Tourists in our own patch

Occasionally, we find a good reason to take a day off and explore somewhere new.  It doesn’t have to be far away and though we didn’t venture more than an hour and a half from home, we delighted in a bit of discovery.

Actually, Shepton Mallet wasn’t new to us at all.  We’d even been to this complex of buildings previously to visit the Mulberry Outlet here, but since we were last here all kinds of developments have taken place and it was worth a couple of hours on a Sunday morning.

To begin with, we headed for the cafe, to work out what was where.  I knew there were gardens here and I knew there were some shops, but that was it. 

We made a start in the shops, some of which were full of an eclectic mix of bits and pieces, including these plaited rope baskets.  Gorgeous colours, eh?

There were designer clothes outlets, a Paul Smith sale and familiar names like LK Bennett and Orla Kiely, but what caught my eye was a basket of remaindered Daylesford products.  Dishwasher rinse aid, anyone?

We’d no need of anything there and looking at the sun trying to come out, we took a chance and headed for the garden, hoping the downpour wouldn’t happen when we were furthest from shelter.  The gardens at Kilver Court lay beneath the towering pillars of a railway viaduct and the water from the millpond gives a peaceful feel to an otherwise industrial setting.

We followed the pathway around the pond, stopping to take a closer look at the Dovecote, where there were examples of weddings and other events which had taken place there.

Not a bad backdrop, eh?

A little further along I picked up a little treasure.

I loved that shape, vaguely indian in feel, the pattern and the texture!  What a little gem.  I couldn’t resist gathering a handful of them to bring home.

Lovely place.  How glad we were that we’d come.  Oh, and no, I didn’t buy a handbag

Feeling hungry, we decided to head for Bruton, Somerset.  We’d driven through the town on our way back from somewhere last year and I’d earmarked it as somewhere worth exploring further.  I had since read of The Chapel and had it in mind when we were talking about finding a spot of lunch.

Oh. My. Goodness.

All I can say is that it’s a good job it’s not closer to home or we could have a serious problem there.  Delightful people, great food and oh so stylish, too.

As we returned to our car, parked on the bridge over the river Brue, we spotted the sign to Hauser and Wirth, the “other” thing I’d remembered about Bruton (though I knew nothing more than the fact it’s an art gallery).

It being Sunday afternoon, it was ever so slightly busy.  Who knew there were so many art fans in this part of the world?  (The Telegraph did it seems)

Sadly, no photographs allowed of the exhibition: Jenny Holzer’s Softer Targets, though I might not have taken many anyway as I found it somewhat disturbing.  Where I would have taken oodles of photographs was the Oudolf Field, but excepting these amazing Michaelmas Daisies, I took none, unsure of where the “gallery” ended and the “garden” began.

Please, follow that link to the website and see why I was totally captivated by the planting.  I’m not a gardener – neither of us are really – but we know what we like!  If I listed a few places where I’ve stood and admired, it would certainly include the Lurie garden by Grant Park in Chicago, the Highline in New York and this one….and guess what?  They are all designed by Piet Oudolf!  How satisfying is that?  Clearly, I am (we are) consistent in our taste for such planting and maybe, just maybe, it’s something to consider for our own patch?

(good grief, I can’t believe I’m even thinking about gardening!!)

Well, before we got too excited, we decided to head for the main goal of the day; to The Pig near Bath, where Mary, Diana and a group of American travelling companions were arriving shortly.  We’d arranged to join them all for dinner and so settled ourselves in the drawing room with a couple of pots of tea and the Sunday papers.

Dinner, in the private dining room was spectacular!  Not only had the staff realised that this group were focused on books and fiction and strewn the table with appropriately interesting titles, they had lit the room by candlelight and created such a lovely, comforting atmosphere none of us wanted to leave.

Not only that, but in celebration of Rosh Hashanah small platters of apples and honey were shared.  (And yes, of course, the location of this small celebration didn’t go unnoticed and caused some amusement!)

But who couldn’t love such delicious food, so beautifully served in such glorious surroundings?

Meanwhile

There has been life beyond sewing a bag.

I met a friend for lunch the other day in a place I’ve heard about but never been.  At times, it felt as though we were in someone’s junk yard.  More shabby than chic, but the food and service were excellent!

Thursday night was WI and as our village hall gets a bit of an upgrade, the school have been updating the wallhangings as well.  Lovely new “earth, water, air” work, all based on weavings using CDs.  Very clever and perfect for the setting, too.  Our speaker told us about the Stroud Food Bank, an organisation many of us support but about which we knew little, it seems.

On Friday I had a meeting at the Gloucester M5 Services, on the Southbound side where there’s a great fishmonger.  I liked the way he parcelled my fish up with paper and string but loved that he asked for my shopping bag and placed a freezer pack at the bottom of it to keep my fish cool too.  That’s service, isn’t it?

As I was cooking the fish, I spotted a visitor in the garden, stopping by the pond for a drink.

I think he knew I had my camera to hand as he posed so nicely, don’t you?

The Third Law

You know, the one which states that every triumph has an equal number of disasters?  In this case, it was an equal number plus a few more.  But it’s done!  I’ve finished the bag!

So, where were we?  I think I was about to begin to sew the side panels in place.  It’s quite a clever design in that these side panels have pleats which hold the pocket sides together.  I folded and pressed and took it carefully and all appeared to be well.

Of course, one side is always easier than the other and where one seems to fit nicely and sit under the sewing machine foot without difficulty, the other side  doesn’t want to lay quite so flat.  Anyway, I got both sides stitched in place and took a deep breath.

Now it was time to sew the seam which joins the sides to the bottom, and though the straight parts were fairly ok, that curved piece was the trickiest part of the whole thing – so far.  In the end, I tacked it and stitched it by hand before doing what I could on the machine, hoping that my dreadful stitching would be hidden by the next challenging stage.

Those edges now needed to be bound, and though the pink binding was cut to fit, it soon became the next most trickiest bit of the whole project.  It should have been topstitched by machine but I copped out of that bit and simply blindstitched it in place.  Any wonky bits were pressed into submission with a good whack of steam.

There remained just one last step – sewing the long closing zip in place and however hard I tried, I just couldn’t envisage how it was done.  I waited until today, Saturday afternoon, to tackle that bit.

It was a (comparative!) breeze!  Well, I did have to rip out a couple of small areas but compared with other parts, sewing four long, straight seams was easy peasy. 

I finished off the zip “handle” with the tabs as instructed, and was nearly finished. 

I just needed to make the small dish with the magnetic clips which fits in the front.  That’s when I discovered that the pattern for that is on an additional Craftsy download!  Another seven pages!

But half an hour later I’d got that in place without too much bother.

Tra laaa!

Would I make it again?  Hmmm.  Maybe.  But I’m not in a hurry to do that!  Is it a beginner project?  Well, I don’t think so.  I think the curved seam in particular needs confidence to sew, and wrangling a fairly large, three dimensional object under the sewing machine takes some doing, too.  I was using all the clever capabilities of my machine, moving the needle left and right to squeeze the quarter inch seam through.  I engaged the dual feed to make sure the zips didn’t slip and move in between all those layers of fabric and yes, in places, it struggled to get through it all: Attaching the pink binding, at one point I was sewing a quarter inch seam through at least eight fabric layers and a couple of bits of interfacing too! Would I pay $50 for someone to steer me through it in a class?  If I were a beginner, you know, it’d probably be worth it, just to make sure I didn’t throw it across the room.

Anyway, for now, I’m just going to carry it everywhere with me, to unzip it and look inside from time to time and bask in the glory of a finished project.

I am not allowing a WI Craft Judge anywhere near it though

Progress

After I finished writing the last post, I had an email from Mary, who told me she’d seen a class to make this bag on offer in LA, cost $50.  Well, I don’t need much persuasion to save money, so immediately set to and began to cut out those pieces! 

I went carefully, ticking off each one as I went and marking the pieces with an identifier and an arrow as recommended.  I knew I’d need to set off well before lunchtime for an afternoon meeting at Denman College, so rather than begin the sewing I thought I’d just get all the pieces together, including the zips.  4 short and one very long one.

I could find only three.  (I’m sure I bought four, but who knows where the other one went?)

I bought another four zips on my way to my meeting and was thankful for the little sewing shop in Cirencester and the fact there were no traffic wardens around whilst I parked on a double yellow line to run and out as quickly as I could!

Another meeting this morning, so it was after lunch that I switched on my machine and began page 15 of the instructions.  I won’t say it’s difficult sewing but I guess it’s not that easy to explain which piece goes where.

I was very thankful for my zipper foot and being able to engage the dual feed on my machine!

As I thought, once the first one was done, it was fairly simple to continue in the same way.

Though it takes time to identify each piece and work out where it goes, place it accurately, stitch, press and topstitch.

But that bit is done!  Four zip pockets complete.  I’m now on page 22 of the instructions and about to install the magnetic snap for the Optional Fabric Dish.

I was about to leave it there, but thought I might as well continue and get that little magnetic bit in place.  Then I turned over   scrolled down a little further and decided to sew the pockets in place too.

Needless to say, I didn’t get one of those seams quite right, so had to undo it using my trusty seam ripper.  But one thing about that wonderful tool is that it leaves quite a few straggly little bits of thread behind, so I was glad of my new mini ripper (why do I hum a tune when I say that?) which has an “innovative thread remover” on the end.  (Though actually, I expect I could have done exactly the same thing with a pencil eraser)

Anyway, tomorrow, I’m ready to begin page 26.

Progress.

Not easily intimidated

but.

A couple of months ago, I came across this nifty pattern on Craftsy.  Like many, I’m a sucker for a good bag pattern and this one seemed to be super-useful for not only carrying a sewing (art?) kit but for holding it all together in use too.

I watched the video demonstration here and thought that it was something I wanted to make, so I bought the pattern and noted the ingredients.

I wasn’t in a particular hurry but took the opportunity to buy a cheap bundle of fat quarters in JoAnns when we were in the USA, plus all the zips, interfacing and so on.  In the meantime, Mary had got the pattern as well and together we discussed the clever design. Mary asked if I’d noticed how detailed the instructions are, but bearing in mind that Craftsy mark it as a beginner project, it shouldn’t be too tricky, should it?

With a day at home and having completed my responsibilities this morning, I thought I’d make a start.  It’s a while since I downloaded the pattern though and the perfectionist in me wanted to make sure I cut the right piece from the right colour.  For, although this was going to be a mish mash of colours, I did want some control!

I went to the sewing patterns folder on my pc and opened it up. I thought I’d better print it out before I began, so I could tick off the various stages.

Oooer.  Now I understood why Mary had referred to the detailed instructions. 

82 pages!

Of course, I wasn’t going to print all that out.  I skimmed through to see what I needed and printed out the cutting list, hoping to identify which bit I needed to cut from each colour.  I still wasn’t sure though, so watched another video (or four) with a step by step guide to what goes where (and how it’s constructed)

My free afternoon was disappearing fast!

Now totally at a loss as to where to start, I considered just cutting the pieces and winging it!  I could hear my Mum’s voice though – no, don’t spoil it.  Do it properly.

But here we are, almost 4.30pm and I haven’t so much as made a snip in any fabric let alone threaded my machine.  I was about to make a start when I spotted an update and pattern errata on the website so watched the updated YouTube video which has some further refinements – not that I’ve really got to grips with the original version yet.

Whilst I commend the designer for her detailed and carefully thought out pattern instructions, I’m beginning to wonder where “enough” might be.  Of course, those 82 pages contain a lot more than the straightforward step by step instructions; in fact, there’s a pattern for another small accessory in there as well as a good deal of commentary.  But all in all, I’m overwhelmed by the whole thing.  Perhaps there’s a cause for the simple, basic pattern to be outlined, so that those of us who would just like to dive in and make it can do exactly that.  Having done that, we might have enough of an understanding that we could then consider refinements and a better way of doing things.

So there we are, an afternoon being busy doing nothing.

I need a lie down.