It's raining it's pouring

After months and months and months of drought we have finally had blessed rain. Its been a deluge and the tail end of cyclone Oswald and it has filled our empty water tank and both the dams. Hallelujah!!

Top dam

Driveway

This dam was bone dry just 8 hours ago.

Flowing into top dam

                                                                          

Water coming from Mt Edwards behind us and into top dam

Looking toward bottom dam

 Please excuse the hopeless photo placement but blogger does not make it easy.

New Vogues

I love waking up to find a whole new season of patterns has been released. Such was the case this morning when I found that Vogue has shown us their take on spring 2013 in the northern hemisphere. I am ambivalent about a lot of them but there are a couple of standouts. The skirt on the Guy Laroche dress is just beautiful.

I can see this made up in a drapey chiffon.
 I like this Sandra Betzina dress to but I think there are much better fabric choices out there.
This could get very Desigual with the right fabrics.
I love the neckline on this one and can see me making it up into the dress in maybe a silk. I would extend the sleeve down into a 3/4 length. The pants look really comfy too.
 
Is this girl about to hail a cab or throw a dart? How pretty and feminine is this.  I will def be making a couple of these. Look at how nice the back is.

I think this striped one has potential and could make a great dress.

For me that is about all that caught my eye. Once I see the others made up differently by the many talented girls sewing around the world I will probably change my mind on a few. That is exactly what happened with Vogue 8771. I wasn't really in love with any pictures of it but ordered the pattern  anyway as it was cheap and I needed more tops that weren't just t-shirts. I have had this red leopard winter weight hanging around for a while and as if by magic the pattern and fabric met up yesterday and beautiful music was made. It looks great with black leggings as the back is really long. I am now looking for another fabric to make this up in as I feel I will own a few of them and would like to use some contrasting colours.

I also made up KwikSew 3952 in this lovely ridged knit. I have made this fabric up in the past in the cream and it is just so well behaved and washes like a rag. This will be a great topper to throw on when I am freezing in NZ next week. I am lucky enough to be able to visit the land of the long white rain cloud for 2 weeks and  plan on seeing a bit of the east coast. I will also get my colours done and do a style session with a lady in Auckland so that will be fun. The weather forecast is for lots of rain this weekend so that means either a dry weekend or lots of sewing if they are right, not much so far. Oh, my shoulder is still really painful and makes trying clothes on a nightmare, hell everything is painful, but I get the needle on Tuesday so relief after that. If not I will become a drug addict.

Don't forget to turn and have a great weekend.


 

Sunday bloody Sunday

Still no rain and just about the entire states of Victoria and NSW still on fire altho I did see where cooler conditions are making life easier for fire-fighters. Sydney recorded its hottest day ever a couple of days ago, Friday I think, where they recorded 45c. NOW can we talk about climate change? The monsoon moisture has moved into the NT finally so we can now start out wet season. Interestingly, 20 years ago the same weather pattern was recorded and then 20 years before that. It is as dry as tinder outside and living in the bush in a timber house is a little unsettling when the rest of the country is on fire. Rain , just bloody rain ffs...................

Underlining cut and ready to hand baste

Muslin pieces for the bodice and midriff band

 There has been progress made on the couture dress with bodice cut and hand-basted together. Today I will do the midriff band and sew it to the bodice. I have chosen a beautiful black medium weight woven with a blingy thread running through it. The pic does not do it justice, black is very hard to photograph.



Why does blogger make it so hard to position pictures??????????

I have signed up for the fitting class at Craftsy and also the Silk class. What a great format that is. Really easy to use and very well presented. I have learnt so much already and I am sure I will learn so much more.

 The finished McCalls 6163. I am very happy with this dress. It is easy to wear and nicely drafted. I removed the collar and sewed a band to the neckline instead. I had to sew the sleeves to the front and back pieces then put it on Miranda to change the shape of the neckline. There was very little re-shaping involved, really just trimming the point where the front sleeve seams met the neckline. The band stops the neck from gaping. 

Two patterns arrived from Etsy this week and I have big plans for both of them.
Also two new fabrics arrived home from the shops. The left one is a beautiful silky chiffon which is heading off to someone else but the spot stays with me! Another beautiful silky chiffon that will be a bitch to sew but a joy to wear.

 Have a great day.

Really interesting.....

Sunday 6 Jan
I have yet to try this little doohickey out but it sure looks good. Thanks to Lena over at The Sewing Space.

I made the trip into town on Friday and returned home with lots of wonderful floaty goodness. I just cannot walk away from a sale especially when I have been lusting after these fabrics for a long time and now they are marked down to $5m ! So with my new patterns in one hand and new fabric in the other I am in sewing heaven. I also received the pattern I bought from a wonderful etsy seller named Lisa. Her shop is FarfallaDesign Studio. She has some absolutely beautiful patterns from the great fashion designers of the world.

Pattern purchased from Lisa at FarfallaDesignStudio at Etsy. Sitting on the fabric I am going to make this from.

Not my picture but my sentiments......

Oh how I love a new pattern drop..............

Thanks to my kind friend I got these in the mail today from the recent Vogue online sale.....

I had a piece of this fabric marinating in the stash and waiting for a pattern to match up with so when these arrived it was a match made in heaven!

So after a bit of cutting out I now have this ready to sew.

2 January

Well hello 2013 and here we all are in one piece. It was touch and go for a while there I know what with the mayans and the pollies both set to drive us to ultimate ruin. While the mayans have gone the pollies are still around to wreck their vengence. It will be an interesting year in politics with a number of interesting items still yet to be resolved.
Sewing is going well if not slowly. New Look 6912 view A with a 3/4 length lace sleeve and lace overlay in the waist band.

Looks a bit bridal but is a really pretty dress. It has a different skirt to the pattern as I wanted something that would drape and flow and not be as structured as the 6 gore skirt. The lining is now sewn in, by hand no less! The front was being pulled down by the weight of the skirt and needed a lining to hold it up in place. I also lined the skirt as it was fairly transparent . It look lovely on and when I get it hemmed I will take photos on a live dummy. I am still working on the muslin for the Susan Kjalie dress and have a bit of a fitting dilemma. Do I wait a couple of weeks or just make it tight now? Time might actually solve this problem as in, it will take me weeks to get much more done!
 Dogs panting hard today, Temp 40c

Goodbye 2012

 Sunday 30th December 2012
Another year nearly gone and it was an interesting one. I went to the US in February to the sewing expo at Puyallup in Seattle which was just great. I did a lot of classes and had a great time with like minded people (old bags who sew a lot). I spent time in San Francisco with dear friends and just had the best time. I also went to NZ for 10 days for a 50th wedding anniversary. That was fun. I was elected president of the local garden club which is a big deal in these parts. It has kept me extremely busy and I have met a huge number of people. I have another year to do and it will be even better as I have settled down into the position and it is not all so new and scary anymore. DH has worked most of the year in Ghana and is currently in NZ. The evil boy children are now both over 21. One is still living at home and will probably never leave and the other one is at uni. That will probably be his lifetime career as he has no drive at all. Shame really as he could be so much, he has some very deep rooted problems he needs to sort out first I think before he can move on. It has finally rained enough to change the landscape from brown to green. Very thankful for that. We went from July to December with virtually no rain. Now we are getting good rain a couple of times a week. I have made heaps of stuff, skirts, dresses, tops, pants. All a lot of fun and a lot of learning, not all successful but that's just part of the process.
Goals for 2013.
The big one is to lose the final 10kgs.
Learn to be a better dressmaker.
These two objectives are already under construction so to speak.
I am emptying the pantry of unhealthy food this week and stocking up with the good stuff. I have set of goal of 365 days of exercise, no excuses. I really enjoyed it last time I did it and this time will employ the services of a personal trainer too. Start date Jan 1.
I have enrolled in an on line sewing class and I am part way through the muslin. I will do more work on that today. I am taking my sewing from the everyday to gourmet. I have already learnt that couture sewing is generous and all about control. Nothing is left to chance.
So onward and upward and inward!
Dogs are panting.