50s sewing day

A friend has organised a 50s sewing day for the express purpose of knocking up some fancy Stepford dresses. We are all experienced seamstresses so the goal is to have complete outfits by the end of the day. Everyone needs to arrive having their toile done and ready to sew.

Butterick and Vogue patterns online had a sale on, so I picked up a few to peruse and then decide. I also have a collection of vintage patterns that I have picked up over the years as well. Yes I am a collector.

I liked the idea of Butterick B4790, but I am worried that the cut of it might not suit my current shape. The original pattern is shown on this Vintage Dress wiki which I have spent far too long on this week!!

Hubby seems to think that this Vogue pattern will suit me better. The big question is what type of fabric should I get to make it with. Block or pattern? Suggestions?

Come and get me patchwork Quilting

If you know any teachers you will know that the start of the school year is very, very busy on every level. So my sewing machine has been gathering some dust. Two weeks in and I found time tonight to finish another section of the "come and get me" pillow.

I am quite enjoying the quilting bit of this. I love geometry and so it is a lot of fun working out which quilting pattern will do my Pac or Ghost justice.

But on another front I have been creating some accessories. Bounce on over to my Konstant Kaos Facebook page where I am posting pictures of "works in progress".

Have you looked at Fave Quilts?

At the start of the year I got a lovely email from Jessica from Fave Quilts saying that they had featured one of my patchwork tutorials on their web site. Fave Quilts is a great resource if you are into patchwork and quilting. Lots of links to resources and ideas. They also do a newsletter, so go ahead and sign up to it.

The one that they featured was the Sixteen Patch Baby Quilt. The result has been a rise in the hits of my blog (but not comments .. what is going on!).

It was great to get feedback from someone about what I blog about, as often it feels like you are putting it out there and no-one is reading it (although the stats say a different story).

So have you tried our tutorial?

Can you take a few minutes to give me some feedback?

Back to work style ideas

I lost myself in Polyvore a few nights ago and had fun building this up as a storyboard for what I'd love to be seen in this year.

I've never been a fashion follower, but in the last few months I have spent more on shoes than I think I have in the last 5 years. I am enjoying the 1950's Mad Men, Pan Am style that is coming through the shops at the moment.

In a few weeks time I am hoping to have a go at making a 1950's dress, so I am on the hunt for fabric that will suit my aesthetic and yet be true to the 1950's statement.

We have Golden Orb babies!

We had given up all hope of this Garden Orb Weaver (Nephila Edulis) nest hatching but this morning as I went out to check on my garden I noticed that the nest had indeed hatched.

Breathtaking!

Not as dramatic as Charlotte's Web, but still quite magnificent. I'd like to think that they are the reason why we got the 150 days settlement. Hard to believe that it will take another 12- 18 months before these guys lay their eggs.

As you can imagine, the size of the spiderlings are about the size of a pin head (the old pins without plastic)

Finished "Come and get me" Quilt Top

I still have to put the eye in the ghost, but hopefully it is obvious the pop culture reference this bit of patchwork is making.

I am particularly proud of the rounded corner on the ghost.

I am hoping to steal an hour tomorrow to applique the eye in place and then start to quilt it.

Updating Etsy with Pouches

I am busy updating Konstant Kaos Etsy Shop today with some pouches and pencil cases that I have made. My goal was to get all my stuff on etsy by the time I go back to teaching (we'll see!).

All of them use high quality zips and are machine washable.

Come and get me patchwork block 1

I had a play around with the first block of the cushion. The yellow patches are from my scrap box.

I am still ambivalent as to whether to make it 5 rows or 7 for the pillow.

If my cold manages to clear today, I am hoping to sew this up properly.

Come and get me patchwork pillow

On the Curlypops blog last week she posed the question about her Pacman inspired design, whether she should be able to sell these craft panels.

It got me thinking about other projects that I have seen around the blogosphere. There are plenty of products that hint at the genre of computer games in the 80's, I am sure that not all of those products pay a fee to the original creators of Pacman or Space Invaders.

So I sat down and sketched out my idea of a patchwork "come and get me" pillow. I have some Pacman inspired fabric that I bought from Fat Quarter shop a while back and I am itching for a small project to start and finish in the one sewing session for Nicholas' room.

I suspect when I create it, it will be a bit more refined and a bit more patchy! I'm going to make it to fit one of the Ikea pillow inserts (feather of course).

What do you think of my "Come and get me" pillow, fair use or break of copyright?

Why I haven't been on twitter lately

I can't believe that in one month my little boy will be turning 1.

Since we got back from Sleep School, he has gone from strength to strength. We are now crawling and cruising and clearly saying Dadda. We are giggling and doing "happy dances". He wants to stand everywhere which makes bath times fun! His crawling speed is now quite fast, so you need to make sure that everything is out of reach, including cat food!

He has just started Childcare and I can't believe how easy he has settled in. My daughter had separation anxiety most mornings when I dropped her off, but Nicholas just crawls off into the distance and doesn't look back. When I pick him up he looks up, smiles at me and then goes back to what he was doing. I finally feel that the universe has given me a "break", 2012 is going to be a good year.

I am gearing up to go back to work. I start prep work next week and then we are back the week after on the 25th January. I am hoping to set up my desk next week and have my first week of lessons sorted and the unit timelines done.

As for crafty stuff, I have been busy de-stashing via Pin, Cut, Sew etsy shop where I will be putting fabric and patterns for sale. I have also re-opened Konstant Kaos etsy shop and I am busy taking pictures of my stock for that shop as well. The chances of me doing markets this year is quite remote, but I still want to create and sell.

If you have a minute please "befriend" both Pin, Cut, Sew on Facebook and also Konstant Kaos on Facebook and share the link with your friends.