Quick note

Just a quick note to say that I have finished my Chantilly, and I've even taken photos. I haven't had time to post them yet, because I've been busy. I've been busy because I GOT A JOB!!! WOOHOO!! I'm waitressing for a local pub/hotel. I'm really enjoying it so far, everyone has been so lovely and welcoming. I have to sort out the paperwork today, and I'll get my hours for this week. Exciting! :)
Ashley x

Studying

Just thought I'd check in and let you know why it's been quiet around here. Nothing exciting, I've been writing my dreaded dissertation! Eek! As you probably don't know, I'm studying psychology. As a psychology student I am expected to carry out an experiment, analyse the results using statistical tests and then write it up in a report. I found carrying out the experiment really hard, I'm very shy with people I don't know so it was just awkward. Lucky for me, my uni has just started using an online system where you put your study up and then other psychology students can come and sign up to it. The great thing about this system is that to use it you have to collect credit points in your first and second year. You have to collect 20 credit points to be able to give out unlimited credit points. It means that you don't have to beg people to participate because you can offer them credit points :) But yeah, still really awkward telling people what to do in your study!

Anyway, I finished a big section of my write up today so I decided to take the rest of the day off. I think my need it, my brain is starting to turn to mush! lol

Also, a huge thank you to Sarah from Narcoleptic in a Cupboard for passing me the Liebster award!! :) Thank you so much! I love Sarah's blog, and as a psychology student I love that Sarah shares her experience of narcolepsy. I find it so interesting! :) I was lucky enough to receive this award once before and you can see that here :) Go check out those blogs!!

Right, I'm off to enjoy a cuppa. And then I need to have a quick tidy so I can get my sewing machine out :)

Ashley x

Pendrell Dress - part 2

First of all, thank you to Very Berry Handmade for the amazing giveaway a couple of weeks ago! I won a package of 4 fat quarters! Polka dot fat quarters no less!

I'm not sure what to make with them yet, any ideas? Tutorials? Let me know! :)

It's been over a week since my last post, how did that happen?! Well, life ran away with me. There were birthdays, cupboards of my left behind junk at my mums to sort through, helping my brother get into college and a lack of motivation to do much of anything craft related. I've been restless and haven't felt like sitting down to concentrate on anything. 

Anyway, this morning I finally got round to transferring the changes I made to the Pendrell dress muslin! To do it, I marked where the pins had been with a sharpie marker. So I ended up with this:

Then I laid my paper pattern over the top and roughly traced the marks. I measured everything to make sure, and then made the lines smooth and redrew the new seam allowance. I also added just a smidge to the side seam at bust level. 

I just have to trim the pieces where there are new seam allowances and then I can start on the muslin! Before starting on the real thing, I'm going to trace the pieces out again so I have nice fresh sellotape-free pieces :)

I also finished the first Rosebud sock a while ago! Here it is:

It stretches out when it's on my foot and the lace is lovely :) Though currently its a little tight getting it over my heel, so I think I'll give it a gentle stretching out when I wash them like I did with my Snapdragon gloves.

Oh, and we had this stunning view from our window the other day!

Happy Sunday! :)
Ashley x

Hmm, 7 things. . .

I've been passed the Versatile blogger award by Reana Louise at Curves, Patterns, and Pins! Thank you so much! :D So, I have to think of 7 things about myself that you don't know. Hmm. . .

1. I like flowers. A lot. We don't have them in the house/flat/whatever because Dom gets hayfever from flowers. I love orchids, carnations, lily's and of course roses :)

2. Talking of hay fever, I get hayfever from trees. I can always tell when we're getting close to trees in the summer because my eyes start to water. Lovely!

3. I played Alice in my primary school production of Alice in Wonderland. Yep, I was a brown haired Alice. Before we found out our parts, everyone was excited about who was going to play Alice. Everyone assumed it would be one of the two blonde girls in our class. Nope, it was brown haired me. Unfortunately I can't share a short video with you as its set to private on my mum's facebook page. I also don't have any photos. I'll share them if I remember to ask mum for a couple :)

4. I've had the same mobile phone for ages! Seriously, I think it's been at least 4 years. I've never been bothered about the latest high-tech phone. Its calls, it textes, I'm happy! :)

5.  Some of my favourite films include: Reservoir Dogs, True Romance, A Clockwork Orange, Watchmen, Sin City, Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds, Inception, Shutter Island, Kill Bill 1&2. I also watched The Godfather for the first time last night, I loved it! :) Oh, and Fight Club. I could watch that film over and over! Looking back at the list, they're all quite violent and a bit bloody (or in the case of Kill Bill, a lot bloody!). I blame Dom for this. Since living with him, my choice of films has been influenced by him a lot. Though I still refuse to watch the end of I Am Legend. I don't like zombie films, and only just managed to make it to the end of 28 days later. Oh, I also liked The Road, but it was very sad. I liked the book too.

6. I love big scary rollercoasters! I scream the whole time, but will always go on again. I went on the Mumbo Jumbo (the steepest rollercoaster in the world) at Flamingo Land 7 times in a row. However, this was not entirely my choice. When my 8 year old sister discovered she was tall enough to ride, she wanted a go. So I took her on and held her hand the whole time. We got off, and she decided she wanted to go on again. And again. And again. . .until we had been on 7 times and it was time for the park to close! By the 3rd or 4th time, she laughed the whole time while I still screamed.

7. Cold food gives me shivers. If a meal goes cold before I finish, I can't eat the rest. It seriously freaks me out. But if it's meant to be cold like pasta salad then its ok. But it's meant to be hot, then I just can't eat it. I know, I have issues. lol

Ok, now to pass it along! :)

Marie from A Sewing Odyssey

Kate from Kate's Creative Saga

Kat from Petticoats and Peplums

Jean-Mary from Meanyjar

So there you go! :)

Thank you for your advice and comments on my last post. I did go into town on Monday and I now have enough nice clothes to last me the week! Woo! I also now have a colour scheme so everything goes with something to make an outfit. I also took a look at the fabric I have, and it will all fit very nicely into my new wardrobe :) I learnt a lot about what suits me, as I tried on *everything*!! I realised I can wear a higher neckline than I thought I could, and I can wear blousier tops than I thought I could. (So I'd be willing to try a Sorbetto!). I was surprised at how well things fit too. The waist was actually in the right place! And I didn't have as much trouble from my boobs as I thought I would. 

I've been enjoying getting dressed in the morning and choosing an outfit and accessories to go with it. Yes, I have accessories! :) I got much more for my money than I expected, so I got some lovely jewellery too. I didn't get any new bags, as I have enough bags. I now have two pairs of shoes that are ridiculously comfortable because they're in the right size. And I even upgraded my foundation and face powder (I've been using the cheapest I could find for ages). And the best thing is, I even have a good chunk of my budget left over! But I'm super happy with my wardrobe for now, so I probably won't spend it unless I see something I like while out and about. 

And I'll try and post about some actual sewing soon! :)

Ashley x

Argyle Socks

I finished Dom's socks! :) He's really pleased with them and has already worn then a couple of times in the evening when he gets cold toes. He likes the yarn (Cygnet Superwash DK) as he says it keeps his toes toasty with out being too warm.  It was also my first attempt at colourwork! So I got tangled a lot at first, but I got the hang of it eventually :) I also went down a needle size for the ribbing around the top as one of Dom's pet hates is loose socks.
So that's another WiP finished and out of the way! I still have the cable wristwarmers, rosebud socks, lacy scarf and of course Lauriel. I've started on the wristwarmers though :) This winter is going to be my warmest!
I must also direct you towards this photo of me that Dom took when we went for a picnic with his mum and little sister on Tuesday. He says I have three faces; neutral, smiley and mardy! lol I think the photo he took perfectly captured my mardy frowny face. I also think its quite a nice photo, which is odd as I don't usually like photo's of myself! I'm getting better at looking at photo's of me :)
I'd also like to say a big thank you to Sarah for passing me the Liebster Award!

Now I must admit, I didn't actually know what this award was for. Of course it's always lovely to get an award from a fellow blogger, but it's even lovelier when I know what it's for! :) So after some googling, I found this explanation here.

"The Liebster is a award for those who have less than 300 Google followers but deserves a lot more recognition and following than what they currently get. They are the unsung heroes of the blogsphere, plugging away in their little corner, churning out fantastic work and we need to do something to help them get some publicity."


Thank you Sarah! :) I also feel like I can pass it on now I know what it's for! So I'd like to pass it along to:
Krafty Kat
Laura: in a tangle
The Snake's Hips

I love these blogs, they definitely deserve more attention! :)
Ashley x
ps. Be sure to enter my giveaway!

100 follower giveaway!!

First of all, thank you all for you support and lovely comments. It makes my day every time I get a comment or new follower :) I really can't thank you all enough. It's a shame I don't live closer to London or Brighton for the blogger meet-ups, as I'd love to meet you all!

Any way, onto the goods! This time I don't have a photo of the items to be given away, because I don't know specifically what is going to be given away yet! So what is it?

A sewing pattern of your choice! One lucky winner will win a pattern of their choosing. You may choose one pattern from either:

Jaycotts

or

Backstitch

I chose those two because I've had good service from both of them multiple times, and because they give a good choice of big pattern companies such as the Big 4 or independent pattern companies such as Colette or Sewaholic. I'm not involved with them in any way, other than being a happy customer :)

So to enter:

Leave me a comment on this post by midnight on the 1st of August (BST) stating the pattern of your choice. The pattern must be available from the websites specified above.

I shall announce the winner on Tuesday the 2nd. After confirming pattern choice and size with the winner, I'll order the pattern to be delivered to me. Then I shall wrap it in pretty paper and send it on to the winner! :)

You can be anywhere in the world, and I'd appreciate it if you are a follower :) 

You can also get an extra entry by posting about my giveaway on you blog/twitter/other social network. Just make sure you leave me a separate comment telling me if you have :)

Good luck!

Ashley x

Update
Google reader subscribers do count, as do Bloglovin followers. But you don't have to be a follower at all, just make sure I can contact you by email :)

Selvedge as stay tape

Have you ever run out of stay tape and forgotten to pick some more up? Well, if you trim the selvedge from your fabric you can use that! I used the selvedge edge instead of stay tape on my Crescent skirts, and they hold up really well to everything I throw at them! 

I decided to stay the waist and midriff seams of the dress I'm working on (V8648) as the midriff pieces and some of the bodice pieces are cut on the bias. As the skirt is a circle skirt, it'll be pretty hefty, so I want the waist seams to be able to hold it up without sagging. So I went to my growing collection of selvedge tape and used that :) I zig-zagged it onto the seam allowance just as you would with stay tape.

Plus, I love those little dots of colour! Though I did make sure to sew it to the side of the seam allowance that would be facing in, just in case you see the dots through the fabric.

Oh, and I finally remembered! I got another Versatile blogger award from Lucy of Tricky Seams! Thank you Lucy! As I find it difficult to think of things about myself, I'll refer you back to my first post about the award here. Thanks again Lucy!

Have a lovely Tuesday! :)

Ashley x

Versatile Blogger Award!

Hayley from Hayley Goes Handmade nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award! :) Thank you!! So I have to tell you seven random things about myself and then nominate seven other bloggers!

1. When I eat toast I like to dip it in a cup of tea. Dom says this is weird and gross, but it's something I've always done!

2. I burn really easily. I use factor 40 sun cream and still burn!

3. I love doing calligraphy. A lot. Unfortunately it was one of the things I left behind when Dom and I moved to uni. I was always spilling ink everywhere though. My floor was a rainbow of spilled ink.

4. In fact I was so messy, I had laminate flooring put in as it was easier to clean. Then we moved house, so I had to be more careful again.

5. I love playing boardgames. Lucky for me, so does Dom. The latest one is Carcassonne. We've also got the Traders and Builders expansion. Shh, no we're not nerds! lol

6. Carrying on the game theme, I also love role playing games. You know, like Dungeons and Dragons. Yes, really. Unfortunately I haven't played in a long time, as we don't know anyone else who plays. Everyone we know is also away at uni.

7. Dom once got me to play the video game Dragon Age. I was enjoying it until one of the quests had me going into some dark tunnels. All of a sudden, a massive spider dropped on me from the ceiling of the cave and I jumped so much that my hands were suddenly a foot away from the mouse and keyboard. As you might imagine Dom laughed his head off while I refused to play much more. lol

Ok, seven lovely bloggers :)

Steph from 3 Hours Past the Edge of the World

Very Berry Handmade

Magpie Mimi

Lady Cherry from Lady Cherry Loves

Patty from The Snug Bug

Jane from Handmade Jane

Sarah from Shabby Chic Sarah

If you haven't already, you should check those blogs out! :)

More later!

Ashley x

An award!

Sarah over at ShabbyChicSarah passed on the Kreativ Blogger Award to me! Thanks Sarah! :D So now for 10 random facts about me . . . This is gonna be tough!
1. I actually have green eyes though in most photos of me they look blue.
2. My mum taught me to knit years ago, but she didnt know how to cast on so we twisted loops around the needle instead, and she didn't know how to cast off so I just undid it and started again!
3. I'm a coffee and tea snob. We've just bought a hand grinder so we can grind our own coffee beans and are the proud owners of a Gaggia Classic coffee machine. I love it to bits, and now can't stand the smell or taste of instant coffee. I also drink loose leaf tea from a fancy infuser teapot. Lincoln is home to The Imperial Tea Company so we head there for tea and coffee. It's a family run business and they're all really friendly and helpful :)
4. My Auntie Laura taught me to cross stitch when I was about 9 or 10ish, and I loved it! I looked forward to seeing my auntie even more as I couldn't wait to get onto the next colour of thread! :)
5. I own three cameras, all film cameras. I have a polaroid camera, a Diana mini and a Pentax (P30). Though at the minute I'm using Dom's Lomo LCA with a splitzer on it. I'm shooting the left side of the frame. Then when I've gone through the film, Dom will shoot the right side of the frame! :)
6. My favourite chocolate bar is a caramel kitkat chunky :)
7. I have small feet. I'm a size 4! At least there's usually my size left.
8. I have two brothers and two sisters, I'm the eldest. My youngest sister is very proud of the fact that she looks like me (poor thing! lol) and likes to make 'clothes' out of newspaper and selloptape, and is always making me bracelets and other jewellery type things :)
9. I'm also quite short. I was the tallest in my class for years, then everyone else had growth spurts and I didn't! lol
10. I don't like to hold small animals. Like rats, mice, rabbits, hamsters etc. I think it's because I don't see them as very clever so I'm scared they'll bite me for no reason. Whereas I see dogs and cats as quite clever so I don't think they'd bite me for no reason. Weird, I know.

I always find thinking of things so difficult! I'd like to pass this award on to:
Kat from Krafty Kat
Pins and Needles
Roo from Roobeedoo
Suzy from Suzy Sewing

Thanks again Sarah! :) I should have some more knitting photos to show you all later. I have to admit to you lovely lot that I haven't done any sewing since my exams finished!!  What is wrong with me?! I need to get my ass in gear. lol
Ashley x

Toe up socks!

I had the first half of my knitting class last night at Spins and Needles! There were six students, and the lovely teacher Sara :) Everyone was really lovely, and Sara was an excellent teacher. When I read through the first page I almost panicked as I thought I was way out of my depth! I couldn't even figure out how to cast on! You use the figure of eight method so that there is no seam at the toe. Luckily, no one else had ever used this method before either :) I was the first to get the casting on, but once everyone had it sussed they soon caught up and overtook! I've never knitted with anyone else before, and I discovered I'm relatively slow. We have homework for next Thursday, we have to knit the foot until we get to the heel. Then Sara will show us how to turn the heel in the class :) Here's my progress so far, I need another inch or so:

The top of the foot. 

The bottom of the foot. 

The top and bottom don't look that different in the photos, but they are. The bottom is ribbed once you get past the toe. This is so it has a better grip on your foot. The needles are Brittany needles, which are lovely to knit with. I'm planning on slowly replacing my current needles with Brittany needles as I love them so much! The yarn is Cygnet Superwash, shade 298. I love the colour and they're going to be so warm as they're 100% wool! :)
Also, look what arrived today!

Isn't that notepad amazing?! It came wrapped in tissue paper tied with that lovely lace from Nina from The Vintage Family. I won her giveaway, my second win! How lucky am I?! :) I'm going to use the notepad to record the adjustments I make to patterns. Usually I use a scrap of paper, and although I now have my drawers I still manage to lose it! And recording adjustments fits in with the background on the notepad :)
Ashley x

My first Swap!

I just received my first swap package! My swap partner was Sarah from ShabbyChicSarah, and you can see what I sent her here :) (there'll be some photo's of the things I made in a minute) If you haven't visited Sarah's blog before, you should! Sarah always has something interesting to share, from sewing to gardeing to crochet :)
Now, I was so excited to open my package that I forgot to take a picture of the lovely wrapping!! Everything was wrapped beautifully :)

Lovely patterns, a wonderful book on crochet, lovely lip gloss that smells good enough to eat, a beautifully made pin cushion and needle book (which I promptly filled with all the needles I could find because I always lose them and they end up in the bottom of Dom's foot) and the most amazing crochet earring I have ever seen!! They deserve a close up:

Wow! The first thing Dom said when he saw them was 'wow, they're so intricate!', he was as impressed as I am :) There was also a packet of Fox's 'Ambers' biscuits which were eaten pretty sharpish with a cuppa while I read the beginning chapters of the crochet book. Crochet is something that I have tried a few times to learn and only ever got as far as granny squares. I would love to be able to crochet some beautiful earrings like the ones above, but for now I'd be happy with just being able to do a simple swatch. I've never been to do this before, but look:

I managed single, double and triple crochet!! I've never been able to do that before!! :D Though I managed to gain a couple of stitches so it got wider! lol
So a massive thank you to Sarah!!! Thank you so much, I can't wait to get stuck into the book properly, and everything else will get much love and use :)
Here are some closeups of the things I made for Sarah:

Knitted lavender cushion, in basketweave.

This one is knitted in moss stitch pattern.

I love making little things! It's so nice to have a project finished in an hour or so. I'll definitely be making more little purses and bags for myself :)
Thanks again Sarah, I really enjoyed putting a package together :) For the next couple of weeks though, I'll be revising for my exams :( I should hopefully have a Crescent skirt update for you all though soon!
Ashley x
ps. Don't forget to enter my giveaway, it ends tomorrow night!

50 Follower Giveaway!!

First of all, sorry I didn't get this up sooner. I woke up with what I thought was toothache. When Dom had a look he said it was an abscess and insisted I call the doctors so they could refer me to a local dentist. I'm now registered with a local dentist and have a check-up appointment in 6 months. Yay! Anyway, turns out Dom was right and I start a course of antibiotics tomorrow. FYI, doctors and dentists make me *very* nervous. As in, I feel sick and shaky, its worse than exam nerves! Luckily they were lovely and it was really quick :) Let's hope I feel normal again soon. If I'm not making sense in the rest of this post, I blame the throbbing pain in my mouth/head/shoulders/neck/whole damn top of my body. 

Right, onto the give-away! 

Thank you all so much for your support, encouragement and wonderfully kind comments. It really makes my day! I can't believe that people actually read my ramblings, let alone take the time to leave me a comment! You're all wonderful! :) So the prizes. . .one lucky person can win these lovely things:

Perfect for keeping in your handbag *just in case*!

This little guy has a button on the back to retract the tape measure. So cute!

I'm tempted to get some more of this for myself, it's so pretty and dainty.

So the things shown above will be a bundle together, along with a mystery gift made by me (it's a mystery because I haven't made it yet! lol)
And as a bonus prize, another lucky person can win my copy of the Sencha blouse!

This pattern doesn't suit me, so I'm passing on the love! I traced it off, so all of the sizes are still there, as are all the pieces (though I think I separated the pieces from each other to make them easier to trace).

So to recap there will be two winners, one winner for the bundle and one winner for the pattern :)
I'll post to anywhere in the world, though it will be snail mail.
To enter, leave me a comment telling me which prize you'd like to win, or if you'd like a chance to win both. And don't forget to leave me your email address if it isn't linked from your profile. You can have another entry if you post about my giveaway on your blog/twitter! :)
You must also be a follower please.
You have until midnight on the 20th of May (BST) to enter. The winner will be announced the next day when I shall draw a name for each prize from a hat!
Good luck!! :D
Ashley x

Coming soon. . .

I hit 50 followers!!! :D WOOOO!!! Strangely I have more followers via google reader than blogger! lol So look out for a giveaway, perhaps later or maybe tomorrow but definitely soon!
Oh and I keep forgetting, I have a twitter! There's a follow me button on the side bar :) I love the updates from bloggers between their blog posts :)
Ashley x

I bought a new machine!! :D

I'm so excited!! I've been wanting a new machine for a while (I'm sure we all do) and I've had my current machine for just over a year now. So it's probably due for a service, however I was reluctant to bother as the machine cost me £99 when I bought it, and I can now get one for £88. A service costs around £70-80 at the only place anywhere near me, and it's still a good 45 minute walk away. It just doesn't seem worth it. I may as well buy a new machine for an extra £8!!

So I mentioned it to Dom, and we talked about it for  while. I had a look on Sewing Machine Sales which is where I got my current machine from (Singer 1507). I bought this one in  hurry as my first machine (a vintage Singer 507) had broken, and again it wasn't worth getting it fixed. It ended up being between a couple of Singers and a Janome. These were in my £200-250 budget. But Dom being Dom had to look at the next model up from the Singers I was looking at - the 7470. This was £293, out of my budget. But after looking at it and what it could do, I wanted it! Now for his birthday, I bought Dom some custom made in-ear monitors (the kind musicians wear) on the condition that he was allowed to spend as much on me for my birthday. He has already bought me a vintage camera (which I love!) so he said he would go halves with me!! Woohoo!! The 7470 was now well within my budget, so I ordered it in a hurry while babbling thankyous to Dom! :D Now it's just my luck that I ordered it pretty late, so it won't be dispatched until today, and it's a bank holiday on  Monday! So it could be Tuesday at the earliest!!

source

I can't wait to have a play on it!! :D
A very excited Ashley x

I got an Award!

I won a Stylish Blogger award! I was awarded this by the lovely Lucy of Tricky Seams (which by the way, I love the name of! I'm terrible at naming things). I'm so excited!! :D Thank you so much Lucy!!!

I'm so excited, like a child on Christmas day kind of excited! So according to the rules, I have to tell you seven things about myself that you don't know!

1. I have a polaroid camera, and 2 other film cameras. I love shooting film. Some people hate waiting to finish a film so they can have it developed, but for me this is part of the fun! The not knowing if your pictures will even come out is exciting! My latest camera is the Pentax P3 from the 80s, an early birthday present from Dom. Now I'm learning all about aperture and shutter speed and all sorts of interesting things! My other film camera is a Diana Mini, which really is quite mini!
2. In secondary school I was put in isolation for having pink hair. Yep, that's right, pink hair of all things. The first and last black mark on my school record *sigh* I had to dye it out before I was allowed back to school. How ridiculous. The worst thing was the school ran a monthly magazine, and in the next edition there was a picture on the front cover of a group of students. Smack bang in the middle was a girl with red streaks in her hair! As you can imagine I was most displeased.
3. I have a record player. Well, actually its Doms too, as we bought it together. I have a few favourite records, including Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley. I love listening to records :)
4. I like to solder. As in, with a soldering iron. I don't know much about electronics though, so I like the kits from places like Maplin. These kits have all the pieces and instructions that you need to make something cool! I've made this one before :)
5. I have no rhythm. I can't dance to save my life. At all. We have Dance Central on the Kinect, but I find it really difficult to keep in time with it.
6. I am very clumsy.Very very. So much so that Dom calls me 'whoops'. Yesterday I managed to knock the hot iron off the counter. Luckily it missed me and landed on it side so the floor wasn't scorched or anything and it isn't broken.
7. I like to act. I just haven't for a long time. I took A-level drama, and for my exam piece, I played Eliza from Pygmalion (or My fair lady if you've seen the film). I was in a group of four with people that I liked so I enjoyed it alot. The day before we were to perform for the examiner, we had a dress rehearsal for the rest of the class. We were shouted off the stage by our drama teacher telling us to get off the stage and go and do some work! (we had messed up our lines which put us off track). This was terrible as we all loved our teacher and didn't want to disapoint her :( For the next 24 hours we worked like crazy. I got an A for my performance in the end. Our teacher was so proud :)

And I get to pass the award to 7 other people :) This was so difficult, I've tried to choose people who haven't received this award before, so they can be excited too :)
Jenny from Chronically Uncool
JuliaB from House of Marmalade
Shannon from Hungry Zombie Couture
Oblibby from Oodles of Obliciousness
Debi from My Happy Sewing Place
Lady Cherry from Lady Cherry Loves
Karen from Did you make that?

Done! :) That was fun, thanks again Lucy! :D
Jellybean x