Time to go

I have been a bit quiet on the blog front lately. I have only been making a few things for my trip. I finished my jacket.

I also made two shoe bags.

And I made a zippy for my chargers.

I will be trying to make a few posts on my trip. I have worked out that I can only upload one photo with a caption from Flickr to blogger through my iPad. It is not like using the laptop. I will be stopping comments coming to my email. Hopefully I will get some time to visit some blogs but I am not making any promises. I may be having too much fun in Venice or Paris etc.

Arrivederla for now,
Val

Tidying up loose ends

I have been trying to get several things finished before I go away. One was the Club Bag Challenge for Beenleigh Quilters. We had to use a given piece of fabric. I didn't like the fabric at all. It didn't go with anything I had in my stash so the challenge was to make something I like out of something I didn't like. After lots of thinking I decided on the simplest tote bag with my rooster design appliqued as a bit of an art piece. I think it turned out all right.

 Another project I promised to do was a cowl collar scarf for DD1. I just have to press it and sew on the buttons. It will be in the post next week. It is merino and silk. Very nice to knit with.

Only a couple of things left to finish now. One is the jacket I want to wear on my trip. It is well on the way so I am not frieking out yet :D

I have been feeling a bit sorry for myself today. Yesterday about lunchtime I had to deliver a green frog from our spa to the dam. Later I was a bit itchy around my wasteband. I just scratched and didn't look. By late afternoon I was really itchy across my belly and down my leg. On close inspection I found I was covered in about 30 or 40 tiny tiny ticks called seed ticks. They barely registered as black dots. I put on some aeroguard to kill them a bit then I jumped in the shower and tried to scrub them off. No luck there so I had to use the tweezers to pick off every one of them. I now have lots of red itchy spots. I am glad I didn't have some more serious reaction to them. I must have brushed past some grass where they had just hatched.
This is not me but it gives you an idea of what they look like.

Source: http://mayalassiter.com/2009/08/seed-ticks-the-scourge-of-the-earth/ticks-1-jpg/

Hope your days are happy and tick free
Val

Tea bag wallet

 I tried out the tea bag wallet tutorial from Zoe at SewitGirl. I used the dimensions she said and found that three foil wrapped bags will only fit if you fold in the edges of the packet.

 
7  1/4 inches wide could be closer to 9  1/4 inches to fit three sachets. I also decided that the double thickness pocket was a bit bulky and since I don't use sugar sachets I didn't need the extra pockets. So I made it shorter and folded the end over only once. Total cut length reduced from 19 inches to 15  1/2 inches.

I then had to sew the strap on the outside and make it a bit narrower.

I like the tri fold pattern idea. It makes it nice and compact.

I have a sneak peak of a kitty item I am making for Quilt Kitty. It is a surprise, so don't tell her :)

Happy Quilting,
Val

Christmas Through the Year

I can't believe how busy everyone has been leaving comments on my blog. I love it but I am being a bit slow in replying and now I am posting about my second Christmas item and all the lovely ladies in that Christmas club like to visit and leave comments. I will just have to sacrifice some of my sewing time to attend to my blog and do some visiting of other blogs. I think today has to be the day ... after I go out for lunch I will come back and see what everyone else is up to.

I found a very simple purse pattern in my pattern stash and made one up for myself in the pretty vinyl coated fabric I bought in the US then I thought a purse like this would be a good present for the Christmas box. I used a couple of the fat quarters from my new fabric stash. It only uses a strip off the end of each one and I found a button to put on the front. The trickiest bit is getting the zipper tidy. There is a zipper pocket for change and a pocket behind for the folding stuff.
You can still get the tutorial from Sew Christine blog spot. 
Scroll down the picture list to the blue one with the dragonflies on it.

 You can also join in Christmas through the year any month. See what is happening at Darlene's blog and Cheryl's blog. Darlene has the Mr linky at the end of the month so you can see what everyone is making.

Happy Quilting,
Val