Some more sewing stuff....

I just made this bag for a friend who is going to a baby shower and wanted to get a practical, yet funky gift. She liked my bag that lugs all the kids stuff around so we raided my stash and got sewing! The pattern is called Quilters Carry All by Blue Willow Designs, and even though it is designed as a quilters bag it makes a great nappy bag with all the pockets it has. There's a bit of binding involved and I found that it was pretty easy to follow the instructions even though we changed a few things. It came out looking funky and nothing like a quilters carry bag! I just hope the soon to be mum likes it!

Here's some pics of my lovely new sewing machine cover that was mentioned with the overlocker cover last post. I bought some gorgeous gnome and mushroom fabric a while ago and have not been game enough to cut it up, until I thought it would be awsome as a machine cover so I could see the gnomes all the time! Now I get to gaze at it everyday and see all the cute gnomes working hard. (except the one having a snooze!)

Let the sewing begin!

Here's a pic of some table runners I've just finished for a few birthday pressies. Mum taught me a way of slashing squares of fabric to make blocks up (like stack and slash) and we had a mini tutorial/sewing day to make them up! And I even learnt a new way to put the binding on which means no more slipstitching the back!

Okay, so I have actually done some sewing lately, it's too hot to do much else at the moment.

I saw some really cute pincushions while scrolling through Whipup the other day and thought I might like to make one! It was very easy as all you need is a teacup (or other cute thing), some fabric and some wadding and glue. I added the mushroom and hedgie for a bit of cuteness.

What do you get when you have a whole heap of little squares sewn together and some wood grain fabric?

A cover for your overlocker of course!

I made the sewing machine cover (with the gnomes on the front) from the tutorial on the Spool website and figured the overlocker shouldn't miss out. I just measured the overlocker and adjusted the pattern pieces to fit (apparently there are not many overlockers which are the same size, they are all different!)

I thought it might be nice to make a patchwork cover so I made enough squares to cover the pattern and then sewed them together and cut the pattern from the patchworked fabric.

I might make myself a table runner now, I quite liked sewing them!

The sewing room is tidy!

Not much actual sewing has been done lately, though I have a couple of birthday pressies to make for the end of January. We've been having a bit of a cleaning blitz around here and have painted the kitchen cupboard doors, finished tiling the bath and changed the shower curtain rail, cleaned out the linen cupboard and tidied up the sewing/computer/toy room! We are planning to build a rumpus room out the back sometime this year (hopefully soon!) and I am taking my impatience out on the house. I still don't like doing housework but I like doing other jobs around the house (rearranging, painting etc) so that will have to do 'til building begins. Since most things I ramble on about are craft related I thought I'd post some pics of my crafting space while it is clean and tidy and you can actually see the surface. I have one wall in the mutipurpose room which is all mine to fit as much as I can in. If the toys or other books creep over they get put back on their side pretty quickly. I have an old wooden wardrobe that is now home to my stash, but it is rather tricky keeping it all in there and not having it spill out everywhere! The softies have to fight the books for some shelf space but mostly they get along pretty well. The corkboard above the machines is my ideas and inspiration board and the stuff changes fairly often depending on what my latest interest is. (Claire, if you look really closely next to the thread stand you will see the little owl that you so nicely parted with, he's the quick un pick holder! Much better than toothpicks I say!)

This little frog has taken over the big pottery mushroom in the garden out the front and uses the trap door to go in and out, how cute is that! Biggest fish goes 'exploring' every night with her torch (and Mr fish) in the front yard and looks for frogs and geckos and whatever else is vaguely interesting. They came across this little guy last week and so far he seems to be staying put. The frog is normally sitting on the top of the mushroom but they were lucky enough to see him creeping out one night.

What we've been doing lately

There has been a bit of action around here lately despite the yucky, humid heat we are experiencing. Mr fish was doing not much in particular the other day so we convinced him to build a bird feeder to hang out the front! He did a rather good job of it considering all he was told was 'it has to have a roof and be able to hold a tray for easy cleaning'. He even put a little twig perch on the side for the birds to sit on. And oldest one had a great time 'helping' to build it.

The fishes got a new trampoline for xmas and it has been getting a fairly good workout though Mr fish is not that impressed with having another thing to move around when he is trying to mow the grass (which is quite often at the moment as we have had a bit of rain so it just keeps growing)

Here's a better pic of the treehouse with the elves in residence, we have made them some bedding and a rug and they have some little kitchen type thingies that are called re-ment (it's something japanese that is basically miniature bits and pieces that dolls would like to play with)

And finally we bought some fish. It has been the most exciting thing that has ever happened in the history of the world (according to the chief fish feeder) and they get kissed and cooed over every day. I think they are the most spoilt fish in the history of the world but what would i know! Good thing we kept out old tank in the shed all this time, knew it would come in handy one day!

So that's a bit of a round up of what's been going on here lately, how about you?

Happy new year!!!!!

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and got to relax a little bit! We went down to the Sunny Coast to visit Mr Fish's family and had Christmas at Nanny and Poppy fishes place. The girls had a lovely time and were kept busy helping to feed the animals. (the list includes 3 wallabies, lots of birds, a few possums, the dog and the extra human visitors) We went to the Big Pineapple (haven't been there since i was little), and the Ginger Factory (we go there every visit as it's nearby) and generally just mooched around eating. We got to catch up with lots of rellies and a few friends that are down that way.

I haven't done much in the way of sewing lately, it's sort of nice to have a break and think about the garden and other interests. We got a Wii for xmas (the silliest name for a machine as it makes you sound like a little rude kid when you talk about it) but I think I may just become a wee bit addicted as it is so much fun! From using the fit board thing I have discovered that i have a good center of gravity and balance but am appallingly uncoordinated. So I will work on that and see if it improves. I even liked playing the Diego game that came with it. And you have to move sooo much when you play things, it's great.

Littlest fish decided to share her bottle with Shamus the wallaby as he has a bottle too!

Biggest Fish LOVED feeding the older wallabies and we were told daily that they 'just loved her' and she was a good assistant.

and Poppy Bob did come through and produce a lovely tree house! (sorry the pics not the best, will try and take a better one with the elves in residence), he even made another one for em as well! (I think there was a bit of grumbling and maybe some choice words used at various times during construction, but they were lovely and the kids loved them).