Flowers, A Dress, A Truck, and Water !

Hello everyone - I suppose the title could get your imagination going somewhat but basically this post is about my new camera with me supposedly at the helm, but since I don't really feel I've learned a great deal yet about all its workings then any idea of me being in command is sheer illusion - it's the camera that's in the driving seat! Of course the camera can do a perfectly good job by itself - unless I mess about too much with its buttons and bows .. .. .. .. 

However, I am going to show you what I've been up to just recently: this is the first Iris to peak out for us this season, and I love its delicate colours. I shot this just after the rain had stopped .. .. 

  

And a couple or so close-ups .. .. 

I have been busy sewing this past week but I can only show you one project as the other is a gift and I need to keep quiet for a couple of weeks!

I finally found a suitable fabric to make up into the 'Kate' dress, the pattern for which came to me as a lovely giveaway from Gilly  - thanks so much once again Gilly, I really enjoyed making this! Of course  if you compare the lovely versions over at Gillymakes with this one then you'll see that mine is a bit larger (make that wider!) as well as shorter for you will note that Gilly is gorgeously slim and a fair bit taller than me - I'm 5'1'' and not quite as slim as I used to be, nevertheless, this is a dress that is suitable for all sorts of body shapes and I've made mine to fit loosely and comfortably. By the way, I love the shape of the pockets although hubby doesn't like me to have pockets in my dresses for I have a habit of sticking my hands in them, which he thinks is not a good look! Tough! I LOVE pockets!

The fabric is a Japanese cotton lawn, very soft and kinda drapey and is a summer weight so, as we are in the midst of winter here and it has been very cold as well as wet, I am not modelling it for you, sorry! But you get the idea don't you - on its own for a warm day and with a skivvy underneath for the not-so-warm ones. These pics were taken with my point and shoot camera, just for comparison.

I have heard a few of you say that you haven't done much dressmaking and so I thought, whilst making up this dress, that it might be a good idea to offer a little tip that I've found useful over the years when one needs to fit sleeves and such like:

You see those two rows of larger than usual (gathering) stitches up there, well, when the pattern instructs you to do that and then tells you to fit that area evenly into a smaller designated space in the sleeve, or wherever, it is sometimes a bit tricky to keep the gathers even but, if you place a pin at each end of the gathered stitches then draw up the fabric to the correct width, you can then wind your threads around the outer pins to hold the gathers to that width while you distribute the fabric evenly. You see how I've figure-of-eight wound the thread round the pins? Yes, it wasn't showing very clearly so I used a turquoise colour just so it would be more noticeable for you. This really helps to keep things in place, as well as even. I hope I explained that clearly!


Recently when hubby and I were out having a drive around some of the back roads locally we came across a rusted out old truck in a paddock and since I didn't have the camera at the time we decided it was worth going back on a nice weather day to get a couple of shots:

And what do you think of the fancy little shed, don't you think that's cute?

The view below is in the same area - farm land, very pretty I think.

The next pics were taken in a picnic drive-in area on the other side of Albany:

And while I was messing around with settings on the camera this old guy came down the river in his canoe so, fair game, we'll 'shoot' him too!

And to finish once again, a couple of garden shots: a succulent, the name of which I have no idea, and my one and only camellia which has more blooms this year than ever, so I think it must like being where  we planted it after being in a big pot for years!

Thank you all for your very interesting and kind comments and a special hello to new followers - you are all most welcome and I'm very happy you're here!

Keep smiling and always be true to yourselves!

With my love,

❤Joy xoxo