finally a FO

I'm so excited to have actually finished sewing something (and something for me too) for the first time in ages! I actually finished a week or so ago when my husband took our daughter off to visit his parents leaving me home alone for hours for probably the first time in 2 years (and this hot on the heels of me getting to go to the cinema by myself to see Mama Mia which felt wonderful).

The pattern is NewLook 6490. The fabric is some I found a while back at the thrift store (and I have quite a bit left over for another garment).

I made the shoulder straps much wider than the pattern (which suggests using 1/4-3/8" ribbon or lace) 'cause I like to wear a bra and not show too much of it off.

I'm not sure whether you can tell from the photo but the top part of the shirt is two overlapping sections, very handy for a nursing mama! The fit is a little weird to me because the top section ends way before my breasts actually do, but actually I think that works!

More Bread and some Thrifting

I've continued trying different things from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book. The oatmeal bread worked OK although I think I may have given it too long in the initial rise, it tasted good which is the important thing.

For dinner last weekend, on a night when my husband and I would be out in the evening and need to eat dinner soon after getting home, I made pizza. I mixed up half a batch of olive oil dough (I used whole wheat bread dough for one of the cups of flour) right before we went out which meant that when we arrived home it was time to heat the oven and make the pizza. While the oven heated I cooked up some onion to which I added kale, beet greens and scapes (all from our farmers market) and some balsamic vinegar. That mixture went on one of the pizzas along with mushrooms, tomato paste with oregano and basil and then topped with fresh mozzarella. The other pizza (which I thought my daughter was more likely to eat) had tomato paste and pesto, cheddar cheese and pepperoni.

Today I had a go at making bialys with some of my second batch of bagel dough.
My daughter and I shared one still slightly warm from the oven, she declared it good and did eat some of the onion and poppy seed topping even. I really liked the texture of the bread, and love the onion and poppy seeds (I really want there to be more of it than the recipe suggested so might think about that for next time, there will definitely be a next time).

Do you like the plate the bialys are on? It's one of my latest thrift store acquisitions. I've been trying to go less often but on Wednesday my daughter encouraged me in there as we passed by (she knows where to find all the toys and heads straight in that direction). We actually found a couple of things for her, not in the toy department though. Firstly I spotted a couple of ceramic birds which I guessed she would like as she has always enjoyed watching the sparrows when we're in town. She was very happy to see them and got herself a basket to put them in and carry them around until it was time to pay. (The birds are now perching over one of our doorways where she can, and does, spot them and point them out at regular intervals.)
Then while I was looking at fabric she spotted a little tiny "mug" which she got very excited about it has "humpy dumpy with a bue balloon" on it!

In addition to the plates I came away with two interesting looking books, two sheets and a lovely tablecloth (white with pink embroidery and appliqué). The table cloth is a bit stained but it's the kind of stain that I hope might come out, if not I'm sure I can make good use of the unstained parts in some crafting projects.

Christmas Outfit

Christmas Outfit
Originally uploaded by commonplaceiris.

I hope all who observe it had a wonderful Christmas Day yesterday (well I hope everybody had a wonderful Day regardless too).

I finally got an outfit made for my daughter for a special occasion again, yay! I missed for last Christmas, her birthday (and the Easter dresses were supposed to be for earlier in the year...). I'm especially pleased because at the moment she didn't have another new dress to wear as she has all the other times.

The pattern is Simplicity 4304. I used some green fabric that's been sitting in my stash for years (used some of it for a Christmas dress for our niece about 3 years back!) and a thrifted pillowcase for the pinafore. Since I did all the sewing Christmas Eve and morning it's not the best job ever but I think it looks good once the pinafore's on. (I actually still have to add buttonholes and buttons to the pinafore, it's done up with safety pins here...).

Now off to have a fun time on Boxing Day with the dancing and the mumming and the caroling and the socializing.

Thrifting catch-up

I'm so behind on posting my thrifting finds (well, and on posting in general). I actually don't have pictures of everything, not everything is that interesting to look at anyway.

A fortnight ago I got this cute plate, I still had some chives left so I could put a few flowers on for the photo!

I also got three more sheets but this time all white. One has a fancy-ish embroidered edge so maybe I'll use that for a skirt/petticoat. The others I'm thinking will be handy for trying out patterns I'm scared of before I cut into more precious fabric. I figure if things turn out well I could always try dyeing the finished item if it's something I wouldn't wear in white.

Today I put off going out until it started to cool down a bit because I haven't got used to it being summer for real. This meant I got to the thrift store about 15 minutes before closing time, but I still managed to come out with more than usual.

I got a couple of tank tops which I didn't take pictures of. Some fabric, pictured to the left. First is a tablecloth which I will probably use as a tablecloth if it fits our dining room table (we'll see, we have to unearth the table for me to be able to check, one day in the hopefully not too distant future though we'll be eating dinner at the table most nights and while we won't need a tablecloth every night it'd be nice to own some!). If it doesn't fit I think it would make nice trousers (for around the house/sleeping). In the middle is a pillowcase, I might try making a dress for my daughter from it, probably not this year though. I'm thinking it's a good candidate for smocking since with the checked pattern I wouldn't have to mark it up for the stitching, but I don't have time to sew even simple things right now. And then finally on the right is some batik fabric, not sure what I'll do with it yet as I'm not really one for wearing red myself and the pattern's a bit big for clothing for my daughter (she loved it though so that's part of why it came home with us)

Also from the thrift store this box of goodies -- lots of different colours of binding, silver rick-rack (!), lengths of lace and other bits and pieces. All for a dollar and fifty cents! A lot of the packets are opened and partly used, but since I'm making lots of smaller things these days I figure it's all going to be useful and therefore was a good deal.

Last but by no means least is the china. A couple of plates with a simple but sweet pattern around the edge (the underside suggests they come from Austria). And I'm loving the tea infuser which comes with it's own little pot that you can stand it in to cool once the tea has brewed. I think it's by far my favourite purchase. I guess from the picture and words on the pot that it's intended for making peppermint tea but I imagine it will be alright to make black tea or red raspberry leaf with it instead. I don't drink peppermint tea very often, and actually I seem to remember that too much mint maybe isn't good when you're nursing?? It's marked Kaiser W Germany on the bottom which would seem to give some clue as to its age.