Slaving over the sewing machine

Yesterday was a beautiful day, so I headed out to see my lovely girls. Someone was letting off huge blasts with a shotgun, so Zanny was all stirred up and hardly registered her carroty treats. I snapped a couple of photos of the girls trotting around their lovely grassy paddock. Zanny is holding her weight so well, so I'm thrilled. She gives so much to her foals that she can get very skinny. 

 It is not like Zanny to be quite so excitable, but I have seen her after a good feed of spring grass and fermented hay (baleage, it is usually called- I think of it as rocket fuel for horses). There are lots of monsters in the bushes when she's had rich food!

 Unfortunately I didn't get any pretty photos of Tara as she was under the trees and kept moving towards me. Sweet girl. Next weekend she is probably going to the horse maternity farm, just like Zanny did, so she'll be up the road for visits. I can't wait to meet her wee one too, and I think she'll be ok about showing it to me.

I have been thinking about that horrid thing Grandma had on her wall a very long time ago, which was called "A Round Tuit." I remember feeling a bit irritated by it, but also knew it was rather clever. I am trying to get around to doing a few jobs I've had on the back burner. Remember my shirtwaister dress?

 Which comes from this fantastic book:

 Well, I finally got cracking today and now all I have to do is sew down the inside yoke and add buttons and buttonholes, and I'll be done! Believe me, there were a few moments when I had no idea what I was doing, the worst being when I tried to work out how to sew on the front facings. I tried to do it flat on my table but it didn't make sense until I put it onto Ruby, my dressmaker's model.

 I love the print as it is very vintage looking, as is the pattern. I've got a couple of fitting problems as there is a lot of fabric at the back bulging below the yoke, and the sleeves are a bit too puffy for my liking, which would be less obvious if the shoulders were a little narrower (mine are pretty narrow compared to the rest of me). The good news is that I can fix these issues if I make the pattern again.

 I had a tidy up on my sewing table, but there is still a lot of stuff in a small space. The pink round object in the background is a very cool cutting board that rotates like a lazy susan. It is for cutting shapes without having to move the template around (or yourself).

Of course Miss Dog and Mr Mouse were close by. Mousie loves the ironing board.

 He also loves the back of the couch.

He looks rather grumpy here, but he rarely is.

Miss Dog and I went for a walk this afternoon around the nature reserve and through the new subdivision nearby. I wanted to test out my new sneakers, as they have sat in their pristine glory since I purchased them well over a week ago. I was thrilled with them. My old ones hurt my feet. I'm starting my fitness regime in preparation for Zanny coming back into work (eventually). I need to work on my back too because that is my biggest impediment to improving my riding. It goes into spasms when I'm out walking. No excuses though- yesterday I watched Anthea Gunner, who is a paraplegic Paralympic dressage rider, trying out one of my horsey friends. She is overcoming an enormous challenge to ride, and she was amazing to watch. Very inspirational.

Another riding inspiration (of a different kind) is Jennifer Saunders, who was on TV last night with her Back in the Saddle programme. I loved it, and was incredibly jealous since I am temporarily grounded. I couldn't work out how she was so confident at being up there cantering around so quickly, until there was one brief comment about hunting made during her conversation with Princess Anne. Jennifer has a lovely dun horse and she must go out hunting on him, which would explain her confidence in the saddle after such a long break. Plus she can probably afford to buy a wonderful bombproof "schoolmaster," as lovely trustworthy, experienced horses are called. I'd love to meet her and her horse and have a good old horsey gossip with her.

I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring, but I mustn't go off the boil with the dressmaking! So I will be learning how to make buttonholes on my sewing machine, and would be very pleased if I discover that it has an automatic button sewing on function as well. That would save some time, and then I might get around to working on another of my many unfinished projects.