The sewing that is just not happening....

If I was superstitious, I would be saying that my sewing mojo is jinxed. Let me telly you why.

Last Saturday, I went for a long walk with Jack and friends, it was pouring with rain. I got soaked from the hip down because my rain jacket is quite short. Getting soaked reminded me of a parka that I had been meaning to sew for 9 months or so. Pattern and fabric have been waiting patiently in a zip bloc bag. After I changed into dry clothes, I decided to get going because you should never interrupt creative energy flows if you can avoid it at all. Luck was on my side, all children were busy. It is parka season here in Scotland and the timing was perfect. The fabric is a rainproof yellow polyurethane laminate l that I bought from Stoff&Stil. So here's me, unfolding the pattern and looking at the measurements, feeling quite excited about a challenging sewing project. Then I noticed that I am no longer in the size range of the pattern, which is on the one hand great but it is also really annoying because I actually had the pdf printed by Patternsey to save time and sellotape. The thought of grading it down put me off completely. Fabric, pattern and all the trimmings are back in their bag. I am not sure if I'll be the smaller size range. If only pattern designers had one single pattern for all sizes!

Never mind I thought, I have a blouse cut out waiting to be made. If you follow my friend Jo, she recently made this very same blouse in a gorgeous floral drapey fabric and I loved it so much that I decided to make my own. We do live several hundred miles apart and that chances of showing up at a party wearing the same outfit are exceptionally small (which is a shame actually). The pattern is from a previous Great British Sewing Bee book that I found covered in dust on my book shelves. I knew it would come in handy one day. Did I ever mention that I loathe pattern tracing? I really do. Anyway, my fabric is a dark purple, really rich and warm, like a very fresh aubergine. As it turns out, I have no purple thread that matches the fabric. I never thought of checking because surely one of my four purple threads would be ok. Not so, completely different kinds of purple. I probably need to go to a shop to find the right shade because colour matching is not easy on a screen. This project is now also back in a bag, waiting for a better day.

See, jinxed. By then, my creative energy flow was a bare trickle and I resigned myself to some more utility sewing to make the best of time available. I made a brand-new peg apron with an ancient Ikea canvas fabric. I just remember that the peg apron was also a project that lay abandoned for a while because I didn't have any ric-rac trim for decoration and honestly, who'd want a peg apron that is not lavishly adorned with ric-rac trim? I don't. I had ordered some on Ebay, the colour was not quite right but not so bad that I didn't want to use it. Looking at the photo, I have to admit now that the trim is barely noticeable...  Maybe I am a bit of a diva? Anyway, the new peg apron is just what my washing line needed. My model was in a rush to get back to playing and I had exactly 4 seconds to take the photos. He is tiny and on my own waist, the bow is only a fraction of the size!

I also made two more little cherry stone pillows with nine blocks of patchwork that I had made using the tiniest scraps possible. they are rather sweet I think and a good way of using up the tiniest of scraps. I tested these yesterday evening when I had an agonising tummy ache. Nice and comforting.

Fingers crossed that next weekend will be more successful with regards to garment sewing. This year has been pitiful so far. I made two plain t-shirts (navy and white) that are just too boring to share.

In the meantime, I'll continue making blocks for my Ice Cream soda quilt. I have forty seven so far but only 45 are in this screenshot of my photo folder. Getting there.

Thanks for stopping by and saying hello. Have a good week! xx