How do you follow an act like that?

After my rather serious last post, I have wondered how I would follow such a heavy post. I have a plan to approach next months' onslaught of seriousness and stress with ahem exercise. That's what the doctor ordered. Seriously. Can you imagine how that will cut into my crafting time!!?? The fact is, there is no easy way so I'll just note that right'o, that was a serious, real topic and now on with the show. More real to come though folks!

I've been busy crafting things for my wee poppet, although I can't really call her wee anymore as she's not even four and a half years old and I'm shopping for size 7 clothes for her! Tall, thin, leggy and blonde. Oh dear, the teenage years are going to be hard.

My girl loves a hat so I crocheted this lovely snuggly number from some yarn I had in the stash. The pattern is free and is Olivia's Butterfly by Valerie Whitten available on Ravelry. I crocheted this up in a day and a half working now and then during the day. Easy for a beginner and a very simple pattern.

Over the Mother's Day weekend, my daughter and I visited the Stitches and Craft Show in Melbourne. A lovely girls trip to Melbourne is fun but catching a 6am flight is not!! Anyhoo, we caught up with some of my very favourite bloggers, especially Jodie of Ric Rac. That woman is The Best. Absolutely. I love her style and recognise more than a little bit of her in me. During Jodie's talk about blogging the speaker next door came in to tell her to keep it down. This a) cracked me up to the point of hysteria and b) is so very familiar, the 'You talk too loud and are too silly' concept! Lots of lovely fabric was purchased at the Show and photos of that are to come.

Of course a young gal needs a new outfit if she is jetting off with her mum to Melbourne, the fashion capital. So before leaving I whipped up a new outfit using Rachel Measham-Pywell's It's Autumn pattern, recently featured on Quilt Fabric Delight's Creative Team blog. Forgive Nevada's look in the photo. It was cold and the poor poppet just wanted to get inside!

And I have been doing a bit of sewing for myself but it's top-level, secret squirrel, "if I tell you, I'll have to take all of your fabric" kind of hush-hush stuff. It has inspired me to delve into my stash and dare to use some of my vintage 1950's fabric and boy was it delicious to use something so divine.

So now my secret obligations are over, a little Silly Gilly crafting may take place over the weekend. New hair clippy ideas are forming and I can't wait to crack out the hot glue gun!

Till then!
Gillian.

More Crochet Blocks

Block #137 Criss Cross and Block #189 Willow

Block #145 Chocolate Box and Block #61 Nine Patch Granny

The brightly coloured blocks are going together as a cushion cover perhaps for the lounge and the pinks are destined for a cushion cover for my daughter's room. These blocks are such a wonderful way for a beginner to test out new stitches and not feel too overwhelmed by a large project. Each block can easily be completed in an evening or less. All blocks from 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton.

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....

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.....

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...

Market preparations and a new love

Last weekend's market at the Prospect Rd Food, Fashion & Wine Affair was a successful day, albeit a hot one. Sitting at one's market stall in 40 degree heat isn't ideal but I got to meet some lovely people and had a few sales to sweeten the day!

This week ahead is now to be spent preparing for this coming Friday and Saturday 27th and 28th November as I have market stalls at two different markets. See the sidebar over there on the right for further details.

More ribbon purchased for Dancing Rainbow Ribbons. This makes me super happy - an excuse to buy ribbon in rainbow colours is good any day or night.

Speaking of rainbows, I was recently invited to participate in a Rainbow Swap organised by the far away but oh-so-witty Trashalou. I've posted off my parcel and am keen to hear that it has arrived at it's destination. It was so much fun creating the handemade item for the swap but I can't reveal anything until I know my swap partner has opened her parcel.

My highly multi-talented Thursday craft teacher Felicity has generously offered to share her love of crochet with me after I stumbled upon, and fell in love with, the insanely delicious crochet blog Attic 24. If you love crochet or rainbow colours or bright, happy photography, head there immediately!! It's a gorgeous blog written in a lovely friendly style. Just my thang! And I must say it had to take something super special to convince me to crochet as I have always, up to now, been a 'I'm NEVER going to be interested in crochet. NEVER.' kind of gal... Hmm, never say never!!

The flowers below are my first attempts at crochet and I'm rather pleased with the results!! I used a pattern from Attic 24 and found it to be very achievable for a beginner. And of course I had to rush out to the shops and buy cotton yarn to feed this new addiction!

So this weekend I will be desperately trying to ignore this newly acquired skill and amazingly addictive interest in crocheting flowers. Someone take this cotton and hook away from me please so I can get my market stock ready?