Lovely Fridays

1. Tangerine Tango Quilt Challenge

"Shattered" by SheCanQuilt

There's so much delicious orange-inspired quilting over at the Tangerine Tango Quilt Challenge. The winners will be announced on Monday, but let's face it, the real winners are lazy lurkers like me who get to enjoy all the eye candy without putting in any effort whatsoever.

2. Pleated Sailor Dress

Lizz Basinger Designs

With spring on it's way, aren't you just dying for a cute little sailor dress?

3. A patchwork Yurt

via

I don't think it's possible for me to love this more, I can't even imagine the amount of work that went into it. Linzi Upton is clearly a genius. Maybe I could make a mini version for the pooch? A bit like the teepee our friends Miss M and Mr B have!

The Fabric Happies

I know the fabric fans among you understand the feeling of the Fabric Happies: those beautiful bundles of color and pattern, works of art in their own right, yet ripe with possibilities for projects. There are so many different sources for fabric addicts looking to score - you can even have your fix delivered direct to the door. For the ultimate high, I recommend a trip to The Needle Shop.



Fellow addicts, I apologize, I am about to make you writhe in envy. This house of delights is not only in my city but I can walk there in less than 30 minutes. If I hop on a bus it's 15 minutes door to door.

It's ok, if you need to take a moment, go ahead.

This weekend there was a 20% off sale so I took along one of my treasured Christmas gift vouchers from my "american family" (every Brit abroad should get themselves faux-adopted) and crossed some goodies off my wishlist.



On the bottom is a home decorator fabric called "Annie" which is destined, believe it or not, to become a rather stylish dog bed for my big Billy beast. There's a whole yard of Robert Kaufman's Metro living in dusty blue for a pillow I have in mind, as well as a bit of general stashing.

There were not one, not two, but THREE funky sugar skull patterns in stock so I struggled to pick a finalist. I almost couldn't resist the sparkles in the Alexander Henry Folklorico but the print was just a little too large for the projects I had in mind. One of my foster dogs went to a fabulous home with a talented tattoo artist who's particularly fond of these bold Mexican motifs. Flower the dancing chihuahua was with me for about five months so I was thrilled to send her off to the perfect forever home and have been meaning to put together a little gift for them. I can't decide whether to make a little fleece-lined jacket to fend off the Chicago snow or a leash, collar and stuffed bone set. What do you think?

I also treated myself to something extra special:



Usually I just drool in vain over all the adorable japanese prints that hover way out of reach of my price point. This time, with my gift voucher in hand and 20% off I treated myself to a quarter yard of the cars and a whole half yard of those fun cameras. I don't even have a project in mind! No doubt I'll stretch them out and find a way to fussy cut them into about 30 different projects over the next year.

Thank you Needle Shop!

CRAFTernoon Tea

Is there anything better than having a partner in crime for your crafty endeavors? I spent Sunday afternoon with one of mine, my friend A, having Crafternoon tea. Which of course, is exactly what it sounds like - afternoon tea with crafty company.



A always lays on something tasty and this week we got to sample Aussie cakes, delicious oaty-buttery bites slathered with raspberry peach champagne jam. Mmmm, are you jealous? Ask nicely and maybe she'll post the recipe in the comments. I'm afraid I was too busy wrestling with knitting needles to beg for it.



Theoretically, this curly sea-monster is destined to be a Mallory Cowl but being an utterly remedial knitter I'm not sure I even bought the correct yarn, and there's already a mysterious hole in the middle. It's my first attempt with circular knitting needles and only my second knitted project. I'm much better with a crochet hook but I received an absolutely adorable kit for a yarn bunny for Christmas so I'm determined to perfect improve my knitting skills before I pull out the lovely blush pink cashmere-merino wool and teeny tiny needles.

On the other hand my cowl is TEAL! How can anyone resist such a delicious yarn color? So I'll call the "holes" a special lace effect and I'll wear it anyway to keep me cosy until spring arrives in the Windy City.

New Beginnings

Starting a new venture is always exciting, but I have to say, for some reason it's particularly thrilling to begin something new on a leap day.

Today marks the launch of not only this new blog but my etsy store as well. I'm looking forward to sharing my crafty adventures, tips and mishaps here and, after lurking on the sidelines for a number of months, becoming a part of the online crafting community.

It's astonishing to think how 'new' I am to sewing. My aunt tried to teach me a few things when I was a teenager, but I was so inept that I even got my hair caught in the machine in Home Ec class. I'm not sure which evil genius prompted me to take a sewing class a little under a year and a half ago, but after a slow start, a monster was created! I adore creating all sorts with the aid of my sewing machine, and gradually I'm expanding my crafty repertoire to include everything from crochet to cake-decorating. Thank you for joining me here as I blog about my successes and failures (and I promise to document those just as faithfully as the projects that work out!). I hope you come again soon.