I just couldn’t think of another title for the post. That’s exactly what it’s been – a very hot week. After around eight months of cold and wet the sun miraculously, gloriously appeared this week, all week, and there have been no coats and no socks for this girl. It is purest heaven for me when sockless season commences, even if it does require an emergency leg wax.

Feeling duty bound to enjoy the sunshine, while others have to be in airless offices, struggling with air-conditioning that is always either too fierce or too wimpy, I’ve spent a lot of time lying out on my little roof these last few days, eating breakfast and reading my book. If I angle my mat just right I have a view that is uninterrupted by London – it’s all green trees and blue skies, if you can block out your peripheral vision. If I slide down low enough I end up looking through the little lavender, and I can try to forget the railway line, and the bus route and the windows of my neighbours gazing onto the back of me, and I pretend I am somewhere no one else can find me.

And in among all of that strenuous lying down I have done some sewing. I discovered something else I like about my new machine, which is that it comes with a quilting bar. Having never made a quilt I’ve never realised quite how useful these could be and have therefore never wanted one – isn’t it amazing how you go from being happy with a basic machine to wanting all sorts of accessories and thingamajigs? I just want to sew parallel lines on everything now.

This fabric also arrived for my friend’s Sophia, which I have already cut out. It’s lovely, and I can’t wait to work with this pattern and cotton. Unexpectedly, I discovered that the Sophia also makes the perfect little gym bag – a pair of trainers, t-shirt and sweat pants all fitted in comfortably with my iPod and my purse.  It’s officially the best looking gym bag I’ve ever had.

There’s a face familiar to every crafter. It’s that face you see on your non-crafting husband/ girlfriend / mother/ cat when you have been excitedly talking about this new interfacing you got and how it’s revolutionised the construction of this thing here – look! And they do look, because they love you, but they aren’t impressed. No sirree. What they are doing is humouring you, because their enthusiasm for all things sewing related runs out after roughly two and a half minutes.

The crafter’s purest joy must therefore be the kind of day where they could talk about all things sewing and non-sewing related for, say, ten hours…

On Saturday, an auspiciously sunny day, I met Helen (angharad), Florence (Flossie Teacakes) and Lisa (u-handblog) in central London. After coffee and a late breakfast, we took a trawl through the button rack at Liberty…

Then it was on to the Cloth House, where there is too much choice.

I don’t know why I have never been to this shop, or its sister shop down the road, but I suspect I must have known that it could be expensive for me. This is just a tiny selection of the bolts they have in the first shop:

I have often wondered where London keeps its jersey – it’s in the Cloth House, in the basement. I bought a print that I intend to use for a wrap dress, and a remnant of very soft, very red drill that I don’t know what I’ll use for. (I was supposed to stop doing that.)

Purchases made and eyes swimming after looking at so much fabric we realised it was time for cake, so hot-footed to Patisserie Valerie...

...and made our final choices after several hours of high octane chatting. We stayed so long I think they might name the table after us.

After a swift turn around the Japan Centre we nipped up to the bar in Waterstones, with delicious mocktails to finish the day. (Handily the craft book section is right opposite the bar…)

It was a lovely day, with the loveliest company. Thank you, Lisa, Helen and Florence – I’m so glad we met.

After taking months to do the Sophia I did this ‘Tina’ in an afternoon. It seems to be what people choose when they realise their mother is having a birthday. The conversation always goes like this:

Friend: You could make her a bag!
Me: Yes. When is her birthday?
Friend: Next week!

This is partly why I’m trying to build up a stack of bags at home so that when this happens they can choose one there and then and go away happy. That was the plan for today, but I’ve just got to an ironing phase and realised that my iron is completely gunked up. Nothing to do with the times I’ve accidentally tried to iron the interfacing the wrong way up (I’m not the only one am I?), and everything to do with the fact that we get terrific limescale here and I never descale anything. It’s because I’m from up north. The water is so soft there that you can use a tiny amount of bubble bath and get veritable mountains of bubbles. I had no idea what limescale was all about until I moved here. You’d think after 12 years of living south that I’d have got into some sort of routine with it, but I haven’t.

Which is weird because I’ve turned out to be far more domestic than I thought I would be. You know when you imagine your future life when you’re 13? I thought I’d be a magazine editor, living on gin and cigarettes (a friend of my mum’s had recently given me a bunch of back issues of Cosmopolitan), but it turns out I prefer sewing and cooking, and cut flowers and crisp bed linen. I like making my home nicer. That’s why the bag is hanging on what used to be our clothes rail, now tucked into the last remaining corner of my craft room.

And as if I didn’t have enough to keep me occupied, what with cutting out fabric for bags and descaling the iron, the postman delivered some lovely things today:

I seem to be obsessed with buying more patterns for clothes than I am capable of making. I now have two issues of Ottobre for women, as well as an Ottobre diary, which is very nice but I didn’t order it, so I wonder if it’s a freebie, given that we’re a third of the way through the year. The magazine is on the same lines as the WOF, with several patterns in each issue, but a lot of these look simpler than the ones from Burda and the paper quality is much higher. Good for a clothing novice like me. The other thing I like is that the models used vary in size and shape – like real women. I have trouble with the Burda magazine because I can see that a style looks great on a tall skinny model, but what if you have hips and/or bosom?

I also got this issue of Poets and Writers today, which is a timely reminder of the other thing I do. Allegedly. This time last year I was gearing up to write my dissertation. It seems like a lifetime ago. After I’d handed that and the project in I really didn’t feel like writing at all, and I’ve stuck with that through the winter. It’s spring now. Time for change maybe.

So another thing: when it comes to both sewing and writing, the magazines I like best come from abroad. Maybe I should start a magazine after all. But easy on the gin – I don’t drink gin.

She’s finished. Can you believe it? No, neither can I. Shamed by the fact that Stacy managed to throw one of these together and then moments later have a baby (Congratulations!), I sat down on Sunday evening and attached the lining. You know what was stopping me? All that hand stitching…I’m so lazy.

When I first saw this pattern I was smitten by the shape of this bag, and that’s still the case. However, I’m a bit disappointed by the sqooshy nature of it – next time I’ll try using some craft weight interfacing to give it some structure.

It’s possible that I love the inside more than the outside at the moment. I think the decision about the false bottom was well made, and I love the pocket material against the calico.

So did I learn anything? Well, I learned that I’m now incapable of leaving a bag pattern alone. Even though my plan was to follow it to the letter I couldn’t. I did learn a couple of things about attaching zips to bags, and about using piping – or not using piping – and I also learned that I find bag making more fun when I’m making the whole thing up myself. Here’s a little list of things I’d change for the next one.

• Make the handles slightly longer (2-4”) so that it can fit more easily over my shoulder


• Add purse feet, and move the false bottom underneath the lining. Use a couple of securing stitches on all four corners of the lining bottom to stop it moving around.


• Use craft weight interfacing so that the bag keeps its shape by itself – it deserves it.


• Don’t bother with the piping around the bottom – it adds little but headaches.


• Consider splitting one side of pockets into three not two.

I’ve added my pictures to the Sophia Sew Along group on flickr, so if you need more inspiration for your own Sophia, that’s a good place to start. As for me, well, I’ve promised to make one for a friend so I’d better get on with it.

I got Bert in for the draw. Charlie just isn’t fooled by this sort of thing anymore (‘There’s nothing in it for me, so I’m not moving’) whereas Bert will chase anything, given any sort of encouragement. One little shake of the basket…

And the first name out is:

Vicki! Congratulations! I’ve sent you an email, but if you haven’t got it let me know in the comments.

So sorry to everyone else who was unlucky this time, but thanks for the comments and all your links. I really liked finding out what else takes up your time, and I’m especially glad to have heard from those of you who haven’t commented before. Let’s do this again soon!

I know I owe you a winner of my little doostop giveaway, and truly my intention was to do it on Thursday, since I’d calculated that I would be finished painting my room on Wednesday. However, while I was painting the room actually grew in size, and it took far longer than intended. I will do the draw tomorrow instead – I’ve checked with the cats and they’re happy to be involved. Feel free to leave a comment if you’d like to receive it – since I am tardy in choosing it’s only fair you can be too ;)

The colour I’ve painted the bedroom walls above is called Elephant’s Breath and sometimes I do feel as if I am inside the belly of an elephant. It’s a very calming colour, and has a particular depth that I’ve only ever seen with F&B paints. But it’s also one of those colours that change with the light: sometimes it has a brown hue, sometimes lilac, sometimes it’s just plain grey. Lovely.

The wardrobes also arrived yesterday, which was the original impetus for the paint job. We decided to save our money for a good holiday this year and bought wardrobes from Ikea instead of investing in furniture (top decision as far as I’m concerned). We put one up last night and truly, it is the size of the monolith from 2001. It looms. I don’t know if this is because I have never owned a wardrobe, or because it is just enormous, but it does seem to promise other worlds, including a world where my clothes aren’t permanently dusty.

Ok. Friday evening. Tired and achy. Time for a bath. And is it too early for wine?

Can there be any sight more thrilling? A new sewing machine, parked under its hard cover (I can get excited about that because my old one didn’t have one). We spent months sticking £2 coins into a jar and adding extra cash here and there, until finally there came a day when there was enough. This is what I chose:

It’s a Janome Jubilee 85 and I got it from the lovely sewing machine shop in Deptford, which not only had the best price, but the nicest service by far. If you recall, when I first went to see them they didn’t have one in stock but had one brought up from their new shop in Maidstone. I went back and got a proper full demo, and then delivery for free. They service and repair too, so I know when this lovely thing needs attention I’ll be straight back to them.

I do have an odd sense of guilt at having bought a new machine when I could have bashed on with the old one, but let’s have a look at some of the things that have already made me happy.

Top Loader! You will see that this bobbin is empty. So can I. My fervent hope is that when sewing I will notice that I am running low on bobbin before I attempt that 3 foot long seam. And look at all the markings on the needle plate, in both inches and centimetres. The only sadness I have is that, while there is a hole for it, my lovely screw in seam guide doesn’t reach as far as I’d like. Rats.

That panel on the front of the machine? It’s a little flip up chart of stitches. I have no idea if I’ll even use half of these, but I like it anyway. The sense of possibility is strong, and that’s enough for me.

A needle threader. This is one of those things that you can scoff at. I would. But I like it, because using it makes me feel more efficient than I really am. Actually this thingamajig is also more efficient than it first appears, because you pull it down in the same way when you do an automatic buttonhole. There. I said it. Automatic Button Hole. Five kinds of.

I like the screen, partly because it reminds me which foot I ought to be using, but also because of the precision of the length and width you can have. Both are adjustable, but when you first choose a stitch it automatically adjusts both to something appropriate.

This is one of my favourite things. Besides the fact that it is cute and makes me want to speak in Japanese it means I have control over the speed with something more than my stockinged foot. My old machine’s foot actually wasn’t very sensitive at all – it was a case of whizz or not moving at all – so this is brilliant. Besides the fact that the new pedal gives me so much more control, I can set this to the tortoise if I’m doing something complicated and no matter how hard I press it will always go slow. Sugoi ne?!

Couldn’t help myself.

It’s a shame that this week I haven’t had more time to play with it, but I’ll try to let you know about my new favourite stitches soon. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this, which it is also capable of:

I met a very special someone yesterday, and I’m sure a lot of you know of him already. It was a bit of a thrill for me, but nerve-wracking too: would he like me? Would he think I was nice? Thankfully he did, and even thought I was worthy of a lick or seven…

It was Beans!

I went visiting Lisa yesterday, for a crafternoon. This means we got to fiddle about with fabric, drink copious amounts of tea, and snack on lovely things. These are the best sorts of Sunday afternoon as far as I’m concerned, but it’s so nice to do it with a friend. Lisa was kind enough to let me rummage in her stash and then helped me make a successful purse. With a frame! Without glue everywhere! And it opens!

Here it is completed on her desk, and here it is open on mine:

My goodness! It really does open! (I don’t mind confessing that the last time I tried this it went so horribly wrong with the seams that I couldn’t get it to open without pulling the fabric out of the frame.) It was a very funny and enjoyable afternoon, and although I know the purse wasn’t perfect I’m no longer scared of purse frames, which is a delightful bonus. All that and lovely food as well – man, she makes a mean dressing :)

Huge thanks to Lisa and Alan, and of course Beans, for making me feel so welcome.

Of course now I’d rather sit and play with fabric and rip apart anything I have with a suitable frame to practice with, but circumstances dictate I must go up ladders and wield a paint brush instead, so even though I want to reveal my new toy, that will have to wait until tomorrow…

Hope all your weekends were smashing too!

It has been another funny old week here in joleo towers. I really do blame the weather – here we are in the middle of April and I still haven’t retired my winter coat for the year. Coming home last night I thought my whole body was going to seize up, and consequently I’ve taken a measure of today’s weather out of the window (windy, gray) and decided that staying in is the best policy. And why go out when I have these to play with? I’m not sure why I have the pink because it’s really not my usual thing, but it was in this weird fabric shop near me, where the owner tries to be friendly but really seems to see customers as a bit of a nuisance, and kept saying ‘Amy and Butler’ which made me quite cross, and so I suspect I might have been rescuing it. The grey and white flowers I bought on ebay, with the intention of making a dress but it is quite see through, so I will have to line it: another interesting adventure in the making. The woodfern I got from eternal maker, and I have plans to make it my next sophia.

And yes, thanks for asking – I am planning another one and I still haven’t attached the lining to the first…

I’ve been out quite a lot this week, taking in my fair old city. I ended up in Deptford again and walked past the fabulous old town hall. It has statues of famous naval names (Francis Drake, Wellington, two other guys I don’t know) gracing the front of the building, but my favourite thing was this weather vane in the form of a ship sitting on top:

And I wondered how many of Deptford’s current inhabitants look up at this and think about the history of this funny little corner of London. The East India Company started here, John Evelyn lived here, and Pepys was always trotting up here (he worked for the naval office). And if you don’t already, I thought that some of you might like to know about Pepys’ Diary, which has been running now for five years. It’s the ultimate blog, if you think about it, and one of those sites that I think the internet is perfect for. Fascinating if you live in/have been to/would like to go to/sometimes think about London.

That has nothing to do with crafting, but you’re all intelligent and interested people…

I have crafted this however. A doorstop, made from echino fabric, and I have decided to give it away, here on this very blog. It will come flatpacked (all you need to do is fill it full of beans) which means I can post it anywhere in the world. Just leave me a comment on this post, and if you like, include a site or something that interests you that has nothing to do with crafting…

Edited to add: I’m such a dolt I forgot to say when I’ll pick a winner. Comments in by midnight on Wednesday, and I’ll announce on Thursday. And please do feel free to comment but say you don’t need a doorstop – I’m nosy and I want to know what else interests you :)

Proof of door! Our friendly family joiner came around at the weekend and fixed up our house so it is fit for visitors again. Who knew so many people would be so picky about privacy? Ok, so the lock isn’t quite finished, being currently secured with some of those red elastic bands that the postman so kindly drops on my doorstep every single day, but since there is an actual door I am beyond carping about small details.

The weekend was exceedingly pleasant, even considering that I walked to Deptford. I don’t know how to explain Deptford to you lovely overseas readers, but it is not what you would call ‘a destination’. But I was surprised, as I often am in London, to find that it isn’t as bad as it is painted out to be. There’s a beautiful church just off the high street, where we sat and contemplated the storm clouds, and a very nice cafe serving homemade soup and tasty salads, as well as a proper market, where I could have bought any amount of cheap zips (but didn’t).

The point of the trip was to visit the sewing machine shop because I have half a mind to invest in a new machine. It wasn’t really a shop. It was a workshop masquerading as a shop, staffed by a very nice man who just wanted to repair and service sewing machines all day. The walls were lined with new and old machines, including a couple of beautiful old singers with foot pedals, and workbenches covered in tools stretched off into the back of the building. It smelled of oil and parts, and was oddly comforting. Unfortunately the machine I am interested in was only in their Maidstone shop, but he’s bringing one up for me and I should ‘come in with some material and give it a good go.’ The sad thing is knowing that it’s little shops like this that are the victims when an area up and comes, so selfishly I hope Deptford stays just the same.

Aside from that, work continues on the blanket, as you can see.

I have this laid out on the coffee table so that when I sit down to watch an episode of something or other I can pick up a square and do a round. It’s low pressure and easy to do, so much so that I’m tempted by this book, 200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws and Afghans: Crochet Squares to Mix-and-Match, so that I can just carry on making blankets right through the summer. Planning more things and not even finished this one yet…No change there, then.