catherine magraith

Hello, my friends, and welcome back to Free Pattern Friday!

Today’s pattern comes to you from a special guest, my dear friend, Catherine Magraith!

For those of you who don’t know, Cat has a number of free patterns available right here on Sewhooked.

In addition to being an engineer, and brilliant mom to four amazing kids, Cat is also a chicken, or chook, mom!

Today she shares this sweet little hand held chook pattern, perfect for the chicken lover in your life.

Little Chook

by Catherine Magraith

tested by Jennifer O

PRINTABLE PATTERN

You will need small amounts of 7 fabric colors as shown.

Use 1/4” seam allowance throughout.

Print pattern.

Cut out all pieces as listed on pages 3 & 4.

Tip: Use freezer paper for your pattern pieces OR a small piece of double stick or masking tape on the back of the paper pieces to hold them in place.

Tip: A glue stick works great to hold pieces in place before stitching in place.

Applique the following in the order listed below using the technique of your choice. All pieces start with left or right body.

wing on top of body

head on top of wing+body

pupil on top of eye (use photos for reference)

eye on top of head (use photos for reference)

Stitch comb right sides together, turn, clip, & add a small amount of stuffing. Stitch closed using a scant 1/4” seam.

Fold beak in half. Stitch one side closed. Clip end, turn, add a small amount of stuffing, stitch closed with a 1/4″ seam.

Layer feet with a piece of batting. Stitch around, cut away excess batting. Details are optional. I used a Frixion pen to mark the foot shape. (affiliate link)

Pin beak & comb in place, stitch.

Stitch gusset to one side of body. Press out, align other side of body to body + gusset. Stitch. Leave a 2” opening to turn.

Clip curves.

Turn and hand stitch closed.

Hand stitch or glue feet in place.

Did you enjoy this pattern? Be sure to give Cat some love in comments!

Thank you for stopping by for this very special Free Pattern Friday!

Follow me on Instagram for lots of photos of cats & quilts!
Find my free patterns on Sewhooked & Fandom in Stitches, where you can also quilt along with us!

♥ Jennifer O

Where did my retired patterns go? Read all about that here.

Posts on this blog may contain affiliate links to help cover the cost of my website. I thank you for your generous support. ♥

We’re doing something a little bit different today on 31 Days of Halloween! Below, you’ll find a fun recipe and video from my dear friend and fellow TTMTer, Cat Magraith.

The following Talk to Me Tuesday is a much-watch, with Cat’s young daughter Tara being the star of this Food Network worthy show!

Pumpkin cake!

As you probably noticed in her video, Cat is in Australia, so I’ve made a few recipe notations for my American friends. You’ll find those in italics. Her recipe is the bold text.

Pumpkin Cake

2 cups SR Flour – Self Rising- don’t have any? You can make it! I have also successfully used Pillsbury Gluten Free flour blend.
¾ cup Sugar – This cake is sweet, but not super sweet. If you prefer sweeter, bump your sugar up to 1 cup.
1 tsp Mixed Spice (or Chinese 5 spice) – Mixed Spice can be hard to come by in the U.S., but you can buy it here if you’d like to try it. In a pinch, you can use Pumpkin Pie Spice or make your own Mixed Spice (below).
1 pinch bicarb soda – baking soda
3-4 cups mashed pumpkin (approx. ½ large pumpkin) – Use a pie pumpkin or you can use a 29oz can of Libby’s pumpkin.
2 eggs
1 tbsp olive oil/melted butter

Sift dry ingredients into bowl and add remaining ingredients.

Mix well and spoon into loaf tin or muffin tins.

Bake for 30-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean. I cooked 50 minutes at 350F, but I started checking around 40 minutes.

Optional: sprinkle powdered sugar on top or make a powdered sugar glaze with 1 cup of powdered sugar and 3 TBS of milk. Glaze when cooled.

Mixed Spice (my version)

There are LOTS Of recipes for Mixed Spice online. Use whatever works best for you. This is the version I currently have in my pantry.

Mixed Spice

1 Tbs ground cinnamon
1 Tbs ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground Ginger

Store in a container with a tight lid. Use as needed. This also makes a fantastic addition to butternut squash and sweet potatoes!

Here’s another recipe from BBC’s Good Food. Do you have a Mixed Spice recipe? I’d love to know what it is!

Are you making projects from 31 Days of Halloween? Share your photos with my flickr group! There will be a fun surprise after Halloween for one lucky winner!

Photobucket