New things old things

A week for new things and rediscovering old things. 

It started last weekend, with a trip to see a very new thing, my new niece, only 5 days old, a little bundle. Girl is relieved to have a female cousin on that side of the family and so are we to be honest, we don't really understand boys.

Then new things like giving notice, and discovering that the sky doesn't fall in, and getting used to the idea that paperwork overload will come to an end, but just not yet. But come September, I will be completely independent and running my own classes (if you are in Sussex, details are to be found here).

More new things, getting my head around the delights of eBay. The Kenyan Paralympic team are still for sale, nobody wants them:

but I have managed to sell a few bits of fabric.

And with the sales, more new things, confronting the fear of an eBay purchaser not being satisfied with the fabric when it arrives. What to do? What do you mean you liked it in the photo but not when it arrived? The photo showed it exactly! What do you mean it doesn't have any silver in it but is actually gold-coloured? Did I not describe it as "pale beige with shimmery highlights"? Do you know how hard it is to describe fabric? 

Then two Thursdays in a row, coming home from teaching to discover Etsy sales! A lovely lady has bought some braids. Then liked them so much she bought some more. Sales! A delightful New Thing.

Which has spurred me into action, taking photos of some old things and listing them in the shop, like the amulets from my last post, and these little velvet books:

The amulets still haven't made it into the shop, but the books have. 

(None of this is really old stuff, but just seems like it to me as I see it so often. I just haven't got round to selling it...)

And with listing things in the shop, I've learnt another new thing - how to use gimp instead of photoshop, to whiten the background of my photos. I think I've worked it out now, but it is time consuming, and I had to go and buy another new thing - a computer mouse for the laptop. Which will need its own new thing, a mouse house. I think a little felt one. I'll make one this week....

And finally today, I found this old thing (again, not that old, but made last summer), a collage that I have cut into two

added lining and pockets

and made into two notebook covers

I am currently making pages to slip inside, ripping up sheets of paper.

Lastly, kinda inspired by Sewing Bee but not really, as I got the patterns before I knew it would be on telly, I have been attempting to make some clothes.

I've finally finished this blouse

from a pattern I traced from a library book. But I forgot to add any pattern markings, and I think I may have misjudged the seam allowances. The length was a tad on the short side, the width a bit flappy, and the arms were clearly designed for a baboon or for someone whose knuckles touch their knees. I've added a bit of elastic to the hem to sort out the flappiness, and just rolled the sleeves up. I'm astonished that I've finished something, and that it is comfortable.

I've also made a dress from one of those japanese pattern books, a dress designed for a waif. I was worried it would come up small so made a generous size. I also made it in calico, with the notion of dyeing it when finished, and not spending a lot of money on fabric. But I seem to have made a potato sack. A potato sack with bias neck and armhole facings, all new to me, but still a potato sack. I haven't taken a photo of that one. 

Can I stop with the new things and have a quiet week now?!