Only minimal productivity

Dear me, how the days just roll by. I cannot believe its July this week. What has happened?

I have accomplished so little in the sewing world since February, I am always feeling a touch guilty. There is a definite lack of focus. The weekends are taken up with weeding and clearing - and boy have we weeded and cleared - and as one sinks into the chair at the end of the day, groaning softly at Gardener's Back Pain (never before experienced) and covered in rose bush scratches, there is just no energy for creative spurts.
I have only managed two projects in the last wee while.

The first was a top from the "Chic and Simple Sewing" book. Its the baby doll top. Not sure quite what happened here. I used the medium size but whilst it fits on the top half it simply balloons out from the boobs down - I mean there's 'flowing' and then there's just peculiar.

Clearly for this to be wearable it needs to be taken in significantly and perhaps given a tie for the back. A bit annoying really as I liked this fabric - I can handle when I stuff thing up the sewing myself but find it a bit more annoying when the pattern takes you to a place that you never expected.

However, before I do the alterations to try and save this top, I am going to see if a friend of mine who is pregnant wants this. Ballooning tops are fine for the woman with the beautiful stretching belly. I also finally did the overhaul on a chair that had been sitting around collecting dust for way too many months. I saw this at a seconds shop and picked it up for $3. It had terribly old gold fabric that had been mauled by a pet of some sort.

The fabric I used is the same design as I used on a seat last year, but different colours. The fabric is just lovely. I do tend to think that as the fabric is so strong the chair looks top heavy and you don't notice the lovely legs. Nevertheless, this will do nicely for a few dollars and the cost of the fabric (not cheap but lets pretend it was).

Right - what next?

A Fiesta of Wallpaper

So I promised some pictures of the wallpaper. This is after all why I will be muttering about decorating and painting for the next few months.

The walls are solid enough in the bedrooms but the wallpaper is questionable to say the least.

In some instances one might say its "vintage" and worthy of protection. That is of course easy for those to say who do not have to live within these walls.

To give a flavour to some of the more extreme wallpapers I attach the following photos for giggle value.

I challenge you not to snort.

Tenugui fabrics

When I was up in Napier recently I lucked upon a funny wee shop called Raku that sold all things Japanese.

I got quite excited about a selection of Tenugui they had there, pieces of cotton with various designs on them. These were by no means cheap but once I'd laid eyes on them I had to have one … or two or three.

I bought this fish design because I loved the idea of this in a cool aquatic room. I also thought it would look excellent as a light fitting around a simply circular shade.

I picked up the utensil one at the last minute. The thought of this in the sewing room was a must. Of course, this will be after the sewing room has been redecorated but planning for the future.