Look Di! I’m Early!!!

Posted on March 24th, 2013

‘Tis an amazing thing - I have managed to make one item for Di’s next challenge already Last week I had a few sewing days with friends, including one where I made an apron!

All done:

Oh, and I had a sudden thought – do these count too, Di?

Seven jars of yummy strawberry jam Anyone who wants to try some can come on over!

Hopefully I’ll still get to make some more kitchen items. Alice and I were discussing making some potholders… we really need to have a skype sew one of these days… Anyone else made something for Di’s challenge yet?

Posted in Di's 2013 Challenge | 8 Comments

A bit of this and a bit of that….

Posted on March 23rd, 2013

We’ve been in Oz now for 7 weeks! It is going by quickly with more people to catch up still.. but we are getting there. Here’s a bit of what we have been up to…

Visiting family in the country, enjoying seeing hundreds of cockies in the trees:

Not so fun bush fires:

Working on a UFO:

Making strawberry jam:

With some help:

Aren’t they cute?

And a parcel with goodies arrived from Alice yesterday!!!

Yay! Now I can start on Terry’s challenge:

There were some books too, including a few from Lola – thanks Lola and Alice!!

And that’s a bit of what has been going on…..

Posted in Odds and Ends | 5 Comments

February Finishes!

Posted on February 28th, 2013

It’s been ages since I last blogged I know, but seems just like yesterday because things have been pretty hectic the past month or so. We arrived in Oz just over two weeks ago to get DS settled in to Uni. He started on Monday and seems to be doing fine… DH left tonight to go back home, but the kids and I are here a little longer still.

I haven’t done much sewing as you can imagine, however thanks to some forward planning (amazing!) did manage to get the bag done for SAL:

Sorry the photo is not great….. but can you see that the stitchery is PURPLE? And behind the yellow ric-rac is PURPLE fabric? And some of the flowers are PURPLE? (you need to click on it three or four times to be able to see the color!) Hmmm… who do we know in blogland who likes PURPLE I wonder… Alice you don’t need to worry about doing this one, I’ll be popping it in a parcel soon and sending it your way It’s a little early for your birthday, but, better than late, right? Oh, and Wendy, looks like I did manage to make something for the Birthday Love Stash after all!! Yay!

I also I finished this water bottle cover made of wool for Di’s challenge:

Didn’t think I would make it, but I did… phew!! I had actually planned something else, but ran out of time. Hopefully I’ll still manage it later in the year…

Got lots more news, but will have to wait for another day because it is bedtime… catch you all later,

Posted in Birthday Love Stash, Di's 2013 Challenge, SAL 2013 | 6 Comments

Some quilting…

Posted on January 22nd, 2013

On my to do list before I leave are quite a few customer quilts that I am sloooowly trying to finish. This one I followed a pantograph:

I’m not so confident with pantographs yet. Need much more practice! I am much happier with free motion and my favorite design at the moment is this one:

Can’t remember now where I saw it on the net, but I like doing the three sort of crescent shapes and then bumps around them, they look like flowers. Then in between these are loops…. this particular customer likes to use the thick polyester batting, not easy to quilt intricate designs, so this one is perfect:

I used the same design for the next customer quilt:

I do enjoy using my Gammill. I hate the loading of the quilt, but once I start quilting I enjoy it!

I have been hunting for classes to take when I am back home, and I found one called Fearless Feathers at my local quilt shop. I have enrolled and am so looking forward to doing it. The teacher is Vicki Jenkin and you should check out her website – gorgeous quilting, oh my goodness! Can’t wait!

Now I need to decide which design to play with next… might do a quick hunt on the web for some ideas. Which is your favorite?

Posted in Long Arm Quilting | 5 Comments

Winter in Arabia

Posted on January 20th, 2013

It’s cold…. very cold… so cold that up north they had snow:

That’s not a sight you see everyday. Pity it wasn’t near us, because I just looooove snow!

However, it still got pretty cold here over the weekend. I even dragged my Mippers out and started to wear them around the house:

Do you like the pattern on the tiles? This house is full of snazzy patterns – floors, ceilings and cornices:

Not too over the top though that we can’t live with it thank goodness. I guess living here for so long we have gotten used to the decorations. Back in Oz we wouldn’t choose anything like this for our houses.

Back to the weather, hubby went camping on the weekend and it got to about zero C overnight… glad I was snug as a bug in a rug back home with my Mippers and quilts

What’s the weather like where you are?

Posted in Living in Arabia | 8 Comments

Birthday Love Stash

Posted on January 18th, 2013

Today is “virtual Sunday” and I have been pottering around in the sewing room. Hubby has been camping and is on his way home now… must make dinner in a minute, but just thought I’d post a few pics of what I’ve done today….

I’ve joined up with Wendy’s Birthday Love Stash challenge and am quite pleased that I have some things to pop into my Gift box for later in the year. Here is what I made today for the Stash:

There are two passport holders, and three needle books made from Fiona’s tutorial Thanks Fiona!

Then I took two fat quarters and turned them into this:

One passport holder, one needlebook, one earplug holder, one loyalty card wallet, and one makeup roll….. the purpose of this exercise is to show my customers how many fun things you can make from two fat quarters! On Sunday & Monday at the shop I am hosting “Fat Quarter Frenzy” where we will try to demonstrate what you can do with fat quarters. You can see I still have a few bits of scrap left up the top of the cutting board, hopefully I’ll find something to make with them before Sunday!

For the loyalty card wallet I used another tutorial from the Spoonful of Sugar ladies. I also came across this one which I think I will try because it can hold 12 cards. But not tonight because I started making mistakes, and when that happens, one needs to stop… right? The mistake I made was… well, I was going to make another thread catcher but didn’t cut out the right pieces, so turned it into the makeup roll instead

Thank you for the links in the comments, ladies… now I have more odds and ends to try before I leave for Oz. Three weeks today…. but who is counting?!

Posted in Birthday Love Stash | 3 Comments

Win some, Lose some

Posted on January 17th, 2013

Been a busy beaver this week, doing some customer quilts, teaching my beginners, unpacking some more, and who knows what else… Oh yes, making little travel pouchy things! Which is where we come to the title of this post.

Here is what I have made so far this week:

I started with the little pouches for earphones. I saw this tutorial ages ago and thought it was sooo cute… took me a while to try it, but once I did, I really love it! The purple one was my first attempt, the blue one looks a little bit rounder, maybe the third one I try will be perfect

Then I attempted to make some “simple” makeup bags with zips since I thought after making the earphone cases I was a pro… silly me… I ended up with the two little bags at the back there which are decidedly odd shapes… The big one is not lined, the small one is… but really, should have found a tutorial for them!

I went back to tutorials and used this one to make the passport holder on the left. Great tutorial and worked out so well:

Almost ready to board the plane…

So I have two pouches that I am happy with:

But wait, there’s more….! I have tons and tons of loyalty cars, bank/credit cards, healthcare cards, etc, etc,…. you know how it is, and they don’t all fit in my wallet. Not to mention having them for two countries, so I did a search on tutorials to make a credit card wallet and couldn’t find anything I really liked. Of course I then decided to make one up as I went along and came up with this:

Which didn’t really work….. the plastic makes it not want to close properly:

And it looks too long, and it needs a clasp and… and… and… I don’t like it!

I think I need to keep hunting for a tutorial.. there are a few out there that I might try…

At least I had a few wins Any suggestions for other cute pouchy things to make?

Posted in Fun Stuff, Getting Organized | 4 Comments

Getting Ready….

Posted on January 9th, 2013

Elizabeth and I went shopping today to one of the big malls nearby. We had some shopping to do to get ready for something special that is happening a month from now….

WE ARE GOING TO AUSTRALIA FOR 3 MONTHS!

There, did you all hear me shouting?! We are pretty excited. We haven’t been home for 2 years, and it will be lovely to see our family and friends again.

Also our eldest son has been accepted into a bridging course run by our local University. As many of you know, we homeschool – have done so for the past 12 years. One of the questions everyone has asked us (and our family has worried about!) is – how will they get into University? Well, the doors have opened and there is a way for DS to get in. We are very thankful that he has been accepted, and if he passes this six month course he automatically gets into the University.

DH is coming with us for three weeks, and then Elizabeth, Matt and I will stay for another two months to help Dan settle in.

We are looking forward to being able to do lots of things back home that we aren’t able to do – like drive ourselves to the shops! This morning we called a taxi and just us two girls did some “necessary” shopping…

We both bought a new bag and purse because ours were getting pretty tatty. Trying to find something without too much bling was a bit of a challenge, but we managed. This is mine:

And Elizabeth’s:

Elizabeth wanted hers big enough to hold lots of things on the plane… and I think it will be just perfect

Now there are some other things we were thinking we need to make, like little purses and organizers for makeup, travel documents, etc. There are some tutorials out there that I have been wanting to try, so maybe now is the time. Good thing I have lots of scraps! Or maybe I need to co-ordinate them all with a nice fabric line… hmmm… what fun!

In the sewing room I have been working on a rag quilt to have as a sample in the Shoppe. Ameera thinks it is pretty comfy so far:

Yep, let me snuggle up a bit more….

And a leeeetle bit more so that you can only see my ear….

Good thing it needs a wash anyway before it gets hung up for dispaly…

It is weekend here. Tomorrow I shall sew ALL day… after I do the dishes… and the washing… and cook…. yes, I will SEW ALL DAY!!!!

Posted in Odds and Ends, Travelling | 9 Comments

A New Toy!

Posted on January 6th, 2013

Did you know that it can be fun to have your own fabric shop?! Sometimes it is stressful too, but… it at least it gives you an excuse to buy new toys! Yesterday I spent all day playing with a new toy I got just before Christmas:

Yep, a Studio Cutter And I love it! It cuts fabric like butter!!! The dies are sturdy, the mats are too, and it makes for such easy cutting. Also I can cut lots more to make kits for the shop:

It did take longer than I expected to make up 8 kits of 100 tumblers each… I now have a new appreciation for Moda and their precuts…!

I did a demonstration for my customers this morning on how to put together a quick tumbler quilt. Last night I tested it and put together the 100 blocks in about an hour and a half. Not bad really for a quilt top. Sorry, forgot to take a pic in the daylight, will try to remember tomorrow.

The night before, I finished the third thread catcher and I am happily on schedule (for a change):

I have also been working on my list of UFO’s, WIPs & WISPs…. sigh…. go check it out here! If there was a competition, I’d bet I would win

All the UFO’s fit in two tubs that fit under the school table:

Now I know I will never get ALL of them done in the next year, but I think I will aim to only have one tub by the end of the year. Do you think that is possible?! It’s a goal at least

Better go and make a start…..!

Posted in My Little Shoppe, SAL 2013 | 8 Comments

Finishes Already and a Sewing Day!

Posted on January 3rd, 2013

It seems like I am having a great start to the year! Now let’s hope I can keep it up!

Yesterday I finished my first project for the year, prompted by finding this diary and cover I made in 2011:

It was so pretty I wondered if it will fit on something else… The thing is, I don’t use a paper diary anymore, I use my Samsung Tablet…. so then I thought, let’s see if it by any chance would fit on that….!!! So I grabbed it, and sure enough, with a little tweaking I came up with this:

I am so pleased! Still fits nicely in my bag, looks pretty, and since it has been hiding for two years I am not sick of it yet

After I finished that, I made two, almost three, little thread catchers for the SAL that I have joined again this year. I liked the ideas of making little projects, so I ordered the books and have made a start. I took one of my little thread catchers along to our first guild sewing day: