Simple Saturday

Hello Lovelies,

it's been a slow and simple weekend.....my favourite sort.

On Saturday  morning there was time for some blog reading and e.mail chat. 

Lately I've been enjoying corresponding with a lovely  lady I met at Yarndale last September. Following my latest sewing make we got nostalgic over old bedding....as did many commenter's on my previous post.  I dug out this old photo from the early 80's.

 It shows my first ever duvet cover.........before this I had always had flannelette sheets,blankets and a candlewick bedspread ( does anybody remember THOSE ? )

this was taken in my student bedroom and I loved this intimation Log Cabin patchwork

My photos from back them are pretty rubbish and my lovely friend, who took the ones of me, was good at chopping off your head or your feet.

This slightly earlier photo is a good example, but I included it here to show how little my likes have changed over the years.
Here I'm riding an old bike with a wicker basket, wearing a skirt that I made myself.........

 I've no idea where that skirt is now but I still have some of the red fabric that was left over in my stash.

Back in the early 80's "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady" was discovered and published for the first time. It was hugely popular, a lot of homewares and decorative items were produced using it's gorgeous illustrations, like THESE

I didn't have any of them at the time, but now I treasure these books that I have since picked up in charity shops. Yesterday I took a look at April's pages..........

 I love these full page illustrations, from the two books I own

And the beautifully accurate nature studies..........

Oh, so many pretty things.........

 By mid afternoon I had to go exploring myself to see what I could find...........

 Eldest and I walked under blossom filled branches

Which are stunning close up...........

Glossy yellow Celandines shone out on such a grey day...........

It was just a simple walk along familiar paths...........

To see what spring beauties we could find...........

 I loved these tiny but gorgeous Forget-me-nots

And these lovely trees made me gasp with delight . The last time I walked this way, which only a couple of weeks ago, they were still bare............

These are the trees that produced the multicoloured leaves in THIS post.

 But now they are the most amazing zingy green............

 Look at those flowers...wonderful.

We wander further, past cute gardens........

Noticing more tiny spring flowers that are included in the "Country Diary" pages........

 Marsh Violet

And Wild Primroses.....how I LOVE these

The day may have been grey but all that spring beauty really lifted my spirits, and indoors I'm FINALLY sewing together the colourful crochet squares I started as a quick project a year ago...... 

More on these soon.

I'll leave you with something else unrelated, a little video I made of those lambs we saw on THIS walk....I've finally managed to work out how to upload a video :0)

Spring Lambs no sound from Bunny Mummy on Vimeo.

Thank you for all your lovely P.J. comments....you guys are the best.
Jacquie x

Sewing Some More

Hello Lovelies,

once again I have found myself doing some dressmaking this week. This wasn't a project I had been planning at all, it just sort of happened..........as many of my creative projects do.

At have a pair of P.J. trousers that are super comfy............or should I say I HAD a pair, as at the weekend this happened...........

I was very sad as they were favourites. I've worn them so much the fabric had become very thin and then torn.

I found these blog pictures of them when I first got them back in April 2011........

I like to wear cotton trousers and a t.shirt in bed when it's chilly

They came from a charity shop and loved the combination of  floral and stripy fabric. That patch pocket is so sweet don't you think.Nobody really needs a pocket in their P.J. trousers , but I really it.

Here they are hanging out to dry that same month.........

The soft cotton fabric and the wide elastic made them super comfy.

On Monday I had an idea how I could recreate my favourite jammies.

On Tuesday I watched the Great British Sewing Bee  with interest.......they too were copying favourite their garments.........I loved it and greatly admired their creations.

My make is much simpler, and I planned to dismantle my worn out trousers, to use them directly as a pattern.

On Wednesday morning I started. The unpicking seemed to take ages.........all the seams were over-locked and seamed separately.....

My plans always change and evolve as they go, and once  I reached this stage I made two decisions.......firstly to leave the side seam intact as it was straight and I didn't see the point in cutting out four leg pieces, when two would do.
Secondly I decided to create a paper pattern as I thought it would be easier to cut around accurately.........

Here it is........it's one complete leg, so I just needed to cut two of these and a waistband..........

Next I headed off to the airing cupboard to find my fabric. This candy stripe sheet was originally my Nanna's.
 I love it, but I don't use it and thought I would take the plunge and turn it into something I will.........

I measured the original seam allowance, and sewed the same narrow seams.......

 I don't have an over-locker, so I tried to replicate it's stitching with a second row of straight stitch and a zig-zag............

I was keen to have a mix of stripes and flowers in my recreated version, so I searched my stash for something suitable.

This is a thrifted duvet cover that  I picked up ages ago because I liked the mix of fabrics...........

Those ditsy lilac flowers looked just right for the waistband

And here is the 2" elastic I bought from the market on Wednesday afternoon...........

Along with some seeds...........Thank you for your great suggestions to my query in THIS post lovelies.

It's a very different experience, sewing like this instead of following pattern instructions. There are so many decisions to make, about the order of things and how to tackle each stage.

The waistband was troubling me from the start, but in the end it came together fine.

this is the inside.

And here are my finished pyjama trousers.........

Ta-Dah..........

Oh, I'm really thrilled with them. I love the fact that they fit exactly like my old, worn out pair. I love too, that they are made from recycled and sentimental fabrics. And I'm so happy  that I managed to make them without a bought pattern.

The only things I did buy were that wide elastic and this cute crochet trim............

It was part of a very inexpensive haul I found in "The Works", of all places...........

This is the waistband up close. To avoid the elastic twisting in it's fabric sleeve I anchored it to the fabric every couple of inches.........I didn't fancy trying the stitching that the original garment had.......

It's that cross stitch in the centre.

Here is the back...........

Yes, you knew there would be a pocket didn't you lovelies.

It was my favourite part of the originals so I couldn't leave it out :0).............

It's made from a different part of that duvet cover and includes this fake ric-rac that seemed perfect for this pocket.

I wasn't going to model these, but what the heck.........don't laugh.....

I'm looking forward to many comfy nights sleep in these recreated favourites and I hope you enjoyed this rather long post about how they came to be :0)
Jacquie x

Characterful Places

Hello Lovelies , 

as the weather warms up it's nice to have the odd weekday adventure with Mum.

It may take a while to get there, but it's always lovely to arrive somewhere different and be greeted with pretty old buildings..............

I loved the pan tiled roofs and little attic windows..........

We wander along and I make a mental note to stop at the pretty florist on the way back for some Daffodils......

It's always lovely to see traditional shops looking smart and well used..........

The pedestrianised streets are full of individual shops.......

Shall we walk through the pretty covered arcade........

Ahhhhhhhh, isn't it sweet :0)

At the end of it is this amazingly characterful building. You can read a bit about it HERE

It  looks out over the traditional market place, with its cobbled streets and interesting stalls......

On one side is the town hall which contains a small but interesting ( free) museum. It's on the second floor and I have to admit I was keen to visit mainly to see of there was a good view of the market place from up there.

And there was........

So much character...It's a shame the windows were dirty and the sky was cloudy....but it still looked lovely to me.

Inside the museum I found this amazing collection of dressing up clothes in the children's corner. All these outfits were beautifully handmade. The helpful attendant told us they were made by a volunteer........

This dress was my most favourite.......very Pride and Prejudice........The pretty details were perfect......

Made me wish I was young enough to have a fun dressing up game again.

There is another covered arcade in the same building , where we stopped for a little break......

The Lincolnshire Plum Bread was yummy  

and it was such a beautiful, calm and light filled space to sit and relax for a while.........

Back outside I spotted these wonderful vintage style dresses......a dressing up place for grown up girls ...

Tricky to photograph with all the reflections, but aren't they gorgeous

I didn't buy any of the practical stuff I normally get whenever we go to our usual market town, I was having too much fun exploring.....but I did get some sewing supplies from a nice market stall , for my latest  project :0)

 Oh, and from a charity shop in the first arcade I bought a sweet Devon Blueware jug....it will look nice on my dresser when I arrange it with Summery things...... 

It's a bit chipped and has a crack too, but I loved it's jolly spots so much I couldn't leave it behind.

 Newark-on-Trent is a great place to visit if you love a bit of period charm and character.  

It even has a lovely CASTLE with gardens and a riverside setting.........I'd love to go back and have a look around that one day too.

Jacquie x

Simple Baking :: Bachelors Buttons

Hello Lovelies, 

after I had mentioned my fondness for the old Be-Ro baking books in THIS post, Mum turned up one day with another simple baking book she has owned for many years..........

It was easy to know when it was published :0)..........

Mum was very active in the Women's Institute when we lived in Yorkshire. She was on committees and even went round to local groups giving humorous talks.........something I could never imagine doing.

"Tea Time Treats" is a collection of recipes submitted by WI members.

They are, in the words of the introduction, "a host of delicious recipes that you can make with the utmost ease and economy, enjoy successful cooking and earn the compliments of your family and friends"
Sounds good to me :0)

However the names of these treats are sometimes a little odd.......anyone for Cats Tongues ?!

Ermmmmmm, maybe they are nicer than they sound :0)

Now then , this is novel and more appealing ............

Bachelors Buttons looked so simple I had to give them a try.

I don't often have hard butter in the fridge but I had some left over from the boys school cooking lessons that needed using up, so that was another reason to try this biscuit recipe.

 I cut it up into small pieces and popped it into a bowl with the flour and sugar..........

Then rubbed it in ..........

Added a beaten egg............

And formed a dough..........

The recipe didn't say what sort of sugar to use so I used caster sugar, both in the dough and to roll the balls in, before popping them on a lined baking sheet.............

I followed the instructions and made a small hole in the centre with my little finger.............

And added a small amount of jam ............

I was concerned the jam would bubble out so I didn't use much, but the low oven temperature avoided that ( I reduced the temperature slightly for my fan oven  )

Next time I'll make a bit bigger hole and add more filling.............

I made a few with lemon curd and these were our favourites. They were crunchy on the outside, soft and buttery on the inside, with a love pop of zingy lemon in the middle.........YUMMY...........

I only made 12 biscuits, but that was enough as they are nicest eaten straight away...........

 Bachelors Buttons were declared a big success. 

 I do like a bit of simple baking and I'm sure I'll be trying another "Tea Time Treat" recipe quite soon.
Jacquie x