A Completed Quilt!!!

I DID IT!!!!! It only took about 3 years but a quilt I started way back then, I finally finished, well yesterday all in time to gift it to my partner for Valentine's Day as you saw yesterday :)

I thought I would share with you a couple of pic's of just the quilt.I have to say I am pretty proud of it. I have no walking foot or the like and thought hell with the hand quilting and just sewed it on the machine. I like how it looks :)

 Now I can't believe I am saying this but I am thinking of doing another one. Crazy I am aware since this one was 3 years in the pipeline!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!!!

Ok, so essentially this a day made to make Hallmark an even wealthier company, but since I am resourceful and was not spending a cent on the love season I was happy to indulge in a little Valentine's Day hype.

Since it fell on a Tuesday I really wasn't keen on getting up at, like, 5am in order to make my partner breakfast in bed......so I did that on Sunday morning. Made some pancakes for breakfast, then headed to The Entrance to bop in the water. Bliss! The water was soooooooo clear!

So today was a lonnnnnngggg day in order to have my partner's gift ready for when she got home from work. But alas I prevailed and got it done with about 10mins to spare :)

Why was it a long day? I did all the hand stitching of the binding today!!!!!!! But it was worth it. One completed quilt, a little heart gardland and a handmade card :) SHE LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you all had a fantastic Valentine's Day!!!!!

A Baby Shower

My partners best friend is expecting baby number 1 in March and last weekend we went to the baby shower. 50 or so ladies all going gaga for the soon to be here little boy. I of course was sent to the sewing room in the week before and asked to make some gifts and that I did - and I even remembered to get pictures (last minute I will admit!)

First up I made a gorgeous (by my own admission) blanket/wrap. It is made from 100% cotton flannellete and a satin binding where I added eyelet lace and then weaved contrasting ribbon through. While a tad fiddly (is that even how you spell it??) it turned out really well.

Then it was a little jumper as it will be coming into winter here. I appliqued a rocket onto the front and it looks "rocking" bahahaha.......lame I know.....I also added a dummy clip in matching fabric.

Lastly I made a total scrap fabric inspired "monster"doll. I nearly didn't gift this as I was totally in love with it!!!!!!!! (The picture is terrible, this is what happens when you remember you wanted to take pictures of them as you are starting to wrap them about 10mins before heading out the door!!!!!!!!)

He is sooooooo cute!!!!!! Everyone at the baby shower was completely shocked that I made every part of our gift - but of course I would have it no other way :)

A Tad Late - Merry Christmas!!!

So I have been awfully slack of late, with the festive season upon me I got all caught up in making gifts, begging for more christmas lights to put up outside, (even though I was acutely aware we did not have the budget for it) making 5 puddings -YES 5, 3 traditional Christmas puddings and 2 Chocolate Christmas puddings (Ok technically I only made one of the Chocolate ones entirely, after 4 days of boiling puddings I managed to convince my partner to take over making the 2nd chocolate one!), planning Christmas lunch with my folks who drove the 5 hours one way trip for a day visit (NUTS I KNOW), of course shopping, wrapping and thinking about what to get next!!!

Of course none of this is really an excuse for that fact I was just down right lazy and lacking motivation lol.

What else have I been up to? I did apply to go back to Uni next year and start a second degree (only 10years after I finished my first)! Time for a career change so what I am hoping to study? Science - specifically geography and spacial information. I love geography and maps so I thought why not!!! I am actually really excited, I will be study by distance, but I am hoping to do 2 subjects on campus to start networking!

So what gifts did I make? Pocket Handwarmers for my family who live out in Bathurst where winters rarely get over 10degrees and heat packs for everyone else! I was a busy bee!!!!

Aren't they gorgeous??

I seem to have forgotten to take a picture of the heat packs, though I am certain I took one, maybe on a different camera since we do have 3 floating around lol

I have also tried planting some new vegetables after the last lot kinda failed miserably lol. I went simple this time radishes and a chilli plant! Fingers crossed.

I will try and be more efficient with my blogging next year so I would now like to wish everyone a fantastic New Year and hope that 2012 brings you all your dreams!

Posting gifts!

Recently and old work colleague and friend of ours gave birth to bubby number 2. So naturally I whipped up a little something to send down to the new addition. Mum was thrilled with the gift, and I was pretty impressed with the fabric find more than anything!!!!! I made some nappy (diaper) covers and a dummy (pacifier) clip, which no bub should be without!

How hip is the fabric? I so rarely take note of the fabric name, but this one was appropriately named "Sock Monkey Argyle"

A Gift!

I made a few things a few weeks ago for my friends 2 children, and now I have finally gifted them I can share them with you :)

 For Mr R, I made a pair of towel shorts, I kept them bright with big functional pockets for him to fill with all sorts of toys, sand and the like! I figure with the Australian summer well and truely upon us (we are talking tempertures of over 35 degrees C already!), mum (or dad) can towel him off and pull on the shorts!!!!

 And of course Mr R's little sister couldn't miss out so for Miss A I made a little sunsuit, complete with press studs at the bottom and tie tops making it more adjustable. Again perfect for the Australian summer!

What you think??? I was really happy with how they turned out!

Its Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you look to the right of your screen you will see my store is finally here!!!!! Yep this is my BIG news!!!!! I have listed my handmade wares on Etsy, so feel free to head over and check them out!

It has definitely been a busy time, trying to get it up and going, taking the pics, the hours of uploading, as well as finishing a few of the items. All in the mean time I have managed to have two job interviews, playing cricket, hockey and hit the beach, as the summer heat is upon us (currently 32 degrees).

Hope you like my little store :)

I almost forgot - I also managed sunrise down the beach a couple of weekends ago, so here is few pics (totally unedited!)

News to come!!!!

Ok I have been extremely slack in the last week or so on the blog front!!!! I promise there is going to be news to come and I have been busy busy sorting that out! I do however have some small news, I came home the other day to find my lovely partner cleaning out my sewing room! Yep, I can now see the desk, floor and sewing machines!!!!!!!!!

It is very exciting!!!!!!

Well, fingers crossed my news comes sooner rather than later :)

Matching Dresses and a Beach

Our friends have two daughters Miss R and Miss M, currently 4 and 3 who we love to see. They are my little test dummies for my business ventures, mostly they just end up with free clothes as they very rarely like to take the clothes off and I just can't say no (though in saying that I have gotten a way around that - make them from calico they are too boring to hold their interest!)

So a couple of weeks ago I designed a simple tie top dress and tried it on Miss R, well subsequently Miss M also wanted one that had to be matching, so alas I caved and made one up for Miss M in exactly 2 hours on the morning I was taking them to the beach! Of course, they wore them to the beach, perfect photo shoot chance!

I also tested out my newly acquired photoshop software! Thoughts?

I love how the dresses fitted them as they will fit them all summer! The girls loved them which makes me so happyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!

Clean up required?????

So if you are wondering why the lack of projects from the sewing room of late, I think I have the answer! I looked into my sewing room this morning and thought oh good god, no wonder I have a little lack of motivation!

I can barely walk in the door!!!! I am now telling myself to clean the room up and get back to it! Right after I get a job application or 6 done!

I don't usually complain about my jobless situation but today I am having a "For christ sake give me a job already" day (or couple of days actually). It has been a tad over 7 months since I have had full time work, and it is becoming a drain, both financially and my time, as doing application after application of near on 2000 words makes me feel like I am back at uni all over again, but with nothing to show for the results! Don't get me wrong I love being home, but I want money now so I can do things too!

Ok rant over lol.

Oh by the way I am still trudging along on the green and white blanket (since I don't need to enter the room of doom to do so)

Sew happy

Was shopping over the weekend and found this awesome canvas print and for $5 who can walk past it!! 

It is now happily hanging from the shelves in my sewing room!

New Curtains - Tutorial

Since moving into our new place, we hated the curtains that were in the lounge/dining room, and since we can never find ones we like I went about making our own!

This is what was on the windows. BORING!!!!!!!!!

Now what is on the windows!

So here is how:

First of all measure your windows, this way you know they will fit. Essentially you want the top to be where the curtain rod goes through and the bottom to line up with the bottom of the window architraves or wherever you want the bottom of the curtain to be. I decided to just use the width of natural drill fabric x 2 to make a pair of curtains, as I wanted a slightly gathered look. 

Next pick your colours, I used 6 cotton homespun for the top and bottom and natural drill for the bulk of the curtain.

 

Now for a bit of maths. Take the width of your fabric you are using for each curtain and divide it by the number of colour pieces you are using, in my case 6.  Then add 1cm.  (0.5cm seam allowance) This will give you the size of the square you need to cut out of each coloured fabric 4 times. To make cutting the squares easier I made a simple template out of cardboard.

Still using your maths skills, work out how much of the bulk fabric you need. Taking your measurement of where you want the curtains to end, minus the size of your square then add 1cm. This will be the size of your bulk fabric including a 0.5cm seam allowance.

Cut out your squares and the bulk material.

Sew your squares together. You will end up with 4 sets of sewn squares (One for each top and bottom)

I probably should have ironed it but anywho lol

Sew a small hem on each end.

Now fold the strips in half WRONG sides together and pin it to the RIGHT side of the bulk material. TIP: mark the middle of the bulk fabric and work outwards so they are in the middle :)

Sew the coloured strips onto the bulk material. I used an overlocker/serger to sew them together. If you do not have one just straight stitch and zig zag the edges no biggy.

Repeat with the bottom and the other curtain.

2nd last step (I promise) if the bulk fabric is slightly wider than the coloured strips, hem the sides.

LAST STEP: Hang the curtains, sit back and admire your handwork!

I am now in the planning stage of some roman blinds, in a similar style for the bedroom. Will post when complete also.