Silent Sunday

More Shabby Than Chic Bunting

I love the Pinaddicts challenge. It mashes up my love of crafting, with my secret addiction to pinterest, and blogging. What more could this girl want?

So this month, still clinging onto the sewing machine, and with the Jubilee in mind, I had a bash at bunting. Not the trickiest of projects I grant you but that was intentional. I seem to have a shortage of me-time at the moment so this needed to be crammed into an evening.

Here is my inspiration available from Pottymoos.com.

I had an old shirt from the Mr, a patchwork top I picked up for £1, some gingham ribbon for £2 and plain white tape for 60p from the market and I found a template from TheBigLunch.com. What I didn't have was any instructions. Could I be bothered to look? Nope. So I kind of bodged it like so.

Borrow a pair of pinking shears (Ouch! Pricey! So now on my Christmas list) and cut out 8 triangles of the patchwork fabric, and 8 of the shirt fabric for the backing. I figured the pinked edges would only add character to the bunting (and I could not be bothered to sew them and then turn them).

Then I measured and cut the gingham ribbon to form a Union Jack inspired cross.
I took the front piece of the bunting and zigzagged the ribbon down the length of the pendant pinking the ends.
Then I zigzagged the ribbon across, left to right.
Then top left to bottom right and finally top right to bottom left to make up the full cross.

Then I pinned the wrong sides of the front and back pieces of the pendant together and zigzagged all around.

It was at this point I realised I should have just cut the pendant pieces using straight scissors and only pinked the edges after each pendant was sewn toegther. That way I wouldn't have bits of ribbon hanging over the edges and have to try to cut them in a zigzag shape with regular scissors having given the pinking shears back and it being 10 o'clock at night. Doh.

Finally I positioned the pendants along the length  of tape ensuring that the gap between each one was the same and zigzagged each pendant onto the tape.

And there you have it. My more-shabby-than-chic Bunting.

Now for more craftiness inspired by pinterest, go to Simply Outnumbered who is hosting this months Pinaddicts extravaganza.

Jubilovely

We were all set.
And then it rained on our parade.
But it wouldn't be Britain or a Bank Holiday without a little rain.
Note the word 'little', clouds!

So we grilled indoors. We stuffed our faces on cupcakes and chocolate fondue, after a face full of burgers, sausages and chicken. We drank Prosecco and when that ran out, Rose. Hard times!

Then, we had a discussion about when the Coronation actually was. The 2nd? The 3rd?
My birthday is the 2nd of June and I KNEW it was the 2nd. So we googled it. And sure enough it was the 2nd of June 1953. But, hang on a minute. Now my maths is pretty darn good but even I questioned my numeracy skills when I tried to work out how many years there are between 1953 and 2012. I'm pretty sure, even after checking on the calculator and counting on all the fingers and toes of those sat around the table combined, that the answer is 59.
But we are celebrating a Diamond Jubilee, which is for 60 years.
So... err..

Right, so George VIth died on February 6th 1952. The Queen's accession to the throne was announced on 8th February 1952, and the Coronation was on the 2nd June 1953.
So shouldn't we have celebrated the Diamond Jubilee about 4 months ago or in another year?
Confused.

Oh wait. I know. We waited till the 2nd of June to have better weather for street parties. *shakes umbrella* and this year because someone miss-counted back in 1977 for the Silver Jubilee.

Whatever. I have a headache I blame on the wine and bunting I can save for next year ;-)

Hope you celebrated in style whatever the weather x

Refashion and all that

I have discovered a new passion.

It is upcycling or refashioning depending on your preference. Upcycling for things and refashioning for clothes (or I may be completely wrong. So shoot me).

The other day I turned a rather cute skirt found in Cancer Research into a pretty dress for Princess O. Yes, just like that. Yes <punches air>. I used a free downloadable pattern from Oliver + S but they also have some really cute dress patterns for sale too.

Stupidly I didn't take a 'before' picture so you will have to trust me on this one! In future I will be sure to take both before and after shots or else I will be forever doubted. Except by the bin man who may catch a glimpse of the entrails of an old dress falling into the bin lorry.

I am now however obsessed with charity shops and find myself scouring the shelves and rails for anything that would make a likely cushion cover (was a dressing gown) or paper bunting (kids story books with missing pages. It would be a crime to cut up a book otherwise!).

Anyway, I will keep you updated with progress and treasure finds. But must dash as the Wee One has upcycled the dog's water bowl into a paddling pool.