Busy week!

It's been a bit of a busy week this week, plus I've been ill with a cold and a sicky bug, so that's why there haven't been many posts.  Also, not many pictures as my memory card for my camera decided to hide away for a few days!

So, the weekend was supposed to be about celebrating the autumn equinox.  We had lots of blackberries left and were going to make another crumble, bake some homemade bread and make a nice warm casserole for dinner.  We were also planning to make a season table with some acorns, leaves, conkers and feathers we have picked up during a nature walk the previous week, and possibly do some leaf printing.  But...  on Friday we received the school newsletter which informed me that on the following Monday the children would be visited by a court jester as part of their castles and knights projects and therefore Harry would need to take to school and knight costume to change into for the afternoon.  Right.  Ok.  A little warning would have been nice thank you!

So, out came my shiny new sewing machine!  When I say new, it's never been used but was actually bought as a lovely Christmas present last year by my very kind parents, and with all that was going on with new babies and exams I never got to try it out.  So Saturday was a crash course in sewing machines.  Let me warn you, I don't do sewing.  I am useless at it, hence wanting a sewing machine.  I one made myself a lovely velvet top for my 18th birthday party.  I was so proud of myself, until it promptly fell apart during said party!  But I am determined to get better!

Luckily, I have a secret stash of fabric in my wardrobe.  Some of it is ten years old, from the pre-birthday top fiasco when I fancied myself as a dressmaker!  In said stash I had a lot of silver material, which I think was intended to end up as pyjamas.  A quick trip to Boyes and I began my creative masterpiece!

Three hours later, I finally managed to figure out how to get the thread in the two different places.  Granted, my mother-in-law was very kindly trying to help and had managed to do everything backwards and I had to redo everything after she left!  So, deep breath and gently push foot on pedal.  Cue sewing machine made scary whirring noise.  One panicked phone call to my poor mother later, and she had explained that sewing machines don't really like shiny material, and suggested pinning paper over the top.  It turned out I had to pin it on both sides in order for it to go, and pulling the paper off afterwards may have loosened many of the stitches, though I have been informed by three different people that it was the tension that was wrong.  I just nodded and smiled.

Anyway, I started this thing about 8.30am and by half past five in the evening it was finally finished!  Don't get me wrong, it looks awful, but it stayed together and looked vaguely knight-like.  And the most important thing of all was that Harry loved it.  A few choice accessories and here was the finished result!

And the sewing machine has survived me using it, which is even more amazing!