Hay ride and jeans update

Spaghetti (our cat) nearly had a trip out with us the other day.
We'd loaded up the pick up and trailer with hay to take to some friends, went in the house for a few minutes, and when we came out she was on top

she jumped across to the trailer (pity I didn't get a photo of her mid flight)

This is not the first time we've had a pet make a bid for freedom like this - Lotto did a similar thing last year!


I've sewn the bias tape onto the jeans from my last post and I'm really pleased with them now

Ada, Vintage Sheet Addict suggested sewing a flower on too.  I wondered if I could cut one out of the tape but there weren't any complete ones, but then it struck me that it was bias tape so I folded it into binding and did this

which I think just finishes them off.

Dyeing for a change

I'm in need of some new playing out jeans and unearthed a pair in my wardrobe that I'd never worn.  A friend gave them to me years ago but they were too small for me at the time.  They fit me now but are slightly too short.

They're also very dark and new looking so I thought I'd have a go at at tie dyeing them with bleach. 
I used Tesco's thin bleach which is 29p for two litres, and used about 15p worth in a bucket of water.
  
I absolutely loved how they came out, so much so that I decided they looked too good for confining to gardening and painting!  With this in mind I lengthened them to be worn with heels rather than flats.
I unpicked the hems, using scissors, because my seam ripper disappeared in mysterious circumstances a couple of weeks ago ....... I was using it at the computer and when I'd finished I took it, and whatever I'd been unpicking, over to my sewing machine at the other end of the room.  When I got there (which is only nine steps away)  I didn't have the seam ripper!  It's a laminate floor and I didn't hear it fall and I searched for it to no avail.  Spooky!

Anyway back to the jeans... 
I ironed out the bottoms and overcast the raw edge.  To lengthen them I had the great idea of cutting a couple of inches off the bottom of my old jeans so that I could use the existing hem, and sewing them to the new ones on the outside.  I thought if I then frayed the raw edge in would act as an edging between the old and new and look as though it had always been there.  

The concept seemed like a good idea but in practice the old jeans fabric is an entirely different shade and looks quite drab compared to the vibrant tie dyeing.

So now I'm wondering if they should be relegated to playing out status or if I can remedy it.
Here's what they look like now

What I'm thinking is that I could put something brighter in the 'extension'.
Such as ric rac, but I've only enough of this blue for one row

or I've got this bias tape which just fits nicely

So what do you think?  Are they good enough to face the public as they are or with the extra decoration, or should they be confined to house and garden?  
Be honest, I don't mind if you say I should keep them for playing in - after all I've just cut the bottoms off my old ones!

The animals went in two by two

Remember the tablecloth/bed cover I showed you the other day?  Well I've combined it with some fabric I got off freecycle

and made a couple of tote bags.
One has an elephant on one side and a slightly chubby cheetah on the other (or it could be a leopard but chubby leopard doesn't sound as good).
Check out my arty photo shoot!

The other one also has an elephant, but on the reverse is a wildebeest (or it could be a buffalo!)

I've lined them with the other fabric and and put a pocket in.  They can be used inside out too

They're for sale in my Folksy shop.


I dropped on three pieces of fabric at the charity shop yesterday

The first one is just over a yard of upholstery fabric

I love the second one which is dress weight and has a 1950s/60s feel about it.  I can see it with pearls and 'Evening in Paris' perfume!
Only trouble is it's 36" wide and there's only 1 3/4 yards so I'm a bit limited what to use it for.

The colour is actually deeper than this, more like the first photo.

They were both £1 each, but the last one was only 75p and there's four yards of it!
I think whoever priced it up thought no one would be interested in it, but I think it's great

what's not to like about these buildings,trees and bridges?

It's another dress weight and I'm thinking some kind of shift dress maybe.  What do you think?

All is safely gathered in

We've had a nice run of sunny weather to get our hay dry and it's now safely under cover.

I usually hate hay making (you may recall me moaning about it last year), but my son's friends helped again which made it so much easier.  We borrowed an extra trailer this year too which was really low to the ground which made for easier loading.  
My daughter pulled it with the old tractor.  She's only a slip of a thing and of course the tractor hasn't got power steering, but for her first time she made it look easy.

On another note, my childhood landmark, Thorpe Marsh Power station has had more of it's cooling towers demolished and now there are only two.

I hope they leave one standing because I'll miss it when it's gone.

Elephants in the hay

It's been a while since my last post, and I'm way behind with my blog reading, and I don't really know why!

I have been doing a lot of weeding in our's and my MIL's gardens, clearing up after my husband cut the hedges, and making numerous trips to the tip, but that hasn't taken up all my time.

I think I must have just been wasting my time on the computer.

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I did buy this from the charity shop

I thought it was a tablecloth but the ticket described it as a bed cover.  The fabric is quite thick and I've got plans for it.

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I've put a link to my Ebay page up on the top right hand side because I've been selling some of those buttons and zips I bought at the car boot sale.  I'm listing them every few days but I'm only posting to the UK because even here the postage is way more than the price of the buttons.  It works out a lot cheaper for multiple purchases though ;)

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We've finally had our hay cut today.  With all the wet weather this summer it's about a month late, and a lot of it had been flattened by the rain but it looks OK now it's cut.  

Now we just need a few days of sunshine to dry it.

Fingers crossed!