and finally - a dress.

With the decision to leave my sewing machine at home when we left on our six month caravan trip, came the fear that I would lose my passion for sewing. That I would forget how to make a pattern and whip up a dress. That when we got home I would find it easier to buy than to sew.

From memory, I missed Nina Bernina twice while we were away. Once when we were camped in Broome next to a family of little girls who danced out of their caravan every morning wearing little rainbow peasant dresses. And again when I picked up a bunch of old bits of fabric from a garage sale in Dongara.

When we got home I whipped up three me sized dresses out of desperation. Three dresses made from old sheets and curtains in my stash. Three dresses inspired by a photo in a Japanese pattern book and then made by tracing a dress I already had.

And after them, I walked away from the sewing machine and didn't go back.

And then the other day I went to check out the new yarn section in a quilting shop nearby. And while I was stroking the yarn, Miss Pepper it seems was pulling out fabrics for a new dress. Three fabrics; spots for the body, doggies for the sleeves and butterflies for the frilly bit.

I don't remember the last time I bought brand new fabric. A part of me resented the cost and the non-sustainability of the purchase. But a bigger part of me loved that she planned the project down to the last detail. That she took for granted that her mama could and would sew her a new dress. And to be honest, I adored her choices and loved the feel of the crisp, new bright fabrics.

So we bought them home and one dark and dreary late April afternoon, I made a pattern, cut the pieces and sewed a dress.

It was slow going. At times I doubted that all the bits would fit together. But I loved it. The whole process. And I even cut a pattern out of baking paper to be certain that I could make it all over again.

I've even had a few teensy-eensy thoughts about reopening my online store.

Maybe.

It's a shame I left the photo shoot so late that it was almost dark and all the edges were blurry.

But she loves it and asked to sleep in it, so I'm happy.

So how about you?
Do you prefer to use old/recycled materials?
Or do you get a thrill from the new?
Have you sewn anything lately?
Or are you working with wintery warm wool?
Are you having a wonderful weekend?
I hope so.

See ya later hot potata!
xx

Markers.

A while ago I was sitting on a train knitting when the woman across from me leaned over and asked me what the red and green plastic things in my knitting were. I told her they were my stitch markers. The red one told me when I was up to the start of the round and the green ones told me when the patterned bits started and finished.

She was amazed. She told me she was 73 and that she had been knitting socks practically her entire life and had never seen such a thing. She told me she was upset her own Mother, also a sock knitter, had died the year before and had never seen one either, because she would have loved them.

I asked how they knitted socks without stitch markers and she said they used scrap bits of yarn that they dangled in the appropriate spots between the stitches. But scrap bits of yarn are a pain she said because they always fall out and get tangled and you are forever losing your bit in the pattern and guessing and making mistakes and undoing it.

I rummaged through my bag and found a couple of the plastic stitch markers and handed them to her. She was thrilled and so very grateful.

For the next few days I told that story to anyone who listened. I loved the evolution of craft materials, I loved that she was so thrilled with a gift of a little bit of plastic and I loved the thought of her future sock knitting being so much easier.

I was a bit embarrassed though because my stitch markers at that time (pic above) were pretty ugly.

A few months after the train story, I was having a discussion on Ravelry with Jen when she offered to send me some of her gorgeous stitch markers. Yes please!

They arrived today (pics one and three) and as well as making my knitting look and feel a bit special, it also kind of brings this stitch marker story full circle. Nice.

Thanks Jen! x

And today I cut into my vintage marimekko and made some curtains for the caravan bunk beds.

I think this means I am officially not a hoarder any more.

See ya. x

Land ahoy!

This is me at school pick up time today.

I was wearing my current winter school Mum uniform (as opposed to my farmer girl and Melbourne city girl uniforms). My Hunter boots, stripey leggings, a skirt, jumper, scarf and that's my puffy jacket on the ground over there.

Earlier this morning I had seen myself in a shop window wearing the same thing but a black skirt and thought; How boring! You need a bit of colour to brighten up your day Miss Kate!

So I came home and instead of hanging out the washing or soaking the beans for dinner, I made myself a red skirt.

It has one zipper, three layers, four darts, no unflattering elastic, a lined waist band and it is red! I didn't use a pattern but sort of took it off and on and made adjustments along the way.

If you ever see a dress making dummy that needs a loving home, please let me know.

And it twirls and whirls like the best skirts do! This afternoon Miss Jazzy told me to stop twirling though as I was embarrassing her.

I think I need one in every colour.

Ok, stitched, worn, twirled, blogged, off to finish the beans for tacos.

Do you wear the same thing most days? Do you have a uniform? A theme? What are you having for dinner tonight?

Bye bye. X

Thanks for the pic Meg. x

I'm loving...

I didn't press publish on the last post I wrote for this blog. It was a long whingy post about how I felt like I was drowning in my own chaos. About how sick I was of feeling late, messy, lost, like I was going to explode, full, overwhelmed and out of control.

I didn't press publish on that post because I wrote it in the middle of that chaos and I couldn't think straight any more and I couldn't trust how I was feeling or if any of my words even made sense.

And then on top of all that I had to hurry up and pack us all up for a visit to Melbourne.

So I left it and we went to Melbourne for 24 hours and now we are back and I feel a bit different. Like having a break from here made me realise how much I love it. The fact that Indi and Jazzy are at friends' houses and there is a bit of quiet and calm doesn't hurt either.

On our return, after unpacking the car, these were the first 10 things that reminded me of how much I love it here.

I do love sewing with vintage florals. This is The Little Blue Flower Dress. A dress I made last weekend. Sewing little dresses with vintage table clothes and sheets makes me happy and calms me down and gives me peace. Its in my shop.

I love living on an organic fruit and veg farm and having the freshest of the Autumn harvest to play with in the kitchen and for the girls to help them selves to.

I love getting new yarn in the mail from a Ravelry destash. This lot will become some sort of scoodie for Miss Jazzy to wear to school.

I love that farmer Boy of mine. Love, love, love, love.

I love having a toasty warm house too.

I love the look of the weekend's garage sale fabric stash drying and airing out on the line. Oh the possibilities.

I love my gang. Its a shame this is the only photo of us country mice all scrubbed up last night for dinner.

I don't love that this dress is still in my house. The birthday girl's party was last Sunday but I got so lost on the way there and drove for miles and miles and miles and then had to turn back when I realised I was completely and totally lost and the red petrol light had been on for ages, I had no mobile reception and I hadn't seen a car or a house for ages. Everyone in the car was crying by that stage.

I do love how Miss Pepper designed the dress for the present though. She chose all the fabrics, sat on my knee while I sewed most of it and then wrapped it up and told me her friend was going to love it. That part's cool.

And I love that I am going to conquer my fears and sew dresses from stretchy knits with these patterns. I love Miss Jazzy's little sketchy characters I keep discovering around the place and I LOVE dreaming, designing and planning our caravan adventure. Farmer Bren has a count down to the big departure on his ipad. Eeeeeeeep can't wait.

What are a couple of things making you smile right now?

See ya. x

Shallow.

I had a bit of an emotionally full on morning this morning.

Well, actually this story begins when a friend of mine was having an emotionally full on morning this morning. My part of it came when I got her baby to look after for a couple of hours.

Usually these days when I am lucky enough to hold someone else's baby it involves lots of sitting around and cuddling and drinking tea. Not this time though. This time we were at bush kinder and so there was lots of walking and sitting and climbing and dancing.

Miss Pepper didn't mind sharing me at all. In fact watching how independant and grown up my baby is was an enormous emotional moment in itself.

And then there was this baby. There was the juggling of my bags, the ache in my shoulder after a while, the entertaining her and letting her pull at me and chew my hair, the smell of her...you get the picture. It was all so familiar and delicious and yet for me it is all gone.

Eventually her Mama came to take her off me. Eventually I let go. And then, thank goodness, Miss Pepper came and grabbed my hand and we skipped up the road.

Are you ok? My Farmer Boy asked me at lunch when I told him of my morning. I think I probably could have crumbled into a messy heap right now I replied, but I have just picked up two packages from the post office this morning and so I'm ok.

I think I'm a bit shallow like that.

Package one was crammed full of Michelle's fabric scraps. Eeeeeeep!!! Lucky me and thank you so much Michelle. One woman's scraps are definitely another woman's treasures.

I realised that I know nothing about fabric though when Michelle wrote that she is particularly excited to see what I am going to make with the voile. Hmmmm which one exactly is the voile?? I must say that I'm particularly excited to have some of the denim apple fabric Michelle once made herself a gorgeous skirt out of.

Package two was three bundles of wool from Kate. Some delicious greeny wool she dyed up for me and some of her gorgeous blue sock wool. Thanks Kate, I love, love, love them.

So you see I'm ok. I have gorgeous new bits and pieces to play with, the sun is out, my washing is drying on the line and my grape jelly is bubbling away on the stove.

Deep breath...

Ciao, ciao. XX

Purse.

Hey look I made a purse!

It was a test of Nikki's fab new pattern.

I think it was probably the first real structured thing I have ever sewn. It was such fun!

The pattern was easy peasy to follow and so exciting as it came together really quickly and looks so professional. The only problem I had was identifying all the different wadding, interfacing and villeins and then working out which side was the adhesive side of each, but that's just me and my inexperience.

The red floral fabric I used came from a church garage sale last year. I was the only customer there at the time and the ladies were fussing over me telling me that no one sews anymore and how excited they were to see the fabrics I bought walking down the street one day. It didn't take them long to recognise me as the girl who bought Tom and Lois's place. And then there was a whole discussion of what we are doing and what ever happened to them. I like small towns.

I've had a few practices to see how many of my necessities I can jam into my new purse and as you can see, I can fit a tape measure, my phone, some moisturiser/sun screen and my knitting. Its a big change from all the crap I usually carry around. I kinda like it.

My Farmer Boy thinks it looks like one of those old fashioned ice packs they had in the movies.

Carrying it makes me feel a bit fancy. Like I need to go to a garden party or something.

Funny that the only party I attended this weekend was a nine year old boy's. The activities were wooden spoon carving, Tarzan rope swinging, cross bow shooting, bush food foraging and bonfire lighting with flint. My girls had a ball. It was very different to the fairy, pop-star, make-up, cup cake type parties we have here but they got right into it. I left my new purse at home though.

I highly recommend Nikki's new purse pattern. If I can make it, you certainly can.

I do hope you've had a lovely weekend.

And I hope the week to come is fabulous.

See ya. XX

Dreaming.

I can't be bothered being a mother today. I'm tired of telling them not to pick up the puppies by their necks or legs, not to bring sand inside, to be nice to each other, to wait a sec, to put their plates in the sink, to clean this up before they pull that out, that they can't possibly be hungry again, that clothes aren't dress ups..........

I want to play with this pile of gorgeousness instead.

The book I won in Tracy's wonderful giveaway. The gorgeous skein of her hand spun that she so generously included and is begging to be knitted into a beanie. And the pile of fats for sun-hats that we chose yesterday after a wonderful crafty girls picnic in Ballarat with Andi, her kids and her parents (who said I look the same as I did last time they saw me 20 years ago!!) and with Jodie, Rachel and Maya, Lizzie and Annie.

For some reason my idyllic picture of sitting on the sun lounge with my knitting and an iced drink always ends in me being covered in sand from their 'cups of tea' and having to get up a hundred time to fetch more water.

Oh well, they'll all be asleep in about ten hours.

Have a great day!

One hour to go.

There is one hour to go until the start of Jazzy's Day Spa party.

She's already all frocked up in the birthday dress I made her. It was the first time in about a year that I sewed with new fabric and I must say I really enjoyed the boldness of the colours and the crispness of the cotton.

I think we've done less preparation for this party than for any other we've ever held, but I think we've done everything on the list on the pantry door.

There's a pile of slippers near the front door for all the guests to wear.

Fancy coloured nail polish to decorate their fingers and toes after they have finished soaking them in bubbly water.

There are hair bands to keep their hair out of the way while the face masks are applied and piles of towels for cleaning up.

Honey and yogurt and avocado face masks are being mixed.

The making table is full of sparkles and stickers and mirrors, ready to decorate the little wooden jewellery boxes.

There are fancy glasses to be filled with bubbles for sipping.

And a crazy, over excited seven year old that keeps on asking when her party is going to start, when is her party going to start, when is her party going to start.

Happy Sunday y'all.

@ my house.

Right now at my house there are a zillion things I should be doing rather than writing this blog but today I don't care. Today I've chucked the shoulds out the window. Yesterday Miss Pepper started to get really sick. Last night nobody slept. Today she's been crying non stop and as a result we are walking around in the same sort of fog as if there were a new born in the house.

Blah!

Right now at my house I should be making dinner, instead I am holding my baby on my lap while I write this.

Bren is working somewhere and Indi and Jazzy are outside doing the photo shoot for their glamour mag.

Apparently when they are finished they'll 'fiddle with photos on the computer, write some text and print the mag.' Wow!

At my house today this pile of gorgeousness has been taunting me all day. I pulled them together last night intending to sew them into some more jumping dresses today but instead they are still sitting untouched.

Maybe tomorrow.

Maybe tonight we'll sleep.

Hopefully.

I hope things are a bit more happy and healthy at your house today.

Love Kate X

Knit, knit, knitting.

Well hello there!

How are you?

I hope you are having a fabulous weekend.

We went to the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show yesterday but I'm afraid I have nothing to show you from there. You see I was so overwhelmed by the colours and plies and blends and itchiness and fluffiness and treatments and animals and washabilities of all the wool that I just couldn't make a decision. Instead I decided to stick with something I knew and head to Bendigo Woollen Mills afterwards. Only by the time we got there it was 3.10pm and on Saturdays they close at 3pm. Bum! Looks like its mail order for me this time.

So as you can see I've been knit, knit, knitting away at my second knitted garment, a cardi for Miss Pepper.

I think its finally getting somewhere but let me tell you, I think I am way out of my depth. This day last year I was practicing my newly found crochet skills by hooking washers and flowers. Small, manageable, learner projects.

Who knows why I skipped that stage with knitting and went straight for a project that included eyelet lace, five different sections that had to be knitted separately and then joined, decreasing, increasing, YO's, a seed stitch band and all on circular needles.

I have knitted and undone each section more times than I care to remember and I am sure there are lots of mistakes to the trained eye but for some reason I've stuck with it and now that I'm knitting the yoke, I'm kind of glad I did.

Even though Bren says it looks a bit like a skinned rabbit.

Hopefully I'll have something finished to show you by the end of the week.

And lastly, an enormous thank you to the gorgeous Candace who sent me this wonderful selection of fabric. After a few months of mail going missing, its a relief to have it all sorted out and this gorgeousness in my hot little hands. Hooray!

We're off to collect the eggs before the rain.

Have fun out there.

Third dress.

Using some fabric I'd found at a junk shop in town, I had a third try at sewing up the McCall's 8818 dress pattern.

I've worn it all week with a cardi, jeans and boots.

Its when the cardi comes off that the problems are obvious.

For some reason I just can't get the neckline right.

I've made this same pattern three times now and have had the same wrinkly, gathered chest issue each time.

I had to cut one of the back panels upside down as I ran out of the fabric.

I wore this dress down the street the other day and a woman stopped me to tell me that my dress fabric had been her tablecloth. My immediate thought was that this is definitely one of the down sides of living in such a small town, until she told me that she was so excited by what I had made that she was going to go home and go through her linens to see if she had any more for me. Yay!

As for the dress pattern, I'm not sure what to do.

I probably should have a few dressmaking lessons.

I've got to say though, that I am a bit hooked on making clothes for myself.

I hope wherever you are that you are having a lovely weekend.