Some silk, some sewing, and some sowing

Another month gone and once again the garden has been battling with the sewing machine for my attention.

This month there was also the distraction of a trip to the Adamley silk sale just outside of Macclesfield. A small group of us headed down the Silk Road (figuratively and literally) and we didn’t come away empty handed. I bought a couple of roll ends at £10 each, a couple of leather hides at £5 each and a silk scarf for £5. As several of the rolls were very generous roll ends we held a swapping session in the car park, much to the amusement of the others attending. My final stash after swaps worked out at less than £1/metre and will be ideal for trying out new patterns.

 

The first pattern I tried with the silk was Vogue 8924. I lengthened the sleeves and modified the neckline and pockets, but I need to do something about the back as the large pleat isn’t doing me any favours.

The only other sewing I’ve managed to do are some incubator covers requested by the local Project Linus group. These had to be brightly coloured with a dark lining so I hope these will be OK. This was a good stash-buster and saw 10m of fabric leave my stash (though not nearly enough to compensate for all the silk).

 

In the garden, the big project was getting some one in to reduce the height of a large laurel tree. Now most of the tree has gone and the sunlight can get in again, I can finish off that flower bed and sow some grass seed to replace the section of the lawn that suffered in the shade.
 

There’s been a bit of planting too – a small herb bed by the back door. Luckily it appears that the slugs and snails are not interested in these plants, though they seem to have tried the sage but decided it is not to their taste.
 

A new table and chairs were also got for the garden and somehow we managed to pick one that comes with its own patchwork pattern should I decide they need cushions or a table cloth!