pink jacket, cinnamon buns and more

This week I've had a bit of a sore throat along with a chesty cough (still got the cough - yuck!) so I haven't done as much as I wanted to do. However, I did get the pink jacket made.

It's another incarnation of Butterick 5616 - previous versions are here, here, here and here.

This next photo is more like the actual colour.

This morning we had some cinnamon buns for breakfast. I didn't make said buns - I bought them in the fridges aisle of the supermarket. Mmmm, I see they're called Cinnamon Swirls. Oh well, they're cinnamon buns to me! ;o)

We've had these before done in the oven - as you're meant to - but, this morning, we cooked them in the waffle maker. Success! They only took about 3 minutes in there as opposed to 11 to 14 minutes in the oven (which has to be preheated) so much, much quicker.

They were crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside but the best bit - there's plenty of room for the icing to sit in the holes! Delish!

Joanna and I took a trip along the coast to the patchwork shop and, needless to say, I got some scrap bag bargains ...

... and some fat quarter bargains and a sale piece of fabric. No plans for any of this except to add it all to the stash.

This afternoon, I cut out some more pinnies -

and some bags for the tartan bee.

I need to get some fabrics for linings for the bags but I'm thinking I'll just get a sheet or two from Asda's as they usually have some nice colours in there. Well, they're nice for bag linings, I'm not sure I'd want lime green sheets on my bed but I'm sure some people do!

Now a couple of random photos. Our first strawberries of the season - much better than any in the shops!

And this is what happens to a plate that says "microwave safe" on the bottom of it when you put it in the microwave.

Thankfully, my baked potato survived!

tartan bee sewing

I managed to get all the sewing for the tartan bee done this week. I finished off the last 4 bags this morning. Yay! Today I got it all photographed and loaded into Etsy. More yays! Not only that but someone's actually bought one of the pinnies and one of the bags already. Even more yays!

Here's what I sewed and loaded in: Two each of all the shopping bags -

This is the bag that sold this afternoon so there's only one like this now.

Then the pinnies - one of each of these.

I LOVE these cows. They make me smile just looking at them!

This is the pinny that sold. I do have more of this fabric so I'll get another one made soon - hopefully!

All in all, a fruitful week of tartan beeing! Yay!

dressmaking, embroideries and bags

In an effort to try and catch up with what little sewing has been going on around here, I'm going to post them all here in batches rather than in date order. First of all - dressmaking. This is the dress I made for Debbie's wedding. It's another version of the Felicity dress by Jennifer Lauren.

I had to do some a lot of adjustments to the front bodice. I'm not sure why as I'd tried on my first version of this dress to make sure it still fitted me and it did. I ended up taking more than 4" out of the front centre seam!

Here's a close-up of the fabric - lots of lovely butterflies on a very dark navy background.

I'd actually thought it was black when I bought it but wasn't displeased to find it was navy!

I already have my next dressmaking project cut out and waiting to be made - a pink corduroy jacket.

Next - all sorts of things I've been making on my embroidery machine. I've discovered that I really enjoy stitching appliqués. This was my first attempt.

The M has no significance - it was a freebie somewhere (can't remember where) so I got it so I could practise.

Then I did a paw print and a goldfish.

Then a few embroideries:

Then on Sunday afternoon, I made this.

Isn't she just adorable? She's a mixture of appliqué and embroidery - the peach headscarf, blue dress and yellow pinny and are appliquéd on and the rest of the design is all embroidered. There are another 11 Russian dollies in that set so I'm going to be busy!

Finally, stuff for the tartan bee. This bag was a commission for someone. The outside:

The inside:

Then yesterday, I decided it was about time to do some more sewing of things for the tartan bee shop so I cut out 4 pinnies and 10 bags.

I've made a start to sewing them so, hopefully, I'll get them done soon.

a few more wedding photos

As promised, here are a few more photos of Debbie and Jason's wedding. I haven't seen all of Joanna's photos yet and none taken with Debbie's camera so there might be more - or there might not!

First of all, Debbie in all her finery. She made her bouquet using brooches which she borrowed or collected from friends and family here and in Canada. There was one on there that had been my mum's and she'd attached a trio of small pearl beads which she had found in the bottom of the garment bag which held Granny Lee's wedding dress. It was sweet to think that both Grannies were there with her.

Standing at the start of the ceremony. This was the view we had of them ...

... but the Canadian side of the family had a frontal view. This is how that was done - that's Jason's phone on the window ledge with the Facetime app going. They didn't have a perfect picture all the time but they heard the whole ceremony and it was lovely that they could see and hear most of what was going on.

If you look at their wrists in this photo, you'll see that they're tied together with tartan ribbon. It's called hand-fasting - a ribbon is tied around their wrists representing their union as a married couple. It was my job to tie the ribbon and, thankfully, I did it beautifully! :oD

This photo was taken by the Registrar who married Debbie and Jason. Don't we all look spiffy?

One of Debbie's neighbours made a wedding cake for them.

As I said on Tuesday, it was a lovely day. The thunder and lightning and heavy rain outside had no effect on the happiness of the day.

a happy day

Today was a really happy day.

Yes, Debbie and Jason got married. It was a very small affair - only 6 of us there including the bride and groom - and all the more lovely because of it.

I'll show more photos when I get them all gathered in from everyone's cameras. In the meantime, we're dog-sitting Molly for the next few days. Wish us luck - I think we'll need it! LOL

back

Thanks for all the comments you left on my last post. They were all very much appreciated by all of us. Life is a bit hectic at the moment with regular 150 mile round trips to Douglas's mum's house which are exhausting both physically and mentally. We're getting there though - slowly. It all takes time.

Okay, let's see what I have to show you. I haven't done much sewing in the last few weeks but I have done some so let me show you what's on my camera.

First of all, I finished off that baby quilt I was making. I finished it off not long after I posted about it (at the end of April!!) before but had forgotten all about it!

I especially liked the fleece on the back. It was a huge piece out of the remnant box of my local fabric shop. I suspect there's enough for at least another 3 baby quilts. I do love a bargain!

Joanna got some new specs and asked me if I'd make her a spec case for them. So I did.

Unfortunately, although the specs did fit in the spec case, it was a bit of a tight fit so I decided to make her another one. This time I used an appliqué design on my embroidery machine. Very cool! Thankfully this one fits her spex much better! Yay!

May went by in a bit of a blur and Joanna's and my birthdays got a bit lost in the flood of other things going on. I managed to do some embroideries for her for her birthday.

I framed them all using flexi hoops. So easy to do!

She loved them all and has now got them all hanging up in her house.

I used double-sided sellotape around the inner hoop to hold the fabric in place. As they're just for hanging on a wall, I'm hoping the tape will do the job well enough.

I have a few other embroideries and appliqués to show which I'll save for another day - hopefully in the not too distant future!

Granny

M. D. L.

20 September 1924 - 12 May 2016

Douglas's mum died this week. She was 91 years old and still living on her own - amazing! Granny's funeral is being held on the 19th of May - exactly a year since my own mum's funeral. Isn't it strange how things work out like that?

Obviously, things are sad around here and we're going to be busy with all the things involved with the passing of a loved one so I don't think I'll be blogging for a while. I won't be replying to any comments left on this post or by e-mail or messages but please know that I will read them all and be grateful for each and every one of them.

awarded!

I've been nominated by my blogging friend Jo from throughthekeyhole for the Liebster blog award. Thanks, Jo!

The "rules" are:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to his/her blog. ✔︎
2. Copy and paste the Liebster Award badge to your post. ✔︎
3. Answer the ten questions you've been asked. (✔︎ see below)
4. Create ten new questions for the bloggers you are nominating. (✔︎ see below)
5. Notify the bloggers that you have nominated. (see below)

1. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
We went to see the newest Star Wars film. I was a bit worried about it as I didn't like the second batch of Star Wars films (the ones that supposedly told the story before the original films) but it was great!

2. Where would be your ideal place to live, town, country or coast?
We live in a town on the east coast of Scotland so that's 2 out of the three! We've also lived bang in the middle of the country and it had its moments! Being cut off for 2 full days due to snow (no electricity/heating) wasn't much fun, let me tell you!

3. Do you have any pets?
Not of our own. We look after Joanna's dog, Tilly, when she's at work and, at the moment, that's enough.

4. What is your favourite area of the UK?
Scotland. I am, of course, slightly biased, but, in my humble opinion, you just can't beat it!

5. What song annoys you?
"Another Brick in the Wall" by Pink Floyd. I was teaching when it came out and, regularly would walk down the school corridors at the change of classes only to hear "We don't need no education" being sung by the masses. I did try to tell my classes that the very fact that they were saying those words meant that they did indeed need an education but the double-negative explanation fell on deaf ears - or stupid ears - or both. Now, even after all the years between, I HATE that song!

6. What three things would you take to a desert island?
Sun-tan lotion, a whole library of books and Douglas.

7. If you were given a million pounds, what would you spend it on?
A big house with a huge kitchen, lots of rooms for hobbies and a garden.

8. What would be your last meal?
Roast chicken, roast potatoes, oatmeal stuffing, carrots and gravy followed by cheesecake for pudding.

9. Have you ever met anyone famous?
Douglas and I met Paul Laidlaw who appears on "Bargain Hunt" and "Flog It" and some other antiques programmes on the BBC. He is such a lovely man - and fascinating to talk to!

10. What's your favourite take away?
I don't remember when we last had a take-away! If I had to choose, it'd probably be your bog-standard fish and chips.

Now, I know I'm supposed to nominate people for this award and tell them I've nominated them but I don't do that. So, what I'm going to say is, here are 10 questions. If you feel the urge to answer them, go for it. If you don't, that's fine too!

1. What did you have for breakfast this morning?
2. When you go somewhere are you early, on time or late?
3. Do you listen to music in your car?
4. Are you left- or right-handed?
5. What colour are your eyes?
6. What shoe size are you?
7. Have you ever had an imaginary friend?
8. Do you play a musical instrument?
9. What's your current desktop picture on your computer?
10. What's your favourite Disney movie?

Thanks again for nominating me, Jo. It was fun to answer your questions - and hard to think of 10 to ask!