Wintery

It's getting wintery here, days of rain then days of golden sunshine with cold mornings and nights.  The light is changing, in the afternoon it is a gorgeous warm glow but by 6:00 pm it is dark and the curtains pulled.  I love the evenings when we are staying at home in our cosy warm house.  Charlie and Paul have been full of colds this week, particularly Charlie who seems to get sicker than the rest of us, so the fire has been lighted most days.  Oh, how I love the fire.
Winter feels like the time for knitting and that's what I have been doing.  I made Charlie Bofur gloves, the exact pattern and wool used in the Hobbit movie for the dwarf Bofur (Charlotte loves Lord of the Rings.)  As soon as they were off my needles they were on her hands, no blocking for Charlie!  I'm knitting a cardy for me and some socks.  Making socks was one of my goals this year so for my first attempt I am knitting Easy Peasy socks.  I find the self-striped wool fascinating, such pretty patterns for such little effort!  Other knitting projects in the queue are fingerless gloves for Josh (14 years) and a hat for me.
And the bundle of fabrics in the last photo?  I am going to be playing with them on Sunday, Wendy xx

Pay it forward gift

This week I was able to hand deliver the first of my Pay it forward gifts to Julie as she lives only 30 minutes away from me.  It is always such a treat to visit her and be inspired by the loveliness of her home and garden.  I made Julie a Happy Dog tote which is a pattern by Birdhouse Designs.  The stitched dog is to remind Julie of her beloved dog Mr Fluffy who died about twelve months ago and, apart from the linen, the fabrics were gifted to me which I thought suited Julie as she is so clever at giving old things new life.  I found a gorgeous magazine that I knew Julie would enjoy and had lots of fun in a second hand shop finding some little treasures for her as well.
As I said, it is such a treat for me to visit Julie and she let me wander around her home with my camera, I have included some of the photos below.  There is so much to see and inspire.  I didn't leave empty handed either, Julie gave me four dressmaking fabrics and lots of walnuts from her tree.  Thanks Julie, I loved visiting you, Wendy xx

Sewing double for The Monthly Stitch

This is my first challenge for The Monthly Stitch and it was "Sewing Double", to revisit a favourite pattern and make a second one.  I love my Papercut patterns La Sylphide dress that I made in October last year, blogged about here.  It is my go-to dress when I don't have a lot of time to get ready, I always feel happy in it and love the floaty feminine skirt.  I had wanted to try the blouse version so the April challenge was a good opportunity.  The fabric is a soft drapey cotton gifted to me recently by an aunt.  

The main alteration I made was to adjust the back neckline and tie to fit my narrow shoulders.  I also cut the tie on the bias and used pearl snaps instead of buttons.  I did my best to match up the plaids and I am pretty happy with it turned out.  This was a very cheap make, only $4.50 for the snaps as the fabric was gifted.  Wendy xx

Easter weekend and knitting

We had a fab Easter weekend, time spent catching up with family,  a yummy shared lunch after church on Sunday, and sewing and knitting time for me.  Monday was fine so we tripped up to Auckland to visit the War Memorial Museum.  It is one of those places you could spend days looking through, we spent about five hours exploring it.  I loved the Easter egg display, the stained glass ceiling, the human history including clothing and gorgeous china and furniture, and the natural history.
I have been finding time to get some finishes over the last weeks: I have made my first PIF gift and have started the second, and have sewn a few items of clothing.  The tricky bit is getting photos of me in the clothes!  The sun was shining this morning so Charlie got some photos of my recently finished cardy, started back in February.  It is the Miette cardy by Andi Sutterland, a free pattern found here.  The only changes I made was to add a little extra to the length of the body and sleeves.
I had two skeins of yarn left so I knitted myself a cowl, also a free pattern found here.  I knitted with two strands of yarn to get the right weight.  You can see I wore it to the museum on Monday, even though I haven't blocked it yet!  I must say a big thank you to all those talented designers who give us free patterns so generously!  Wendy xx

Western bluebird, fabric and fashion

Charlie and her friend Louise in 50's clothes

I just put the last stitches into the Western bluebird, my Christmas make for March.  It is another Posie: Rosy Little Things pattern from here and is an ornament to hang on my little white Christmas tree.
Last week an aunt gave me a box of her old fabric remnants and a Quilting Patterns book that looks like it will be very useful.  I have had such fun looking through the fabrics and am using some for a secret project.  It has a bit of a vintage vibe I think.
In June this year Charlie is going on a mission trip to Vanuatu with her school.  The team will be installing two large concrete water tanks as well as doing other things.  Charlie is excited to be going but the fund raising has had a huge impact on our time, hence the lack of making and blogging so far this year!  The latest fundraiser was a vintage fashion show which was a lot of work but a very successful evening.  The girls all looked gorgeous in clothes and accessories from the 50s, 60s and 70s.  Perhaps after June normal transmission may resume?  Wendy xx

Works in progress

Paul gave me a Christmas gift voucher for my local Bernina store and I made time recently to do some fabric shopping: the green fabric will be a skirt, the blue is almost finished and will be a top, and the patterned fabric will be a wrap-around dress.  I haven't bought any clothes (apart from lingerie) for seven months which feels strangely liberating!
My knitting I pick up in the evenings sometimes, I have almost finished the first sleeve.  It is actually a lovely golden yellow but the colour doesn't show up in the photo.
I started making a Christmas ornament for February and just didn't get it done, I'm hoping it will be completed for March instead.
I have started some secret sewing on my Pay it Forward gifts (see here), I would love to get them made in the next few months.
One finish I have had was little beaded booties, there's nothing like a deadline to get a gift made quickly!  These are for a colleague who is having a baby girl next month.
And the last picture above ... yep, we got to spend a weekend recently back at Papamoa beach.  It was for church camp and we went a day early which was such a treat to visit our summer holiday spot.  And yes, I did have a swim in the ocean :) Wendy xx