Sewing with my Sisters and other holiday happenings

Hello,

We have had a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

On Christmas Eve I attended the little church down the road, and it was so nice I went twice! The first service was for the kids so I took my daughter along. The funniest moment was when the pastor said "Now we'll sing hymn number 4" and halfway through the first verse of "O come all ye faithful" we realised that not everyone had the same hymn sheet, so some of us were singing a different song! 
The kids really enjoyed icing bikkies and applying lollies for decoration. We sang "Silent Night" in the dark with candles and when the song was over we blew the candles out and sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. As a finale, we sang a carol made up the week before, with wonderfully familiar imagery in the lyrics relating to the Burra valley. I will post a link to it oneday....

The second service at 9.30pm was more sophisticated, but still just as enjoyable, and this time my parents came along for the ride.

For those who don't know, a pavlova is an Aussie dessert, it's a meringue (or in this case two) topped with cream and fresh fruit - always passionfruit on the top.

Christmas Day was made stress free by dint of having it at Mum and Dad's instead of at my place. The in-laws came, so there were ten of us grown ups and one child, and we had a lovely lunch including nut loaf and my pavlova. At my sister in law's request we played a jovial game of Christmas charades, and cooperated in a photo hunt. I did not have to do any washing up - A Christmas miracle!?

My gift from Mum - big chunky "family heirloom" pinking shears (shown with my normal scissors  for scale) they were soon to get a work out.

A couple of days after Christmas my sister in law came around to do some sewing. She had bought some beautiful screen printed linen from a shop called cloth.com, and her objective was to create some cushions for her couch. I was up for the challenge and together we completed all sorts of complex mathematical equations trying to get four cushions out of eight fat quarters. This should have been easy, but the FQ's varied in size so we had to do some piecing to get them to fit the cushion inserts. Lucy was very brave and overlocked all the seams without sewing over her fingers, and she invented great names for the various fabrics so we could tell them apart - pooh sticks, french fries, waterhole and puddles. I wonder if you can tell which is which?
I didn't do too bad a job getting the zippers in, and she was very happy with the completed cushions. It was so much fun to have someone to sew with.

On New Years Eve we had a complete blackout, in fact 1200 homes in our area were without power. At the time of the blackout I was sewing on a button, I was glad I did not need the sewing machine any more that day and since it was early evening we had time to organise the candles.
It was lovely eating toasted sandwiches by candlelight and going to bed in the dark. When we looked out the windows at the valley surrounding our house not a single light could be seen. So peaceful.



Yesterday my husband went back to work and so the Pickle and I hit the shops - op shops that is, and we also visited Spotlight to pick up some patterns. I bought a pattern to make the Pickle a dress, but we could not find suitable fabric. For some reason she insists the fabric needs to be the same as the eyelet cotton used for the dress in the pattern envelope. We found the right fabric, but it was a colour she described as "puke", so the search continues.

Picture from http://sewing.patternreview.com/

Today was another lovely day - my sister Mary came for a visit. She had ordered a 1952 dress pattern from an Etsy shop on the proviso that I sewed it for her. Simplicity 3875 is a pretty simple sunfrock with wide straps, bust darts and a crazy scalloped edging. 

photo from http://www.etsy.com/shop/SewNSoVintage

Originally she wanted the one with the giant pockets, (view 2)  but my ric-rac supply was sadly depleted so we opted instead for view 1, with scallops cut from an old white sheet. That turned out to be a reckless plan!






We started by tracing off the bodice, so that we could make adjustments to the fit if need be. Mary figured the pattern would be too small. We made a mock up using an old sheet, and surprise, surprise, it fit perfectly, without any alterations!

The next step was to cut out the dress. She'd chosen navy poplin with tiny white dots. It was a great choice, but it would have looked even better with red ric-rac or piping. 







Here it is in the process of being cut out. The seller who Mary purchased it from included a lovely handwritten note and a few vintage buttons with the pattern, how sweet!
If you are reading this, Brin from http://www.etsy.com/shop/KooterandFlos, thanks ever so much! Go check her shop out, she still has lovely patterns and other vintage ephemera, great for vintage lovers and sewists.

When the bodice was tried on we had another problem to solve - it was rather tight. Mary could have worn it with a corset, or perhaps without any breathing - but neither of these is a good option for swing dancing. I figure what had happened was the old sheet we used for the toile had a bit more give in it than the real fabric.

We unpicked the side seams and resewed with a very scant seam allowance, and when I sewed in the zipper I had to make it one of those trendy "exposed" zips rather than the demure, concealed 50s version. We both agreed it did look tacky, and certainly wouldn't wash in 1952 but it was a good solution to the problem and one that noone would notice because they would be too busy looking at the scallops.

Those scallops! Oh my! It was my first try at sewing something so preposterous. Once I had constructed the scallops for the bodice I made an executive decision not to sew the other couple of metres of scallops to go on the skirt. Bodice scallops were quite enough.
They were really fiddly and nerve wracking to cut out, sew, clip and turn. But Mary was very impressed with how they turned out.
  
When she tried the dress on with the new "barely there" seam allowance we both agreed it looked fabulous. In the end I did not like the poplin all that much, it was a bit too stiff, but it should soften up once the sizing wears off. She tried it on for the photos and look, she already has matching navy sandals! Sadly she had not done her hair yet today so was reluctant to appear head-to-toe in the pics. Hopefully can get some more styled photos at a later date. 

Mum has been elected to hem it for us, since she is good at that sort of thing. But it was almost all finished in just one day, with a break for tacos for lunch. Mary even made some bloomers from a Colette pattern as well!

I will most likely make her another dress with this pattern, perhaps in a pretty floral, and I do hope that she'll come round again to do the overlocking, ironing, glass of water fetching and to keep me company in the sewing room.



While Mary was here, I got a parcel in the mail, with no return address. Hmm. Mary opened it for me and the only thing it contained was a toy rat. No note. Hmm. I was wracking my brains (which believe me were already quite well wracked after all those scallops).
I had to think about that rat for about an hour until it dawned on me - my friend Cindy must have sent it to me, since I had commented on a facebook photo of a rat in the lost property at work! Funny girl!


                              ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂

In shop news: here's that dress I was making on New Year's Eve when the power went out. I am making a line of these "shabby chic" little numbers in sizes 3 - 14, really in a shameless attempt to use up my vintage sheet and doily stash so that I can have an excuse to go buy some more! You can find my first one in my shop here 

Thanks for reading!

Garden ramblings

Hello everybody. There is not much going on this week, unless you count the crazy goings on of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat". My daughter the Pickle is performing in the junior choir. They are the little cuties who gather around Joseph and sing "a-a-ahhh!" ever so sweetly.

It makes me so proud to see her performing. One hundred children from our school are in the cast, as well as one of our amazing teachers playing the part of Pharoah.

I thought I would share some photos of some lovely local gardens that I have admired over recent years. I am sorry if I can't quite remember their names...I should write these things down. Anyway, in my garden it is time to plant the bulbs and sweetpeas for spring, but I haven't done that yet. It is time to "lift the skirts" of the silver birches along the drive, by pruning their lower branches. But I haven't done that yet either. There are two liquidamber trees about a foot tall standing at my front door, waiting to be planted and turning a lovely shade of red. My handbag is still full of chestnuts, and there are gazillions of acorns rattling around in the car. Maybe one day I will catch up with all these gardening jobs, not to mention the weeds that seem to like the rain so much. In the mean time, please enjoy some photos of other peoples' gardens.

This is a garden in Burra. A lovely combination of natives and exotic trees. I don't like that variegated thing at the front though.

This is the same garden, look at those lovely views. 

Cheesy grin

Here's my husband admiring the view.

Here is another garden, this time near Yass, with lovely views.

A gate at the same property

This reminds me of Narnia!

They had a nice sunny courtyard for growing roses and clematis

Here is their sweeping drive.

A house near Yass. I love these golden elms, and I plan to plant one soon. 

 We found a nice comfy swing seat

We admired the view of the Yass River at the bottom of the garden

This happened to the Pickle after a while

This garden had too many roses - literally thousands of them. They were a bit boring after a while

Here's another garden in Burra, this time a bed of Waratah

This house near Yass had a little cottage garden section

A horseshoe pear. Last week hubby me the sculptor while he was waiting for me to explore the opshops of Bombala. 

Roses and fences are the perfect combination

We liked the look of this swimming pool. One day in the future we would like a pool out the front of our house, but I prefer the more natural, curvy shaped pools. 

This garden at Burra has a drive lined with chinese elms: Ulnus chimensis. We have these planted along the front of our property.

In shop news, I have reached 300 likes on my facebook page. www.facebook.com/bananaorangeapple1. Head on over and like me too if you haven't yet. There is a special deal going on there to celebrate 300 likers!

I received a request to make a rainbow dress in size 4, and of course I was delighted to get to work. I had to hunt through several thrift stores for bright coloured linens and make a trip out to Spotlight at Queanbeyan. The poor cutting lady had to cut 20cm each of 19 different fabrics!

The bottom purple row stretched for 5.5 metres (that's 18 feet) before I gathered it up, sewed it into a circle and attached it to the skirt. If you'd like to make your own, check out the pattern at the indietutes blog. If you want me to make you one, send me a message and we'll do a deal!

The rainbow dress laid out

Here it is with its tamer, pastel sister.

April holiday fun

We've just returned from a holiday at the coast, staying in the far south of New South Wales in the little town of Tathra. I would like to share some highlights and some holiday snaps with you. If you know anything about how to get the photos nice and neat on the page, please let me know. I have given up trying to get them all in a row, they just keep spreading out no matter where I put them!

 First off, we stayed in a town called Mollymook. Hubby was keen to try the pies at this pie shop, and they must have been good since he went and bought three more to takeaway. Just   in time on the day before we left I received a package of frames in the mail from my supplier in, no joke, Framingham USA. So I was able to get my first cross stitched pendant ready for my shop, a lovely red and pink rose.

Note address: the Princes PIEway LOL

We arrived in Tathra and set off to find our holiday house, which we borrowed for the week. It  was absolutely beautiful, having just been renovated. Hubby loved the bifold doors which opened up onto a deck with a sea view. I told him I would rather be enclosed and live a little like a wombat. Oh well. 

Sadly, the weather was not ideal. We had to find other activities as the clouds opened up and the seas were rough and stormy. 

We had several day trips, and pretty much everywhere we went we had coffee and cake, or in the case of the Pickle, caramel slice and a milkshake. I managed to find some interesting items at the local op shops. We went to Merimbula a few times. In the St Vinnies op shop I bought some patterns. We went out for dinner at the sports club and then to the movies. We saw the Lorax in 3D, which we all liked a lot. The Pickle is really fond of his moustache, and here she is giving him a friendly cuddle. I said to hubby as we went in that I felt like I'd already seen this movie since I'd seen the preview, but it turned out there was enough surprises to keep me interested.

 I cross stitched this little brooch and put it up for sale in my shop. It was really nice to have some handwork to do while I was away from my sewing machine. you can see the coloured grid which I graphed out beforehand.

Cheese making machine

There's something not quite right about this cow

We went to Bega to visit the cheese factory. My daughter showed me how to eat a "Stringer" which is a lunch box snack that was not invented when I was a kid. At the Salvos in Bega I bought an 80s cardigan which I wore nearly every day for the rest of the trip.

New pair of flower earrings, $3 from big W. I am a big spender!

I resisted buying any plants since hubby said they wouldn't fit in the car.

A close up of my 80s cardigan - it's acrylic! 

$3 earrings I bought at the Bega BigW. 

Gratuitous food shot: this was roast mushrooms with beetroot and feta. It gave me garlic breath but I didn't mind. MMMMM

The barber shop in Bega is also a shoe store - I wanted to try on a pair of shoes while having my hair done but Hubby said no.

A cool old car

These are my all time favourite earrings, I wear these most days and even to bed. I have decided if I ever lose one that I will commission a jeweler to make another pair straight away. They have outlasted many a pair of $3 earrings! I bought them in Armidale in 1998.

We visited an amusement park in Merimbula named "Magic Mountain". Sadly a tree had fallen on the toboggin run and it was out of action. It was smaller than I thought it would be, and it started to rain, but that did not stop the Pickle from having fun. My favourite ride was the go-karts, but hers was the waterslide. Oddly enough, it went underground through a tunnel. Hubby and I were too chicken to go on it. Well, to tell you the truth, we just did not want to get wet. We stood under an umbrella and cheered her on. 

Hubby and I agreed that this must be where old council playground equipment comes to die - they also had a roundabout that did not go round, and a Huckleberry Hound see-saw. 

Pickle and I got hopelessly addicted to watching The Voice each night. She is on Team Delta, and I am on Team Keith. Luckily I had something useful to do while I watched - I made this little pendant which the Pickle has named "The Gumball Tree". It is made with French knots in all colours of the rainbow.

We had an outing to Bermagui, which is a lovely little harbour town. In an antique store called "Belongings" I found the perfect dressing table for our bedroom, but sadly we could not think of any way to get it back home. We had to leave it there.
I found an amazing, fantastic, awesome antique store called "Strangers in Paradise". I wanted to move in there right away. Well worth a look in if you are ever in the district.
 I bought a pattern from 1955 to make my sister a swing dancing dress. it is this one here if you want to check it out or make your ownvintage pattern for sale I am sure she'll love it!

The harbour at Bermagui

I got a bit bored one evening waiting for The Voice to come on, and commissioned an artwork from my friend Niki - it is my first commission if you don't count my custom etsy banner which is at the top of my blog. It will be kinda like this one, but it is a drawing of one of my puppies, and it is a birthday surprise for the Pickle. Sssh, don't tell her!

I am so excited to be able to see what Niki comes up with. You can look at her beautiful artwork here http://www.etsy.com/shop/VintageNiki

This little guy is Wilbur the guinea pig. Isn't he sweet?

On ANZAC day we went for a bike ride, and The Pickle and her daddy made these sculptural "houses" by the Mogareeka Inlet at Tathra.

Since it was our last day, I thought we'd better take the Pickle for a swim at the beach. The water was too cold for hubby, but the kid was mad keen so I took her in. I was really really cold until I went totally numb, and then I could not feel anything anymore so I was quite happy. My fingers and toes went white. There were a few hardy surfers with full body wetsuits on, but apart from them no-one else was brave enough to enter the surf. Even though it was a public holiday.

We visited the historic Tathra wharf. It is a lovely shade of orangey pink that matches the cliffs nearby.

A strange rainbow that looked kinda like an exclamation mark.

Hubby and I both agreed we'd like to live in this cliff top house.

Looking back at Tathra beach from the headland above the wharf.

Here's my handsome hubby trying to take a photo of me. He is saying "just take a  step back, now  another step..."of course, I am standing on the edge of a cliff. Har-di-har-har. The Pickle is coming to my defence.

For something different on the way home we travelled through the historic town of Bombala. 1500 people who don't mind the cold live in this little town at the top of the mountain. The road to Bombala is windy and very steep. We opened the car windows and looked out at the tree ferns in the rainforest on the way. Did you know that Bombala was almost chosen as the site for our Nation's capital? Bombala is known as "platypus country" and the main reason I wanted to visit was to catch a glimpse of one of these amazing creatures. The platypus and the echidna are the only two animals in the monotreme species. These are mammals that lay eggs. How extraordinary!

I had a snoop around looking for platypuses, but no luck. I would like to walk along beside the river one day.

Some interesting characters at the Bombala swimming pool

the river that runs through the town

A beautiful golden elm tree. I hope to plant one of these at my place.

Hubby warned the Pickle that dancing on the clifftop may result in falling poop.

Perfectly located halfway between Sydney and Melbourne (well almost)

The local cinema

the Bombala post office

The main street is named "Maybe Street" and here's the intersection with "Caveat Street" A horse chestnut stands on the corner, and the Pickle and I have collected some conkers.

An Aussie flag garden outside the RSL. Sorry, it is upside down, but you get the idea.

 At Bombala I visited the local Anglicare Op Shop which has a great selection. I bought some awesome vintage linen to be revamped and recycled into new clothes for the BananaOrangeApple store. I also bought some navy and white striped stretch knit which I hope to turn into a maxi-skirt.

There was a lovely little shop in Maybe Street called LouLous, right up my alley. Kids and ladies clothes, handmade jewellery, beautiful homewares - it had it all.

I resisted the urge to buy any goodies having splurged at the opshop, and here's a link in case you feel like window shopping too. I would have bought the Pickle a skirt, but they didn't quite come in her size. I am happy to see they do mail order.. http://www.loulousbombala.com.au/ or her FB page LouLous

Just to make the trip home even more interesting, I persuaded hubby to stop by the highway at the beautiful McLaughlin river to have another hunt for a platypus. Sadly none were forthcoming, I think they were burrowed away to get out of the wind, but here are some nice photos anyway.

A feral blackberry, these are noxious weeds in Australia

We noticed a camel in this paddock

The river with a farm in the background.

The McLaughlin river

An  apple tree gone feral and bearing plenty of lovely red apples. 

We had a break at Cooma for lunch, and I ran into Vinnies to see what they had on offer. I bought two more sheets - one with Paddington and the other Humphrey B Bear. How cool! The Pickle bought a yellow Woodstock stuffed bird, from Snoopy. 

We wandered around, enjoying the chilly sunshiny air and the busyness of this town.

I have decided that I am more of a mountain person than a beach person, but that won't surprise anyone who knows my background. I was, after all, born in Batlow, and was known when I was a baby as "the Mountain Maid".