We're fine.

I am sure some of you have heard that we had a flash flood through my town yesterday. So I just wanted to assure you that my family is all safe and well, though in shock, I think! This is a link to a video and some photos that shows the flash flood as it happened in town.

I took a walk today to the park and waterway which are at the bottom of my street. You can see in these photos how high and fast the water was (as the railings were straight and upright yesterday morning).






My thoughts are with the towns and communities downstream from us who are now suffering from these floods and for the families who have lost loved ones.

2010 year in review

Everyone is looking at what they have achieved in the last year and I hadn't planned to do this, but had the time, so sat down and worked out what I made this year.

First up I made a grand total of 50 sewn items and 3 crochet. Pretty happy with that! It can be broken down by category to:

Tops - 14
Dresses - 9
Skirts - 8
Pants - 7
Cardigans - 3
Active wear - 2
PJ pants - 1
Men's/boy's t-shirts - 4
Dog coat -1
Scarf (hand sewn rolled edge) - 1

2 crochet scarves
1 crochet vest

I obviously love sewing tops most and much watch I don't make too many! I also enjoy dresses and skirts. Pants - not so much and it was my least successful category as only 3 of those 7 pants still hang in the wardrobe. That is mostly due to the fact I have lost weight and changed shape this year and pants are the first thing that show that changes have happened. A few skirts have also gone that way! The good side is that I gave them to a friend, who gave them to her daughter's playgroup and a few of the girls were very happy to get some new clothes (as they mostly shop for second-hand).

I did have one major flop which is Burda 7580, however I still have this outfit and when the weather cools I will pull it out and see what I can do to make me happier to wear it.

In terms of success, these have been my favorites this year:

Jalie 2796 - the skort. I made two of these and they get a lot of wear.


Burda 09 2008 120 - skirt. I made two of these as well.


The brown skirt is pictured with my favorite blouse McCalls 5522. I wear this one a lot and always feel good when I do.
Dresses - the pick would have to be Jalie 3024

I love the Jalie cardigan I made to go with it, but haven't worn it much as yet as the weather has warmed up, but I am hoping to get lots of wear from it this year (and plan to make another).


I had a couple of others I loved as well - Kwik sew 3740 - cowl neck top - I made 4 of those!

Overall I think I had a good year. This coming year I am planning to try a few different things - lingerie and swim-wear. I also plan to finish some jackets, including the lined jacket I cut out at the end of Winter.

Stash-wise I plan to sew as much as I can from stash and only purchase when I have a fabric need that cannot be found in the stash (for an immediate project). The stash build-up bothers me as we started renovating our house at the beginning of November last year and as I packed all my fabrics away, I was quite mortified at how much I had!

2011 will bring things to look forward to - when the renovation is finished I will have my own sewing studio - a dedicated space for craftingness and sewing fun!

I hope everyone had a great 2010 but an even better sewing 2011!

In reply to a few questions I have had on my posts,

Gail the orange top pictured above with the floral skirt is RTW.

Alison & Janine The yellow top in my previous post about the crochet vest is Jalie 2788.

Phoebe Jane Vest - Crochet project

I have finished another crochet project - cause for celebration as this is the first garment item I can remember crocheting. It is the Phoebe Jane Vest from Jenny King Designs. If you are a Ravelry member you can find it here, or scroll down this page if you are not.



I had to frog my first effort and start again with a much larger hook size and it still looks smaller than the one in the pattern picture. To get it this well shaped, I washed it, rinsed in vinegar and then left it to dry on my dressmaking dummy. I put a garbage bag on the dummy first as she is bright red and I could just see the red running onto the damp vest. This worked really well and I suspect it will maybe stretch out a little more in time.



I am very happy with it but as I used wool it is too warm to wear now. Up until the day I finished it, the weather was cool enough to wear it, but too hot and sticky now! I am going to try and finish some other projects before I start a new one (hopeful, aren't I?) I have some wool left and am thinking a little hat would be good.

All the best to everyone for 2011 and this is my last official project for 2010 to blog about. I started a skirt last year which I hope to finish today, so I am counting it toward my 2011 quota of finished items.