Sunday 12 May 2013

"And I say thee NAY! Buttericks" and the Versatile Blogger Award and Prize.

Wow - first let me say thank you to all who chimed in your thoughts - either for or against the Buttericks plus sized wardrobe in my last post. I can see that most are as insulted as I am.

There were some great thoughts and I am certainly appreciative of them all.

Many of you talked of a sloper and adjusting the pattern - and of course I thought yes - I am a proud sewcialist - I can use my skills for good!!

I believe I have a sloper for the dress with my TNT McCalls 2401 that I have been working on - I am sewing it with a non stretch woven at the moment.

I will definitely be taking a page out of the queen of the TNT tamperers, Carolyn's book with using this TNT to make patterns work for me.

Hence I have ordered the second wardrobe pattern that goes up to size 22 and will be stalking Carolyn's blog for her "sandwich" technique. That particular wardrobe has a jacket that is very reminiscent of a lovely short sleeved jacket I wore when younger and I would like to recreate that as well as the dress and the pants look great too.

So I am paraphrasing my all time favourite show (The West Wing) and I say thee NAY Buttericks, I will not purchase your plus sized crap. And I say thee NAY any other pattern company that tries to dress me in a sack.

Stay tuned for my self imposed Busting Butterick challenge when I receive the ordered regular sized pattern.

Over the course of this year I am going to sew each of those items in the wardrobe and adjust them to my size... So Butterick can go eat their poo!

Now that I have that off my chest.... the lovely JuliN has awarded me the Versatile Blogger Award. Some people don't like awards - I am not one of them!!!! I still get a spurt of pleasure when I see people have taken the time to read my blog let alone comment on it and then to award me something that says that they enjoy reading it.... who am I to turn up my nose at that - I - like a love starved puppy - am wagging my tail and wiggling my butt all over the place. So thank you JuliN. You can catch her at her great blog The Happy Homemaker.

Here are the rules: DON'T FORGET TO READ TO THE END FOR MY GIVEAWAY PRIZE


If you are nominated, you’ve been awarded the Versatile Blogger award.

  •  Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.
  •  Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it.
  •  Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. ( I would add, pick blogs or bloggers that are excellent!)
  •  Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site.
  •  Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself


15 Bloggers that you have recently discovered, follow regularly or are excellent.

Now a lot of discussion has been going on about whether people like awards, whether they want them or not. The first time I sent awards to bloggers I painstakenly went through to see if they had received awards before - this time I say - if you have already recieved it or you don't want it or don't want to do the associated work then PLEASE JUST ACCEPT IT IN THE SPIRIT IT WAS GIVEN (with hugs and kisses) and then don't do anything else. No pressure here. I will honour any blog that has the "don't want award" symbol.

First lot goes in the "can't live without" category. These sites give me inspiration, laughs, and always an interesting read. I am sure the following blogs have had awards coming out of their eyeballs and probably don't want anymore - but hey - you don't have to do anything - you don't even have to acknowledge it. I just want to say thank you.

No need to say check these out - I am sure everyone is very very familiar with them. In no particular order
Diary of a sewing fanatic
Handmade by Carolyn
Pretty Grievances
How good is that
Petite and Sewing
Suzy Bee Sews

The next lot goes to those blogs I have either recently found or are just blogs I would LOVE to share:

A little of what you fancy Sam is making some lovely clothes. Check it out.
The Green Violet - Megan has made me want to buy the Washi Dress Pattern
Satin Bird Designs - Andrea is making some cool clothes
The Engineer's other life - Kat has introduced me to a great looking princess seamed top that I must have!
Kelly's sewing when she is not running - check out her fab red jeans - even if the crotch is a little tight - in her opinion.
My Sewcial World - Annika is making some great clothes and participating in MMM13
GMarie Sews - Love checking out her dresses
Sewing with Cats - Alison has made some very enviable tops - and the blog name says it all. Anyone who sews with cats is a winner in my eyes!
Special mention to a bloggless Dilliander - who doesn't have a blog (that I can tell anyway) wish she would her sewing is spectacular!!

I would have loved to nominate everyone on my blog roll. To those I have nominated PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't feel obliged to do anything unless you want to.

Now for the next bit.


I decided that everyone knows enough about me that you probably don't need to read anymore SO - I thought I would do something different and make a contest out of it.

I often play true true false with my students as an icebreaker and so I shall with you too.

The rules are I have to tell you 7 things about myself - which I will do - HOWEVER one of them will be a lie.

Spot my lie and reply in comments by the end of the month and anyone who gets it right will be in the running  to be pulled out of the pot for a "surprise package" posted with love from me to you (where ever you are in our world).



If no one guesses correctly then everyone will go into the pot to be drawn out.

Here are my six facts and one fiction...

1. I have para-glided off the beach in Corfu Greece
2. I have written 2 crime novels
3. I used to lie in confession
4. I hung out with Biker gangs when I was younger
5. I have a small tattoo of a Rose on my shoulder in honour of my Grandmother Rose Evelyn Scifleet
6. I have been attacked by a Serval and have a scar on my hand from the attack
7. I have shot guns and rifles

The contest is open for anyone to enter. Only one guess per person.

Good luck.

20 comments:

  1. Thank you for mentioning my blog. I'm a bit on the fence re awards but what I DO like is finding new-to-me blogs from the ones others list.

    So - onwards to be entry in your giveaway. Some of your "facts" made me laugh out loud. My guess is number 2. I can easily see you doing the rest, especially the confession. ;)

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  2. First, thanks for thinking that I'm a must read...the sentiment is appreciated and thank you for the reward.

    Second, when you get ready to work with the pattern, give me a hollar and I will send you the pattern sandwich instructions so you don't have to look for them.

    Third, no need to enter me into the drawing ~ just wanted to say thank you!

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    1. Thanks Carolyn, I will definitely be in touch when I receive the pattern!

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  3. Thanks for the award!

    Wow, your seven (six) facts are amazing. I'm really quite boring by comparison. Any and all of these sound as likely as each other! That said, I'm going to guess that number 1 is the fiction... and I have no particular reason for choosing it :-)

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  4. Hmm....lets think about this.Wht isnm't true.... I still have the matching homemade tattoos we both got hanging out with Eric Von Zipper, it can't be that. I have always admired your accurate use of 1930's noir jargon, so you probably are the next Earle Stanley Gardner. I have no idea what a serval is, but it sounds very upsetting. So I'm going to go for shooting as the lie. It sounds too possible, you tricky thing!

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  5. I'm going for the lie. The guilt would be too great. BTW - I still hang out with a biker gang.

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  6. Hmmmmmmmm...Your list is quite intriguing. I can't decide between 1, 3, and 5. So I will let probability determine for me. Upon placing the numbers in a bag, the lucky (or unlucky) number is.........1. =)

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  7. Thank you so much for mentioning my blog BeaJay, I am so thrilled and honoured that you enjoy my blog, and the feeling is mutual :) Hmmm, now let me guess... I am going for the shot guns and rifles as the odd one out??

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  8. Thank you for the award, so sweet! I didn't get a chance to comment about your plus size post. I agree - not only with patterns, but with RTW also. The makers have some misguided thought that the well endowed amongst us want to wear tents. What is up with that?!

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  9. Number 2, written two crime novels.
    The rest sound plausible. All are cool.
    Hugs,
    Tina in San Diego
    my blog: Artelicious (www.tina-rathbone.blogspot.com

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  10. Heh heh! I love your list - you sound like you've had an amazing life. I would like to believe that 7 is false ;)

    Also there are many other well drafted, stylish plus size patterns. Give the big 4 the boot! I love Burda, Style Arc and Ottobre for plus patterns myself!

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  11. Wow, it sounds like you've had an interesting life ... I'm going with # 2, which is a lie, lol. Certainly in big sizes patterns are hard to get good fit. Congratulations on your award!

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  12. Aren't both Carolyns from Diary of a Sewing Fanatic and Handmade by Carolyn great! Wow, trying to pick out which item's a lie is hard for me. I think you will learn a lot with your pattern grading experiment. And come out with just what you want to wear in the end :). Happy sewing!

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  13. Thanks so much for the mention! I always enjoy reading your blog too :)

    I'm guessing no.3, you seem too honest to lie in confession (and if you have written 2 crime novels please link them, I love reading!)

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  14. Hi Beajay. You're the best.
    Maybe number 3 because I believe you have the confidence to do anything and have a true spirit.

    I'm hoping to read your novels one day.

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  15. I'd pick #2 if you said they'd been published, but you only said written .... writing them is hard enough, but getting published is even harder.

    Hmmm next best option is confession lies. Though I'm not the first to guess that.

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  16. Ohh, you've made it so hard to choose! I think I'll go with the shooting guns, but even that sounds possible! Have a lovely day!

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  17. I'd say lying in a confessional but those of us who were brought up to kneel in those scary dark boxes would never lie to a priest since Jesus would listening. So let's go with paragliding in Greece...sounds scary!

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  18. At first, I was going to choose #6, because it seems unlikely (I didn't even know what a serval was--I had to look it up), but then I decided that anything that sounds so unlikely is probably true! So I am going to go with #5, the rose tattoo on the shoulder, because by an odd twist of logic in my brain, that seems like it could easily be true, so probably isn't!

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  19. I personally am going with #1 --- maybe just because I'd be to chicken to do it ---

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