Crafty blog readers across the globe have been in utter shock this week at the sad sad news of the loss of one of our crafty blog heroines, Kathreen Ricketson.  While I did not know Kathreen personally, like many in this crafty community she touched our lives through her blog WhipUp.net, the Action Pack e-magazine & her crafty books.

My heart goes out to Kathreen & Robs children, family &  friends.

A trust fund has been established for Kathreen & Robs children. If you would like to make a contribution , you can find all the details & how to donate on this page.

I will be donating 100% of all sales of my pdf patterns sold from today through to June 30th.

Stay safe & cherish every moment.

x

the autumnal nip in the evening air here has encouraged me to reach for the sticks again. Yay.

I cast on Line Break at the weekend &  so far so good – ish. I had a bit of a hiccup with my foray into short rows last night so I need to back track a bit but with the help of the Short Row class (FREE!) on Craftsy, I  will be on my way again later I hope.

It’s a big knit, well the biggest thing I will have knit to date so I am not expecting a finish any time soon, meanwhile I am just enjoying the process & it feels nice to be playing with yarn again. :)

Yarn details & projects notes all over on Rav.

Ok, back to my Craftsy class to figure out those Short Rows!  Have you popped over to Craftsy yet? I have been enjoying their classes, I am currently mid way though another class (more on that in a later post when I have completed the course & perhaps a project or 2 related to it!).

As well as the paid full classes they offer lots of mini courses which are all free. Hurrah! While I love a good peruse around YouTube for a visual tutorial I’ve found the  Craftsy mini classes are really well structured and informative plus they are saved to your page so they are easy to find for future ref. There are plenty of sewing ones too of course!  Here’s another couple  I have in my stash to watch Creative Quilt Backs by Elizabeth Hartman (Oh, Fransson!) & also QuiltCon Lecture Series 2013 which features lectures from the event, given by Heather Jones, Angela Walters, David and Amy Butler, Jacquie Gering, and Mary Fons. FAB!

My Blythe is seeking a new home & to be honest I don’t blame the poor girl.  I promised her the world but legs, some clothing & a trip to the hairdressers would have been a start.

She has sat patiently on a shelf in my sewing room awaiting these (clearly empty) promises for approximately 8 long years.

Her patience has run out & she is ready to leave this home in search of pastures new where she will have all her issues properly attended to & get to play dress ups & do all those things that Blythe dolls love to do.

Yes, she is an original Kenner model, no she doesn’t have legs, her hair could do with a bit of tlc,  she has a slight snub nose & her lippy needs a bit of a touch up. Her eyes are in tip top form & she blinks beautifully. What’s not to love?

She is in the condition I rescued her in & though I would dearly love to restore her, time has clearly told that this just isn’t going to happen.

I’m guessing collectors of Blythe dolls who are keen to give her a home & show her some love will want to know her history & sadly I only  know her very recent history & that is I discovered her on a  toy shelf, tucked in a brown paper bag (along with 3 vintage bendy rubber Ideal dolls) in a charity shop. I didn’t really know what a Blythe doll was to be honest  but her kooky looks &  big eyes won me over & I decided to bring her home to sit among similar kooky treasures, also collected from charity shops,  on the sewing room shelf .

All her details & more pics are over here on her eBay slot.

To be fair to other Blythe eBay bidders who don’t read my blog I won’t be answering any questions about her  here & will only be answering questions via her ebay listing, hence comments on this post are closed. Thanks for understanding.  Also I won’t be taking offers prior to the auction end.

I had been hoping to finish this quilt top by the end of last year as a finale to the Liberty Scrap Challenge  though I’m kind of pleased it has been hanging around the design wall as it has been a joy to see each time I have walked past.

Inspired by  Ashley’s Flying Farfalle quilt, I used the  smallest snippets of Liberty scraps leftover from the challenge that I couldn’t bear to part with (me, a hoarder of tiny scraps?!!!)  with the addition of some Liberty scraps that Danielle had kindly shared with me too & which were the perfect triangular shape!

The background is cut from some yardage of cotton sheeting that I got from the Opp shop. I just kept cutting & sewing until I ran out of background fabric. I love the subtle stripe of the sheeting & the crispness of it against the super soft tana lawn.

It’s just so pretty, like little scrappy butterflies fluttering across the fabric. I love it.

So…how would you quilt this….?

Oooo & don’t forget Jo has a ready supply of Liberty in bite sized pieces & beyond ;)

Project notes:

Block size = 5″ x 7″ (finished)
Finished quilt top size = approx 60″ x 70″
Liberty scraps from the Organic Stitch Co
Background fabric = Cotton sheeting yardage from the opp shop

Such a shame the ol’ Google reader is leaving us.

So……Where are you heading to catch up on your blogs?

I’m off to Bloglovin -  I’ve been trying it for a couple of weeks & I like it.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Are your bunnies are in need of  egg collecting vessels this Easter?

My nesting fabric bowls pattern includes details & instructions to add a  handle for just such occasions!

Check out these cuties…(links & credits below image)

1. a cuppa and a catch up pattern – nesting bowls, Easter style, 2. Easter Baskets, 3. Easter baskets, 4. Easter Baskets, 5. IMG_1406, 6. easter basket, 7. easter basket, 8. IMG_1407, 9. easter basket

LOVE this pattern.

Once I finally decided on a fabric from the stash  it came together super duper quick. No darts, no zips or any closures to fiddle with, just a nice, simple a-line dress. Easy to wear & will be a great layering addition to the wardrobe for autumn.

Could I have drafted such a simple design by myself? Quite possibly but I knew this would be just right & with simple sometimes  it needs to be just right in order to work.

After reading a couple of posts I decided to make  the small size (size 10) as opposed to medium (size 12)  which I would have ordinarily. It’s a roomy small. It comes in 2 lengths & I made the longer version.

I also added a faced hem for 3 reasons -

1. I had never faced a hem before so decided it was about time I jolly well did.
2. I like the look of a deep hem on a garment.
3. Due to the drapey nature of my fabric choice &  the wide swingy hem I was concerned I might end up with a ripply/wavy hem.

I almost added a patch pocket but now it’s all sewn up I think I like the simplicity of it just as it is – what do you think? I do like a pocket on a garment though so next time I might add some side pockets during construction.

All in all a great pattern & easy to make. Perfect for beginners but a word of warning if you are a visual learner as there are no pictures in the pattern. Tessuti has tutorials for using Vilene shields &  adding bias binding on their blog though :) Yay!  I didn’t use Vilene shields as I didn’t have any to hand so went old school & used a stay stitch around the neck line instead which worked out just fine though I can definitely see the advantage of using the Vilene shields.

Project notes:

Gabby dress pattern (downloadable pdf) from Tessuti

Fabric – coral coloured  linen from the fabric markets in Vietnam

Faced hem tutorial via Oliver & S – you could have lots of fun with this using contrast fabrics :)

Would I make it again? – big YES!

I whipped myself up a new ‘wrap it up bag‘ the other afternoon.  I haven’t made one of these for a while & it is such a great pattern & a great bag.

I’m on a bit of a ‘try & use up what you’ve got in the stash ‘ kick at the moment so patched together some favourite stashed  pieces of Echino to make up the size required for the pattern pieces. The linen/cotton blend of course makes for a bulkier wrapped up bag then regular quilting cotton would,  but it still wraps up really easily & snaps shut well within the size given in the pattern.

project notes:

wrap it up bag pattern by Penny @ sewtakeahike. Find the pattern in Penny’s etsy shop.
fabrics by echino
lining fabric & snap tab fabric is dinky dots by Michael Miller in lime.

while procrastinating over fabric choices for the some garment sewing (namely this, this & this) I whipped up a little set of pattern weights in anticipation of aforementioned garment sewing & (yet to be selected) fabric cutting.

I wasn’t sure how many I’d need but they are super quick  to make so if I need a few more I can have them done lickety split. If I have too many, well they are just cute to look at all piled up anyhoo.

I used this fab little tutorial & template.

& because they need a home to live in when not in use, I turned to my fav little project pouch pattern (the snack bag size is the perfect fit for 12 of these pattern weights with room for more if needs be) with appropriate tailor dummy fabric (cosmo cricket tailor made), all tied up with some  ribbon gifted from my mum that I’d been saving for just the right project :)

treats in the mail are the best.
unexpected treats in the mail rock.
unexpected treats in the mail that involve lots of Liberty fabric just about knock ya socks off.

I’d spied this cutie on Jo’s blog a few days ago and thought , huh, lucky duck who is getting gifted that! I’ve been watching the triple zips pop up around blogland & had been thinking I need to jump on that band wagon & make myself one of those, well now I don’t need to!  Perfect in every way from the pretty print, to the perfect zip colour selection &  right down to the grey striped linen lining (which you’ll need to hop over to Jo’s pics to see :) )

Tucked inside all those zips when I unwrapped it were fabricy treats of the Liberty variety. Squee! Lovin’ the new season prettiness &  then…… check out the cutest pincushion ever. Those are 1/2 inch squares people! Extreme mini patchwork. Treasure indeed.

Jo, you are the sweetest. I feel very spoilt & very lucky. Thank you xxx