Short and Stout Tote

I have so gone off making quilts and have just gone crazy buying fabric to make little things. I originally bought the Short and Stout to make a quilt but I don't really want to start another quilt and I didn't want it to go in the cupboard so I made a tote bag.
I subscribe to Sew 4 Home and they had this pattern featured a few weeks ago. I added an outside zipper pocket and I made the phone pocket into a zipper pocket for extra safety. I also put a wider zipper pocket above the open pockets on the other side. I am quite an expert at inserting those pockets now.

Wouldn't you know that even though I have made lots of glass buttons not one was the right colours. I don't have too many glass colours but I thought this combination would look OK. The colours change slightly when melted. I put together a zipper pull for the outside pocket too. These are waiting until I get a few more pieces to fill up the kiln.

I am thinking I will make the fabric flower to put on the bag as well.
The link will take you to the page with the Tim Hiltz tote and a few other items. I also love the Eclectic Elements fabric.
Eclectic Elements projects

Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

FNWF - A bit of knitting

I just needed a little push to get Belinda Jane finished so I signed up for Friday Night With Friends over at Cheryll's Cubby Hole. There is a long list of bloggers to browse through.

I fell in love with this dolly the minute I saw her online. She is a PDF pattern from Dollytime on Etsy.

Here she is in her knickers lounging on my knew summer shirt fabrics.

She has a pretty shell top.

And the most amazing skirt and cute cardigan.

Funnily enough it was the cardigan that attracted me first. It reminded me of the hand knitted cardigans my mum made for me when I was in primary school.

This is my first and last mention of the North Pole September roundup. If I hadn't promised myself that I would finish it this year it would be rolled up and put away. I hope everyone is doing better than me.

Happy Quilting and Crafting
Val

Crazy About Wool

I am so enjoying visiting all the crazy wool people on this blog hop. I love to knit and crochet but I also love to make things with wool fabric and wool felt. I fell in love with crazy wool pincushions when I joined in a round robin sewalong a while back. It is still my favourite working pincushion.

Then I made a whole one myself.

The pattern is here.

For today I made an Aussie Christmas decoration to share. Summer is marked by noisy cockatoos flying over our house so it only seems right to have one on the Christmas tree with the robins and cardinals.

Here he is hung on the mango tree out back. And it just happens that the real cockatoo called in the other day too.

I scanned in the pattern. I am not sure if it will come out exactly the right size but close.
You can download it as a PDF.

I free motioned around the pieces in matching thread.
I trimmed the red square next to the bottom edges of the cockatoo piece first, then the top next to his crest, then the back to make it square.
I sewed the red square to a green square.
To give it a good swing as it hangs I added two washers from the tool box to a second green square and sealed them in with some iron on vilene.
I folded a piece of ribbon in half and tied the ends in a knot. I then sewed on the second green square sandwiching the ribbon.
To get the pieces to stay in place while I sewed them I used my trusty spray baste. I quick squirt on the back of each piece with an A4 piece of paper as a drop sheet.

I really wanted to get my knitted dolly finished for today but she is not quite done and she will have to make her debut another day.

Make sure you visit the other blogs in this Crazy About Wool blog hop. Today's list is below and you can see each day's schedule at Pieced Brain. Thanks to Denise for hosting this fun hop.

Tuesday, September 24

Quiltscapes

Marla's Crafts

Secretly Stitching

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Sew Many Yarns

Val Spiers Sews

Quilted Crow Girls Design

Happy Quilting,
Val

Some scrapbooking

I have only been having a bit of a look in at everyone's blogs lately without much commenting. A lot of my time I have been enjoying the lovely weather and watching the birds and the clouds. In the evening I have been doing some catchup watching of Doctor Who using ABC iView. I have the Apple TV box and can connect the iPad to the TV wirelessly and watch them while I knit or play a bit on the computer with some digital scrapbooking.
I am not much good at creating layouts for the pages so I just look up some layout sketches onlone and follow them approximately. I made this this one with my new coastal kit from Nitwit collections.

I was looking for a free collage maker and found Fotor which seems really good and easy to use. I made a little collage to cut up and put in my hand written journal. DH is not sleeping. He and Stumpy are looking at the ducks. The Energex helicopter flew over really low the other day.

I have joined up for the woolly blog hop hosted at Pieced Brain. It starts in a few weeks. I am hoping to get my knitted doll finished to show and I will work on some more blocks for the Summertime wool applique quilt.

Happy Quilting,
Val