At school when I was younger (ahem, much younger) my favourite class was English. And my favourite ever English class was when we had to write a story. And my very favourite story-writing English class was when the teacher gave us the first line of the story and asked us to finish it.

I used to relish the opportunity to write something with a starting prompt, and then be free to go wherever my imagination took me.

It was always fascinating to me (yeah, I was a bit of a spod at school, I have to confess) in the next lesson when a few people read their stories out. From an identical initial starting point, everyone would have done such very different things, ending in places that I, personally, could have never imagined.

So my inner eight-year-old was really excited to come across a similar idea, but for crafting, on the LucyLovesYa blog last month.

Every month, Lucy gives her readers a challenge to make something – anything – inspired by a specific theme. At the end of the month, she posts photos of all the projects that have been made.

I joined in eagerly last month, for Matryoshka March; the challenge to make something inspired by a photo of some old school Russian dolls.

You can guess what I did already, can’t you? Yup, I made a babygrow with a nice Russian doll image printed onto the front…

There was something that tickled me in the idea of an item of clothing for a baby, emblazoned with a picture of all those little baby dolls.

I love the photo as well; those bright reds, with the blue flowers on the front and the bright yellow hair epitomise for me everything inherent in a Russian doll.

Though, have you noticed that the second size doll, on the left of the photo, has a slightly evil glint in her eye?

Today, all of the projects have been rounded up, so head over to LucyLovesYa to see the rest of them. I think the cushion made with the bright 1960s fabrics is probably my favourite, but they’re all pretty stunning. Just as with those stories at school, it’s fascinating to see the different ideas that different people have had…

She’s on the lookout for someone else to take over hosting from next month as well, so drop by if you’re interested.

Related articles:

• See my tutorial for transferring printed images to fabric if you’re feeling inclined to make something this way

I’m sharing this project at Skip to my Lou, Little Inspiration, Thirty Handmade Days, See Vanessa Craft, Serenity Now, the Shabby Nest, the Shabby Creek Cottage and today’s creative blog. Head over to see what others have been up to this week.