thornberry

By now some of you will realise that a couple of days ago I had a piece about Patterns … Demystified! published on the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog.  I was extremely flattered to be asked to contribute to Women’s Clothing Month, and really enjoyed the opportunity to be part of such an exciting sewing website.  So if you haven’t come across it yet, I’m going to blow my own trumpet, and suggest that you pop over and have a read  (I’m feeling rather proud of myself).  Thanks so much to the Sew, Mama, Sew! team for inviting me to take part, and to everyone who left such lovely comments on my article.  I’m glad to have been of help!

I’ve had very little sewing time lately, so because I don’t like to post without a photo, here is my sewing library (the books only - there are loads of magazines shelved elsewhere in my cupboards).

Most of these are recently published.  Now that I sit back and look at them, I realise that over the years most of my sewing knowledge came from my mother, from library books, and from trial and error, and is mostly to be found in my head rather than in my personal sewing library.  My memory can’t be quite as much of a sieve as I thought it had become after all!

Along with all the Melbourne women aged over sixty (or so it seemed), I went along to the Stitches and Craft show today.  Taking a baby in a pusher is a great way to have an economical time at a craft show, I must say!  It makes it quite difficult to get close to the stalls.  People either stop and coo and chat to bub, or they see the pusher and glower threateningly.  The Living Creatively stand was a highlight!  There is the most gorgeous crafty garden that has been created, complete with real grass and real rabbits!  I briefly met Kristen, Angela, Bianca, Kristine, Justine, Fiona,  and there were other crafty gals there too I didn’t get to chat to but whose names seemed very familiar.  It was a bit of a blogmeet!  My friend Nikki was demonstrating how to make bags (very professional with the microphone, I must say) and all in all it was the best stand there.  There were also some beautiful yarns available (Pear Tree Yarn was especially gorgeous), but I restrained myself from buying and instead took their business cards with those all-important online store addresses.  Some great felting stands, loads of beading/scrapbooking/cross-stitch/needlepoint/quilting (none of which interests me at the moment - although I did get a little excited about a super-duper fancy schmancy iron and ironing board - what am I for that to be a thrill?), lots of the same old same old, so it was great to have Living Creatively there to freshen things up.

So, back to shopping!  I have done a little bit of online shopping over the past month or so, and thought that it’s time that I shared it.

Lots of beautiful crochet patterns, great skirts (it’s about time that I learned to draft my own simple skirt patterns instead of relying on commercial ones), yet more crafty bags, scarves, placemats etc in the Simple Gifts book, and Style Rx is a terrific guide to dressing to suit your shape. 

Clover crochet hooks, from the USA.  Once again, it would have cost me more than double the price to buy them here!  Online shopping must really be doing some Australian retailers out of some business.  I can’t wait to give these hooks a try.  Maybe with my other new book, Vintage Crochet.

Oh, so many lovely things to crochet!  Like these:

among many, many others!

A week or so ago I also managed some successful op-shopping - fourteen old Top Kids magazines for 50c each:

and the Spencer & Rutherford handbag outlet sale had these trims:

As you can see, I had no need to go spending money at the Craft show after all!  I’ve got loads of lovely goodies to craft with and inspire me as it is.

Although while getting my sewing machine attended to again yesterday, I did spot this:

Well, I do have a major birthday coming up … maybe I can dream a little …

Over the past few evenings I have been busy making fabric yo-yos.

Miss Clare has had a lovely time sorting them into different groups according to shape, then according to size, then according to colour, then according to those she likes and dislikes.  She likes to categorise and organise - like mother, like daughter!  I used the Clover yo-yo makers - they do make it a little faster and simpler to make yo-yos and ensure that the sizes and gathers are nice and even.  Hopefully I’ll be able to blog what I’ve done with them in the next few days!

I did stick to my “no online fabric shopping in December” vow - but instead mooched on over to Amazon and purchased a couple more crochet books.

I’ve only had a quick flick through them thus far, but all contain some terrific projects.  Everyday Crochet in particular has brilliant tops - I’m looking forward to making some of them for myself!

As you can imagine, my to-do list is absurdly long again.  I need to write it all down but I think it might scare me!  My biggest problem at the moment is deciding what to do next - there is so much I’d like to tackle.  I only have a couple of hours each evening to crochet or sew or read and at times I am almost paralysed with indecision because of too many choices!  Fingers crossed that I may manage to get a few projects completed this weekend - it’s going to be another scorcher so staying inside with the air-con on is a great option.

While many of you have been reading Harry Potter, I’ve been browsing these books and magazines over the past week or so.

I wonder how many of the projects within them are likely to come to fruition?  “Designer Smocking” has the most adorable children’s clothing - but I’ve never done any smocking!  I figure that since I can embroider (although I don’t do it often) I should be able to smock.  We’ll see!  I still have two unfinished embroidery projects from “Inspirations” sitting upstairs waiting to be completed - one started while Clare was still a baby - if I don’t get a move on soon Stella won’t fit into it either!

“The A-Z of Crochet” is an excellent crochet resource.  I am certain that it is going to be well used over the years.

And I love “Threads” and “Australian Stitches”!  I subscribe to both, and find that they often have excellent advice, tips and hints that assist in the quality of my sewn projects.

I’m enjoying browsing through these, although I’d love to be reading Harry Potter . . . but that would require extended periods of time and concentration . . . not likely to be found in this household at the moment . . .

How could I possibly have forgotten to post about my newly arrived sewing inspiration?

Thank goodness for Amazon!  Even with the cost of postage, these were WAY cheaper to buy via Amazon and have shipped to Australia than to buy here (I’ve seen some of these books here for about double what I paid, even including the postage).

I am very excited and pleased with all of them!  Some are quite simple, which is nice when wanting a quick project, with others more challenging.  There are some particularly lovely patterns in the Amy Butler book In Stitches.   Sewing with Fabulous Vintage Fabrics is highly inspirational, and a great way of getting ideas for a person like me who is technically creative but bereft of imagination! 

My main problem now is one of overwhelming options!  So many projects, which to choose?  And which am I likely to have time for?  Maybe I can incorporate one with the latest Tie one on apron theme - Local Pride.