Flickr Scrappy Pincushion Swap Round 2

Well, I signed up to my first swap....the Scrappy Pincushion Swap Round 2 over on Flickr. I had wanted to sign up for round 1 but left it too late and missed the closing date. I'm so excited about being involved this time and really hope my swap partner likes what I make. I haven't finally decided yet but I'm thinking of a minature patchwork with some cute prints or something incorporating mini hexies!

Oops, I did it again....

and almost a month goes by without a blog post...you'd be forgiven for thinking that I wasn't really a blogger...or indeed a crafter!

I fully intended on participating in the Ice Cream Social sewalong but didn't get my pattern ordered in time. It's now in the post and I'll use all the tips in the sewalong to make a couple for M in time for Spring.

I'm also making Anna Maria Horner's Socialite Dress for ME!!! Yes, all for me! I'm using a lovely red silk that I got in Tessuti. It's cut and ready to sew up...just need to find a spare few hours to do it.

Otherwise I have a hankering to make some simple quilts for M and S and perhaps even our bed too....never done any quilting before though so eprhaps I'll be biting off more than I can chew!

Apologies for the lack of pics in this post, I'm not on my home computer...hopefully the links will keep you happy for now!

Crafty catch-up

How does 6 weeks go so quickly? All my new found 'I will blog regularly' resolutions have amounted to nothing. Anyway I have been crafting recently so thought I'd do a catch-up show and tell post!

Firstly a gift for my good, non-blogging friend Anita:

A toadstool pincushion inspired by Karen and tutorial from The Little House by the Sea, some cherry stitch markers from an Etsy seller, a covered retractable tape measure, all packaged in a lined drawstring bag (fabric from Spotty).

A travel play mat for Anita's new baby Jack. Fabric is Michael Miller, and I quilted along the raods with invisible thread, which was a pain. I actually bought the fabric to make a play mat for Sam, who is now 18 months old!

Some easy peasy ruffle tops for Maddie, fabric from my scrap basket.

What a lovely day

Well Saturday saw me pack up my crafty bits and pieces and get the train into the city for Sew It Together. To be truthful I felt like a bit of fraud calling myself a blogger, seeing as I’m not overly committed to my blog and it often gets seriously neglected. Fortunately I met a kindred spirit in the form of Cathy who occasionally blogs at apathetic housewife and who I discovered shares similar tastes to me in the form of the Huf Haus, Bambolettas, Make It Perfect Shearwater Kaftans, dodgy knitting (except Cathy's was much better than mine) and Liesel and Co A Day in the Park Backpack Tote, Ink and Spindle cushion fabric, amongst many other things I’m sure.

Anyway, what a lovely day I had. I was greeted at the door with a fantastic Sew It Together goody bag chock full of freebies donated by the lovely event sponsors. There was a goodie and baddies sewing pattern from the super talented Jodie of Ric Rac fame, a notebook from Lark, a cute little moleskin from Snailblazer, a little pack of fabric and paper hexagons for some paper piecing from Retromummy, another pack of fabric from Oz Material Girls, a coathanger cover kit from Thea and Sami, a self-cover button kit from Jackobindi and a set of bamboo knitting needles from Donna.

And that was just the beginning…what followed was a day of chatting, laughing, baby cooing, admiring, tea drinking, eating and well, a little bit of crafting (I managed to make half a toadstool pinchusion and stuff up my feather and fan scarf…the latter of which has now been rescued). To top it all off there was a prize for everyone in the Grand Prize Draw and I was lucky enough to take home the knitting needle set donated by Donna which I had spotted here and had my heart set on winning and then the lovely Donna also gave me a set of circular needles and a crochet hook.

The following day was spent perusing the Arts Centre Sunday Market with Lisa from the Princess and the Monkey where I managed to buy some lovely yarn...time to get those new needles clicking.

Anyway, I especially wanted to say a huge thank you to Sheridan for taking on the organisation for such a spectacularly successful event. I’m hoping to make it to the Sydney event next year!

I know there are no pictures in this blog, I can't find my camera cable but as soon as I can I'll update this post.

Saturday Market Skirt

Saturday Market Skirt made for Maddie's 4th birthday last week! The pattern was a taster for Sandi Henderson's new book Sewing Bits and Pieces. I loved making this skirt for Maddie and as it's quite long it should fit her for some time. It was quite time consuming as every single seam was top-stitched and the I always find gathering quite a faff. It would have been easier if I'd had my new overlocker then!

Stitches and Craft loot...

Apart from the overlocker here are the goodies that I picked up at Stitches & Craft on Saturday:

A monster kit from craft schmaft; a wonky kit from Juicy Roo, a cushion panel kit from Auntie Cookie, bird and tree fabric from Ink & Spindle, felt shapes and little girl buttons from a felt shop somewhere in South Melbourne (completely forgotten the name of the stall), a sewing box from another nameless stall destined to be filled with sewing goodies for my sister (who hopefully doesn't read this blog), a brooch kit for me and some lovely rainbow yarn from Pear Tree Yarn for a scarf for Maddie.

Stitches and Craft

I spent the day yesterday at Stitches and Craft. Unfortunately no photos were allowed, which is a shame as there was so much to see. I went last year and I thought this year was just as good, the incubator section was bigger and that was where I spent most of my time (and money). Unfortunately I didn't get to try any of the free craft bars as they were always too busy and I'm not very good at waiting...

I did a fantastic stencil printing workshop run by Ink and Spindle and printed a couple of tea towels. I'll be back with some pics later. I'm planning on going along to one of their open studios as I'd love to see how they print on a large scale. The workshop was run by Lara from Harvest Textiles who was a great teacher. I'm definitely going to do some more printing at home.

As predicted I bought far too much at the show...including an overlocker! I've been thinking about purchasing one for ages and got the Janome 8002DX. I'm so excited about finally having one. I'll be back with pics of my other purchases later but I got a couple of hand sewing and knitting projects for me to take to Sew It Together next week.

Anyway, Happy Mother's Day to all you mummys. We're off for a yum cha banquet in the City.

I need to turn this around

and stop neglecting my blog! I'm off to Sew It Together this month and really need to do it justice by getting this blog going again! I promise I'll try!