Happy Birthday Deb!

Thursday was the birthday of my oldest friend in this country; we met when we were about 9, and my family moved to the small town where hers had lived for generations.... we weren't always friends, and we haven't always been friends since, but I like to think people move in & out of your life as you need them. She has two gorgeous children who I like very much (and that's saying a lot for me, as some of you may know...), and her friendship is very important to me, so I wanted to make her something, rather than buying her something. Anybody can buy stuff, but very special people make things. Or so I'm told by people who know - I just read a magazine article about Amy Butler where she says how fantastic it is that people don't look down on handmade stuff anymore - and I think so too. I love it that people appreciate how wonderful it is to be given something somebody spent time making, especially these days when we're all so time poor... my favourite quote is by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, who have absolutely nothing to do with sewing, but instead write some rather fabulous science fiction - they talk of "the precious irregularities of hand sewing", like it was rubies and diamonds, rather than the slightly off-perpendicular corners of a (beautifully lined) box pouch...

Anyway, enough burbling. Pictures of the gorgeous (IMHO!) froggie, pouch and lavender pyramids here...

Happy Birthday Deb!

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!

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.