seriously secondhand

Mr B and I took a special trip across town to Junk & Disorderly yesterday. Mr B was picking up some war badges (he's a collector) and I was more than happy to tag along. What a worthwhile trip! There was lots and lots of retro and vintage loveliness to be viewed. It's a huge shop, so be prepared to be there a while as it does take a bit of time to see everything. I'll certainly be visiting the shop again when we're ready to furnish our bach sleepout.

vintage husqvarna 21e

I've always had an interest in vintage sewing machines and the Husqvarna 21e is the latest addition to my small collection. It's a beautifully crafted machine in an amazing retro mint green colour. Even if I never sew a stitch on it, I'm pleased to finally own one!

homemade bread

Nothing beats the yummy smell of freshly baked homemade bread, even if it is made via a breadmaker. I know exactly what the ingredients are. Best of all, my family enjoy every slice!

the early birds...

Early morning view from the deck of our bach

Meet Shaggy (a pied shag)

The local chooks meet Miss 6

Another wonderfully long weekend at the bach. This time we were visited by the early birds of the area. Firstly we had a young pied shag come walking up the steps and tapping on the glass sliding door with its beak. It appeared friendly and Miss 6 & I were able to walk it back to the beach about 120 metres from our deck. The shag happily walked along and dived in to the surf with great vigour then swam away.

Then the next day we were visited by the local chickens who have a lovely, cosy coop about 75 metres away and a very dutiful owner, yet they insist on coming down to see us for special tidbits and dusty sand baths under our deck.

tv nostalgia

I'm excited with the prospect of catching up with some good old tv nostalgia when the Jones channel launches on May 13th at 1pm here in NZ. It will be good to catch up with some my favourite  tv shows from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s - from Bonanza, Kojak, Wonder Woman, Happy Days... the list goes on! 

the bach sleepout

Before alterations start

Demolition begins

Just back from a long weekend at our bach. Mr B, Sydney and B jnr spent the best part of Friday getting stuck into our new project - renovating part of the garage into a sleepout (which is basically a room conversion into sleeping quarters). We're expecting the builders to start in a fortnights time. I'll keep you all up to date as work progresses.

lest we forget

 

 

 

Photos removed by request

THE ODE

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.

Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end, against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

"We will remember them"

k9 camouflage coat

Even though this is a quick and easy coat to sew. I somehow managed to stitch the collar to the tail end of the coat. It wasn't until I'd finished all the top stitching that I realised my mistake. What to do? at 1am in the morning, the last thing I wanted to do was start unpicking. Reasoning with myself that the dog would not care about a less than perfect garment, I cut the collar off and hey presto, a collarless camouflage coat for Fergus.

I know it's a crazy colour combination - somehow camouflage and bright orange go together well. The camo polar fleece is a seconds fabric with an irregular print. I'm sure Fergus will be too busy thinking how smart he looks to notice that the pattern isn't quite right! next up, I'll make another polar fleece coat with the collar in the right place this time and then a waterproof coat after that.

sewing for the dog

5 month old Fergus had his first visit to the groomers about a fortnight ago. He tolerated getting clipped very well. The photo shows him after his visit - looking very tidy and presentable. He looked like a walking woolly rug before. It's getting cooler and a lot wetter now in Auckland, so I think it's time I made him at least a couple of polar fleece coats. I'm using dog coat tutorial by Compulsive Craftiness. I'll post some pics of the little guy in his new coats when I'm done.

auckland fabric-a-brac 2013

back in July 2012 I wrote about my brilliant plan to do a major de-stash. Well I did achieve it - now I'm moving on to the "harder-to-part-with" fabrics that I just couldn't part with last time. So I'll be at the Auckland Fabric-a-brac event in Freemans Bay on March 9, again shamelessly selling off this part of my stash of fabrics and other sewing & craft related goodies. Come by, say hi, I'd love to meet you...

good morning 2013

Happy New Year!

taking a break

I'm taking a break from blogging ...

Happy Holidays to you all, stay safe this festive season. I'll be back in 2013.

renovations

Yesterday our home renovations began. Mr B started the demolition on the weekend to get things ready for the builders - so we've had to contend with daily doses of dust and grit. The builders then came through and stripped the rest of the upstairs area for the new staircase. Tomorrow they'll be here bright and early to put the top part of the staircase in. It's all very exciting as our new internal rejig means that we'll have a lot more space for family living.

In the meantime, my sewing time has ground to a halt. I have no sewing to show you. Miss 16 is using the sewing room to study for her final exams while we're renovating. Luckily it's away from the house, so she gets plenty of peace and quiet.

bloomin' lovely

It's time again to post about my favourite heritage roses in our back garden. I posted about them last year. They have really made a fine show this year and best of all they bathe the sewing room in a heady floral fragrance. It's just bloomin' lovely! Enjoy your day wherever you are...

auckland retro fair

I just read that the Auckland Retro fair is on this coming Sunday November 11th. It looks like there is a lot on offer - something to appeal to all retro fans. I'm looking forward to seeing loads of mid-century items all in one place and best of all, the whole lot is for sale too! I really shouldn't be thinking of buying anything... but there's no harm in a little looksie.

guy fawkes night

Like most Kiwi families, we celebrated Guy Fawkes night with an "at home" fireworks display. Most of our neighbourhood was lit up with noisy, colourful fireworks tonight. It was a great time and Miss 5 went to bed feeling terribly excited and exhausted.

stairs

Winder

Stairs

Remember my 'old' sewing room? it is no more. That room is being sacrificed as part of our house renovation rejig so we can install internal stairs to allow access between the two levels in our home. It's all looking very exciting, although I'm dreading the arrival of renovation mess when the builders get started.  

vegan 'cheese' cake

Vegan Cacao Marble 'cheese' cake 

Yesterday Mr B and I checked out the Little Bird Organics Unbakery cafe in Kingsland. There's been a lot of great reviews about the organic, unbaked food they offer. I was keen to try their 'cheese' cakes. I chose a slice each from the 2 vegan 'cheese' cakes in the cabinet.  Both were delicious. The cacao cake will not disappoint chocolate lovers. It is rich and creamy and a tiny slice of this will send you on a chocolate high. I cut this slice into 5 portions to share. My family voted this one as our favourite.

Vegan Berry 'cheese' cake

Next for tasting was the Berry 'cheese' cake which was light, refreshing and bursting with berry flavours. The cake base was lovely and complimented the berry filling nicely. I have a birthday coming up soon and this year I'm choosing a vegan 'cheese' cake to celebrate. Looks like I'm choosing the cacao flavour too.

Pink October

October is breast cancer awareness month. The best way to find breast cancer early is with a mammogram. Please encourage the women in your lives to get checked. You can read about my personal experience here.

This is my 2nd year of being clear. Early detection. Cure. Prevention. 

why selfish sewer?

2012 so far has been a year of changes. In June I was diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic (I pretty much suspected it but was in denial) and my doctor told me to make some serious lifestyle changes. In response to that, I made some very dramatic changes which you can read all about on my other blog. The most radical change of all was that from 1 July 2012, I became a vegan. I've achieved really great results health wise and also lost 27kg. 

This is what's triggered my inner selfish sewer!

flamingos

Pink flamingos on grey background - polysilk

Closeup - 20cm tall flamingos

Last weekend I took a trip to Spotlight to buy a metal zipper for the dresses that I blogged about last week. They didn't have any in stock. It would have been a wasted trip if I hadn't seen this really quirky flamingo print polysilk. I have no idea what I was thinking when I bought it. It's completely outside my comfort zone in terms of print size and colour. The flamingos are 20cm tall and stand close together. Anyway I bought 2 metres thinking that it would make a great tunic using Simplicity 7070 (which has been out of print for a few years now). I'm making view C (the sleeveless version) and of course shortening the pattern to tunic length. If I have enough left over, I'll make a self tie belt to suit.

inspiration found

I found the inspiration to finish the fabric samples top and here I am modelling it. I had to borrow an old belt and wear it loose for a slouchy look. I don't have any belts in my wardrobe. Hopefully I'll find the perfect belt at one of the op shops. The top looks better with a belt than on it's own. I like the 80s feel and it's reminiscent of what I wore as a uni student years ago.  

This is the fabric that I've chosen for making up the first of my New Look patterns. It is a good weight cotton sateen that was $5 a metre. I bought the last 2 metres, which is just enough to make the dress. I'm planning to attach an exposed metal zip to the back of this dress instead of the conventional zip. It should look good when finished.

new look patterns



Vintage Inspired Daywear

Suitable Separates

Summer Fun

I've lost quite a bit of weight this year (due to lifestyle changes - I'll write more about this soon) and gone down about 4 dress sizes. The result is that I'm now desperately in need of a new wardrobe. I'm making do with a few off the rack items but I want to celebrate by doing some selfish sewing. Most of the patterns in my stash are now way too big. Apart from my few tried n true patterns which I'll make smaller, all my other patterns are going out. So with this in mind, I popped into Spotlight Sylvia Park yesterday and kicked off my new selfish sewing with a selection of New Look patterns. I chose 6 patterns for less than $30. I'm starting off with making the 6910 dresses views A and B. I'm undecided about making the jacket yet. I'll see how the dresses look first.

lost inspiration top

I re-discovered some designer fabric samples that I'd put away sometime ago whilst waiting to be inspired. Well inspiration did come! I was limited in what I could make as the samples weren't too big and I only had enough to squeeze out a top. A simple, sleeveless pull on top. So I chose an easy, economical pattern which allowed a smock styled yoke and a slightly loose front and back.

Part way through sewing the top, I lost my inspiration when I realised that it looked like a maternity top. While I was pondering what to do to save this once inspired top from becoming a wadder - Miss 5 tells me that if I want to I can make the top into a twirly, whirly dress for her. I'm not ready to admit defeat yet - but if I do, you'll see this top reincarnated as a girls dress. Problem solved huh?

been places

The last 2 weeks (being the final school holiday break before Term 4 school) were filled with going places. First off, Misses 16, 5 and I travelled to Sydney. The photo above is of the view most days from our hotel room. This didn't matter much as we were out most of the time.

Then next we took a family trip to our bach on the Coromandel coast for some well deserved down time.
Despite the sometimes wintery weather we enjoyed lovely cosy nights, card games and lots of laughter. It was a good chance for the older 2 children to relax before final exams. Although I've been places for a couple of weeks, it is nice to settle back into a routine again.

tried n true skirts

the first garments to be produced from my new sewing room are these 3 skirts made from my favourite tried n true skirt pattern New Look 6433. All 3 skirts are made from denim/lycra fabric in varying shades of black. Why 3 skirts? I've been steadily losing weight since June 2012 - and these skirts are testament to my decreasing size. The skirts are A-line (shortened version of view D) with a narrow waistband which I really like. This is pattern makes up a very flattering skirt!