Well my excuse is I have been busy - what can I say? Sorry.

I promised photos and photos you shall have - at least it will show you how busy I have been!

Here is the very big crane they were using on the railway - and still hard at work (well, not really, they have made a huge mess, wandered off and left us to deal with the large potholes on the crossing. I expect they will finish some time soon).

Consider that this is a large two storey barn, about 100 metres this side of the crossing, the crossing itself is several metres lower than the base of the barn, and I am at the bottom of a slope! It was HUGE!

 This is the rose I have been raiding at Vera's garden - it is a rambler, no idea of the variety, and is now finished for the year as far as I can tell. I am keeping an eye out for some lattice at the tip so I can fasten it back to the wall of the shed.

 I made up various mixtures involving rhubarb leaves, copper and iron mordants, vinegar, ammonia and water and so forth and popped them in jars to sit in the sun. The sun promptly disappeared for several days an I became impatient so they were then subjected to microwaving.

 And this is the range of colours you can derive from one rose colour! Amazing isn't it. The grey is probably more iron than rose, but the rest are quite lovely. And the grey works well as a complementary colour with these tones.

 That being done, I had to knit them up and so created this tam adapting an 8 ply pattern to the 5 ply of the Bluebell and adding the patterns from a completely different book.

This is the underside of the tam.
















I also finished the vest I was knitting which has turned our rather well I think. There is a lot of yarn left over (apart from the main colour of course) so I have just spun up some additional main colour and have started a tam to match the vest. The vest actually fits too - which was a nice surprise!




































Speaking of the things you find at the tip, I picked up this rather nice regency striped fabric in the shape of a discarded curtain. There is a certain subtle pressure once you start spinning, and live in a town prone to the odd heritage festival, to wear period costume. I have stubbornly resisted this as I hate making a spectacle of myself, and also because fabric is so damned expensive. But this was too good to pass up.

Washing it provided a timely reminder that there is a reason they say curtains are dry-clean only, but it was simply a pinkish wash over the cream, so no harm done.














A trip to the Bargain Centre provided this to form the basis of the pattern which, together with the dress making form and swathes of calico allowed me to produce this:

 I was pleased to find that, despite having to match stripes, I was able to obtain all relevant pieces for the gown - including sleeves which are not yet inserted. They will be modified to a more period-appropriate shape. But it's all a bit too immodest at present, so I am making a high-collared (but loosish for comfort) false underblouse .

 As you can see, the collar is in place, the piece of broderie is to be pintucked and adorned with the broderie strip that is loosely laid over it. This has been dyed a pale green and threaded with a deep pink ribbon and will also adorn the false sleeves that will poke out of the gown sleeves.

And there I have ground to a halt because I have nowhere to set up the machine that also gives me access to the form and the iron. I took the pattern and fabric down to the recreation shed to cut it out, but rather draw the line at carting the whole workshop down there!

 So I paused for a bit to admire the garden which is both thriving and providing a fine habitat for the local frog population - amazing what having water on tap can do for your gardening efforts.

The apricot is just ripening now so I expect I will have yet another interruption to jam/bottle/chutney and stew fruit for a while. And the neighbour's flowering gum is looking quite splendid despite their efforts to kill it by plowing too close to the trunk.

But while I was musing on the garden an item popped up on a buy sell FB page which has solved the sewing challenge (albeit with deferred gratification as I have just broken the drive band).



This thing of beauty came complete with even more attachments than my old 1954 Singer had - zigzag, pleating, roll hem, button hole, you name it, and it even has its manual still. The drive band was held together with  a paper glider, and broke the instant I tried pedalling too fast, but there is a local saddler who I am sure can provide a substitute. So I will amuse myself cleaning it and de-greasing/repacking the various moving parts while I wait to sort out a solution.

Hope you all had a good Christmas and Happy New Year - I broke a tooth on the New Year break (another one!!) so am now the proud if poor possessor of Extra's cover as the 'free' dental service requires you to turn up on the offchance they might fit you in. Which since it involves a trip to Hobart to sit and wait did not seem a terribly sound solution. Choosi found me one that waived the waiting period so I will use it to deal with both teeth, and a new pair of glasses and see how I am coping with the payments.