pieces.  I think my attempt was a tiny sewing success.

zippered purse

I seem to have a problem with zippered purses, I can't get enough of them.  I don't even use them all but I keep buying them.  The latest one is from bookhou, I love hand printed designs on natural fabrics.

a bit of crafting and cooking

My grand plans of making things this weekend were pushed aside for the gorgeous weather, lots of bike riding and gardening was done instead.  This afternoon I happened upon a Pippijoe pattern I'd bought years ago and it looked easy so I gave it a go.

It's a 'Sling Bag' and as I thought was easy to whip up in an hour.  My only disappointment was the size, it will be perfect for my friend's 10 year old daughter.  I also missed the bit in the pattern which said to lengthen the straps....  The fabric I used is more from the Tokyo stash, including the lining.  Unfortunately my photography doesn't do it justice.

The little bit of cooking I did were some meat pies for my dad, he absolutely loves them but they seem to take hours and hours to make so I don't do them very often.

spotty brooch

I didn't get much crafting done today, just a little spotty brooch.  It was easy peasy, it's a self covering button I covered with more Tokyo fabric and super glued on a brooch back.

my allotment

In April this year I was lucky to get an allotment at a community garden, I'd been on the waiting list for 18 months and was told there were 17 people after me.  My allotment is for the 'beginner', it's the smallest in the garden at 25sq metres.  I was a bit disheartened when I was shown my garden as it was a big patch of weeds (that's my dad in the photo).

After much weeding it started to take shape and look like a veggie patch.

I've started to put a brick edging around the garden (it's still a bit wonky) and I've planted rhubarb, turnips, brussel sprouts, potatoes, zucchini, pumpkin, snow peas, spring onions, jostaberries and raspberries. 

I'm loving the allotment, everything is growing, touch wood.  I'm finding the weeding ridiculous, I have to spend at least two hours at it every time I'm there.  It'll all be worth it when I can eat what I've grown.