On my sewing table ...

I'm very much a gadget girl. I love all the sewing gadgets from Clover. I love my new purple Clover magnetic pin holder.

It comes with a plastic cover (to stop the kitties pulling the pins off!) and the groove makes it easy to get the pins out. I also recently got a pair of duck billed scissors. It makes trimming seam allowances so much easier!

As always Milly has to sit right where I'm trying to work.

This is my mini design wall. It sits above my sewing machine. It is great for sticking the pattern instructions up so I can refer to them while I'm sewing. The sheets are self-adhesive, reusable, leave no residue and nothing has fallen off it yet. They're by Gripping-Stuff and I got them from OfficeWorks. Very handy.

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Peggy's Bag

I made this bag last month for my mum-in-law to be. I made it using the "Pleated Beauty" pattern from Bend-The-Rules Sewing.

I was having sewing machine issues but gave it a good clean out, a jeans needle and was finally able to finish my bag for Peggy. The fabric is chocolate cord with a small floral pattern. I made the flower design on the fly.

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Its getting hot in here ...

Well, the weather is warming up and the reptiles are coming out.

Here are some cold-blooded locals we snapped up on our last Mudgee visit.

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In Progress - Hummingbird Bag

This is my first zipper project and my first attempt at sewing in a curved gusset! The gusset was tricky! I had to unpick it 3 times - but the fourth time it all lined up. I was so excited about making this bag though because it is so different from anything else I've made. I used a pattern from "Quilted Bags and Purses".

The fabric is a mix of Junko Onishi's Hummingbird fabric and rust coloured velvet and woven material from a curtain shop's offcuts. The lining is chocolate brown cotton drill and the zip is dark chocolate too. I also used fusible pelon and woven interfacing for the first time.

The bag is designed to be carried in your hand but I like wearing bags on my shoulders. So, I'm going to make some more strap lengths and attach them to the existing straps with 'D-rings'. The bag is the most layers of fabric I've ever had to sew and my machine suprisingly went through it all. Using brand new needles really makes a difference. My new "hump jumper" also helped stitching through all the layers enormously.

Finished bag to be posted soon ...

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Baby quilt for Rich & Elsa

I am really happy with how the quilt turned out. I love the fabric.

The brown coloured material has the words woof!, bark!, arf etc all over it.

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Baby Quilt

It has been a while between posts. I've been working long hours and weekends. I haven't had a chance to do any sewing or blogging. :(
Hopefully this weekend I can work on a baby quilt for friends who are due next month. Very exciting.

I was going through my fabrics and Monkee was offering advice. She is convinced that the green spot should definately be included.

When I disagreed she started to eat the green binding in protest.
After picking out the fabrics and looking at them for a couple of days I think they are too girl-ish and they don't know if it is a boy or girl. So I went to Spotlight last night and they had a huge table of 50% patchwork fabrics. I got some very cute fabrics in blues and reds. I will post some pictures later.

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Etsy Love

I was just browsing Etsy and came across these gorgeous hand painted pendants from margrietje.
The exchange rate is so good I just had to get two. :)
Ok, I confess - I couldn't decide between these two so got them both.

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BTRSswap - Pleated Beauty

I finished my bag for the BTRSswap a couple of weeks ago and haven't had a chance to take a picture. Here it is! I'm really happy with the colour combination. I even remembered to leave a gap in the lining to turn the bag inside out!
I used magnetic snaps for the first time. I'm not sure if they are too strong though. They take a little bit of effort to get them apart. Next time I might use some smaller snaps.

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Meet HP-44

How excited am I?!! Very! I got up early this morning to try and grab myself a knitted monkey from Monkee Maker. I was very lucky to be able to reserve this monkey as they all were sold within a matter of minutes. We are going to have so much fun together!

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BTRSswap Bag in progress

Here's the inside of my bag for the Bend-The-Rules Sewing swap. I love this fabric. My bag is to go to the US so I tried to pick Spring type colours. The ric-rac on the pocket is very 'spring' like I think. It is hard to try and pick out Spring type fabrics when it is cold and raining here.

I finished the bag last weekend so I will try and get some pictures before I send it to my swap partner.

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Can't have too many bags ...

I wasn't quite sure about this bag. But I made some adjustments and now I'm really happy with how it turned out.

The straps were way too wide (3") so I folded and sewed them in half. I also added a strip of fabric over the inside seam of the strap to cover the middle seam and make it padded a little bit. The bag looked a bit plain so I made a pocket for the front, added a cat button and put on some velvet ribbon to finish it off.
The great thing about making your own bag is that you can add lots of pockets. One for keys, one for my train ticket, one for my mobile phone etc. And of course plenty of space for a label.

Things I will adjust for next time:
a) Adjust the pattern to make the straps 1.5" wide.
b) Add an insert in the bottom of the bag so that it sits flatter.
c) Add the pocket to the pattern.
d) Sew the button to the tab and put a magnetic closure on the back of the tab and the pocket.

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Milly's Slobo Bag

Well, it's not really Milly's bag but she was hanging around when I was coming up with a name for it. Slobo is my name for a Hobo/Slouch bag combo. Poor Pixie was all tuckered out from her napping and had to have another nap.

I've got to do some hand sewing to finish it off. The straps are a little too wide for my shoulders so I might try to adjust them. I will also adjust my pattern for next time too. I got the pattern from tiny happy's tutorial and have made a few adjustments.

Here is the 'in progress' Slobo bag. The floral fabric is the inside lining with 3 pockets. The stripy fabric is a fine cord and it is the outside of the bag.
This photo is a silhouette of our new kitty (statue) at the front door - you can see the springy tail.

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A Succu-Barrow

"A what?", I hear you ask. A succu-barrow - duh! Is an old wheel barrow that you plant with succulents. Here is proof that succu-barrows do exist.
The wheel barrow also needs a token statue. Mine is a napping cat made out of stone. I had fun picking out all the succulents. They are only small but they will grow fast, I hope. I also couldn't resist the following kitty for the front door. I love the wire tail.

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Something Random

We went on a house boat cruise with a group of friends last year. We had the most amazing time. The pelicans were always around. I shot this picture as they were taking off after eating some carp that we threw to them. They are just such beautiful birds. A bit daunting when they swallow a huge fish in one gulp though.

In other news, I installed Picasa today (photo editing and organising software by Google) and I am impressed by how easy it is and how many editing options you have.

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Introducing Max Power

I made Max from the Wee Wonderfuls Pointy Kitty pattern. It was pretty easy to make. Although getting the head right, so that the kitty didn't fall over, took a little while.

I took a picture of our new fish Angus and Max wanted to get in on the action:

Pixie, Milly and Max all kicking back:

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BtR Sewing Swap

Yay! A Bend the Rules sewing swap. The first swap is the Pleated Beauty Bag. I've signed up and am so excited and a little nervous. Here's a link for the swap:

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Shopping & hanging with my bestie

Is there no better holiday than hanging out with your best bud, shopping, sewing and going to a craft show?

We spent the first day exploring some stores we'd seen in other blogs. First stop was Meet Me At Mikes. Such an awesome little store and really nice people. We picked out a handmade heart each. The proceeds from each heart go to the Mirabel Foundation.

We wandered around looking at all the great shops. It was so hot! At least mid-high 30's. We stopped in at the in.cube8r gallery. It is a really great store. There were so many things I would love to buy.

While we were looking around the store someone took a piece of jewelery. I ran after the suspected shop lifter and brought her back to the store. Much to Jen & the store keepers surprise. But I just felt really bad for the shop keeper, she looked so upset. The suspect denied it and we had to let them go.

After the drama we needed sustenance. We stopped by the local chocolateria and after a dark chocolate milkshake and some cheesecake we had to look at shoe shops to distract us from our tummy aches.

We stopped by Douglas & Hope just before it closed. I got a cute kitty pattern, Little Kitty, by Melly & Me and some fabric.

The next day we went to the Stitches and Craft show. I loved the Living Creatively garden. I thought they were kidding when they said they had rabbits in it. But there were adorable little bunnies hopping around. I couldn't resist these fabrics. Cats, cupcakes, butterflies, paw prints and stripes!

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High Tea

Jen & I went to the Stitches & Craft show last weekend. We booked into a stained glass applique class, with Gai from Just Patchwork, and made this. It was lots of fun. Appliquéing the binding (the 'lead' strips) was a bit tricky but it worked out well and we had a great time making it together.

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Yay - Birthday Girl!

The very talented Jenaveve gave me the best-est birthday present. She hand made me some place mats out of the cutest kitty fabric. They are so beautiful and I am scared to use them but I will!
Thx Jen!!

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I-Scream for Ice-Cream

Jeff bought me an awesome ice-cream maker for my birthday. The gift that keeps on giving. He made me vanilla ice-cream first. It was flavoured with the insides of a vanilla pod and was very yummy. Next was chocolate ice-cream with dark chocolate chunks. It tasted like an ice-cream brownie.

Jeff made huge cookies which he turned into ice-cream sandwiches. Not the most nutritious meal but it was my birthday so I could eat anything I wanted. I did have heart palpitations and a tummy ache afterwards but it was worth it.

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One in a Million Friend

This award goes to my best bud Jen.

She is the loveliest, smartest and most inspirational person I know.
I really wish I lived closer so that I could visit her all the time.

Miss you! :(

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My first Etsy purchase!

I couldn't resist this gorgeous pendant from Tummyache's Etsy Shop.

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More Goodies!

I'm not sure how but I always seem to be in the right place at the right time for bargains. Yesterday I went to Spotlight to get some ric rac and they had a room in the store set aside with 50% the marked price of a bunch of already reduced items. So, here is my booty to keep me occupied this winter. I got all of this for $27! 34 rolls of wool, about 12 crochet & knitting needles in various sizes, 15 rolls of ribbon and 18 bags of various embellishments.

I also got my ric rac and couldn't resist these gorgeous cat fabrics ...

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