Some Sewing

I love to just pop in my sewing room and make something that I saw on the internet or make some new clothes. I haven't done much clothes sewing lately. I did buy that nice shell fabric before I left Brisbane and it is well on the way to being a blouse. I just need to get some interfacing from Spotlight tomorrow so I can finish it this week.

The other day I made a star dresden plate block that I saw on another blog. Phew! Just managed to find the link in my browser history. I was sure I saved it somewhere. You can find the tutorial at Snips Snippets blog .

I thought I would play at making a market bag that I might be able to sell at the Easter markets here this year. I wanted to see how fast I could make it. It is a simple bag that I made with homespun but it took me nearly and hour. I don't think they are a good item to make money on. Maybe if I could make 4 in a hour. Maybe I will try making some pot holders.
Anyway, here is the bag. It still needs a rinse and press to get the embroidery pen out properly. It is meant to fold up so I have to still put on the button loop and button.

I used the tutorial from Yarngeek

Here is a progress picture for our new house. I will be starting a new blog about the house soon but I am just really excited to have nearly got to signing the contract.

Nearly forgot. If you get a chance check out this BOM. The blocks look like old fashioned tiles. We have only missed one month and the Feb block is up now. Well worth a look.

Leave a comment on Pinterest if you are not into Google +

Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

Wip Wednesday - knitting for my 18" doll, a bag and a quilt.

I have a talent for cobbling together several different design ideas. Occasionally I come up with something different enough to be considered original. I saw the range of gorgeous knitted clothes made for dolls by Maggie and Kate Create and just had to attempt writing a pattern for my 18" doll along similar lines. It will be a long cable cardigan with a collar. The fashion concept is not mine but the pattern made for my doll will be my original pattern. So far I have only knitted the back but it looks nice.

I like to knit in my back room looking out on the yard. I can see the bird bath and lots of birds just hang about. The crows are a cute couple. They will come to the bird bath together and sometimes they just sit together. Here they are on the back fence. They sat here for nearly an hour just canoodling. Their nest is in a nearby tree. I don't think it is finished yet. The cockatoos have been visiting the bird bath too.

I keep a bird observation sheet. You can see it in the knitting photo. I got the idea from somewhere else and made it my own. If you use Pages on a Mac you can have my bird observations page.

The bag I am working on is also a mixture of ideas from others. I have all the pieces ready to sew.

I have used lots of features like the bag at Patchwork Pottery.
I have changed the top so the zipper will curve over like many of the zippy pouches I have pinned.
I have added a flat pouch on the back to hold my iPad at the ready. It just slips in. No zip top. Because I would also need room for my purse and lipstick I needed the bag to have depth so I kept the gusset for the bag section. I want to put it over my shoulder so I have a long strap like a messenger bag.
The applique dog I got from the beautiful designs at Paste. Denise Fiedler makes framed pictures using vintage printed pages cut into shapes. Here is my applique plan.

Because Christmas is unbelievably close I have kept working on my North Pole quilt. I finished stitching around the applique pieces on the third row and I did a bit more on the Santa row.

I am linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced this week.

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Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

Another new project!

As you all know it is impossible to walk past a cute project and even though it was in the very expensive Magic Patch quilt book I just had to do it which meant buying the book.
There are actually several cute wool projects I plan to make after the bag.

It didn't always look like this. After carefully sewing all the squares together, I cut the lining , sewed it on and started the running stitch on the squares. Why doesn't it fold up right, I thought. It took me ages to realise that I had sewn the squares together in the wrong shape. It had to be unpicked and fixed. Luckily I had only done a few of the running stitch squares so I just undid the lining on the other end, unpicked the offending squares and across the centre so I could fit them in the right place. I am so glad it looks fixed.

Because it was now a different shape I had t cut off some bits of the lining and add bits on the end. You can see where I put the extra bits.

I ran out of brown thread for the running stitch so it is not quite finished. I can't afford the thread til next fortnight because I spent all last fortnight's pocket money on DMC stranded floss.

One of every colour plus the variegated ones.  From Cross stitch World online. Can't wait to get them all sorted.

Happy Quilting,
Val

A new tote

 
I have discovered that if I eat cheese around tea time before bed I will lie awake for hours with a kind of hyperactivity in my head. It happened not so long ago and I told myself not to eat cheese at night but I forgot and paid the price. However, I did think up the design for my new tote bag while I was lying there.  I have called it the Tote-All because I think it will hold whatever you are able to lift. I put 10kg (22lbs) in no problem. Well, the only problem was I don't think I would be able to carry it very far :D
Rather than write up a pattern I have listed its features and put the measurements I used on a diagram. It takes a metre or yard of fabric plus the decorative fabrics.

No good having a bag that will carry anything if the base board is flimsy so I cut off some of an old cutting mat. This won't fold it only bends and it won't crack or break. I did have to use two hands to close the scissors at each snip. I will probably have a sore hand or two tomorrow :(

While at the post office yesterday I found some Christmas specials. I couldn't resist this set of boxes for $6.99. I will use them in my sewing room. The lid is attached to the handle loop.

Happy Quilting,
Val

My new tote, some sewing tips and scrapbooking

Scrapbooking

I was going to post about the progress of my tote bag and ended up taking pictures of my sewing room and my light box set up and then I checked my email and found a nice reply from Vanessa at Whirling Butterfly. She is into scrapbooking and pointed me to her guest spot at Tamar's blog. She has included lots of links to free scrapbooking related things. I can see myself spending hours looking around those sites.

Back to the tote.
It is from this pattern. I like the separate inner concept.

I put my patterns in A4 envelopes. I also write the year I bought it and an alphabet letter referring to what part of my pattern box it came from.

I made it to the pattern a while back and it was just a bit too wide for comfort so I narrowed the ends by nearly half. I put a zipper in the side pocket and divided the pocket on the other side.

The end pockets would be too narrow if you follow the instructions. I could only fix one end because I had to have it flat to sew the stitching that divides up the pockets. The other end has two skinny pen pockets but they will need to be long pens so I don't lose them into the pocket :)

I want to add a shoulder strap as well as the tote handles so I can have hands free for check in.  I thought it lent itself to folding the top down (if it is not packed too full) and I have a magnetic clasp that I will use to keep it folded. I will attach the shoulder strap just below the fold line. I will also put a zipper across the top opening. It stops things falling out when it goes through customs.

The lining is dark green and I plan to put a big zipper pocket on each side. One side to put the ipad and one side will have slip in pockets inside the zipper pocket to hold my passport and purse and phone while my travel jacket is in the overhead locker. I plan to keep this tote under the seat.

I think I will also make the inner bag with a magazine or ipad slot and pockets on one side only (since the bag is narrower now). I think if I put tape loops on the back I might be able to attach it to the tray table to have my stuff easily accessible during the flight. Elastic might be too thick to fit behind the tray when it is closed.

Magnetic scissor keep
I found this in Ikea and it is perfect for holding my scissors within reach and out of the way while I am at the ironing board. It is also close enough for me to reach them while I am sitting at the sewing table. Now they don't get lost under fabric or pattern pieces.

My blue screen
In order to make my scrapbooking elements from my own tea cups etc I needed a blue screen so I could remove the background. I do this in Fireworks on my Mac.
The screen is just some blue fabric - you know I have just realised where my light blue homespun is. I was looking for it earlier this week :D  
It is long enough to flow onto the table and under the item I am photographing.
It is just tacked to the window sill.

You can see the pillowslip I am working on and the green tote bag lining.

My light box
I have a little glass top coffee table that also came from Ikea a while back. At some point I realised it would be good for tracing patterns because I had the goose neck lamp that fitted underneath.
I sit on a little stool or just bend over from the lounge chair. It would be possible to do it on the glass doors during the day but the big sheets from the quilting books are a bit awkward to hold up. It is easier to do sitting down.

Just a goose neck lamp that I can twist over.

When it is pressed flat it is easy to trace.

Something I traced the patterns for. A 36" diameter table topper.

Crickey! It is lunch time already and I haven't even looked at any of Vanessa's links. When will I get time to sew :)

Happy quilting,
Val

Crazy binding, a bag and an apple pie

I have been sorting through my scraps in between sets with my weights. It seemed such a waste of time to stand there for a minute between sets so I dragged my scrap box into the gym and sorted into colours. Took me a couple of days but I felt like I was getting something done.

I wanted to make crazy binding and use my bigger pieces to make the project instead of making a crazy block and using the big piece for the binding. I think the binding turned out OK. I made a metre and will use it to bind an appliqued mug rug. I have a design in mind but I just have to get going with my travel jacket. I cut out several pieces of it this morning. This is the pattern. It is from Safe-T-Pockets.

Here is the crazy binding.

 

 

And here is the string bag I knitted. I put in a few oranges to stretch it a bit.

I also found a nice recipe for apple cake on one of the sites I found in my list. The blog is called Linden Grove and is just a nice blog with some cats and chickens and trees and some crafting. She has a recipe blog as well with the cake. Cake recipe.

Later in the afternoon...
I found a Moda Blog Hop on Sharon's blog post and promptly went for a look. At the first site I found a cute soap bottle apron pattern and just had to make it immediately. I used a little spray of basting glue to hold the layers together and free motion outlined the tea cup.

Happy Crafting,
Val

Sunday into Monday Show and Tell

Someone was doing a string bag which reminded me that I wanted to do one too. (Edit - Of course, it was Creative Kate) I had a pattern in the knitting desk calendar that DD1 bought me for Christmas and some cotton blended with acrylic to knit it out of. I am making it fairly small but it is very stretchy.

I just had to make the Lazy Lemon Pie from Bev's blog . I made a half quantity and put it into single serves. I put things in the jug in no particular order since you just mix it all together. I popped out and picked a couple of lemons then juiced them in the electric juicer on the other counter. I put the filled dishes in the oven and turned around to see the lemon juice sitting in the juicer. I pulled out the dishes and divied up the juice and stirred each dish with a spoon.
Can't believe I nearly had Lazy Pie :D
(Edit - They taste and feel delicious. Good job DH doesn't like them much :)

I wanted to make a little album of my Morpeth trip so I made a crazy block cover for it. I used Keynote to make slides and printed them off 2 to a page and cut them in half to make my album pages. I called it a mission because on the day if I thought of it as a mission I didn't feel so nervous about the trip. I tend to stress out whenever I do something new. I had never done a plane day trip before and was worried about getting back to the airport on time. I had never hired a car before or driven in and out of an airport before so I was stressed about that too. I found that if I pretended to be on a mission like Mrs Pollifax - If she can do it, I can do it - I felt adventurous rather than nervous. I know Mrs Pollifax isn't a real person but what the heck, it seemed to work :)

I used my teapot fabric for the inside

Not quite finished

I haven't quite finished the album. I will punch two holes in the pages and use a needle to thread a ribbon in the covers to tie it together.

Today I thought I might just go through every blog I follow and leave a comment. I follow quite a few more than I have included in my side bar so I thought it might be nice to visit them all and remember why I followed them in the first place or maybe even strike them off the list.
I will be linking up with Monday Show and Tell on Sandy's blog tomorrow.

Happy Quilting,
Val

Monday's Show and Tell

I made this bag more than a year ago I suppose. I loved the pansy fabric and I went to quite a lot of trouble but I just haven't been able to use it. It tends to clash with everything I have. Now that I have dragged it out to take photos I am determined to find something or buy something to wear it with because I still love the pansies.

It has a magnetic purse clasp ...

... a zipper pocket and phone pocket...

... and outside pockets on each side.

I saw something similar on the www and just copied it for myself.

The spider is from Dreamworld and has sat on this lounge in my sun room for quite a few years. I have to put it under something when my eldest daughter visits cause she says it gives her the creeps. I think he is pretty cute.

If you pop over to Cookies and Cream Craft you can see who else has show and tell.

Happy Quilting,
Val