Last Friday my little girl wanted to go to Movie World with just her daddy. So I bonded with my son at craftfest for a couple of hours on the Gold Coast.

I ran into Susie (yarnplanner) there, though I am not surprised I was lucky to have seen her.

I didn’t buy much, I wasn’t really that inspired by anything (quilting wise) and I certainly didn’t come across anything new. It is pretty hard though to enjoy a craft show with a 2 year old tagging along.

I bought some more bug fabrics for my bug quilt and now I have a really nice collection. Sheridan bought me some recently when she went to the sydney craftfest. This is them all together.  As she said to me “If you weren’t making a bug quilt, what else would you use cockroach fabric for?”

When looking at bugs I found this pretty butterfly fabric. I matched it with a few other fat quarters. I don’t know what I will make with it but they just appealed to me.

I met Prudence Mapstone in her booth and bought a little collection of yarns to give freeform crochet a go. She was a lovely lady and was very tolerant of my little boy.

I was extremely dissapointed that there was only one other wool vendor there – Morris and Sons (aka Tapestry craft). They had a nice range of Noro and Jo Sharp yarns. They also had some beautiful samples made from the the latest Jo Sharp book Knit 7.

I fell in love with this jumper and cardigan. The patterns are gorgeous and the wool is just divine.  They are definitely on my wish list. But only when I can justify spending $120 on wool for a jumper. Maybe if I knit all of my other stash wool then I will spoil myself. I just bought the pattern book instead so I can dream.

I also bought a beautiful shawl pin from them to go with the new crochet cardi that I have just started.

It wasn’t a bad day. But I do miss going with Sheridan. It is just not the same without her.

This is a long overdue post.

Mid summer was very hot here in Brisbane and I was inspired to make my little girl some simple cotton dresses. I got some cheap cotton from spotlight.

I trawled through sewingpatterns.com for what seemed like hours and settled on NEWLOOK 6504

So then I googled the pattern the see if I could find an aussie supplier. You can see where this is heading …. I couldn’t find it anywhere.

Sewingpatterns.com offered the pattern as a download for $2.99 US, so I thought for 6 bucks (with a crappy exchange rate) it was worth a go. ……

It was a fairly simple ordering process. You pay for the pattern and they email you a password. From there you install a simple security plug-in for Adobe reader. Then you can download the instructions and the pattern sheets. The security of the system is that you can only use the same printer to print the patterns, now and in the future.

.

So what you do is print out the pattern sheets on your normal printer using normal typing paper. You tape them together and then cut out the pieces. VOILA there is your pattern. Well that process took fucking hours!!!! This pattern for a simple child size A-line dress was 84 pages. I kid you not. I would hate to think how many pages a more complicated adult pattern would be.

Putting the pages together was easy but kind of tedious. In the end I only joined the pieces that I thought I might use in the future. Which was silly because since then I have made almost every view of the dress. I also used a paper cutter to trim the sides of each page to make matching the edges up easier.

After I got the pages together I traced the size I needed on Grease proof/baking paper.

So a lot of work for a simple pattern. But a pattern that I only paid $6 for that I couldn’t get from my local spotlight.

I MIGHT do it again but only as a last resort and only if I couldn’t buy the pattern locally (within Australia).

So the final product …. perfect.

I have made 4 of these dresses and I can make the simplest one with just under 1m of fabric in just under 2 hours. So for  1 lunch time nap and $4 thats great.

I met for lunch with a few girls from work. One of them recently had a baby and I could not go without giving her something.
I have had this wee wonderfuls pattern for ages and thought I would give it a go. This is Olive from the Make-along series.

She has proper “bottom” and sits really nicely.
The doll was so easy to make and I used mostly scraps from my stash. She matches one of my handbags!

I love the wee wonderful patterns and have made quite a few of them. This one was no different. The instructions and clear and well written and lots of pictures help describe what you are doing.

Below are some my other wee wonderful creations.

I haven’t done anything “new” quilting wise in a long time. The last couple of quilts I have made were very project orientated. Meaning the focus was more on the end result rather than the process. I am a process kind-a-gal.

So when scouring the net for something interesting I came across the escaping bug’s quilt.

The pattern is by piece by number and she sells them in her etsy store as a PDF download.

It is like a bug jar block where you use featured fabrics of bugs or frogs or spiders or any type of creepy crawly and sew them into a jar shape.

The Piece by Number patterns are different though because they are paper pieced.

So as a little challenge for myself, I made a jar doll quilt using Piece by Numbers bug collection pattern. I used food fabrics instead of bugs to create Jam Jars.

The paper piecing is a strange technique and after the first block I decided I didn’t like it. But once you get the hang of it, it is not so bad and quicker than I first thought.

I did change the pattern a little. The jars are supposed to look like they are sitting on a bookcase, so there should have been a few extra pieces of sashing an additional borders.  I like the look of the bright colours on the black.  I think that the black background is also what appeals to me about this quilt, as lots of quilts have lighter backgrounds. Well most of the ones I have made anyway.

I also bought the escaping bugs pattern and will make it for my little boy one day when I find some creepy crawly fabrics (probably at the next quilt show).

I have also signed up for the Material Obsession dolly quilt club starting next month to learn some more quilt techniques and keep my interest level up.

I have never really been into dying yarn before. For my last swap I bought my swapee some Kool aid sachets from wired for fibre, so I got a couple for myself just to give it a go.

Now it astounds me that people drink this stuff. If it is toxic enough to dye then it can’t be good for you.

Anyway – the three flavours I got were tropical punch, mango and black cherry. The wool I used was spotlight basics 100% wool in cream.



I used wired for fibres Kool Aid 101 tutorial which was just fine.

First I wound the balls into a hank using my niddy noddy.



Then I soaked the two hanks in cold water for about an hour.
I put the sachets into old soft drink bottles and put about 1 cup of water in each.
The first ball (in my lasagna dish) was quite wet still when I poured the dyes on it, so the colours blurred a lot.



The second ball (in my pie plate) I wrung out so it was just damp. This tended to hold the colours a lot better; not so runny.



I used my food dishes because you cover them with plastic wrap and microwave them.
And to my surprise once they were cooked the dye was set. The water around the wool was clear. After letting them cool, I rinsed them off and hung them out to dry.



Then wound them into balls.

The one that was wetter is a lot more subdued where the colours ran together. The other one has quite distinct areas of each colour.

So now what do I do with them.

I guess they will just sit and wait for something to inspire me.

I really should do a knitted and crocheted swatch of each just to see how they look.

But now that I have had a go at dying I don’t think I will do it again. It was fun …. but not for me.

I was doing a bit of web surfing this morning and I came across this pattern on sew mama sew.

Kitchenette Pajamas by Decades of Style pattern company.  They are loose fitting once piece pajamas with the opening at the back.

I am all for wearing my  PJ’s for as long as I possibly can each day.  And wouldn’t I look stylish in these if the postman knocks unexpectedly at the door.

mmmm … I just don’t know.

We are on a budget at the moment and I am finding it extremely difficult to stop shopping online.

Instead, I have created a wish list.

From Tall Poppy Craft I would like the carpet bag frame and associated pattern as well as the Amy Butler Sophia pattern.

A set of clover crochet hooks , Vintage Crochet and some more wool from Bendigo Woolen Mills to go with the previous two items would also be nice.

I also want some of the new ikea fabric to make a betty shopper and a fat quarter pack for my next joint project with Sheridan. (Identity of the actual fabric that I want is secret because I don’t want anyone else to buy it!!). I also want to buy the tickets for my July crafting holiday with Sheridan.

I can get all of these things online – RIGHT NOW!!! I have had to be very strong. In fact I am surprised and almost shocked that I haven’t weakened and don’t already have some of them.

That “add to cart” button is so easy to use and can be so tempting, it is my weakness.

I just took the handmade pledge.

I am going to try and give some gifts this christmas that are handmade.  My goal is to give something thatI have made (time permitting) or something handmade by someone else (like from etsy or made it).

I am also going to broaden it a little and include gifts that will inspire the reciever to create handmade;  like a knitting pattern, a ‘how to’ book, craft supplies or a journal.

I don’t know if I am going to be able to do this for all of my family, but I am going to try.

The kids will get their usual stash of toys but I will make sure that they get at least one special handmade gift.

Don’t worry honey, I might break the rules for you … you can still have an X-box game.

Some more fabric arrived …. this time from repro depot. And I am still waiting on some more from super buzzy too.

I plan on making some grocery bags with these fruit and veges.

The Brisbane craft show was also on recently and I picked up a few patterns and some yummy fat quarters.

I couldn’t resist some of these old ‘amy’ and ‘denise’ and other favourites.

These black and brights were from my favourite quilt show stall – Patchwork with Gail B. They are always the first place to go to when arriving. They are generally the cheapest and have a great range. I plan on using these to make a play mat for the kids to do their ‘colouring in’ on to save the carpet.

The patterns I got were for some bean bags from the Quilt Love stall.

I got a flower one for my little girl and I will make this puzzle one for my little boy….one day.

It was my birthday earlier this week. I was totally spoiled by my super special crafty friend with lots of georgeous things.

Amongst other things she got me these two fantastic books

and this beautiful pendant from lisa leonard designs.

I asked for money from the family and I went on an online shopping spree. I bought a tonne of fabric from z and s, reprodepot and super buzzy.  I will take some photos and show it off when it arrives.

I also bought this fabric from kirin & co.

This from aunty cookie.

And this book from little dear. All though etsy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!