tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84812488569191489202024-03-14T08:09:24.161+00:00mama elf's hutMama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.comBlogger192125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-11439443993608918422015-08-16T22:02:00.001+01:002015-08-16T22:02:16.109+01:00Freemotion embroidery birdies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I went to Josie's Funky Needlework evening class. Just to make clear, this is an informal class, where you can get guidance or just enjoy the company and do your own thing. I had never, ever managed to do freemotion embroidery with my machine. I think I first bought a presser foot that was wrong and then just could not figure how to install the correct one.<br />
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The class then seemed a good thing to do as I could ask Josie for help. I managed to install the foot, but the stitching did not really go anywhere. After Josie had had a play with it and a few beard stroking moments, she had to admit that she did not know what on earth was going on. I was happy with that too. It just meant that it was not only me who could not do it. I don't know how I worked it out, but I did in the end and got to do my first "picture".<br />
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Now, if you start with this first time and you need to play around, what would you draw. A flower? A cloud? Something pretty basic, I guess. At this point something in my brain OBVIOUSLY short circuited and I decided too draw a bird. Not a simplified, folksy bird, but a birdy bird. See above. I was quite pleased as it was my first attempt. I made a couple more and am now in the process of using them for a project, which I will show later, when it is finished.<br />
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It was quite good fun, when I got going. I did draw the birdies with indelible pen first and then followed those lines as best as I could. I like the feeling of "line drawing" the freemotion sewing gives for the embroidery. Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-37674944273563474082015-08-10T16:13:00.002+01:002015-08-10T16:37:51.303+01:00Harvesting the goodies from our allotmentTa-dah! Here are the pictures from the allotment. I am already apologising for the amount, but I want to keep some sort of record of how far the things have come at this point of the summer.<br />
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I am showing the allotment from the far end going towards the gate.<br />
Here are my beetroot and cabbage/kale beds with nasturtium mingling with them.<br />
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Next to them are the pea cage (oh dear, the cage!) and runner beans on their teepee. </div>
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The following bed is a narrow one holding our bean fence. There are some beans, but they got rather miffed by the cold start in the spring and I won't have a bumper crop like the last year. I hope the runner beans will make up for this though.<br />
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Just in the front are some courgettes and very overgrown red lettuce. That has now been removed. My courgettes were struggling too in the beginning and when a friend offered some extras, I took them. This was a mistake as her "courgettes" are the UFO pumpkins! They are lovely too, but I will have rather many of them.<br />
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On the other side of the fence I planted some yellow-orange-maroon coloured flowers to beautify my patch. What do you think?<br />
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The beds on this side of the fence have some shallots and leeks and the bed beyond it was planted with garlic, but has planted again with some bush variety of borlotti beans (fingers crossed) and more beetrooot and some lettuce.<br />
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Here is a closer look at the flowers<br />
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Just another view, this time towards the tunnel. The big scraggly things against the fence are our artichokes. Beyond the trolley is our potato bed. The tops have been cut down following the blight yellowing them overnight. As they were earlies, no harm done. We have the potatoes in the ground and will keep eating them.<br />
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In the front of the tunnel is an odd mummy. Look:<br />
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This is how I grow carrots. I don't sow at all in the spring when the fly is rife, but a bit later and even then I protect them with fleece. The container is a stylish addition; an old tumble drier drum.<br />
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The view from the tunnel door. I have since tied the tomato canes up and cut the growing tips, so we are now starting to get some tomatoes.<br />
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Cucumbers have been producing for a while already. Here is one of the long ones:<br />
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I have chillies growing in growbags as well as peppers. I am contemplating on keeping one of the chillies over winter on the window sill in our house. <br />
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The grape vine has grown LOADs this summer and I have trained it along the side wall and over the arch of the tunnel.<br />
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There are even some grapes and next year I will be even better at leaving only a few and in right places.<br />
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The bit between the potting shed/green house and the tunnel is taken up by my salad bed. At this point I have some spinach, which seems to be growing without bolting. (We are past the hot summer months and the days are shorter)<br />
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Otherwise there are the currant bushes and the strawberry field and the asparagus. Oh, the asparagus. I let it be this year and hope to harvest the coming year. All the feathery fern like growth is asparagus.<br />
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Behind the hut is the cutting garden. Here is the perennial sweet pea taking over the world.<br />
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The flowers are a tad smaller than the annual sweet peas, and rounder. They do last well as cut flowers and there are lots of them.<br />
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I'll show more of the flowers another time, here is the view round the corner though. I can see that it is hard to see in these pictures how many flowers there actually are.<br />
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Inside the hut I have more tomatoes (silly, not to be repeated next year), peppers and aubergines.<br />
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On the shelf and also on the bench is basil.<br />
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We have only one rule about growing basil in our family and that is that there can never be too much basil!<br />
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I tried to grow cucamelons this year. I have them also in the tunnel, but they seem to be doing better here. These are very small beginnings of the fruit.<br />
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I was down with gastroenteritis for a week and that has put me behind both with house keeping and gardening. Luckily it is Elf husband's holiday now, so I can sneak out in the morning after six o'clock and garden for an hour or two. It all helps. I also attempt to harvest something every morning, so I hopefully won't need to panic later on. Yesterday I brought in my second batch of mint and lavender harvest. I rigged a pin on kitchen shelf brackets and dry them there.<br />
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Today I cut a big bunch of chives, which I chopped and put into the freezer. I also brought the first lot of my beetroot harvest in.<br />
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Note to self: this is slightly too much to fit into my 10l pot. Next time slightly less, please. I filled ten jars with these. My neighbour invited me to take some of his because his wife cannot stand the smell of beetroot cooking. He added with a wistful look that he grows them for giving away and then hopes that he might get a jar of something. He will certainly get several jars from me.<br />
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I love this time of the year, when we need very little from the shops. It feels also very satisfying conserving the produce, ready to eat during the winter. <br />
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Have you harvested anything? Harvest is also cutting herbs from a pot on your window sill!Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-69295536696012570872015-08-09T20:46:00.001+01:002015-08-09T20:46:06.432+01:00Order in fabrics and flowers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I like order. I like systems for keeping order. For me the orderly things are beautiful, but that is not why I like it. OK, maybe 5%, but the rest is about easily finding things and easily <i>putting away </i>what I have used. I ran into Marie Kondo and her Konmari type of tidying on several blogs. I have not read the book and although I have decided to read it just to see if there might be more useful stuff for me, I think I have already extracted the best bit for my purposes: The way she folds and stores clothes, towels and in my case now fabrics, is genius. At the same time it is so logical that I wonder why I have not thought about it before.<br />
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Basically she has everything stored vertically in draws or boxes. You see everything at a glance and it is easy to extract what you need without disturbing the rest and equally easy to put it back.<br />
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My coloured cottons have lived in old grocer's mushroom boxes since we moved. The colours have been sorted, but I had them stacked in piles inside the boxes. This resulted in a mess after couple of rounds of sewing. Getting to a certain piece of fabric always meant disturbing the whole pile. <br />
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These still live where they were before, but my system is improved vastly, because I can seewhat I have. My neutral cottons are in a different place, more about those later.<br />
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I also have couple of boxes filled with knit fabrics for doll making.<br />
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My husband and son claim that I am OCD with my wish to have order and this might come close...at least borderline. I visited Josie's shop&studio and needed a small scrap of certain colour. She directed me to her scrap bags, which were in colour families. I edit my scraps about yearly and while I was at it I thought that Josie's system would make it easier for me to find that certain scrap I am after.<br />
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Did I tell you I have a cutting garden on our allotment? I am enjoying having pretty flowers in the house and suprising my friends with them. Here is my living room bouquet today:<br />
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Do you have ways of keeping your sewing/craft supplies in good order? Leave a link if you have blogged abut this, because I LOVE to see other people's work spaces and ways of organising their supplies. Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-47201391120765471562015-08-05T08:45:00.002+01:002015-08-05T08:45:35.876+01:00Messenger BagI needed a small, over the shoulder bag, which could hold my purse, phone, keys and folded fabric shopping bag. I had some oilcloth, traditional, real, oily, oilcloth and bag hardware, so I made this:<br />
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I had also visited a leather heaven in Newcastle, so I had scraps of leather to use. The result is not tidiest and there are several things I will do differently next time.<br />
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I will definitely put the zip on the top and not try to hide it. The idea was good, but to look neat it needs a magnetic close and that becomes too fiddly. I installed the plastic snap after I had used the bag for a while, but it doesn't have the gumption to keep it together. I am talking about the main zip here, not the front pocket one you can see in the picture above.<br />
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I will also make sure that I have good quality zips to use. These were bought as a job lot, cheap and cheery ones. I think in hindsight one should never try to economize with zips.<br />
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I love the lining I used. I also made a divider for the main pocket in addition to a little pocket. The divider was waste of effort, it would have been better to add a flat outside pocket. The little pocket inside is good though.<br />
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Do you have a good purse/phone/keys bag? Which features make it good? I am always eager to refine the functionality of the bags I make and any input is helpful.Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-17428030455384237732015-08-03T14:45:00.000+01:002015-08-03T14:45:04.164+01:00Laptop Bag<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My sister-in-law asked for a colourful laptop bag for her birthday. I obliged and when Elf husband saw the result he commented that the bag indeed was so colorful and bright that it almost hurt his eyes! This gift did not go without mishap...I slightly underestimated the need of seam allowances, so it was too small for the laptop it was intended for. Oh the shame...<br />
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This was to be a bag where she just slipped her laptop into, when not in use, rather than for transporting it.<br />
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The pocket is for the charger.<br />
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Sorry about vomiting pictures...not awfully lot to say about this project otherwise.Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-69380693927401765312015-08-02T14:26:00.001+01:002015-08-02T14:26:08.919+01:00Here I am, computer restored and ready for show and tell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Firstly BIG APOLOGIES for those who have commented, I have been truly absent and will now reply. Thank you for taking time to comment. <br />
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I have had a great big blogging hiatus, partly because our allotment took all my free time in the spring and then my computer stopped running the picture editing programme I am using. Hmph! It is now fixed thanks to Elf Husband and I can blog again. I have lots of things to show you all and since everything is slightly wonky in this end what you get and when will be a bit random. The picture above is from the one and only truly warm week we had in the beginning of July. I had to take my bird's nest hat from Tanzania in use while gardening.<br />
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In the allotment news I used much of the spring building up the allotment and getting rid of the rubbish. I gave a lick of wood preservative for the shed, so it also matched the greenhouse attached to it. <br />
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We built lids for our coldframe, which was there when we took over the allotment, but obviously not much use without the lids. I now have a whole new appreciation for the coldframe and am <br />
SO grateful that I have one. I use it beyond the normal season to grow constant flow of salad seedlings, extra peas and root veggies.<br />
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All the pictures are at least one month old, so what you see here is far bigger now. The picture above is from June. The herb bed looked like this a month ago:<br />
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You see how the French tarragon has taken off and is for the world domination. It came from a friend's garden via our old garden and is according to my friend in better shape than the mother plant. In the other end is my mint collection and in the left bottom corner my new chives, which I grew from seed. The greens in front of the blue box is oregano, also raised from seed and in the back thyme is flowering.<br />
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The concrete path marks the separation of my neighbour's and our allotment. I have planted scented plants along the path, here it is chamomile. In the picture is part of our strawberry plot and a couple of ferny whisks of asparagus. The black currant bushes on this side of the tunnel were heavy with berries and Elf Son and I harvested about 6 litres of berries this week. They are still young bushes, so I assume that in coming years I will get more.<br />
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on the other side of the tunnel lavender takes over:<br />
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The tunnel looked like this a month ago. We had a slow start in the spring and especially cucurbits suffered and died as I moved them into the tunnel far too early. We are normally past night frosts after second week in May, but had some really chilly biting nights this June. We are getting both tomatoes and cucumbers, but slightly later than anticipated. I am not sure that our peppers and chillies make it this year, but so much depends on the autumn. A warm, mild autumn can prolong growing season here immensely.<br />
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I like making my work as easy as is possible ans thus make use of companion planting. I always plant my cabbages and kales with nasturtiums. When I have had kales without their pretty flower companion they don't seem to thrive as well. It also keeps weeds down.<br />
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This is how kale bed looked in June:<br />
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...and this is a shot of the abundance now:<br />
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I had a great "Monty Don" moment when I used twigs to support the pea plants in the spring. They looked nice and kept pigeons from pecking the pea shoots.<br />
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Great, I thought, I've done it and it was easy. After a few weeks my peas started to look a bit sad with holes in them. I thought that flea beetles had had their fill and took it easy. Certainly the mini critters could not touch that size of plants I assumed as they were well under way. Unfortunately the peas did not seem to grow, actually they were shrinking! Look:<br />
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The day came when I realised what was going on; sparrows, unlike the pigeons, don't think twigs as any hindrance. They rejoiced my arrangement of feeding platforms to the delicious pea shoot buffet.<br />
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I don't like netting any of my plants if I can avoid it. I happily share our strawberries with the birds as long as they leave some for us. (Although the slugs annoy me carving the strawberries into inedible baubles. I hope that the birds take some of them too!) I did end up with a huge pea cage as otherwise there would not have been a single pea to eat. This again is from May, the cage is now choc-a-block with peas. The tepee supports runner beans. <br />
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I will come back with new pictures soon. I think I stopped taking pictures as I could not do anything with them.<br />
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I will also write what I have been doing since the garden went into its mid-summer hiatus, you know when everything has been planted and there is very little to harvest. We have now entered the harvest season, so writing will be in between the bottling and freezing and <i>eating, hmmm, eating </i>all the lovely vegetables.<br />
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In addition to the edibles, I made a cutting garden in the shed end of the allotment and am now enjoying fresh flowers in the house and binding and giving bouquets to my friends. Bliss! You can see the beginnings in the shed picture. An early morning picture from July:<br />
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The wilderness against the wall is perennial sweet peas. They are in full bloom now, I promise to show!<br />
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If you have pictures and stories of your garden, leave a link in comments. I love to see other people's gardens both in real life and on the net.Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-40190271017121301432015-03-07T10:04:00.000+00:002015-03-07T10:12:32.667+00:00Black and White<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This year's twin niece birthday has just been. At too late point of the last month did I realise that the day was near and hurried to ask my sister-in-law to make enquires of what the young ladies might wish to have. R wanted to have two new cushion covers for her new black and white room to be. L wanted to have a nice cloth covered notebook. I had a bit of poppy fabric left from my previous poppy dress, which was fine, but otherwise I had to pop into Funky Needlework Studios to get some black and white stuff. This was no hassle, the owner Josie is extremely nice and one can browse to all of one's heart's content without feeling a nuisance.<br />
R had mentioned that a bit of colour was ok, so I chose to lift the monochrome scheme with an orange zip. You can also see that the poppy cushion's back has a different fabric, a chance to change the looks on the bed!<br />
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L's diary is covered in the same fabrics<br />
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Inside I made a title page, taking a punt, as I had forgotten to ask what she intended too use the notebook for. (Luckily my guess was correct)<br />
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Ooh...that glue splot totally distracts me. it wasn't as visible in reality. I also added some nice coloured fineliners in the front pocket<br />
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And voilá, two pressies done. I am not going to entertain you how much blood, sweat and tears went into those cushion covers, which in theory should have been a walk in a park...I got to a point where I had to admit that I need a new seam ripper tool, mine is SO blunt after this project.<br />
Any interesting/blood thirsty/sweat inducing projects your way?<br />
Today I just say: "Happy Unbirthday L&R!" Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-31362286706195320802015-03-06T08:26:00.002+00:002015-03-06T08:26:47.167+00:00Poppy Dress<br />
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In the middle of the winter I take time to sew my summer clothes. Inspired? Tempting the spring this way? No, just of practical reasons. This is the time of the year when I can arrange to have time to sew. In the spring and summer I either have to take care of my allotment and yard or even when I don't have to, I want to be outside if the weather is good. <br />
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I was wearing two of my tunic dresses with slightly shame faced manner last summer. Both of them are now deemed to become my gardening clothes -in the garden the visible patching of rips, faded fabric and stains don't matter. When they start to fall off my body or having holes too big to mend, I'll make them to rags for my kitchen.<br />
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This is my first dress for addressing the lack of garments for the summer. It is the trusted pattern I have used many times and it still works beautifully. I have made the dress with short sleeves before, but prefer it now in its smock incarnation. It means that I can change the undergarment of the dress changing also how it looks and can go a bit longer without washing it.<br />
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The fabric is Marimekko "Poppy" and was given to me. I actually had it already for the last summer, but didn't get around to sew it.<br />
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Are you planning your summer wardrobe as yet? (I am not, I just replace the things I know I have worn out).Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-29742868345218395512015-03-04T14:27:00.004+00:002015-03-04T14:35:46.233+00:00Winter Allotment<i>Warning: this post contains ugly pictures...allotment under construction. </i><br />
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The weather is still decidedly wintry here in Northern England. We had a couple of amazingly mild weeks in the beginning of February, but since then it's been the icy winds from the North pole. During those nice weather weeks I burnt weeds on my patch.<br />
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It took me ages to get the fire going at the rate that was enough to destroy semi moist weeds, the dry ones went into flames faster than I could feed the fire. See, there is a rule that the fire should be small, but if the fire is small, then it is difficult to burn the weeds. I managed it, but did come home stinking of smoke and hair full of soot. I think I have sussed it out now...<br />
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This time of the year the allotment wields just a bit of winter veg. I have already lifted most of the root vegetables, but still have some kales like Nero di Toscana and the curly one:<br />
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Although I have lived here a good while now, I am still full of wonder that is winter growing. I can harvest in the middle of the winter?!?!? For someone who grew up with winters in frost and snow this is absolutely amazing. This is my harvest of purple sprouting broccoli and carrots from yesterday:<br />
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I don't grow carrots during the summer for autumn harvest as the allotments are riddled with carrot flies. You have to be covering them up and weeding under a fleece etc to have a success. I sow my carrots in the late summer to have some carrots for Christmas and beyond. I might have a go doing them in the polytunnel next winter.<br />
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The tunnel has winter greens, salad leaves, pak-choi, parsley and coriander. We haven't needed to buy any green salads this winter, nor have we bought green herbs. In addition of what is growing here, we froze some of our herb harvest from the summer. Financially that is probably where the savings are biggest; herbs and winter salads.<br />
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Outside I have continued building the beds, I might have shown you pictures of this before, but here goes; garlic bed (the garlic is showing now!) and the bean fence.<br />
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The preparation for the runner beans. They can take the rotting compost dug deep under where they grow. It gives them extra moisture and heat. Same goes for the cucurbit family.<br />
I will prep positions where they are to grow shortly.<br />
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In the picture above you see a fence behind my compost bins. Behind the fence there is five more metres of allotment. Unfortunately some of the previous occupiers have piled a lot stuff there. There is organic matter, which doesn't bother me, I can sieve it, burn it, re-distribute it in my allotment. It is the rubbish, that is buried there as well, that annoys me. And the tree/bush. It grows on the high ground and makes this end of the allotment shady. I have asked the society and it is Ok to take it down. I will sort out that pile of rubbish, but not just yet. Why? There was a similar problem in the other end, although no organic matter...just plastic, rusty metal, broken glass, broken glass, broken glass. I have been tidying that up last year and during this winter and this is what has come out. (Only a fraction of the whole, lots of it has been carted to the dump already):</div>
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I really don't understand how anyone would do this. The plant bed on the right is one of the areas and I cleared that length last summer. The bed behind has just been cleared and we planted a damson tree in the corner.</div>
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The amount of broken glass is totally surreal. I think that the occupiers have collected glass panes to make a green house and then not got around to do it and the glass has got broken. There are still whole panes here as well. I will need to think how to get rid of the big ones.<br />
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I can make a mess too. I have been piling wood and other useful stuff into my coldframe while I am working around it to stop all the weeds growing. Just to remind myself about this stage of the construction:<br />
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I hope to take some more pictures now that I have even more bits sorted. The coming weekend should be mild here, so I hope to get working again. Are you still under snow or is your garden maybe in full production on the other side of the equator?Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-20862314622351600692015-02-03T12:33:00.000+00:002015-02-03T12:33:15.624+00:00Gardening Diary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3cyxwtE6N9xzQKKWXeELq5o8jd4WEQJeoBETbFAXypS1tb9Ln00vUXllzxX53nbAVDpvL-fUSknmtH2fgrKYbWx4A_PUuxgVF9aWmGDyogQcvKPlCq_loYAb4QlefnxuKdUg2kny3B5A/s1600/gdiary3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3cyxwtE6N9xzQKKWXeELq5o8jd4WEQJeoBETbFAXypS1tb9Ln00vUXllzxX53nbAVDpvL-fUSknmtH2fgrKYbWx4A_PUuxgVF9aWmGDyogQcvKPlCq_loYAb4QlefnxuKdUg2kny3B5A/s1600/gdiary3.jpg" height="640" width="474" /></a></div>
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I try to keep gardening diary, but fail often miserably. I do manage to write down the first spring sowings and have made a plan last autumn how I want to plant this year's garden. I do practice crop rotation, so it is important to make a note of the planting, because it is oh so easy to forget where the different plants were. Above is my diary in its new jacket. I ended with IKEA waterproof cloth, as I know that I will handle this book with dirty hands, which is in clear evidence in the picture below.<br />
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It looked like this to start with<br />
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One of those white jobs bought as a lot of five. I chose not to glue the cover this time, but made pocket ends.<br />
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I thought that the pocket outside could hold a pencil and a seed packet or such. Ehm...that seam looks <i>awful! </i>I just could not be bothered to do it again as it is purely decoration, the binding. Sometimes I just let be as is and that's ok as well.<br />
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I am not a real green thumbed gardener as I have not perused all the seed catalogues as yet...I will soon though and I will consult both my box of seeds and the notes of what I have planned to plant. I try to get something new to try for each year, although the newness might be just another variety of a vegetable or flower I am already familiar with. A certain new thing I want to grow this year is a cucamelon. <br />
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Do you have gardening plans as yet? Will you try something new?Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-14555027622904418542015-02-01T18:26:00.001+00:002015-02-01T19:02:40.906+00:00Green things<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I had the luck to get some pretty fabrics from my very local quilting studio. The talented owner Josie runs classes and sells also fabrics. She is online as well <a href="http://www.funkyneedlework.co.uk/" target="_blank">here</a> and is situated so close to my front door that I don't even need a jacket to go and visit. Luckily the studio is not open daily, it is tempting enough as it is. Josie had two day January sales and I went to see if there was anything I could see immediate use for. Actually I was after a dress fabric, but alas, did not find one. The fabric above came home and I am now thinking what I am going to make out of it.<br />
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Similar colours in this fabric, which I decided to use as a table cloth. I had a trial run, the cloth unhemmed, just to see how I liked it. I did like it and as it was a tad short, I made a border out of some hand dyed batik from Africa. I even did the border in double , so no raw seams are visible and the cloth stays put a bit better with more weight around the edges.<br />
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Another green craft; a bookmark. Very simple, a leather thong with some big wooden beads. I have used it a lot and might just make another, as I always have more than one book on the go.<br />
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Apart from sewing in green, I have been busy supporting the local Green Party. I might not agree on every policy the Greens have, but their ethics and most of the policies coincide with my personal ethics and wishes. I cannot see how the mankind will survive if we don't make quite many drastic changes on how we live on this planet. (And that is just looking at some pretty recent reports on fauna/flora/climate changes we have caused). The changes need to be both individual, local, national and international. I also like the fact that they don't campaign by rubbishing others, but by telling how they would like to do things.<br />
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You could see what policies/parties align with your thinking <a href="http://voteforpolicies.org.uk/" target="_blank">here</a>. "Vote for policies, not for personalities" online questionnaire is a great tool to narrow down the party/parties you might want to have a closer look at preparing yourself for the voting in parliamentary elections in May. <br />
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On the creative front my mind is awash with all sorts of projects and I might even make a note of them as I don't think that I manage to get them all done before the mad gardening season begins. At the moment it is very cold though and the wind has blown a hoolie both yesterday and today. In my sleepy state yesterday morning I thought that a jet was flying past us, until I realised that the noise continued be there and that I was listening to the waves crashing on the seafront, not far from our house!Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-33358718327684571152015-01-29T10:13:00.000+00:002015-01-29T10:13:10.287+00:00Diary, allotment and blocked nosesOne of Elf Son's Christmas wishes was to have a diary. I had some lined notebooks with white/ugly covers, so I went to work and covered his with some oil cloth.<br />
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The oil cloth adds to it a bit of old fashioned charm and a masculine touch. I bought these notebooks cheaply as a lot of 5 and have since covered them for different uses. I have one for my allotment diary as well, but it is missing a cover. I was fancying a garden themed cotton, but might end with waterproof cover...I'll show you when I have got my act together. I must ask Elf Son, what type of diary he keeps. I know he writes regularly, but knowing him, it could be as easily about his real life as a fantasy diary.<br />
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The allotment is in its winter hibernation and only things to harvest are the kales, purple broccoli, lettuces of different types, parsley and coriander. The leafier things live in our polytunnel. Today is a cold day and we even have a smattering of snow on the ground, unusual for our coastal location.<br />
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The picture is from autumn, since there are still some flowers there. This bed is now sowed with garlic.<br />
<br />As an experiment I sowed two beds with winter clover<br />
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During the autumn I have been busy building raised beds with paths in between covered with weed suppressing membrane and wood chips. I hope to finish building the rest of them in February.<br />
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In other news Elf Son has generously shared his winter bug with Elf Husband, who is now on sofa duty looking miserable. I have felt the virus rummaging, but keep my fingers crossed for my immune system defeating this one. I just cannot be bothered with two colds in one winter.Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-17845936717671136902015-01-27T13:50:00.001+00:002015-01-27T17:47:03.903+00:00Birthday project aka painted toilet doorI went slightly mad with my birthday project, but let me start from the beginning.<br />
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This is where it all begun...<br />
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Our back entrance&toilet is our personal Siberia and this door doesn't help. It needed an insulating strip around and curtain to hang for some extra cosiness. The mark on the wall is from a rack of clothes hooks I had already removed before I took the picture. I bought the fabric over the Christmas holidays, but was not prepared to hang it before this little entrance had been prettified a bit. For the first a curtain and a rack of hooks behind the opening door would have meant that squeezing out would have become difficult. I also hated the said hooks; they were there when we moved in, attached to an untreated piece of wood, aluminium school hooks, yuk.<br />
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So as I had my birthday a while ago I decided to use it to start my project. I painted the walls and the toilet door. Initially, I had no notion of painting the outer door's inside, but seeing it there amongst all the freshly painted surfaces, I had to. It was simply too ugly to be left alone.<br />
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(The pictures are not great, but I have been hanging on for yonks now, because the light here haven't really cooperated for picture taking, so now you have to do with what I have been able to snap)<br />
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So here it is before from all the angles, from outside:<br />
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The toilet door:<br />
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It is a really small space and it felt very forlorn and dirty and uncared for before.<br />
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Now that the outer door is painted and curtain hung it looks like this:<br />
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As I mentioned on my Facebook status under the decoration work; a coat of white paint can improve almost anything!<br />
On my trip to IKEA to buy the curtain material I also spotted a perfect rack for all my bags I want to hang here...<br />
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I shifted the rack away from the door and it is perfect where it is!<br />
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I then proceeded to <i>decorate </i>the toilet door. This is the upper portion:<br />
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and this is the lower:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpWkmUcoev3xg5OLANl10-o_-QRU_c0nlPgbRg_WmAF8QHhiQm3I22eAieJpH1cJjyuDNvaLr1cobqyXvXkocHZ7J2-TAyNnHg5L2zVVgAanw-K1CsG3P83B2B0WPDW5RX30ojst5ZQN8/s1600/wc+door+paint+dw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpWkmUcoev3xg5OLANl10-o_-QRU_c0nlPgbRg_WmAF8QHhiQm3I22eAieJpH1cJjyuDNvaLr1cobqyXvXkocHZ7J2-TAyNnHg5L2zVVgAanw-K1CsG3P83B2B0WPDW5RX30ojst5ZQN8/s1600/wc+door+paint+dw.jpg" height="640" width="502" /></a><br />
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Here is the view from our kitchen:<br />
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Makes me smile every time I see it! Have you done anything mad like this at your home?<br />
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<i>PS. This post is linked to Homemade Mondays "Linky Party</i> " on <a href="http://beingfrugalbychoice.com/2015/01/homemade-mondays-week-116.html" target="_blank">Frugal by Choice Cheap by Necessity</a>. Have a look at a lot of frugal/creative people's posts there.Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-13947164833777724402015-01-10T20:40:00.002+00:002015-01-10T20:40:30.022+00:00Bags for rags and laundry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have a slightly bigger project going on...it's a smallish house project and this is going to be part of it. I made some <a href="http://www.mamaelfshut.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/pretty-everyday-items-or-gifts-for-nest.html" target="_blank">gifts for house</a> before we moved. This is sort of continuation of that. I have a bag for our "kitchen laundry"; dishcloths and napkins. I have used a tote bag for the purpose, but now I wanted to have one, which would go with the others.<br />
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I use rags in the kitchen and I wanted to have a bag for them too. I found a really cool tea towel on a boot sale and didn't want to use it as such, as it is one of those lovely vintage linen ones, which are not made any more. It was made to commemorate the coronation of the Queen.<br />
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I wanted to embroider "rags" on it, as I know that otherwise the rags and the contents of the laundry bag will get mixed up. When I had done that, I could not stop, but had to add "to riches". The text on the tea towel makes it to "RAGS TO CORONATION RICHES". Not that I think that ER II was exactly poor before her coronation!<br />
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The back of the bag mentions the year.<br />
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Have you re-purposed vintage textiles you love to something else?Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-68943209054614298272015-01-09T20:08:00.002+00:002015-01-09T20:08:56.853+00:00Mushrooming and the satisfaction of hanging picturesI changed the picture in the heading, just for the fun of it. There is much less chance to go mushrooming here than in Finland, I decided to make some of my own. The mushrooms were modelled in Dass modelling clay and I stuck them in a scouring pad (happened to be out of florist's oasis) inside a little wooden box. I covered the pads with lichen, which I had gathered in Finland. <br />
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I have been thinking about how to hang our pictures downstairs. The process took over a year. Admittedly some of the walls were not painted before the autumn gone and it made it more difficult to visualise. We have been debating what to hang above the sofa; I have wanted the Tingatinga paintings up again, but Elf husband had other ideas, which did not really come to fruitition. I had an idea of maybe hanging a group of smaller pictures there and was going to buy picture ledges from IKEA, when I suddenly had the INSPIRATION I had been waiting for so long. I needed to hang that group of pictures, but not in the living room. We have the perfect spot just in the foot of the stairs. There is a big white space, which I now call my gallery.<br />
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The livingroom got two of the Tingatingas and a pot plant called Triffy Trafalgar (she is greeted every morning and we stroke her gently from time to time). <br />
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We also had an extra little reading light installed for the little sofa. <br />
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I also wanted to show our new stone sculpture; we found it on the beach with the ancient forest. and it is decorated with fossilised marine creatures. It sits like a huge dragon egg on the window sill. <br />
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Have you found any decorative pieces from the nature lately? Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-89062531098194332682015-01-03T09:35:00.003+00:002015-01-03T09:36:47.458+00:00The young one is me!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We went for a walk on a nearby beach and see what we found. The storm had revealed an ancient forest beneath the sand. It was "growing" from a layer of soft coal and it was obvious that the trees had fallen in a storm very, very long time ago. There were both stumps, trunks and roots on show.<br />
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We know that a tsunami hit this part of the shore line in the iron age and destroyed the human habitat on the shore, so we wondered whether these trees fell then. It is clear that they weren't cut. <br />
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We even found a place, which looked like an end of a wooden log shed/storage building, but it is hard to tell. Maybe it was trunks fallen just so.<br />
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So in the picture on the top I am the YOUNG one by a good margin. This one is though younger.<br />
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The pictures are courtesy of the Elf Husband. He writes more about our walk on his photo blog<a href="http://journal.ivorphotography.co.uk/?p=71&fb_action_ids=10152489687667047&fb_action_types=news.publishes&fb_ref=pub-standard" target="_blank"> here</a>Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-26119366527493886212015-01-02T20:53:00.003+00:002015-01-02T20:53:39.948+00:00Victorian Sunday School Teacher Attire <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Firstly, Happy New Year 2015! I hope it brings you joy and peace.<br />
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This is yet another dress made with the shirt dress pattern I wrote about <a href="http://mamaelfshut.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/the-dress-of-general-usefulness.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://mamaelfshut.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/shirt-dress-aka-hippie-tent.html" target="_blank">here</a>. This time I made it in a fabric not recommended at all in the pattern script. I also altered the pattern further, making it narrower over the shoulders and a bit roomier under the arms. The fabric is a wool mix with a pattern couched on it. It is very warm and nice to have on.<br />
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When I was about to wear this for the first time I realised that I didn't really find anything to wear under it in my wardrobe. The reason? I made a BIG MISTAKE buying this fabric. I think I need to give you a bit of background to this. I have been very good indeed making my wardrobe smaller and smaller, yet more functional and pleasing. I generally like everything in my wardrobe. I have a very manageable amount of clothes, which I can put together with each other, so that the sum of combinations is actually quite large. I think that most of the time my wardrobe would pass the project 333 rules. (<a href="http://theproject333.com/" target="_blank">Read more</a>, if you are interested in getting a small, but functional wardrobe). Mostly I buy/sew new things, when the old ones die. And I really mean die. I love my rags so much that I use them until they have holes and start to be oddly discoloured, because the fabric has lost the dye. <br />
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Back to my mistake...I was taken in by the loveliness of this fabric and let the fact that it has a clear brown tint pass. I have nothing of brown in my wardrobe. It is based on hues of grey, white and occasional black. I have t-shirts, tights and even cardigans in splashes of colour to enliven the works, but nothing to go with brown. So I sewed a white peasant type of shirt to go under it. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMgLjFLfsjQHIoXf47f9qIChjOaG8O9p4Eiecy0rMODi__6-KAzLmm1yQaFr1e057Q8XC_YBdXiWCMac8u62RbIcoRMKA4n4rbRJWae5CMbnQNM5lJn1Dz6t6snXmnQzcltPDs0ftjFC4/s1600/peasant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMgLjFLfsjQHIoXf47f9qIChjOaG8O9p4Eiecy0rMODi__6-KAzLmm1yQaFr1e057Q8XC_YBdXiWCMac8u62RbIcoRMKA4n4rbRJWae5CMbnQNM5lJn1Dz6t6snXmnQzcltPDs0ftjFC4/s1600/peasant.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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I wanted the front very flat, so it is simple with no smocking, just a
pleat to room the buttoning strip. It is a very lovely shirt to wear and
I plan to make a smocked version of it as well.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF_6iVaV98ahVP3ZL1wvhJ4-ajjO-O6WdbiluTBETLw7HLf-zVOHd8TiZEGNIWsbu5g3BjHfQFDrnlhL4mSsNcJaxk9KuEKJ4mk6Af0Yh1axoVg6nhLGaHvN2TjiJSr4ukcu9iaR0N_WE/s1600/peasant+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF_6iVaV98ahVP3ZL1wvhJ4-ajjO-O6WdbiluTBETLw7HLf-zVOHd8TiZEGNIWsbu5g3BjHfQFDrnlhL4mSsNcJaxk9KuEKJ4mk6Af0Yh1axoVg6nhLGaHvN2TjiJSr4ukcu9iaR0N_WE/s1600/peasant+detail.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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I am rather proud of it as I managed to draft this pattern AND make the shirt in 7 hours!<br />
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I have resolved to take this as a lesson. Luckily I don't hate or even dislike the dress. It simply doesn't have quite as many "wardrobe friends" as it should. When I was moaning about my daftness to elf Husband, he said that I could buy/sew things to go with it. That is exactly what I don't want to do. Every piece of my wardrobe needs to work hard without increasing the need of buying new. Full stop. Bas. Piste. <br />
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I do look a bit like a Victorian Sunday school teacher in this ensemble, but I don't mind, it is comfortable and I seem to get a lot of compliments for some odd reason. Maybe Victoriana is getting fashionable again?Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-58962879231301627682014-12-27T10:01:00.002+00:002014-12-27T10:01:36.999+00:00I was Socked<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzJVTaNgd71ho4YsUOINHSzCUIg2ouxjhpyXO957P0UmCokB8Q2DIQ_edhyg2UaTaX-kH_ouZAV64ssenKwzl8uz30YY_2XiXsPy2zo3_lWaAqlvaMlG3diTgJwLH-kUzxhriqPVD8Eqo/s1600/sock+flower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzJVTaNgd71ho4YsUOINHSzCUIg2ouxjhpyXO957P0UmCokB8Q2DIQ_edhyg2UaTaX-kH_ouZAV64ssenKwzl8uz30YY_2XiXsPy2zo3_lWaAqlvaMlG3diTgJwLH-kUzxhriqPVD8Eqo/s1600/sock+flower.jpg" height="594" width="640" /></a></div>
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and then a bit shocked by the fact that I managed to knit all these socks in time. I don't think that I have ever knitted this many pairs in one go. The giftees were happy with them, so I am OK. (Sorry about the picture quality, this time of the year is tricky with light...)<br />
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I must say that the two pairs with white and grey and some colour theme teased me a fair bit. One of the socks took a week to make! A week! That was because I had to unravel and redo bits of it several times. I got the heel wrong, I used wrong grey, made a pattern go wrong way and used yellow instead of orange. I don't know where my concentration went during those times.<br />
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The second pair had its moments as well, but in addition I didn't seem to get it right from the beginning. I started them at least three times. In the end I ended stopping a sock after doing the heel. I still have it and might make a spare pair for myself out of that beginning. The colours just didn't seem right for the recipient...<br />
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These pink-orange-red ones were the speediest, off my needles in three days! (I don't knit all day long, just some spare moments and evenings).<br />
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The slate grey ones were fine, but the fact that anything this dark is just so much slower to do, because the stitches are more difficult to see. I did remember after a while, why I avoid making these, although I like the result.<br />
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Sorry about drowning you in knitty pictures, but indulge me, I am not really a knitter, so this was an achievement! Have you knitted anything lately? Leave a link as I would love to see!<br />
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<br />Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-11301693633055407922014-12-24T17:55:00.002+00:002014-12-25T12:02:30.797+00:00HaVE a PeAceful and BEautiful ChrIstMas!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkhpU9qhiPINTK6XIzkaUuPnYt6yrJqjaSHJI8Ox1WT_I4IQdgH2PL_u7r49tEqXo0sGRuStD-YQfKjrj8R4QInnBt0pqAp3vweyn3_oEdpca4_KV4Qs34n2SR2OKg5p25fFZ_QwGFs9I/s1600/xmas+angel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkhpU9qhiPINTK6XIzkaUuPnYt6yrJqjaSHJI8Ox1WT_I4IQdgH2PL_u7r49tEqXo0sGRuStD-YQfKjrj8R4QInnBt0pqAp3vweyn3_oEdpca4_KV4Qs34n2SR2OKg5p25fFZ_QwGFs9I/s1600/xmas+angel.jpg" height="640" width="488" /></a></div>
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I'll be back soon after!Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-58058738277746146342014-12-20T20:05:00.001+00:002014-12-20T20:05:23.490+00:00Shirt dress aka hippie tent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3OVt1y0ktgeXyJcQ1PKAEJuv__ZuB4lrJOjRMP1qxBB2FfjJQGWEVEBbfdmSAN3HolOpYSjuIgeYhPemw-gMKXDKWE3WUpjP2c1noG5v5_OsZj7gyjqV7HH3MjjGjGnaIW2t_xImEtHM/s1600/hippy+dress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3OVt1y0ktgeXyJcQ1PKAEJuv__ZuB4lrJOjRMP1qxBB2FfjJQGWEVEBbfdmSAN3HolOpYSjuIgeYhPemw-gMKXDKWE3WUpjP2c1noG5v5_OsZj7gyjqV7HH3MjjGjGnaIW2t_xImEtHM/s1600/hippy+dress.jpg" height="640" width="332" /></a></div>
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This is the dress, which is quite like my dress for general usefulness, but made with the original pattern. <br />
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I found this shirt dress pattern on <a href="http://www.merchantandmills.com/" target="_blank">Merchant and Mills</a> and simply could not resist. I seldom buy patterns, because I have a good selection of sewing magazines with patterns. I also favour certain type/model clothes and re-use the patterns over and over again. This pattern is going into that pile.<br />
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Unfortunately I was slightly wary of the sizing and did not bother making a toile as I should have. So I erred on the large side. My two other dresses I made smaller especially over the shoulders.<br />
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The fabric comes from the same place and is woven in India on a hand loom. It means that it has character and knots and all sorts and I LOVE IT! It is very light, summery weight, so I should actually pack it away from my mid-winter wardrobe. It is fine to use in spring/autumn with long sleeved t-shirts and tights. Wearing it is a bit like running around in a nightdress from the comfort point of view.<br />
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The main picture has got that weird effect that sometimes happens with stripy patterns and camera, but you can see the true pattern and texture below. The fabric is called "Newsprint", should you be interested. The shop is delicious and I have to restrict my visits to their site, so I won't blow my sewing budget. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPuqr2zrVZJ6qUBJdMxntyqvjgE1teInu-xcyt9GEdrTV5RvBFevzKmCpApFFnvrCuMEtpjfzbr_JJq6LRsLj61VeR_ZFcGF8AgRav_6Q6LUVs9wiH5Pc4dfk-qQkFcKojfzOyCpOT3Wk/s1600/hippy+dress+hem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPuqr2zrVZJ6qUBJdMxntyqvjgE1teInu-xcyt9GEdrTV5RvBFevzKmCpApFFnvrCuMEtpjfzbr_JJq6LRsLj61VeR_ZFcGF8AgRav_6Q6LUVs9wiH5Pc4dfk-qQkFcKojfzOyCpOT3Wk/s1600/hippy+dress+hem.jpg" height="558" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The hem, which has the shirty curve. In the other two dresses I straightened it and made side slits.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyG62-tBZACCz7wB8mRtZG5lp9wcxl61CqileE8clBqMWhhlT2U2c2Kt90In5bgHhil1R9V97nEI4Z-nnKMkris3raHjAiQrqYbMu9ae5qcPjsuXRV2KcS7BEot1nfHDQFJNAHlaqHY6c/s1600/hippy+dress+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyG62-tBZACCz7wB8mRtZG5lp9wcxl61CqileE8clBqMWhhlT2U2c2Kt90In5bgHhil1R9V97nEI4Z-nnKMkris3raHjAiQrqYbMu9ae5qcPjsuXRV2KcS7BEot1nfHDQFJNAHlaqHY6c/s1600/hippy+dress+detail.jpg" height="640" width="622" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The smock detail and a good look at the texture of the fabric.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I could finger this fabric forever. It is just cotton, but so nice and light and it has that unmistakable "handmade" feel to it.<br />
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Do you have any places you find great fabrics from on the net? Leave a comment, so I can have a look, I am always interested finding new places!Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-39469663227870635962014-12-20T07:52:00.001+00:002014-12-20T07:52:44.415+00:00Just for fun...Halloweenish birthday card I made for a niece around the Halloween time. I just like this sultry young madam.<br />
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<br />Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-54939164154840621382014-12-19T19:44:00.000+00:002014-12-19T19:44:01.859+00:00My Inner Nun is Pleased <br />
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with the white walls and the strict old school wooden chair with a candelabra and an icon and the simplicity of this one corner of my home. (Yes, you are right, I am obsessed with this spot).<br />
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We managed to paint the hallway during the autumn. It doesn't seem such a big job, because in my head there isn't that much floor space. Lots of it is taken up by the staircase. In reality, it is possibly the room with the largest wall surface area. Not enough with that, some of the walls are up in heights where the air starts to thin out.<br />
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I did chop the job in three; the stairs, the downstairs hall and the walls up along the stairs. Still, it took a looong time and if I am honest, is not entirely finished as yet. We still need to build the under the stairs storage area and the floor still needs its last layer of wax-oil.<br />
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I am planning the pictures on the walls. We need to buy two picture ledges to go on the wall, so I can have changing exhibitions of pictures and small objects. I have pictures to go to the upper landing, but I am planning to paint three for the lower end. Watch this space.<br />
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We are now officially on our Christmas holidays, or nesting days as I like to think about them. I restrict consciously the "going-out" and being social aspect of the holidays, so it becomes more of a "feathering my nest" holiday; I can read books, eat nice food, go for walks and do crafts. We are not recluse, still get visiting and such, but it's not a whirl wind of activity kind of time for us.<br />
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Hope that you have a lovely, suitable for YOU holiday ahead of you as well!<br />
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Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-6926869738806635742014-12-14T21:12:00.000+00:002014-12-14T21:12:45.902+00:00Yet another baby quilt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I was fortunate to become an auntie again and thought that I surprise the newly baked nephew's parents with a quilt with a dedication patch. I embroidered as usual the baby's name, birth weight, how tall they were and the date of course. You can see from the date that this was made a while ago. The quilt was made a bit later as it is an old custom in Finland not to publish the baby's name before Baptism. Not that everyone keeps the name secret, but quite many still do.<br />
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The cool animal fabrics are organic cotton from Monaluna, which I love. I did machine quilt it with free wavy motion, which has become my go-to way of doing these. I think it looks nice and goes well with modern quilts. <br />
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I am facing a pretty busy working week as I have had to postpone several of my clients due to my cold. When I get a cold I do a full blown "man flu". Not because I feel that rotten, but because in my line of work I cannot return before I am totally healed. To get as quickly as possible over the cold, I rest, rest and rest. I let my body use all available energy for its healing. I must admit that this one took me by surprise by really flooring me couple of times, but hey, I am good now. Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-27611764336543940622014-12-08T20:58:00.001+00:002014-12-08T20:58:12.660+00:00The Dress of General Usefulness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I made this one in the beginning of September. It is made of medium heavy linen and is great. I like linen for its texture and the fact that it is environmentally better fabric than cotton. It does not require pesticides as it is fast to grow and also grows in colder climates.<br />
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The back has a yoke and gathered fabric, which gives room for movement in the dress. <br />
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I like the front "grandpa shirt" smock detail.<br />
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The pattern comes from Merchant and Mills and is called the Shirtdress, but adjusted it a bit. The original has sleeves, so I had to make pattern pieces to see that the armholes were neat.<br />
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As you see I used another fabric, a lighter linen for this. It stops it becoming bulky and also I had only 1.5m of the heavy linen, which would not have been enough for adding these pieces.<br />
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I also re-shaped the hem to suit my purposes and added pockets.<br />
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I have actually made the dress according to the pattern before, but haven't shown it here.<br />
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The dress is great; it covers me, leaves plenty of room to move, is easy to wear with different tops under it and the fabric cost £12 from IKEA. At the moment my favourite combo is a yellow and white striped long sleeved t-shirt and mustard yellow tights.<br />
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The dress is named after a draw in my household. Yes, a draw. We have a draw called "The Draw of General Usefulness". It is a draw having bits and pieces of stuff, which are not used daily, but regularly enough so they need to be found easily and there is no other "logical" place to put them in. In my draw I have my hair dryer, 3D glasses for cinema, bright LED light for attic visits, DVD player for journeys etc.<br />
This dress has a feeling of being really useful for many purposes and although I don't wear it EVERY day, it is in pretty heavy use. I have also lately made a version with a wool mix fabric. I'll take pictures of it as soon as the light and timetable allow and show it to you.<br />
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Have you made or bought clothes, which you seem to use "all the time"?Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8481248856919148920.post-48619606414579298502014-12-07T14:49:00.000+00:002014-12-09T09:28:09.903+00:00A beam of light from the crack of the door<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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...and she tiptoes into the dusty room, where the blinds have been shut for so long time. The room is familiar, but unused and dusty. It is time to open the blinds, throw the window open and let light and air into the room and begin cleaning.<br />
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That is how coming back here feels. I often think of writing, then am too tired, too busy and also too ambitious. The pictures are bad, don't know if I have anything interesting to say, there are so many better/funnier/prettier blogs on the net...But being all those things is not why I write. I write to remind myself of times which otherwise would be buried in the stream of days, which makes months, years. I write to show my family and friends who are scattered all over the globe what I am up to. If non-family members, friends I have never met, also read, it's a bonus. I need not to live up to an imaginary editor's expectations. This is my diary. So be it, possibly umpteenth time that I resolve to blog a little and often.<br />
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While I haven't been writing I have been busy. There is a virtual stack of photos waiting to be shown. I am sure some of them will make it here. At the moment I have time, the winter cold has forced me into resting, despite the things I want to start, finish, get on with, ready for Christmas...<br />
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A quote from Dalai Lama has made its way to my life several times this year. It was one of the things starting this year and it is certainly there in the end as well. It was read to me in a "work" context, just as I needed it very badly. You see, I often feel guilty about having my lovely life. I grew up in the culture that told me that one had to expect the life to be hard and the work to be a burden. My work is great, I enjoy it and it aligns with my ethics. It does not earn my living though. I am dependant on my husband's income for that. And there we go again: I was brought up with a thought that one needed to be independent, have their own income, it would be silly and dangerous to trust anyone that much as let them be the breadwinner. It has taken me years and years to accept that the partnership can have equality in other ways than this. I don't mean that the ways were unfamiliar to me, but to feel that they truly are as important and that is what makes the partnership. And as you might guess, I still need reminding. Not in mental level, but emotional.<br />
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The quote, which is so important for me, is this one:<i><i> </i></i><br />
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<b><i>"The planet does not need more 'successful people'. The planet
desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and
lovers of all kinds. It needs people to live well in their places. It
needs people with moral courage willing to join the struggle to make the
world habitable and humane and these qualities have little to do with
success as our culture is the set."</i> -Dalai Lama</b><br />
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I need to hang it on the wall to be reminded, I think.<br />
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I have been on a cushion cover kick this year. This is how these things work; I make a present to a family member. They like it and then the next one asks if they could have their version as well. I then continue producing the same type of gift to everyone who either wishes to have one or could be thought to wish one.<br />
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This is the pair I made for my MIL.<br />
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One of the nieces got "feminist" cushions:</div>
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The left one has an (incorrect) Virginia Woolf quote saying:<br />
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Although the quote is incorrect, the sentiment in my mind is right on many levels.<br />
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The right one has a little funny snippet on it's "washing instructions" label. I typed it with an old-fashioned typewriter and it says:<br />
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If it is too hard to read it says: <br />
"balls are weal and sensitive. If you wanna get tough, grow a vagina. Those things take a pounding.<br />
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The backs of the cushions looked like this:<br />
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She liked them a lot.<br />
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Now my head is still ponding, but my tummy is empty, so I better make a plea for some food...or at least have a snack. See you soon!Mama Elfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04885475897031905341noreply@blogger.com2