DRESS

Hi everyone, today I seemed to spend more time fluffing than anything, but i managed to make a dress I have only worn twice a bit larger, there wasn't much side seam, ( a good quality dress will have a side seam , not just over-locked) so there was four pieces on each side as its lined, plus i did the shoulders to, also took out zip that never worked well, (it would pull apart) and i put in an invisible zip, aren't they just the greatest and easy, so so easy, you do need a special foot for your sewing machine, so i know summer is nearly over but hopefully I get to wear my new dress, if I grow out of it again, I am going to make it into a skirt. lol

JACKET REMADE

At times  you can pick up a second hand pure wool jacket,, which are expensive to buy new, and unless you are going to wear it heaps its not worth the money,

So if you find a good one, you can just cut the bottom off and update it by making it shorter, with this one i stitched down the pocket openings as they were close to the hem line..

 UP-CYCLED SKIRT

I am so bored with my wardrobe, so i have made a full skirt into a straight skirt and love it,

 i loved the colour,  and its 100% cotton, was easy to do, i took the tri angle pieces out of the bottom, if you are careful you could cut them out but not near the top of the tri angle,

 i drew a chalk like from where the tri angle met down to hem, making sure all panels,( and there was eight), were even, sewed them up, cut off for a shorter hem, put a little split in the back,

 and i have a new skirt to wear out today

Feijoa (Feijoa sellowiana, synonym Acca sellowiana), also known as Pineapple Guava or Guavasteen, is an evergreen shrub or small tree,

I am lucky to have one of these trees, yes they say you need two, but i have only one, and it was grown about 26 yrs ago by cutting,  it is the small fruit variety, but very juicy and sweat,  it does get a lot of water where it is.

Each year what i cant eat, i take the pulp out and put it into one cup lots into little plastic bags and freeze it, then when i want an apple and feijoa crumble , its easy, just add from the freezer with the apple and put your crumble topping on and cook in Microwave 


How i make my crumble is mix one cup of self raising flour, with 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 125 grm of butter, and cinnamon if you like cinnamon , rub it all together,  pop it on to off apple and feijoa or apple and rhubarb 
cook in Microwave for 4 mins,  let stand for few mins, -- serve with custard or ice cream , yum

 

I had a plum tree behind my garden shed for many years, and most years it did really well,  and we just ate the plums, this year i found out its a damson plum,, as i took some to the retirement village,   where my mother lives, sorry mum not the old peoples home, lol lol  well they went crazy for them, making jam till it come out there ears i think, so i also for the first time made plum jam, its so easy and so so yummy, i also put whole plums in freezer and froze some cooked plums to make jam later, as i didn't have enough jars,

 VEGETABLE GARDEN

Well i have had a great day in the garden, getting my vege garden sorted for winter planting,, first i have to say its important to make good compost,  i have three bins, so one is working, one half way cooked and the other ready to be used on garden,   in saying that two of mine were ready to use, and i needed it all for my garden,

 The secret i have found to good compost, is using food scraps, never meat. and when mowing lawn, ( we have a lot of grass clipping as we have a big section,) i add ripped news paper  after each catcher load of lawn clipping, i also cover the bin that is cooking with plastic, to keep it warmer, my compost is always full of worms, big and small .

 

I have four raise garden beds, raise gardens are more user friendly and make gardening more rewarding, i didn't fill each garden up to start with , so i could fill them with compost as it was ready.

I have broccoli, beetroots, spinach, sliver beet, lettuces,  will be adding peas,  few herb and rhubarb in far corner garden.

i put a frame up to cover with plastic to keep frost off , as we sometimes get a -2 or 3 deg frost, this time i am going to sew together two or three layers of plastic to make it thicker, and also this time i will have them fixed to the top and hang down each side, and timber attached to the bottom , to hold them down, last season i only had one side opening up, but found i couldn't reach the back of the garden.  the plastic keeps it warmer and keeps out bugs.

PS i also add horse manure to my compost as its cooking, some people have the manure hanging into water and use the water, i found the manure on the compost doesn't smell, just put a layer at a time as grass clipping go on, i also put all purpose fertilizer on vege garden when planting, 

How lucky was i to find an alpaca poncho at the local hospice shop for a $1.  they are so warm and if you have a wool allergy you can still wear alpaca  , it had a little brown mark on the bottom that came out during the wash,   Keep your eyes open at these thrift shops , you never know what you will find.

This is some beading i have done,  like to look for old beads in charity shops..

 

Don't throw away old chairs,

 often they are made so well they will last for years, 

maybe just new fabric is needed  see before and after pics

  more chairs, seemed at one time all i did was doing up chairs,

 As well as fashion i love to do up furniture, i pick up this piece for $10 its solid Rimu,  i stripped it and lightly sanded it, , lucky for me, really all that was wrong with it, was .....it was covered in cob webs and dust, i then i put furniture oil on it, and within an hour of starting it was in my bedroom as my make up table, which i love, as its small and doesn't take up to much space .

Very exciting having an industrial sewing machine, and now my sewing room is set up and ready to go, have huge pile of second hand clothes to remodel, so watch this space...

I had a top i loved because of the fabric, was so different, had it for years, but i have got older and slighly bigger, so took off the buttons and shanks, undid the darts from the back.....and now have a little light waist coat to go over tops

This is the start of my new blog... to start i will post a wool scarf i have made, its made but laying wool and ribbons, over special plastic then put plastic over the top , pin and sew across every inch and length ways, . once done, put scarf in bowl, pour over boiling water, which melts the special plastic , then cold water to mat the wool, , lay to dry, i have attached beads to the ends of mine , 

its not a large one but will give a bit of colour to a dark winter jacket ..