natural leather handbag

I have made a leather handbag, the hand stitching was a challenge that my fingers aren't going to forget in a hurry but it was so worth it.  I was scared I wouldn't be able to turn it right side out, but after applying a leather conditioner it turned with just a little force. Hubby turned the wooden balls for me, it's actually wood from a tree in the back yard.  On the inside I stuck a little pocket in for my phone.  So happy...

a visit to Leffler (what an amazing array of leather) - a piece of leather for $60 (with left overs) - 2m leather for the handle $6 a metre - some linen thread - quite a bargain for a new handbag.

slow project :: hexagons

Something slow has to be in the works, so I've started making a whole lot of hexagons from what's in the stash.  Lots of bits & pieces from other quilts too.

one for flip :: finished

Did I mention I was going to go with a striped border - I changed my mind - spots.
All finished.

gift bag

This is for my sister, it's her birthday tomorrow, I needed to make something today and here it is - a little gift bag for a card, some scissors & some cash...  I made the card with my very limited amount of photoshop skills.

this one is for flip

The plan was to have a another project to keep me occupied, however, the charcoal light denim that I have used is a little too heavy for hand quilting (the way I would have liked to) so I have already put this one together and machine quilted it.  My sister gave me the denim years ago and I've finally put it to good use.  I'm thinking of a black & off white striped binding, but I could change my mind once I'm in a fabric shop.  As this one will be finished quite soon looks like I'm going to have to start on something else...

Before quilting I cut some holes in the top, put some backing behind and did some stitching around them with sashiko thread.  The edges were left raw so they could fray nicely after a couple of washes.

 

sashiko all over :: finished

It's been 8 months in the making & it's finished - sashiko all over.  It's quite weighty which I like, there's a whole lot of sashiko thread in there.  Another quilt suitable for the couch, I think it could be my new favourite.

pic taken standing on a chair

The binding is just the backing folded over and stitched down, where there are patches of calico on the binding, that's where the backing didn't quite reach around.  I didn't have a clear plan at the start but I'm so happy with how it looks now. 

On the weekend I had to start something new, it would seem I have to have quilt on the go at ALL times - even though it can remain idle for quite long periods.  I don't like the feeling of nothing 'in progress' hanging over the chair near my sewing area, it's a little empty.  The next one is for 'flip', he asked if he could have the next one - more to come...

crafternooning

on the weekend bell's & I did a little crafting from this book:-

we made a spinning pin wheel with some double sided printed paper

as well as some cloud & raindrop window hangings 

along with an owl birthday card for her cousin which I don't have a photo of...

next on the list is some of these paper beads

printing triangles

so much fun - printing triangles, first of all I cut out one triangle from carving rubber - I quickly realised I need one triangle per colour.  It would have taken ages and measuring to do one colour followed by another etc. etc.  I'm not too keen on measuring - who's got the time..?

i picked out colours and printed that out on paper, not that I followed it - it was more for colour selection and the size of the triangle.  I mixed some fabric paint and started stamping on some cotton voile.  Three shades of grey, silver and a light pink.

and now I have a scarf, the fringing took several hours.

i even used a different foot on my sewing machine - the rolled hem foot, quite impressed with that one.  The standard foot is on the machine 99% of the time.

socks

first attempt at knitting a pair of socks, the pattern I'm following is from the purl bee.  I don't think I have enough wool, so maybe 1 sock will be like the pics below, the other - not sure yet.  The wool was a little too expensive to warrant buying more of the same just for socks.  I could do them shorter but I like the look of the cable pattern that goes all the way up to just below the knee.

I liked the look of the wool before I rolled it into a ball.  It's slow going I'll admit but I'm sure I'll finish before winter is over   ......maybe.

tea towels

saw this tutorial for vintage tea towels over at the purlbee and I needed to do something last night - so here are mine.  I made 3 from some white linen I had lying around in a couple of hours.  All are different sizes and I didn't draw measured lines like the tutorial mentioned to do, I'm quite happy with my 'organic' lines.  My lines are by eye which I'm sure is quite obvious : )

*note to self (red thread was Gutermann  2255 cotton & the green thread was Gutermann 153 polyester)

& then there were 3

well it would seem I couldn't stop at 1, here's 2 more, so much fun to make - a quick little project.  I love the evenness of crochet.

I haven't used any of them yet, my theory was make another to USE and I wouldn't feel bad about it - I would keep one as is and 1 may be for a gift...  What is wrong with me - why can't I use one!!!!!

Do I have to make 1 more...? probably