Do you have this pattern? Butterick 4875 Vintage

I'm crazily thinking I can fit in making a new dress for New Years Eve this year. Yep. Four days away. So I get practical and decide to use a pattern I already have. Found a lovely vintage one in the stash. Um and ah about it but be practical. Use something you already have. Butterick 4875.

Open the packet up and DANG! Only the second sheet of instructions are there and of course I'm making the first view, View A!! All the instructions I have instruct you to refer to the instructions for View A. Which I don't have. Dang.

If you have this pattern, regardless of the size, would you be so kind as to contact me? In the next day or so? I would be more than happy to pay you handsomely or send you something handmade for a scanned copy of page 1 and 2 of the instructions!!

CAL Block #88

Merry Xmas to all! The Silly Gilly family spent a very leisurely day in the park having lunch with the close relatives, eating too much food and drinking nice champagne. Noice. I sincerely hope you spent xmas day the way you would have liked to and were with family or friends.

I've been a busy little beaver on the Crochet Along project. Here's my next finished block - Number 88, Edwardian Fancy. Not my usual colours - I was trying out a new colour scheme that I felt at the time would look nice together. I'm happy with it but not over the moon. I've been using my stash of lovely cotton/acrylic yarn that I'm in love with!! Who would have thought acrylic would win me over?? Or crochet for that matter??! The next few blocks I've made are more my style. Off now to block them and make them nice and square!

Where did the week go?

I've been busy immersed in life and loss and love this last week. Managed to fit craft in amongst the lot too.

Skirt made with Bali fabric finished, albeit not ironed, but loved completely by the poppet.

Dress made for poppet's baby, who is enjoying a renewed sense of life this week as poppet has reached the age of playing mummy with her baby. Until now baby has been an on again, off again toy but now she is a permanent fixture by poppet's side. I used a pattern from a book titled Dolls Clothes and was able to finish it in an hour. The fabric is a lovely 40's repro from Spotlight teamed with thrifted ric-rac and bias trim. There are now requests for nappies, nighties, handbags.... baby is going to be better dressed than me!

Spritz biscuits made for spur of the moment Sunday afternoon nibbling. I loved just a few too many.... I made them using my vintage Sawa 2000 cookie press and it's amazing how quickly you can press out a tray full of festive fancies!

In love with my first ever finished crochet project. I started on this project whilst over in Sydney recuperating from my first egg pick up as part of my egg donor process. I'm really super happy with the result and would highly recommend the pattern as an achievable pattern for a beginner crocheter. Although next time I'll match the thread used for stitching the frame to the lining fabric!

Loss of a one in four chance this week as my egg recipient discovered this month is not their month. Dang. My question this week, at a time when the focus is on giving, receiving and consumerism.... is why couldn't one opportunity for a gal like me who wanted to give a gift to a lovely couple like them work? I just wanted to give a gift and have it be successful. Hopefully I have given them a gift of hope. Hope that there is a backup plan, called Gillian, and that if they want to go again, I'm their gal. Hope that there are people out there who are willing to do something completely for the only reason that it would change another person's world. Maybe next time....

What's new at Silly Gilly?

New flower hair clips and bow hair clips now in store!! Great last minute xmas present! Great stocking fillers! Great things to keep those locks out of the way of gorgeous smiles!!

Xmas silliness moment #1

Vintage Polaroid of myself on Xmas morning circa approx 1979.

Looking suspiciously like my daughter!! BTW it's a nurses costume I've got on... And check out those brown legs!!

Late night Etsy buying....

I found a couple of vintage picture frames at a garage sale months ago. They have been lying around the house, waiting for the right picture to display. Yet nothing has seemed right for them and the frames are now starting to be more clutter than useful items!

So off to Etsy I went this evening and found this print.... I can't wait for it to arrive... all the way from Istanbul! So exotic!! This print will look gorgeous in one of the cream vintage crackled picture frames. Just perfect for my little poppet's room.

A little bunny rabbit snuggles up with mama
- artwork by Verity Heysen-Kizek

I've joined the Crochet-A-Long!

Amy has been sharing some beautiful crochet blocks from the book 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton. She has inspired me with her bright colours and that the book is achievable for a beginner. So I've started hooking and have now completed my first block! It's Anemone block #129 which is an easy skill level block. All this activity at 10.30pm at night.... a good time to try a new skill! I found it quite simple and enjoyable. Definitely a great block with which to start. I don't usually work with orange but I wanted to veer away from my usual choices (pinks, blues, yellows) and thought these worked well together. Here's Amy's version. It's so interesting to see how differently each block appears using different weight and coloured yarn.

And at 12.15am this morning I got adventurous and tried the Patriotic Stars block #65. It's a medium skill level block and I think I miscounted in the pink rounds as I have waaaay too many stitches going on. Time to pull this one apart and start again, methinks!

Rainbow Love

I love rainbow coloured things. Not necessarily rainbow shaped things but things made in rainbow coloured hues. Or groups of the same things in differing shades of the rainbow.

So when I found these balls of yarn for $1.50 a pop at the store the other day, I brought an armful home to create a little coin purse for myself. The perfect portable project for my whirlwind trip to Sydney this week whilst I donated some of my eggs to my gorgeous friends.

Here's the before and after progress shots. The pattern is called 'Change Purse' and it's from Crochet Today - March/April '08. A very kind gal at Brown Owls allowed me to copy the pattern from her magazine. Now to source myself a purse handle and a nice fabric with which to line the purse.

The yarn is 49% cotton and 51% acrylic and is so easy for a beginner like me to use that I went back to that very store and bought another two balls of each colour!! I can easily set aside my usual dislike for acrylic yarn when the colours are this vibrant and especially when the balls are now marked down to $1 each!!!!!!

I'm now off to see if I'm bold enough to join in with Amy on her Let's Make 7 crochet block endeavour.....

Skirts Ahoy!

A couple of months ago I spied what I think to be one of my most loveliest op shops finds of the year. A beautiful 1950's or 1960's little girl's dress in near perfect condition. No fading, no rips or marks. A beautiful crisp cotton dress hand made by some loving mother or grandmother over 50 years ago. I thought it might be too big but trying it on this weekend, we found that this gorgeous dress fits perfectly. It's going to be the special Xmas day dress and to give it that authentic 1950's look, we've popped the poppet's mummy-made tutu underneath for that full skirted appeal. I think the dress looks much better foofed out like that and the little girls skirts were made to wear with a petticoat in those days.

Now that my markets are finished for the year, I'm on a mission to make the poppet some skirts and dresses as she's growing faster than a beanstalk! I picked up some coordinating apple and worm fabrics from Spotlight and whipped up this number Friday night with the help of this tutorial. Such an easy pattern and completed in 2 hours. Never mind the poppet's sullen look... she was cracking up laughing two seconds later! I also whipped up another skirt in lovely fabric from Bali and once it's ironed, I'll snap some photos.

Saturday morning found me finishing the Xmas gift shopping and I spied these little beauties going out at clearance for $1.50 each!! They are destined for a little crochet coin purse in rainbow stripes. I'm taking them with me to Sydney next week so hopefully I will have some progress to show when I'm back.

It's been so lovely to set aside the Silly Gilly sewing this weekend and work on some projects for us. Even though I love sewing for Silly Gilly, there's a different feel you get when sewing and crafting for yourself isn't there!?

Happy Sunshine

Just whipped up a pair of these gorgeous bloomers for a custom order. How cute are these baby twin girls going to look in their bloomers!! More bloomers on the way to the store soon...

Post Market Recovery Session!

After two pre-Xmas markets and the spending spree starting on my website, the Silly Gilly stocks are low!! I'm madly cutting, sewing, designing to re-stock the Silly Gilly shop so that y'all have plenty of choice for Xmas gift buying.

Of course all this restocking requires trips to fabric shops. These little fifties-inspired beauties which happened to be on sale came home with me. Fabric by 'Antique Treasures' - pattern #9847 on the left and #9858 on the right. These are destined for little girls' hats for the store methinks.

And then one gets way-laid by being dragged by a daughter all the way across the store to the yarn aisle..... and lookee here what just popped into my basket!

Of course, yarn that could just happen to be used in my newly acquired crochet addiction. Which is being fueled by this new book... Crochet Bouquet. I've attempted a couple of designs already but they are a tad scary looking due to me rushing like a banshee into attempting designs way out of my league. Reminds me of someone else! So I won't be showing you those examples. Will wait until I have something presentable to display!

And amidst all this sewing and creative frenzy, I'm at the pointy end (pardon the pun) of the process of being an egg donor for my gorgeous friends in Sydney. I'm busy jabbing myself with two needles a day and am feeling quite fine, touch wood!! No major side effects. A little trip to Sydney next week and I'll be clucking like a chicken, ready to roost!!

I'm also thinking of taking an extra night there in Sydney after the egg donation procedure and booking into a very swanky hotel in the city to take some quiet time for myself. Any recommendations on lovely swanky hotels in Sydney city? Hotels with day spas please as I wouldn't mind a nice pamper session. Just think of how many crochet flowers I could crank out surrounded by all that peace and quiet!!

Back soon with a big update of the store. Lots of new hair clips are now in store... head on over and take a look! Here's a quick preview...