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...

Busy Bee

Does the end of the year always seem to get busy all of a sudden for you? It does for me. I've spent the last week feeling like the momentum is gaining quite a trot already and it's not even December yet!

I had the decadence of a poppet free day today thanks to my fantastic mother in law (Hi Robyn!) so I used it to sew in peace and quiet. Lots of new sun hats to make up for all the hats I sold last weekend. New library bags too. But I am only putting some of the new items on the website as I need to keep some stock for the markets!

I also dropped the dog off at the puppy parlour for her 6-weekly grooming session. Here she is pre-fluffing, then post-fluffing. A great improvement I say! And the hilarious thing is she has taken to riding in the poppet's car seat both with and without the poppet. Our dog is very safety conscious!

In the middle of all my preparations for my remaining two markets for the year, I've also been on the hunt for a new bedroom suite/furniture. I had an idea of my bedroom being all stylish in a black and white colour scheme. That asked for an either black or white bed head. After much hunting, not a decent one to be found in Adelaide. So I compromised. I can do the stylish black and white scheme with a wooden bed, can't I???? Hmmm, it didn't sit quite as well with me but I reasoned that Adelaide had such a shortage of decent beds that I might have to side step just slightly from my original vision.

The requirements for our bed are a) to have a tall, majorly tall bedhead (I'm 5' 11" so for some reason I think my bed head needs to be tall too!), b) can't be upholstered as I have a bald husband who could do some serious sweaty head damage to the noice fabric and c) not be modern but not country bumpkin style either. Clear as mud?!

Anyhoo, the saga is not over. The husband and I have decided that we will put some decent money into this suite and buy something that will last a long time. But you think we can find it??? We want to spend money and we can't find what we want!!!! How crazy is that!?

But in my travels I did come across this gem of a chair, upholstered in a fabric very similar to this one I was drooling over. The fabric is by Warwick Fabrics and is called Chivas in the Onyx colour range. Slightly flocked and very swish! Now to decide whether to cover my chaise lounge in this or give up on the black and white scheme. But I love it so!..........

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?