Tomorrow is the first day of September, which means that it has been two months - two whole months! - since I last posted on my blog. I am so ashamed.
So why have I been gone so long? You know when someone says, "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade"? Well, if someone had said that to me over the last few weeks, I'd have thrown the chuffing things back in their face and screamed, "I haven't got TIME!!!" then sat on the floor sobbing until someone brought me ice-cream and whisky. Dear reader, I moved house. Yes, I know, people do this all the time but, to cut a long story short, we ended up moving into my Grandmother's house, which meant clearing forty years' of Stuff. She's not here, she's in a nursing home, but our moving in and her moving out are in absolutely no way connected.
Unsurprisingly, there has been no sewing and definitely no time for blogging. I used my down time for napping. If I'd been a more organised blogger, I'd have prescheduled posts; but I'm not, so there were none.
You may now put away your violins because this weekend marked lots of good. In date order (because it's easier that way) I made a Tilly Coco and went to a Sewing Meet-Up. Both of these things were ace. And, in a divine coincidence, I wore the Coco to the Meet-Up, meaning one neat blog post.
Unless you don't follow other sewists on Twitter, or read any other sewing blogs the Coco is one of the most popular patterns on the planet since the BHL Anna. EVERYONE has made one. And, finally, now I have too. It's easy to see why this pattern is so popular - so easy, so clear, so stylish. And oh so quick. Having never sewn with a knit fabric before, and being terrified of said fabric, I managed a pretty damn good effort in just a few hours sewing (it took me a morning. I was done by lunch).
This photo of me wearing my Coco was taken by the lovely Myfanwy at the Leeds Sewing Meet-Up yesterday. This segues me quite nicely into said meeting, which was, quite frankly, an absolute hoot. People who sew are lovely people. This is a fact demonstrated by the ten ladies pictured below, plus Amy's mum who had left prior to this photo being taken. Recounting the day will be too upsetting for those who weren't there as it truly was ace, however, I did buy FOUR new fabrics (with projects in mind and everything) and got a tartan in the fabric swap. In a fit of organisation, I also managed to get threads to match all these new delights, and I've already washed, dried and pressed them ready for turning into something (hopefully) magnificent.
I got on the train back to London a very happy camper. And also still very full from lunch at Crowd of Favours, where the food is fantastic, plentiful and cheap.