Introducing Elliot Casper...

Mr Elliot Casper R* has been delivered, both physically and metaphorically.  I believe his new owner was delighted, both with her colour choices and the outcome, which I think was pretty spiffy; small problem in that I got his eyes every so slightly out of alignment, but hey, there are no straight lines in nature!

So, here is Miss Nelly with Elliot Casper (and we had to have a secret ballot to determine his name) - I thought Felix and Gilbert were pretty spiffy but it became clear quite early that, true Sagittarian that she is, although she asked for opinions as to the name of this pooch, and quite a hilarious time was had flicking through the baby book, she had already made up her mind and was not going to be moved from Elliot, but she did compromise in the best Sagittarian fashion by allowing the unexpected introduction of a middle name.
   

Now all we have to do is make him a collar & he's done.  The nose, in case you're interested, was a 10-year-old's stroke of genius (no pun intended), it's made of flannelette, and is extremely touchable.


Also, yesterday I lent a neighbourly hand to My Best Friend (aka Mother of the Kidlets) who cracked a bone in her spine, get this, when she was in the wheely bin, tamping down the garden weeds.  The bin toppled over with her in it, and she landed on her back.  Lucky she wasn't crippled, if you ask me.  Anyway, much pushing of trolleys, nipping in and out of shops and consuming of lunch was done yesterday whilst the Kidlets had some fatherly interaction, and then I nipped home to check on the Weeding Wonder and her progress.  OMG.  The garden looks amazingly messy, but it's because all the Trad is now in piles throughout the garden, along with various other piles of things she's collected, which need to GO.  

After that, I made a pouch, based on this pattern, but which I have amended slightly to make it a bit easier - I do like the way she's cut the corners out before sewing up the seams, but if you want to vary the corner sizes, of course you need to do your calculating beforehand & it's not as accurate as the original method but it is probably quicker.  Probably.


Anyway, these are gifts, one for my lovely Ma, and the other for Tonee, who is coming to Bali with us, on Monday.  

And that's it for me, for now.  If I get a chance, Remaining Gentle Readers, I will post from Bali, but no promises.  I fully expect to be working on my tan *snort* and drinking G&T by the infinity-edged pool, rather than burning up the bloglines.  See you soon!


Ciao!

Clever, very clever!

I've been a wee bit busy, putting up with the sick husband really takes it out of you, and I spent a bit of time yesterday looking at houses with my friend Deb, which is fun, but exhausting!

So today I got stuck into the sewing, finishing off the pencil case & matching sketchbook bag for my nephew, who is turning nine in August & who loves to draw:

And then, I finished off Miss Mandy's button bag, which she wants to use to collect up all the little packets of buttons and threads you get when you buy shirts and things, and I've put a surprise in there for her (which of course I can't mention because I know she reads this!) - and that's going in the post tomorrow:

And then I made these for Kaz, from some lovely Momo in Wonderland, and some beautiful Butterfly Fling - they've got 6 scoops of lavender in each - who knows how much that is? Not me - the scoop says 25ml! (that's probably not funny for people who don't know about the metric system - "ml" is a measure of liquids!).

And then finally I made a pouch, my WMIL* has orders for me for 5 more, plus two more glasses cases - but for some strange reason it came out like a cube, rather than a rectangle - obviously I need to check the measurements calculator again!

And then I did a bit of work on the bunting for my lovely niece Melinda's wedding, in September - she saw the "Happy Mother's Day" bunting I made for her Nanna - and asked me to make some for her wedding! Her favourite colour is orange, so I tried to include as many fabrics with orange in them as possible - and how amazing that I could find 38 fabrics with orange in them - but I only needed 36 - and the fronts are now all cut out & appliqued on, and all I have to do is cut out the backs & the hanging & stitch them up... phew...

And now, gentle reader, normal transmission is resumed (actually, I've got the cricket on in the background and I'm greatly enjoying seeing what's happening to the England batting line-up - ha!

*Wonderful Mother-In-Law

Sew, a needle pulling thread...

How appropriate that my lovely friend Lulu Carter  has this on her blog:



I loved it so much I watched it twice!


I've been busy with work, you know, that thing that keeps the economic meltdown from our door, and I very naughtily bought three pairs of shoes yesterday that cost more than any other shoes I've ever purchased - what is it about red shoes? I must own 5 pairs already (and I know what you're thinking, it's right up there with the red handbags) - and I have two red suitcases, and I also have a red hat - maybe I'm preparing for my older days when I'm going to wear Purple & Red together and behave in an entirely irresponsible manner (far more than I do now, that's for sure.


My mother's Lady's Quilting and General Good Works Society is having their annual quilt exhibition this weekend & she's sent me some pictures of the lovely quilts - and as I haven't made a damn' thing this week, I figured I'd show them off instead!  Actually, I lie.  I made a pouch for my WMIL for non-Mother's Day next week - invisibly lined with calico for extra strength, and designed to be flung into your eco-friendly shopping basked with your keys, phone and purse:


And now for the quilts.  This one is called 'Scottish Country Dance' and it's actually mine, I've very generously lent it for the exhibition. Mum & I had a great time about 2 years ago buying the fabrics, and she then made it & quilted it by hand.  It's magnificent and I absolutely love it.  My greatest fear is that I won't get it back!






I love how this one uses a traditional quilting shape and turns it on its head to become something a bit unusual - did you know the swastika was originally an Indian (Sub-continent, not Red) good luck symbol?


I really like the more modern fabrics used in a very traditional quilt pattern.








This one is interesting because the green plays tricks on your eyes - those lines look like they're forming interlocking circles, but of course they aren't - it's very clever.




 
And finally, I really liked the precision of this one - imagine the hours of work cutting out all those tiny little triangles & piecing them together?  I can barely think about making a quilt out of 5" squares, let alone something as fiddly as that!


Hopefully they'll raise lots of money for their good works - so if you're out near Parkerville  tomorrow (Saturday), pop over & have a look - they're at 910 Seaborne Rd, Parkerville, in the Baptist Church Grounds.


PS Did anybody notice I figured out how to put the moving pictures inside the story?  That's a lot like "I want the caramel inside the chocolate", for those of us old enough to remember... 

All pouched up & ready to go...

So they're done, finished, packed, sealed & waiting to be posted. I must admit to some indolence yesterday, I bought MWH the first series of Stargate Atlantis as a Valentines present (after both swearing and declaring that neither of us would buy gifts, of course, Valentines Day being up there with Mothers, Fathers, Ugly Sister and The Pumpkin Coach Association Day as simply opportunities for 'Greetings Card Manufacturers' to make money...) and then promptly sat down to watch it myself.

It's good, I have to say. I like the idea that they have access to interstellar ships which will fit through the gate (I could never work out why SG-1 didn't just rock up on quad bikes, y'know?), so they aren't stuck on their little rock, but can also explore the surrounding galaxy. I like the fact that the person in charge is a woman. I like the fact that the woman in the team is kick-ass tough, and her hair is that amazing colour, Titian. I like the fact that Dr Rodney McKay is Canadian and doesn't feel obliged to say "zee pee em" but can say "zed", like the rest of us in the English speaking world. That's 'UK-English' or 'Australian-English', or, in his case, 'Canadian-English'.

I like the fact that either J P Rowling or the makers of Stargate Atlantis borrowed the bad guy's hair from each other - maybe Draco Malfoy was a wraith in another life? Hmmm.

Anyway, I spent an inordinate amount of time watching TV yesterday, which is not really something I do normally, but hey, it was cold, raining and I was jet-lagged. That trip from Melbourne can be a stinker, y'know? More on that later.

But, in between episodes, I made these two, and yes, I know I said I was going to use up that blue & white swiss cotton, but it's a bit, oh, I don't know, dull. So I went Amy Butler instead. No dull there, that's for sure. Also, I found these on Etsy, and promptly bought them for my niece's upcoming birthday. Check out Angela's store, she has beautiful work (and the best thing - she lives right round the corner from me. Small world, huh?).

I also sent an item to the Etsy Down Under Street Team for inclusion in their OzBushfireAppeal shop - if you have some spare cash, please check these guys out & purchase something - all shipping is free & all proceeds go to the Australian Red Cross's Bushfire Appeal.

Sometimes...

having a full blown obsession is a pain. Other times it's great. I've been banging on about making these great box pouches (from a tutorial I found here amongst others - this one had a great tip about the corners, remember my great perpendicular moment from yesterday? Of course you do.) & I finally got a look inside one on Etsy, where the seller was kind enough to show that all she did with her raw edges was finish them with some bias tape. Well, we've got bias tape coming out the wazoo, of course, but did I use that? Noooooo, on the first one I used expensive ribbon from Singapore, and on the second one, even worse, I had to make my own 1 1/2" bias tape (and so I couldn't use my spiffy bias-binding maker yada yada {tune out here to avoid off topic sewing equipment moment}...which was one of the goodies from the Lincraft closing down sale) because it's only 1" yada yada...) from very expensive fabric from the States. What am I, nuts? Yep. Probably.

Anyway, I have decided in my infinite wisdom that if I am keeping the pouch to use in my handbag, and not to make my fortune (thus enabling me to give up my lucrative but oh so boring career in IT), then I don't actually have to do anything with the raw seams except pink them. Who, I ask you, who, is going to say "show us your raw edges then"? Nobody. Absolutely nobody. I even put a label in it. Really. Talk about effort disproportionate to reward.

Anyway, they do look nice, but boy, that four hours went by pretty quick.

On the upside, one of my favorite bloggers is back in the land downunder after her holiday visiting the Queen, amongst others. Just kidding. She went to see Alix, who is, after all, much more important than the Queen! Welcome back Lulu Carter.

Busy, busy

I took advantage of the cooler weather to go back to bed for a bit this morning, that's the other thing I hate about summer, I don't sleep well & so I'm perpetually cranky. What's that? I'm always cranky?! Well, how rude. I'm just particular, that's all.

Enough about me, more about the work in progress. I found a great site here & she suggested using a quilting ruler (of which there are a few in the house, even though I don't quilt) to cut squares out of each corner (mine were 1"/2.54cm) & then lining up the seams. Boy, what a great tip! My perpendiculars are pretty perped, let me tell you - anyway, I was so thrilled I made two bags & some lavender pyramids & put the lot up on Etsy for the bargain basement price of $25. US, that is. Anyway, we'll see. There are lots of people out there doing pouches, boxy or otherwise, but only mine has the added bonus!

The only other thing was that I haven't seen any method of making a lined boxy pouch without having a raw or overlocked (that's 'sergered', to those of you in the US of A) seam showing & I don't want that. I want it to be really nice! I did have a bit of a brainwave about how to do it, but when it came to practical application, I couldn't figure out how to do it. I need my mother for this, she's a genius at that stuff! Mum! Get on a plane!

Summer, blah

So, it's about 20C today, lovely. I hate summer. It's hot, it's sticky, my hair goes frizzy, I get cranky. I was going to meet up with mwh after my sojourn out in the golden west yesterday, and waded my way through the humanity heading into the station as I was attempting to head out, man, that was fun... sadly, the nice bar where we go for drinks etc on the occasional evening was closed! Orrore!

Anyway, the lovely southerly buster came through with a vengeance last night & has cooled things down so I can wear real clothes again (sitting here in grey trackies & a pink cardie as we speak...) and more importantly, I can think. I hate how the heat melts by mrain. See!

Enough whining. Here's the pictures I couldn't post yesterday of Protea and the pouch I finished last night. I found a set of instructions for a lined boxy pouch which basically said "make two & then stitch one inside the other'. Hmmm. I may try it that way but there's got to be a "make them both at the same time" method, I just need to find it. An Etsy pattern may be the way to go, methinks.

And when you're not...

You're definitely not. I made another pouch to give to Miss Alex, who's 10 (nearly 11!) & got it all stitched up & then noticed I'd caught the little bit of a patch I made when I cut it out, in the side-seam & it had split. Damn. About the only thing I can do is to unpick the lining seam, turn it back out & then make it even narrower. Major bummer - and so I definitely can't give it to Alex. But I did make her another, much better, pink one, here! Also I have things to post that I've made for Kaz's birthday, but I can't post them yet because I know she reads this... sometimes!!!

Also, if anybody knows how to make a lined box-y pouch, can they tell me? Mine are definitely only coming out 'boat shaped' (which is not so bad really), but I want to make a proper lined box!!! See, the frustration did get to me. Off, off to the biscuit tin (I got some genuine McVities Ginger Nuts last week and they're mine, all mine!)