Bocce Ball: Kitty Selects a Winner for Pattern Pyramid!

June 14, 2013June 14, 201358 Comments

Yes, Bocce Ball! A fun, jam packed exciting lawn bowling game made popular in ancient times during the Roman Empire. Summer is the perfect time for a rousing match, so Kitty decided to select the Winning Pattern Pyramid Entrant through a game of Bocce Ball!

And, since we have no idea how to play Bocce Ball, we made up our own rules! Best kind of game ever.

Prepping the Bocce Balls with Entrant Numbers 1 to 28

28 entrants – 28 Bocce balls

We had a total of 28 entrants, so numbers 1 to 28 were stuck onto 28 Bocce Balls. A Winner’s Circle was set up along with a panel of Judges, to rule on any discrepancies in throws.

Winner’s Circle and Panel of Judges

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!…………….

GAME ON!!!!!

Bocce Balls began whirling and rolling in seemingly random directions. That’s mostly because we cannot throw.

Go For It Kitty!

This way. Throw them THIS way.

Kitty takes full charge of the game, never letting any Bocce ball go by, without giving it his stamp of approval and padding after it, (in popular Canadian Curling style) to maneuver it toward the Winner’s Circle.

Each Bocce Ball Must Be Thoroughly Inspected by Kitty

Kitty inspects each throw, psychically willing every Bocce Ball to land within the Winners Circle.

Kitty impatiently awaits the release of yet another Bocce Ball.

Throw Another One! THROW IT!!

Kitty is quick to point out that VERY few Bocce Balls are actually entering the Winner’s Circle. Which is quite sad, since we did, indeed, make up our own rules, you’d think we’d be able to get at least one into the Winner’s Circle.

Did Not Make the Winners Circle Throw Again

Wow! 0 for 0. You are terrible at this game!

Kitty takes pity on the ball players and opts to offer up some strategic advice for throwing the Bocce balls.

“Throw it a little more to the right. The right!! Not YOUR right, MY right! That way!”

Oh my goodness!!! Upon Kitty’s sage advice, the game begins to pick up! Miracle upon miracles!! One Bocce Ball finally enters into the Winner’s Circle!!! Immediately after, a second ball quickly follows suit.

So Far Two Made it Into the Winners Circle

Two Bocce Balls in the Winner’s Circle!!

The excitement is palpable, Kitty is duly impressed! And, it’s hard to impress Kitty.

“Excellent Job!” says Kitty. “High Five – Paw.”

Wait!! What’s this?? A third Bocce ball enters the coveted Winner’s Circle. The judges are bowled over! (Literally. I had to set them back upright a few times….)

Three Bocce Balls Make It Into the Winners Circle

Three Bocce Balls Enter the Winner’s Circle. Kitty and the Judges are overwhelmed.

Ah, but now, which of the three is the winning Bocce ball? Lucky for us, Kitty is able utilize his astonishing powers of intuition to sniff out the winner!

Kitty circles, attempting to intuit the winning Bocce ball.

He circles and circles, he is practically vibrating, his spidey senses are tingling. He peruses and paces….Honing in, getting closer…..

“Yes, I’m sensing THIS is the winning Bocce ball.”

And, amazingly, he does it!!

YES!!!!!!!!! Winner Selected!!!!!!!!!! Bocce Ball Number 10. And, from the list of entrants, number 10 corresponds to………….(drum rolll)………………….:

"Here. This is the Winner. See it? See it? Look Closer! It's the 10."

“Here. This is the Winner. See it? See it? Look! Look Closer! It’s the 10.”

Fiona Parker from Diary of a Chain Stitcher.

Congratulations Fiona! Kitty and I are very happy for you!!

Please email me with your specs so that I may get the Pattern Pyramid to you!

“My Work Here is Done”

Wellington Pattern Pyramid Has Arrived! Enter to Win!

May 20, 2013May 23, 201347 Comments

I was very lucky to win the Wellington Pattern Pyramid from Laura over at Make it Yourself Mom’s Diary. Laura also gave me a very cute card and some lovely stretch cotton floral print fabric.

Love this Fabric from Laura!

This Pattern Pyramid originated from the Wellington Blogger’s Meetup, in New Zealand, where they met up, exchanged sewing supplies and had many patterns left, with no takers. So, Miss Joie De Vivre at A Charm of Magpies, began this Pyramid. It then made its way to Anne from Pretty Grievances. Next up, the lucky winner was Laurie and Kerrielee from Sew Exhausted who then passed it over to my predecessor, Laura. Now, it’s my turn to pass it along to all of you!

These are the 3 patterns I am taking out: (I was quite thrilled that so many patterns were my size!).

Patterns I am Keeping

There was a sailor style /diaper closure culottes pattern that is so fantastic!! Version C has an inverted pleat at the sides. I can’t wait to make these! And, I’m also helping myself to a yoga collection and a pretty yet simple dress.

And, these are the patterns I will be putting back:

Patterns I am Giving

I have included the Vogue coat that I received in a giveaway from Mari at Disparate Disciplines which caused some definite excitement in this post. But, the pattern is several sizes too big for me, and I am finding Vogue patterns difficult enough without the added stress of having to grade it down. So, instead I thought I’d share it with those who can use it! I also included a stylish Vogue skirt pattern with a yoke and pockets, but yet again, it is too large for me. And, a McCalls blouse pattern that includes 8 different styles.

Bonus Patterns I am Giving

And, here are two Extra Special Bonus patterns that I will also be adding in: Very cute 1970s wrap skirts with pockets. The instructions are in French only and I have labelled them in case the winner does not read french.

Here are the patterns sorted by size:

Small Sizes 6 to 12 (32 to 40) That Threads dress is just beautiful! And the New Look vest is really cute if you disregard the envelope styling. The Butterick pattern includes the dress, jacket and pants.

Medium / Large Sizes 12 to 22 (38 to 48). The Simplicity pattern (top row) actually includes the skirt, top, jacket, pants AND purse! A wardrobe in one. And the Vogue Five Easy Pieces pattern includes zip jacket, top, skirt, dress and yoga pants. An entire outfit. That Simplicity dress / top is the Khaliah Ali Collection.

Mens and Accessories Pattern. Accessories are “one size” and the mens jacket is Size 38.

‘New’ Wellington Pattern Pyramid

The fine print:

Anyone, anywhere can enter the giveaway by posting a comment below by Friday June 7, 2013.
You must have an active blog.
A winner will be randomly selected and contacted. I will then post (mail) the pyramid to you. Kitty is sharpening his claws in preparation for the next draw officiating ceremony!!
The winner will then select a pattern(s) to keep and add a pattern(s) of their own back into the Pyramid. (Adding a pattern is optional, if you add a pattern back in, the pyramid keeps going longer, but it is not compulsory.) The winner will then host their own giveaway on their blog and the cycle continues…

Good Luck to Everybody! And, Happy Sewing.

Also, check out Kitty’s last winning entrant selection from our previous Pattern Pyramid win, Kaitui Kiwi from The Curious Kiwi. She finally received the Pattern Pyramid and has it posted up on her blog, here.

Pattern Pyramid Pick Progess (De-80s-fying). And a Sewing Dare!

March 4, 2013March 5, 201342 Comments

So, to refresh your memories, I had selected the Very Easy Very Vogue 9647 from the winning Pattern Pyramid. There were two main reasons for this; one, it was in my size, two, it was touted as “very easy”.

Now, not sure if you can see from the picture or not, but this pattern is definitely very ’80s. Especially, the incredibly expansive shoulder pads. They are actually large enough to land a plane on! Seriously! And for those of you afraid to fly, picture a Kitty perched on each shoulder and walking around all day like that.

I wanted to try my best to De-80s-fy the pattern (yes, I coined that phrase, please feel free to use it and share).

This is what I came up with to bring it into this century while lancing the shoulder pad design detail: I opted to make the top half of the dress in B (the short sleeves) and the bottom half of the dress in A (the full skirt), while also shortening the dress to about knee-length. I’m using a periwinkle blue cotton voile that has a flower design embossed on it, and is almost sheer where the flowers are embossed. I thought it would be delicate and flowy and deter from that ‘boxy’ look. I then decided to sew an Obi Style belt out of the cotton floral fabric to cinch it at the waist while still keeping that light and airy look (as opposed to using a heavy leather / plastic belt).

So, these are my plans to de-80’s fy, what do you think? In my mind, it looks fabulous! 🙂 In reality, we’ll have to wait and see.

And, I have been charged with a Sewing Dare by Jagoda from FitNottoFit:

“Catja, I don’t know what your plans are for March, but I CHALLENGE you to make something from Ikea fabric. Hopefully something wearable, for yourself, not for the kitties. Do you accept?”

Yes, I accept! Although Kitty is a tad disgruntled. Here is my plan:I love Ikea fabric, but it can be a challenge to sew clothing with it, as it is mainly designed for home sewing projects. I am going to make Butterick B5285 in Version B and use this Ikea fabric pictured. The fabric design is: Malin Akerblom, 2010. The floral print is quite large and I’m hoping that with the addition of the pleats on the skirt, it will look like an abstract floral pattern.

Karen, from Did You Make That? made the same version (B) of the Butterick skirt in a fabulous fabric, check it out here. It looks terrific, so if mine comes out half this well, I will be stoked!