Zip!

Well, that was about the easiest pouch I've ever made (says she who's just made one other one...)... I'm sure I posted the link whereby I gotted this good stuff - (that's the technical, post NY lunch, term) - anyway, it's made me think about making some of these to sell in my shop but I want to make them a bit different to all the others out there, so I've been thinking (not easy on a hot sunny day when I'm full of fabulous food & Italian wine from here, let me assure you...) about how to do it & I have a cunning plan. You just have to wait to hear it. Really. It'll be worth it.

Anyway, this is number two (please, no, not 'a number two'), the second one I made. Note the neat top stitching on the bottom (confused yet?) and the carefully inserted zipper. Boy zips are easy when you get to cut the head & tail off them. Like dealing with a snake!

BTW, happy new year to you all (all one of you, I know who you are) & talk soon!

The Postman only rings once..

but he always delivers! I love it when I hear the 'thump thump thump' up the wooden steps to our front door - this morning there were four packages - it was better than Christmas. I got some beautiful fabric from here, some embroidery hoops from here, some plastic doll beads for the insides of my froggies from here, and some groooooovy baby new business cards from here!

Phew. Away, away to the sewing machine.

Busy, busy

So, or is that sew? My mother has been here & we've made not one, not two, not three but five, yes, five, drawstring bags... we had a surprise visit from my mother's partner's son & his wife (Hey you guys!) and Miss M (you know who you are) had a very cute little one she used for her jewellery. So we thought we'd have a go at it.

Anyway, luckily I had some leftovers from two summers ago in my magic box, and also I bravely sacrificed two fat quarters out of the good stuff, along with some ribbon... anyway, if anybody wants the very detailed instructions, please yell.

We did find a pattern on the net here but it's for a square jobby, and this one here didn't have a big enough header to suit my taste, so we made one up. There's a lovely seller on Etsy, Edie Castle Creations, and hers are gorgeous, so gorgeous in fact that I'm not even going to bother selling mine. Unless somebody yells!

I didn't get to make anything for the shop, either, but I did make these for Mum - the gorgeous cut velvet is from a shop in Painswick, in the UK, and I bought a whole 20cm to see if it would go in my living room (which it did, but then I had the dilemma of how I was going to get it home!)... it's stuffed with the fabulous fragrant lavender from Young, and some lovely Tanya Whelan Grand Revival lavender bags for Mum in the green. Gorgeous.

In the St Nick of time..

Snavelled them out of Mum's bag before she & Hank whipped off to the HV - here they are (but no Chloe, sorry).

Gone, all gone

So, my friend Kaz rings me and says "bring up all your stock of lavender bags, and all your frogs". And lo, they're all sold. Well, both the frogs have gone, Mr Rusty and Ms Spring Fresh, and some of the lavender bags, and also I had a request to make more lavender bags, another orange set, the set of Ava Rose in blue (which I had given to a friend & which I therefore had to make from scratch) and a set of something completely different. Whew.

Lucky I had some beautiful black & white stuff my mum gave me for my birthday (which was Saturday, btw, thanks for asking) so I made a set of 3X5" squares in the long rectangle style, with nice little black spotty buttons for emphasis. I haven't taken pictures yet but I will, soon. Also, I made Miss Chloe Frog, for Miss Mandy, as a christmas gift and didn't get to photograph her either (damn it) before she went off to Charlestown. So, no pictures, and a nearly empty shop! Off, off to the sewing machine. Is that an echo I hear????

Busy, busy

So, I've been a bit busy, which is why I'm up at 4.22am writing this. No, not really. I'm up at 4.22am writing this because I couldn't sleep. Anyway, I made some stuff - I found a lovely birdy pattern and decided to make one for a girl at work who's about to leave to have a bub, then I got somebody I don't really know in the Kris Kringle draw at work & thought "I can make one of these!". So I adapted it a bit (just shrunk it, really) & made a second one filled entirely with lavender, that doesn't scream "baby" quite so loudly.

Also, I made a bunch more lavender pyramids (I need a better name, any suggestions?) for people I work with, and two more of those nice bluebirds from here but I didn't get to take a picture of them, damn it. I did work out how to attach tags to them though so I can make a mobile out of them... more on that, later. Or is it earlier? Back to bed!

Serendipity!

So, yesterday My Lovely Hubby & I were very privileged to be guests at the 60th birthday dinner here for our good friend Az. Az & Kaz own the beautiful vineyard in the Hunter Valley where many of my best photos have come from, and we both love going up there, MLH because he gets to veg out on the ride-on mower or in the vines, and I get to talk complete rubbish with Kaz, with whom I am always in complete accord. Honestly, I've known that woman 17 years & we've never had a cross word. I can't even say that about my family!

Anyway, Kaz asked me to bring along some of these along, which I did... and there were some other lovely people there who needed small gifts to take along to a family christmas where there were going to be people who needed a small gift, you know the kind, not big enough to embarrass, but big enough to say "we thought of you", and lo! They ordered 3 sets on the spot. So here they are - plus Kaz ordered another 2 sets. Man, the sewing machine is flying!