thornberry

I have a relatively free weekend ahead, so am hoping to start (and finish) some sewing.  Maybe if I put my plans in writing I might feel compelled to follow through!  These fabrics arrived this week from the Amitie blog VIP club.  How incredibly cute!

I plan on using the fabric with the numbers to make a childcare bag for Stella.  There is a lot of stuff that a one year old needs to take with her to childcare!  I’ll combine it with a similar print that I bought from Retro Mummy, and I’m still deciding what plain fabric to mix them with.  I’m planning on using the Large Tote & Satchel pattern from Nicole Mallalieu, with loads of extra internal pockets, and I may incorporate some clear PVC over the exterior of the bag to protect it.  The delicious little red riding hood print will possibly become the bodice of a summer dress for Stella (which won’t be made this weekend - it’s way too chilly here in Melbourne to be thinking about summer clothes now).

This top is still cut out, waiting to be sewn.  Maybe I’ll get to it this weekend.  Clare also needs a pair of school pants - once again, fabric and pattern are all ready to go, and I can whip them up fairly quickly with the overlocker.  I’ll be embarassed if I don’t get at least that project done!

Speaking of school clothes and chilly Melbourne winter, I finished Clare’s school scarf and beanie.

The scarf was done without a pattern - it is just US double crochet (Australian treble) using two balls of Patons Superwash 8 ply.  The beanie is a modification of a pattern I found somewhere on the internet, worked entirely in double crochet like the scarf.  Easy peasy.  Elsewhere on the crochet front I have almost completed the Mossy Cowl, and hope to start on a scarf using the Pear Tree yarn.  There is also the matter of two June CAL blocks to complete (but I’ve got the rest of the month to finish them off, surely).

My fat quarters are all ready to send for the Vintage Sheet Patchwork Swap.  I’m looking forward to seeing what patterns I receive in return - and thinking of what I will do with them all.  Elizabeth has promised to have some great suggestions on her blog next month.

And to finish off - another op shop dress pattern.  This one is from 1977.

Wow ladies, bad hair.  And I’m still cacking myself at this post by Jodie of Ric-Rac.  So beautifully put (or should that be sung)?

When there isn’t enough time to craft, there still seems to be enough time to grow the stash.  Maybe it is my way of crafting by default - making plans, getting the supplies, and maybe then I’ll fool myself into actually getting things done.  In the past week these fabrics arrived:

The two on the bottom right are japanese prints from the lovely Retro Mummy; most of the rest are from the Flutterby line by Tula Pink for Moda.  Other than the three prints on the right hand side, I plan on using these in a quilt.  I have half a yard of each, but haven’t decided yet what pattern to use.

And what would stash building be without yarn?  At least I have definite plans for these.  This kid mohair will become a “mossy cowl”, from one of my Interweave Crochet mags (I think the pattern is available free online as well though).

This divine 12-ply 100% merino yarn comes from Pear Tree Yarns.  They had beautiful lacy shell-stitch scarves crocheted out of these yarns in a variety of highly covetable colours.  I can’t wait to crochet this one into a scarf for myself!  I’m going to try to do it without a pattern; I took a good look at the ones on display and I reckon that I can figure it out for myself.

The yarn came from the Victorian Handknitters Guild wool expo which was on yesterday.  There were loads of beautiful (and expensive) yarns to ogle.  I really, really like the Pear Tree Farm ones though - solids in beautiful colours, and incredibly soft. 

Lucky lucky me!  I won the Blog Roll made by Kirsty during her week of pillowcases on Meet Me at Mike’s.

Lovely soft fabric, cute buckle, and best of all, look at the embroidery inside!

Kirsty, you are SO GOOD at embroidery!  The stitching is so perfectly done.

So now I have a spot to keep my camera, notepad, pen and inspiration!  Thank you for your generosity.  There are some other terrific embroidery designs for a Chick O Roll, Rock N Roll and Stitching Roll on Kirsty’s blog.

And speaking of generosity, huge thanks go to Pip, Kirsty and Brooke for creating and running the wonderful crafty club that is Brown Owls!  We had a marvellous night last night with crochet as our theme.  Kirsty’s great-aunt Pat was there with her amazing crocheted dresses that once won a place in the top ten at “Gown of the Year” and shared her years of crochet knowledge.  Jess did a great job of helping out all those new to crochet.  I took along a few of the things I’ve crocheted and a pile of crochet books.  There are photos of what we got up to on the Brown Owls blog.  A big hello also to all the crafty bloggers and non-bloggers that I met (or met again) - it’s great to put a face to a name, and to many of the blogs I lurk around!  I also picked up these little pieces of fabric that will work nicely into a scrappy quilt that I am planning on making.

Lucky me - I won a giveaway from the lovely Emily of Ravenhill a little while ago.  The parcel arrived this morning.

All the way from Norway, complete with little flag and tied with ribbon in the colours of Norway!  And of course, some chocolates never go astray.  And lucky me, inside the parcel were these goodies:

Beautiful coordinated fabrics, plus some squares of Liberty tana lawn (I adore Liberty fabrics).  And just look at that gorgeous matryoshka ornament!

Thank you so much Emily!  I’ve had a stressful time lately, so your parcel really made my day and restored my faith in human nature.  Once again, I am amazed by the generosity of the crafting community.

I really, really love Amy Butler’s Nigella range of fabrics.  So when I was lucky enough to become a test sewer for one of Craft Apple’s new patterns, I knew exactly what fabrics I wanted to use!  The parcel arrived today.

Now I need to decide which of these will be best.  I need to choose two - it’s a difficult decision!

The pattern I’m test sewing is a car organiser.  The remaining fabrics will be used to make gifts for some of the myriad 40th birthday celebrations that are happening for our family & friends this year. 

A friend told me recently about the Reverse Art Truck in Ringwood (a suburb of Melbourne).  They are a non-profit organisation which collects rejects, seconds and factory offcuts for distribution to schools, early learning centres, community groups and individuals.  I went there yesterday morning, and left with this:

An almost full green garbage bag full of bits and pieces for $20.  These are some of the craft things that I collected for Clare:

She’s had a lovely time with them today creating rockets and space ships - she’s just been to the movies to see “In the Shadow of the Moon” (a documentary on the moon landing) with her dad.  I picked up these bits and pieces for myself:

Two books of upholstery fabric samples, other large pieces of fabric, leather belts which will become bag handles, pieces of vinyl and leather, buckles, as well as pieces of card and old folder & diary covers which I intend to cover in fabric.

The variety and volume of materials available was astounding.  I thoroughly recommend it as a place to source materials for children and for any crafty person!  I assume that other cities may have similar schemes.  Materials available include timber, dowel, fabrics, pointed cones, fluoro paper, matt board, card, rubber, foam,  containers, silver & gold foil paper, rope, cord, elastic, sandpaper, cardboard, drums, wooden blocks, sheepskin, vinyl, leather, small and large reels, wrapping paper and ribbons, plastic tubing and hose, boxes, wire, twine, polystyrene, and more.  I imagine that the stock changes often as different materials become available.  If you are thinking of visiting, go without children - it’s fairly crowded and everything is tightly packed together.

Z & S fabrics for me!  They had another sale.  Thanks Nikki for enabling that one for me!  Two little parcels, each tied with fabric (I have been piecing together the fabric used to tie the parcels - when it’s a large enough piece I hope to make something interesting from it).

In this stash, from left to right:

Tina Givens for Westminster Rowan; Freshcut by Heather Bailey for Free Spirit; Iota by Robert Kaufman.  I have one yard of each of these.  The Freshcut will become clothes for Stella.  The Iota fabrics may become incorporated into my Brown Owls tote or uniform somehow.

This range is Utopia from Free Spirit.  I have two yards of each.  A few different plans floating around in my head for these ones.  And to finish off, yarn swatches from Live 2 Knit.

This Melbourne lady does beautifully dyed yarn on different fibres and weights of wool.  They look so gorgeous on her website, I couldn’t resist getting shade cards.  I have way more plans than I could ever make real!

While I’ve been busy sewing clothes for myself, Clare has been designing clothes for her doll.

Although I did the machine sewing, Clare drew her own patterns using the doll as a template for size, cut them out, and pinned them all together.  She’s just turned five, so I’m very proud of her!  I was particularly impressed with the hat.  It’s rather lovely to be working away side by side in the sewing room.

I needed a “quick fix” project after my frustrations with the Butterick top, so made up this bag from the Oriental Bloom pattern I won from Tania at Jet Designs.  Thanks again Tania!

It’s a nice beginner sewing project - very quick, straightforward constructions, no pockets etc, and the fabric was a heavy enough weight not to need interfacing or wadding.  It’s already holding one of my crochet works-in-progress.  I reckon it took me less than an hour to make.  When I ran out of thread part way through I popped into GJ’s to pick up some more - and of course, they had some nice remnants on sale!

Other than the linen/cotton in the front, they’re all stretch fabrics - more tops coming my way!

My brownies welcome pack arrived in the mail this week too.  Some embroidery to do!  I’m looking forward to my first meeting (not until March for me).

The vow of “no online fabric shopping in December”, that is.  But it’s been so difficult!  Lara Cameron of Kirin & Co has/had some beautiful new fabrics for sale, and those online fabric stores keep on having discounts!  Lucky for me, some of the November shopping has just arrived.

And up close:

These four are from a range called “Full Moon Forest”.  The bottom two are destined to go into another dress for Clare.  If you look closely, you can find owls, rabbits, fish and bees.  And just check out these beautiful ribbons.  Sigh!

The patterns below arrived as well.  The centre pattern is the dress I’m going to make for Clare from the Full Moon Forest fabric; a couple of Frenchy bags are in the works for gifts as well.

And the local op-shop came up trumps, once again!

Baby crochet patterns!  Yay!  I’ll add these to the ever-expanding project list.

And for this weekend: after a heavy day of socialising today (picnic lunch with friends and dinner out with family) I’ll be back into it tomorrow trying to complete Christmas gifts - four capes, a bag, Christmas dresses for the girls - oh my goodness!

I’m still working on Christmas presents, but have a few other bits and pieces that I wanted to share.  I embroidered these Christmas ornaments when I was in primary school.  The little house is still waiting for a ribbon to hang it with!  Clare found them today when we put up the Christmas tree.

These fabrics are all by Lara Cameron of Kirin & Co.  They’re original designs hand-screened here in Melbourne, on beautiful fabric.  I’m saving them to use in something special.

And lastly, I am working on some crochet.  I started this little dress for Stella some time ago, but I’m getting a bit stuck in the textured pattern used for the skirt.  It is easy to lose where I’m up to due to the yarn texture - I think I’ve introduced a few increases where there shouldn’t be any.  The pattern is the Baby Blues dress from Crochet Today.  Once the skirt is done I’ll work an edging around the neckline, sleeves and hem.

It’s probably a really bad choice of colour for a red-head.  I keep on forgetting Stella’s hair colour when buying yarn/fabric - at least she doesn’t have much hair yet, so will be able to get away with it!