In Absentia

I have much to blog about, but Mr Site is beating the soles of my feet with twigs!

I'll be back in August, hopefully with an announcement and a giveaway!

In the meantime, here's a link to all my sewing posts for your entertainment.
(click on the picture below)

TTFN!

Make Bags not War

Just before Jimmy left for his army cadet camp this weekend, he gave me a 'present.' It had been stuffed in the bottom of his school bag for godknowshowlong, and it was only upon packing for said camp that it was discovered. He made it in his textiles class at school

I wish he was as enthusiastic about sewing as he is about running around a field with a gun! I can hardly beleive that this is my little baby - now after only 13 years, a good 2 inches taller than me.

Meanwhile, Mr Marmalade and I spent the weekend engaged in our own war against chicken terror. We have tried everything to remove the torment which has invaded the hen house. We have scrubbed and sprayed, and dusted and cleaned, but still the red mites are alive and biting. Eggy and Peggy will not entertain the idea of temporary accommodation and still they pick and peck and scratch and itch. I have trawled the internet for information and searched the shops for solutions. Know your enemy is what I say! I've bought red mite spray, red mite powder, jeyes fluid (urgh!), vinegar and even coke. Still they creep and crawl and the house and garden now smells very 'carbolic'. However, my saving grace may have arrived as today I have taken delivery of a red mite WMD. Biological rather than chemical warfare must be the solution! Oh yes. Diatomaceious Earth.... or fossilised algae. Those mites better watch out! If you've got chickens, you better get some too.
On a brighter note, there has been a little crafting going on here, because it was also Mr Marmalade's birthday this weekend. I bought him some very sharp carving tools so that he has something to do with his hands when we are on holiday. They didn't come with any 'protection' so I made him a very sturdy and hardwearing pouch from a double layer of denim and some leather.
I'm not sure if he likes the leopardskin trim but I am very impressed with his first ever spoon!!

Fear & Loathing in The House of Marmalade

Anybody would think I hadn't been doing any sewing around here - but I have I promise! Nearly all my sewing time has been taken up with Miss L's Dress the last few throes of which have had me nearly weeping over my sewing machine. Note to self: NEVER sew with that kind of silk again. It's like sewing fresh bubblegum. Boo hoo. It's the hem that's had me in hysterics. I've conquered the outer, but now have to tackle the lining hem. I've been putting it off but I know I have to face up to it soon.

Another problem was the boning. It's one thing to shove flexible metal bones into a firm structured and strong garment like a corset which is built for boning, but quite another to sew round the curves of bubblegum. Suffice to say, that if only i'd know how to do this before today:


It's a peice of riglene boning, heated and shaped. I had no idea! I know you won't want to see it in situ, but this is a perfect replica of one of my own curves!! All you do is iron the boning (use paper on top to protect the iron) then quickly shape while it's warm. Keep doing this until you get the required shape. Brilliant!


The red sash which goes with the dress has had me develop a nasty case of obsessive compulsive disorder. I'm sure i've got the cleanest hands in the village, and I"m sure there are still dirty marks on it! However, the colour is such a perfect red and it's dupion silk, much easier to sew that bubblegum silk. I'm very pleased with how it's turned out - despite the dirty marks. (Only joking Miss L!!)...

Many things in The Marmalade House have been causing consternation this week.

Poor old Eggy and Peggy have a nasty case of Red Mite. I've renamed them Pick and Peck as that's all they seem to do at the moment. This weekend, it will be on with the protective chemical suits and in with the disenfectant. I've been spraying them liberally (as per the instructions) and they seem to have perked up a bit. If you've never heard of red mite, read Jane's cautionary tale horror story here.

It seems that those red mites aren't the only bugs in my garden ... Look what i've discovered in the greenhouse!!


Apologies for the wobbly picture - there was a spider web in my hair! eeek! ... These are EGGS. Cabbage Whites have discovered my secret stash of sprouting brassicas. So after further examination I'm going to have to seek out and destroy all of them before they hatch. This happened to me unawares last year. One day I had cabbage seedlings, the next day I had cabbage seedling stalks.

picture from here

Have you heard the wasps scratching your fence yet? Listen. They are building their nests. They have been scratch scratch scratching my shed. They eat wood you see. Then they regurgitate it, and make it into paper. Nobody has yet discovered how they do it. They have signalled to me that it's time to keep my sewing room doors firmly SHUT. Humph.

I have a new best friend who's been taking up the rest of my time.

What's fearsome and loathsome about Mr Site I hear you say? Nothing! Nothing at all. I've been having lots of fun with him and I'm VERY impressed with the package - if you buy it from Amazon there's £40 off the Pro version which has search engine optimising tools and a super fandabidozee shopping cart system. Really good value for money and i've heard that he's putting lots of smaller web builders right out of business because what Mr Site does for £99, they do for hundreds ... and hundreds. Trouble is, I now have a rather larger shopping list to contemplate. Mr Site told me so. Jimmy might never get to university at this rate, but on the other hand, the risk might pay off and we'll be able not only to send him to college, but to buy him a round-the-world ticket too. Fingers crossed eh?

Celebrations Galore!

A very busy weekend at the House of Marmalade. We had the carnival to start with. Luckily the weather was just right, not too hot, plenty of breeze and no rain despite the looming clouds. I love Carnival day! It's a real party atmosphere and everyone comes out to play. It's the one day of the year where you can guarantee seeing pretty much everyone you know in the village.

This is our street, and we live right in the middle of it, next door to Mr and Miss T who invited me to their pavement party to watch the shirt race and the floats go by.

Mr Marmalade was one of the competitors in the Shirt Race with his friend Tim. You can read all about the shirt race and what it is if you click the picture below. It's Mr Marmalade pushing a 'stable'

Here's the front. They had been busy all week preparing and you can see it took a lorralorra work! It's supposed to be a take on the Queens Jockey drug scandal that has been in the news recently.


After seeing the various processions go by - pictures of which you can see here, everyone goes to the field for the main events. The most popular show in the arena this year was "Jive Pony". I had imagined that this would be dancing ponies (after all there were dancing dogs and dancing sheep too), but no! I was stunned. Here we had two lovely girls, doing striptease on the back of a cantering (yes cantering) pony in time to the song "Do You Love Me?"

Look! No hands!! Spectacular! It all happens in this village I tell you!

Mr Marmalade and I have only missed a couple of carnival days since we've lived here. One of those was in 1997 when we got married! Some people didn't come to our wedding in favour of the Carnival, but luckily the most important ones did. Ofcourse we are forever in their debt.

Very greedily, we had two weddings, one in the registry office on the Friday, and then a 'proper' wedding on the Saturday. I had always wanted to get married in leather, so that's what I wore in the registry office where it was just us two and our two witnesses. Just what we wanted, but my mother had other ideas...

The next day, off we trundled to a hotel in Alcester for the "ceremony". We had a "green wedding" which doesn't mean that we all wore a green outfits, but that it was as 'eco friendly' (to give it a label) and inexpensive as we could make it - total cost around £2k including dresses! We had a hog roast and hedgerow wines after an outdoor Pagan ceremony. My dress was made of crepe with a silk chiffon cape. Here it is.

It was the lady who made this dress who inspired me to sew. She was Amazing (note capital A). The most creative person I have ever, and probably will ever know. Which leads me to the next cause for celebration this weekend.

Look!!! I am famous!!!!! I am in this month's issue of Sew Magazine ... Not once...

but TWICE!!!!


This is good news for me because although I haven't mentioned it for a while, my "idea" is taking shape and I hope to have further news by August.

In the meantime, I better get on with some serious sewing now that I have a reputation to live up to!!

Melting Pot

Good Greif it's been hot around our parts this week!! It's been so relentlessly hot, all I've been able to do is flop around the house mopping my brow. I tried to do some sewing but the needle kept slipping from my sweaty hands. I wonder what the Health and Safety people would say about that? "Don't go out, don't forget your factor 80, put sunglasses on babies (???), don't handle sharp objects, don't enjoy the summer, don't live incase you die, but don't blame us if you end up with a vitamin D deficiency".

So instead of sewing, i've been slaving over a hot stove. Jam waiteth for no woman, and the blackcurrants and gooseberries needed my attention before the birds got them. Honestly, last year I wasn't quick enough and then it was a case of "now you see them, now you don't".

Here we have Blackcurrant Jelly and Gooseberry and Elderflower Jelly.

The Carnival began this evening, and the sounds and screams of the funfair are filling the air along with the smell of hot dogs and candyfloss. I'm enjoying the party atmosphere whilst sipping beetroot wine with a splish of rose syrup in my garden. BLISS.


Tommorrow, the main event, starting with the shirt race (which Mr Marmalade is in), procession of floats, morris dancing, brass band, carnival queen, and all the other attractions including dancing sheep and dogs. Ah yes, this is England in the summertime!!

Whispers of things to Come

Walking round the village the other day, it struck me that all around are signs of things to look forward to as the season turns and time marches on ...

Elderberry Wine

Blackberry Jam

Cherry Pie

Wild plum crumble

Less exciting, and who knows when ....

100 houses

But the first exciting event is just around the corner..

CARNIVAL!!!!!!

And that means...

Lots of fun!!

Crowded House

In my garden there is a magic tree...

Every evening I pick all the flowers

And every morning, there are just as many again !

I am running out of space to put them.