Procrastination central

I know. This blog has languished neglected of late. My apologies, but looking after a household of invalids while rehearsing a variety concert is enough to keep anyone busy.

Recently: I learnt to make jam in the microwave, and made a small batch of strawberry jam by myself and assisted with a large batch of mulberry. Blueberry jam may be just around the corner.

6 mice are finished and another two are WIPs.

I plan to make a diagonally striped top very soon - I've figured out the alterations needed to the pattern and hopefully can get it one this week. It's a Kwik-sew pattern but I can't remember the number just now.

I also made mulberry muffins using a variant on the blueberry muffin recipe I worked out last year. Nice!

Mice and Food

Firstly, the room that contains both the computer and the sewing machine has been undergoing a Major Reorganisation, hence both the lack of updates here and the lack of dressmaking lately. All is now (hopefully) back in place, and certainly there is much more available light in the room, so I think we might have got it right!

Now on to what I have actually been doing:

The mice progress. Lizzie and Darcy mice are basically complete. Jane mouse is finished except her arms aren't attached yet (sorry Jane!) because I'm waiting until I've done Bingley mouse so they can be doing something cute and couple-y like having linked arms. Bingley mouse isn't even started yet - although I had very good intentions in that line, but I was sabotaged by having chosen a yarn for his breeches that SAID it was DK but actually knitted up Much Much Smaller.

Take note: Lincraft brand DK acrylic is a thin DK.

However, I was able to use the too-small Bingley-breeches for the Artful Dodger (irritating, as I had been going to try out the child mouse pattern for him, but oh well) and he's coming up quite nicely. Fagin is also underway - my eyes were watering a bit whenever I looked at the colours I had picked for him, but he doesn't look too clash-y now.

Oh yes! I downloaded the Dickensian Party Mice pattern from Alan Dart's website - it's a companion piece to the Dickensian Mice Sirdar booklet and has indoor clothes rather than outdoor, so includes things like frills for the ladies skirts and necklines, and gentlemens' frock coats. Very useful!

In the cooking line, I made strawberry tarts to this recipe for Fathers' Day afternoon tea - very nice flavour but mine came out much too big - I only got 6 where the recipe says it makes 8. Also I used my old faithful pastry recipe, but for once it wasn't a great success. :-( Next time I'll try the honey/spice version and see how that goes.

I've also done some experiments lately in jellied fruit, by which I mean fruit in jelly. Mulberries (courtesy of the M-I-L-E) in Blackcurrant Jelly and Strawberries (from the farm stall down the road) in Purple Grape Jelly. I regret not getting photos of either of these, because they were very attractive, but they vanished before I could. I think that means they were a success!

I also made apple, pecan and cinnamon mini-muffins yesterday - the first batch were slightly overcooked but very tasty - second batch were fine.

Now I'm off to try to get the pink shirt finished. I fear I may have left it too late though - the weather is rapidly warming...

Current activities

 In a rush, so just a quick run-down of what the current projects are:

Knitting:
- Alpaca scarf - Made from 3 balls of an alpaca boucle that's been floating around for a while, in a 3 by 3 rib stitch. About halfway.
- Doll's Kimono - Made from Bendigo Classic 5 ply wool, in Butternut (a sort of apricot colour). Back done and half one front.
- Doll's Welsh outfit - done
- Slip-rib tunic - UFO

Crochet:
- Scarf for Mum - Made from Bendigo Classic 2 ply wool in Cherry Red. About... 5 inches done.
- Doll's Welsh hat - done
- Blue/green hat - yet to start

Dressmaking:
- Navy skirt - still needs waistband finishing
- Navy jacket - cut out but not sewn
- Light blue blouse - fronts and back cut out but not sleeves
- White shirt - stuck at the collar which doesn't seem to fit the neck
- Blue/green top - cut out, marked and pinned
- Blue green skirt - done
- Wool skirt - still figuring out how to do the yoke

Recent baking:
- Butterscotch brownies
- Survival bikkies
- Lemon curd

Updates

So. Damn. Cold.

I know it's winter here, but still, it's supposed to be the sub-tropics. It just shouldn't be this cold, is all.

Wall-hangings for the twins are proceeding apace - i.e. they are done apart from the actual calligraphy. All dressmaking is on hold until I get them done - I need all the daylight I can get!

Doll costumes continue - the Welsh doll outfit is taking more time than expected because I've redone the shawl at least 3 times already. Still, I think I've got it figured out now.

An unexpected crochet hat happened the other day. I blame the yarn fumes. California 8ply 100% wool in colour 'Storm' (which is green and purple, go figure). From the stash, though, so it was stashbusting, not startitis. (It's important to keep these things straight.) And I'm thinking of doing a pair of wristwarmers in the leftovers.

It's ideal weather for baking, so chocolate biscuits might be happening sometime soon. No more muffins just yet though - we still have quite a few in the freezer.

She returns

So, He Who Provides A Shoulder told me to get back to doing this (probably because he doesn't want to hear about it). So here I am, back again!

Life's been hectic, but at least it's changed from a moving-house sort of hectic to more of a spinning-around-in-circles kind.

Also, the camera is out of action at present. This will hopefully be remedied soon. Putting batteries in would be a start.

But without further ado, a brief summary of things since I last updated:

Solomon's shrug: DONE! Also I made another one in navy Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo. VERY nice.

Medieval doll's dress: Abandoned. The fabric just wasn't doing what it needed to in terms of drape etc. The polycotton poplin was definitely too stiff. Linen or wool would obviously be better, but Pricey! Anyway, I achieved my goal of trying out the medieval dress cutting/sewing diagram and now have a better idea of how it works for a adult.

Navy skirt: Um. No progress. Definitely will get it done soon though.

Baking: Belgian Chocolate Cake made successfully and to rave reviews. Very complicated to make though; I don't think I'll be doing it too often.

I also signed up to help make costumes for my favourite local theatre group who are doing a 60s theatre restaurant. This is what's currently driving me round the bend (in a good way, mostly).

First off was making 16 tulle petticoats - I used the tutorial here for the construction except that I didn't sew the fabric yoke into a tube as I didn't have hip measurements and wanted to make sure people could get into them. Polycotton poplin yokes (Spotlight) and the stiffest, plainest, cheapest tulle/netting I could find (Lincraft), with 1/4inch elastic. I also tied the elastic in a knot so people can adjust if needed.

Now I need to make 9 silver satin circular skirts to match the 7 existing gold skirts. Requested 11.7 metres of fabric, was presented with 10 (all they had on the bolt). Which means, according to my calculations, that I'm going to get 7.5 skirts out of this length, and then hopefully I'll be able to match the stuff or I'll have to get enough for a full two skirts. One skirt is made already, so I'm planning to get the cutting out all done this afternoon, and then see where I am. (There's always a chance my calculations may be a bit off...)

Anyway, I'll keep you posted. Hopefully I can edit this later to add pictures.