The giveaway goes to.......

I was inspired by Tas to find a creative way of choosing my giveaway winner after she let her kitten 'chews' her raffle winner. I thought it was cute and funny and lets face it, I lead a fairly sheltered life and I need all the amusement I can get :D

Since it's been so darned hot here I figured I'd let the fan do the work for me........I put all the little bits of paper on a plate and sat them in front of the fan and 'whoooooosh' off they all went! I figured the one that flew the furthest would be the winner and that was Handmade Handgrown who's name landed at a distance of 118cm's :) So could you please send me the address you would like me to post the pattern to?

Now I would have shown you a photo of my highly sophisticated setup, but alas my card reader is still in hiding.........

Thank you to everyone who entered and thank you also to those who've decided to follow my blog. I guess that means I'll actually have to do some posts now lol. But really, this has been fun and I hope to do it again soon.

A giveaway.......

I really dislike New Years Resolutions. Every time I make one I instantly want to break it. It's just like every time I've gone on a diet.......all I can then think about is what I can't eat and it makes me want it all the more. Ice Cream in particular.........mmmmm.......ice cream.....

Anyway, back on track :)

This year I looked at my enormously growing stash and realised I have more patterns and fabric than one little ole me needs for an entire lifetime and I felt overwhelmed. Sewing is more than my hobby, it is my passion and my outlet but I honestly spend more time trying to invent clever ways to store things than sewing - so it's time to make some changes. The other thing I did was I bought a pattern and then realised I already own that one....that was my final wake up call. If I don't know what I have, then I have too much. So this is where the New Years thing comes in........and if anyone is reading this, this is where you come in :)

The pattern I bought is the very cute Farbenmix Flora. It's new and unopened and I will post it anywhere. I do have a photo but I have sadly lost my card reader......so when that appears the photo will appear lol.

I will draw this giveaway (using some technical method like randomly picking from scrunched up names in a tupperware container) say........at the end of the month.

So to be in the draw please leave me a comment. You don't need to follow my blog or write a blog post about it, but if you want to spread the love then that's nice too.

Oh and the resolution thing! As I said I don't like them - so instead, this year I am going to 'aspire' to be more giving and this is my start :)

I had a dyeing day with my sis and we had so much fun. She dyed the singlets - it was her first attempt at dyeing so I think she did brilliantly! I died the pants and didn't do so well.........I dropped a big drip of magenta onto the yellow so you can see two big brown dots! Grrrr!!!!

We also dyed some pieces of knit fabric so that we have 3 pieces of every rainbow colour. It was so much fun watching the colours change. I need to work on the red as it came out more like light red and I'd really like crimson, so I'll have to experiment next time.

Applique and colour blocked Farbenmix Antonia

I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and try using some colour combos that I'd normally avoid. I also wanted to do something interesting on the front of the top - if I had an embroidery machine I would have used that, but I don't so I drew the daisy and appliqued it to the front.

This top was destined for my little Congo Cart that I have on the Crafty Mamas Marketplace, but my machine was annoying and skipped a few stitches on the applique (it may possibly have been user error......there is an ever so slight possibility I forgot to change the needle to a stretch needle. Shhhh. Don't tel anyone lol). All is not lost though - the top has found an owner who loves it and I have a little more of the Hilco dots and a heap more of the Stella fabric so I can try again. Maybe. If my attention span lets me..........I may just go on to something else.......cause I'm a bit like that :)

Altered Farbenmix Jule

I had this gorgeous green velour and thought it would make the cutest little elf style jacket, so I altered the Farbenmix Jule pattern which is a pull over top with the cutest spiral hood.

To make a jacket I split the front down the centre and added about 1.5 cm's for the zip turn over. I made the sides of the pattern more A-line as the shape of the Jule takes a lot of fabric and I was limited by the piece I had. I wanted a pocket but the Jule pattern didn't have one and I didn't like any of the other Farbenmix pockets for this jacket, so I found one in the Kwik Sew Toddlers book that I reshaped it to fit.

I couldn't find a green zip in the right shade so I contemplated snaps or buttons but didn't think it would sit nicely when done up, so I used the pink zip I had and then to make the zip look like it matched I hand stitched some flower embellishments on the hood, one side of the front and the other side of the pocket. I had one lonely little flower left and it seemed a shame to throw it out so I picked a random spot on a sleeve and stitched it on there.

I'm rather pleased with the end result and I really enjoyed the challenge of altering the pattern.

Thanks for looking :)

I hope I haven't confused anyone!

I've changed the name of my blog because I wanted it to fit in with my new little venture.........which I really need to go sew for!! So excuse me while I go raid the stash for some inspiration ;)

Op Shopping.......oh how I love thee :)

It started in my teens when a girlfriend and I were looking for a cheap way to entertain ourselves. We both loved to sew and play with old stuff, so we'd catch the old diesel train to the next town (and no, I ain't THAT old.....our train line was a bit antiquated, but so cool!) and pay a visit to St Vincent De Pauls. We had so much fun rummaging through the racks that now as an adult I can't give the habit up. And why would I when I find so many great treasures?

So on my last trip I found 2 NEW vintage tablecloths. The one in the background of this picture has the most vibrant colours and design. There was also a very cute old curtain which you can just see a bit of in the right hand corner, some new old napkins, a cute pattern and a couple of old books with some very funky bikini patterns that I'll try (after I get in shape!!).

Plus there were a couple of Sew Beautiful magazines. I'm rather embarrassed to admit this but I almost squealed when I saw these on the rack lol. You see, I'm a bit of a fan and a wannabe heirloom sewer. I can do a little heirloom sewing but I don't really have the time for it at this point, but later.........oh yes, one day I will MAKE the time and then I want to play and make heirloom stuff but with a bit of a twist. One day................