There’s been a little sharing going on. My husband shared his cold with me, and for the past four days or so I’ve been feeling very blah. But I’m finally on the improve, so shall blog a little more often again soon!
See that empty space beside my overlocker on my gorgeous especially-made-for-me patchwork machine runner? Mum had been sharing her fancy-schmancy sewing machine with me for the last month, but now it’s gone back to her. I’m still trying to decide whether to get my machine serviced yet again, or save the money to put toward a new machine. My Pinnock was given to me for my 21st birthday, so it’s not as though it hasn’t done a huge amount of work over the years. But I’m still loathe to say goodbye to it. In the meantime, not one but three lovely friends of mine have offered to lend me one of their spare machines! What generous sharing!
Another lovely friend recently shared information about these irons being on sale. Having it used it for a month or so now, I have to say that I LOVE IT! It irons beautifully, and presses (for dressmaking) well too. You should see how much steam it can churn out! I do feel as though I refill the water tank just as often as I used to refill my old iron, but it’s so worth it for how well it irons. I know that there are huge number of people out there that don’t iron, but I have to admit that as much as I don’t enjoy the ironing process, I do like my clothes to be ironed, and a good iron is absolutely indispensable to anyone who sews.
The Perfect Nose just shared information about a website that sells Vogue, McCalls, Butterick, Burda and New Look patterns for $4 each with free shipping within Australia! I almost fainted with excitement. The patterns in the above photo came from the last BMV sale, but Vogue charge a fortune for postage from the USA (it’s all that handling needed to put patterns into an envelope) so they still work out to around $7.50 per pattern if your order seven. Pattern Plus seem to have a mixture of patterns, from out of print, to quite old, to current – well worth a look at $4 per pattern plus 80c handling for the entire order. Huge thanks to The Perfect Nose from putting me on to them!
We shared Grand Final Day with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law and their young adult sons yesterday. My girls adore their “big boy cousins”. Our niece came over with her beautiful two-month-old daughter as well. My girls are rather enamoured with their new baby girl cousin (second cousin? first cousin once removed?) too. As a family we’re not much interested in football – my nephews weren’t even certain about which teams were in the final – but it was a close game, which is always a good game. And I got plenty of crochet done! Five hours worth, to be exact!
I’ve been meaning to share a couple of new blogs with you too. Blogless Anna is blogless no more, and is sharing her beautiful sewing with us. I’m very keen to make a Tessuti Lily dress after seeing Anna’s (and quite fancy the shoes that Anna is wearing as well).
This divine blood orange cake and compote was made by Anna of the Red Cat Food Store. We ate it at book group just over a week ago, and I have to say that it was SUPERB! Anna has just started up her business, and has also started a lovely blog where she writes about her cooking and baking experiences. Anna is one of my “school mums” and her daughter and Stella are mates and will both be in prep together next year. I have been the fortunate beneficiary of her skills at many a coffee morning where she has shared her baking with me. Yummmmmmm.
Many of you shared comforting and encouraging words on my last blog post when I was unhappy with the fit/photos of my dress. Recently there have been a number of discussions on different blogs that I read sharing opinions about giving feedback and criticism, fit and photography, and such like. It has all made for interesting internal debate for me. When it comes to blog photos, I take whatever I can get! As you can tell, mine aren’t terribly styled, and they are taken quickly by my husband or Clare. I crop them (sometimes), but that is about it! No photo-shopping, no other editing. No fancy backgrounds – you know that you generally get “the wall” or “the deck railing, the lemon tree and clothes line”. I just don’t have the time to get to other locations! Maybe it’s just the stage I’m at – with primary school and pre school aged children and a two day per week job and a husband who travels with his work, my chances of getting makeup on and my outfit styled and an interesting background are pretty much nil. At least you know that what you see in the photos is real life – but it doesn’t make for the beautiful visuals that you find on some blogs. Then again, this isn’t a photography blog. And it isn’t a competition. Must keep on reminding myself about the reasons why I blog!
And as for fit, feedback, criticism and similar – that is VERY interesting. Flat photographs don’t always tell the story. I usually go with the maxim of “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything” UNLESS the blogger is asking for an opinion. We all have the opportunity to learn and grow through constructive criticism, but not everyone wants or necessarily needs that constructive criticism right at that time. I suppose that I usually point out the faults in my garments to get in first before someone else does! Care to share your thoughts on these things? (Oh, and for how these paragraphs relates to the above photo? They don’t really – just sharing one of my next planned projects.)
Clare is off sharing the next four days with other 5-9 year old Girl Guides from around the state at Wonderland Jamborella. I dropped her off there this morning and felt very proud of her as she dashed off through the rain to a building full of people she’d never met before with barely a backward glance. None of the other Guides from her Unit are attending, and I think that she’s so brave to be willing to go on camp “on her own”. I definitely didn’t have the confidence to do that at her age! It is certainly a fun-filled schedule, and I’m sure that she’ll have a ball, but I’ll miss her. Although she spent last week with her grandparents, we can’t telephone her on camp so somehow she feels further away. I’ll be looking forward to picking her up again on Wednesday afternoon! (And the above photo? I made that dress during the early 90s. I loved it, and I’m considering making it again for this summer).
Well, now I’m off to share some cuddles with my vivacious little five year old, whose current favourite book is “Harriet, You’ll Drive Me Wild!“. Maybe while thinking of what I might crochet from this crowd-sourced, hand-dyed cormo yarn. Anyone care to share your thoughts on any of the above topics (or any other) with me?