My Christmas Outfits!

Hello there my lovely readers! So the New Year is nearly upon us, but before it gets here I wanted to show you my final makes of 2012. These are my Christmas outfits! (Cue slightly crazy picture of me sitting on the sofa with myself!)

Now, you've already seen my Christmas jumper before, but I thought I'd show it again in a bit more detail - it deserves it, it's such a great pattern!

My Christmas Jumper, Front and Back

This jumper was knitted from the Colourful Winter Sports Outfit pattern from the fabulous book A Stitch in Time, Volume 2, the third pattern that I have thus far attempted from the book. I really do love this jumper, it's so snuggly and cosy, I could wear it all the time regardless of the season! I've already cast on the matching beret, so maybe someday soon I'll have to complete matching set :) The skirt I'm wearing is part of a 1950s wool suit (a birthday gift from my Sweetheart) in case you were wondering. I adore all woollen clothes!

Next up is my Christmas dress, made from the "Wintertime Jumper" variation of the sheath dress from Gertie's Book for Better Sewing (you can see Gertie's version of this pattern on her blog)

My Christmas Dress, Front and Back

This dress is another example of my obsessive compulsive need to match plaid exactly! I'm really pleased with how the plaid matching turned out, it's pretty perfect don't you think? :) I also love the belt, which I cut on the bias for a bit of contrast. This is my second pattern from Gertie's Book for Better Sewing, after making her high waisted pencil skirt and once again it was a great pattern to use. I had to make some minor adjustments to the fit of the bodice, but other than that it was a perfect fit first time :) The fabric I used  is actually genuine Scottish tartan, which I bought when we were in Glasgow with the tour. I still have quite a bit left over, so maybe you'll see more tartan projects in my future. But in the mean time I am spending the festive season wearing this Christmassy little number!

So, there you have it, my final sewing/knitting projects of 2012! I can't wait to see what 2013 has in store for my sewing table :)

Bye for now!

Katie xxx

My Bombshell Dress - finally!

Hello there my lovely readers!

This is a post that has been a long time coming, I'm finally going to show you my finished version of Gertie's Bombshell Dress! I actually completed this dress back in September but have never gotten round to posting about it here. I have worn it on several occasions, including my Birthday, my last night party for Sister Act and even a musical themed fancy dress party (I was supposed to be this classy lady in case you were wondering!). Here are a couple of shots of the dress in action, I have loved it every time I've worn it!

  

And look, it goes with both blonde and red hair!

This is a very involved dress, I'm not going to lie! It has everything going on: boning, padding, interlining, lining, waist stay, lapped zipper. This was a labour of love, so much work has gone into it, hand stitching, machine work, techniques I've never used before, and I really do think it's all worth it! I would recommend Gertie's online course to anyone who loves sewing and learning something new, I learnt so much making this dress it's not even true. The only thing I need to back and correct (after seeing these pictures!) is a touch more under-stitching on the neckline, to stop the red lining peeking out, but other than that I'm thrilled with everything about it! Here are some shots of the finished dress in detail...

Front and Back of my fabulous Bombshell Dress

The detail of the bodice and the lapped zipper

I hope you've enjoyed this little look at my Bombshell dress, I just have a few more finished projects to share with you before the end of the year, I want a nice fresh start for 2013 :) I can't wait to start some new sewing adventures, I have so many things planned already! And of course I need to post a 2012 sewing/knitting round-up, but that's for another day...

Bye for now, my lovely readers, I'll be back!

Katie xxx

Wednesday Wonderfuls #101/102

Hello there my lovely readers, Merry Christmas! I hope you all enjoyed the big day, I had a marvellous time and I am still very much steeped in festive cheer. I love these few days between Christmas and the New Year, they are always so chilled and full of fun, let's all enjoy the final part of 2012 as much we can! Here's a few snapshots of my Christmas time so far, it has been particularly brilliant...

Images, Each Row from Left to Right:
1. My Christmas Dress, 2. Christmas nails, 3. Homemade mince pies,
4. Afternoon Tea at Fortnum and Mason, 5. Christmas Bunting! 6. Pom Pom wrapping
7. Best present ever! 8. More wrapping 9. A sneak peek of the best present ever
10. Homemade gingerbread, 11. Mini cakes! 12. Peppermint Marshmallows
13. Panto time :) 14. Xmas Cupcake! 15. London at Christmas

I'm sure that you're all very busy doing fabulous Christmassy things, but if you have a spare moment and fancy a little online time then here are a few of my personal picks from the past couple of weeks. Enjoy!

• Casey has made what can only be described as the sweetest plush elephant in the world. I know you'll love it too :)
• This is the best gingerbread house I have seen this year, a gingerbread Hobbit Hole! Thanks to Sprinkle Bakes for sharing!
• Feel like a fancy hair-do for New Year's Eve? Have a go at Emma's Simple Foam Roller Set.
• I love this post of simple holiday breakfasts from A Beautiful Mess, this is the perfect time of year for big family breakfasts :)
• I'm pretty sure that this sleeveless pullover will be on my knitting to-do list for the New Year!
• And finally I love this post from How Sweet it is about her recipe disasters of 2012. How Sweet it is is such a gorgeously perfect blog so it's nice to see that a lot of work - and disasters! - goes into each post. It definitely makes me feel better about all my little disasters in the kitchen and/or sewing room!

Have a wonderful rest of your festive season my lovely readers, eat drink and be merry!

Bye for now!

Katie xxx

A Very Merry Christmas and our Christmas Card Outtakes!

Hello there my lovely readers and a very Merry Christmas to you all! I apologise for the slight lack of posting recently, Christmas has well and truly taken over my life! I don't mind though, I adore this time of year, and I'm so excited about spending some real quality time with my Sweetheart and wonderful family.

As a little pre-Christmas treat I thought I'd share with you some of our Christmas Card Outtakes, they are pretty hilarious! This is the first year that my Sweetheart and I have made a card together, but it was so much fun I'm pretty sure it's going to be a tradition from now on! The beady eyed among you may notice a few Doctor Who friends in a couple of our shots, because after all what's Christmas without the Doctor?! And of course I'm modelling my newly finished Christmas jumper, which I'm completely in love with and never want to take off! It's the Colourful Winter Sports Outfit jumper from A Stitch in Time, Volume 2 if you're interested. Yet another fabulous pattern by the queen of knitting patterns, Susan Crawford :) Anyways, here we are in all our camp, Christmassy glory (p.s. I knitted my Sweetheart's jumper too!)

I just want to take a quick moment to thank you all so much for continuing to read my little blog, it means so much to me, I can't even tell you! Thank you for reading my ramblings, to every single one of you who has ever commented and for all of you who have stuck with me in spite of my slightly sporadic style of posting. You are all simply marvellous and I am very thankful to have you as my readers!

I have big plans for this blog in the New Year, so I really hope you stick around to see what happens :) I'll leave you with the final version of our Christmas card and my best wishes for a wonderful holiday season!

Bye for now!

Katie xxx

Wednesday Wonderfuls #100

Hello there my lovely readers and seasons greeting to you all! Can you believe how soon it is until Christmas now? I'm very excited and enjoying getting into the festive spirit :) Unfortunately I was pretty under the weather yesterday (the cold is well and truly kicking my behind!) so I didn't manage to get this post up then, but I'm sure the good will of the season will help you forgive me! (And also, 100th Wednesday Wonderfuls post! Woohoo!)

I have been feeling so Christmassy over the past few days, it's so lovely to be at home and have the time to really prepare for the holidays, it's been a while since I've had that luxury, what with all my working and touring over the past 3 years. So I am definitely taking advantage of all my Christmassy time! Most exciting for me was the fact that my Sweetheart and I made our very first joint Christmas cards, modelling some of my self-knitted Christmas jumpers, and I cannot wait to get them back from the printers! But more on that and my newly finished Christmas jumper another time...

Images, Each Row from Left to Right:
1. My newly finished Christmas jumper! 2. Happy drink :) 3. The king of sandwiches
4. Christmas crafting 5. Decorating the big tree! 6. Is that a festive apron I see...?
7. Ordering cards :) 8. Mmmm... cider... 9. Showing off my jumper at work!

Let's see what other loveliness has been happening around the blogosphere this week...

• These hot chocolates on a stick would make great homemade Christmas presents!
• Casey's maternity knitting is absolutely gorgeous, I guarantee it will give you a serious case of baby fever even if babies aren't your thing :)
• I should take into account everything said in this post: 6 ways to stop procrastination and actually getting things done.
• I absolutely love getting snail mail, so these beautiful parcels made me very happy indeed!
• Every single year I am awed at how beautiful Cassie's Christmas decorations are, and this year is no different! Just take a look at her Christmas home, it's absolutely stunning :)

Have a wonderful run up to Christmas guys, I hope this season brings you everything you want and more!

Katie xxx

Wednesday Wonderfuls #98 & #99

Hello there my lovely readers! My goodness I seem to have gone off the radar for a bit! What with Christmas just around the corner I have been spending every free second crafting for the holidays and haven't had much time at all for blogging, but never fear I have posts planned for the near future :)

Images, Each Row from Left to Right:
1. Our baby Christmas tree! 2. My first ever homemade pumpkin pie 3. Lights in North London
4. All in a day's work... 5. New hair! 6. Lights on the South bank
 7. Fancy tea makes me happy 8. the perfect piece of pie 9. Happy post!

Don't you just love Christmas time? I'm so excited about spending the whole of the Christmas season at home this year, I cannot wait! And hopefully I will manage for get some sewing down before the end of the year, I need me some festive outfits!

Anyways, let's see what has been going on in the beautiful blogosphere over the past couple of weeks...

• One day I hope my home will look like this, that really would be a dream come true!
• Fancy getting all Christmassy with some crafting? You should try out this adorable winter wreath, the perfect festive ornament for a home sewer!
• I have seen so many people trying out Tasha's hair tutorial recently, but in case you missed it here it is in all it's glory. The one downside of getting my hair cut recently is that I can't try out this look!
• These may be the best knitted Christmas decorations I have ever seen! I'm so sad I have no time to make my own! Maybe next year...
• One of my new year's resolutions for next year is definitely going to be to get serious about mending, so I loved this post by Zoe about visible mending, it made me want to get my darning mushroom out asap :)
• Another of my resolutions for the new year is going to be focusing on cake rather than frosting (haven't a clue what I'm talking about? Look here), and someone who is already putting this into practise beautifully is Tasha, isn't her new dress just divine? I'm in love :)
• And finally I think it's time for some baking goodness! I need some festive bakes in my life, and I'm pretty sure you can't go wrong with these gingerbread chocolate chip muffins, this orange gingerbread with cream cheese frosting or this cranberry orange pecan coffee cake. Swoon!

I hope you've enjoyed these Wonderfuls, but if you'll excuse me I have some festive crafting that I really need to get finished!

Bye for now!

Katie xxx