Well the sun is still shining here.............

Hello all my Lovelies how are you all.  I hope everyone is fit and well and enjoying life.  The last few weeks have been a bit of a whirl with things going on in the house (new bathroom!), sorting out the new curriculum at work and generally keeping everything ticking over.  I must admit that I have been fretting about my blog big time as I haven't had the time to devote to it as much as I want to.  Time seems to drip through my hands sometimes like water but I need to make more of an effort.  I think this year has been particularly stressful and demanding on may aspects of life and sometimes I feel as if I meet myself coming back.  I am sure all of you are in the same boat, much worse probably, but I am always amazed at how much you manage to produce with so little time. 

This week I am getting all ready for the arrival of our Little Peeps for 11 days whilst Mum and Dad are away - we are both so excited about this.  I just hope that they have a good time with two old fogies like us.  On Sunday we had a small family 1970s party for my eldest Peep who is 21 and has just graduated.  Lots of you gave me so many helpful suggestions about what I could do.  I had some 1970s hits playing all day which was fun and tried to do some vintage food, although it all looked very similar to what we have today!

 

To give you a good giggle here is a photograph of me in a vintage late 1970s Laura Ashley dress which I found on Ebay.  I was doubtful that I would fit it into it as I have put on a few pounds this year and desperately want to lose some weight.  However, it went on and looked ok.  It was really strange as a couple of guests said that they really liked my dress and where did I buy it from so it obviously didn't look that vintage.  Do you like it?  I am thinking of making something out of it if I can as I am doubtful that I would ever wear it outside....................

 

 

I wanted everything we gave to Lauren to be hand made so this was her cushion.  I made three of these for her and she had chosen the fabric herself from a wonderful selection of Elephant in my Handbag.  It is Riley Blake fabric and a dream to work with.  She had just decorated her room and this is the accent shade she wanted.  However, I wanted to make one cushion a little different so had my lovely friend Sarah from Molly Felicity Designs weave her magic once again for me.  The photographs obviously are 21 years of age so not as digitally enhanced as they are today but Sarah as always did a really fantastic job in creating this lovely collage for Lauren.  She was so surprised and loved it - a big thank you to Sarah for always coming up with a fabulous service.

 

 

I have wanted to make Lauren a little doll for ages - every girl loves a doll, no matter what age.  Well I do anyway...........I had a lot of help with this lovely Liberty design from my sewing class but it turned out really well and Lauren loved it.

 

 

Besides these little goodies I made her a school house tunic dress, a  hot water bottle cover and a covered diary but was in so much of a rush to get them all finished along with her bag that I completely forgot to take a photograph of them all!  I know that you have seen the finished bag in the last post but I am so embarrassed at forgetting the photographs!!

 

 

 

 

I also made for party bags for the ladies in the party and filled these with chocolates and covered notebooks.  The outer fabrics are Cath Kidston tea towels and the inner ones are pieces I picked up at the Birmingham Rag Market for £2 per metre.  These fabrics have been just fabulous this summer as I have used them up on so many things I have been making.  

 

 

 

Well Lovelies I had every intentions of being so calm and relaxed over this period and getting everything done in plenty of time for the party but guess what?  Yes you have got it in one, I was running around trying to sort everything out before it all started.  I decided on a pink and white scheme for the few decorations I put up but they did look really sweet.

 

 

 

 

 

Lauren didn't really want an iced cake so I decided just to go for a plain sponge and decorate it with some fancy 1970s characters and also added some nice cupcakes which my lovely friend helped me out with.  The books you can see on the table are some vintage girl's annuals from the 1970s including Bunty which was the first comic I ever had as a child and has remained my all time favourite.   Which was your favourite comic?

 

 

The stand for the cupcakes is a fabulous cardboard one which I found in Lakeland Plastics in Chester.  It is an ice cream seller and I just love it!  I filled the centre of it with cakes and it comes with some paper cones which I put some little sweeties in.  I tried to get as many vintage style sweets as I could and I must admit they loved these.

 

 

I think I am going to get a lot of use out of this little thing.

 

 

 

 

The little do went well and I must admit I had loads of food over, I do tend to over buy on these events as I worry about running out of things for the guests to eat.  I think Lauren had a nice time and hopefully we did her proud on her little tea party.  I enjoyed it too once everyone was here and the food was on the table.  It just went too quickly.

 

I have been continuing to make some of the school house tunics although Rachel says it is time to move on to something else but I just love the thought of being able to make a garment which I can actually wear outside with confidence.  This is my latest one which was made from fabric at the half price sale in John Lewis, it was just lovely to sew with and do easy to come together.  As you can see I always have to make my brooch to go with it.  I am hoping to adjust this pattern and make some heavier dresses for the autumn/winter which I can wear with dark tights but at present I am loving wearing these with white linen trousers.

 

 

 

Well my Sweeties I hope you are enjoying life - I hate to say it but the world seems to be completely insane at the moment and I try to keep looking at all the positives we have in our lives.  My heart and prayers go out to the many poor souls who are suffering in our world at present and I hope that things resolve quickly for everyone.  I am now going to catch up on all my wonderful blogging friends - big sorry to all of  you as I feel that I have not been around so much to keep track of your fabulous posts - have a wonderful day/evening wherever you are.  Do leave a comment if  you have time as I do love to hear from you.  Sending you all big hugs and loves.  Dorothyxxxxxx