Humpty Dumpty

Some time ago I said that my daughter would be making costumes for this years pantomime.  As they are doing a nursery rhyme theme panto, they are mostly using from the stash of costumes from previous years.
The one she has had to make from scratch is Humpty Dumpty.
Now this did include my help to some degree, but a very small degree consisting of 1 phone call and a number of texts.  So here I go with the details.
Phone call #1
DD "Hi mum, I have to make some shorts for Humpty Dumpty, I have a hula hoop, how do I go about it?"
Me "You need to measure the circumference of the hula hoop, divide by four and draw the waistline of your pattern to that measurement."
DD "What about the rest of it?"
Me "I'll draw a pic and send it to you...."
Still on the phone to her, drawing, taking pic and sending.

DD "So if I draw this pattern and send it to you, where do I sew?"

Me "I'll need a different colour pen, hang on, got the pen!  Ok sending to you."

Me "You sew down the purple bit, then have to sew together the 'J' bit for the crotch."

DD "Ok, will text when I have done the pattern."

The rest is by text.

Pic sent by DD.

Me "Make the legs longer, the 'J' rounder, remember it has to go round the crotch too."

DD "Ran out of paper when realised how long the 'J' would be lol what do you mean by rounder? Also remember the top will be stuck to the hula hoop."

I send back this pic.

Me "Remember I did that with my finger on my  mobile so it's not very accurate!"

DD "Ha ha, ok."

DD "...ish, will cut it rounder!  So is that ok?"

Me "Yeah, looks good, cut legs longer just in case you  need longer crotch than pattern, better to cut some leg off after than have to start from scratch."

DD "Yup was gonna, that way I can cut the length to fit as well.  Will probably cut tonight and make 2 separate legs as well but wait to sew them together tomorrow."

Me "Ok, good luck."

DD "Ok, ended up just keeping on going til I finished lol"

Me "Well done, looks like shorts :)"

The following day this pic arrived. Modelled on 4 year old, being made for older person so obviously too big for the model!

DD "Will have some padding on the shoulders as well."

Me "Excellent job Grasshopper!"

So concludes my tale of how to make a Humpty Dumpty costume.  All I can say is that if she did it from those instructions and sew it all by hand, so can you!

If you were wondering...

If I am just being a really awful daughter, and my mother is not really that bad.  Poor old dear is 82, give her some slack, she was probably frightened when she got ill.
I now recount a tale of when I was younger, a lot younger.  It would be when I was 20 and living with my then boyfriend who eventually become husband #1.
My eldest brother was living on his own and my younger brother (older than me) was married and living with his wife.
Mother demanded we attended on Christmas day, and we went (that was the mistake I now realise,  but we were young and immature lol)
When we arrived we discovered that not only were the five of us in attendance, but she had also invited a number of friends for the event.  We were placed down one end of the table while she and her friends sat together, laughing and having a lovely time.
After the meal she retired to the lounge.  I say 'she' because she told us (her family) she was going into the lounge with her friends, we could clear away and stay in the 'other room'.
After a while we attempted to  enter the 'friend zone' but were denied entry.  If we wanted a drink, we were told, we could supply our own (on Christmas day!).  Luckily we all knew our mother so had turned up with our own supply.
We sat in the 'other room' socialised, chatted, generally had a nice time.  While she sat in the lounge with her friends and chatted and socialised and had nothing to do with us.  If we attempted to talk to her she ignored us and told us to go in the 'other room'.
After a while we grew tired of being sent out of the room and decided we were all going home.  Said we were going and left.
She did not speak to any of us for months, probably getting very close to the next Christmas before there was any contact.  She still speaks of that Christmas when we all 'broke her heart'.  (Yes really she has said that).  Just the other day she mentioned the time 'the 3 of you just walked out down the road together without a word' (yes there was actually five of us and we all went to our respective homes after saying goodbye).
She basically treated us as young children, seen but not heard.  I was the youngest, my eldest brother would therefore be 26 and the other 23.  We were paraded in front of her friends and then expected to keep out of the way after we had done all the washing up for her.
I eventually did contact her, mainly because my wedding was the following May and I did actually want my mother to be there!
So no, I am not just a really awful daughter and she is not just a frightened 82 year old that was ill.

It all seems so simple

So the plan is...
You move.
You are consequently in a position to sit down and relax for a while.  Ok so the curtains may not be what you want and the entire house needs decorating, but then that 'life' thing intervenes and you wonder how on earth you have lived somewhere for 4 months and done hardly any of the things you intended to do in that time.
I did manage to put a coat of paint on the hallway. But the only completed room is our bedroom and that is mainly because we had bought curtains, duvets, light shade etc as we planned to do it at the old place, so the only thing left was a coat of paint on the walls.
OH has nearly completed the kitchen, but he had an operation two weeks after we moved in, three weeks recuperating and then, finally, Christmas hit.  He has only just got back to work properly so I am not about to get all worked up about a towel rail!
Now panto season is upon us and, luckily, the group is using pretty much all old stuff.  Daughter is due round today to make one costume which is the coat using the simple pattern I put up a few years ago.
I see her about once a week.  I see the grandsons, we go out, I may babysit, I enjoy it.
Two days a week I see my mother.
I find it hard to talk about my mother.  She is 82 and I know you are all thinking 'aww bless'.
WELL DON'T.
She is basically somebody you have to tolerate and one of the reasons I do not work is that she needs me to go there at least twice a week.  She phones when she wakes up so that I can be reminded of her existence, and will also phone during the day if I don't see her.  If all else fails we have a 5 o'clock in the evening phone call.
STOP THE AWW BLESS!
This is a typically event in the life of me and my mother...
It was my birthday just after Christmas and my mother says she would like to spend the day with me (notice she says she would like to spend the day with me, if I had anything I was doing she would expect it all to be cancelled on her behalf), as it happens the only thing I was going to do was have a meal out at the local Chinese.  But my mother wants to come.  But my mother won't eat after half 5 and the restaurant isn't open until then.  So I tell my  mother that the restaurant isn't open and she complains about the restaurant.  So I say we can go on another day for my birthday, but she wants to go out on my birthday.  We hum and haw and eventually she decides that we can go out for the meal for my birthday on the Sunday before when the restaurant is open when she wants to eat.  Remember, the only thing I had decided I wanted to do on my birthday was go out for a Chinese meal.  I am now not going out for a Chinese meal on my birthday.
Don't be under the impression that my mother is one of those sweet little old ladies that does not really have control of her brain and how it works.  My mother is as sharp as a needle, but it is always all about her!  She is quite happy to completely change any of my birthday plans because of what she wants, that's what she does!
An example of this is mother's day.  I literally have never celebrated mother's day like most people do because my mother demanded I attend her on mothers day.  I now insist my daughter gets mothers day because I did not.
If you don't do what my mother wishes you regret it.
(Anyway, OH is used to mother and he comes to the rescue and books us the cinema to see Aquaman, which means I get to ogle Jason Mamoa on my birthday and I had a lovely day thank you all lol)
So, having completely changed plans for MY birthday, so that mother can have the Chinese meal, it is booked for the Sunday.
Then on the Saturday she phones up.
"I can't come tomorrow, I don't feel well, you may as well cancel it".
"Well why don't we wait until tomorrow and see how you feee....."
"I TOLD YOU I DON'T FEEL WELL".
Slams phone down on me.
I'm irritated.  I phone back.
"All I was going to say was...."
Slams phone down on me.
I phone back.
"Don't slam the phone down on me, just listen to what I am trying to say."
"I DON'T FEEL WELL."
Slams phone down.
I phone back.
"I'm not saying you feel well, I am saying that you may feel better by tomorrow and want to go for the meal, so if..."
"STOP RINGING ME, I DON'T FEEL WELL".
Slams phone down.
I cancel restaurant.
I leave her to it, if she was that ill she wouldn't be capable of shouting down the phone at me lol
I phone her the next morning.
"How are you feeling to day?"
"I am feeling fine thanks, I must have just overdone it when I took the dog for a walk over the fields"
"Yes you do often overdo it don't you!  Well I am glad  you feel better"
"So why did you ring?"
"To see if you were ok, you said you weren't well yesterday"
"Oh yes, I feel fine."
"That's all?"
"Yes"
Bit more chit chat about nothing, no mention of her shouting at me or slamming phone down on me.
It was only after the phone call that I realised that she was waiting for me to say about going for the Chinese lol
Tough luck mother, Chinese cancelled when you said to do it!
I went and visited as usual on Monday morning and she told me how she had not had a very nice meal the night before.  It was a ready meal and not the best one she had tried, it was lasagna.  I told her she should have kept to the tin of ravioli, we had that, it was nice.  She said nothing as she realised we had not gone out for the meal.  She has never apologised for shouting at me, never mentioned it.
In fact my birthday was not mentioned again.  I didn't get a card or a present.  She didn't wish me a happy birthday on my birthday because I was out having lunch with one of my daughters and then watching Jason Mamoa (ty OH).
The Friday after my birthday she said something but that was because my other daughter was there with my grandchildren and gave me my card there.  A week later she gave me an old bottle of wine she had in a cupboard.  But basically she did not mention my birthday again!
And I had a Chinese takeaway on the Monday evening lol

8+

The waiting game

So just over 8 weeks into the house purchase and we have reached that 'nearly there, but not quite' stage, that drags on, and on, and on!

I have moved a number of times before.  I was a single mother, two small children, privately renting and getting those letters that I had to move on a regular basis.  Twenty years ago privately rented houses were being sold regularly by landlords as the 'negative equity' problem arose.

I had it down to a fine art.

You start by packing everything that you don't use, but want to keep.  Things like pictures, books, irregularly used cooking items (like those you only use at Christmas) and anything else you know you can manage without.  You store these boxes out of the way (I used to use my bedroom), the best part of this being you sort through and throw away what you don't want or use (I adhere by the 6 month rule, if you haven't used it in 6 months and there is no emotional attachment, you don't need it).

Then, a couple of days before moving you sweep through the house packing what is left.  Last items to be packed are the first things you need when you arrive at the new house. Label boxes with the room they need to be in, and really, moving is pretty simple.

However, my previous experiences of moving did not have one thing I have now.  The husband!

The children are gone so you would expect this to be easier, but the children were as used to moving as I was, and pretty well trained in how to go about it.  The husband has never actually moved in his life!  When he moved in with me, he just moved odd bits over 6 months (including his children that moved in with me at the start of the school term 2 months ahead of when he officially moved).

So I cleared the spare room, cleared the sewing room, packed everything we didn't need and allocated the sewing room as the 'packed and ready to go' room.

My husband appears to have difficulty with this concept.  I keep finding 'things' have been put in the room.  I am unsure whether these 'things' are to be kept or not.  There is no sign of any of these 'things' being put in boxes ready to go to the new house.

'Things' are also appearing in the spare room! The spare room still has a travel cot and mattress in case the grandchildren need to sleep here, but I had emptied it, now there are 'things' in there.

I had also cleared out the downstairs toilet.  Then the husband 'packed his tools' (do you see how many times I am using quotes here?) and put the packed boxes of tools on empty shelves in the cleared out toilet.

The last time I went into the toilet there was a box on the floor, the lid was off the box, next to the box was a tesco carrier bag with a few screws and items from MY pink toolkit (it was bought so that when I wanted a tool I could go to the toolkit and get it out without having to rummage through all his stuff to find a screwdriver)!  Why things from MY pink toolkit are not in the toolkit but in a tesco carrier bag is beyond me but there is also an electric drill in front of the open box next to the tesco bag.  I expect there is a reason why the husband has not put the electric drill into either a) The bag, or b) the box, but I can't see that it will be a good one!

So now, the toilet that was clear except for an empty set of shelves with one box on it, is now not empty, or tidy, or even completely packed ready to go.

I am going round and round in circles, repacking rooms that were empty a few days before, and feel like I am living in a nightmare instead of that lovely, getting ready to move organisational wonder, that I have previously experienced!

I wonder if I could just pack away the husband for a few weeks?

How long is a piece of string?

So after enthusiastically returning to my blog, things began to go horribly wrong!  We were informed by our landlord that, due to a very negative EPC viewing, we had to leave the house for repairs to be carried out.  Our first reaction was inevitable panic.  We have lived here for 17 years and originally told we would never have to leave, now we had no  choice.  Then we thought about it and wondered why we had to leave for work to be done, approached the landlord, who told us that we had to move out but as we were good tenants he would be happy for us to move back in again.  We had a look at other rentals in the area and realised that by the time we had paid out what had to paid out, we would be unable to move back in (probably also stuck in a lease for months when the house became available).  So we moved onto plan B, we have a caravan in the garden, why  not stay there while work is carried out?  

The letting agents thought it was a good idea and would approach the landlord on our behalf.  We set about doing up the caravan, painted the interior, new carpet, new curtains and were ready to live in it for a few months.  The landlord said no!

Let me give you some details here on why we didn't want to leave:

In the last 17 years our 4 daughters grew up here so there is the inevitable emotional attachment.

The landlord had done no internal decoration. Our own time, and money has gone into keeping it in decent order.  We recently spent a lot of money on new carpets, worktops in the kitchen and decorating throughout, on the understanding we would be staying here for many years to come.  

Three years ago the landlord told us we were responsible for an area of garden we had previously been told was not ours but belonged to next door (previously owned by the landlords brother).  We spent yet more time and money on bringing a field of weeds to a fully fledged garden.

We looked around us and saw all our efforts being taken away.

We appealed to housing associations in the area to no avail, unless we were homeless there  was nothing they could do.  I even wrote to my MP, who was about as much help as ... well I will let you answer that yourselves.

So we started looking for somewhere else to rent.  At the time we had just acquired two kittens, of course this was on the understanding we could stay where we were, then realised that the majority of private rentals don't allow pets!

Put into the equation the fact that I am the main carer for my 82 year old mother, and you can see that there were certain limitations on areas we could live.  Things were definitely not looking good.

Then I had the thought that maybe we could buy somewhere.  So a few months down the line (luckily we had the time to sort things out) and we are waiting to see if the purchase of a house nearby is going through.

Also down the line, we have got more eager to leave the house we thought we would stay in forever.  Three years ago landlords brother sold the house to landlords son.  They moved in with two children and three dogs.  There are now four children and four dogs.

Now the children I can live with, but four dogs that are not kept under control, bark incessantly, and run manically towards any car that comes up the drive, does not equal a peaceful life.  To be honest, I can't wait to leave!

If the house buying falls through then I will rent another place... away from any dogs!

Whatever happens in the next few weeks, I will be moving.  I will be making curtains for a new place.  I will be making panto costumes with my daughter.  I will be adding to this blog!

In the meantime I have to work out how to condense three bedrooms into two, and reduce my sewing stash to a manageable amount (at the moment it takes up a room on its own).  Find someone who would like my collection of antique sewing machines and pack up and sort through 17 years of living somewhere while waiting to hear from solicitors who seem to be the only people that know how long it takes to buy a house, and how your own purchase is going.  The only answer that seems to fit the situation is the same as you get from 'how long is a piece of string?'

I just hope our piece of string is not a huge ball of the stuff!

I'm back!

I haven't written this blog for so long I had forgotten about it.  Then, while looking through Pinterest, I saw someone had pinned one of my pics on Professor McGonnagalls robes.  I took a look back over my own blog and felt sad that it had abruptly come to a halt.  The reasons were personal, ending in me suffering from severe depression.  I stopped making costumes, in fact I stopped sewing all together, and took time out to pull myself out of wherever it was I had descended.  At this point I need to apologise to anyone that asked me questions or made comments when I did not reply to them, it was not me being ignorant, just me being withdrawn.
However, things are much better in my own world now and I have ventured back into the sewing room, if only to make caravan curtains, or an occasional foray into something quick and easy.
The reason it seems that now is a good time to start again is that the making of pantomime costumes has returned to my family in the form of my eldest daughter.  After the initial year when the pantomime was cancelled at the last minute, it was resurrected!  My daughter has stuck with them, acting in every production (even the year she starred as Maleficent while 7 months pregnant!) and is now part of the pantomime committee.
This year she has volunteered to make the costumes! Neither of us are naive enough to assume she would just be making the costumes, she will need a guiding hand from me during the process and it seems that this guiding hand may as well be documented to help others at the same time.
She is not the most experienced with a sewing machine, in fact the last time she touched one was  over four years ago when she made the Victorian dress I wrote about in this blog.  Neither of us are expecting it to be easy and as it is possible I will have to move in the middle of it, the whole kit and caboodle may have to be uplifted to her house at some point to be continued!
While we wait for new season panto sewing to begin I will try and post a bit to keep you up to date on any other sewing I may attempt before then.
Thanks for reading this, I feel quite excited about the prospect of mother/daughter sewing time, even if we do need to negotiate through two pre-schoolers while doing it!

World book day 2015

There seems to be a lot more more media coverage of World book day this year than there has been previously.  I got ready for work while the tv was showing photo's of children dressed in their costumes as I shrugged on the Beast jacket that had been made, but not worn, for the (not happened) panto.

It seemed an obvious and no work involved choice, but ended up with me feeling uncomfortable (not made for me) and fed up with the dangly lacy sleeves on the shirt getting in the way with every piece of writing I had to do.  It didn't last long I can assure you!

The next day involved grumpiness from some of the staff as social media had continued with this startling 'new' topic.

The main issue is the fact that it is world BOOK day!  Children are supposed to dress as a children's BOOK character but end up in an assortment of costumes that have nothing to do with books.

One of the best costumes at our school was a little boy turning up in his normal clothes with a gold ticket hung round his neck...simple, yet effective.  But his efforts seemed to be pushed into the insignificent corner by his classmate in his 'Hulk' costume, complete with mask that had an incredible assortment of flashing lights and gizmo's that must have cost a fortune (and unfortunately got broken during the day which will not have impressed his parents).

For those of you that will argue that comic book characters are from books, graphic novels are designed for adults.  Frozen, although the little girls look adorable in their dresses, is a film not a book. You can get away with the majority of Disney princesses as they come from Grimms fairytales or similar children's books, but Frozen is not one of them.

So I have made a decision to make up three or four costumes that are completely related to a childs book and rotate them over a three or four year cycle.

My first two choices are Smaug, from The Hobbit;

Who is an obvious red and gold dragon.

Choice two is The White Witch from The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe;

I am now coming to a complete blank on what else to do.  The criteria is...

• Must be comfortable to wear all day (don't worry, I have sorted out how to do that with the dragon!)
• Must be obvious what it is!
• Must be from a famous children's book
• Must be something I want to wear (I really don't want to dress up in normal clothes)
• Must have close fitting arms so that I can write without getting extremely irritated by flapping sleeves.
• Must not get too hot (I was way too hot in the Beast costume)

But I have now come to a halt on what other characters to do.  There is no rush, if the first two are made then it means I have three years for the third!

Mary Poppins or Nanny McPhee (aka Nurse Matilda) are possibilities, do you have any other ideas to help me out?

As an aside, eldest daughter has decided to have a second dress for her wedding.  Similar in style to the bridesmaids but in a pretty, white broderie anglais.  Why do I mention this?  Because she also wants a petticoat in the same colours as her bridesmaids, which means I now have to get all that net out again and cut another load of it for petticoat #4.  Then I have to also cut out white net for the petticoat for her actual wedding dress and a smaller version for smaller bridesmaid in the coloured net.  

I dream of dress net!

Goldfish have more fun

Well it may have taken a few weeks but I did manage my first quilt.  I don’t think I will be doing it again in a hurry even if it was just a cot quilt! 

I started off with the pinwheel patch being cut and rearranged that I had used on the cushion for my daughter.

It was during the process of repeating it 8 times that I began to lose the will to live.  I have the attention span of a goldfish and doing the same thing over and over did not keep the goldfish in me happy.  Having promised myself at least one finished quilt I persevered until they were all complete but they certainly were not as beautifully aligned in reality as they had been in my preplanning head.

I did have a bit of fun making the Scotty dog patch for the middle, but it was short lived.

I didn’t even take photos of the process as I desperately tried to finish it.  Layers of topping, batting and a plain blue backing were pinned together one night while my brain tried to answer the questions on ‘University Challenge’.  Then, of course, I planned to do some awesome quilting, but it turned into plain stitch in the ditch because it was quicker and more likely to be finished sometime this year.

The binding was applied in short bursts while I was upstairs for various reasons.  Then it was all finished and I looked at it completed and was suddenly filled with a sense of achievement!

It isn’t the best quilt in the world, I am well aware of that, but I finished it and it was delivered to pregnant mother before the birth so I did do as planned!

Just as the quilt was finished I moved on rapidly.  Did I move onto something less repetitive?

 

This is what I did….

Forty two x eight yard length x 9” wide strips of dress net for 3 poofy, 1950’s bridesmaids petticoats!  It took all day as I discovered that, even straight off the roll, all that dress net needs ironing before cutting!  Then I discovered that all the layers were too thick to use a rotary cutter and had to spend a few hours cutting it out with scissors that insisted on sticking to it at every opportunity.  Now it sits there staring at me, daring me to pull myself together enough to laboriously stitch it all together.

On the plus side, once the petticoats are made I get to play with the bridesmaids and wedding dress so it’s not all bad.

Adventures with a glue gun

We had an interesting Sunday afternoon last week.   Four generations of us sat around the table to make wedding invitations, although the youngest wasn’t very helpful at only 6 weeks old and was being passed around the rest of us!  Youngest stepdaughter was unable to join us as she had a bike accident on the Friday before and has a fractured thumb!  So eldest daughter, whose wedding it is, showed us the sort of design she wanted which was just some lace and an assortment of bows, flowers and butterflies.

The lace came from my stash and was pretty much using up all the odd bits I had kept in case they came in useful.  It’s quite gratifying to know that they finally did as I have spent many years wondering if it was worth it.

I followed her plan, youngest daughter followed her plan, my mother went off at a tangent and concocted all kinds of weird and wonderful things that really didn’t fit with the plan (these were later put into two piles, those that could be rescued and those that would not be used).

It was a lovely time, although mother did worry us with the handling of the glue gun!  Me and youngest daughter seemed the most prone to burning ourselves even though we have probably used it the most.  You would probably assume that we were being less careful as we thought we knew what we were doing, but anyone watching my mother wielding the gun with a completely carefree abandon would, like us, be wondering how on earth she managed not to burn herself as she merrily waggled it around and glue was dripping onto everything in sight, except for the bits she was sticking to the card!

All the invitations are different but here is a selection to show you how they turned out;

Onwards and upwards

Now that I have learned the correct way to do a 9 patch block I started looking around the internet to see what I could do with it.  Youngest daughter had commented on the cushion cover that mother had stolen so I offered to make her one.  Now youngest daughter is on the quirky side so I knew I had to put a bit more effort in for her. 

After scouring around a bit I came across this; http://www.popularpatchwork.com/news/article/disappearing-nine-patch/5294/

It seemed straightforward enough, but went a step further than the basic 9 patch I had already completed. 

I pulled out some more fabric and cut some more squares and sewed them all together as the chipmunk on helium had told me to (ok, I admit, I did sew all three of the squares in each row at the same time, but it didn’t seem to have an adverse effect on the finished product.  If there is a reason for not doing it that way could you please let me know as I don’t want to be messing it up all over again).

The instructions on this site are easy to follow;  make a 9 patch block and then cut it into quarters horizontally and vertically, rearrange the quarters of the block, then sew it back together again.

Here is the finished side of the cushion cover made for the quirky one.

Then I decided that there needed to be another side to this cover and started scouring the internet again.

It was then I noticed that one of the shopping channels on tv(Create and Craft) had quick tutorials on patchwork so I started watching it and was given another idea for a quick and easy challenge (I believe you can still see these tutorials on their website although I haven’t looked).  This time you make a pinwheel block that has finished measurements that are divisible by three (there are many good instructions on how to make one of those so I dont want to pick out just the one).

You then make cuts horizontally and vertically at thirds across the finished block.  This gives you 9 new squares.   You rearrange these squares, sew them together and end up with this;

I put a border around the pinwheel side, sewed it all up and had another finished cushion cover, this time one that daughter took home after I had taken a photo of both sides I am relieved to say.

Please don’t think for a second that I am saying patchwork is easy.  Both sides of this cushion cover were quick fixes using basic blocks that a far more experienced person would have made a far better job of. 

But what it does prove is that even a beginner in this craft can make a half decent patchwork cushion cover.  It also proves that a gung ho idiot like me can learn from some invaluable tutorials on the internet if they look around and pay attention, even if it is by listening to a chipmunk on helium.  If you have ever considered giving it a go then I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Next on my list is an Amish style quilt completely sewn by hand….ok, so I am lying, but I will certainly be having a go at a quilt next as I do believe I may have caught a new sewing bug.

Lets start over and learn how to do patchwork properly!

Having accepted my own shortcomings, and recognising the need to seek out someone who knows what they are talking about in the patchwork/quilting department, my first step was to go to Craftsy and see if there was anything on there that was free.

I’m not a big fan of video tutorials.  I like reading how to do things then I can skim over the bits that aren't relevant.  Video tutorials are always so slow with their instructions and there are only so many times someone can tell me how to thread the needle on my machine before I find myself bashing my head against the nearest brick wall.  Its also harder to skim through as you find yourself going backwards and forwards trying to find the part you are looking for.

Therefore I have a distinct non-desire to spend any of my hard earned (and pretty dam non-existent at the moment) cash on a tutorial that I know I will skim through 90% of to find the 10% I need.

But many people love Craftsy tutorials for the same reason they send me insane and I am pretty sure those very same people would not now be constantly looking at the patchwork cushion they have made wondering why they didn’t  think about it a bit longer and maybe, just maybe, find out a bit more about it before they started!

For once it was my lucky day and there is a free tutorial that I quickly signed up to, spent the first ten minutes working out how to fast forward, hit the 2x button and realised that I could still understand what was being said at twice the normal speed, even if she did sound a bit like a chipmunk on helium.

Did I mention I was ill?  It was one of those good ill type things that mean you can still do things without it knocking you sideways.  I couldn’t go to work as I had no voice (I work in a school, no good if you can’t speak or hear properly), my glands had swollen up so much it had blocked one of my ears so I was voiceless and half deaf, but still able to watch the video and half hear the chipmunk talk by turning my head in the right direction and having it up on full volume. 

I sat and half watched the part of the video that talked about what thread I needed, what needle I needed (this came up again later in the how to quilt part of the tutorial, and I’m wondering if I should have paid more attention as to why I shouldn’t be using a 90/14 for the patchwork - because I am!) and how to thread my machine, I half watched the part of the video that talked about the fabrics I should use and then I half watched the part the video that talked about how to chop up your fabric into squares.

It was around this point that I realised why it was I had just sewn together 9 squares of fabric to make a cushion cover but, for once, I persevered with the tutorial.

Finally I found something that was relevant, laying out your squares.

Ok, done that.

Now pin the squares from column one and two together.  Check.

Now sew the 6 squares together with a ¼” seam keeping them attached with the thread saving technique.   Er ok, not sure why I have to keep them together, but I will, coz she said so (maybe I couldn’t understand the chipmunk on helium explanation of why I had to do it that way).  Then you cut them apart?  Ok Mrs Helium, doing as you say.

There was another bit about what foot to use to sew a ¼ “ seam.  The lady on the tutorial has a Bernina, I have a Bernina.  The lady on the tutorial says that I need to get a special foot to quilt with, it’s a Bernina no 37 and it is a ¼” foot.  I have a ¼” foot but it’s not a no 37 so I am slightly confused and wondering if my foot is a different ¼” foot to the one the lady is using, or is it because I am in a different country and Bernina give away the ¼” foot as an accessory in countries where quilting isn’t as popular and make money from selling it separately in countries where it is (that killed my chances of a lucrative Bernina blog deal didn't it)?

Then I have to press my sewn together squares, in different directions!  Ahah!  Different directions, to the side…..lightbulb moment!  Thank you Craftsy lady/chipmunk on helium, good point…..this lady must know what she is talking about so I keep watching.

Sew the third square in the row to the two you already have and press it in the same direction.

I’m not sure why I have to sew the third square after the first two but today I am doing as I am told.  Tomorrow it is likely I will sew all three squares together at once, but today I am not…patting myself on the back here!

Then you sew the rows together by first pinning the two ends together, then line up the seams and pin them in place.  The way the seams have been pressed in opposite directions mean you can get a really snug fit.

You sew together carefully by easing the squares so that they match at the seams.  Thank you Craftsy lady, you have now filled that gap in knowledge.  As I sew towards the seams I can hear chipmunk on helium telling me to ‘take the pin out’ and it brings a little smile to my face.

This is four squares sewn together after careful matching and taking the pin out just before the needle hits it.

This is four squares sewn together after careful matching and taking the pin out too early!  I unpicked it and did it again.

There is no picture of the 9 squares sewn together because my mum came round just as I finished making them into a cushion cover.  She liked it so much it went home with her and it was only after she left I realised I hadn’t taken a photo.  But I’m not stopping with just 9 patch; next stop is playing with this new knowledge.

Herein lies the tale of why you should look before you leap!

I often think of the saying ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’ when I am sewing.  I get too easily bored repeating the same thing over and over again to perfect one aspect of sewing so I tend to stick my nose into everything at some point.  My latest desire was to try out patchwork and quilting as it was one thing that I had managed to miss in the last 30 odd years I have been sewing and knitting.

As I was moving stuff up into my new sewing space I came across some bits of material I had been saving for just such a play!  Anything less than 1 metre is a ‘bit’ in my book, it is not quite enough to make something decent with as I don’t tend to make separates to wear.  It didn’t take long for the noticing of the ‘bits’ to turn into a ‘let’s play with my rotary cutter, mat and 6 inch square template as I haven’t used it yet’ session.

I stood there for over an hour cutting little squares out of the bits of fabric and placed them lovingly in one of my pretty new boxes and I felt quite impressed at my achievement until I realised that now I had cut them, I had to do something with them.

In my usual way I considered for all of about 30 seconds, then decided that it was only a matter of sewing 9 squares together for me to get half a cushion cover, sew 9 more together and I have the whole thing (ahhhh the naivety of it!).

So I sewed the squares together (am I sounding stupid now?) then sewed my bigger squares together and in went a zip and here is my cushion cover, my first ever attempt at patchwork.

I merrily trotted down the stairs to show hubby my feat of sewing, he admired it greatly and then told me how well all the squares matched up.

It was around about this time that I looked at it, I mean really looked at it.

Ummm, no, the squares don’t match up really well.

Ummm, maybe I should have spent a bit longer than 30 seconds thinking about this.

In fact, I am only still impressed with the fact that I did press all the seams while making it so at least I did that right.

I slouched back up the stairs and placed my (3 minutes ago work of art, now a bit ok but those squares don’t match ergh) cushion with its newly made cover on my sewing chair.  After all it is only going to see my backside isn’t it?

I then crept back downstairs and took a proper look at how to do it with my faithful laptop search.  I will let you know how I got on in my next post but for now I am just hoping I am not the only person who can so quickly throw themself into something while deep inside knowing it is a skill not a quick fix! Luckily I realised my error before moving onto the quilting, there is only so much shame a person can take you know.

My sewing space

As I mentioned, after many years of sewing on the dining table or squished in the corner of the room, I finally have a dedicated sewing room.  If there was ever a reason to be glad your children have flown the nest … this is it!

I had very little thought in my mind of how I wanted it to look so while I was suffering over Christmas with my swollen glands and cheese grater  throat, I spent many hours looking at ‘pinterest’ and Google for ideas.

The only thing I came up with was I liked the look of white rooms and I wanted it to be ‘girlie’.  Luckily, the room was already painted white so that meant there was no need for decoration.  Next step was how things would be arranged.  I have been relegated to the corner of the living room with a sewing cabinet that just managed to fit my sewing machine and overlocker on the top.  I wanted the machine in front of the window as I have spent too many years looking at a wall but when the cabinet was shifted up the stairs I realised that there was still no space by the machines and that was now my requirement. 

After rummaging around the internet I found the solution, a fold up table that was 4 feet long and just £30!  It was rapidly ordered and I waited for its delivery.  The next issue was there was no storage.  Dearly beloved husband had decided that my sewing storage room (a room downstairs that is too small to be useful for much else than storing things in) should stay as it is, with its three filing cabinets and wardrobe filled with fabric.  Now I am willing to go with that but there are certain things you want nearby, and some things are too pretty to be hidden away, so they were going to make their way upstairs.

On a random trip to a local shop I found the collection of pretty boxes for £35.  They range in size from about 4”x2” right up to the largest which you can see under the table in the pic.  I also found the shelving/drawer system in the same shop.  The drawers are plastic baskets which I was offered for just £15 as one of the baskets was broken.  Once I got it home I covered all the baskets with some pretty floral fabric and filled with my ribbons,  lace and other oddments that needed a home (there are many tutorials on this but basically you use your box to make a pattern from the base and sides and voila….’tis done). 

As I had so much time available to me I looked on blogs for storage solutions and one that really appealed was using good ol’ fashioned  clothes pegs to wrap the smaller bits of lace and braid around.  I have to say it works a treat and all those odds and ends are now easier to find, take up less room and look a whole lot neater.  Have a look around to see what ideas you can come up with, I also saw people using pieces of cardboard, folders and boxes but they didn’t fit with my chaotic brain!

An old towel rack was used to store rolls of lace and the wrapping paper I use for paper pattern making.  I’m not even sure where it came from but it was never used for towels and has languished in various rooms around the house for a while now so it must be feeling very useful all of a sudden.

My mum donated an old kitchen cabinet that hubby put up along with a couple of shelves that were rescued from our shed from somewhere or other.  I decided I didn’t want the doors back on the cupboard as I wanted to be able to see my pretties that are stored in it but we have left the hinges on for now in case I change my mind.

The cabinet that had previously been my sewing table (and houses the Singer 411g) was moved into an alcove and has become my ironing board/cutting mat area for patchwork   (One thing I always wanted to do and never got around to is quilting, and I am pleased to say I have managed to venture into it the last couple of weeks and will post about that soon).

The table arrived and is absolutely perfect and I am constantly impressed by the space at the side and back of the machine and wonder how I managed in such cramped conditions for so long. 

The last step was to bring up the dummies that are now waiting for the wedding sewing to start.

My apologies for the rubbish picture quality, it was dark and I am rubbish at photography!

Magazines and patterns are now housed in the larger boxes under the sewing table and the other boxes have a collection of bobbins, sewing machine feet and needles, basically anything that previously was scattered in a variety of drawers and cupboards around the house.

There are still some bits and bobs I want to move upstairs from the storage room and I still have a practically empty cupboard that most of that can go in when I get  a free moment to do it. 

The room is lovely to work in with everything close to hand and even youngest step daughter said that she found it beautifully calm and could sit in there quite happily for some peace and quiet (I have no intention of encouraging this, my haven is now firmly….MINE!).  I am now looking for some ideas on how to decorate this in a truly girlie way but I will bide my time until I find things I truly want in there.

Edit: I just had to add this.  My other half came home from the shops today with this for me.

Apparently he heard my hint that all sewing rooms need a pink iron :D

Mind the gap.....

Between posts!

It's been a bit of a stressful couple of months so please be patient with my lack of writing!

Due to circumstances beyond everyone's control the pantomime was cancelled.  I wont go into details here but it boiled down to many minor, and one major, problems with the cast and illness and it was decided that it was better to cancel than pour money into lighting and staging and have to cancel anyway.  The mantra for the group was that there are many more things important than pantomime performances and on this occasion they had to be put first.

It was a very sad day when me and Auntie Em trundled all the completed costumes out to the caravan.  But then we sat and had a good ol' giggle on how many hours we had sat pondering which way to do things when we may as well have just stuck bin bags together with cellotape!  

On the plus side, if they decide to put it on again next year there is no work for the costume department!

Just as this news had sunk in, my youngest daughter suddenly lost the sight in one of her eyes.  Panicky visits to hospital revealed nothing.  They have no idea what has caused it and, apart from regular visits to hospital for them to check on it, she has been told to just get on with it as it should go eventually.  The good news is that all the horrible reasons for this has been eliminated so we are no longer worrying about all the worse things and waiting for it to go away (apparently she has a swollen optic nerve which is probably caused by a virus of some description).  

Just as we get this news (and I have spent many days at the hospital with her), I get a phone call at half three in the morning.  Yes, eldest daughter went into labour three weeks early!  So back up the hospital I trot and am lucky enough to see my grandson born just four hours later.

Because he was early they kept them in for a week (yet more hospital visits) but they were both home just in time for Christmas, when I decided I wasnt getting any attention and got ill.

I finally went back to work last week although I still appear to be deaf in one ear due to my glands swelling up!

So, that's my excuses and I am more than happy to settle down to normal and be able to post again.

On a positive note, the cancellation of the panto meant I was able to start on my sewing room earlier than anticipated.  Until now I had no dedicated space, but with only one daughter still at home there is now a room available for me.

The move was going to take place after the panto so that all the costumes were put away, hence why it was put forward.  This is due to the wedding in August and a desire not to have bridesmaids and wedding dresses hanging on dummies in the living room for all and sundry to see.

So now things are returning to normality we are on the road to the worlds cheapest wedding.

First step is next week when we are having a wedding invitation bee.  Me and daughters and mother are all gathering at my house to make invitations with an assortment of ribbons and bows and lace etc.  The invitations are a basic bit of card which will be printed on and individually decorated with bits gathered from my stash and liberal use of a glue gun.  That's the general idea anyway, and if it all goes horribly wrong we will be rushing out to buy some made properly!

With everything that was going on I have done hardly any sewing, but things are back on track now so watch this space for a new project I have in hand as well as the beginnings of the wedding plans.

Dahlicious day and Willy Wonka

Friday is Dahlicious day!   I forgot!

I remembered it yesterday morning.

For those that do not have children, or work in a UK primary school, Dahlicious day is a celebration of Roald Dahl and, of course, it requires dressing up as a Dahl character.

http://www.roalddahl.com/charity/fundraising-and-events/dahlicious-dress-up-day/running-your-dahlicious-day

So I quickly ran through the options and quickly ran out.  I could be a ladybird from James and the Giant Peach as I do have a red dress with black polka dots…but that is letting down the costumer in me. 

I could be a witch with gloves and a wig, but I don’t want to wear a wig all day.  

Miss Trunchbull was a good option, but I had absolutely nothing that I could wear for that so it would require manic sewing to complete as I had forgotten all about it until yesterday.

So, although I scanned the internet I was left with one option…Willy Wonka.

This was purely on the basis that I have a top hat, I have trousers, a shirt and a waistcoat and the description of Willy in the book;

“Mr Wonka was standing all alone just inside the open gates of the factory. And what an extraordinary little man he was!

He had a black top hat on his head.

He wore a tail coat made of a beautiful plum-coloured velvet.

His trousers were bottle green.

His gloves were pearly grey.

And in one hand he carried a fine gold-topped walking cane.

Covering his chin, there was a small, neat, pointed black beard — a goatee.

And his eyes — his eyes were most marvellously bright. They seemed to be

sparkling and twinkling at you all the time. The whole face, in fact, was alight.”

I  have a walking cane and a pair of gloves, albeit white not grey. Also, most importantly, I recently made up the tail coat pattern for the Beast and have made it three times in the last few weeks so it should be relatively easy to sew together.

On the minus side I had no ‘plum coloured velvet’, but a quick trip to my local sewing shop revealed that a delivery had arrived that day including…purple velvet (I promptly decided that Damson plums are purple so it is entirely appropriate, especially as Gene Wilder wore a purple one in the original film).

I also bought the buttons that look just like a chocolate :d

For some reason the picture makes the velvet look blue but it is actually a lovely cadbury purple!

Now it is just a matter of making it before Friday and not for the first time, being incredibly grateful I have an overlocker to whizz through it…not panicking at all!