Mixed Batch.

Yet more rain making photography rather challenging what with the low light levels and the general disorder in our house. Trying to find somewhere to snap a picture without clutter in the background is never easy in this little over-run home and we have been full to the brim with family and friends staying over lately. Much fun but very cramped times, though I have noticed how drawn to blogs with organisation as their topic I have been (thanks you Sue for making me desperate to clean out my enormous freezer!). 

So, to counteract this wonderful weather - hah - I have been gathering huge handfuls of herbs from outside the kitchen door: Sage, oregano, fragrant golden marjoram, piquant thyme and earthy parsley have all been chopped into most of my dishes for weeks now. It seems the rain has not diluted their flavour even if it has somewhat diluted my pleasure in harvesting them. This was a particularly hearty lamb hot-pot which chased off the chills and was served with creamy mashed potato and a heap of the gorgeous kale growing in my veg patch.

I have finally got around to adding a new drake to the duck pen to keep Pecan company although I have to say he is not the most robust looking specimen I have ever seen! Clarence the Khaki Campbell is much smaller than most of our ducks have been and is a bit scrawny to boot. His feet look far too large for his slender body, he has a very long thin neck (they have Indian Runner in their genes and it really shows with this chap) and when he lies down he looks as though he has given over this life! Yep, I really pick them don't I?  Poor soul. Ah well, at least Pecan is looking after him - yes, I know it should be the other way round but what's a girl to do when her man looks as though he's about to keel over?

The photos make him look a bit rangier than the reality!

Gratuitous image of hot sunny days on Mermaid, sailing the seas in floaty dresses to remind me that there is sometimes colour in the world and that one day it may return. Such a pretty girl that Lucy (biased? Me?)

More green, but this time it is the gooseberries which have been folded into cream and sugar with elderflower cordial - homemade of course - to make pillowy soft gooseberry & elderflower fool.

The redcurrants are late this year but are finally turning into scarlet globes. Surely the prettiest of fruits.

Summer the rabbit and Washington Elderberry the guinea pig are growing away and enjoying cuddles together in the rare sun

while Willow bowls up for a chat. The cutest animal sounds are definitely those of the guinea pigs chatting.

A little dressmaking has taken place with the waistcoat for Elias being followed by a skirt for Isabella and some pyjama bottoms which I have been unable to photograph as the little toad runs at the sight of me with a camera in my hand.

Soft lilac lupins are flourishing despite the rain and are in fact doing better than ever before

and my vegetable garden continues to feed us. I haven't had to buy greens for ages with the kale beginning to slow down only to be replace by huge red cabbages and leafy dark green types. Did you guess I forgot which varieties I am growing? No matter as they are all delicious.

The broad beans are almost over and will be replaced by leeks and other good things to see us through the winter. Look at the fennel growing away. I have never had any success with this fussy veg before and some of these are not bulking out as they should but will come in handy for aniseed  leaves to use with fish. The ones that are thickening up are most exciting to see....well, I think so anyway!

And finally another reminder of how pretty Cornwall looks in the sun. Please come back soon and warm these lovely shores. PLEASE!

Ah well, it's back to the knitting though more of that another day x

Dressmaking Part Two.

A lovely weekend despite the overcast weather clothing Cornwall of late. We still had fun with trips to the cinema, fruit picking and watching Dave belting out songs with his school staff band at a 'gig' (I use the term loosely as it was a Fun Day, but they really are a very good band and Dave really is a very good if very growly singer much suited to the likes of Nickleback & Reef type songs!). Anyhow, first up comes the fruit.



Isabella was supposed to be holding the bowl for me to gently drop the berries into, but from my precarious position I could see they were fast disappearing into her mouth. Fortunately, the thought of playing horses on the prop that supports our very old and wonky pear tree was more appealing than being moaned at by me.



A daydreamy moment while riding the plains.



We (I) picked so many that a batch of tayberry jam seemed a good idea. Just look at the richness of this bowlful.



And so on to the dressmaking stint of the previous weekend, the one where I sewed three articles in one day with no pattern and a lot of luck. This is item number two - a skirt for Lucy made from a hacked about skirt of her older sister, Lauren. It went from this...



to this: A flicky skirt with two ruched sections in the front decorated with black ribbon to keep a slightly more grown up feel (well, she is twelve now you know).



I actually found it quite hard to photograph the ruched bits to show how they lift to form a sort of gathered section which adds a little interest to an otherwise fairly simple skirt.



It was very easy to do and could be achieved either by shirring a small section vertically or, as I did on this skirt, merely using a gathering thread to pull up the amount you want before securing with a few stitches on the machine.



We liked the effect so much that I feel many of our clothes could be receiving this treatment. It is also very forgiving as it can be used to hide an uneven hemline - obviously I am not suggesting for one moment that any of you would be so shoddy as to do such a thing, but frankly my three items were patternless and hurried, hence a little manipulation was required and this was the result!



One happy lady more than happy to pose.



My little Sweetie x

What did your weekend hold? x

A Little Dressmaking.

I have been desperate to share the fruits of my Saturday sewing binge, a binge which I turned over purely to the sewing of things for me and two of the children. Florence's recent posts about her dressmaking exploits have set the off the yearning to follow suit and I found myself itching to run up the sundresses and skirts which have been firmly pushed to the back of my mind thus far due to all sewing time being needed for work on my pipany business (which has been extremely busy with orders for quite a considerable time now - most heartening I must say!).



Saturday dawned and with Mr davey away on business, thus no family-type plans afoot, I decided to bring my beautiful Bernina into the kitchen were I could still be 'with' the girls even if merely in spirit: well, you know what it's like when you actually get to do the things you have been desperate to do for such a long time...conversation sort of slides to a slow, "mmm?" or "yes, of course you can have a drink/biscuits/crisps...". I'm sure you get the drift (please say it isn't only me who becomes the most inattentive parent in the world at such times!)



Unfortunately, dear Dave had taken the camera away with him and I have therefore had to wait until now to share the outcome. This meant a hurried photo session this morning in the garden with Isabella who was not keen and fidgets interminably while I yell - I mean softly ask her to keep still just a little longer. Anyhow, onto the details: first up is this little sundress made from a beautiful soft Liberty lawn fabric I was so kindly given a few years back by a sweet fellow blogger, Elizabethd, on one of her returns to Cornwall.



I was actually lucky enough to receive several huge pieces of gorgeous fabrics from Elizabeth, many of which were vintage Liberty lawns all in the most delicate shades and patterns. So very beautiful. This one has tiny carnation flower in gentle mauves and pinks, the whole just begging to be made into something for the little one.



I was so keen to get going that I didn't make any patterns for the three items I made and just winged it. Now this would usually spell disaster, but now and then there is a feel in the air that tells me I can get away with anything on the sewing front and today that feel was positively singing to me. I lay the fabric down, held a dress of Isabella's against it and cut away! Madness considering the utter beauty of this fabric and not something I would advise, but on Saturday it worked like a dream. I decided to shirr the top section, but not deeply enough to make a whole bodice. I wanted more of an empire line to the skirt and to make sure it has a fullness to it I cut the top part straight and swung out in a wide diagonal for the skirt before beginning the shirring(if that makes any sense?).



The result was slightly too wide at the top so I cut down a strip to make it right. These mistakes come in handy if you have the right frame of mind. For instance, the bit I cut off provided a ready made pocket complete with shirred top which I then shaped to give a curved bottom, the end result being a little like an old-fashioned gathered purse. I could have sewn two pieces the same together to make an actual purse with a long strap to go with it. I suppose I may well try this another time as my girls do love purses.



For the straps, I cut a long wide strip of fabric, turned each long edge under and sewed to hem, and then shirred down the length several times to make gathered strap which will hopefully grow with Isabella. At hte front of the dress I attached them quite far apart, but brought them closer at the back to add a little interest.



Honestly so easy to do and I really love the effect.



The whole dress took no time at all and thankfully Isabella loves it (though it is not the easiest for the climbing of frames, etc, at the park so she informed my friend who had kindly taken her for a treat).



So there is the first of the projects; hopefully the rest will follow one of which will be the dress I amde myself from this fabric and which includes little shrred bits to produce a sort of swagged effect. Oh, you'll see what I mean!



Just had to leave you with this bowl of tayberries all soft and velvety and scrumptious with loads more to come by the looks of it. The children, Dave and I scrumped our way around the garden in the early evening light, scoffing redcurrants, blackcurrants and these beauties which are almost perfumed in the rich oozing juices. Yum.



Bye for now xx