In my heart

In memory of my beautiful eldest son.  

Thinking of you today, your 38th birthday.

Trevor

15 December 1972 - 27 February 1999

Forever Young

Summer Bag

Here is my latest contribution to the world of bags.  It was a Butterick or McCalls, one that I picked up from work.  Anyway, in my considered opinion, they should stick to dressmaking patterns ... always assuming their instructions for clothes are better than for bags.  However, I finally got through it, with the help of the teacher at my quilting class.  The border was our design, is was not part of the pattern.  After sewing the blocks together I realised that the picture on the front of the pattern was deceiving and the bag was a lot smaller than I expected, so I decided to enlarge it.

I'm reasonably happy with it, but I don't like the pink squares in the middle.  Kind of catches the eye and detracts from the rest of the panel, but we live and learn. I won't use that pattern again.

School Ball 2010

Here are some photos of my daughter, Xochitl, on the night of her year 12 school ball.  I meant to put these up earlier but my move and other inconveniences deterred me.  Anyway, better late than never :)

 14 of them shared a beautiful white hummer and went off in style.

My latest project

Here is my latest project.  A mat for my cats.  I find that my bed sleeping felines make a very furry mess on my quilt so I decided to make them their own personal rug to sleep on.
This was the first time I had done binding on a quilt and I was happy with the result.  The 4 corners are appliqued with cat things. The side panels are a black background with little paw prints all over it.
I backed it with fleecy so in the cold winter months they can cuddle up on the warm side ... spoilt pusses!!!!
It seems to be very popular so I may have to make another one, or maybe two, so I can cover the couch as well.  But I will make them larger ... this one is just not big enough for 4!!!!

Front

Back

A happy, sleeping Bob cat.

Is it me .... or is it them????

I am currently feeling very frustrated with the new templates on blogger. I find I cannot make the adjustments I used to be able to make. For instance, having my title centralised in my header.  
I spent about 4 hours yesterday trying to tart up my blog with new backgrounds, buttons and boxes with about 3 of those hours wasted on what I shall refer to in future as 'the title in the header saga'. 
As is normal,  I just want my title to sit in the middle of my header but do you think I can find where to adjust it? No, of course I can't.  Now, I ask myself, have the wonderful people who have written this program left out a vital piece of info somewhere? Mmmm!! However, looking at everyone else's headers', with their titles' beautifully situated in the middle of their headers, where they should be, I have begun to suspect the problem is mine and I am unjustly wanting to pass the blame due to my incompetence.
So lovely people, if you happen to pass by here, and see an empty box at the top of the page where writing should be, and above the empty box writing where there should be none ...blame me!!!!!
And if you should happen to have any info that could help me rectify what has become to me, an insurmountable problem, I should love to hear from you.
Thank you for listening.

Hello again!!!!

Well!!!  I seem to be getting more organised though I must confess I am not quite there yet. Got curtains up in the bedrooms and lounge today ... next thing is to get rid of the vertical blinds that I hate. Looking forward to getting my new lounge suite and then I will be able to get my lounge properly organised.
I have also recently transferred from my previous place of work to a nearer store but am doing a few hours more each week.  More money for fabric, less time to sew :?
Have managed to achieve a little bit of sewing amongst these crazy few months.

I recently did an apron swap on the forum and received a wonderful apron from my swap partner.

The top pocket is cut out of 3 pieces of fabric, grapes, blueberries and cherries and all fussy cut and attached to make a pocket with a circular bottom and stitched on to the bib which is strawberries.
The neck ties are made from the same grape and cherry fabric.

 The skirt is tomatoes and the pocket is capsicum, basil and chilli and the ties are onions, red on one side and brown on the other.

The inside is plain red with a cute mushroom motif appliqued on the bottom corner which is designed from mushroom fabric.





This apron is truly designed to motivate in the kitchen ..... and is almost edible in itself  :))) Thank you, Guiliana, for a marvellous apron that you have obviously put so much thought and work into.  I will wear it with pleasure and pride.

The one I sent in return, (that was 6 weeks late due to my move), was not so intricate and I even forgot to sign it :/
I used retro fabric with a cream background that was patterned with kitchen appliances, crockery and other paraphernalia from the 50's and 60's and coloured in reds, greens and yellows.

As you can see the straps, ties and trim is red and the shoulder straps fasten with buttons at the back waist. 

The neck edge and pockets are finished in red bias and the bib is decorated with 2 red buttons.

Moving Madness Prevails!!!!!

As many of you know, I have moved house with all the attendant stress and madness. What  made this move worse was that finally I am going to be in a permanent home after many many years of nomadic wanderings around the country.  Not that this is worse in and of itself; in fact, it is a wonderful, joyful experience to be settling down after a lifetime of being a semi gypsy (or traveller, to put it into it's modern day PC language) and living in rental properties with the constant expectation of moving, but when one constantly moves one collects stuff because what looked good in the last house doesn't look good in the current house but just may look good in the next house .... so I kept it, just in case.  Which possibly explains why I have 5 dining room tables.  So here I am now trying to get my new house organised and spending a small fortune in replacing just about everything as virtually nothing I had before fits or suits this place.  What an excuse to shop!!!!!!!
As far as pastimes and hobbies go, I haven't yet achieved that goal. I do know where my sewing machine is .... sitting in the middle of my lounge room floor.  I'm finding it really difficult to push down the foot pedal!!!!
So, that is where I am at in the moving saga. Hopefully my next update will have more organised news and I will try not to leave it so long to come here and post again.

Wow!!! I must be on a roll. Not even halfway through the month and here I am again. When I started my tafe course I used an overlocker for the very first time ever and it was great, so I decided I needed one. Not being the richest person on the planet I knew it was going to have to be a secondhand cheapie and was expecting to have to pay at least between two to four hundred. So I started looking and look what I found.

It's a Bernina Bernette 334DS .... with differential feed!!! And guess how much..... ....$40!!!!!! Is that a great buy or not? I got it serviced which cost me $76 and it is perfect. I am so happy with it and consider myself very fortunate to find such a bargain :))

Another new toy I recently bought myself is a new camera, a lovely little 12MP Samsung. It's a fabulous little camera, neat, compact and very user friendly. However, it didn't have a case so I decided to make one. I saw some very cute cases on the blog of one of the forum ladies and decided it would be perfect, so I found the website they came from and made one out of these lovely fabrics that just went together perfectly.

Thank you to Sew Mama Sew for this free tutorial at 

http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=740

Hi all :) I can't believe it is June already. I I didn't even manage a single update last month!!! I shall be so glad when my 2 current tafe courses are finished.  I find they are taking up a lot of time and don't leave me much time or motivativation for other sewing or blogging.  I did manage to catch up on a couple of things though, one of which was sending out a dozen or so patterns of the finally named Baby Snug Seat to some ladies on the forum I belong to.  A number of the ladies sent me gifts as a thank you; here are some of the things I received:

How spoilt am I??  Thank you so much, ladies.  I feel very spoilt by your generosity.


Just recently the subject of UFO's came up on the forum and, like most of us in the quilting world, I have a number hidden away in a basket that I try to ignore. However, as I am not feeling up to either completing or starting any large projects due to the aforesaid tafe courses, I thought that it would be a good time to try and finish a couple of the smaller projects that were sitting around.  I am pleased to say I have completed 2 small items, so I am feeling quite pleased with myself.  The first was a tote bag ... my first, and it didn't turn out too bad, though larger than I was expecting.

The other thing I made was a cute little offset wrist pincushion, compliments of Planet June.  If you would like to make one for yourself, you can find the pattern here:  

http://www.planetjune.com/blog/offset-square-wrist-pincushion-tutorial/comment-page-2/#comment-95253
I'm really happy with it because I can use really long pins and still not practice body piercing on myself.  I couldn't decide what to stuff it with so I used a combination of sawdust, toy stuffing and rice.

I love tins and today was my lucky day. We had a delivery of lovely tins at work, and being a tin-oholic, the temptation was overwhelming.  I chose one for Xochitl because it was Alice in Wonderland and I think you all know by now that she is a fan.

Then ... problems!!!! I couldn't chose between:

Hmmm!!!!  Not sure about the Wiser bit, but the other 2 are pretty accurate!!!!!

Then there are 2 lovely ones about women and friendship

Problem solved!!! I bought them all!!!!  Ah well! my excuse is that they were 50% off + staff discount, and it makes a change from buying fabric LOL  Just got to decide what to put in them now :)

I made this pin board yesterday for my daughter.  I used an art canvas and glued thick poly wadding to it then covered it.  The decoration in the corner is a black rose and the 'X' hanging from it is my daughter's initial.  She loves it.

Potholder Swap

Feast or famine with me, isn't it!!!  You either get nothing for weeks or can't keep up with the posts. Ah well!!! such is life ... as some bright spark once said.
Anyway, moving on ... I recently enjoyed a Potholder Swap with my online forum and thought I would share my potholders with you.

This is the one I received ... a perfect fit and oh! so useful.  Thank you so much Donna  :))

and here is the one I made for Doris ... I think she liked it ;)

How quickly time goes past.  Here we are at the end of March and school holidays looming, which means I wont have to go to TAFE for a couple of weeks.  Maybe I will get some real sewing done.  I really would like to make a pretty quilt for my bed before winter gets here, and I want to make a quilt for my son who has recently got a fly in / fly out job up North and I think it would be nice for him to have a little bit of love to take with him.
Meanwhile, here are a couple of photos of things I have made over the last few weeks.

First, my beautiful daughter dressed as Alice in Wonderland for the disney concert and wearing the apron and frilly garters I made . Yes she is the same daughter that had the black hair in an earlier photo, not a blonde twin :))

Next are a couple of tool aprons I made for putting personal sewing equipment in while I'm at TAFE.  I made the pink one for one of my fellow students who doesn't own a sewing machine yet and the red and black one is mine.  I put an extra pocket in mine for my scissors.  They are so handy.  I also use mine at work and I think I will make a couple more for round the house.

I wont bore you with photos of the pillowcases I made at TAFE, but FYI, I made 2 plain ones and a frilly one with Peter Rabbit fabric for my daughter. We are moving on to cushions and bolsters next week and if I make anything outstanding I will pop up some pics. In the meantime, I will see if I can get back to some serious playing ... real quilting!!!!!!

Hello my dear friends.  Well here I am again.  I can't believe it is March already and the equinox signalling the beginning of Autumn is in 18 days time.  After the summer we have had here in the West, I must say I am certainly looking forward to the changing season.
  I have been busy with my new job and finally the training has finished ... not that I feel much more knowledgeable than I did 4 weeks ago, but hopefully something has gone in :)
   I have just started a TAFE course doing soft furnishings. The course is fairly basic and a lot of the girls have never even used a sewing machine before, but there are a few things that I want to learn which is why I am doing it. I must say that using commercial machines is a real treat.  Just hoping it doesn't ruin me for my little Janome.  We get to use power tools also, which, with my history and ability with tools should be hilarious and very entertaining for my fellow students, but who knows, I just might master the skill with the correct tuition.  Only time will tell and I will keep you informed of my progress ... or lack thereof!!!!!  I am looking forward to learning how to make pelmets which is one of our projects. I will post pics of the different things I make. 
  I have finally finished the pot holder I made for my swap partner on the forum I belong to.  It took 3 times longer than it should, but it was my first attempt at this design (thats my excuse) and I found it more difficult than I thought I would.  I know! I know! it's only a pot holder but this is me we are talking about here. Anyhoo, I will post a pic soon.
  My daughter is off to a Disney show this Sunday, and she wants to go as Alice in Wonderland so I am currently making her an Alice apron ... another first.  Fortunately she has a dress that is Alice-ish because having to make one of those is way past my skill level.  I will post a pic of that when I have finished it.
  Anyway, I will hopefully get in here more regularly from now on so I wont have to write a book to keep you updated on the projects I am working on.

Hi all, Just in case you think I have forgotten about my blog, I just want to say this is not so. Having started my new job last week and going through the training process, I find I am working more days, though not more hours, than I normally will be.  However, I am finding that the process of getting up everyday and having to go to work is very disorganising and consequently I have had less time than normal to both sew and blog. But I will be back soon.  Next week I start the job for real and will be doing my regular shifts so hopefully will be able to get properly organised.  In the meantime I am working on a potholder for a swap on the forum, but I can't tell you more in case my swapee pops in here. I will post a pic when I have finished it and she has received it.

 I have finally achieved a goal!!!!  I have made a bag!!!!  I am so happy with myself :))  The colours aren't my first choice but I didn't want to use my favourite fabric on my first attempt just in case. However, it turned out really well and I am pleased with the result and will be quite proud to use it.  However, if I make another one I will make the handles a little bit longer, just a couple of extra inches.  These ones are not quite long enough for me personally as I prefer to hang bags from my shoulders.

The pattern came from a Quilts and More magazine, Autumn 2008.  It has a single internal pocket but the outside has 3 pockets on each side.  It was so easy to make .... I mean if I can make it anyone  can.

Now I have done this one I feel I can make any .... watch out Gucci !!!!!  LOL

Time passes so quickly.  A whole week has gone by and I seem to have missed it.  I have been trying to work out how to put links and other cute things on here, but it seems to be taking a rather long time to work it out.

In the meantime here is a pic of my baby seat thingy ... and my gorgeous youngest grandson.  I know a number of you have seen it .... and are waiting for the pattern. It's coming, I promise, I'm just trying to get my head around how to do the pattern.

This is the newest member of our family that was born on November 15.. It's not that I don't already have enough bunnies (or other animals come to that) but my (very spoilt) daughter coerced me into letting her keep it.  I think it's a boy and his name is Peter.

 

Here are some pics of the raggy quilt I made for my youngest granddaughter.  It was my second project apart from a few small projects like oven mitts and pot holders.

I did the back in 3 different coloured flannelette ... not a good idea, because I didn't want 2 of the same pattern next to each other.  I nearly made it, but not quite, and it took a long time to get it sorted.  Next time I will do the backing in one fabric only.  Ah well!!!! we quilt and learn :))

 2010 has arrived

Here we all are at the beginning of a new year .... it gives us all a fresh start even if we don't make  resolutions and personally I don't bother. My most successful changes are the ones I have thought about for a long time and the starting date is not important, it is reaching the goal that counts. However, I do hope to achieve certain things this year, but I am not starting them all today :)))

Some of my THINGS TO DO for 2010 include: Improve my quilting skills; Get a part-time job; Wii at least 5 times a week ( I already started this last week); Make lots of yummy natural moisturisers and body butters; Get my webpage up and running, and of course maintain my blog and hope I don't bore you all silly :))

My webpage is based on Aromatherapy and will have lots of info about essential oils and how you can use them in your home, on your body and there will also be recipes for making your own yummy natural  products.

You can have a look at the humble beginnings here: Vanilla Rose