Swap tote finished

I was a lucky person indeed to be able to join a pool of very talented sewists as part of the Mouthy Stitches 2 swap.

For this round we had to create a tote, all using the same basic pattern but tricking it up in line with our secret partner's mosaic.  My partner made it super easy to understand what she likes and she's been fantastic in terms of commenting and encouraging - it's that sort of group I can't reveal who I made mine for (and I am coveting many of the totes already showing up in the Flickr group...) but I can reveal the tote......

An attempt at an arty shot!!!  This is either the front or the back of the tote - her choice - and I made a lanyard/key fob to go with it (it's the only 'extra' we're allowed to send - except maybe some chocolate too

Here's the other side....

and inside, a pocket (so it's not reversible - sorry partner!)

I really enjoyed making this - and thank you to the wonderful Swap Mamas, Cindy, Susan and Hadley.

Hope my partner likes it!

stuff

I think I'm in a bit of a funk - want to sleep all the time and being very tetchy - usually with my dearheart - who brushes it off - which kind of makes me even tetchier.......so, what's a girl to do?

Hide myself in my sewing room and sew, of course......

My great-niece is turning 3 and given I'm a little bit enamoured with the Bento bag, I made her one to put her dollies in (her mum tells me Stella loves bags)...I made a birthday card to match......

I also made a 241 tote - I've seen these around the blogs (designed by Noodlehead) and really admired them - but I don't love mine - it's smaller than I expected for a start and I made poor fabric choices - so I think this one is a fail......maybe I'll increase the size for the next one and not try and be so matchy matchy with the fabric...(because that really was an epic fail)

So then I thought, what next?

Ages ago I bought some patterns for tops for me - one of which was this very stylish 'tunic' (gawd that sounds so old-fashioned!) by Issey Miyake for Vogue - it was on spesh and I think I paid about USD2.99 for it

oh to have legs that long!

In one of my forages around Spotlight, I found some fabric that was reduced to $3 per metre - not a great colour, but not bad, and I can always dye it I thought........and given it was 50% off everything on the table, I got it for $1.50 per metre.....so that's what I thought I'd make the top out of.....so, out of pocket so far to the tune of about AUD10.00

Once it was cut out I was reading the instructions - and finding them a bit, you know, hard - and then I saw it was a 'plus difficile' pattern - but I forged on - and here we have a delightful, yellow top - that is definately going into the dye bath soon......

it needs a right good iron as well

You can't really see in this photo, but there's radiating pintucks across the front, the sleeves and the back.  It's fastened with only 2 buttons, which is going to make it a bit difficult to sit down without flashing all my frillies - it looks alright on, but it is not the right colour for me - it kind of looks like a flash pj top in this colour   I also think it might need shoulder pads and I'm sure I've got some somewhere - they'll be relics from the 80's but I'm sure there's a packet of them in my sewing stuff - might have to resort the sewing room again!

In between the abovementioned, I've been working on my school stuff - lots of samples and paint and sticking stuff - I'll have to make a big effort with these as they're almost due and I'm not loving the ideas I came up with.........

Ok, so I'm off to make a coffee and then give myself a talking to about being a miserable bugger.......

WIP Wednesday #12

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshley Pieced - thanks Lee - this weekly summary really helps in identifying what I've actually done (and still to do) - although the last time I linked up was 16th November last year..............so there's some progress to report!

I also love having a look at what others are doing - it provides so much inspiration - there is a seriously large group of very clever people out there.

I did some sewing for Christmas..

pj's x 3, boardies, a pincushion, a cushion cover, 2 stuffed dollies, a matching bag, journal cover and a little drawstring bag, and a frock for my ma-in-law

Made a skirt for me..

7 bags and pouches (other than christmas ones)

2 do.Good stitches blocks...

a Quilting Australia Bee block...

2 baby quilts with matching soft baskets...

14 Farmers wife blocks....

total finished is now 72, so 39 to go

put the hexy quilt together and am now working on the 2nd border...

loaded and started quilting the batik medallion...

made a journal cover for me...

started knitting a pair of socks..

and completed the first 4 of the QAYGFMQQA blocks...

I've decided to review my list of stuff I'm reporting on to keep it more in line with the winter/summer stitching lit - but not tonight - I'll do that when I post my progress against that list, maybe tomorrow...

Jump into Lee's blog (button on the right) and see what everyone else is up to...

A project for class

I've left Berdych and Nadal fighting it out at Melbourne Park so I could share what I made today - even though it was 34c!

I'm taking over a couple of quilting groups (from next week!) and last year at the end of term, I asked the ladies via a survey, whether they'd like a project of the month and if so, what types of projects.  The answers in so far indicate it's a goer and one of the ladies gave me a pattern for mug bag that she'd like to make - and several other ladies ticked 'yes' to the question as to whether they'd like to make one too.

So I tried out the pattern (it's one of those that's gone from pillar to post, has been altered all over the place and as a consequence, hasn't been terribly well written)  Anyway, I had a crack, made copious notes (so I can re write it and change a few things myself) and produced this:

It's got pellon and wadding and it's fully lined - and not really my cup of tea (no pun intended) - the fabric has been in my stash forever and my tastes have changed -  but I'll make one more with the changes I want to make and maybe use them as a raffle prize for the classes.

.....and despite the heat, I got out a quilt that's been languishing in the UFO bin (and it's on my winter summer stitching list) and laid it on top of the long-arm ready for pinning - I don't want to pin it just yet though because I had my nails done today (first time I've had a manicure!) and I want them to stay a bit gorgeous for a bit longer..

I had a thing about batiks quite a few years ago - which was when this quilt top was put together - batiks are not so my thing these days - this is a gift for a friend and I'm sure he'll like it..

Just had a quick look at the score and Nadal leads 2 sets to 1 with a break in the 4th.......

A slight deviation

Today I was supposed to be sorting out my hanging (well, laying down on the miners couch) clothes after my hanging rail collapsed - but I didn't get there at all.

I fished around in the huge bag given to me by a TT member and found some beautifully co-ordinating furnishing fabrics, cut them up and sewed them together with some linen and some hot pink polka dot fabric, to half make this..

front - with a pocket

back

inside

I still take stinky photos and it doesn't look half bad in real life.  It'll end up being a flashy tote - the back and front, and the bottom is lined with a bag weight Pellon (interfacing) which means it can stand up.  It has a wide gusset so it can fit all manner of things - I just have to hand sew the binding down and put some handles on - not sure what handles I want to put on as yet, which is why it's still sitting in my sewing room unfinished.

While I pondered that quandry, I fished about in that big bag again and found a large piece of furnishing fabric that looks like linen - but doesn't behave as badly - and thought it'd make a great skirt.  So off to my paper patterns and I found this..

I like the shape of the blue one, not so much the style though - so I made the blue skirt out of the furnishing fabric, found a Prints Charming screen print (from a small bag of screen prints I bought at a quilt fair from Kelani Fabrics - and which is on my Winter Summer Stitching list to use on a skirt) and cut out a circle which I raw-edge machine stitched to the skirt.  I then made a bias cut striped binding which I used to finish the hem.......and voila.....

and this is a photo my son took - we were going off to watch his girlfriends' end of year dance concert

we were going for an arty farty styled pose but I didn't have my red lippy on!

So, maybe I can sort out my clothes tomorrow.....

Serendipity extended......

Apart from a family issue on saturday morning, the planets continue their alignment for my benefit...

Saturday evening I joined my besty and 2 other girlfriends for a night in the city - we went to see 'Bjorn Again', an Abba cover band and while I'm not a huge fan of Abba, they were fantastic.  The opening act, The New Romantics, had us up dancing to 80's hits - the lead singer had a fabulous voice and didn't take himself too seriously - very funny - and then Bjorn Again - they imitate the costuming, accents (they're Aussies) and songs of Abba in their heydey - so we continued to dance and sing along - and drink far too much wine!  Luckily we stayed in the city (at the Crown Metropole - very nice) and had a sumptuous breakfast overlooking Melbourne city. 

On sunday, I had a date with a group of ladies that have 'adopted' me - let me explain a little - I joined a quilting group last year - we sit and chat about stuff - no lessons or anything - it's mostly hand sewing on whatever we want to do - which is why my double wedding ring quilt got finished and why my hexy collection continues to grow.  Anyway, the woman who hosts this group (Ms CB) did a Textiles course some 20 years ago and she still catches up with the ladies she did the course with - they call themselves the TT  (I forgot to get permission to blog about them so won't spell it out). 

Now, I am doing that same course starting next year and Ms CB invited me to one of the TT gatherings - and these women are so talented - the stuff they've done (and continue to do) is amazing - a few make the most brilliant quilts, another makes the most amazing elfin dolls, yet another makes fabric boxes which are just beautiful - and a few of them teach too - so to fall in with this group is just the best thing to happen!  They are full of advice and ideas and books and hints and so willing to share it - and the lady who hosted yestrday's gathering owns a soft furnishing shop and GAVE me tons of furnishing fabric samples to make bags and pouches with....and they 'adopted' me into the TT's with the offer of help while I do my course.  How wonderful!!!

I was knackered when I got home - in bed by 9pm and after finishing this post I'm off to make a few things out some of the beautiful fabrics I was given yesterday - how lucky am I??

..........except the rail in my walk-in robe collapsed under the weight of my hanging clothes and they're now strewn all over a miners couch in my bedroom (and I HATE ironing!!) - I think those planets are suggesting I need a bit of a clean out!

Farmers Wife and other distractions

I'm supposed to be writing my lesson plan and handouts for my first, formal teaching gig tomorrow night - I'm teaching a sampler (12 blocks, 12" finished, modern style) - and I have been Queen Procrastinator both yesterday and today...

I made all the blocks for the sampler I'm going to teach - although really, I had to do these!  One of the blocks is a 9 patch so  I made 2 more to show how versatile these blocks are (Disappearing 9 Patch etc) Another is Dutchman's Puzzle

I kept checking on Flickr, which, this evening, finally started to play nicely................I read a few blogs.................. I decided I needed a huge bag to carry my supplies to and from class, so I found some scraps (the Santorini range from Tula Pink) and stitched them all together, stitched some odd pieces of batting together, made a quilted piece of fabric, added pockets and handles and now I have a bag,

Then I thought I really must get to those lesson plans........so I made a couple of Farmers Wife blocks - this makes 50 all up - only 61 to go...



Block 49, Honeycomb and Block 50, Honey's Choice - my favourite

 .....but it's now 8.30pm and I have run out of excuses - and time, as tomorrow I have appointments virtually all day - so I'm going to post this and go and do my lesson plan - I wouldn't mind, but I know as soon as I get the structure I'll be fine........

WIP #4

We had a few birthdays this week (my sister, my neice and my eldest son)  and Fathers Day on sunday so there's been celebrations and family get togethers along with too much cake!  Outstanding!

So, onto WIP's - I've decided to add a new category - UFOUFN's (Unfinished Flippin' Objects Until Further Notice - so these are things that I'm not actively working on, nor expecting to in the near future).....

Finished:
Omnitrix bag (although this wasn't on the list last week, I'm still claiming it!)



Cam hanging onto the Omnitrix bag for dear life!(blogged here)
Stella modelling the frock I made her for her 2nd birthday (blogged here)


Quilts in progress:
Do.Good Stitches quilt for the Cherish circle - made 2 more blocks for a missing member, put the top together, decided against a border, sourced a backing, loaded onto long-arm and quilted with an E2E pattern.  I've also cut the strips for the binding, but haven't yet sewn them together - that's for tomorrow.

Baby quilt - pieced the back, quilted on the long-arm and then small areas of hand quilting completed - just needs binding (all ready cut out) and labelling

Hand quilting using Perle 12 threads on these patches only and have used whichever colour relative to the stripes

FWQA

Only one block completed this week, due to impending deadlines of abovementioned 2 quilts..

Block 41, Friendship star

No action at all:
Hexagons
Double wedding ring
UFOUFN's:
Psycadelic tartan
Double diamonds
Which way to go
Dancing with the stars
Kimon mini
Sashiko qayg
Red and white challenge
Whirleygig II
Please click on Lee's "Freshley Pieced WIP wednesday" button on the right to see what others are up to

de de ede deded that's all follks

The Omnitrix factor

My  great-nephew, Cam, is obsessed with Ben 10 (Cam is 4).  He brought round a whole posse of alien action figures and proceeded to tell me each of their names and what powers they had.  He then split them up into two groups - he gave four to me (2 of which are 'bad' aliens) and he had about 24  - all of his being 'Ultra' aliens with greater powers than the others. 

After discussing the merits of sharing, the aliens were redistributed and we then roughly had the same number (although the 'Ultra's' remained under Cam's control).  There ensued a 'fight' whereby all his aliens knocked out all mine - not much fun because of course I had all the rotten aliens....so I suggested that perhaps instead of fighting, we could have a barbeque and all the aliens could get together and have a sausage sizzle and tomato sauce and a bit of a party.  This went down a treat - and even the two 'bad' aliens were allowed to join in the festivities  - I think it's because I gave one of them a scottish accent, a la Billy Connolly (without the swearing - he is only 4 after all!!) and the other one a kind of East End, Ray Winston twang - I also played on Cam's compassion with my Ray Winston alien whining about having no friends - I tell you, I should have been in the movies....anyway, we had a fabulous time at the 'barby' until it was time for Cam to go home.

During the course of the game, young Campbell decided I should make him a special bag to keep all his aliens safe, and it should have an Omnitrix on it so we could tell it was Ben 10, and it should have a zip in the the front to make it easy for him to get them in and out.  A sketch was duly completed in my journal (including a sketch of the Omnitrix), because this was where I wrote down my 'quilt things' (Cam had seen me write down info about his quilt previously)



Pretty basic - drawing isn't one of my strong points!


Young Campbell has an amazing memory  - and the first thing he said to me this morning when I saw him, was "Have you made the Omnitrix bag?"  Well, no, I hadn't, but he's coming over tomorrow to share lunch with all the family (it's fathers day and his mum's birthday, so all the Melbourne family on my side is coming for roast beef with the works - can't wait!) so I thought I'd best get cracking (even though there's a list a mile long BEFORE his Omnitrix bag)

Anway - some canvas, some webbing I've had for years, an old recycled zip, some heat and bond and his favourite orange robot fabric (initially used in his quilt) and, ta daaaaaaah, we have, the Omnitrix Bag....



A pocket at the front (with the all important Omnitrix) so he can store the Ben 10 book, and an adjustable strap




Robot aliens canvas - appropriate huh?



More robots inside

I also have a photo of my husband modelling the bag - and while I'm tempted to post it, I'd best not lest his reputation (in his own mind) as a big, bronzed Anzac be sullied.....

Productive day.....

Got up this morning and looked outside - no rain!  Excellent, time to wash the PDF (Prepared for Dyeing) fabric - I bought a bolt and I'm not really sure whether I needed to wash it, but I did - and now it's all dry and ready to go into the soda ash solution - I'll get that sorted tomorrow when I think about what colours I'm going to dye next....actually, thinking on it, it was probably a better day to get outside and clean up the vegie patch, but.......

Feeling all smugly righteous, (because I've had that bolt of cloth for over a month and it's been calling me to get it prepared since it arrived!), I picked up the cut-out pieces of a bag which I'm making for my sister and........... finished it - had a couple of moments - like completing sewing 2 edges of the strap (the looooong edges, of course) before realising I had placed the stiffener between the 2 right-sides-together which would mean it would show when i turned the strap the right way round - duh - so, a little bit of un-sewing ensued - but, persevered and got it made - all beautifully lined with an inside pocket with her initial on it for her mobile and keys.....

The bag is from a pattern by Monica Pool for Moon Shine called 'Elle'.  It's basically a pleated circle on 2 bands with handles and magnetic popper closures - it's a lovely shape and I think I'll make it again - the instructions aren't written for beginners but they're not too bad.

I then went on to make a little purple pouch for my dil (cos that's her favourite colour).................

The purple and turquoise fabrics in the pouch (the pouch pattern is a bastardised version of this one from the very clever Noodlehead) are hand-dyed - the turquoise was also used as a lining - and the HST's are leftovers from a quilt.  I also clipped on a zip puller, which I got from Zipit Zippers - fabulous selection of zips and other amazing stuff.  The photo above doesn't really do the colours justice - they're very vibrant - and my dil loves it.  She popped over this evening with my eldest son and shared pizza in front of the fire, after delivering 4 little gorgeous additions to the family.  (More on that at a later date when I can get a decent photo.....)

So there you have it - now, I can get onto making a few more blocks for the Sashiko quilt-as-you-go and think about which red fabrics will be used in my next 2 FWQA...........a bientot....