Linkydinks II

As the cooler weather slowly begins to creep over Perth, my thoughts are turning more to sewing and quilting projects to keep my knees warm in the longer evenings.

This time I thought I'd share a few links to some lovely blogs written by people who are very handy with sewing machines, and awesomely talented when it comes to putting fabric together.

Top of my list is the lovely Amy from chick chick sewing. Not only does she make gorgeous zakka creations, she is also my warm, kind and generous friend from California who seems to give beautiful gifts to people nearly every day! Check out the bento lunch bag second from the right in this pic .... I own it, and I take it to work every day with a packed lunch. Amy made the bags to sell in her etsy shop -- in 2012 she selflessly donated all the proceeds of her shop to a Japanese charity for children orphaned after the tsunami/earthquake. I was very excited to learn of her book which will soon be released, called Zakka Handmades.

Continuing on the zakka theme, take a look at Pink Penguin's blog. She has numerous easy to follow tutorials. My favourite is the fabric basket of which I have made several - now I'm looking at this again I'm getting the urge to make another one! She also has a book which was released recently that looks really super.

Mairuru's blog is full of pretty things and cute pictures of her little girl. There are lots of tutorials and ideas on her blog, but it doesn't appear to have been updated for about a year :-(. Well worth checking out the archives though.

Check out the scraptacular goodness that is completely cauchy. I love the way she is pushing the boundaries -- there totally should be more profanity in the world of quilting!

I consider myself an extreme scrap quilter, and that's why I enjoy Karen Griska's blog. I am completely incapable of throwing away any bits of fabric, especially selvedges. I have a signed copy of her book about making entire quilts out of selvedges, and it's one of my favourite quilting books.

Now that she has received it, I can show some pics of a wrist cuff that I made for a friend in the States - you guessed it, I made it out of small and very small scraps, plus short bits of embroidery floss. And lastly, a pic of me running in last Sunday's 10k which I finished in 1hr 8 mins 56 sec, quite a respectable time for me.

I hope you enjoy these links. This is such a fun mission that Tammy set up -- thanks again, Tammy!!!

Back in the blogosphere

Here I am, back again after 14 months. I have been inspired to resurrect my blog by one of my art and blog sheroes, the lovely Tammy of Daisy Yellow, who invites us to take part in a mission to promote sharing, encouragement of one another and a sense of community in the blogging world, by way of the ancient and neglected art of linking.

So, during April, I'm committing to write at least one blog post per week containing a minimum of five links per post, plus maybe a little about whatever is going on in my world at the time.

Today I've been messing around with watercolours which I am planning to cut up and reassemble into a few more postcards, having been bitten again by the mail-art bug that iHanna let loose last month. In case you haven't heard about it, you can take a look here. The group pool in flickr is worth a look too.

I love Kira's blog, Oops, I Craft My Pants! Just the name of the blog puts a big smile on my face, and it's so much fun to read and see photos of all the lovely stuff she makes. And in the spirit of SHARE THE LINK LOVE, make sure you check out her post about why she blogs.

I've been a longtime admirer of marizateria and her blog is interesting, quirky and often hilarious. It also contains much insight into the creative process -- for example, I turn to her post about moving through the creativity doldrums when I'm feeling stuck. Do take a look at her youtube videos, to see how her journal pages come together. (In a recent post, she mentions making dumbell cozies, which really appeals to me). I love how she's not afraid to tell it like it is in her journals.

Pip from Meet Me at Mike's has a lovely blog about craft and lots of other things. She is awesome.

Finally -- possibly NSFW depending on when you click on this link -- The Worst of Perth blog explains why I sometimes yearn to escape to the Bahamas, Bahrain, Bolivia or even just Bunbury .......

Today, besides a bit of painting, I've gone peroxide-blonde, had a massage, done my best to relax as much as possible, eaten some yummy carbs, and am planning to get a very early night, for tomorrow I'm doing a Fun Run. Maybe I'll come in under an hour. Wish me luck! See you in the next week or so!