Double chocolate orange cake

Here's my version of the recipe posted by Kelly over at bakedoandmend recently. I've tried to make it a teeny, tiny bit healthier by substituting olive oil for butter and using less sour cream. It was delish, so thanks very much Kelly! I made the full sized version to take to our annual friends' Christmas dinner on Saturday night and then made it again using half the recipe for when my family came over for lunch today. It went down really well on both occasions. There's still some left over for dinner....! (God, I really need to cut down on all the bad food in the run up to Christmas. Meh, I'll just do it after New Year!)

Butterbeer is RANK! ... But my Robe Sureau is not!

Really sickly sweet and not very nice!

So I got to go to the Harry Potter studio tour for my birthday - it was great fun and as it was a special day, I wore my Sureau for the first time. I love it! It's so comfy to wear and looks really good.

I'm holding Lord Voldemort's wand in that photo above! The dress certainly wasn't without its trials; I decided I wanted pockets and so set about using the instructions from another pattern I have (Simplicity 2215). Except that I've never used an invisible zip before. Or put in pockets. The right pocket was fine and has turned out lovely:

But the left pocket, which sits in front of the side zip, was a complete and utter nightmare to do. I don't know how many times I had to rip out the seams and start again, about five I think! It seemed to go ok when I made the toile but I suppose I wasn't being particularly neat then. When I eventually got the hang of it (well, sort of) I realised that the raw edges of the pocket were showing at the side, doh!

So, more seam ripping. I eventually got it so that I was reasonably happy with the look of the finished pocket. The different coloured pockets are on purpose, before you say anything. The invisible zip isn't entirely invisible by the way!

Bit of a blurry photo!

I love the dress and the pattern was so easy to follow despite being in French. Thanks to Eleonore and Anna, I got lots of tips from the sew-along and managed to make a lovely dress that I'm sure I'll wear time and time again. I may change a couple of things for next time though - perhaps putting the zip in the back rather than the front if I make pockets again and also I might make the skirt part not as full. Oh, and I found these really cute button to go on the bodice - apologies for the blurry photo again.

Here are a few highlights from the studio:

And I couldn't resist taking this next photo of Delores Umbridge's pink dresses, after all this is now a sewing blog...Future projects maybe??!

It's my birthday and I'll sew if I want to...

Well, it's time of year again folks: another year older and another year wiser (or not). Here's a rather photo-heavy post of my birthday presents:

There is a lovely, traditional, British-made trug basket for me to wander round the garden collecting flowers and home grown veggies, a soup thermos for those cold, winter days at work and a gorgeous basket of pink flowers. The blue you can see peeking out from the trug is my new waterproof jacket:

And just in case it's not that clear, there are two, yes TWO! patterns in the trug as well - the Washi dress from Made by Rae and the Kelly skirt from Megan Nielsen. I have been wishing for these!

Then there's the most lovely little monkey puzzle tree that the Tinkers seem to like a lot:

And also a felt making kit - I saw this at the Great Dorset Steam Fair being demonstrated by a really lovely lady and had to drop a few hints to make sure someone bought it for me - how sneaky is that??!! But I'm really glad as I'm planning to have a go over the Christmas period, maybe even with my mother-in-law who gave it to me.

Other gifts include a lovely grey cardigan, sewing machine needles, zip-off trousers, roasting tins, a waterproof cover for my rucksack and handmade lavender pouches. All in all, I've been thoroughly spoilt!

I'm off now to finish my Robe Sureau - hopefully there will be photos tomorrow...

Could I win another giveaway for my birthday?

I think I'm pushing my luck here but Tilly of Tilly and the buttons is hosting a mega giveaway where the prizes include a whole host of goodies including:

* Three digital sewing patterns from Victory Patterns *

* 2m of fabric from Eternal Maker *

* Lace peter pan collar kit PLUS £15 of fabric from the Fabric Godmother *

* £30 voucher to spend on fabric/patterns/haberdashery from Sewbox *

  

And that's just half of the prizes on offer!

Now that I'm fresh off the back of winning a book from Roobedoo, do you think it's too much to ask that I win all of this as another birthday present...?

Head over to Tilly's brilliant blog for more details and a chance to enter. But if you win, could you donate a prize to me too? Thanks ; ) xx

Oh, and it's my birthday today. I've already has a few presents - I'm hoping to photograph them and put them on here later. It'll be a a mad rush this evening to finish sewing my Robe Sureau in time to wear for my birthday trip tomorrow. You'll never guess where I'm going - to the Harry Potter Studio Tour in London! Woo-hoo, I'm so looking forward to it! Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and Butterbeer for me then!

Ha ha, didn't realise the title was in French!

An early birthday present

I was one of the lucky winners of Roobedoo's birthday giveaway last week - and in a funny twist of fate, it's my birthday in a few days' time. I got home yesterday evening to find lovely package waiting for me.

And when I opened it up, not only was the book I'd won inside but also a lovely postcard.

It's called Stylish Dress Book. I've had a quick flick through - which is mainly in Japanese by the way! - and it's different to anything I've seen before. Most of the garments are very loose fitting smocks which I think might drown me a bit. There's also some slightly odd creations like this house-coat dress and something that looks suspiciously like a nightie...

But there are also some cute dresses, the following two being my favourites:

However, I think I may have to take everything in a teeny, tiny little bit! But first, I'll have to brush up on my visual learning skills as all the patterns and instructions are in Japanese...

Thanks Roo for a very different and unusual birthday gift! I look forward to the challenge...