paving!

From this...

to this...

via this!

My poor Dad. He and Mum were coming down to stay for a short holiday. Alarm bells rang when I asked if he could bring down his angle grinder. I honestly believed that I would be able to lay the paving myself after they'd gone. How wrong I was! There was so much fiddly cutting to do, and cutting 25mm slate is not easy. It took four days to finish. I was a human cement mixer, (very good for toning stomach muscles), and Dad cut and laid. We both pointed them in. We even covered half the garden with a tarpaulin so we could carry on working through the rain!

The finished result is fantastic. It's great to have a smooth, even, clean surface. Betty can now wander in and out all day, and we've been eating meals out there too. Good old Dad!

clothkits shift dress

Oooh! A beautifully wrapped parcel arrived from Clothkits the other day. With much glee I immediately set about making this little 'funky chicken' shift dress.

It's got lovely Liberty print lining.

I could make an awful lot of things from Clothkits. Being a child of the 70s, I remember having some brown dungarees and a pinny dress. Must find some photos.

Please also note the paving is done! Blog on that soon!

little top

A little summer top I've just finished. Made from some voile I found in The Cloth House. The top section is double layered and it fastens with three squares of velcro up the back. The pattern is an enlarged copy of a top Betty had when she was born.

summer dress

I made this last summer but it was so big on Betty that she's not been wearing it until just recently. It's Burda 6878 and the fabric I'm pretty sure I got from M is for Make. I reckon she'll still be able to wear it next summer as a top, it's so roomy.

garden transformation continues

From this...

... to this!

The hard work continues. I finished rendering and painting the raised bed and had a very enjoyable trip to the garden centre. I'm looking forward to watching it fill out and bloom. Next job paving!

unwhitstable

It was Unwhitstable on Saturday. A day of improvised music and art at St. Peter's in Whitstable.

For my part in it I had made lots of little ceramic lambs, cast from a plastic toy of Betty's. (She hasn't yet noticed that I had to saw its ears off to make the plaster mould).

These were wandering round the church.

I enjoyed getting back into mould making. Something I haven't done for years. Quite a lot of problem solving required which appeals to me. I also displayed some small bowls in the window niches.

The performances were very good. I really liked the percussionist Mark Sanders. Here is a picture of Evan Parker playing alto saxophone with Matt Wright on turntables and other electronica. The horn you can see is for recording on wax cylinder and is used by Aleks Kolkowski.