Baby Mary Jane Booties

My darling granddaughter is a bit young for shoes. She is only 3 months old. Still every girl needs lots of footwear.
I've been laid up with the flu and it has worn off enough for me to want to do something easier than the lace vest I'm making. Favorite Daughter in Law mentioned to me the other day that Princess Sophie is growing out of her booties so like any good Nana I whipped out the laptop found a free pattern on Ravelry.com and made my first pair of booties in a long time.
The pattern is easy to follow and knits up quickly in 8 ply or DK for those non-aussies.
Ruthie's Mary Jane Shoes is a cute and easy pattern. I've started another pair in dark purple and then I might do a different pattern.

Leather Bags

Surely there is a legion of leather lovers out there, I am certainly one of them. There is something special about the smell of leather. In my world there is also something truly lucious about a new bag, especially a leather bag. Added to that is the satisfaction of making it myself.
I recently spent four fun filled days in a workshop with Rose-Anne Russell - a leather shoe and bag artist who lives in the Adelaide Hills. Rose-Anne lives in a converted stone building that used to be a carpenters workshop and now is a beautiful home and studio.
We learnt so much - designing our bag, how to make a pattern and then how to put it together.
The first  day we sewed some samples, drew up a pattern for and made a pencil case.

Then designed our tote bags and made the patterns.
On day 2 we selected the leather and started our bags. We learnt how to put in zipper pockets, line the bags with pigskin and by the end of day 4 we had our finished bags.

If you want to make your own bag or shoes contact Rosie - you can't go wrong.