I Want This!

We have had a lot of rain in Cornwall.



Too much for me.



I want summer back please.



Bright colours



sparkling seas



The locals!



Fun with the kids



Trolling through rock pools looking for sealife



Picnic lunches full of sand



Blue, blue skies with only the occasional fluffy cloud scudding by



And then home for tea.



Just thought I'd say. x

Alchemilla for Camilla.

Mr Davey came home from school recently - he will pass his exams eventually, I am sure - and announced that he was organising a visit to the school by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; he then announced that he had said I would do the flowers for Camilla and her Lady-in-waiting. Oh. Right. Now let me tell you a little story...



Once upon a lifetime ago, Pipany sort of trained as a florist. This was as a back-up plan because she had actually trained in horticulture, but as Pipany was a skinny waif of a gel, it seemed getting work in the world of gardening may be a problem in not so very enlightened Cornwall (it was a long, long time ago), but soon decided that she was not keen on such formal flower arranging and returned to her own tied posies of garden flowers grown by her own not-usually-very-fair hands.



Having learned all about corsages and wreaths, wedding flowers and all manner of funereal crosses and sprays, Pipany then did indeed work in the prettily-scented floristry shops of ye local town (plus ye not so local town now I come to think about it).



The years rolled on until one day Mr Davey announced that he had put Pipany's name forward as the arranger of posies for m'lady Camilla - Ooohhh bum. The thing is, my posies are very informal and full of things like herbs and marigolds, wildly disarrayed sprays of whatever is looking pretty out in the garden. Typically, we are on the in between bit, but there was plenty of golden marjoram, lavender, daisies, hypericum berries, oregano and masses of my trusty alchemilla. I even cut our precious few brodeia - like a small and very dainty agapanthus which lasts brilliantly as a cut flower despite its fragility.



So, there you are and there I am, yet again bemoaning the fact that the photographs I took were hurried and in harsh light which has turned what were really rather pretty and natural tied posies into things of garishness where the soft mauve of brodeia and the gentle lime of my favourite alchemilla are lost only to be replaced by a harsh purple and green which bears no resemblance whatsoever to the original.



Ah well, such is life. The day went well and the flowers didn't fall apart and I made fruit loaf to mark the occasion



and jammed the tayberries



and made a batch of bread rolls to scoff thickly spread with butter and said jam.



Not a bad day, all in all. How was yours? 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 Harvest.

No sewing news today as my other model is at school; photo session tonight I hope of a re-worked skirt for my not-so-little Lucy. Instead a quick garden catch up for you. The cherries are slowly turning red on our huge cheery tree and the odd one plops onto the duckpond beneath. I love the way the sweeping branches bow and arch toward the murky waters below, the odd one dipping its toe in for good measure.



We have eaten yet more of these gorgeous Tayberries and as the juice dribbles down my chin I can't help thinking that perhaps the soft fruit season is my favourite of all. Of course, I do love plums and damsons and then there are English apples in all their glory. Oh I just love fruit I guess.



Overall our garden has had a bit of a quiet patch the last few weeks on the flower front, but the next flurry seems about to burst. These foxgloves are beginning to make way for day lilies, swathes of feverfew and lady's mantle, and bright yellow loosestrife.



Courgettes are coming thick and fast now



and Isabella helps to crop them, along with her broad beans (from a little plant she grew at nursery) and parsley.



It's all quite nice really.



What's good in your garden right now? 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