Nearly the end of the month...

The Make It In May Skirt Sew-Along has been lots of fun, and it's given me some much needed motivation (and a kick up the behind) to make some clothes for myself.

I know there are still some peeps who are working on their skirts, so I'll keep posting round ups as they come in.

Here are the ones that have made it before Pumpkin O'clock (ie. the deadline)!

Skirt 1

Butterick B4461 by Marina from Wink Designs. This is such a cool design - totally up my alley. Adding it to my 'I want this pattern' list in Evernote. PS - make sure you click over to check out Marina's new boots.

Skirt 2

Nikki's You Sew Girl A-Line skirt by Mousiemouse on Flickr. Love the embellishment that runs along the bottom, and there's another fantastic a-line skirt with doileys too!

 Skirt 3

This skirt has a very sweet story. Susie from Flowerpress is teaching her daughter to sew and this skirt is their first project together.

Skirt 4

Clothkits Trellick Skirt by Tania from Myrtle & Eunice. I know she loves a last minute challenge and she certainly didn't disappoint!
 

Skirt 5

An almost finished freestyle skirt by Nicole from Dabbling All Day. I'll re-visit this one soon.

Skirt 6

The second of Nikki's You Sew Girl A-Line skirts  this time by Liz from Arty Lady. The retro fabric is completely gorgeous and this version is also fab as is gives you a great comparison in how the shorter length gives a completely different look.


Thankyou so much ladies!

I managed to finish my second skirt before the deadline, but not in time to actually take any decent photos... so I'll have to save that for tomorrow.

If you've finished and I haven't added you to the linky list on the left hand sidebar, please email me to let me know.


Sign Up Post
Flickr Group
 

Featured Hottie Number 42

Today's featured hottie is by............ well, I'm not going to tell you. I'm going to make you guess!

But, I can tell you that the lovely spotty fabric was courtesy of Tania from Myrtle and Eunice when she surprised me with An Ode to Houdini....

.... and those lovely cut-out flowers?

Photo courtesy of Liz's other blog - You Will Always Find Me

Well they were originally part of Liz's kitchen curtains.

What do you think?

The homepage of The Hottie Challenge - lots more in the Hottie Flickr Group and the Hottie Exhibition Group

Featured Hottie Number 15

Brrrrr..... it's freezing outside, but this one is sure to keep you TOASTY!

I can't even explain how funny Tania from Myrtle and Eunice is...... so I just have to direct you straight over to read about dear TOASTY here.

Can someone please remind me to buy her a packet of band-aids?

Thankyou Tania!

The homepage of The Hottie Challenge - lots more in the Flickr Group

PS - The postie delivered Hotties twice today - seven hotties in total!

Ode to Houdini

A while back, there was a One-Legged Chicken and a Runaway Dog featuring over at Myrtle and Eunice....

It reminded me so much of my little puppy dog Houdini (not his real name).

Over the years, I've lost count of the number of times Houdini Dog has escaped and run away due to the *PO gene that he inherited from his daddy dog Riley.

On one of his most memorable escapes, he made his way to my mum's house, enticed her dog out onto the street, and then ended up in the dog catchers van. There was a huge fee to bail them both out of the dog pound, and then a council fine for me in the mail two weeks later for having a 'dog at large' (he's so scary that he might just lick you to death)!.

When I opened the parcel that arrived yesterday, I was thrilled to receive the beautiful piece of fabric. It took me a minute to realise that there was something actually wrapped in the fabric.

Tania, you've outdone yourself, it's brilliant and I love it!



*Piss Off

Just the Ticket

It's only one week to go until the Melbourne Stitches and Craft Show!

I was very lucky to win a free ticket so I have my entry sorted, but if you're really quick, there's still time to head on over to Myrtle and Eunice and put your hand up (or your name down) for a freebie over there.


I've been really busy helping with the preparations, so please come along and show your support for all the Indie Crafters and Small Businesses who will be displaying their gorgeous goodies over the five days.

The Voting Lines are OPEN

All of the SuperPops Challenge entries are in, so now it's over to YOU!

If you're reading this in a feed reader, then just click on over to the blog where you'll find a voting poll on the top right hand side of the page.

Each entry has a grid number which corresponds to the mosaic above. The colums are A B C and D, and the rows are 1 2 3 4 and 5.
ie: Top left is A1 - Bottom left is A5 - Top right is D1 - Bottom right is D5

If you can't choose an absolute favourite, then you can actually give votes to multiple favourites instead.... so many excellent choices!

The poll will close on Tuesday November 3rd at 8.00 PM Melbourne time and I'll announce the winner of the public vote.

I want to give a huge congratulations and a massive thankyou to everyone who played along and took the time to submit an entry for the challenge, and a huge thankyou to Tinniegirl for creating and running the blogtoberfest festival, to Badskirt and Chunky Chooky for helping with the festivities, to Myrtle and Eunice for creative the snazzy SuperPops button, and to Loz and Dinny for inspiring the SuperPops character and giving me the idea for the challenge..... phew - time to VOTE.

PS - Thanks also to everyone who joined in with the giveaways during the month. I listed a total of 104 giveaways, some of which are still open, so make sure you enter.

Blogtoberfest Day 12: The SuperPops Challenge

Since the Loz and Dinny Challenge, SuperPops seems to have taken on a life of her own, and so she now desperately needs your help!

Your challenge Dear Blogtoberfesters, is to use any medium that you prefer to create a character, cartoon, caricature, comic strip, softie, drawing, sketch, painting, collage, plasticine/playdough figure, etc of SuperPops.

This challenge is all about having a bit of fun and trying something new. You can even get the kiddies involved.

The rules of the challenge are:

• Sign up below if you would like to play along.
• You have until 12.PM (Melbourne time) on the 31st October to complete the challenge.
• On the 31st October, take photos of your stunning creation and post them on your own blog.
• Once posted - head back over to my 31st October post (where you will find Mr Linky), and copy and paste your link so that I know you're finished.
• So that there is no bias involved, I will get my nephews to choose their favourite entry.

This is my effort - black fineliner and texta on sketchbook paper

The winner will receive:

• Glory
• Praise
• Chocolate
• A CurlyPops Flower Brooch in a colour of your choice
• Fabric and some other crafty bits and bobs

If you would like to add the marvellous SuperPops Challenge button courtesy of the lovely Tania from Myrtle and Eunice, here is the code:

<a href="http://curlypops.blogspot.com/"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ9kmwwvI9lMDvg7uHJKCIQenMsziBq9QhHXHE73pRRERahQsnIJ7AFWsrCy-wZaIodwrkmHi8uA_6biLluJm852B220GJz3zATfX2anJbVJnR8K4hYsNYV6n2lT2IlEl2q4iQYW3IfzA/s400/SuperPops_Small.JPG"/></a>



Thanks to Gemma for the challenge inspiration!

The Loz and Dinny Challenge: Meet SuperPops

Frances is not a very good model for this challenge as she's headless and armless!

You know how I just love a crafty challenge right?

Gemma from Loz and Dinny put out the call a little while back.
The challenge was to take a piece of this very lovely vintage gold fringing and create a 'one of a kind' masterpiece.

I joined up for the challenge very late and was racking my brain trying to work out what I could create. I had the idea for a brooch, but the fringing had other ideas when I tried it out.

I was lamenting the fact that I couldn't think of anything, when someone came to the rescue with a fabulous idea......

Tania had christened me SuperPops a couple of weeks ago.... and so it stuck


A quick Wonder Woman google search, some sketching, and some measuring.... and I ended up with an outfit.


* I'm probably going to regret posting this photo tomorrow

** I really hope that the neighbours weren't watching me through the window while I was partaking in my photo shoot

*** There were originally plans for boob tassels on the bra thingy but that was taking it a little bit too far - even for me!

**** A huge thankyou to Tania from Myrtle and Eunice for the SuperPops inspiration.

To check out the other players, head on over to Loz and Dinny and check it out!

Just a Minute..... in September

Watching:

I thought the best way to work out what I'm watching is to check what I've been taping on my IQ lately:

The Real Housewives of New York
Wife Swap USA
Dexter
NCIS (new episodes from this week finally)
Sarah's Summer House
The Unsellables
Design Star
Property Ladder
Build a New Life
Grand Designs

I'm sensing a theme with my tv watching antics.....

.... and I've added a couplef newbies - Glee and Nurse Jackie - so far so good.


Eating:

Chocolate chocolate chocolate - there hasn't been much healthy eating this month. I'm sitting on the couch at the moment with a bowl of white chocolate and macadamia nut biccies. Need I say more?


Listening:

I made some new CD purchases this month. I'm still old school when it comes to music. I want to be able to actually buy something tangible (the cd), I don't want to download it. So, I'm one of the not very many people that still trundles down to the cd shop!

Kate Miller-Heidke - Curiouser
Lisa Mitchell - Wonder
Newton Faulkner - Rebuilt by Humans


Preparing:

I have three markets coming up before christmas so I'm bunkering down and trying to get lots of stock ready. I also have a secret which I can't spill just yet.....


Making:

I entered the Loz and Dinny challenge at a really late stage, so I spent a few hours this weekend making my entry. You'll have to come back on Tuesday for the big reveal......and I'm blaming someone else for my entry and regretting a photo that may end up on the blog!


Reading:

I'm halfway through Watch Me Disappear by Jill Dawson. It's a really enjoyable read.... I should be finished in a couple of weeks hopefully. I only have about 3 hours of reading time pencilled into the schedule every three weeks which is why I'm so slow at finishing novels.


Time to go and eat some of those biccies - make sure to visit Jen at August Street and check out who else is playing along. You might just discover a new favourite blog!

My creative space

My creative space is taking a number, joining a queue, and waiting patiently (or not so patiently) in line.....

There are so many ideas and creative visions rolling around in my head at the moment, and it's impossible to do everything that I want all at the same time - so all new ideas are now required to join the queue.

I'm not really sure where this project fits in the queue. I spotted the jumper at an oppy in Yarraville on Saturday. It's pure wool, and I'm assuming that somebody accidentally felted it (therefore saving me the trouble of felting it myself), and then gave it away.

The neck opening is so small now, that even a child would have trouble getting this jumper over their head.

Inspired by the refashioning talents of Gina and Nikki and Tania, I am going to try to refashion it into either a scoop necked cardigan, or a scoop necked vest.

Please try to ignore my pathetic attempts to illustrate what I'm trying to do in photoshop (hopefully it makes enough sense though)!
I've never attempted anything like this before so I need a little advice.

The jumper looks felted to me. If I just cut it, will it unravel, or am I safe?
How do I finish it - do I have to hem, or overlock the edges?

Disclaimer - I make no promises that I'll even attempt this in the next month!

My creative space

I'm currently testing out the revised instructions for the Day Bag for Nikki..... so this is my second zippered pocket - woohoo!

I've finished the outer of the bag - I decided to add the optional front flap.

.... and I was lucky enough to watch, and learn all about making structured bag bases, and using purse feet, while Nikki was making her fabulous video tutorial yesterday.

If you watch closely, my bag makes a guest appearance right at the end!

I'd better pack up all of my bag bits and pieces and take them along to Sewjourn to finish off.

Also arriving in my creative space this week - a fabulous crocheted tablecloth from Tania at Myrtle and Eunice - there are hundreds of beautiful circles to play with....yippee!

Thanks Tania

Where it ended up

I love it when I giveaway one of my crafty creations and the recipient has the chance to use it....

I couldn't resist but show you this fabulous photo of Tania from Myrtle and Eunice in her new apron which she wore to make this amazing beer bread.

This shot could be straight from the pages of an expensive glossy cookbook!

....and random.org declares

That the winner of the shirt apron is number 4

Tania from Myrtle and Eunice - congratulations Tania, and a huge thanks to everyone who entered!