Craft - Frozen Cape for Madam

What did you do with your Saturday night? I ended up spending hours making an Anna/Elsa cape inspired by Frozen for madam. She, like many many other little girls around the world is totally in love with the newest Disney film.

She asked me, originally, to make a cape like Queen Elsa's coronation one, but that one is really too hard for me to recreate easily. Princess Anna also has a purple cape on for the majority of the film and this has a pom pom trim. I decided to make a combination of both of them. It is full length on her and flows really well.

checking the length!

I found this simple tutorial on Pinterest and used that to make the cape. Obviously I scaled it down to make a child sized version and also made the hood a snugger fit as I didn't want it to be sinister! 

I chose to make the hood and cape ties in a different colour and fabric to the main cloak, just to make my life more complicated! It all went well until I came to attaching the hood to the cape and then I managed to break my sewing machine needle. :(

After a frantic hunt through the house I managed to find the spare needle I knew I'd seen somewhere. *Mental note: buy more machine needles!* After finishing attaching the hood I only had to add on the pom pom trim and the neck ties. Simples. Yeah, except the trim wouldn't go through the machine!

Pom poms pinned in position.

Hand sewing trim down the full length of both open edges takes ages! And I had promised it would be ready for the morning. Argh! I just used a simple back stitch and got cracking. That's a lot of pom poms.

But I am so glad I did it. It really finishes off the cape perfectly and it makes it look less like the quick sew it really was! (She has ordered a red one and a black one as well. You know, to be Red Riding Hood and Darth Vader. Obvs.)

Finished! Just waiting to be snuck into madam's room for a morning surprise...

Madam has not taken it off since waking up to find it hanging on the wardrobe door in her room. Well, except when I insisted during painting at Sunday Club earlier!

She wore it over her coat whilst walking to church and back and she wore it to the restaurant for my parents Ruby Wedding lunch. She even wore it whilst we watched Frozen after getting home from the restaurant again.

a demure, queenly pose

yeah, that's more like madam!

I'm glad all my effort was at least appreciated and the number of people who've commented on it has been quite satisfying too! But, no, I'm not making any more that quickly. At least not with pom poms!

She asked me to take a video of her dancing on her bed in it this morning, so here it is for your amusement...

What did you do with your Saturday evening? I think my next one will be *much* quieter!

Love, Pearl.

Craft - More Of My Drawings

We're at the next point in my #BLCreativePrompts journey and I thought I'd share this weeks bad drawings with you. As I've said before I'm really enjoying taking part in this challenge, I'm just very aware of how much less talented I am than some of the other participants! 

But I should stop being so negative. They might not be stunning works of art, but I have enjoyed creating them and they give me pleasure so I am proud of them (which is why I'm sharing them with you!)

This week I have drawn:

6: something on my wishlist, 7: a favourite lyric, 8: your favourite creature, 9: hair, 10: a first, 11: the weather, 12: book.

I put it into a handy little collage so I don't bore you with loads of pictures! I drew:

6: an arbour for my garden, 7: "Not all those who wander are lost.", 8: a cat, 9: a mermaid, 10: Mother, 11: rain (there are rainbow coloured raindrops, but you can't really see them in the photo...), 11: green rabbits from Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.

Today is a hot air balloon. I'm quite looking forward to making it as Montgolfier as I can :) 

I've spent quite a bit of time browsing dressmaking patterns for my Sew Dolly Clackett attempt and think I have found one I really like. It's a Simplicity Amazing Fit dress and it has both short and long versions. And it has pockets! Not enough pretty women's clothes have pockets... 

The pattern is Simplicity 1800 and I hope to make it in a blue based print. This should surprise no-one as most of my clothes are blue or purple! I should try going right out of my comfort zone and making it something really bright and beautiful. But I don't think I dare! 

What do you think? Recommend me some nice print fabrics people, please! 

Love, Pearl.

Craft - It's All Just Sew Dolly Clackett

My plans for doing different types of posts on different days was obviously foolish! My inability to plan what will bubble to the surface should have been more obvious to me from long experience... So, today I am back on the craft/creative bent again. I have got another Pearl's Pantry post in mind and shall be putting that up as soon as I remember to buy the ingredients and do the tutorial!

Today, I mainly wanted to tell you about a couple of books I bought at the weekend whilst buying yet another (bigger) pair of school shoes for madam. She's on her 3rd size since September, when will her feet slow down? 13.5 is nearly as big as quite a few of my friends and their teeny feet!

Anyway, books... I have a bit of a thing for DK books as they are genuinely some of the best reference books I've come across and are always well laid out and easy to read. I've been lusting after some of their Step by Step series for ages and have been putting off buying because, well, I'm skint.  

The ones I'm interested in are the Knit, Crochet, Sew and Stitch books. And it's those last two I managed to get. They were on sale at The Works for £2.99 each so I snapped them up despite my mum rolling her eyes next to me and complaining I didn't need any more books and where was I going to put them? 

One day I will post pictures of all the book piles/bookshelves stuffed full that my mum owns and let you work out why I found that statement hypocritical. 

But as you can tell I paid no heed and merely joined the queue and happily paid out for my new prized possessions. I sat and read through both of them on Saturday evening - my rock and roll lifestyle showing there... For those who have never read or heard of these books, Sew is about dressmaking and mending and Stitch is about embroidery and decorative stitching. 

There is another, bigger, version of the Sew Step-by-Step which is called Dressmaking Step-by-Step and includes some projects to have a go at, but it's way out of my budget, sadly. Even in The Works! 

I am particularly interested in learning as much as I can about dressmaking because I still feel very nervous about taking the plunge on my own to make an actual garment. I really want to take part in the Sew Dolly Clackett challenge and have to just give it a go and get on with it... But, but, but... ugh. I know Roisin herself would be telling me to just have a go and do the best I can.. It's about the taking part, after all!

The idea is to make a Dolly Clackett inspired dress, like these, modelled by the lovely Dolly Clackett (Roisin) herself...

Blanche dress - Christine Haynes Emery dress

Madarch dress - By  Hand London Elisalex bodice, Simplicity 2444 skirt.

I used two examples as I couldn't pick just one! And I adore that mushroom print! And if you click on the photo it'll link to the post about the dress (I'm starting to get technical with this blogging malarky...) 

So, I have to find a (simple) dress pattern that will actually fit my plus-sized and gorgeous self and then some impressively wonderful printed fabric to use. The print is the defining thing about Roisin and her dresses. And quite frankly being big and beautiful lends itself to some funky prints. Ditsy prints look stupid on me... 

Um, yeah, so this post started out about books and ended up about sewing love, wasn't sure how to categorize that, went with craft! (Is there a category that I could invent for mindless rambling from one topic to the next?). Anyway, that's enough from me. I'll update you on my #BLCreativePrompts next post...

Love, Pearl.

Advent Sunday 2

Today is Sunday again and the 2nd in Advent. We failed to go to church this week too! I'm beginning to feel like a rubbish Christian. But then, I do also think that as long as I hold the principles in my heart God isn't about to quibble with me over how often I actually go to church. It is, after all, not about where you worship, but how. 

The run up to Christmas is always a time of reflection for me and thinking about family and friends. Trying to reconnect with any I may have been remiss in keeping in touch with. Writing out Christmas cards I will invariably forget to post (yeah, get ready for that happening again this year lovely friends!). Although this year those Christmas cards are a mixture of the ones madam designed at school which have been made up into professional cards (cute!) and some amazing ones from the mouth and foot painters charity. 

All the pictures have been produced by people who cannot use their hands to paint and the level of skill is amazing to me. I would struggle to produce anything as accomplished myself. Which is a weird sort of a compliment, but I can't think of a better way of phrasing it. Basically, they're amazing!

Madam was fascinated when I explained how the pictures were produced so we looked it up on YouTube and found video of a chap doing a work of art purely with his mouth. She was incredulous that anyone could manage it and did beg to have a go, but I (being mean) refused. She makes enough mess the regular way! Ha! 

She will be allowed to make some Christmas decorations etc which we're going to keep in a box ready for when we can put them up. She started making a paper chain at guides on Friday so I shall let her add to that as and when she feels like it. 

I am thinking of letting her make a couple of stained glass pictures as they were some of my favourites to make when I was little. I'm sure she'll be bringing home some from school too! 

The main thing we've had home from school in the last week are reading books. They are rather uninspiring and repetitive (to me), but by jove, she is whipping through them and gaining more and more confidence. I am so pleased as reading has always been *such* a big part of my life. Especially as a child. She is realising the possibilities already and is hunting down words everywhere we go and sounding them out.

She has also realised that there are words within words or that they make different words when read backwards. I have a jumper that has Oops! on it. This morning she realised that if you read it backwards and add an 'n' you get spoon!. Also, without the 's' you get poo. I will leave you all to work out which one made her giggle more.

We have just been into town to get some bits and pieces and to have a bit of a walk out and some fresh air. I hadn't completely forgotten it was the town's "Festival of Christmas" today, but it had certainly slipped from my mind as we wondered why on earth it was so parked up at that time on a Sunday. We managed to park somewhere near our old (family) house and walked into town from there. It was lovely seeing the town so bustling and all the Christmas lights on as we walked home at the end of our shopping mission.

Madam and mum did some stealth shopping whilst I went to look up the pattern that we had decided to buy to make madam a new dressing gown with.  Madam was then allowed to choose what colour Nanna was going to make said design in. She has picked bright orange. 

Those of you who have known me since youth will be amused by this colour choice! ;)

She did want tiger striped faux fur, but it's got a really scratchy backing and we had to veto it. Mum did find an off-cut of black in the remnants bin though, so will be using it to embellish the orange... *plans to buy sunglasses*

(and yes, I am just going to keep using my old Christmas photos!)

round the world with an apple

Last night was Guides again and they were finishing off their clothes alteration projects. We also talked a bit about how their energy saving plans have been going. Quite well so far, but they still have another 3 weeks to keep it going.

 

 

 

They have to do another section on Our Food and we're starting by looking at food miles. I found a website that has a calculator on it which we might be able to use on my phone at the meeting. I have already been using it as we were interested in just how we get fresh apples from New Zealand and how far they have to travel.

 

I was quite disturbed by just how far they do travel as I always try and buy British so hadn't really thought about it. The guides are checking their cupboards and finding where the furthest thing they own comes from. We also asked them to find out where the country actually is so that they can explain it to each other.

 

And then we are going to eat chocolate! We have challenged them to bring in chocolate from as many countries as we can. Then, obviously, we'll have to taste test to see if we can taste the difference. :) I have banned them from bringing any of the regular brands such as Cadbury's and Galaxy etc. So, we'll see what we shall get. I will bring in a couple of South American ones to try, too...

 

We had a discussion about some of the challenges that some of the guides had done before the summer holidays and we agreed that we could set them another challenge with food soon. We're thinking of making chocolate truffles with them :) Or making food from around the world for a bring and share night.

 

We've also been planning some map skill work for them to do. I'm thinking of making them plot a route to a certain place and then being challenged to go to another once they get there. In a sort of treasure hunt type thing. Getting the guides out and about and enjoying themselves is the key to keeping our unit going, I feel.

internet tutorials are awesome!

Guides last night was a great success. We had everyone occupied and so busy that we lost track of the time and had to race to get finished on time.

 

We will be continuing the project next week. And will also be doing more badge work. Last night we had them talking about energy and they made a plan for themselves of ways they could save energy on a daily basis. I particularly liked the suggestion of one Guide who was going to attempt to get her mum to drink the coffee her dad makes in the morning rather than making a second one!

 

We also had the usual suggestions of watching less tv and then there was turning off wifi on the tablet so it would need charged less often. I think I can safely say that is new issue...

 

And then the fun began! We got out the t-shirts and I took some before photos (which I won't publish here as the Guides are in them). Then they were let loose with glue and needles, ribbons and net, and some very large scissors. I went to work on my own project. I cut my t-shirt into one big tube and then cut up through it, leaving a strip at the top.

 

My Guide leader was absolutely fascinated and could not see how it could possibly turn into a scarf. I ploughed on regardless. Next you pull each of the strips to get them to curl in on themselves. Gather the top together and secure it with some ribbon, or whatever et voila... I have one (fairly cool) scarf in less than half an hour :)

 

I like it so much I am actually wearing it today, too.

 

I'm going to re-do that ribbon later...

 

 

Next, I had to try out the whole "design on a piece of sandpaper" idea. The idea is that once the design is complete you can turn it over and iron it on to a t-shirt, or where ever. Again, much scepticism as to how it could possibly work. But it seems to be quite legit. There are loads of tutorials online about doing it.

 

So QM and I gave it a go. I drew a turtle and she tried a butterfly. The crayon seems to stay on top of the sand and I can see how, when I iron it, it'll be transferred. It's quite strange colouring onto sandpaper though, I can tell you.

 

I remembered to write backwards!

 

 

Madam is currently drawing her own design using some of the leftover supplies from last night. I'm not sure hers will work as well though...

 

As for today, well, it's pretty much back to normal. We went to the market this morning. Madam got a book and now we are waiting for dad to make us lunch. Which will be pie and beans, the same lunch he has had on a Saturday practically every week of his life! I did manage to get him onto quiche and a salad over the summer! Progress...

 

This afternoon I have to be domestic and get all madam's school things washed and organised for next week. She is still loving school just as much and had the added excitement of football skills practice yesterday morning. I think the main excitement in that was actually that she got to wear trackie bottoms to school instead of her uniform...

 

 

Upcycling for the masses

As it's Friday, you get the now obligatory Guide related post! And I am really enthused about this weeks meeting. (Well, and terrified we won't have any guides turn up...) But lets stick with enthusiasm, shall we?

 

Oh, before I get started, madam has been to the GP and told that she is doing really well. She is just reducing the amount of puffs on her inhaler slowly now. (My friendly, tame pharmacist (Dad) is helping with that).

 

Ok, so Guides tonight... I found out last Friday that there is a competition running in conjunction with the Clothes Show Live and we could win a trip for our whole unit to go to the show! Brillbobs. All we need to do is take an old item of clothing and take a photo before doing anything to it and then one after we have repurposed/customised it to something we would wear now. Send it in by Sept 29th and Bob's your auntie!  

 

This is the kind of activity that totally excites me! I have spent the last couple of days gathering some great ideas on things the Guides could do including this awesome tutorial on how to turn a t-shirt into a scarf! I love it! I'm completely going to do this tonight with my t-shirt (cause you knew I'd be playing along, didn't you?!)

 

But I also found ways to add a design using wax crayons, sandpaper and an iron. And then there are all the normal things I might do, like adding material to turn it into a dress like Tabatha and I did for madam in the summer. Or adding pockets, a collar or an applique motif. Then, of course, there is good old tie-dye and dip dye. (Those will *not* be being done at the meeting!).

 

One of the Guides is going to turn her t-shirt into a skirt, which is a great idea. A couple were asking about customising old jeans and canvas shoes. I love that they all got behind the idea.

 

And, even better than the fact we might win a competition, the upcycling/repurposing counts towards the badge that QM and I had decided on for them to do over the term! How well planned of me was that!? We're doing the first activity from the first section of the badge and then we have to do 3 clauses. Upcycling is one clause covered.

 

And they won't even notice that they're doing it. Although, one of the Guides got *almost* as excited as me about the prospect of a badge! I'm such a badge nerd, and this is a great one as it's from WAGGS so it makes it a bit different.

 

I think the complete over-enthusiasm for it all on my part sort of rubbed off on the Guides too, which was nice. And even better was QM telling me to just plan and run it all and she'd help out if I needed. So I get to mostly be in charge, which I need for my warrant. Excellent.

 

See, I was going to tell you about all this at the weekend, but madam being so dramatically ill put paid to that!

a few of madam's customised things

 

 

I'm still trying to decide on birthday presents for her too, but she has managed to give me a couple of acceptable suggestions. She has announced that she would like some big girls Lego and also some Winnie the Witch books. I can cope with that...   

 



elephants and pigs

Ah, Sunday... I do love a good Sunday. I spend most of them with my parents and we try very hard not to watch any TV at least until late afternoon when madam can't cope any longer! (She only really has it as background noise, she doesn't watch it intently for long.)

 

There is a ban on kids TV channels so it'll only go on if there is something good we all want to watch. Last week we lasted until Deadly 60 (or one of it's incarnations) and then we have to watch whatever my dad chooses...

 

I used to spend most of my afternoon either reading all the magazines and supplements from the 2 Sunday papers my dad always gets. But now I have a laptop and can sit in the living room and still be unsociable by being welded to the internet, but remain in the same room as everyone else! :) Brillbobs...

 

I have made another top for madam, with the beautiful elephant fabric. It was just big enough to make a cute little sun top and madam spent Thursday wearing it whilst we went to the cinema to watch Despicable Me 2. And she enjoyed it almost as much as I did... Only minimal fidgeting involved!

 

The top was pretty easy to construct, I chose to make it harder as I didn't want the elephants marching on their sides. They are on the straps, but there was no way to avoid that... I cut a front and a back, stitched them up the sides and turned down a bit to make a channel for the elastic at the top.

 

I made two folds of fabric for the straps, and threaded elastic through them so they have a cute gathered look and it's really easy for madam to get the top off and on. I sort of followed a pattern I'd come across on Pinterest, but mainly so I got the dimensions, I was going to make it reversible, like the pattern says but couldn't decide on a fabric for the reverse.

 

 

 

I think I made it harder by not though, because I then had to make the specific elastic channel, and I couldn't just trap the straps between the layers to secure them. None-the-less, I'm really pleased with how well it turned out. And so was madam, despite this facial expression! 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday was spent trying to sort out a birthday party for madam. Her birthday is still two months away but I wanted to know I had somewhere booked. Her birthday is on a Friday this year, which also makes it harder. I started off looking at church halls as then we'd just be able to do the invite everyone in the class thing and let them run riot.

 

However, it was so hard to even find out how much the halls were charging. I only found two that listed their hourly rates. The rest just gave me a phone number to call. (We remember how I feel about phonecalls...) I really can't see the point of dedicating a whole section of your website to Hall Hire if it just then says: For all enquiries phone... Useless.

 

I tried the local leisure centre as they do hire too. Again, no rates given. But my mum then asked about their party package and I pointed out it'd be a minimum number of kids and that we would end up paying quite a bit. She pointed out that, judging from the prices we had found, if you added that plus the food and all the hassle, it might be easier to pay for a party.

 

So then we checked the local soft play centre (parent hell, kiddie heaven). Here we found an actual list of prices and a detailed description of what their parties entailed. Finally! And we realised if we booked there we would be able to get it actually on her birthday, too. We'd sort of been looking at the Sat/Sun for hall hire.

 

So I rang up (I know all the people there, so not that hard) and we managed to get after school on her birthday pencilled in. Then mum said she'd pay the deposit so we could secure it. Bonus :) So that's it. We have to invite at least 10 kids at £8 each, but they get two hours playing and food. Normal entry is £5, so it's not bad to get them all the food and save me the hassle.

 

Just need to make a cake and sort out party bags and I'm done :) I have made a pinterest board for party ideas as madam had asked for a piggy party. Might have to find/make her a piggy costume...   





pinning my life away

I have been on Pinterest for a while now, but it's suddenly clicked with me and I have been manically pinning everything! I've even branched out to more than a couple of boards.

 

I have found it's fabulous for sewing ideas and tutorials. It's got loads of stuff that you wouldn't expect as well. My favourite board to follow is My Imaginary Well-Dressed Toddler Daughter which is made up of child modelling photos  with some fantastic captions. It's just so funny (it might just be me...)

 

And then there are all the pretty things and the recipes and the ideas for home and crafts and allsorts... I am probably boring the people who follow me with my current spamming of their feeds! I found a whole load of Matilda related pins yesterday. And then there were all the Quentin Blake ones. You can see how I've lost hours to it, can't you.

 

I am pinning quite a few tattoo ideas at the moment as well. I really want another one (I have two already) but I like them quite small and simple. So that they can be covered up and so that I won't be embarrassed by them in my old age. As I'm in my mid-thirties now I think it's less likely, but it's always a consideration.

 

I don't like coloured tattoos either. As my skin is so pale I feel the black stands out really well, and I wouldn't want anything too cartoonish (I am picky!). This is not to say that I haven't seen some beautiful coloured tattoos, it's just not my thing!

 

it was brand new here, hence the redness!

 

 

My next problem is where to place it. I have one on my right shoulder and one to the left of my spine near my bum (which is the one above). I would love one on my wrist, but then it would be harder to cover if I had to. Also, on my foot could be good, but I am usually barefoot and I would then have to try and hide it from my parents. Neither of whom approve at all... They are annoyingly conservative sometimes. And yes, I am a big girl so I can do what I want, but deliberately upsetting them by getting a tattoo on show seems very petty and childish.

 

I quite like the idea of some script. A quote or some inspirational words. I saw a nice tattoo featuring the Maya Angelou quote "And still I rise" which makes me feel like I can conquer my demons. I also like bible verses, I have found a lovely one from Proverbs which I really like, but it might end up bigger than I would like. It's verse 31:25
 

 

 

 

Perhaps I should have it placed on my ribcage and then it could wrap around...

 

What do you think?

fun and flowers at Burnby Hall

Yesterday was lovely. It was madam's Fairy competition at Burnby Hall Gardens in Pocklington and we had a great day. The weather held out and we got a chance to look around the rather stunning gardens.

The gardens also hold the national waterlily collection (who knew the nation even had one?) and they were pretty much all in bloom. They were all different colours and looked just beautiful.

There were a few fairy activities for madam to take part in and we started by being given a little collection bag so that we could gather up any leaves, twigs, feathers, etc. that we might find so we could use them to make a name plaque. 

All around the gardens were signs telling us about the various types of flower fairies and when we might be able to see them. Our favourite part though was hunting for the fairies up in the Stumpery (which is in the woodland area). And it was so sweet. There were lots of little doors dotted around on the trees and all around the glade were things for us to spot, like a washing line, a swing and a fishing rod.

a tiny door!

And madam was convinced that if she knocked on all the doors eventually a fairy would answer her ;) 

We found a picnic table (of which there were many) and settled down for a picnic before heading back with our finds to do some crafting. There were pictures to colour and fairy houses to make. We just stuck to making madam a name plate. But, sadly, the glue wasn't really sticky enough to cope with madam's twigs so we agreed to take it all home and let her use the PVA glue to finish it off with. 

And then it was time for the fairy and pixie parade. The fairies outnumbered the pixies by quite a large amount, so fairies went first. There was only one other little girl in a homemade outfit. And she was much littler than madam with the most enormous frothy tutu confection on. So, so cute. She won the competition, which wasn't that much of a surprise. But I was really glad they recognised the effort someone had put into making it. Madam got a few comments on her costume too, and many were amazed it was homemade.

We had to leave after the parade as my mum and dad had to go round to my younger brother's place and help him with something. But I really want to visit again. It was just such a lovely place to while away a few hours. I'm hoping we'll go back for the pumpkin festival in October.

And mum saw an "Elf Training Camp" day in December too...

So yeah, if you're in the area ever and want a nice afternoon wander (the cafe looked rather good, too) it's worth checking out. Oh, and the Stewart Museum holds some things brought back from the round-the-world trips the owners made in the early 20th Century. Might be worth a look too...     

happiness fairy reporting for duty

I've done it! I've finished the fairy outfit! It has been a labour of love to a certain extent. Working with net is not as easy as you'd think. Its hard to get it to line up and the pinning it is a trick.

 

And I have been mostly working with about 6 layers at a go. The wings were a real pain to cut out and as soon as I did I stitched them together on the machine so they would be a bit easier to work with. Then I attached them to the back of madam's vest top and got her to try it on so I could put a stitch through the top of the wings to stop them drooping.

 

I love the fact you can see them from the front as well :)

 

And then, foolishly, I thought I would add a couple of sparkles. So I sewed a few flower sequins onto the top.

 

 

 

And then a couple on the wings.

 

 

 

And then, for some unknown reason I decided to make her a couple of wrist cuffs which required snap fasteners and then another sequin on each! At midnight last night, when I finally finished I did question my own sanity. But madam's face this morning was worth it all!

 

 

 

Getting her to take it off after I'd done the photos was a minor battle I could have done without first thing, but never mind. Fairy costume is finished and I can get on with my next project now :) 

 

 

superhero or flamenco dancer?

I was planning on blogging about the cape I made for madam last night, you know in a step-by-step fashion. But I did that thing of getting caught up in what I was doing and forgetting to take pictures... Sorry!

 

Needless to say, it was a pretty simple make. I sewed to rectangles of cotton poplin together (we ended up with orange and purple) and then turned them through to the right way around. I then merely folded down a section at the top to make the channel for the tie. The tie was made from sewing two strips of fabric together, folding in half and seaming it. Again it was then turned right way out and threaded through the channel I'd made. Et voila! One cape.

 

I make it sound like it was all problem free, but I did my fair share of cursing. I think this mainly comes from the fact my sewing room turns itself into an oven as soon as you spend more than five minutes in it... I ended up sewing in my bra and pants, probably best I was on my own today!

 

But I am really happy with how the cape turned out, its possible to wear it either way so madam can choose which side faces out... She was so pleased with it this morning that she ran all the way to my parents house with her cape blowing out behind her. An awesome look. She has chosen to go for colour today as she is wearing a green vest top and pink cropped skinnies. Yeah, that's a lot of colours for such a small person to wear at once. But heck, if you can't get away with it at age 4, what is the point of life?

 

 

 

She did get changed once we arrived as she had a party to go to this morning. So on with the beautiful flamenco dress my parents brought back from their holidays and she was allowed a real rose to put in her hair to finish her "look". For one so young she is very conscious of her look... I might have to keep her away from too many fashion bloggers!

 

 

 

 

 

She had so much fun at her friends party though, and somehow the flamenco dress survived an almost constant 2 hours of bouncy castle madness. I have put it back in the wardrobe for a later date... 

capes and wings and things

Madam and I, whilst waiting for the bus yesterday, were messing about and I made a cape for her out of her nightie. She had it with her so she could get ready for bed there rather than at home... Anyway, it didn't work all that well so she announced that I had to (HAD to) make her a cape. A Superman cape, to be precise. You just need red and blue she said...

 

So, apparently that is my next sewing project. I'm also going to turn the gorgeous elephant print fabric I got from ebay into a simple summer top for madam. Mother and I are planning how we can do that. Sounds like we're making a tube and threading ribbons for straps!

 

 

 

This afternoon will be mostly spent cutting out these flaming wings for the fairy outfit though. I must get it done otherwise it'll be Tuesday night and I'll be doing it in a flap. I have got each of the three colours of net we originally used and my plan was to cut two wings out of each colour so we have the same 6 layers as the skirt. Then I will have to hand stitch them onto the vest top. I might run a line of machine stitch down the middle to help keep them together first...

 

My next issue is what *actual* wing shape I will cut. Do I do butterfly, dragonfly or some form of other shape... She's going to be sitting in the car for a while whilst we get there so maybe she won't be wearing the top until we arrive! Crushed wings, whatever their shape, is not a good look. 

 

template from www.craftscope.com

 

 

Template from peekadot.blogspot.co.uk

 

 

I think I'm more excited than she is now... I'm really hoping the fact her costume is homemade will help her in the competition stakes. It's easy just to buy all the things you need... I also love that I made it. I love knowing that she has something unique and that makes her happy. When she spent the day dressed in the outfit she told me she was a happiness fairy and that everyone smiled when they saw her. And they did. It was lovely for her to get all that positive feedback from people.

 

I had better get a move on if I want to buy stuff for cape making, I suppose!     

peanut butter and fairies

*This post now has all the photos I had planned it to have*

Firstly, some apologies... I haven't written anything all week as madam is now on holidays and I can't go to my usual haunts for free wifi. Well, I can, but it wouldn't be as easy to achieve as usual. I have got lots of things to write about today but have forgotten my phone so I can't post the photos :(

 

I shall have to post them another day... though I might be able to lift a couple from where I've posted them on other sites...

 

So, I made the salted caramel peanut butter bars from essbeevee's blog and it was great fun. I found some of the initial mixing a bit hard going with a spoon so in the end went for the tried and tested "just shove your hands in" technique. And then squished it all in to a big disposable tin thing. The big tin could have done with being bigger. This recipe makes a huge amount...

 

Then I made the caramel and poured that over. At which point I *really* wished my tin was bigger, it didn't overflow or anything but I was a little wary of what would happen when we poured the chocolate on... I had promised madam faithfully that she could do the chocolate and sprinkles so I put what I'd made into the fridge and licked out the bowls before doing the washing up.

 

In the morning I was going to meet my dad at 9.45 as I was heading for a gym induction and he was having madam for me so chocolate melting/pouring/sprinkling was being done whilst also making breakfast for us both. And it was a lot of chocolate! My, this really is a great treat recipe.

 

 

After it was topped and sprinkled it went back in the fridge to set and to await the arrival of my sewing buddies in the evening.

 

Although madam and I did have a sneaky taste test in the afternoon, you know, just to make sure...

 

I ended up having a rather frustrating afternoon as I had planned time to do some more tidying, get dinner sorted, and do some pattern cutting. But I ended up stuck waiting for the gasman to come round and service my parents appliances. :( We were late getting home and therefore all my plan went out the window. I ended up throwing out my ideas for the pattern I was going to sew and decided to just make the a fairy skirt for madam.

 

She is really excited about her competition and I really enjoyed making her skirt. It was a good job we had three pairs of hands to hold and pin the fabric as that was the only complicated bit. But more importantly it was really nice to have the girls round and we had a great chat. I also learned how to do a French seam.

 

 

Madam was awake the entire time as she is too nosy for her own good! She also insisted on modelling her outfit after everyone had left before she would go to bed!

 

  

 

The fabulous Tabatha also brought me a lovely goody bag of sewing stuffs including some pinking shears! I am so grateful to her, she really is like a little sewing fairy being so kind and helpful to me.

 

I will be attempting to make some wings to go with madams costume once I have acquired more net... I'm planning on cutting out wing shapes from the net and just sewing them on to the vest top madam is going to be wearing...

 

 

Perfectionism is not a game

 

 

On March 21st this year I wrote a post on how perfectionism leads to procrastination and suddenly in the last week it has become the most read post on my blog. And in fact the most read post of this week. Baffling really, don't know why the sudden surge in interest around it.

 

It does give out that important message though. That people like me are this way for reasons other than people can often assume. I'm not saying that I don't have a lazy gene, but most of the time that's not what it's about. I am so concerned about doing it right that I often freeze myself into inaction. I sit, I see, but I cannot do. I'm trying to keep up momentum but have to admit to having stalled again in the last few months.

 

My everyday routine has gone to pot and I can feel the chaos starting to build up again. And that terrifies me, I don't want it to be in control of me, and still I'm letting it win by not forcing myself to do it. My current excuse is that my timer broke (queue everyone I know (V) prodding me with sharp sticks via twitter). And you have no idea how bad I am at judging time. 15 minutes is not long enough (I know it is), I don't know where to start (just do something, it'll help), I don't want my friends to have to rescue me again (my friends genuinely care about me and want to help).

 

So many reasons and so many excuses that I *know* I'm being irrational about. And yet, and yet, and yet... Hopefully, I am having lovely Tabatha Tweedie and V come over on Tuesday for more sewings/girly chats so that will be a fine kick up the bottom to sort things out again. And the silly thing is I want them in my house now. I have turned that corner from being afraid to let anyone over the threshold for fear of being judged.

 

I am glad that being able to be honest allows me to have that freedom again. I love having visitors, I love being sociable. It's one of the few things I miss from having himself around, the house used to always have friends and family in it. I'm not saying I was always keen on all of the company, but I love having people round and making them food (I am a feeder, I plan on making snacks for everyone on Tuesday :D).

 

Actually, I really want to experiment and make these peanut butter treat things that lovely essbeevee keeps mentioning. I may also need to lie down and hope to avoid sugar coma afterwards, but it sounds like something madam would be able to help make, and I'm always searching for those type of recipes.

 

So I will go home this evening and I will put a music DVD on (I'll give you all 3 guesses whose) and I will use that to time my tidying. If I have 3 people (and a madam) in my dining room to do sewing we'll be needing the elbow room!