All posts filed under: Front Page

Sunday Sevens 9th May

I’ve been on annual leave this week so caught up on with a few jobs outside, and played golf. Now lockdown restrictions are relaxed I’m not sure if I’m feeling like the old me any more. A lot of us talk about loosing our sewjo, but I’m feeling I’ve lost motivation for everything – not just sewing. It’s such a bit effort to do anything and often I get to the end of the day and feel like I’ve wasted it going round in a bloody daze. I do keep my self busy, as you can see from my Sunday Sevens, but I think this last 12+ months is taking its’ toll on me, like many of us out there. Bank Holiday Monday – a game of golf with Bob. We tee’d off at 8:30am as the forecast wasn’t too good for the afternoon. We just made it in before the rain and wind set in for the rest of the day. So close….. the nearest Bob’s had to a hole in one. Only 18 …

Sunday Sevens 2nd May

Brrrrr…. I’m feeling cold writing this. The April showers that came last week are continuing into May have made the lovely weather that we had in early April seem a distant memory! Monday was the best day of the week and as rain was forecast I made the most of the weather and headed off to B&Q to buy some paint for the garden. I’ve been putting off making a start on this as there’s so much to do. One side of the fence is complete. Rain’s put this on hold for at least another week looking at the forecast. Tuesday before golf I planted up a couple of hanging baskets. And turned my back porch into a temporary green house! Tuesday afternoon was like the middle of winter! The greens turned white with the hail stones, and then we had horizontal rain. Later on in the week was still freeeeezing but at least we didn’t get wet again. More rain on Saturday. The players at cricket don’t have to stay out in it like …

The Mary Quant Style Dress

Wonky pockets! No one noticed them when I posted a Reel on my insta. I think they were distracted by my groovy moves! If you’re not an insta fan and not sure what a Reel is I’ve attached a link to the bottom of this post. This dress incorporates a couple of challenges: The #frugalfrock21 organised by Sam at Frugalisma, and Ruan at the Yorkshire Sew Girl and #so50patternmixing organised by @sewover50 The idea behind frugal frocks is to make a dress using a free pattern and to use fabric from your stash to create Frugal Frock! As soon as I saw Alice & Co pattern for the Mary Quant style dress I was sold! HERE’s the link if you fancy downloading this free pattern. The dress is designed for a woven fabric, but my initial thought was to use this pattern to make a dress for golf, so I sized down and made it up in lycra. Most patterns given finished garment measurements which is really useful if you are changing from a woven …

Sunday Sevens 25th April ish

WARNING! Don’t read this if you’re hungry. There’s quite a few foodie pics this week. They’re not very exciting, well the cake it, it was bloody lovely! Another week of glorious sunshine. I only worked 3 shifts this week, and luckily I wasn’t starting until 4:30pm so was able to make the most of the lovely weather. Talking of work, I’m happy to report I have had NO patients with any COVID symptoms this last week. I think that’s a first in a very long time. Cereal with a lager. Is that wrong??!! It wasn’t until early afternoon ….not that I need an excuse. Monday evening we had out first trip out to a pub. It was a gorgous evening – no jacket required. Pork pie or a sausage roll 1/2 way round the golf course. It would be rude not to! And cake afterwards! It was one of the ladies 70th birthday and she’d put on cake and fizz for us after golf. The red velvet seen at the top (feature pic) was my …

Sunday Sevens 18th April ish

What a gorgeous week! The weather has been kind to us here in the UK and I’ve been making the most of it, in between working. I’ve been on nights Friday through until Sunday and was really dreading work due to the pubs being open for outdoor hospitality. Luckily, I got less than my fair share of alcohol related incidents over the weekend, so it wasn’t too bad. Monday I met up with my lovely Sewing Wife, Lisa. We’ve not seen each for 6 months!! Love this lady!! I wore my latest make…..soon to be blogged….. Have I introduced you already to Georginger? She’s happy to be back out golfing too. The pair of ducks are still waddling around the course. They don’t let me get too close, I’ll have to remember to put some bread in my golf bag for them next time I play. On Wednesday I was on a day shift, this little cutie didn’t want to get off the ambulance. It’s a good job we spotted her before we set off …

Sunday Sevens 11th April ’21

3 weeks in a row! Crikey! Even I’m shocked! When I stopped blogging so much (almost 4 years ago) it coincided with me & Craig splitting up, and I just felt like I needed to keep my life more private and I lost my blo-jo. That’s liking loosing your sew-jo, but to do with blogging. But I’m happier now and as I really used to love writing my Sunday Sevens, and also looking back on them it wasn’t a hard decision to start sharing them with you again. So don’t be surprised if this is a regular post from me on a Sunday (isn). And as in the ‘olden’ days of my Sunday Sevens, there’s likely to be more than 7! The week started with a Bank Holiday, and a ‘Full English’ before we headed out for a walk. Wrapped up – it was a cold one🥶 Cherry blossom 😍 no other words needed. The first hail stone of the week was on Tuesday. It’s hard to take a picture of it in the air, …

Easter Week Sunday Sevens

I’ve just enjoyed a week’s annual leave – how lucky was I that it coincided with some lockdown restrictions being lifted – including opening up the golf courses, and also some glorious weather! My first round of 2021 with the ladies at Cleckheaton Golf Club. The sun came out after I played with ladies and Bob I played 12 holes in the evening after he’d finished work. I did 25k steps on Monday! Some of the Pampas Grass on the course had been battered by the winds. The broken ones have found their way to a new home. A new frock was needed to mark the course being open at long last and I made this to wear on Tuesday in my first competition of 2021. This is the Mary Quant Dress designed by Alice & Co Patterns and is available as a FREE download on the V&A website. This picture was taken an hour and 45 minutes before I was teeing off! As usual I rose to the challenge and finished it. Fully hemmed and …

Sunday Sevens 2021 – Bumper Edition!

Do I mention I’ve missed a few ? No….. life just goes at such a crazy speed sometimes, there’s no need to make up excuses. I’m not promising this will be a weekly post, but I’m hoping it will be more than quarterly. I’ve had a scroll down my photos and picked out a few since the start of the year. A few? Well about 50. So I won’t waffle on with lots of writing otherwise we’ll both be here all day! Not sure what Sunday Sevens is about? It was a fab idea thought up a long time ago by the lovely Natalie of Threads & Bobbins – a fellow Yorkshire lass who lives in America. There’s no rules but the idea is to share 7 isn photos from your week. Read more about it on Natalie’s blog post – it actually took some finding – Sunday Sevens started way back in 2014!! Read her first post HERE. Hope you have a great week. Some restrictions are easing here in the England, and tomorrow …

Being Sewcial Through Lockdown

I’m not sure why I never thought of it sooner… To arrange online sewcials. I got the idea a few weeks ago and so far I’ve arranged 10 what I’ve called “Sew and Tells” and one workshop teaching how to slash and spread a basic sleeve block to create 4 different looks. I posted the dates on my new Insta account The Fabric First Aider and a link to Eventbrite where people could register to join the sessions. Now I’ve set up a page here on my blog with details of what it’s all about. There’s a link with dates of upcoming sewcials so if anyone wants to join in but aren’t on insta they can book through there. So, if you fancy having a natter all about sewing, or learning how to ‘slash and spread’ have a read of my FABRIC FIRST AIDER page. Oh, and did I mention they are free! Cheerio for now, hopefully see you soon Ali x Stay safe & keep smiling

Ali’s Been Busy!

A lot has happened since I last posted…… I’ve been on the telly for one! But that’s another story! I’ll tell you all about that shortly – I kept a diary throughout filming, it might need a little editing before I publish it here though. But for now this is just a quick post to let you know what I’ve been busy doing the last couple of days. My stash is out of control to say the least. A combination of ‘no where to sew’ – by that I mean I’ve no where to go (due to the ‘C’) word, so I’ve not got the same inclination to sew. But then I’ve still been buying fabric like there’s no tomorrow! I used to keep a record of my stash on an app called Cora – but it’s stopped working (pained face), so now I’m feeling totally disorganised which I find makes me even more unproductive, and my sew-jo has gone into quarantine. And for longer than the recommended 14 days! I decided to go back …