Sisterhood of the World

My lovely friend Lucy over at Mrs Bishops Bakes and Banter tagged me in a bloggy question swap this morning. I was inspired by her questions, so thought I'd jump right in and answer them straight away.

1. What is your signature bake?

Well, this has changed recently, as has all of my baking and cooking, due to my diagnosis with Coeliac disease, four months ago. I am still really finding my feet with Gluten Free baking and there have certainly been some disasters, but I would say that there has been one resounding post GF success: Nigella's Flourless Chocolate and Lime cake with Margerita Cream. Oh my goodness, it is to die for! I think I have made it four times since my diagnosis and it is quite firmly my 'go to' cake for impressing people! It's so incredibly easy to make, and any leftover cream makes amazing ice cream, just shoved in the freezer.

2. If you had to choose only one film to watch for the rest of time, and no others, what would you choose?

My favourite film of all time: Forrest Gump. I love Tom Hanks in anything he's been in, but this is my favourite. I just think it's so clever the way they weaved in so much history.

3. What is your favourite home cooked dinner, and why?

Hands down, a good old roast dinner, with all the trimmings. I very rarely order a roast dinner when eating out, because I don't want to be disappointed. If I do say so myself, I make a mean roast dinner!

4. Do you have a favourite artist or piece of artwork?

Well, this a difficult one. I'm not really 'in to' art. That's not to say I don't appreciate it, I do, but I just like a nice picture on the wall. I don't remember who painted what, or spend time analysing a piece. I am more drawn to certain subjects or styles of art though, of course. I generally like papercut styles, art relating to the sea, or cows. I know, the cow thing is random, but I think they are beautiful looking creatures, with a really comical look about them. I'd just like to reassure you though, that I do not have a single picture of a cow in my house. I have often thought of having one large cow canvas in our kitchen, but I'm not some crazy lady that collects everything to do with cows!!

Oh, I've lied, there is one ... This photograph from our wedding weekend. I love it.

Slightly off topic, but while I was looking for that photograph, I found another from that day that I also love, and have to show you.

We had such a laugh with these pictures. This isn't our actual wedding day. I had a proper dress for the real day, but this was the day we signed the papers. I really must write a post about our wedding sometime.

5. What's your tipple of choice?

I love a nice glass of prosecco and wine in general. Cocktails wise, I can't resist a good mojito. Just last week, I went to a wine tasting event and discovered this little gem. It is delicious. If you're a Bedford resident, I implore you to head over to The Blue Glass in St Cuthberts Street and procure yourself a bottle. While you are there, talk to John, who is lovely and will help you find your perfect tipple.

6. Do you collect anything?

Not in terms of a proper 'collection', no. I always wanted to collect things as a child. My problem was, and still is, I generally don't maintain interest in one thing long enough to ever create a collection! My husband would tell you that I collect hobbies, and I have to agree. I am always starting something new, but never really stick at anything with quite the level of enthusiasm I had at the beginning. I think it's probably the learning and equipment gathering at the beginning that I enjoy, before moving on to the next thing!

7. What are you reading at the moment?

Following on from the last question, you won't be surprised to know that I generally have a number of books on the go at any one time. I don't get much time for reading these days, but the books I am currently part way through are:

Toast

Wheat Belly

Get Your Shit Together

As well as an undefined number of craft and cookery books that are in permanent rotation on our coffee table.

8. Do you have a dream job? Or are you lucky enough to already do your dream job?

I've had the same dream job for most of my adult life. It changes slightly over time, depending on my circumstances, but is always along the lines of running some kind of small holding, somewhere picturesque, with a lovely cafe, craft workshops, little shop, petting zoo (where we might rescue the odd abandoned waif or stray), beautiful guest accommodation and maybe a camping field. It may take retirement or a lottery win to make this happen, but hopefully I'll get there someday.

9. What is your favourite item of clothing in your current wardrobe and why?

I'm having something of an image crisis at the moment, so I'm not especially keen on anything in my current wardrobe (taking that to mean clothes that fit!) except my blue DM wedge boots, which are the most comfortable shoes I have ever owned. I love my green Coco dress, but I've gained weight since making it, so I'm not really wearing it at the moment.

10. Who is your most embarrassing celebrity crush? (Let's face it girls, we're never too old for a crush!)

I have had a crush on Jon Bon Jovi since I was about 14. If ever I met him in real life it would probably be a huge let down. He's probably really short or something. And if he wasn't wearing leather trousers, I'd be really disappointed.

I don't think you could call this a crush exactly, but I have some weird kind of love for John Barrowman, especially as Captain Jack!

I do love a bit of Nick Knowles too. He's just the right mix of sensitive, caring, a bit craggy looking and blokey. Who doesn't love the 'rough guy in a designer suit' look?

Are they embarrassing enough? Because if you need embarrassing, I've got one last one for you. Mr Bloom! If you haven't got pre-school kids, you probably don't know who I'm talking about, but I know I'm not the only mum with a thing for Mr Bloom (see the Guardian's discussion on the subject, here). It's got to be the character though. The real life actor that plays him is probably a perfectly lovely man, but if he's not wearing Mr Bloom's wellies and hat, I'm not interested.

 

Thanks Lucy for the fun questions. I'm now supposed to tag 10 bloggers and ask my own 10 questions, but Lucy has already tagged most of the bloggers I would, so I'm going to open this up to my lovely readers. I would love to learn more about you. Please answer the questions above and link to your blog post, or leave your answers in the comments.

 

 

 

 

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Calling All Kids: Knight Hoodie

Well here I am, three days after the end of Alida's Calling All Kids series, sharing my make. Too late, but I might as well share it anyway!

I loved the idea behind this series. As I have said before, a big part of why I love making clothes for my girls is that I get fed up of the gender stereotype in store bought clothing. It's all blue for boys and pink for girls and just try deviating from that! I get especially cross when I try to buy shoes for the girls. Especially the 'proper' ones. I usually manage to find one red or purple pair. The rest are all pink.

Not that I dislike pink. Not at all. Fuschia pink is one of my favourite colours. But, I don't wear it often (I did dye the underskirt of my wedding dress bright pink, but that's another story) and I would like there to be choices.

One of my favourite pictures from our wedding, but I ruined my dress to get it!

Evie chooses princesses and Hello Kitty on her pants, but she would also like diggers and dinosaurs like the boys have. Why can't she have a 'Cars' or 'Planes' t-shirt? She has to have Tangled instead? She loves Tangled, but so do her little boy-friends. My three year old loves to wear top to toe pink and dress as a ballerina for the day, but she also loves to dress as a doctor, explorer or pirate, and if I ever get my act together to make the long-promised TreeFuTom costume, she will dress as him too.

When I ask her what she would like me to make for her, it often goes along the lines of 'a t-shirt with a dragon on' but she will choose pink flowery fabric and ask for sparkles on it. Now I'm not up for the mega shopping trip that it would take to find such clothes, so I'd better get making some for her, huh?

Anyway, you get my point. So back to Calling All Kids. The Knight Hoodie by Charming Doodle seemed just perfect for this to me. Evie would love a knight costume to go with her sword and shield (see?)

I've got to say that Calling All Kids and Kids Clothes Week didn't go as well for me as I had hoped. I had forgotten about the a Easter break from nursery and my two days of sanity in the week. Also, everyone got ill. Ending with me being in bed for the last three days of the challenge.

There were other challenges in this hoodie too. The pattern was great and none of my challenges were due to that. But I do like to make life hard for myself wherever possible, so of course, I chose this shiny silver fabric for the armour, that was slippery as hell and did some weird fraying when stretched even slightly.

 

Then I decided to line the hood. Fine, not difficult at all, especially having recently made Kitschy Coo's reversible hoodie. But, again, looking to make life hard, I chose the satin stars fabric left over from making Evie's superhero cape. It was difficult to work with then, so why I thought it should be any different now, I have no idea!

Also, I bought the wrong zip. I did not realise, until I'd sewn it in, that there was a difference between a separating and non-separating zipper! I know! Obvious now that I think about it, but that's the problem - I hadn't thought about it. I just ordered a zip. So, I unpicked that zip and left the hoodie sitting around for a week, while I waited for the new zip to arrive, by which time, I was ill.

So, yesterday, Easter Sunday, I got to finishing it off. I was very pleased with the matching seams on my pockets.

And at the neck

The bottom of the zip was a bit off, but that issue was with the cuff, and I wasn't going back to fix that.

But I wasn't happy with this:

The tops of the chin bit (proper term??) don't line up, and what do I do with those extra bits of zip? I showed the husband, who as usual, said leave it, it's good enough. Also as usual, I listened to him, and promptly ignored him. Off I went to find my unpicker ...

And I'm glad I did, because second time around, it looks like this:

Much better! I am so glad I changed this because it would have constantly annoyed me. And because when it's zipped up, it's right in front of her face, it's really noticeable.

Regarding the zip ends, I trimmed them slightly (taking care to leave a little bit of the fused bit at the end, that stops it fraying) and then turned and folded them over, and hand sewed them down.

At this point, I had to stop, because the family wanted to go out. Shock, they don't want to sit around the house at the weekend while I sew!! But Evie was eager to wear her hoodie now that she could see it had a zip, so we got these pictures before adding the hood armour.

Finally, last night, I attempted take two of the hood armour. The first had frayed too much when I turned it the right way out. (Before you say it, yes I do know that it was because I left too small a turning hole). Not quite done with making it more complicated than it needed to be, I decided to attach the visor with poppers, so that it could come down in front of the face, like proper armour.

Good in theory. Worked well as I tested it ....... And then she tried it on:

Ok so far .......

Oops! Got those measurements off then!

Ha ha, it would certainly protect her face!

So there will be a third piece of helmet armour. But not yet, because for now, I am so done with this make! I love it, she loves it, I am done.

And as if to prove the girl wanting 'boys' things on her clothes issue ..... Here's what she was wearing underneath.

Customised by me, at her request, this time a year ago (to wear on St George's Day). "A green dragon, with sparkly thread, and a button please Mum". Coming right up madam!

 

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Kids Clothes Week - Mid Week Update

So, here we are half way through Kids Clothes Week and I have one finished item of clothing. Not nearly as much as I had hoped, but I had spectacularly over estimated the time available to me, as usual. Especially considering it's half term, so I've got no child-free time this week.

Here's the dress I have finished:

The 'Windy Day' dress for Evie. So called because the main fabric is Michael Miller's 'Backyard Baby' from the 'Windy Day' collection. But conveniently, it is also a perfect dress for windy spring/summer days, as it's double sided, with a layer of fusible fleece in between. This makes it super soft and snuggly, gives it shape and makes it that bit warmer for slightly chillier days.

I had been asked for a copy of Lola's Windy day dress, but Evie's needed to be slightly different because there wasn't quite enough fabric and I wasn't going down that road again! The roses fabric is an old pair of my PJ's and the pocket was on the PJ top, so I just picked it off and sewed it to the dress.

The reverse is a bit (lot) plain. I think I probably should have embellished it somehow. Perhaps that little pocket would have been better on that side? I think it's likely to be worn the other way around mostly anyway, for sister-matching, so it probably doesn't matter. The sister-matching is at Evie's request by the way. Not that I don't absolutely love it, of course I do, but I just want you to know that I'm not forcing matchy-matchy on them against their will. As if I would! (Ha)

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have spied a safety pin on that shoulder there. Oh yes, that's because when I said I'd finished this, I didn't quite mean if was in a wearable state. Sorry. That's because right at literally, the last second of making, this happened:

Ugh! Those little snap spikes, apart from being potentially very scratchy, are stopping the snap from closing. I have tried to undo it, but I am generally a very cack-handed person as if is, without one hand having carpal tunnel and the other recovering from carpal tunnel surgery, so I think it's best I let the hubster deal with this one.

So, moving on, and pretending the snap thing didn't happen, so far, so good. One outfit completed. This little pile arrived yesterday and has been washed and dried ready to make the knight hoodie. In the meanwhile, a fellow graduate of Janet Lehain's sewing courses came round last night, so that we could work on Kitschy Coo's Reversible Hoodie together. We had pre cut our fabrics and started sewing at about 8pm. At midnight, we were ready to stop for the night, but realising we were very close to the end, decided to push on. By 12.30 we had a fully working hoodie, just needing pressing, top stitching and closing the hole used to turn it the right way out. Excellent! We both came away very pleased with ourselves.

And that is where I wish the story ended. With a fully working hoodie. Because I don't have one now!!

I came downstairs this morning, bleary-eyed (due to the late bedtime, loudly snoring hubby (he's ill) and regular wake ups through the night by a badly teething baby) but excited to show off my work and finish it off. The family responded well, cooing appropriately and Evie demanding her own version.

I pressed, top stitched, sealed the hole, admired my almost-pattern-matched polka dots and tried to ignore the badly matched seams and the little blue marks left on white spots by the iron (well, you can't have it all!)

then I zipped it up, so that I could hang it up at photograph it, for you, my dear readers. That's when this happened:

I kind of think I'm going to need that pully bit, to make the zip work, you know? That's right, I zipped up the zipper and pulled it right off the top.

So, does anyone know how I can fix this, without unpicking the top stitching, undoing the little hole, turning it all inside out, removing the zip, buying a new zip, and then doing it all again? Because really, that's going to take longer than it took to make the damned hoodie in the first place!!

I bring you this story to make you feel better about your own sewing. Because there's nothing going to make you feel good about your own sewing, more than seeing someone else's mistakes!

 

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Kids Clothes Week and Calling All Kids

I've had three days off sewing after all the madness getting ready for the craft fair last week, and now I'm ready for the next challenge, starting tomorrow: Kids Clothes Week.

I have been reading about Kids Clothes Week (KCW) on various sewing blogs for a while now, and I have finally decided to join in. The basic idea is that you commit to a week of spending an hour a day sewing for kids clothes. You join in with a community of fellow bloggers and sewers and share what you're planning, what you've done, how it went. And then you get to look at the big photo pool of what everyone has made.

You can sign up to KCW via their website, here. Or read their blog, here. Or, if you're not sure yet, check out what was created during the last KCW here.

There is a KCW for each season and this time, for the first time, there is a theme: Mini Me. Oh my goodness, how much does that get my brain whirring? After my previous efforts with the matchy-matchy sewing, I can't wait to get going on this!

Mini me could mean the girls matching/coordinating with me, or Joe, or probably more likely, each other. Obviously, being the eternal procrastinator that I am, I haven't decided what to make yet, other than tomorrow's job of making a 'super me' bigger version of Lola's reversible 'windy day' dress, for Evie.

After that, well, I'm off to Fabric World in Bedford tomorrow afternoon to scout for supplies. They've got the camper van fabric that was part of the original inspiration for the reversible dress, so there might be enough of that purchased to make each girl a dress.

If ordered supplies arrive in time, I'll be having a go at the fantastic knight hoodie by Charming Doodle

Um, hello? How amazing is that pattern? Evie is obsessed with Mike the Knight, so I know that she would love this. I would have to do a mini version for Lola of course, to fit with the mini-me theme. I'll be girly-ing it up a bit, but not by making it pink. Why do the girls versions of everything have to be pink?

This is a sentiment shared by Alida of Alida Makes and is no doubt part of the motivation for the linky party Calling All Kids she's hosting next week, that I'll be linking in with too. It's all about sewing unique clothes for your kids that don't necessarily conform to the gender-specific mass of blue and pink in the shops.

Inspired by this, and really, just as an excuse to make some more Skater Dresses, I might just sew up a couple of those in some funky dinosaur fabric. Evie loves dinosaurs, but you just can't get dinosaur clothes for girls anywhere in the shops. Apparently only boys are allowed to like dinosaurs! Tell that to the girl that owns three different dinosaur duvet covers! One of which was made for her by her Daddy, just so that she didn't have to have pink princesses. (Spellcheck just changed that to punk princesses, which would be totally acceptable to me, by the way, and has got into my head now as an image I am so going to have to recreate somehow)

I also want to give the New Look 6016 pattern a go. Partly inspired by the fabulous versions made by Janet and her course attendees at Kitchen Table Sewing, and cemented by the fact that there's a pattern for knit leggings included in the pack, and I'd like a go at those too. So if they have this pattern at Fabric World tomorrow, it'll make that decision for me! It would be really helpful to be able to make leggings, for Lola especially. She's a bit on the round side in the middle at the moment (in a gorgeously chubby-baby cute way, I may add) which means that in order to be the right size around the waist, all her leggings are an inch or so too long and fall all the way over her feet, so she looks like she doesn't have any!

That's about it, I think. There's more mulling around my head that I want to make for the girls, of course, but this is Kids Clothes WEEK, not year, so I need to rein myself in a bit! Especially since it's half term, so I don't get any 'time off' this week.

Come back to hear how I've got on and check out my makes, but please forgive me if I don't get chance to blog until the week's over. I may be too busy sewing .......

TTFN!

 

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