a sigh of relief ...

The coat is finally finished. There was one major problem. The sleeve circumference was too narrow for the girth of the machine flatbed even after I had taken the extra bit off to make it narrower. This meant I had to hand sew the sleeve ribbons on which was a real faff but at least I could machine the ribbon to the hem otherwise I think I would dumped it in the bin. I also changed the buttons to something more appropriate - God is in the detail don't you know.

I also made a ribbon brooch with some of the remaining ribbon. I felt the collar area needed a little embellishing but didn't want to trim it in ribbon I think it would have made it look too much like a blazer. I haven't christened the coat yet as the weather is way too warm for a coat at the moment. Long live this glorious Indian Summer - the coat can wait.

The table mat arrived safely and you can see pictures off all the mats, as they arrive, over on Anna's Flickr site.

The postman also brought me a package from Simmy - I am going to have fun sorting out my fabric. Simmy had organised her fabric using comic book boards and she very kindly sent me some. Talking of organising fabric, I invested in several small plastic boxes to store my fabric scraps. Those fiddley tiny bits that don't store nicely but you just can't throw away.

OK so they aren't quite the wonderful metal bins Denyse Schmidt has, which it would be my dream to have, but they do their job.

Anyway roll on next project .... focus, Caroline, focus.