Crafting and Sewing in Canada

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Beginner Knitter in Canada – Victory!

As a beginner knitter, I am excited and chuffed. I created my first wearable sweater from beginning to end for my 3 year old granddaughter. After some struggling with my first attempt at knitting a sweater, I tackled the same pattern again but this time with a different intarsia design – a boston terrier of […]

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Beginner Knitting a Child’s Sweater in Canada

As you may have guessed, I’m into providing information for crafting and sewing – especially in Canada – so let’s add some beginner knitting thoughts here too! What is a Knitter? Is a knitter a person who knits regularly, or just one that knows how to form knit and purl stitches? I wonder As a […]

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Mermaid Tail Blanket – Crochet Tips

This is my second time to crochet a mermaid tail. No, I’m not a perfectionist, but the colours of my previous mermaid tail blanket haunt me. They, in my opinion, did not look nice together at all. I did finish it though because I really wanted to gift it to my little granddaughter who loves […]

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I Can Crochet & You Can Too!

How Hard can a Crocheted Mermaid Tail be? I saw such a cool mermaid tail blanket pattern and decided my grand daughter would love it for Christmas. She is a little mermaid obsessed this year and was even a mermaid for Halloween. Course I had to try because, you know, I can crochet (can’t I?) […]

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I talked to ChatGPT about Sewing

I asked an online artificial intelligence robot called ChatGPT about sewing to see what it had to say. What is ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Well, I love new new new stuff, especially in technology and have been geekily following the AI progression for years. In November 2022, there has been much media focus on […]

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Best Jazzy Dog (2011-2022)

We lost our beloved Jasmina—our Jazzy—in October 2022, and even now, it’s hard to find the right words. Toward the end, though, she began to suffer, and we knew we couldn’t let her go through that. Letting her go was one of the hardest things we’ve done. But what stays with us, always, are the […]

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Dinah Bag by Catsiopeia

Is this the Cutest Cat-shaped Bag Ever? Well, look what the cat dragged in! My latest make is this sweet little cat bag from Catsiopeia. It is actually named the Dinah Bag though I’m not sure why. I am (mostly) a dog person now, but for years we had only cats and I am intimately […]

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Quick & Simple Dice Tray

Something a Bit Different I was recently asked if I could make a small dice tray to roll dungeon and dragons dice. I guess that is a thing! So, a picture was sent to explain what they wanted and it looked so very doable. I was in! I even had all materials needed on hand. […]

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My Stunning New Sewing Scissors

The Pleasure of a Good Pair of Scissors Sewing and crafting is such a satisfying hobby on so many levels (I think I chose well!). One of the million reasons is that it includes so much range for creativity with fabrics, colours, textures, patterns, substrates, etc. I quickly discovered that using quality tools, like sewing […]

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Big John Duffel Bag

“Dear John” I think this may have been the biggest undertaking I have ever done in bag making. The pattern I chose is the John Duffel from Uh Oh Creations. The pattern has 3 sizes: small, medium and large. I went with the largest or Big John. There are also some hacks available from the […]

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Oh, Tremont Crossbody bag, how I love you!

What is the Perfect Bag? I believe that I may have found it. For me. For now. In Autumn. The Tremont Crossbody bag pattern by Hold it Right There Patterns is perfect for me right now – its a terrific size with a beautiful and somewhat intriguing finished shape. In the past, I used a […]

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Perfect Dungarees Pattern for 2 year olds (Free)

I came across this free pattern to make toddler dungarees and wanted to share it with you all. It is rather perfect. It’s a simple pattern from which I have now made three perfectly fitted pairs of dungarees for my two-year old grand daughter. The pattern was posted on the blog, “Made by Toya“, sometime […]

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Is the Babylock Cover Stitch Worth the Sticker Price?

In the past I have owned and operated the Janome 1000cpx, the Brother CV3440 and now my coverstitch journey continues with the Babylock Euphoria. These are all dedicated coverstitch machines and they do vary greatly in price. In my previous post about the Brother CV3440, I describe coverstitch machines in general and how their functionality […]

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The Chris Satchel Bag

I love it when a new or upcoming event requires a new pattern! Hub is planning a trip to the UK so I started looking for a satchel bag pattern as a walk-about bag. I presented him with a selection of patterns for men’s bags from which he quickly selected the Chris Satchel by Uh […]