Minoru Jacket

I recently bought the Minoru Jacket pattern from Sewbox in the UK. The pattern is designed by Sewaholic Patterns, and are specifically designed for pear-shaped ladies...now I am a lot of things, but pear-shaped, I am not. I measure a 14 for waist and bust, and an 8 for my hips, if that gives you any idea. Anyhow, I thought that the Minoru Jacket would be ok on me, but I did have reservations about the raglan sleeves and the gathers at the shoulders. I have quite broad straight shoulders with rounded tops to my arms. I took a chance anyway and got the pattern despite all of this.
I was determined to make it all out of my stash...it is bulging and I am not buying any fabric until I use some of what I have.



So I chose a piece of grey/rust/beige printed corduroy and because I didn't have enough, I pulled out some matching plain grey cord. I had a brown zipper that was close enough to the tones and colours of the outer cord. I also had some lightweight polka dot grey cotton to line it with, although I thought in the beginning that this polka dot grey was too green, but it seems less so now that it is part of the overall jacket.



I traced the pattern, cut it all out and sewed it up over two parts of days.It came together quickly, although I had some issues working out how the collar went together. The instructions for View A are very comprehensive, but not so for the simpler View B...I think it was mostly tiredness that made me confused. A quick look at the sew-along that is going on on Sewaholic's blog cleared up my confusion.
I put plenty of interfacing into the collar, which makes it stand nicely on it's own.
I cut and made cuffs, but because the sleeves were already long enough without them, I tried one, but took it off. I am happy without them.I just hemmed and topstitched the cuffs.


I wore it all day yesterday to swimming lessons, and tennis lessons with the kids. It was chilly and drizzly, I was quite cosy.



I am still a little unsure about the shape on me. I think the shoulders with the gathers might not be the best shape for me, but it is such a great weight, that it won't stop me from wearing it!

Miss E

Almost all of the photos of me as a child include a dog of some sort (either that, a pony), so not having had a dog for the last few years has been a bit lonely...however we have had two little girlies to keep us busy! Our last terrier now lives with my mother. He is still very much part of our family, but he lives in a place that suits him better.

So the time had come for us to get back into owning a furry friend...or a sleek one...
My sister owns two whippets and I have always been very taken with them. They are very quiet and lovely, so I became interested in sighthounds.
At some stage we thought about grehound adoption, and somehow I managed to end up on a website of an Irish greyhound sanctuary..Orchard Greyhound Sanctuary and the whole feel of it was right. I looked and looked, but for some reason the time wasn't quite right. I admired the hounds up for adoption....but that was about all I did.
Then a couple of weeks ago, I looked again and I made contact with MJ, the lady who owns and runs the sanctuary. I didn't look a the dogs for adoption, I didn't want to get my hopes up.
We arranged a visit one Sunday. When we arrived, we were greeted by an enormous hound...J. He was so charming, and I was amazed to hear that he had lived ferral in a midland's town for 3 years...how could this huge dog have come from being wild, to being so kind and gentle.
The first greyhound we were introduced to was Miss E. She seemed very pleased to meet us, We listened in amazement to the story of the hard life she had had, and that she had only been in the sanctuary for about a month...how could she even look at humans, let alone like them! After all of that, we took her for a walk up the lane. Needless to say, there were several arguements about who got to walk her and for how long!
We then took a walk around the sanctuary grounds without E, but brought several other residents with us. It is a lovely place, with loads of happy hounds bounding about.
So we went away for a while, and thought back and forth about it, and we decided to adopt Miss E. She just seemed right for us. We had to have a home visit from a volunteer...that was nerve-racking, although the volunteer was so lovely! I just doubted myself!
So we got the go-ahead, and arranged to have her micro-chipped. I couldn't wait to collect her. I hardly slept the night before, and when I did, I was dreaming of martingale collars and sighthounds!
When we arrived to collect her, and we had to sign adoption papers....even the children had to agree to always/never do certain things.
We took her home to our own house late one afternoon....and I think I will stop talking now and let the photos do the talking...you can judge for yourself how this little lady, who once had a terrible life, has slotted in nicely to our very busy, bustling family....







So if you are thinking of getting a dog, consider a greyhound...Orchard Greyhound Sanctuary is a really wonderful place to look into if you are in Ireland. The lady who runs it is so good at "reading" her residents (and their prospective owners too, I think!) Thanks MJ for the time you took to match us with our new friend.

ETA...I wrote this about a week ago, but never got around to putting it on here, I also wanted to see if there would be any huge changes in how we have been getting on as time passed....well...apart form eating "The Prisoner of Azkaban", which was left lying around...and even at that she only ate the corner and the cover, not any of the text...mind you, I did catch her in the act and grabbed it before she did any more harm!!
We are still really enjoying our new girl!

Looking Back on 2011

My sewing machine has been hibernating for the last couple of weeks. The children are off school and I have to compete for space with jigsaws, colouring books, dress-up dolls, Sylvanians...to name but a few! I try not get impatient about this, and go sew in another room, because in a week the children will be back at school, and I will miss them!

So to amuse myself I made some mosaics of my sewing over the past year...

I made these things for myself and some of the other adults in my life.



I made a blouse and skirt for my mother, and a shirt for my husband...both were nerve racking, but the results were very rewarding.

Also in this is a bra, which I wrote about here, and I got a great response about it...which was really nice...all I wanted to do was tell people that sewing lingerie is not that difficult!
I also sewed a swimsuit/tankini for myself...can't remember if I blogged about it, but probably not!

For the children...



and



It is funny to look back at all of these clothes. Some have been worn everytime they have been clean and dry...and some sadly have never been worn. I have two very fussy little ladies who refuse to put on certain things...really life is too short for arguements...so I am hoping that they will still fit when the girls grow out of their "I want to be a boy" phase!

When I have not been sewing, I have been knitting a bit...



And of course, I managed to fit in a couple of quilts and quilt tops.



The two on the bottom went to two friends' baby boys, and the other two are keepers. The top RH one is on the wall upstairs, and top LH one will be quilted by hand before too long, hopefully!

Thanks to you all for reading along during the year..and I wish you all a peaceful and Happy New Year!

Our New Favourite Song.

M and her class in school did a version of this, and as much as I'd love to share it with all of you....I'll spare you......but since we love the song I'm posting a youtube version....

Christmas Crafting

I went to a sewing day at the beginning of December and attempted to make some mittens for the children for Christmas...I was not one bit happy with them..I have to remake them if they are ever to use them...I don't know if I want to do that. So, disheartened with all of that I decided not to make anything more for Christmas....famous last words!

In the last week or so I have made this lot..

For the two little girls, for treasures...(click on the photo for the link to the free pattern)


For CDs in Colm's car...


For T and his lego, most likely...


For Maeve...she is getting a little something for Christmas that should fit nicely in here...sorry, it's a secret!


My SIL asked me to make her a case for her specs...


I am not a great knitter, but when Realtin asked me in the local haberdashery, for the umpteenth time, to make her a fireman...well how could I say no....And how could I not make Blathin one too...


I also got a gift from my mother the other night, they're an early gift for Christmas..

...aren't they lovely! Thanks Mum!

Discoveries

One of the things I had hoped would happen when we started to renovate this farmhouse of ours, was that we would uncover some interesting things that had been covered up for many years. However, I didn't think this would happen, seeing as Colm has known the house all his life, and lived in it for 24 years of that. I have also known it for quite a while.
So when Colm's mother mentioned a covered up window on a bedroom wall....we were surprised to find this....



It may never have been a window, it may have just been an alcove, but it is a lovely shape and will be left like this (hopefully) if it is not suitable for opening up.

We spoke to our Architect and Structural Engineer about putting a window in a particular spot, and I remembered that I had seen something on that wall when renovations were done in the past...so after a few minutes and a jack hammer (Colm manning it not me!) this blocked up, dinky little window appeared....




Put the big find as far as we are concerned is this....



It appears to be a big fireplace, which has been filled in. (There is a range cooker in front of it at the moment, it is under a duvet to protect it) It is brick either side and on top, and the beam has been cut out, apart from about 24 inches on the right hand side. The timber would appear from what we can see to have spanned the full width, and finished under the white clock/timer on the left hand side.
What will become of any of these finds remains to be seen.....I daren't dream too much!

ps. I'm sorry about the quality of the photos, they were taken on my phone. You should be able to click on them and see them a bit bigger, but possibly a bit more blurry!!

Tin Anniversary

Yesterday was our tenth anniversary.
A while ago I sewed somthing for Niamh from The Perfectionist Confectionist. We agreed that no money should change hands, but that she would make me a cake at some stage. We decided now was a good time.
Niamh thought that buttons and ribbons would be a good place to start, and I can't think of a better place!



We cut this beautiful chocolate biscuit cake this evening...the children were so excited! C's sister was here too...she's a total chocoholic!



It says "Love is all you need"!

We have had a busy week in the run up to our anniversary, my sister and her two children came to visit Monday to Thursday...it was so lovely to see them.
Today we had a site visit from our Architect and Structural Engineer...so interesting!
Tomorrow is swimming lessons as usual for the bigger children, but Sunday all 6 of us will get our glad-rags on and go for dinner...Italian maybe, just to celebrate all the changes that we have had to our lives over the last 10 years!