Wheee stitching!

Okay, I did a lot today.

Basically, I've had a basket in the corner of our living room with in progress projects that aren't cross stitch in it for years. This has included clothes that need altering, most of a quilt that just needs the blocks sewn up and borders added, varying small cross stitch projects/pre-discovering linen projects, doll clothes, etc etc.

We're getting a floating floor to replace the carpet that the mould ate. It's going to look beautiful. But we had to take the skirting boards off so that they can put the floating floor in, because they wouldn't do it for us. So that's what dad did today, while Troy knocked the nails out of them once he'd prised them off. And I organised this 'basket' - really a basket, a large box, and the surrounding floor.

Here's what I got done today:

• Put cloak (made, needs hem stitched - on panne velvet (both sides) so will take a while) away in room to be done later
• Decided that beautiful full white skirt with gold leaf design on it that rats got to is not ruined, even though i thought it was 12 months ago when i first put it in the basket. Hung it back in wardrobe, to be worn soon - I LOVE this skirt! It has a few holes, a bit moth eaten, but it's *so* full that you can't see them unless you look.
  
• Ripped a ragged hem on blue dress that got eaten by the rats about 5cm from the bottom because mum moved my rat cage over near the wardrobe - I'd never worn the dress, and she was so apologetic that she went out and bought me a new one - different though. Ripped a ragged hem on the underskirt too, to match. It looks great over jeans (a little short for me to wear it otherwise, comfortably) and I will take photos.
• Finally gave up on altering the bodice on a white tiered dress with bands of crochered lace between the tiers with drawstring at neck and waist. Basically, it looked like a nice skirt that fit my waist well, and a sack up top. Pinned and pinned and pinned and finally decided there was no way of altering it, so cut the bodice off and am now wearing it as a beautiful white skirt. Will also take photos.
  
• Dug up a beautiful Australian sampler that I stitched on 14ct aida back a couple years ago - beautiful, but I never finished stitching the backstitched border. It's 3/4 done! However, I can't find the thread so I'll go to cherubs tomorrow and pick up a skein of 988 to finish it with, then wash it and show it as a happy dance *grin* It really is gorgeous, even if I *did* have to unpick and restitch those parrots and trees a thousand times...
• Folded and repacked large amounts of fabric that I've collected - silly things, like a large rectangle of bright blue panne velvet that I was given but have no use for, and a huge (like 3m) piece of sheer mottled blue fabric - originally curtain fabric, that I bought at spotlight a couple years ago for $1/m and I always meant to use it as overlay on a dress but never got around to it.
• Fit everything left over into my basket and threw out the extra box!

So now what is left in my basket is:

• The aforementioned fabric
• All the pieces cut for a victorian dress for a doll I made forever ago *except* the bodice and a sleeve, which are currently somewhere - location unknown. Last I knew it had been washed because someone got pie on it - dont ask, but after that I havent seen it in a while. It will turn up. Or I will buy new fabric. One of the above.
• The blocks, and a few rows sewn up of a quilt called Moonshadow that I started two and a bit years ago, all grey and black fabric but with jewel tones that leap out. Looks stunning, just needs some dedicated space to lay it out in and a couple spare days to sew it together in. Maybe in the holidays after easter? Might be able to ring in a few family members to help me!
• Random felt that is there for goodness knows what reason
• Stencils of bugs that I bought a couple years ago for a specific project and am keeping, for reasons unknown - I guess in the off chance that I might want to use them again.
  
• A pair of harem pants that are missing the bells that tied one of the cords - mum found them when washing but they've since disappeared and I'm not throwing them out until it's been a year since they were lost.

The sampler that I did ages ago (the year on it says 2005) is hanging up to try and hang the creases out, and I'll wash it with orvus very carefully when I've finished the border. It's white, but it got carted around a fair amount and so it's grubby. I nicknamed it my teatowel while I was working on it, since the dimensions are about the same! It's actually part of a pair of samplers - they were supposed to be stitched on the same piece of fabric but it would have looked horrible, and I started the matching one but never finished it. I dug it out too. I might try and finish it - make it a requirement to work on it for five hours every time I finish a milestone on one of my other projects maybe or something. I'm getting the first one framed anyway, since it looks fine on its own, and when I finish the other one it will be framed to match. It's all cross and back stitch, but the charting is magnificent - especially in this one section that has four trees in it, all different kinds - one looks like red autumn lace! Beautiful, even on aida.

I went to spotlight the other day looking for fabric for a dress pattern that I ordered - I wanted to make a simple, old style dress - long skirt, fitted waist with ties at the back, button/zip down the back, square neckline and long sleeves but moderned-ed up a bit. But do you know how hard it is to find dress fabric these days? Out of everything in that store, there was *one* bolt of fabric that would be warm enough for a dress, that wasn't hideous or obviously designed to be mens pants fabric. And it was on a rack that said $7.70/m which isn't too bad. Black flannel, with an embroidered detail around the hem about 30-40cm wide in autumn variegated colours, and plenty more in the plain black above where I'd have to cut it for the skirt to make the bodice and sleeves out of.

...get to the counter and ask for 3m of it, which should be plenty, and the assistant said 'you do realise that this is $27/m' don't you?

$27/m!!!!

*dies*

needless to say, I didnt buy the fabric.

*but* on the radio I heard that they have a sale on on tuesday, so I might go back if they still have the fabric. They should. I hope anyway...

It still ends up being $64.8 for the fabric, but I guess I could live with that. I've bought dresses for that amount before, and they were summer, cotton ones. It's just so frustrating that there is no decent dressmaking fabric around anymore, and when you find it it's so expensive.

Here's one version of the dress, though I won't have the contrasting colours on cuffs and hem:




I plan to make it with the black fabric, and ask Troy's mum to dye me some ribbon to match the colours in the embroidery to use on the cuffs and waistband, and maybe the collar if it needs it, to break up the black.

Seeing it done in the calico makes me want to do one in a lighter fabric too, with a flannelette petticoat underneath to keep warm with or something. It's gorgeous!
I just realised that this post was enormous, so I should probably shut up now.