My lens on Brisbane

 I spent some time photographing Wickham Terrace, late on a May Sat afternoon. The shadows were long and the light was perfect.

Windmill

Reflections

Astor Hotel

Down the stairs

Up the stairs. Jacob's Well- Edward St

Brisbane architecture is a "mixed bag' and there is beauty, or not,  to be seen everywhere if you take the time  to look.

Week 2 MMM

Now at the end of week 2 of MMM, I have worn items Made By Me all week withe exception of the "Sharron bag" which is "Made by Sharron" . I have had a  few repeats of the resin rings and bangles on work days and added a "Kate touch" to my comfy slippers.

"Made by Sharron" bag

Skull and crossbow pants

Winter slippers

"Ghastlies" skirt

Little ferry on the river

Handmade May 2012

Resin rings n bangles made by me. The perfect handmade accessory with my corporate wardrobe. Repeats allowed.

I have worn one item "handmade by me" for the past 5 days. So far so good.

Right now Sth East Qld, weather wise,  is the most glorious place in the world to live. Cool mornings, but not too cold to not get out of bed, mostly clear days of 25 plus degrees and cool, crisp nights.

Sew Serendipity "Emmaline"

Spotted top (New Look pattern) by the pool

Leftover bag

Yes,  just glorious but.... I HAVE  NOTHING TO WEAR and this sudden plunge into Autumn, unusally wet and cool, wasn't quite what I was expecting for May!

My handmade wardrobe doesn't do "transitional" very well. Basically I have summer or winter with only a few in-be-tweeners hanging in my closet.

It's all good though as part of my pledge for MMM '12 was to organize my wardrobe, acknowledge  and fill the holes.  The remaining 26 days are a great opportunity to be creative with my layering and to fill in the gaps. I definitely have my eye on Vogue pattern 8634 that's been made so beautifully  by Sharron (Made By Sharron Blog).

 Ha. ha lets hope the weather stays mild but surely I can grant myself some dispensation for climate cooling. 

Aprons, Aprons, Aprons ....

AND AN APRON!

For the Junior "Master Chef"

I have been busy making beautiful aprons. These aprons are for the stylish and funky cook who doesn't want to forgo GLAM for the perfect meal!

ME MADE MAY '12

           'I, Kate of mixedbagofthreads sign up as a  participant of 

 I endeavor to wear one item of clothing or accessory that has been made by me, refashioned or upstyled each day for the duration of May 2012'

With only repeats on work days 'cos it will have to be jewellery or totes with the Corporate Wardrobe. Weekly Blog posts. 

 

I love this challenge. I haven't participated before so it's a great op to get stuff out of the wardrobe and the to do box and wear it.

I love a challenge but haven't done one like this before. It"s a good op to see what I've got, what I need and  define my style.

To join me the link to sign up is below.  and please leave a comment on my Blog with a link to yours as I'd love to see other people's take on this challenge.   

http://sozowhatdoyouknow.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/me-made-may-12-join-me.html

       
 Ha, ha I had to have tea and brownies while I contemplated this challenge. We love brownies, they make us all happy!

If you want some baking inspiration and would like to view some edible art, check out http://mybuttoncake.blogspot.com.au/

New Things

So exciting my Pinking Shears and Invisible Zip Foot arrived today. I sourced these from the always fabulous Sew Gorgeous. Check out the store on Sew Gorgeous' Face Book page.

Mind you I don't know how to use the new foot but that is a minor issue. I can do the invisible zip but the specific foot will make it sew much easier.

Yes I have recently purchased an overlocker so why the Pinking Shears? I will use the shears where I want to eliminate the bulk around a seam or in places that I won't overlock or zig zag, e.g the facing where it turns in on a neckline.

On the subject of my  overlocker I had huge sucess yesterday when I re threaded the "Lower Looper!"  I tried the easy way by knotting the next thread to follow on and feed itself through, but -of- course- it-broke. From there I had to read the manuel and with time and patience VOILA, back in business. Ha, ha the colour coding helped too.

This is a beautiful succulent from my garden. These gorgeous plants can be grown from a leaf, just stick a leaf in the ground and they keep growing and propegating without much care at all. They make me happy.

Resurrection

EASTER, Easter, Easter. Our Easter break has been glorious. the south east Queensland weather divine and the chocolate abundant!

We started the Easter break with a Pot Luck neighborhood dinner. Residents of the street all converged at one house bringing a pot to share. It was great to catch up with the neighbors that we know, chat to the ones we usually just share a wave with and meet new ones.

Good Friday we did our regular "Hubert Good Friday" thing. We have done this for about t four years now. We drive to St Lucia and take a leisurely walk across the Schonnell bridge that spans the Brisbane river from St Lucia to Dutton Park. Late in the afternoon it's a lovely thing to do, then we do the "loaves and the fishes" thing with dinner from  Assault and Battery.

Yesterday we went up to Coolum Beach. We had lunch on the headland where it was pretty windy,  it calm down by the water. The water was unexpectedly warm though there were lots of rips about.
  My sewing has had a resurrection albeit with a win and a loss.  I have never sewn with Linen  before and I am now a convert. It's a lovely fabric that is easy to sew with and to wear it is divine. It would be a perfect choice for summer clothes and layering for the winter will work fine.Layering is what you need in our climate anyway.

The only drawback that I have with Linen is ironing it. I hate ironing and I am bad at it and as a consequence I don't do it. Linen however has to be ironed but doesn't stay ironed for very long. Oh well, I'll have to view to view it as "fashionably crushed."

This pattern came from a Japanese book called "Simple Modern Sewing."  The patterns need some minor tweaking size and fit wise but that's not hard when it's not a  fitted garment.

The loss came from the Colette "Clover" pants pattern that I attempted. Everyone knows pants are hard and fitted pants with a side zip are even harder.  The pattern got me in though and gave me false hope because it said "BEGINNER!" Ha, beginner with more experience than me that's for sure.

Oh they came together alright and the fit was OK, but how fitted do you go? The zip was the big problem and honestly it just all got too hard. The Colette pants have been relegated to the "one day" pile "one day"  when I feeling brave enough and patient enough to give them another go.