Saturday, September 14, 2013

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.



Sunday, September 8, 2013

one for flip :: finished

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




Saturday, August 31, 2013

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.








Tuesday, August 20, 2013

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.
 

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

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...

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

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

Sunday, June 30, 2013

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.




Saturday, May 25, 2013

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)












Sunday, February 24, 2013

& 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