Lantern Bloom Belle

After I finished my super hero cape, I got stuck into testing the Belle pattern for Nicole Mallalieu of You Sew, Girl! It is one of her earlier patterns, but it has now been re-mastered into a digital download. Nikki has updated her pattern with new techniques that she has improved over the past few years.

I surprised myself with this pattern, managing to complete the entire bag in one day. Usually, after one day, I have a bag cut out and the interfacing fused; so this is quite an achievement for me.

As Nikki says in her blog post, the Belle is the perfect size for a little bit of knitting. Of course, you would need to be using circular needles to be able to fit them in the bag.

If you make the straps from the pattern, rather than using purchased bag handles, they are the perfect size for popping over your wrist and knitting away. So you could knit standing up, or on the train without having to worry about your ball of yarn rolling away.

I used Laura Gunn Lantern Bloom fabric for the exterior, and the lining is Dogwood stripe from the Poppy Collection. I love the way some of the blooms magically joined at the seams, I have used this fabric before, to make my Teardrop Purse.

The best part is that the Belle is digital, so you can download the pattern and get started right away!

For this project I used fabric only from my stash.
SYST13 Running totals: in = 176, out = 66, total = +110

Super Alex

Right after I finished my turtle hottie and posted him off, I got stuck into this super-hero cape for Noah's little friend Alex from kindergarten. Alex turned five and had a scooter party at the local skate rink on the weekend. All those little kids looked so cute on their scooters (and their little brothers and sisters on their push-along bikes were pretty cute too).


I made this cape a little longer than Liam's and Noah's as I saw Amélie running about with one on the other day and it made me realise how much taller the kids have gotten since I made theirs. The super-logo A on the back I designed especially for Alex. I hope he enjoys it. The capes I made for my boys still get heaps of use and I'm pretty sure my nephews like theirs.

For this project, I used four fat quarters of fabric.
SYST13 Running totals: in = 176, out = 63, total = +113

Turtle Hottie

I would like to introduce you to my little turtle friend that I made for the 2013 Hottie Challenge. Except he doesn't have a name. If we gave him a name, he might not have been allowed to leave. Noah was a bit sad to hear that he couldn't stick around, but I told him that he was going to help some people with sick lungs and hearts to get better. I may have to make a special turtle, just for Noah.


My turtle is on his way to Open Drawer to be sold to raise funds for the Margaret Pratt Foundation, who fund research to give donor-organ recipients better outcomes. He is part of a group of hotties (hot water bottle covers) that was organised by Curly Pops, who herself is a recent recipient of a lung transplant.


Open Drawer will holding an exhibition in their gallery, where all the hotties will be displayed. The exhibition will be held from the 5th to the 28th of July, with the Gala Opening on Sunday, July 7 from 2-4pm. Open Drawer is situated at 1158 Toorak Road, Camberwell (Hartwell). During the exhibition, people will have the opportunity to purchase a hottie, or make a donation on behalf of their favourites. The hottie that raises the most funds wins a trophy.


If you can make it to Open Drawer, it is well worth seeing all the different interpretations that everybody had. I really enjoyed visiting last time. If you can't make it to the gallery, but would still like to see some hotties, you can check out #hottiechallenge2013 on instagram.


I wonder if someone will want to buy my turtle and take him home? What do you think we should name him?



For my turtle hottie, I used about 5FQs. This included some that got trashed, testing out ideas to see what would work.
SYST13 Running totals: in = 176, out = 53, total = +113

Kokeshi Tea Party

I finished the Oliver + S Tea Party dress last weekend. I bought the pattern from Duckcloth, who are closing down their online store. Their Oliver + S Patterns are 40% off. This only cost $15, which is a bargain for such a well drafted pattern.


I originally purchased this fabric from Spotlight, quite some time ago. I loved it because of the Japanese Kokeshi Dolls and the slubs give the fabric awesome texture. I kind of wish I had bought a co-ordinating print when I got it, but I didn't have any specific plans. I have a feeling there was only black there at the time, which is probably why I never bought it. I have seen red and I think navy as well. I am sure if they had those I would have got some?


So once I decided that this was the fabric I was using for this dress I went off to my local quilt shop to find something to co-ordinate. I really wasn't sure if they would work or not. I really liked the way the red, floral fabric matched the Kokeshi Doll fabric, but wasn't sure about the purple. The purple against the red was a little scary, but there were little hints of purple in the Kokeshi fabric that I wanted to exploit. In the end, I decided to just go with it.


I hadn't really planned what to do about buttons. I saw there was two buttons in the list of items that I would need to complete the dress, but for some reason, I didn't think of them as being important. I envisioned some decorative buttons somewhere, completely forgetting that I would need them for the straps. I don't know what I was thinking? Anyway, I remembered that I had a little pack of self-covered buttons from Pack It In that would do nicely, especially since I had the ideal fabric to use, with tiny motifs that fit the buttons perfectly. I put a bit of interfacing on the back to help reduce the shine-through from the button. I KNOW I have seen this suggested on a blog somewhere, but I can't remember where??? If someone knows, can they please tell me so I can credit it? The blogger may or may not have suggested wadding as well??


I love these little buttons so much, I may need to make some more...


For this project, I used some fabric from my stash as well as some that I purchased.
SYST13 Running totals: in = 176, out = 58, total = +118

On a Roll

Liam attended a school friend's birthday party on the weekend. I made her a personalised pencil roll. Elise seemed really happy with it. I noticed that there were some colouring books amongst the gifts she was given, so the pencil roll and pencils should come in handy.


My pencil roll has twelve slots, for twelve pencils. I sent Maxx out to get the pencils at the last minute. He bought the packet, thinking that it had twelve in there, but it was a pack of ten. He even clarified before he left that it needed to be a pack of twelve. Apparently, he didn't realise that sometimes pencils come in packets of ten. He chose the ones he did because they had the triangle shape that is supposed to be good for pencil grip. I think for future projects, a pencil stash might be in order.


We had a bit of a discussion before he left about pencils vs textas. Maxx prefers pencils, whereas I love textas. I remember not being allowed to have textas when I was about six or seven, I wanted the saturated colour that you get with textas that you don't get with pencils. These days, you can get lovely textas that are easy to wipe off surfaces, such as the Crayola washables. Maxx says he always preferred to draw and colour with pencils. Which do you prefer?


For this project, I used about one fat quarter of fabric.
SYST13 Running totals: in = 172, out = 52, total = +120

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

It's time to announce the winners of my Two Blue Birdies giveaway.

The winner of the rainbow felt pack was Bec Clarke, who said:

Fabric with Kites
Fabric with bikes
And some bunting too.
To make a quilt
that I could send
With love from me to you!!!

And the winner of the Anne Kelle FQ pack was MsMidge, who said:

I would use the Ready, Set, Go! helicopters....I've been keeping an eye out at the shops for helicopter fabric that isn't too babyish, and I love that one. I want to make a keepsake of some sort for my boss/friend who lost her husband last year. He was a helicopter pilot :) Lovely giveaway Carmel!

Congratulations to the winners, who have both been contacted and have their prizes on their way to them.