Sunday Sevens - 16th August

1:

My wonderful neighbours have done so much for me since I moved to Canada, so I'm repaying them by dragging Mrs E out on a bike ride every now and again. They have a 5 month old daughter, so she can't go far or for too long. But she appreciates the break from baby (hopefully!). We ended up out for about 1.5 hours heading north out of the city....

2:

I spent money on a posh mattress. Anyone who's stayed at our place knows I haven't done that for a long time.... The floor is more comfortable than our old mattresses (and North American King size vs UK double? No contest! Also not shipping the beds over will mean more space to bring bikes, fabric etc etc!)

3.

I went hiking. On a school night. I think this the first time ever!  Prairie Mountain is near West Bragg Creek out to the SW of Calgary. It's a favourite for evening jaunts and an excellent get fit/training walk, as it's only 3.5km to the top but with 700m ascent (that's a lot, some sections are over 45deg). The path is very well defined, there are no route choices, and the risk of meeting bears is very low (lots of people, no berry bushes).

I proved my fitness by making it to the top in 1h04, and then my stupidity by running down in 40 minutes. Cycling does not make you fit for running down hill, I couldn't manage stairs properly for the following two days....

4.

Tracing patterns and cutting fabric. Why does it take so long? I just want to get on and sew!!! This is going to be my first Butterick 5526 shirt (for work, in white , although there may be some hidden surprises....).

5.
In preparation for Mal's next visit from the UK in a couple of weeks time, I've invested in some hiking trail guides.  This is not your average guidebook, this is "Don't waste your time in the Canadian Rockies".  It grades the hikes on how good they are, the intros are informative and entertaining and the hiking guides are very well written.  It even comes with pamphlets for each hike that you can take with you (so you don't have to lug the book around).
This hike is from the "Don't bother" section....

6.

It was raining (people in Calgary aren't used to rain, they stop - much like Brits do when it snows).  So I went shopping.  And I bought Tea.  This is very important. I am after all from a nation of Tea drinkers.  This tea is very nice and quite expensive.  The Irish breakfast is quite a strong blend (think Yorkshire tea) with a deep bitter flavour, and the Kenyan is weaker but still has more to it than what you'd get in the supermarket out here.

7. 

I was hoping to finish my Onyx top this weekend, but I got distracted (I'm not very good at finishing things...). All I need to do is sew the buttons on to the cuff tabs.  Isn't it the prettiest Liberty fabric though (for those of us not into twee florals)?

Sunday sevens - 9th August

In the attempt to blog a bit more, I'm joining in with the Sunday Sevens blog series hosted by Threads and Bobbins.  I first came across this while following Teresa's blog at Navy Blue Threads.  

The idea is to post seven photos from your week (have I cheated with a video??!), which is hopefully a bit easier than sorting photos and writing more extensive blog posts! Not sure how long I'll be able keep it up, so we shall see!!

Here goes.....

1:

It was a long weekend in Canada last weekend so with the factored in rest day I still managed to get out twice! Yay! That's the problem with having so many outdoor interests - there's never enough time. So I went hiking in Kananaskis with Calgary Outdoor Club, an exploratory hike up Rocky Creek, just to see how far we could get. I think this was one of the trails that was destroyed in the floods of 2013. We wandered up for about 3 hours then turned round and came back. Not sure how far it was as it's quite slow going walking up the creek, picking our way among the rocks and small pools no more than mid-calf deep.... It was hot as well so the creek water was a welcome relief.

2:

Headed out to Banff with the COC again and this time accompanied by mountain bike... A gentle paced ride around Tunnel Mountain - dry swoopy single track and some great views of the hoodoos.

3:

Who knew than one person needs this much veggie risotto! Obviously carb loading after the weekend (and freezer stocking, now that I've figured out that reheated risotto for lunch is delicious!)

4:

Some Liberty of London Tana lawn that I accidentally bought in Abakhan before leaving the UK, has now been cut for my third Paprika Patterns Onyx top (I promise to blog them all when I finish this one....)

5:

Finished, photographed and blogged my new Simplicity 1538 shirt! So I could wear it to work on Friday with my cowboy boots (I love my boots)!!!

6:

Lunch break quilt maths... I'm getting a bit behind on gifts and I really should start thinking about Christmas! This is a block designed by Jess (Elven Garden Quilts) for Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts for The Bee Hive series (I know, complicated. Keep up....) I wanted to make a small quilt, so will the 12" blocks I'll do 5 rows of 4 blocks. Not sure I can manage from the current (very small) fabric stash, I might have to go shopping!! 

7:

Another day in the mountains with COC, this time an early start to drive out to Yoho National Park and a walk up to Twin Falls. It wasn't a huge walk (16km, 300m) just a nice distance and good to get out in the mountains. The views of the mountains were amazing, but my favourite thing was the waterfalls.  I could have stood there for hours, listening to the roar and getting wetter and wetter!!

A hot off the press Jasper Sweater!!

I know I'm not supposed to be buying fabric, but last week Paprika patterns released their second design, and it's the one item of clothing that I wear the most.

Enter the Jasper Sweater.....

Copyright Paprika Patterns - source

Isn't it the cutest ever? A fitted princess seam hoodie with tube pocket? That just ticks all the boxes!

Unfortunately (or fortunately) the release coincided with a crazy early day at work which meant I finished at lunchtime and was able to pop in to Abakhan on the way home.  Rooting through the fabric bins I found 1.85m of thick sweater fabric in blue/teal (my favourite colour, so destiny!) for the grand price of £11.

I cut a size 3 and graded out to a 4 at the waist (my usual type of adjustment), deciding on the sweater with hood version as that'll get the most wear (I do love the cowl and dress as well though!). Not having done princess seams before I wasn't sure which bits to grade so I left the size panels as standard and graded the front and back pieces.  I forgot about the pocket though!

Fortunately I realised before cutting the fabric, so cheated and laid the pocket and front bodice pieces on top of each other to cut around....

Usually I'll add an inch or so to the bodice length as I'm long in body/short in leg, but this is drafted for 5'7'' (I'm only 5'5'') and the quoted finished bodice length seemed fine.

The instructions were really clear with additional photo tutorials on the website for the tricky bits - welt pockets and hood construction. I was paying extra attention for these so it all went swimmingly. I could see where it would be easy to get confused when attaching the hood/cowl to the bodice, there was a lot of fabric!  Seems I wasn't paying attention the whole time though as I sewed the top of the pocket and lining together, but also sewed the front bodice.  However I really like that curved line of stitching across the front so it's staying (and unpicking from thick sweater fabric? Na, too hard....)

I did add some twill tape to the shoulder seams, which I've started doing to my knit projects to stop them stretching out of shape.

Before adding the cuffs I tried it on (as recommended in the instructions!!) and decided to take 1" off the sleeve length.  I think they're spot on now.

I'm still not sure about the seam finishes.  There were a couple of options suggested in the instructions but they involve pressing the seam open.  The problem is the knit stitch on my sewing machine (which is fantastic BTW) means that you can't open the seam.  For the back hood seam I sewed a straight stitch so was able to open the seam and then topstitch the seam allowances down.  But for the neck and front hood/cowl seam I used the knit stitch. In the end I pressed it to one site, and then used the twin needle to topstitch it down. It's not my finest work, but I'm happy enough with it (but not happy enough to take a picture and show you!!).

I'm not sure looking at these photos if the hood is a bit too big? It looks fine on the Paprika patterns shots so maybe mine just needs a wash to soften up a bit.

The only thing I might change on the next one (other than sewing the pocket correctly) is to add a little width on the bottom edge. It's not too small, but there's not a lot of ease so I'll see what it's like paired with jeans.