Month: November 2015

#SundaySevens week 64 (me 39)

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Hello from a windy and wet Yorkshire! I think it’s been fairly wild all over the UK the whole week which leads to not much outdoor photography.  Apologies if a couple of the pix make your hungry and I hope number 2 isn’t too scary! 1  This was taken at Junction 22 of the M62 which is the highest motorway in England, crossing the Pennines into Lancashire.   2   I heard that sudocrem is great for chapped lips and flaky noses, so I gave it a try before I went to sleep!  Bet you didn’t think you’d be picking up beauty tips on my blog! 3  My fabric arrived from my recent win!  I also treated myself to a concealed zipper foot.  I usually manage with a normal one but as everyone raves on about these I couldn’t resist any longer!  (I’ve also made a couple of other purchases this week as a result of black Friday – I’ve bought SewOverIt’s Pussy bow blouse, Colette’s Negroni shirt (for the hubby!!) and a shirt making class …

#SundaySevens week 63 (me 38)

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Helloooo! It’s still still Sunday and I’m posting my Sunday Sevens on time,  SO that can only mean one thing…. I’ve got the weekend off! Yippeee!! In the unlikely event that I’ve lost you already and you no idea what I’m on about, head over to Natalie’s blog and read more about Sunday Sevens. You can join in too if you wish! Thinking back over the last week I don’t feel like I’ve done very much, but then I look at my pics and realise I have really. That’s the great thing about Sunday Sevens. It’s the photographic diary that I’d never keep up to if it was just for me. But sharing it with you guys makes it all worthwhile, especially when I read your comments. So hear we are….. Apologies for the accompanying text…. Tried to fix it from my iPad in bed and struggling. I’m up early so will look into it tomorrow… Sorry and night night 🙄 1.   This may well be my new place to stand by in Elland when I’m working. …

Giveaway!! I won and you could too!!

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A couple of weeks ago I entered a giveaway to win £50 of fabric over at an online shop I’ve recently discovered – WeaverDee.com It was the first of 6 weekly giveaways, and there’s still 4 left.  If you’d like to be in with a chance of winning then I’d head over there sharpish!   Imagine my excitement when I received an email to say I’d won!! Picture the scene – it’s 4am, I’m 10 hours into my first night shift with 2 hours still left.  I’d been awake for 17 hours.  I was flagging a bit.  It was wild and windy outside and I was sat in the ambulance outside A&E wondering where control  would be sending us next.  I checked my emails whilst waiting….. It’d only been sat in my inbox for 2 days!! An email telling me I’d won £50 to spend on fabric at WeaverDee! I bet you can picture a very different scene now, inside the ambulance anyway!! Needless to say the remaining 2 hours of my shift flew by and I couldn’t wait …

#Sunday Sevens Week 62 (me 37)

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Hello! Sorry I’m a tad late but I’ve been working this weekend and I only have enough hours to sleep and eat between shifts so trying to catch up with things today. H doesn’t have a shirt for school tomorrow yet, but blogging comes before ironing! Just to warn you there are photos of food! If you’re peckish you’d best go grab the biscuit tin! 1  My dad gave us a lift when we went out to our posh do on Monday night.  The bestest dad ever!  And not just cos he gave a lift!   2  Scrummy lamb at the awards. 3  The next day I was a bit delicate.  We ate lunch and tea out.  Here’s a selfie at Nandos. 4  Healthy mediterranean salad at Nandos.  We’ve not been for a few years, was really good and will definitely be back soon! 5  H wanted to get in on the photo of my healthy tea! Not tried roasted beetroot before, yummy!   6  Friday night was the Yorkshire Junior Cricket Awards at Headingley. Was lovely catching up …

My Colette Wren – The Nitty Gritty

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I had a vision! + = POSH FROCK Here’s how it happened! After taking my measurements I opted to trace off size large.  I didn’t notice the chart for the finished measurements.  If I had I would probably have saved myself some time.  The pattern has negative ease and my fabric (being a ponte knit) wasn’t quite as stretchy as suggested. The left photo shows my first muslin in a large.  I recut it in a XL and lengthened the pattern pieces by 4cm (on the shorten/lengthen lines). A lesson to all – Trace your pieces!  I’d have been snookered if I’d have cut into my PDF pattern and would have had to print and stick it all together again! The lower back bodice picture above is the first muslin.  As you can see its tight and also there is excess fabric in the lower back.  I lengthened the bottom by 4cm and then did a 5cm sway back adjustment – following this tutorial. I ended up with a very odd shaped piece but it …

The Colette Wren at The Yorkshire White Rose Awards

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On Monday we attended the White Rose Awards at the Leeds Arena.  It is the largest celebration of tourism excellence in the UK.  The dress code was black tie.  I didn’t need any more encouragement than that to fire up my creative juices and make a new frock! I’ve already written a post about my first and second muslin of the new Wren dress pattern from Colette.  I had 5m of this sparkly silvery ponte knit from Minerva.  I originally bought 2m to make my sister a coco for her birthday but then couldn’t resist and had to buy some more for me. I intend to write a full post later about the nitty gritty of the other changes I wanted and also needed to make to the pattern so it would be perfect for my chosen fabric and the occasion! This post is all about the finished dress and the awards ceremony. All dressed up and somewhere to go!!  Hubby scrubs up well too, don’t you think?! Wahay! Look at that thigh high spit! …

#SundaySevens Week 61 (me 36)

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It’s that time again – here’s my weeks in 7 ish photos.  Head over to Natalie’s blog at Threads and Bobbins to read more. Before I start on my week I’ll mention the photo above.  As those in the UK will know it’s Remembrance Sunday.  We had a good turn out in our parade today and as usual accompanied by the pipers.  I might be wrong but I think they’re the West Yorkshire Fire Service Pipers (The WYFS HQ is in our village). 1  Chilli from the freezer – defrosted leftovers for tea. I got engrossed in my sewing (the Wren and it’s nearly finished!!)  and didn’t leave enough time to cook anything.  Thank goodness for microwaves! 2  Had a bit of a revelation.  I usually use scissors or my dads guillotine to trim 2 sides of my PDF patterns.  The rotary cutter is much quicker! 3  Whilst working this week I was sent to a call at Bradford Interchange (buses and trains).  In the main foyer was a Boar made from sand. (I took the …

When One Thing Leads To Another – The Colette Wren Part 1

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My big sister (older by 10 days short of a year) celebrated her birthday at the end of October.  Two years ago I made her a leather bag and last year I made her a Coco.  This year she said she would like another Coco and chose this sparkly ponte knit from Minerva: It does change colour a little bit depending on the light but this gives a fair idea of the fabric.  It took a bit of tweaking before I was happy with this photo. So onwards and upwards.  I completed her Coco in about 1 1/2 hours (I’ve made a few so can almost do them with my eyes shut, they seem to be our family uniform!). It was just as well that I got a photo of her new Coco on Gertrude as these were the best of the photo shoot in the pub: Anyway, she loved it! I loved it! I wanted to keep it!  But instead I ordered another 5 metres of this gorgeous fabric just for me!  I was thinking …

The Worldwide WordPress 5k – #wwwp5k

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As part of the Worldwide WP 5k 2015 I’m sharing with you what I got up to last week when I did my first ever 5k run. As some of you already know on the 24th August I decided it was about time I got off my crafty but and did some exercise. I downloaded a couch to 5K running app on my phone and off I jogged. At first I thought my lungs would explode after just a minute running but it got easier, and I even started to enjoy it.  After only 4 weeks I’d clocked up of 40 km! But then disaster struck (only a minor one).  My achilles tendons were giving me some trouble, especially first thing on a morning.  So I rested for 2 weeks and rode my bike to try and keep up my slowly developing fitness level. I was soon up for running again, but didn’t feel I could carry on from where I had left off – I’d built up to running for 10 minutes.  So I …