The Making of Monster Chunks!

Hello again. I've been on holidays. And now it's birthday boy week! This year's treat for all the guests (see here for year 2 and 3 treats) is a treasure hunt ending with a Monster Chunk treasure to take home and love. Rebecca Danger generously posted this free pattern and I've been knitting non-stop monster chunks for the past 2 weeks. More photos to come before they're scattered across town I hope! Rebecca has a great sense of Monster style - check her patterns for sale on etsy, I've bought a few and made a few - not as many as I would like, hopefully more will come to life on my needles soon!

I"m hoping to post soon about our trip and all the lovely Japanese pattern books I found as well as some Liberty of London prints. And then the Handmade and Preloved Trunk Show is coming soon! Details to follow!

The Flat Tote

A new batch of stylish totes for a new retail venue for me. The Birdhouse Eatery and Cafe called a few of us local arts and crafts folks to provide goods for their racks and shelves. The newly reno'd cafe is a fun, bright place to have coffee (or crepes on Sunday - yum yum!). Lara's artwork looks great on their walls and I'm happy to have Flat Totes, Market Bags, Quilty Bags and Garden Goodness bags there too. I keep forgetting my camera but hope to have photos soon!

Happy Homemade Vol. 2 Pattern Book and Pirate Pants

Once again, I couldn't resist a really cute pirate print on a Japanese linen/cotton blend. Nor could I resist this amazing Japanese pattern book for children's clothing. The pants are shorts pattern "l" but I just lengthened the legs with pants pattern "o", which is actually the same pattern piece provided in the back of the book. They're a wide leg, bell bottomy kind of pant that are really cute in my opinion. Luckily for me our little guy will wear anything - so far! This is a great book if you are in need of cute duds for the post-toddler years. More for girls than boys, as usual but really nice styles nonetheless! Click on the photo to see a few more pics of the pants.

Topsy-Turvy Times Two!

Here is my version (30 years later!) of a Topsy-Turvy doll my mom made me. Once again I had big dreams of making four of these (that's 8 faces!) and managed to talk myself out of that and make 2 instead. They will be off in the mail to be a tad late for a birthday party for twin four year olds. I hope they like them - and I hope the dolls are sturdy enough to take 4-year-old love!

A Bucket for My Mom

Another Christmas present, this one for my mom. I think it's one of the nicest buckets I've made yet! It came out perfectly and it's one of my all time favourite fabrics. The blue and red with the lime green and brown are such an unusual and yet pleasing combination! The buttons are vintage shell I think. I like this photo because it is a snap shot of a chaotic corner of my sewing table - bobbin rings for 2 different machines, parachuting blue cats from Bali, recycled metal flower from Honduras, and a wedding photo - to remind me to quit sewing once in a while and go hang out with Forest!

Three Brother-in-Law Shirts

What I learned about making men's shirts... they are a LOT of work! I've made a few in the past and I've always wondered about making a bunch for the next trunk show or to sell since folks always comment on those I've made for my husband and good friend DH. Making 4 at once (3 brothers-in-law plus aforementioned good friend!) opened my eyes and you know what? I'm not making these to sell, nu-uh! Friends and family only. I really like them and the groovy retro shirting fabric I found (thanks to Habitual, see blog list on right) is exactly what I envision when making men's shirts. But when I was sewing them, I managed to sew the Japanese top #21 in between collars, plackets, pockets and snaps in what seemed like 10 seconds, compared to the hours the men's shirts took up! The snaps alone seemed to take a half hour each shirt - although I did get a bit faster after the first one. Cowboy shirt snaps, by the way, are from Cowgirl Snaps if you need some, and you just might as they are the coolest fastener and the colours are incredible! I'm looking around trying to figure out what else needs cool snaps! The pink shirt, for youngest brother, was my first cowboy style and it was fun - I tried it on and it makes a really nice women's shirt too if I do say so myself! Hmm... maybe I should make one for me... on the other hand, I could have 4 Japanese Top #21 in the time it would take...!

Another Japanese Top

This is my second Top #21. This time I took out the gathers across the bust for a cleaner look. This fabric was such a cute floral print, luckily I have more. Now that the presents have been given, I can start posting a bit more of what I was up to leading up to Christmas - since I was obviously not blogging! This was a gift for my good friend Lara - who spoiled me rotten, as usual with many one of a kind creations from her studio. She also gave me a stack of old dress patterns from the Sally Ann - what a great friend! Hopefully I'll post photos of them - there were some gems - including a cat suit that Lara needs in orange stretch terry!

The Zippy

How about that winter light for a December afternoon at 2pm? Fairly dark around here as we approach the shortest day of the year. Our house doesn't get any sun now but I think by the end of January it hits the south windows of my upstairs sewing room - down stairs is still in the dark for a week after that.
More Zippies! This time with ants, hedgehogs, bikes, frogs and cut-away houses or rooms in red, black and white. I make these with Japanese cottons from Japan (thank you karaku!) and the linings are hand sewn in. A handy swivel hook allows you to connect keys and money in one spot. I've four more to make for the Christmas season and then I'm out of swivel hooks - which means I've made 20 of these things already! How did that happen?!

Village Frock by Sugar City

These dresses were fun and a real challenge to make. I thought I read on a blog some where that a woman sewed one in an hour! Not the case for me! The fabric is a cotton/linen blend and the texture of the gathers was amazing after a tumble in the dryer - no ironing required! The Sugar City blog is here and there is a link to her shop and patterns.