$99,089

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Raffles still open! Plus, auction results

I'm thrilled to declare the winner of my W Class Cushion (plus!) auction is art quilter Linda of Blue Jacaranda. She and my mum "know" each other through the power of the internet. Pay a visit to her Made It shop, she has some lovely stuff.

I won one auction (that I know of) - a designer WeePantz Modern Cloth Nappy and matching bib in Alexander Henry fabric by Sew Sew Sew.


WeePantz nappies can be bought online here and at markets around Melbourne.
Have you heard that the raffles being run as part of Make It Perfect's fundraising efforts have been extended to midday Wednesday (Australia Day)? If you've woken up this morning and discovered you didn't win any auctions this is your chance to buy up big on raffle tickets! Check out the full list of raffles here or check out these ones which you currently have a decent chance of winning:

Superhero costume by Weathergirl
Needle felted robins by Maidenhair Tree
Rabbit softie by Ruby Star's sister
Needle felted toadstools and babies by Radish and Ruth
Necklaces and bracelets by Spotted Lime
Mini quilt by Relish
Lap quilt by Bec Clarke
Baby capsule canopy pattern by Elizabeth Wyatt (This is quite cool)
Kids alien shorts by Tikki
Kids pixie shorts by Tikki
Toddler skirt by Aimee in Stitches
Blue fairy skirt by Fred & Cissy
Blue and mauve fairy skirt by Fred & Cissy
Pink fairy skirt by Fred & Cissy
Baby dress by Sewing & Other Fun Things
Carry bag by Cloth to Creation
Bag and clutch by Little Boozle
Granny square scarf by Mad Quilter
Robot tee by Electric Boy
John Doe tee by Electric Boy
We Are Wizards tee by Electric Boy (This one is AMAZING. If you like Harry Potter and stacking dolls this is the tee for you!)
Train tee by Electric Boy
Handmade cards and more by A Country Cook & Crafter
Moda layer cake and more from Chocolate Coated Patchwork (Seriously, guys! Any fabric fan needs to buy an entry in this one.)
Moda layer cake and more from Want It, Need It, Quilt!
Heart artwork by Emily Parkes
Vintage chenille homewares by Cloth to Creation
Bunting by Bake & Sew
iPad case from Eleven Polkadots
Vintage fabric cushions (multiple raffles) by Monkeemoomoo
Montessori flashcards by Montessori Goldmine

What can you do? Make a $5 donation to buy an entry in any of these raffles (or check out the full list on Make It Perfect). If you're all donated out, put a link to the raffle list on your blog or feel free to copy & paste my list of under-subscribed raffles from above. Hopefully they'll all have a lot more entries before noon Wednesday!

Auctions & raffles you have a good chance of winning!

Feeling disheartened by clicking on auctions and finding the bidding's already up to $1,000?

Got a fistful of $5 notes to donate and hope for more than a one in 180 chance of winning a raffle?

(Huge love to the mega-popular craft bloggers who have this much awareness-raising and fundraising power!)

Here's some auctions and raffles you stand a chance of winning.


I Spy pram quilt by Two Bits Patches. That's my mum! She started her auction last night and it's just been added to the Make It Perfect master list. Bidding currently at $30 (thanks to my sister).


Robot quilt by Eleven PolkaDots. Raffle with $5 donation to enter - only five entries so far! Get in!!


Luggage tags by The Crafty Nomad. Bidding starts at $15 - be the first to bid!


Fine art photography print by Sarah Birks Photography. Bidding open at $10.


The auctions organised by Handmade Kids & Rudy & The Dodo on Facebook raised $17,000 over the weekend - amazing! I get the feeling the quilt section alone of Make It Perfect's auctions may raise that amount again. Gosh, I can't believe the amazing quilts people have donated. If you've got half an hour to spare take a look at them all - and the leading bids!

I'm thrilled that my auction is up to $120. I simply couldn't afford to donate that amount myself, so I'm pleased to have been able to reward someone else for donating. Remember to check back on the auctions you've been bidding on, and if they've gone beyond your limit think about spending your budget on 'raffle tickets' instead. As Nic of Yardage Design said, I wonder what the Premier's Flood Relief Appeal are making of all these $5 donations!

More cushion auctions!

If you're looking for my auction it's here.

Make It Perfect's master auction list has been updated with dozens more auctions and raffles. And joy of joys, there's heaps more cushions!


Bunting cushion by Glitter, Vinyl & Thread (she's international! I've been a follower of her blog for donkey's years. I love political crafters.)


Floral cushion by Marelle (with a tonne of additional bits & pieces)


Dr Suess bunting cushion with surprises under the flags by A Cuppa & A Catch Up (Raffle alert! I'm so entering this raffle.)


Crochet cushion by Sweet Birdie Blue


Custom name cushion by Julie Oliver


Union Jack cushion by Curious Stitch
(another raffle!)


Henna Garden Rainbow cushion cover by Stitch 'n' Bits


Henna Garden Crazy Nine Patch cushion cover by Stitch 'n' Bits

I love me some cushions!

Flood Auction cushions

If you're looking for my flood auction it's here.

Make It's Perfect's auction master list is now available. I was a bit dim and forgot to submit a link to my auction on time but it should be on the list tomorrow. Until then, here's some other cushions being auctioned and raffled.


Fish cushion by Daniella Germain
(I'm certain I won't win this for a mere $60, but others in single-income families will understand my position)


Antarctica cushion by Chunky Chooky/ My Bearded Pigeon
(This one's a raffle! I've got a chance with a raffle!)


Doll Face cushion by Made by Jenni (no, not me)


Mushroom cushion by Andy Creations


Numerous floral cushions by Irene Re-Vintaged


Fly Away cushion by Ruby Star
(I can't believe I missed out on including this one earlier, I lurve it.)


And again, a W Class Cushion by Mrs Beckinsale. That one is me!

What have you been bidding on?

QLD Flood Appeal Auction : W Class Cushion, plus!

As part of the Queensland Flood Appeal Auctions being coordinated at Make It Perfect I've put together a package of tram goodies for your bidding pleasure.

The first item in this prize pack is, of course, a custom W Class Cushion.

W Class Cushions celebrate Melbourne's iconic rattly W Class trams in huggable textile form.


They've been featured in The Age's M Magazine, Frankie magazine, and on www.indie.com.au.

The winner will receive a W Class Cushion in Classic fabrics, as pictured...

...and it'll feature your choice of destination and route number. Any word, any number! It can be Reykjavík 888 if you fancy.

Secondly, you'll also get a hand screenprinted kids teeshirt.

Sizes 0, 1, 2, 4 and 6 are available in a variety of colours. If I don't have and size and colour combo you like I'll even do you a custom one. The teeshirts 100% cotton and made by Qualitops, a local sweatshop-free manufacturer accredited by Ethical Clothing Australia.

And if that's not enough, you'll also get all these goodies:
That's a one-of a kind W Class tram notebook (it's little, A7 I think, and so cute!), a felt W Class tram brooch and ten fabric postcards. The postcards are fabric on the front and card on the back and can be sent through the mail the same as an everyday postcard. Some of them are Christmassy but most are in fun all-occasions prints.

At Olive Grove Studios the retail price of this prize pack would be $195. The normal price of the custom W Class Cushion alone is $85. You could look at this as a chance to buy the custom cushion you've always wanted and receive a bunch of extra stuff as well. Or hopefully someone with very deep pockets and an obsession with trams will 'dig deep', as the telethons like to say, and we'll raise a bunch of money for people who need it more than we do.

Please visit Make It Perfect for details of many many more handmade auctions, all raising money for victims of the floods, and probably not tram-related (in case trams aren't your thing).



How to enter: Leave a comment on this post with the amount of your bid. It makes sense to bid more than the highest current bid, of course. Make sure I've got a way to contact you!
Winning: The winner is the person who makes the highest bid.
Deadline: The auction ends at midnight Aus Eastern Daylight Savings Time, Monday 24th January.
Payment: The winner must donate the amount of their winning bid within three days to Premier's Flood Relief Appeal.
Postage: I will cover the cost of postage within Australia. If you are outside Australia and want to bid I'll split the cost of postage with you. If the winning bid is outside Australia and over $195 I'll cover the whole cost of postage (and you'll be a hero). If you want to check postage costs to your location leave a comment with your contact details.
Delivery: I'll finish your custom cushion within two weeks and pop it in the post! If you're local and would prefer to collect it from a location in Melbourne's northern suburbs we can arrange that instead.

Bidding opens at $50.

Good luck!

Handmade Auction for Queensland Flood Relief

A quick note - Toni of Make It Perfect is organising an auction of handmade goods to support the Queensland flood relief efforts. Everyone is invitied to make something to auction or to place a bid. To find out more and register as a maker visit Make it Perfect this week.

My new dress: Simplicity 2925

Hurrah, I've finished my third incarnation of Simplicity 2925.
If my figure ever resembles this again I'll be delighted. Hello Mummy Tummy.

I had decided I'd do contrasting pockets instead of the tie belt, until I considered how I'd look in a sack dress with no front darts and attention-drawing patches on my upper thighs:
Yep, a waist-defining belt is a much better idea.

Le back:


Le details:
Ahem. My mannequin is wearing the latest fashion in old cloth nappies which have been used to protect one's ironing board cover whilst fusing interfacing. It's scorch marks, not nappy marks! I swear this has never actually been used for nappy purposes.

The first time I used this pattern I learned that basting the straps to the front neckline before sewing the facing on, relying on the manufacturer's placement of markings, resulted in a curvy W shape rather than a desirable smooth curve. It's far better to sew the facing on and leave gaps for positioning the straps with a combination of hand-basting and pins. Despite these precautions I still had to redo one of the straps four times to get the curve this good. And yes, I can see it's still crooked on both sides. I'm counting on moving my arms a lot when I wear the dress so people can't tell.

I used the lighter main fabric for the underside of the shoulder straps as the contrast fabric is textured and scratchy. Was tempted to use the contrast fabric for the front facing so it could roll out the way it did on my first dress, but the scratchiness factor zapped that idea.

Very pleased with the contrasting invisible zip. Why do decorative invisible features give us such a kick? And I did a fantastic job with the blind hem foot, one of my best ever (it's blinder in person than in photos). I'm usually lazy with hems and only overlock them, press them under once and blind hem. This time I pressed up the hem allowance and then pressed under the overlocking the way you would when hand-hemming. I think it contributed to the nice finish, but it could just be the patterned woven fabric (and luck).

I'm really pleased with this dress. Can't wait to find my embroidery scissors so I can chop off the orange thread marks and wear it!

Pelvic Floor Training Timer

Thought I'd share this as we're pretty much all women here!

Every woman who's had a baby knows the importance of pelvic floor training, postnatally and ongoing. After Amelia was born I would do mine while fusing interfacing, seeing as I was counting seconds anyway! But now that I'm beyond the postnatal period and up to doing full sets it's hard to keep track of how many I've done and for how long.

The government has a website dealing with such things and they recommend holding for eight seconds, relaxing for eight seconds, repeating 8-12 times, resting for a couple minutes, and doing the whole thing another two times. I simply can't concentrate for that long! I had a quick look online for some kind of free app to do the counting for me but didn't find one. Surely someone's written a pelvic floor training app for smart phones by now?

So, I made my own using Adobe ImageReady.


If I can remember to watch this three times a day I don't need to do any counting - the picture tells me what to do!

It's a simple .gif animation and you're very welcome to copy the file or the concept. It has ten frames with a 'squeeze' graphic, each lasting eight seconds, with nine frames of a 'relax' graphic lasting eight seconds in between. At the end it has a 'rest' graphic lasting 120 seconds. It's set to run three times.

Ideally it'd be a sound file instead - one chord for eight seconds or holding, another for eight seconds of relaxing - so it could play in the background while I read blogs and so on. That'll involve getting Hubby T to do some work with his music software while this animation was something I made on my own in 15 minutes. Maybe I can grab some of his time on the weekend.

For more information about pelvic floor training download a PDF at www.bladderbowel.gov.au.

Dress decisions

I've returned to the pattern I used this time last year - Simplicity 2925.



I'm making view B again as I'm currently wearing last year's view B and it's perfectly comfy, despite my baby weight. Here's my fabrics:


I'm making the body of the dress in the diamond weave black and white fabric. It's surprisingly lightweight and will be wearable in summer as well as looking appropriate for autumn with a long-sleeved jersey top underneath. The shoulder straps are in the aqua and chocolate herringbone, which is much heavier. I think it's a lovely 60s-ish combo, although the dress isn't an overly 60s style.

But my question is - should I include the pockets from view A instead of a tie belt? Picture view A with straps instead of sleeves to get an idea. I think that'd be much more 60s.

I think I've already made up my mind, but do share your thoughts.

The best week of the year

I've realised over the last month that the week (7-10 days) from Christmas to New Year is my favourite week of the year. It starts with a wonderful day of family, feasting and presents, slides into DVD marathons and groaned oaths of "never again", then suddenly springs into carefree days of sleeping in, house or garden reorganising, eating lunch in the back yard, and sewing whatever, whenever.

I'm currently working on a bag for a friend, finding about an hour or two a day to either sew or simply look at it, finger pressed to lips, and saying "hmm..." (I wish I'd used a pattern). But today I'm inspired by Lara of Thornberry to pick out a favourite dress or top pattern*, find a piece of fabric from the stash and make myself something new.

Or maybe I won't. It's holiday week and I don't have to do anything I don't want to**.

* Not the pattern pictured. That's only there as a joke. Image belongs to Hens Teeth.
** Apart from care of two children, laundry, tidying up the Duplo again...