Many who know me, know of my love for teaching. I've often said that I will teach one day, in some capacity or other.

Somewhere far away in a parallel universe, Alternate-Kelly chose to do teacher's college instead of accepting a job at Hydro One. She is now teaching algebra, calculus, or physics to some bratty teenagers and inspiring them to say no to drugs and laziness, and yes to working hard and following their dreams.

I hope Alternate-Kelly is doing well.

At present, I continue my day-job doing engineering work, and I take any opportunity to exercise my teaching skills -- especially when it involves a charitable cause.

My friend Julie is a high school phys-ed teacher in Guelph and was asked to teach a fashion class for second semester. I know it's not all glam and glitz (they don't just watch Project Runway and sew garments all day long?!) but I felt like Julie had just won the jackpot. High school fashion class?! How practical! How creative! How inspiring!

Being the kind soul that she is, she asked me if I was interested in being a guest teacher. Um, YES! A little of a dream come true.

We brainstormed ideas for sewing projects and decided that during her unit on social responsibility, I would teach them how to sew a Pillowcase Dress for the Little Dresses for Africa charity.

I've done this workshop once before and already had a tutorial made up. It was the perfect sewing project for beginner sewers and there was plenty of opportunity to add their own creative details. Although these dresses were being donated to little girls in Africa, the students loved that they were essentially tank tops that they could sew for themselves as well.

I loved teaching the class. I wish I could have gone back for multiple days to see them finish their projects. Teaching really makes me smile. I'm looking forward to teaching some workshops at the upcoming Summer Retreat!

It's great to be on a roll. I sewed a dress. Loved it. And then went ahead and sewed four more before I decided it was getting a little ridiculous.

I've always admired Oliver + S patterns for kids. The selection is fantastic, so I just kept searching and searching until I found the perfect simple playdress for Lily.

The Seashore Dress has a "1 scissor" difficulty rating, and a sweet, modern look.

One thing to note about this pattern: it calls for 2 yards of fabric for the 2T and 3T size. I managed to fit even the 4T pattern onto 1 yard of fabric. That's 50% of what they call for! Believe it. It can be done.



I made the first dress with a beautiful butterfly fabric from Lizzy House's new Cat Nap Collection. For a confident beginner, it is probably a 5 hour project. If you're speedy like me (I have been accused of having Chinese sweatshop genes) you can sew the dress in 3 hours, start to finish.

Which is why I whipped up a second dress in a purple Pearl Bracelet fabric, also from Lizzy House.



The third dress I made using leftover limited edition Liberty Cotton Fleece from the workroom. More details on the fabric in another post, but needless to say, it was high quality fabric and I was excited to be able to squeeze in a Seashore Dress for Lily with the leftover scraps from my Lola Dress.


My fourth and final dress was using an abstract fabric I bought years ago from the workroom during one of their big sales. This dress really is great for using those 1m stash purchases that you never got around to using.

Do you notice all the lime green buttons? I had so many left over from my dollar store purchase when I made the zipper Christmas tree ornament. I have since expanded my red and green button collection after visiting The Button Dept. at the workroom.

Lessons learned:

1) The dress fits quite snug. Lily is by no means a chubby kid and I found the 2T a tight fit. After the first dress, I recut the pattern in a 4T, just to be safe. It is a much better size and will likely only last her until the fall.

2) The dress is quite long. It ended just below Lily's knees, so when I cut the new 4T size, I didn't want it to be any longer. At the waistline marker, I shortened the dress 1.5 inches.

3) The pockets are incredibly subtle. To make them a little more usable, I widened the pocket (pieces 8 and 9) and tried not to do too much gathering at the pocket opening. Lily has now stopped her fits about not being able to find her pockets for her rocks.

I'm a huge fan of this pattern. There seem to be more pieces and steps than your average simple girl's dress, but I think it's well worth it!

A fishmonger sounds like an ancient trade from the days of yore. You know, just down the road from the blacksmith and the town juggler. But it simply refers to a person that sells you fish.

I was first acquainted with the fishmongers at Hooked Inc. when I was looking for sustainably sourced fish for my first Farmhouse Retreat. The salt baked rainbow trout was a big hit, and my friend Priscilla made note of the fish shop for gift ideas when the time came.

In October, I was surprised with a gift certificate from Priscilla to attend a class of my choice at Hooked. I signed up at my first opportunity and waited patiently until March for my Fishmongering 101 class.

Dan and Kristen opened Hooked Inc. to fill a void in fish markets supporting truly sustainable sourcing practices. Although fishmongers are plentiful in Toronto, few have the dedication to learning who caught that fish, and exactly how.

At the long awaited Fishmongering 101 class, I learned how to gut, fillet, and perfectly pan fry a couple fish (a branzino and rainbow trout), and they even packed away our leftover fillets with all the necessary ingredients to replicate the meal the next day. We watched Kristen fillet a halibut (did you know it was halibut season?) and she also showed us how to make a delicious dill riesling sauce.

It's amazing how simple, challenging, and satisfying it was to fillet the fish. Chinese cuisine usually leaves the fish whole; my mom was an expert gutter and descaler, but I never learned how to properly fillet a piece of fish.

Since taking the class in March, I've been playing with options for how to fit fish fillets into my menu for the summer farmhouse retreat. Do we do a light fish lunch? Or add it to the summer bbq on Saturday night?! First world problems...

I highly recommend this class at Hooked Inc. and am hoping to take another class one day, but you need to keep an eye out for the class postings! They like to keep the classes small, and taught by the best, so they don't come out often! In the meantime, visit their locations in Leslieville or Kensington Market and feast on some of the freshest, most ethically sourced seafood in town!

It's late March. A week until April. I'm in Ottawa and it looks like the middle of February. I hope mother nature remembers how pretty spring is supposed to be...

Speaking of pretty, meet Magda and her beautiful chevron baby quilt.

Magda is a perfectionist in all senses of the word. She strives for the best at all times, rarely settles for anything but, and always ensures that she has taken the time to fully research all aspects of a subject before she makes the best decision possible. She is my go-to for any technology, appliance, or renovation advice. I have yet to be led astray.

Her chevron baby quilt is no exception. She was inspired by this baby quilt from the plaid scottie, and pulled her beautiful neutral-gender colours from Riley Blake Designs' Sasparilla Alphabet Teal.


Magda was set on a chevron quilt that didn't have too deep a zigzag -- a shallower chevron without too sharp a point. Eventually (through much online research) she found a lovely tutorial from The Crafty Cupboard that uses a 60 degree angle instead of the typical 45 degrees.

She added a strip of white fabric to really make the rest of her quilt pop, and the end result was gorgeous.

People approach me all the time to tell me how impressed they are with my sewing talents (aw, you guys). And I protest until I'm blue in the face that I'm no more talented than the average person. I just seize moments when I'm inspired and schedule some time to give it a try. Magda used to be one of these people I speak of. And here she is, whipping up a beautiful quilt top in less than two days.

It's about setting aside the time and surrounding yourself with inspiration and support. I've got a couple spots left in the my Summer Farmhouse Retreat if you're looking for a creative outlet!

Sadly, Magda isn't able to join me for the next retreat. If only Magda's amazing husband could lock her in a room and force her to finish the quilt so we can see the finished product. She's chosen a mouse and bicycles print from the Lizzy House Cat Nap collection as her quilt back!

I've done it. I've decided to squeeze in one more retreat before I'm too pregnant or when I need to focus on a being a baby-momma again!

It would be such a shame to not visit the beautiful Cobblestone Farmhouse this summer.

So I contacted the lovely owner and I've secured the first weekend of the summer for the last Purple Workbench retreat of 2014: June 20 - 22rd.

The farmhouse is located in gorgeous rural Cobourg, an hour and a half outside of Toronto, a mere 10 minute trip from the Via Rail station (I am more than happy to pick people up!) and the tranquility of the space will surely inspire some creative crafting!

Whether you have a project in mind, or you're hoping to join me in some workshops, this is a weekend for you to relax, be creative, and have everything else taken care of.

The retreat offers wonderful workspaces for your projects: large work surfaces, big windows, quaint nooks. And it's a guarantee that the weekend will be filled with fantastic food.  The end of June screams outdoor bbq, luscious berries, and a refreshing glass of summer wine.

For more info, check out the specifics on the events page, or use my new signup page on the "register" tab!

Did I mention there were three fantastic ladies that joined me at the Cozy Winter Retreat?

Meet Meghan.

Meghan is a visual artist who spends her day inspiring young artists by teaching high school art class.

You can just imagine my excitement when I found out she was able to join us for the winter retreat. It's always nice when we can add some variety to our group of sewers; not only is there one less clunking machine, but the visual art is such a creation of the moment: there's no predetermined design or plan. It was going to be so exciting seeing what would inspire Meghan in our retreat space. I've always admired her paintings of colourful outdoor beauty.

Undecided about what to work on, Meghan came equipped with a whole car of supplies. Paints, chisels, exacto knives. Canvases, wood blocks, linoleum.  So much more exciting than fabric and thread. Well, except maybe when you see a collection of fabrics that make up a beautiful baby quilt. But we'll get to that in the next feature.

Her artist's toolbox was already so intriguing, what was she going to make with it all?!


Saturday morning we went for a walk together in the deep, deep snow, down the cottage property towards the Nottawasaga River. The morning was beautiful: bright and sunny, although unforgivingly windy. We witnessed a beautiful fugue between two Mockingjays. (Okay, I have since confirmed they were common Chicadees -- infinitely less exciting, but their back and forth banter was still beautiful.) With her exacto knife in hand, Meghan foraged the ground for inspiring pieces of nature.

Yes. There are Mockingjays at the #purpleworkbench #winterretreat. http://t.co/xcFrgAsNUF
— Kelly Dunwell (@KellyWorkbench) February 22, 2014

I always find it so ridiculous that someone could be in awe watching me stitch a straight line. I wonder if Meghan felt the same way when Danielle, Magda, and I were ogling her ability to glue foliage onto painted blocks of wood. It was just so darn beautiful! I was amazed at Meg's ability to edit and simplify to transform the clumps of dead grass she brought back from the outside tundra to look vibrant and alive.



Her other project was undeniably fascinating to watch. She created two linoleum prints. My zero education in this process would describe it as carving into the linoleum to create a giant rubber stamp. You sort of have to think backwards and carve out the negative space, and then think mirror image because everything is reversed when printed.


The "thistle" print was incredible. And she was nice enough to make three prints so each of us could bring one home.


Thanks so much, Meg, for your surge of visual art creativity at the retreat! And an extra big thank you for introducing me to the reality series "Work of Art: The Next Great Artist"; I cannot believe I had not heard about this show earlier!

My recent Cozy Winter Retreat was simply amazing. Relaxing, productive, serene, inspiring.

Thanks for all the nice words from those following our weekend via Twitter or Facebook. Why did it take me so long to get an iPhone?!

It was a small turnout, perhaps because I dropped off the radar due to classic first-trimester queasiness (baby due in August!) but I think it all worked out perfectly for me. I could not have asked for three more encouraging, talented, and fun attendees!

The four of us were spoiled by the massive space in a cottage on the Nottawasaga River, just outside Orangeville, ON. The fifteen-person capacity meant plenty of living space, bathroom space, and creative explosion space.

Lucky for us. Because our projects required space... Some more than others.

Meet Danielle.

Another Engineer by day, Crafter-Jeweller-Sewer by night. But Danielle has some super human powers that I hope rubbed off on me at the retreat. Alongside her ability to create with quality, so much of her work is designed by herself. A quick glimpse at her blog and your jaw will hit the floor.

She needs a custom mat for her front hallway. Check.

How about a hat, and another hat, and another hat (as part of a dinosaur halloween costume) for her adorable son, Adam? Done, done, and done.

And boy, that nursing chair could really use a facelift. She'll just do it herself!

It takes confidence and talent to try so much on your own, and we were so lucky to witness the process first-hand when Danielle created her most recent masterpiece: the cape.

Danielle was wowed and inspired to replicate this fabulous cape she saw on Chictopia.com.

She acquired some beautiful wool at a shop on St. Clair West, picked out some gorgeous lining fabric to pair with it, grabbed some accent teal piping (she's all about the details) and then set to work at the retreat making a big mess on the floor.



It's amazing how quickly she worked after her initial 20 minute blank stare, which was obviously her engineering brain calculating angles and performing mental isometric views of the design.

By the end of the retreat, she had completed most of the cape. My favourite part of the design is her oversized collar. No, my favourite part was witnessing this magnificent woman at work.

Congrats, Danielle, on such a beautiful garment!

For a full account of her cape crusade, including pictures of the finished masterpiece, check out the post on her blog!