Perfect pouch

Today Isabel asked to make something and we settled on a zippered pouch. It turned out to be too advanced and I helped her a little with pretty much everything.

I used a pattern from Oh Fransson for a Perfect Zippered pouch and it turned out very well. She plans to use it when she goes on camp this summer but I think it will see use before that as a pencil case in school.

I think I will have to try and convince her to make tote bags before she starts to make anything more advanced. She wants too much too soon.

I did however set up my old Pfaff sewing machine on my sewing desk so I think I will cut up some pieces of fabric and let her try on that - maybe she can put together some charms for a doll's quilt or something ... we'll see.

Dressmaking part 1/?

I finished yet another dress for Sofia today before we headed off to celebrate Easter eve at my parents'.



The new Pinwheel pattern from Oliver + S looks like a dress with two flounces but is really a slip dress with one flounce layered with a tunic with another flounce.

I really want to try and make the tunic with two flounces but that's a project for another day.

This one is a bit of a mishmash fabric wise. The flounce on both dress and tunic is a poly cotton blend eyelet that I used to make a ruffle halter dress for Isabel last year for graduation.
The dress is a rather sheer cotton batiste in an off-white colour, too sheer to use on its own unless as nightwear.
The tunic is a white cotton sateen that I bought a huge length of a few months ago. I plan to make one or two Music Class blouses from it as well.

It's not as soft as the unbleached cotton sateen I used for a Class Picnic dress for Sofia.



That dress has been claimed as a nightie and the only thing I would have liked to do differently on it is the sleeves. They would do well to have been a few inches longer.
But she likes it.

New decor

For some reason we have a house filled with furniture from IKEA. It wasn't a conscious choice, it just sort of happened that way.

The only piece of furniture we own that isn't IKEA is our dining room table which we bought when we moved into our big flat in town in '98.

When we moved into our house we used it for a dining room table for a while before we did a huge switch in 2009 and put our kitchen table into storage and started using the dining table for every day meals.

We needed new chairs and ended up buying a set of 4 at a flea market. They have served us well, but they were old and scuffed and one was broken after it fell over. Rickard mended it but  it didn't look as nice any more.

So when I found a new black rug online in February I decided to get us some new chairs as well.

So on Wednesday with snow dumping all over me I went and got a new set of four chairs at a furniture store in town. Actually *not* IKEA this time.
I love how bright they are and I think they go well with our birch table even if that isn't painted white.

The rug was larger than I had thought - it's so hard imagining it just using the measurements I think - but it fit well anyway.

Here - have some snow!

Wednesday was Vernal Equinox Day, marking the time when the days are getting longer than the nights.

It's been light in the morning for a few weeks and we really needed that after our glum January.

What we didn't need was a huge snow dump on the evening before the Vernal Equinox. We got off pretty easy where I live. Just a few km to the south there were a lot more problems with the snow and high winds.

We still have fairly cold temps (-7C this morning) so the snow is still here, but I'm hoping for warmer winds next week so the snow can thaw and we can have a nice, warm, sunny Easter.

Dining area update

I finished our new curtains for the kitchen last night.



I made them floor length this time and I like the change.

Since we moved in here 6 years ago I think I've made new Spring curtains every year (brand new or updated the previous year's). I like the change from the brown winter/Christmas curtains to these who let in more light.

We'll get a new rug for the dining area in two or three weeks and when we do we'll update the chairs as well. These were bought at a flea market 5 years ago and they are mended and scuffed and generally not what I wanted to begin with.

I've had Such Fun!

Oops. I sort of fell out of this blogging habit (again). Not sure what I have been doing instead.

We've been ill. Celebrated loads of birthdays (mine included). But now the birthdays are done for a while - next one is in April - so it's a bit more quiet.



I picked up my ring just before my birthday. I love it, but in this cold weather we've been having it gets a bit small as my fingers shrink a little. I'll see if I get used to it - otherwise I'll have it altered.

Sewing-wise things have happened. Mostly Sofia-stuff. All is available to view in my Flickr-stream.

I am working on a (non O+S) tunic for Isabel that I hope to finish tonight. With a bit of discipline I'll get back to regular updating soon.

But I'm not promising anything.