Join The Club

I'm such a joiner!



I've joined the Crafty Christmas Club started by the lovely Tilly of Tilly and the Buttons fame. We're all crafting for Christmas! I have a few things to get done, especially for the kids of the family, so I hope the club will kick start my motivation and inspiration! Come on by and join in the fun!

Getting Back in the Spin

I feel like I have been abandoned by my creativity lately. I can't get motivated to start anything. I just spend hours flicking through my sewing and knitting patterns and surfing the interwebs in search of inspiration. The strange thing is that when all my knitting and sewing mojo has vanished, my spin mojo has returned! I haven't managed to spin anything for months! But this last week, a bunny brought my mojo back and I managed to spin 150g of Ixchel Super Angorino.

I even got some decent yardage form it. 305 metres of 4/5ply weight smooshy goodness!

I guess I'll just keep spinning until inspiration for something else smacks me in the face!

SSS Ends in a Fizzle

My Self Stitched September didn't end with the bang I had imagined. It fizzled out in the midst of illness and grief. Here are the last few outfits I managed before I had to pull the pin:




The last couple of weeks have been difficult. I fell ill, my grandfather passed away quite suddenly, and we discovered that my son has asthma. This week things are getting back to normal, and I am looking forward to waking this little blog back up.

Coming soon: The biggest, most important sewing project I have ever attempted! My best girl Em and I have started work on her wedding dress!

SSS Day 18, Day 19 and a Versatile Tail

Lately I haven't been feeling particularly creative. I finished a couple of great projects, but then fell into a bit of a funk. None of my patterns appealed to me. I trawled the internet for inspiration, patterns, anything, and came up empty handed. Yesterday my mojo came back. I felt like making something and found inspiration in some of the most boring fabric I own! Plain grey wool blend knit fabric plus a 1975 super basic dress pattern and I had something to do.


The pattern has a cowl neckline, but I changed it to a V neck because I tend to unconsciously pick at cowl necks, constantly rearranging them. I do the same with strapless tops, constantly adjusting. I'm guessing that the pattern is from 1975 as that is the date the original owner has written on the back that she purchased it. It is also supposed to have encased elastic at the waist. I left it out so that I could belt it high or low as the mood takes me. All in all, it's not the prettiest dress around, but it's warm, comfortable and easy to move around in, so I'm happy.


Today's outfit is all self stitched. A refashioned skirt, v neck top and waistcoat. Today we went to a fabric sale, and I showed extreme self control and only bought a couple of things.

Coen picked out some grey fleece for a tail. He's wanted a tail longer than he wanted wings. Here's what we came up with this afternoon. It's a versatile tail! Already it has belonged to a kangaroo, a triceratops, a tyrannosaurus rex and whole tribe of other dinosaurs. Amazing what you can do with half a metre of polar fleece, some stuffing, elastic and a free half hour. One happy kid!

SSS Days 15, 16 and 17

For some reason I had been keeping this dress in reserve for a special occasion. Then I remembered that every day has the potential to be a special occasion and threw it on to go shopping today! It's not really suited to cold weather, but with thick tights, long boots and cardigan I'm toasty warm!


Yesterday was a work day, which threw my whole week out because I usually work Tuesdays, but this week got all twisted about so Mr Huff could do his promotion exam for work on Tuesday. I wore a refashioned work shirt with a thrifted skirt.

The shirt is the uniform for the Jakarta branch of the business I work for. They send XXXL shirts to my colleague Al. They love Al because he's very tall and broad. However Al has recently dropped loads of weight and the XXXL shirts swim on him. When the latest batch arrived I offered to take it in for him, then we decided that I should take it in for me and we could have matching uniforms! So I took it up, took it in, added darts and puffy sleeves. Here it is in its original state! HUGE!


On Wednesday we went to Carlton to catch up with my in laws who were in town with Darron's uncle who had triple bypass surgery that afternoon (it went well and he's recovering nicely). We had a lovely lunch with them and then went to the Melbourne Museum to look at the dinosaur bones. The self stitched components of this outfit are my skirt and triangle shawl. The rest are all wardrobe staples, the umbrella was purchased that afternoon when the weather couldn't make up its mind about what it was doing. Melbourne weather at its best!

Days 12, 13 & 14

The last three days have covered all facets of proper spring weather! On Sunday there were showers all day. My navy trousers are getting a real work out this month! My waist coat is getting more use now and my red v neck top got another outing.


Monday was a work day, hence the delightful photo of me half awake at seven in the morning! There's that waist coat again! I made the skirt about 12 months ago, the fabric is vintage wool and it's just dorky enough to make me very happy. The shirt is from Target, I can't remember where the olive tights came from, and my little tree brooch is by Elk.


And then today the sun came out again, it was gorgeous, but not very warm! Navy pants again, (and again and again!) and my burgundy T, both made by me. The cropped jacket is from Stussy. I made the cheesy kid too. This is us dashing out the door to take him to kindergarten. I didn't notice at the time that I was standing right on top of that little pot pant!


The knit tops above were both made from my mum's patterns. both from the 1980s too.

I have view A of the Kwik Sew in burgundy and view D of the Butterick in bright red. Both were super easy, super quick and have helped build my confidence in sewing knits !

SSS Day 10 and 11

Day ten. Hmmm, not my best. I had a really bad day yesterday, every little thing ticked me right off. As a result there are no photos of yesterday's outfit (purple shirt and grey waistcoat) as I knew the whole photography biz would have pushed me over the edge and possibly made me too crazy to live with.

Happily today I am feeling much better! It may have something to do with the sunshine. It has been raining so much here I almost forgot what a sunny day looked like!

My new cardigan. I may just wear this every day until it falls to bits. Yay for project satisfaction! Add to that my Damson shawl, thrifted jeans, thrifted sunnies and generic grey tank, and you have me today. I haven't ventured far enough from home to even need shoes today.


I have noticed that this month my laundry habits are a bit different from usual. There is a rule at my house that if it was hand made, it gets hand washed. I have relaxed that a little as with limited wardrobe options I have to launder more frequently and I just don't have the time (or the inclination to be perfectly honest) to do a batch of hand washing every day. Not the most interesting thing about Self Stitched September I'm sure!