Traditions

Ah ... we are into our fourth day of summer, and loving it.  I know this month will pass in a blur, but it's a month which holds certain traditions, and not the least of those is the Christmas season. However, the first December tradition occurred today, the local village street fair.

As usual, we were early arrivals and after walking a brief distance it was unanimously voted that the first stop would be the coffee shop. I love the smell of coffee in the morning.

The reason we like to arrive early is another tradition, the day starts with the Knox School Pipes and Drums Band and we were fortunate enough to have a front row view.  It's amazing how easy it is to achieve that position if you are prepared to kick old ladies, children and dogs out of the way.  Of course we didn't. but at our age we're entitled to our evil fantasies.

The young boy in the centre took his twirling so seriously - it was endearing to watch.

Some folk like men in tights.  Give me men in kilts any day.

Look at the swoosh of the pleats as they march in unison.  Perfect.

We were delighted with the quality and variety of goodies offered by the stall holders.

The crowds quickly built up and the stall holders were kept on their toes.  We even bumped into our three grandchildren and their parents who were on their way to fly down a giant slide set up for the day.  The grandchildren.  Not the parents.

I loved some of the quirky fashion worn by the young, although I must admit I was somewhat relieved to discover that this young lass was actually wearing leggings and her legs weren't tattooed!

There were beautiful linens with wonderful designs.

Hats and bags ...

And food ...

But at the end of the day it wasn't about us humans - it was the dogs' day out.

Whether they wanted to be there or not.

It's so good to take a small break from the sewing machine, although I am frantically putting the finishing touches to a couple of quilt tops.

Next Friday our second December tradition will take place.  Can't wait. 

Testing times

We're rapidly racing towards the end of another year.  I know it's a cliché, but what happened?  Surely last week it was Christmas Day; then wasn't it just a few days ago that we farewelled our daughter and son-in-law on their great overseas adventure?  Throw into the mix various meet-ups with dear friends, a meeting or two with my quilting group, a few lunches with my brother, and now you're telling me that we're less than a month away from Christmas.

I know it's close to Christmas because I'm busy, and that's usually the sign.  When I was the age of my grandchildren the space between one Christmas and the next was a whole lifetime, and now in my dotage it's like stepping onto a roller coaster.

Pattern: Tie Dye Diva

And there have been testing times, but good testing times.  Tie Dye Diva has to be my favourite PDF pattern platform, because I know how thoroughly all Jen's patterns are tested before they are released to the public for sale. For this reason I was delighted to be included in the testing team for the latest patterns, the Ringmaster Top (above) and pants (below).  

Both garments were thoroughly tested by the team for sizes ranging from 1 to 10 and after many adjustments, they were released to One Thimble, an e-Zine which is packed with wonderful articles and many PFF patterns.  

The theme for One Thimble's current issue is the circus and my house model (who happens to call me Grandma) enthusiastically entered into the spirit.

Pattern: Tie Dye Diva

Not to rest on her laurels, Jen then asked her team to test her latest pattern, Garnet, again in sizes 1 to 10.  The pattern can be made as a dress with knit top and woven fabric skirt and collar, an all-knit dress, long or short sleeves, knit top and separate skirt.  Oh, and the full circle skirt can be made with one fabric or with panels.  Quite a lot packed into the one PDF pattern.

   

With the warmer weather approaching, I chose the dress option with short sleeves to test.  Although the skirt fabric is geometric, it worked well cut as a full circle.

I rarely sew with knit fabric, but this pattern takes all the worry away and with such clear and helpful instructions, it was an easy sew.

It even passed the tree climbing test.  The pattern is now available at Tie Dye Diva's website and you can find it here. 

And now I am super busy getting out orders before Christmas.  All made-to-order items will close next Friday 4 December, as I cannot guarantee that they will reach their destination in time after that date.

There is a two week turnaround on this adorable Christmas dress, sizes 1 to 8, but I do have it currently in stock in size 3.  It is available on my Etsy and MadeIt shops. 

Christmas skirts have been popular this year and I do have a limited number in stock ready to ship, but they are selling fast.

My Christmas Tree garlands are flying out the door and they make the perfect gift for those who you may find difficult to buy for.  They are particularly popular as teacher gifts.

What am I doing here?  It's back to the machine before I find myself heading at a dazzling pace towards Christmas 2016.

A moving experience

I know, it's been a long time between drinks, but moving house during the busiest time of the year was... challenging; particularly without a broadband connection for twelve days.  However, we came through the whole experience relatively unscathed and here we are in our sunny new apartment taking deep breaths.

My new sewing room is roomier than my previous one, with lots of light coming in through three widows.  So after unpacking the essentials (sewing machine, serger, fabrics, etc) I hit the ground running in an effort to keep up with the custom orders which kept flowing through my Etsy and Madeit stores.

We decided to have a mini break on Sunday morning and took ourselves off to the local village Christmas fair.

We arrived early so that we could hear the local high school Pipes and Drums Band.  Ah, what is it about men in kilts?  I blame my Scottish heritage.

What a glorious morning it was, but we knew from previous years that the odds were that a storm would break some time later in the day.

So many tempting goodies ...

We certainly made the right decision to leave early, as that afternoon we were hit by a severely damaging hail, rain and wind storm which caused havoc throughout the city.  I just hope those poor stallholders managed to pack up safely before it struck.

Then it was back to filling in the orders.

There were lots of Christmas dresses and skirts to make.

 And so many garlands that I had to close production in order to catch up.

There were several orders for cool summer dresses as the weather warmed up.

This dress is on its way today and now that I am almost on top of the backlog of orders with only a couple of dresses, knit tops and garlands to complete, I can finally see my way to attacking the Christmas cakes, mince pies, shortbread, etc.  Help!