Welcome back home, little car!

Today we got the long awaited call from the garage. We can pick up our auto, it's fixed!
In about an hour we can take him back home. We're so relieved that there wasn't any big stuff wrong apart from the fuel pump.

Well, that was a strange thing. They found some hazardous fluid inside the tank that they couldn't identify. So they had to empty it completely and clean it up before replacing the broke fuel pump - which was their actual issue.
How did that stuff get into the tank? Like, what on earth did that freakin' ol' man who sold us the "reliable car" put inside? We really can't believe it!


Another topic:
Yesterday after a visit in the thrift store I could finish up the bloomers. Elastic and ribbon. Now it's done and I'm so excited about it's fit and how easy sewing was done. It's perfect as pajama bottoms. And I really wanna do more.

Monday

It was raining the whole day long.
Washing some stuff. Not possible to put it onto the clothesline.
Then sewing. At least it's not so hot in the florida room when it's pouring down..

I finished the madeleine mini bloomers that I wanted to do for a long time. I don't now why I always hesitated since they were really easy. I just don't have the required elastics and ribbons to try them on and we couldn't make it to the thrift store today.

 I guess one of those is not enough. They're so cute!

Something for the night

I wanted to have some shirt-like, whatever, light and nice thing to wear in the night. So I did look for something to change or some fabric in thrift stores recently. I found some nice fabric, and fixed the sewing machine. (Still smelling weird, but doing it's job!)

I din't have any pattern, so I just tried to take some clothes and figure out how it could be done. Probably more cutting than if you know the exact measurements you wanna come out with. But it did work and today I also found a nice and contrasting yellow bias tape, exactly what I have been looking for, to line the armholes and collar.

+

=

Front

Side

Back

 Satisfied.

Yesterday's project, today's craving..

 A little bit of modification on an old shirt.. Just some random stitchin'. And chocolate pudding (still from germany, that dark chocolate version from Dr.Ö) and creamed coconut milk. So easy and delicious. If I had known before.. I just opened a cooled can of coconut milk and blended it with my immersion blender. Give it a try.

(You either can just take some of the firm mass that usually sits on the top and mix it with a little bit of soy/ or whatever plant based milk. Flavor it with vanilla or a little bit of agave sirup or blend in some fresh berries. I tried it some days ago to decorate a cupcake and was flabbergasted. A miracle.)

Tomorrow I'm going to show you pictures from our little walk today.

 In case you  wanna know how Florida forest looks like..

And since there is a storm outside that has been in the news   

and still is: We're not in a hassle. 

Today lots of fresh air and sun in between, 

"beach weather" how I use to say. 

Colorado 's got some serious fire problems while Florida is flooded. The world really is doomed.

On the road

Today we went to Ocala. That's about an hour drive from where we are located. I wanted to go to the social security administration to check back if my social security application is processing. It wasn't. So I had to apply and will get my number in about two weeks. Yeay.

We connected this with a look into a Goodwill Superstore. A really big thrift store that was unfortunately a bit disappointing. They seem to sell out the interesting stuff on the internet. I just saw another nice plate. (And had to pick it. It's on the picture below.)

After the office stuff was done we also visited a really nice and big health food store: Earth Origins. Oh my, how impressive. If we were rich we would've bought every vegan and raw product they had. But unfortunately we're not. So we just took a few things like unsweetend coconut flakes that seem to be rare in common shops, a not too expensive plain soy yoghurt (that's not on the picture because it was already in the fridge) and something to put in our mouths immediately:

mmh - i finally found peanut butter puffins*

 

Sisto got some yummy raw bars, I got a vegan tuna sandwich and a huge peanut butter cookie.

On the way back from Ocala we entered a tiny little thrift store that didn't look very promising from the outside but as we went in it revealed lots of treasures. Above you can see what we fished out of the filled shelves. Just that plate is, as I told you before, from the Goodwill. The little unicorn is a salt shaker. Cute, isn't it?

I also started my first sewing project. It was a lot of hand work cause I don't have a new belt for my sewing machine yet and had to turn the wheel to get go. Now I have a nice pouch for my clothespins. I always adored the shape of these clothespins and now I own a whole bunch of them. Well, enough about cute stuff. We still have to get a little bit done right now. Have a good evening all you folks!

Finished until Friday - meine erste Decke

Nicht ganz eine Woche ist es nun her, da habe ich es schliesslich nach knapp einem Jahr endlich geschafft mein Decken-Projekt fertig zu nähen. Dieses Stück Patchwork/Quilt/whatever habe ich im letzten Winter, noch in der alten Wohnung angefangen, mit umgezogen und nun tatsächlich mehr schief als krumm umsäumt. Was bin ich stolz! Die Decke hat definitiv ihren eigenen Willen, und wellt sich leicht in die eine oder andere Richtung, die Nähte verlaufen mehr wie die kleinen Wege auf einem Feld als die Straßen in amerikanischen Großstädten, doch genau das gefällt mir so sehr. Man sieht eben, dass kein Meister am Werk war und erst recht keine Maschine. Punkt. Und was ich mit der Decke mache, weiss ich auch schon... Wollt ihr sie sehen?

Und was habt ihr so geschafft?

Langsam näht das Eichhörnchen..

Fertig sind sie nicht, doch zwei alte Nähprojekte (I/II) wurden in den letzten Tagen mal wieder zur Hand genommen. Ich habe Stoff zugeschnitten und zu einem Kleid zusammengesetzt. Einen Reissverschluss eingenäht (zweimal), und das Oberteil etwas weiter gemacht. Mit der Passform bin ich nicht so 100% zufrieden, aber ich habe eine Idee, wie es besser werden kann.

Nr. 2 wurde gestern von der Wand genommen, wo es seit unserem Einzug Anfang Mai unverändert gehangen hatte. Dann wurden spontan drei Schichten zusammengeheftet. Und drauf los genäht. Dreimal der Unterfaden neu aufgespult und eine Nadel ersetzt - wenn ich in Fahrt bin kommt es leider manchmal vor, dass ich etwas zu schwungvoll nähe, dass ich schwungvoll über Stecknadeln und Sicherheitsnadeln nähe. Knack. Verdammt! Dann achte ich wieder drauf, bis es erneut mit mir durchgeht. Ich brauche da unbedingt ein Frühwarnsystem...

Dieses Hin und Her jedenfalls braucht Zeit und Garn und es ist kein Wunder, dass ich grade jetzt, wo ich mein Kinderstück wieder auskramen muss, um es in etwa zwei Wochen vor der Prüfungskommission zu spielen, meine Zeit mit Kleidern und Decken verbringe oder unsere Unterlagen aufräume. In Ausweichmanövern bin ich mehr als gut. Gibt es dafür eine Branche? Meine Bewerbung liegt hiermit vor.

Und was habt ihr noch so geschafft?

Finished Project (before friday)

that christmas present from last year...

I got some things done!

Did I tell here that my old computer that my husband is using currently after his one broke is freaking out? Sometimes it doesn't start and often it just goes off every some minutes. This is so annoying. And he (my husband not the computer) gets really mad. Well - I can totally understand him. It's like writing emails and spending some time with the message and realizing that it was deleted by the program or accident.

So when he was working today I tried to clean a bit. And completely cleaned the keypad. Six years of dirt.. What a mess! Well I won't show THAT to you.

I didn't try out the computer afterwards but I hope it did help a bit.

Apart from that I told you that my sewing machine was tricking me. I changed the needle. Now it works. Who knows that sometimes things can be so easy? I didn't. But now I could proceed a bit with that gift. Hand sewing part has to be done next...

What have you been checking off from your to-do-list lately?

Genervt

Da gab es diese Nähmaschinenkomplikation als ich das letzte Mal genäht habe.. Heute also:

Nähmaschine aufgemacht - soweit es ging - und reingeschaut. Alles ok. Wieder zu gemacht. Ausprobiert.

Alles ok!

Super, denke ich mir und fange an zu nähen.

Ein Weihnachtsgeschenk vom letzten Jahr wurde noch immer nicht beendet, und fiel mir in die Hände.

Drauf los geschnitten..

Drauf los genäht..

Alles prima.

Und dann fing sie wieder an zu mucken. Alle paar Sekunden reisst der Faden oder der Unterfaden zieht Schlaufen. Ich habe verstellt und probiert - Fadenspannung? - und weiss nicht mehr weiter. Das ist doch zum K-o-t-z-e-n.

Ich bin wirklich wirklich wirklich genervt.

Weiß jemand, woran es noch liegen könnte?

Fransenmode

Irgendwo habe ich aufgeschnappt, dass Fransen wieder ganz groß im Kommen sind?

Meine Maschine scheint das auch mitbekommen zu haben:

Es macht keinen Spaß nach so langer Abstinenz so empfangen zu werden!

Vielleicht ist es aber auch die Rache der Hübschen, dass ich sie so lange unbeachtet liess.

Menno.

Batman-Bias

I just shortened a skirt that I found two weeks ago at a second hand.

It was very small and just fit on my small waistline, so I decided to change it a bit.

First after I cut it, the waistband could have fitted an elephant. But then I found a very sweet solution with a tie on one side. And the best: it has a bias made from batman-fabric. (You can't see the batman but I know he's there..)

It's a Superhero-Skirt!

11. August

♥ Violet ♥

"Everyday a bit" I said to myself

On monday I started this project. And since then went some steps towards my new blouse 'violet'. Yeay.

Let me show you..

This was monday: Just paper and pen. Paper and pen. Paper and pen...

No wait! I forgot. It was my day off work, and I sat the whole evening cutting the main fabric (and forgot to take pictures). My back did hurt like hell in the end. The table is too low for this work.

This was tuesday:

Now with fabric.. And fusible interfacing.

Ironing it to the right parts!

And notches... Lots of them.

I like notches!

And this was wednesday: Outside monsoon and I started sewing.

Never did this bevor.. I'm proud it worked out so well.

French seams. Am I right, they are called like this?

And more notches..

This was thursday..

Starting with collar and interfacing.

I'm really not a perfectionist. I want things to be ready quick. If something is a bit cross, I most often don't mind if it doesn't affect the look. So please don't take a closer view.. (Just kidding.)

On thursday I also learned that I shouldn't iron the fusible interfacing directly. Luckily no big damages, everything could be fixed. But this was a short moment of "oh fuck -what's going on!"..

More notches. Wanna see the ground?

At ten past ten I stopped. I was getting really lazy and hushed over things too much - even with my standards. At the end 'violet' was already getting in shape -

I so can't await it to be ready. READY. And have to hurry to do a little bit today since I have to go to work again quite soon. How about your finished or partly finished projects?