Ocah Weblog

Best laid plans.............. again !

The builder who was at my studio was due to complete the work on my windows in 2 days, I figured it would more likely take 3 days, I was wrong. 5 days later my windows are still not finished, the builder was no where to be seen and my studio had been left in a dirty horrible mess.

 

Today the plan was that all the building work would be finally be done and I would clean and unpack my studio so that I could finally get back to work, but what greeted me just made me want to yell, cry, and scream all at the same time.  A lovely friend had turned up to help me to clean and unpack but after 3 hours of working flat out at removing piles of caked on cement from door handles, the floor, windows, plug sockets, pipework, and pretty much everywhere else it felt like we were getting no where.  My friend ran out time helping me and reluctantly left me to it.   I assured her that I wasnt going to beaten by the mess but an hour later and I had had enough and just couldnt work out what to do about it all.  I considered sitting and having a good old cry but decided that would be a waste of time as it wouldnt fix anything or make me feel better about the mess. I couldnt call my my Mum and Dad to lend a hand as they are holiday, my DH was in another City, and so there was really only one thing to be done, I went to my Uncle Bry.  Uncle Bry is my Mums brother who lives near to my studio and so I walked to his house, knocked on the door and explained my predicament whilst trying not to burst into tears (I really had had a gut full with the mess and the delays already), he walked with me back to my studio and after seeing the mess he set about working out a cleaning schedule and sure enough bit by bit the studio started to come together again, dust free and very clean. I still have a way to go in getting everything unpacked, sorted and looking how I want it to look but that will have to wait.  For now I have a tidy and very clean studio and I am just relieved and happy that I can finally get back to work.

Panama Picasso

I am so happy to have finally completed this carrier.  I had made a carrier for this Mama before and she really did like it a lot, so when it was lost she really did miss it. There wasn't anything for it really we just had to make another for her and her little ones.

This Ocah wrap Conversion is a Inbetween sized padded waist carrier with custom Pixie hood and leg padding.  The Picasso Dove applique has been sewn using a Ellevill Silk wrap scrap and on the inside of the carrier the Mama asked for the first initial of each of her little ones be appliqued in the style of the Waldorf Font.  A very special carrier for a very special Mama xx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best laid plans.............

If you are a memeber of the Ocah Facebook group you will have no doubt read about how we have been up against a few challenges over recent weeks that have slowed us down some.  This is incredibly frustrating but I am slowly learning that sometimes these things happen and there isnt anything to be done but to hold your hands up confess that there will be delays and then just keep on working, keep going keep sewing (my new motto). 

So today I was all set to do just that, I was going to crack on with the sewing.   Even when Caety came down with a high temperature yesterday and it looked like we would need to keep her off from school today in stepped Grandma to take over.

And so today off I set bright and early and when I arrived I was greeted by a nice builder waiting at my studio door.

Remember my lovely old studio  that is housed in the 100 year old bakery in the village where I live  ? well my lovely old studio has lovely old windows.

 

 

They dont look too bad from a distance but up close they are not good. 

 

 

and even the small window that I really love hasnt escaped the effects of years of neglect.

 

I keep the Windows sheeted over to keep out any dust and dirt on a day to day basis but the studio has no heating and it is literally freezing cold when the temperature drops outside.  My Landlord agreed to replace the windows way back in July and set about trying to get a builder to come put new windows in before Autumn arrived.  But it didnt work out that way and the wait has been much loger than planned .

And then today the Builder finally arrived ready to start work and so  instead of settling down to some sewing I settled down to a whole lot of packing, I packed EVERYTHING away from the inevitable 100 year old debris that was going to come out with those old windows. But it had to be done and so I got to work on clearing a space in the tiny little office in my studio, I scrubbed the floor clean, dusted and polished, and then moved my little sewing machine and all other essential items in, closed my door on the mess and got back down to work  - hurrah !

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Leo Toddler.

I never tire of working with Leo Storch wraps and I espeically love working with Rouge and so I enjoyed working on this Ocah Wrap Conversion. This is a Toddler sized Clipee conversion with Padded Mei Tai style straps.  It has an Adjustable Sleephood, Leg padding, Arms out padding, and a SSC style Foam waist.

 

 

 

 

 

Iguana OFB

This Hybrid OFB (Ocah Full Buckle) carrier has been made using a wonderful Red Girasol (no. 11) and a very lovely but of soooo stretchy Jersey Print Fabric. I haven't worked with a Girasol No.11 before and I have to say that I really like the subtle contrast in the warp and weft threads.  The Jersey fabric is not something that I would usually agree to work with as it is too stretchy, but coming all the way from Norway it wasn't going to be easy for the Mama to send another fabric and so I set about trying to find a  way to back the jersey fabric in order that I could stabilise it before sewing.  This involved quite a lot of leg work on my part and a few trials with different backing fabrics before I found one that did the trick.

Next there was the request for one of the Jersey Iguanas to be appliqued on to the front of the carrier. These were quite small and I couldn't stabilise the fabric enough for it not to stretch out of shape as I tried to manoeuvre my sewing machine around the small details on the print and so I scanned the fabric into my computer and enlarged the design a little before tracing it out onto a scrap of Orange wrap fabric before finally appliqueing this on to the front of the carrier.  After all of that extra work sewing the carrier was thankfully all plain sailing and I really love how the finished carrier worked out, great planning Mama !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Storchenwiege Ulli OFB.

This OFB (Ocah Full Buckle) has custom sized 16" shoulder straps and an extra wide waist.

 

 

The Foggy Moss

Another stunning Dyed Didymos Moss wrap made its way to me for Conversion recently. I love how the colours worked together on this Wrap Conversion.

This is a Padded waist conversion with Duo straps, Adjustable sleephood, leg padding, and it has extra top stitching on the waist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three of a kind.

I had great fun sewing these lovely carriers.  All have been made from the same Girasol Earthy Rainbow wrap. 

 

The first is a OFB with SSC style waist. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and then there is the Ring Sling with a simple Gathered Shoulder (love the fringe on this one !)

 

and finally I managed to eek out a frew scraps of the wrap to make a Mini WC

 

Amitola Pacifica with Duo Straps.

This is a Clipee Conversion with Duo Straps, Adjustable sleephood, leg padding, arms out padding,and it has additional top stitching on the waist.  It has been made using a Girasol Amitoal Wrap with the Pacifica weft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apple Tree

This Ocah Wrap Conversion has been made using a recently recommissioned Girasol Apple Wrap with a lovely Momo print fabric. It is a Standard sized Hybrid Conversion with Wrap style straps, Adjustable sleephood, Leg padding, Arms out padding, and Additional padding on the waist.