What a Week!

Thanks to the school where I work holding two other events this week, I have had 2 DAYS OFF!!! Plus some other cancellations meant a very empty week. So at last it was worth setting up a trestle table in the living room for some sewing!


What a relief to finish off some projects that have been on my mind for ages, and what fun to start and finish some new projects in just one week. Normally the sewing machine has to go on the dining table which means packing up before school finishes.

What I have made this week:

1. Finished off a needlebook for a friend (ok it wasn't made with the sewing machine but couldn't be finished till I went through EVERY box of fabric I own to find that piece of wool blanketing to stop the needles from rusting)




2. Made a gift for a new baby at church - a bag in cute fairy fabric with a felt bunny (pattern here)


3. Then another baby girl was born so I made another bag, this one more bunny-sized and I have cut out a second bunny to stitch.

4. A little drawstring bag for my mp3.

5. Two nights ago this Tone Finnanger book arrived from Amazon

and I was seriously inspired, especially by this

so I put this together yesterday. I sewed happily inside while outside the rain poured down, and felt sorry thoughts for my daughters outside at their school swimming carnival!





The colours don't look so great in the photo but I think it will have a nice vintage feel. In the book the reverse applique method is used to make the pictures, but after failing a heart in this method I am thinking of embroidering the designs rather than appliqueing. Maybe it will hang in the hall ... hmmm it will have to since every other wall is covered already. (some by windows LOL don't imagine our house is completely covered with pictures or anything!)



6. This morning a new friend came over and we did some stamping:

taken from this idea and made a few other cute cards.

Plus ...


- shortened and removed blockout lining from girls' curtains


- adjusted maternity-lookalike top


- sorted through all fabric


- quilted more of the Vinnies quilt (story to come)


- chose fabric for a quilt for a workshop


- and bought this - not sure what to make it into yet.






And not only did I craft but this morning I cooked dinner for us and another family, cooked lunch in case my friend stayed, hung out washing AND walked the girls to school all before 10.00am. Unheard of.

Oh the things I could do if I didn't work. But would I keep it up? Or is this the momentum of knowing that it is only for this week?

Finished!

At last today I have gotten my sewing machine out. In fact not just the sewing machine but a whole trestle table for a week of sewing! Today I have a day off, and Friday also, so am hoping to get lots done.

It is very satisfying to finish this project, a little ironing bag with a vintage embroidery design. Why (you may ask) did I bother to go to all that trouble to make an ironing bag of all things???

Because:

a) I have been wanting to make a little bag to hold the water cup, the lint brush thingy and a teatowel to test for a clean iron, because otherwise they get lost in the broom cupboard

b) I have decided that from now on all my craft must be functional - no more knick-knacks which just sit around collecting dust because there are no more walls or surfaces for them

c) I have also decided that the functional must be beautiful. Or at least aesthetically pleasing to me if no one else!

Other projects for this week:

- adjust a cute shirt which makes me look pregnant so that I don't look so pregnant

- choose fabrics for a quilt workshop

- maybe sew a gift for a baby at church

- make another bag in pinky-beige vintagey colours

So I'd better stop blogging and get on with it!

Second-hand Sunshine

Yesterday I went to Vinnies and found these:

The set includes

coffee pot

creamer

sugar bowl minus lid

5 cups

6 saucers

and cost just $8.00

I tried to leave them in the shop, because really while I love that 60s/70s look it just isn't really us, but those yellow flowers kept calling me, so I bought them.


Then I went back an hour later because I realised that the yellow placemats I had almost bought the first time would actually match. As does our yellow teapot (which is just as well since I don't even drink coffee!)

This was my other bargain - today at a $2.00 shop I found these for just 80c each, and am hoping they will work well with felt, also the girls can use them more easily than stranded cotton.

My other fun thing yesterday and today was to make this bracelet, my first try at a charm-style bracelet using chain rather than wire. I'm happy with it and wore it today but it needs more charms, especially near the clasp.

For afternoon tea just now we have enjoyed "Coconut Ice Cupcakes" topped with coconutty icing. Laura did a lot of the baking. Too yummy!

Crafty Thursday

A wreath made from cardstock using my Cuttlebug, for someone who needs cheering.

In Craft this morning I finished my embroidery and started this little bird (something I had planned to stitch before Christmas). I finished it this afternoon during a thunderstorm with lightning cracking right overhead. A nice distraction!

Craft Group Tomorrow!

Well this week has been a slap-in-the-face return to "real life" for me. The girls are settling back into school and homework is back to fill that mid-afternoon lull. I began piano teaching again on Monday, it was lovely to see my students again, and I got so much done , despite being so busy that day, but since then I seem to have been going to medical appointments and getting shopping done, in between feeling tired and headachey.

But tomorrow am off to craft group again! Yey!

Just knowing that I have a few hours set aside for craft keeps me going through all the ups and downs of my day.

I have almost finished my embroidery, which will definitely be finished tomorrow, and I might do some scrapbooking too.... then to make my embroidery into the finished project ... a little something to bring a smile to a mundane chore.

The scene above (sorry about the reflection of the flash!) is a "corner of my home" - my sewing corner, complete with a vintage sewing machine that belonged to my aunt, a needlebook I made and a pincushion made by by mother-in-law (I added the ribbon) which is made with a plastic lid, covered with velvet and filled with coffee grounds which are supposed to stop your pins from rusting. And 5 years or more later I can say that yes, it works. None of my needles have rusted. All sitting on top of my Balinese spice drawers I found at a garage sale. I just wish I could remember what is in which drawer! I am forever opening them one after the other trying to find some sewing notion. But it holds my threads and my tools all handy to the dining table where I usually work. And looks good to boot.

Loving my new stamps!

All created with Stampin' Up products. Loving having coordinating cardstock and stamp pads at last :-)