Heat burns, y'know...

So, did I rave about the little iron mwh bought me for Christmas? Well, if I didn't, I should have, because it's great for getting into those tiny little corners & the insides of things. But it also has this magic property - it burns things... good thing I was watching (sort of) what I was doing... the silk bird (top left) I made has a light brown patch right under her tail from the shaft of the iron. Boy you have to watch those hot shafts.

Hmm. Moving right along.

I made these today, for Mary, and the birdies yesterday. I just love that Olive Rose. Also, as promised, I posted the zippered pouch & matching lavender bags off to MGF Kaz. We'll see what she has to say!

Back to work today. Notice how that's the last thing I note here? 'Nuf said.

Cricket, anybody?

Well, I don't know about you people but I'm really enjoying the colour and zing the latest South African cricket team has brought to this summer - from being a people who had segregated toilets based on your skin colour to being able to be photographed wearing the girliest of colours, pink, in honour of Jane McGrath & the McGrath Foundation, and also having people of different coloured skin and religious beliefs in their team - well, all I can say is, we've got a long way to go, baby.

In their honour, I have made this little darling; he's got the most fabulous variegated floral front, and stripes of many colours on the back, and of course I have named him Protea. What else?

I also made these, out of some gorgeous silk twill I bought years ago at the late, lamented Home Yardage store in York Street; I wish I'd bought the whole bolt, it was so beautiful and the first time I (gently, by hand) washed the blouse I made, it ran everywhere, leaving a pale imitation of itself. Ick. These are a bit wonky, so I'm selling them cheap. I do have a bit left, if anybody wants some non-wonky ones made. Just yell!

Pretty Frogging Good

I just made this pretty girl to replace Rusty, who I was quite attached to, and who I probably should not have sold (even though he did go to an excellent home and I know he'll be looked after and appreciated)... she's pretty cute & I'm going to advertise her for sale. I won't actually sell her, just use & abuse her for advertising. This must be like being a puppy breeder, I think... you can't get too attached to them because then how do you ever let them go?

Zippetty Doo Dah!

Man, when I've got it, I've got it. When you're hot, baby, you're hot. I made another two of these little babies, firstly using up some fat quarters I didn't really like that much (well, the pink is okay but the mustard is not really in my preferred quadrant of the colour wheel...) Snidely Whiplash eat your heart out.

Anyway, I digress... I thought the first lined one went well, but I couldnt work out how to put it together & still be able to trim the angles - so it has the pinked angles inside the lining. Who's ever going to look? Nobody, that's who. It's not going anywhere, except into the bag of unwanted prototyped sewn stuff... or maybe into my handbag? It's a good size for something, but I have no idea what - maybe a small iPod or camera?

Anyway, I got on the net, and found this excellent tutorial which walked me through making the lining, and all I had to do was figure out how to put in the corners from the other one - anyhooooo, mine has come out a little non-square (that's the technical term for boat-shaped, honest) but I like it. I'm going to send it to my friend Kaz with some matching lavender bags & then make some for sale ...

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.