The Choose your own Bag Adventure Sew Along

I am joining in Curlypops Bag Sew Along. Want to join in get all the info here. I have a project nearly finished just got to pretty it up a bit so the timing is perfect... waiting on delivery of a little something to make it just right. Last week not so successful shopping trip to Bowerbird Bazaar (did get one fantastic piece of fabric but I wanted more) has made me go through my previous purchases from that lovely market and rediscover all the lovely screen printed fabric that I had bought on previous occasions and not yet put to use so I have lots of bag inspiration waiting to happen.  Fingers crossed I will fit in more than one bag for the month.  But today I am making more quilt blocks.

Do you work in a creative mess or do you have to have order

Personally I always work in absolute chaos, but I have had to have a bit of a tidy up to find all my fabrics that I am working with at the moment.

I have just gone through all of the bits of pieces from the fat quarter pack that I am using to put together the latest quilt and I am feeling a lot better about moving forward after doing so.  The more I look at it the more I love this fabric, they are so fresh and look so pretty put together.  They go great with some of the Moda Solids I have so it is going to be easy to mix and match with the colour pallet down the track and maybe a few more shops might pick this quilt up... fingers crossed.

The first dresden plate has been appliquéd to the background fabric and as you can see I have a bit more to do on it once they are all finished but I am giving my fingers a rest before starting the embroidery again.

The blocks are coming together beautifully, I think this will be my favourite quilt when it is finished.

15 Minute Challenge

Well this week has gone down with a bang.  I have been running around getting my son's foot x-ray and a couple of trips to the Drs.  And no it wasn't a football or tennis injury, he did it going to bed last night, stubbed his toe on the door frame.   It turns out the toe isn't broken though it is pretty black tonight just badly bruised.

On to the 15 minute challenge, as promised I have been very busy this week with lots and lots of stitching.  Today I put in 2 hours of solid sewing, plus a couple sessions in waiting rooms.

The main stitcheries for my new quilt are all finished and today I put together the first 2 blocks.

There is loads more hand sewing to do and that is going to keep me busy over the next couple of weeks.

I'm not even going to give you a run down because it has been, stitcheries all week.


Here a couple of photo's of the finished blocks.

Check in with Kate's to see who has met the challenge this week.  

Favourite Thing Friday

I haven't had a chance to join in FTF for a couple of weeks, before I know it it is Saturday and I've missed the boat.

I'm off to my Favourite Thing this week.  It has been featured on my FTF a couple of times and it is on again.  Bowerbird Bazaar.  Unfortunately I am spending money poor this week but I will be on the look out for some nice bag worthy fabric, from one of the screen printers at the market.  If you are in Adelaide head there this weekend, you won't be disapointed


Another thing while I have a captive audience, head on over to Sarah's blog to see a run down on all the patterns you get in  Xmas in July this year and there are still a few more to come.  It finishes the end of July but you can still join and you have access to download all the patterns so far.    I think this year has been the best Xmas in July so far.

And while you are here download my latest free pattern which you will find on the F4AM tab.

Head on over to Shay's to see what all the favourites are this week.  ... just checked hope its on this week lol.

A Problem or Two

I had a phone call last night from my mate Leanne, she couldn't download the pincushion pattern.  I have changed the setting and there shouldn't be any more problems so if you have been having trouble try again.

15 Minute Challenge

I'm Late  I'm Late

Today has definitely been one of those days, nothing majority bad just a series of small incidence that have just made me really glad to get home and hopefully pick up the hoop and stitch tonight.

The week kinda went like this:

Wednesday: stitchery
Thursday: stitchery
Friday: stitchery
Saturday: stitchery
Sunday: Vintage Glass Baubles
Monday: stitchery
Tuesday: a couple of mini blocks to go with stitcheries

The glass baubles are my final Xmas in July project, it was totally not related to any sewing but was super easy and the end results look pretty cool when they are hung on mass.

Head on over to Kate's to see who else has met the challenge this week.

F4AM

I promised this free pattern a week ago.  Unfortunately school holidays and the fact that I hadn't taken the final picture of the finished article to add to the pattern got in the way.  But it is all ready now.  You are probably busy stitching all of your Xmas in July things anyway now.

Head on over to the F4AM (Free 4 A Month) tab up the top and download the pattern for The Daisy Chain Personalised Pincushion from Scribd.

15 Minute Challenge

This week I have probably done hours a day instead of just 15 minutes.  I have been doing 2 hours minimum most nights.  I love doing satin stitch but it is really labour intensive.  There was also the day of sewing with Nicole, and I finished the bag on Monday night so add another hour or so there.  So this weeks challenge was smashed out of the ball park.  As I have set a pretty steep deadline for this next project I will probably be smashing the challenge for a few weeks to come.

The week went something like this:

Tuesday: stitching
Wednesday: stitching
Thursday: stitching and playing with EQ to get design nutted out (still need to play some more probably with real fabric)
Friday: stitching, cutting out bag for class on Sunday
Saturday: stitching
Monday: bag finished, stitching
Tuesday: stitching

And now for some pictures:

Here is my 2nd project for Xmas in July.

Head on over to Kate's to see who else has met the challenge this week.

Amazing Class

Yesterday I went to probably the best class I have ever been to.

I have been sewing for quite a long time so often a class will just re-inforce the things you know or you pick up one or two little gems that you store away in the memory banks to use in your own work.  Yesterday was different.  I knew it would be, Nichole Mallalieu patterns are a always a lesson in themselves but sometimes you need that visual prompt to really cement the knowledge and I got that yesterday.

Here is my bag, it doesn't have any lining yet and the long strap isn't finished, but I gleened all the information to finish this bag off and make it look professional to boot.  See those beautiful straight corners on the flap.  If I had taken a picture of the corner you will see that all the seams just much, the facing went on effortlessly.  There is a zipped pocket in the lining.  Sorry really bad picture, I didn't take my camera yesterday, but I am sure Leanne will have some terrible pictures of me in class.

I want to pull out my stash and make lots of bags, only at the moment I have a couple of other priorities. I might try and finish this little baby if I get a chance tomorrow, even if it is just so I have some show and tell for Wednesday stitching with the girls.

I also picked up a couple of more patterns yesterday, and reading through them I remembered what Nikki told us in class.  I admit to a little information overload at the end, but the information is still all there I just needed to process it.

Now that I know, how to remove bulk from seams, have beautiful sharp corner and flat seams and so many other tips and tricks I might never have to buy a store bought bag again.    Hubby is under the mistake impression that this will save money, lol.  Doesn't it just mean that I can buy more fabric to make them.

Now Hetties is going to stock all the hardware as well, yeah... bag heaven.

A Day Out

As usual we get to the school holidays and I haven't planned any activities.  I think I just like to live in denial, the holiday thing is a distant memory and if I don't think about it, I won't stress about it and it will be all right.

I don't know why kids these days demand to be entertained and the caregiver for the day is the entertainment unit but that's what the deal is at least in our house. Well movies are out they have either seen it or it is not age appropriate and we have already done that this week.  Looking on the internet most of the stuff you had to book months ago.  I had in the back of my mind to go to the Botanic Gardens we can look around for a bit and we can at least be in the sunshine.  

Because we got there just after opening we had the pick of parking, so I pulled up along side the big fig trees, which obviously I had never done before because the kids just took off.  "Can we play in those?"

After 20 minutes I dragged we headed to the Conservatory.  They've turned the heating off in the Conservatory (cost savings... thank you Adelaide Oval redevelopment) so most of the exotics are on the way to dying.  It is free though, but it isn't the experience it use to be and the wildlife that use to be in there is pretty much all gone (we found 1 bird).  We didn't spend much time there.

We walked around the Gardens for a good couple of hours.  Squid is an expert and finding and playing in every water feature in the place.  It was only 14 degrees yesterday and that is her with short sleeves on (I had 3 layers on its probably because she makes me cold just looking at her).

We trudged through the the undergrowth looking at the various trees and didn't stick to just the formal gardens.

I was happy to find the wisteria lane that I couldn't find in summer when I was taking photo's  of Blueberry Botanical, I think it was 42 degrees that day so you will excuse me for not going to much out of my way to find it.

There was an exhibition of Banks illustrations (the Botanist on  Cook voyage of discovery of Australia) in the Museum of Economic Botany.   I had never been in this building before.  The inside of the building itself is quite lovely and the illustrations were amazing, such fine details.   The kids were not so impressed, luckily there were a few bits an pieces in there that kept them enthralled while I looked at the artwork.

It was time to head back to the car, I needed to put in some more money in the meter and the lure of the big trees was too much.  So we spent another hour just playing in the trees.

 Take a picture, I'm a reindeer (it is Xmas in July after all).  

There was the couple of minutes while he worked out, how to get back out of the tree after this photo that were interesting (I did tell him not to do the first thing that came into his head which was just to jump), 2 minutes later he was back up there again.

A couple of games of hide and seek were in order and then we headed home.

Xmas in July Reveal

Here is my first project for Xmas in July.   I will be releasing the pattern later in the year but if you can't wait and you want to join in head on over to QFD and join in all the fun.

You can check out the project so far here.

15 Minute Challenge

To tell the truth the last week has been a bit of a blur.  I am in kind of a creative frenzy at the moment and there is a lot of stuff going on in my head.  It has been pattern writing, drawing, getting excited about a new big project and school holidays.  I haven't slept very well and I am all a bit hyper this morning.  I will try and give you a run down of the week that was.

Wednesday - finished Daisy Chain Personalized Pincushion
Thursday - pattern writing
Friday - pattern writing
Saturday - sketching for new project
Sunday - sketching for new project
Monday - finalised pattern and sent it off to Sarah, started writing pattern for Daisy Chain
Tuesday - traced the first stitchery design to fabric and started stitching.

Hopefully I will finish the pattern writing for Daisy Chain this week and I will put it in the F4AM (free 4 a month) tab here on the blog on the weekend.  The threads used are the first 6 from Sarah's thread of the month club.

That is if I don't get carried away with my new project, love satin stitch with variegated thread.

Head over to Kate's to see who else made the challenge this week.

Eye Candy

I wasn't sure I was going to venture down this path again, but this fabric just sings to me.  It isn't so much the patterns on the fabric, but it is the colours.  So with a deep breath here is the start of my second Block of the Month.  I have been busy sketching all weekend in between family commitments and I have all the embroidery bits clear in my head.  Now I just have to work out how to put it all together.

Its the first day of school holidays and I am looking forward to a slow in pace for a couple of weeks.  I'm off to work today and the kids are going to Nan's for the morning. Hubby and I will be sharing Holiday duty, which works pretty well most of the time and I think we may even have a couple of days mixed in where we are all home.

Squid is a bit tired and emotional at the moment, I think this last term is the hardest of the school year, by the end of it we are all a bit tired and emotional but she seems to be feeling it a bit more than the rest of us.  She is having a few "friend" problems and we have been trying to help her deal with it.  I think the friends have just been together for too long and they maybe need a break so the holidays have come at a good time.  Hopefully after a 2 week break they will be back to being nice to one another.

Xmas in July starts today, I think I will be on my way to work when the first pattern is released so I will have to wait. If I get a minute I might sneak a peak when I get there otherwise I will have to wait until I get home.  It is always so exciting to see who is the first cab off the rank.