Hero Uniform transformation

A while ago, I pleaded with an 'Army' friend, to part with a couple of his old Army shirts so I could make an Army bag out of it....such as the military bags you see in the U.S.A  After a little coaxing, and the promise that he could have one of the bags to give to someone as a gift, so long as I got to keep one for me....he relented and sent me 2 shirts.

I've sat and deliberated over them for a couple (maybe it's a few!) weeks, trying to pluck up the courage to cut into at least one of the bags....Yesterday became the do or die day....and I hacked and sewed and designed on the fly.....here's the fruits of my labours.

This is the shirt in it's uncut state.

In case you're wondering, I've smudged out his name badge, to protect his identity...but on the actual bag, the name shows up....I just don't think I should be brandishing his name about in cyber space....but around South Australia on my bag, it'll be fine lol

Then, after holding my tongue to the west and the scissors to the east, and with a snip snip here and a snip snip there, I had gone too far to stop.

I managed to get a fairly decent size tote/shoulder bag, a zippered pouch and a coin purse/phone holder out of the one shirt...you beauty...that means there'll be enough for me to make me a decent sized bag, and maybe a coin purse like the one pictured below.

I removed the Aussie logo off the sleeve and sewed it (yes, I must've had my eyes crossed when I lined it up for middle....I should've used a tape measure huh?) onto the panel for the zippered pouch.

So, there you have it, bag one.....bag two to follow soon-ish....as I have 2 baby bags to make ASAP and also some Christmas Pressies I hope to achieve, along with the binding on a very special Aussie Hero Quilt for one of the girls at my quilting groups son....who we get to present it to him on 18th December.  Hopefully I'll be able to share pics of him with his quilt...will let you know.  Till next time...happy sewing.

Rememberance Day 2013

Today it is Remembrance Day, a time to reflect on 'heroes' of World War I.  At 11am on the 11th November, we have a minutes silence because  at 11 am on 11 November 1918 the guns of the Western Front fell silent after more than four years continuous warfare.  A short while ago, I spied the pic below on my friends' Facebook page and thought I would share it here, for those of my friends who don't do Facebook.

Lest we forget

Grab your 2014 Owl Calender

Some really nice options for next years calender...don't delay, grab yourself your free downloadable 2014 Owl Calender by clicking on the pic below

Recent works, a mini tutorial & new hair colour

Just in case you thought I was having another hiatus in the craft department, then you'd have thought wrong....I have a few finishes, but can only show you two at the moment, until the others arrive to their destination.

First up is a tablerunner top...not technically a finish, but it's a 'hope to be finished soon' kinda deal lol

Quick and easy tablerunner....4 solid corner squares and the rest is all hst's...it doesn't all have to be one colour for the patterned bits....you could do two colours and a solid background colour and also use hst's on the corners, but face them dark side to the corners....even a scrappy one would look good.  To make it, work out what size you want the finished squares to be and add half an inch....so I started with 5 & 1/2" squares, made my hst's and trimmed them to 5".  Sew them together in rows, alternating the way the seams are pressed on each row, so they nestle together and play nicely lol  Then sew the rows together....and tah dah a tablerunner that's quick, easy and effective looking.  Back and batt it and then quilt it as desired, bind it and you're all done (labelling is an optional extra), pat yourself on the back.

Next is a birthday block for one of the 'gals' at the quilting group I attend....her birthday was a while back, but with her being away, and then me being away, I haven't had the chance to give it to her.....but here's the block (2nd one, I misplaced the first one!) I made for Heather B, who wanted teddy bears on black.

Later on in the year, once the last gal has her block, I'll post a photo of all the blocks I made this year....next year I think I'll try and get some of the girls interested in doing a squishy fq swap for birthdays....I have enough quilt blocks from swaps to keep me busy next year, without adding another quilt full lol

Lastly, today I went to my friend Carols place, and she foiled me...well, not me exactly, she did foils on my hair....so I went with this hair colour....

And came home this colour.....

Think I need eye surgery....my eyes are uneven lol  Think it was all those years of wearing my long hair plaited over to one side of my head....will try and find a pic of it one day, so you can see why I think it's my hairs fault that I have wonky eyes lol

Till next time

Pricing - how much would you pay?

This is a bit of a strange post, even for me....but having spied a couple of sites recently who don't charge for their patterns, instead they have a tip jar (how cool....sounds way more fun than a contribute or donate button right? Although the standard button from paypal is Donate still) then today, googling for something, I happened across a very cute to hoot Halloween quilt pattern, which is available for purchase here

The above is the quilt in discussion here...it is/was a BOM, but now you can buy the pattern....whoop whoop, so off I toodled to the above site.....AND then, I saw the price......$78.00 for one quilt pattern....seriously?  I could possibly, would probably consider buying it if it were about $20 or even $25 but almost $80...sorry, but I just don't get it...if only I could draw and come up with something similar....but I struggle to even draw a straight line...with a ruler....well ok, I'm not quite that bad, but almost!
Don't get me wrong, I understand that a designer should get some sort of reward for their talent and skill, but if 100 people bought that pattern...that's a healthy down payment on a new car, for just one pattern in a designers line....you can't tell me that ALL designers are making this kind of money...surely?  I know I'm coming  across as a whiney tight arse grinch, but it just grates at me, how much money people want to make on one item all the time.

So, as the title of this post says...how much would you pay for a pattern that you really really like?  How much is the most you've paid for a pattern, and have you used that pattern yet?

Thank you to Angela, who is the main 'culprit' for having great write ups on her blog about reverse engineering, copyright and how she's a 'Copy Leftist'