My Sew-a-long skirt

Hello lovelies,

I've made it here at last.  I have written umpteen posts in my head but that doesn't get them into the blogosphere does it?  It's a long story, so if you don't mind I'll omit it.

Today I'm linking up with Lazy Daisy Jones and the other participants for the big reveal of our Sew-a-long of McCalls pattern 3341.

Daisy has been giving brilliant tutorials for those who need it and has made five or six versions of the skirt herself.

It's a long time since I sewed a garment for myself and once I got into it I found I was enjoying it. 

Thank you very much Daisy for organising and putting so much time and effort into the sew-a-long :-)

As my skirt is black there isn't much to see so I hung it on my dresser for additional interest

Ta dah...!

Thank you so much for all your comments :-) they really make my day... bless you all.

Ttfn xx

Mand-a-long thus far.. and a visitor...

Hello dear readers,

Just a quick post today so that I can link up with all the lovely mand-a-long peeps over at Lazy Daisy Jones and Chrissie Crafts. Come on over and take a peek :-)

I'm currently working on my fourth mandala. I was so pleased with my third one that I am making another and writing the pattern to go with it.  If you had told me before I started that I would begin to make them up as I went along I doubt I would have believed you!

The upper two are blocked and the lower left waiting patiently whereas the wee one is still growing...

I've also signed up for Daisy's sew-a-long (see the button at the top of this page for link)

BUT....

...oh dear, a spanner has well and truly been thrown into the works to mess with my merry makes. There is a damp patch on the wall in the studio (due to the rain we've had) so I left the door open the other day to help it dry out...as you do..... It wasn't until the next day when we found large patches of wee that we realised we had a visitor. At first I thought it must be a cat and that it had sneaked back out when Lovely Husband opened the studio up and had gone off to fetch something. We were fooled. Oh dearie me.... I went back in yesterday and they was another puddle and we realised it hasn't been a naughty feline visitor but one of a rodent nature. It's now behind the plumbing pipes in the wall. We think it must be a rat of large size due to the big puddles it leaves behind.  So dear readers my beautiful studio is currently a mess as we have boarded up access to shelves, piled stuff on the tables, brought loads of precious stash, drawings etc over to the cottage until Mr or Mrs rodent is there no more... I have tried leaving the door open for it to escape but methinks it likes it's new home.

I shall let you know when I've moved back in....

Cheery bye

Tracey xxxx