Can I get a Whoo Whoo?

Whilst I was trying to be amusing with the post title, I think my sense of humour lost it somewhere between my brain (yes, I do actually have one, it's just not used too often!) and my fingertips....but anywhoo, the reason for this post is because I didn't share something with you.....and I'm sure, my good friend Marc, must be thinking I don't like it all, when that's not the case in the slightest.....well word wise it's true, I don't like it, I LOVE IT....wait till you see the pics, you'll see just what a spoilt brat I am *winks*

(BTW, I didn't have room anywhere to take nice pics, coz I'm such a grot and have way too much stuff - did I really just admit that out loud? OMG slaps self on the back of the wrist.....and being that all my goodies deserved a good spotlight, I've 'thieved' the pics from Marc's blog.  If you'd like to be astounded at all the great work my lovely friend does, then click HERE)

To set the background story, Khristina of Sew Prim Khris used to have a F.R.I.E.N.D.S Swap on her blog, but when I contacted her about it, she said she wasn't going to be doing it this year for various reasons....so I asked her could I steal the idea (you must all think I'm such a thief now huh?  First stealing the swap idea, and then stealing Marc's pics!) and run it at the local Quilting group I was attending....she said yes, so I ran with it!

All up, I think 9 of us participated in the swap, and OMG there were soooo many great new ideas for letters, but enough about that, because I can, yet again, hear you mumbling...stop waffling and show us the pics Nomes...sooooooooooooo here ya go....as seen on this post by Marc are:

Above shows you my F gifts, which was a gorgeous owl fabric bucket (once you've seen all the pics, you'll see that she knows me, and my love for owls really well), Freddo Frog and Five fat quarters.  Each gift was wrapped up with all different owl print outs and she'd written great explanations on them, you know, just in case my brain was too overwhelmed with the goodies, to work out what they were lol  F said Fabulous Fabric bucket with Five Fantastic Fat quarters and a Freddo Frog.....how cute huh?

Above shows the R gifts, (I've swapped to just writing the explanation from Marc's gift tags now) Rapacious Radiant Reversible bag with Red Rosie frogs and a Road Trip Refreshment snack bag!

Inspiring Inspirational quote cover with Interesing Items (please note, the item on the far right was one of Marc's props!)

Excellent Enjoyable Everyday Elephant sewing bag, with Extras and Eclairs.

Nice Neat Nifty Notion bag with Notions and a Nougat bar.

Dashing Delightful Dog for a draftee door with Dainty Decorative clips.

Smashing, Splendid, Superb Sewing Bucket with Six Sexy fabric Strips and Sssssweet Ssssssnakes.

And the obligatory group hug I mean group shot for good measure....ain't it all Bee-hoot-iful?  Well, even if no one else thinks so, I do, and as it's ALL MINE (get your eyes off it Terri lol) and I love, love LOVE it to bits.  Thanks again Marc, and I apologise for not only stealing your pics, but for taking so long in doing the blog post about it.

Free Pattern

In the spirit of giving, I've finally gotten around to uploading the pattern pieces and a mini tutorial to make your own softies like the ones below.

So if you'd like to grab a copy of the pattern, please click HERE.  You are welcome to make these for yourself, gifts and even for sale, so long as they're made by you, and not mass produced in a sweatshop/factory.  Feel free to share this post where ever you want, such as Facebook or Pinterest and help spread some Hooty love.

If you'd like to purchase one of these owls, I will have some for sale in my online shop, Made By Nomes,  very soon...to view my shop, click HERE.

Merry Christmas to everyone xx

EDIT:  Now that Christmas is over and done with, I can share the pic with you of the one mentioned in the tutorial....Dougal McOwl (made for my bestie)

New wallet pattern I purchased

This is a very quick and easy pattern to make....and light on supplies required too....it takes just two fat quarters of fabric, some stiff interfacing, a zip and a magnet......all of which I already had for this one...well kind of....as there's a story attached to it......you see the day Karis of Clobird Designs released the FIONA FOLDING WALLET pattern, available for purchase HERE I bought it and took it along to quilting and one of my friends, Wendy, was making herself a paint brush roll out of this fabric...so I said to her, if you give me a fq of it, I'll make you something out of it.....she ended up giving me half a metre as she couldn't be bothered sub-cutting it to a fq lol  I added the plain blue homespun and made her a Fiona folding wallet.....which she loves.   I forgot to sew in one of my labels on this one, but have made others (which I'll share pics with you another time) and remembered to put the label in on them hee hee

Karis has a competition running at the moment....which you can read about here on her Facebook Page if you purchase the pattern and enter the competition....be sure to tell her I sent you, so she knows how you found out about the pattern. 

Here's a list of the prize package up for grabs.....very generous huh?

What you will win:

* 2 yards of fabric from Art Gallery Fabrics
* 8 magnetic snaps
* 8 7" zippers
* A few extra surprises ~ because I'm just that kinda girl

Now I'm going to try something, and if it doesn't work, I guess I'll just look a bit sillier than usual, but meh, I'm used to looking silly....that's why I get called a dag so often lol  For the non Aussie readers, I thought I'd best put an explanation for a dag for you...so you might have an inkling as to why I get called that lol

Sourced from here.

Well, that's all for this time....please consider getting the #FionaFoldingWallet pattern and even entering the competition...ya gotta be in it to win it right?  (Do hashtags even work on blogs?  That was the thing I was going to try.....guess I'll find out when I hit publish lol)

Around the World Blog Hop reminder post

As promised from last week, here is your reminder post about the blogs for you to visit today...have fun and I am looking forward to reading their posts as well.

Partricia's blog is HERE
Marc's blog is HERE

Don't forget to enter my giveaway from last week, as you still have approximately another week to enter it...good luck.  If I get enough entries, I might even add more prizes...so be sure to share the post or this one and get the word out there!

Around The World Blog Hop & a Giveaway

Please click to play the video I've popped in this post whilst you have a read...fitting song, yes? no?  I thought of it as soon as my online friend Maria of Mia Creates blog fame asked me if I'd like to participate in this blog hop.  If you'd like to read her post about the Around The World Blog Hop, please click HERE.

Before I go on, I guess I should let you know a few facts about me, that you may or may not already know....

•  I was due to  be born on December 13th, I kind of went dormant (shuddup, it doesn't explain anything, let alone alot about me lmao) for about 2 months,  but back in that era, if the baby was still alive, they let you cook as long as you wanted, within reason, and so I arrived on February 22nd, weighing in at a healthy by the late 60's standard baby weights...9lb's 10 oz's.
• My favourite colour is purple, has been for years....but it used to be a different colour.....can you guess what colour it was?  See below for the giveaway.
• I love owls, and have lots of hooty gear and fabric...but always on the lookout for more....hey, it's not a collection once you stop collecting...at least that's what I keep telling people lol
• I have 1 daughter (almost 29 yrs old, tomorrow in fact.....Happy Birthday baby girl, love you xxx) and 1 son (16 years old), my daughter has given me two wonderful gifts, in the form of my 2 gorgeous granddaughters, and this is my all time favourite pic of them both.

The big sister on the left is TaShie and she turned 7 years old last week, and the little cutie on the right is Justice and she will be 1 yr on January 1st 2015

Now, it's time to get on with the 'official' blog hop stuff.....I have some questions to answer now, as part of the hop, so for new readers, you can learn a little about crazy ol' me lol  *Rubs hands together.....come in to my parlour said the spider to the fly!*

1. What am I working on? 

I am thinking I should be narrowing this down to just one thing, but pffft, as if I ever have just one thing on the go....maybe in an alternative universe I'm that good, but now, in this world, I tend to have lots of things on the go, and have to eventually get around to finish them...hopefully! Recently, I made 2 Bionic Gear Bags, for 2 very close friends (1 is my bestie!)....I really need to make me one, because Terri and Marc, well more so Terri, keeps rubbing my nose in it, that they've got BGB's and I haven't lol  Here's their two that I made.

 The above 2 pics are of Marc's, and the 2 pics below are Terri's, which you can tell from her name badge!

If you'd like to make a Bionic Gear bag for yourself, click HERE to purchase the pattern.  If you happen to leave a comment on that site, be sure to tell 'Ripstitcher' that I sent you!

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

There's a genre for 'crazy lady crafter who can't make up her mind what she wants to make'??? lol  I didn't think so, but to answer the question....I believe my work differs from others within the same genre spectrum by the choices in fabric I make....I have a large collection (always sounds nicer than stash don't you think?  Plus I have run out of spots to 'stash' my fabric anyway haha) of fabric that I've been collecting for years, so some is more dated to say the least.  This is a pic of just part of my collection of fabric....the collection kind of spans across a few bedrooms and the living room/lounge room!

3. Why do I create what I do? 

 Simple answer.....because!  I know that's not an explanation as to why, but it's why I create the things I do....because I can....is that a better answer? lol  I enjoy creating things, whether they be my own design, or using a tutorial or pattern that someone else has designed.

4. How does my writing/creating process work?

The longest part of my creative process, is deciding which fabric or fabrics to use....seriously I pick a pattern out (sometimes that takes a while to do as well) and immediately I have a mental picture form in my head of what fabric I can see the item being made in, then I have to go find the fabric to complete the puzzle.....doesn't always happen.....sometimes I make do with an alternative fabric, mostly though, I go and acquire the necessary fabric choice at the shops or online....ahem, so what if it's self enabling!

If you had asked me 7 years ago, if I'd ever make a quilt, then I would probably still be laughing at you...I used to joke around in a friends online group, that I was never going down the quilting vortex, but now, I've made a few quilts, some were following patterns and some were just what I like to call 'put togethers' as in you have a pile of blocks and you work out how many are needed for the desired quilt size (which in my case, is usually for Aussie Hero Quilts) and sew them together....Shock, horror and amazement, I even FMQ (Free Motion Quilt) most of  them myself lol

*Insert drumroll* My nominations for next Mondays (8th September) Around the World Blog hop posts are:-

Patricia whom I met just a short while ago via Facebook, and I was laughing as she'd put links to blogposts in the FB group showing her messy sewing room....between you, me and the lamp post, hers is like a showroom studio at it's worst compared to mine at its best...and no, I'm not showing you mine lol  To read her Around the world blog hop post, click HERE next Monday and whilst you're there, consider following her blog....she doesn't have many followers, and I think she deserves millions :)

In my efforts to find another person to participate in the blog hop, I asked Marc from Daisy-Jayne...you might remember her from the FRIENDS swap last year....we ended up partnered together....and just so happen to live in neighbouring towns...so we manage to catch up at least once a fortnight, if not more often.  She's crazy, vivacious, creative, clever and oh so funny.  Go on over and check out her blog post, by clicking HERE.

I'll be popping a reminder post up next monday in case you forget to go check their blogs out!

Ok, now for the giveaway.....if you would like the chance to be the lucky new owner of this item

then please leave a comment saying what you think my favourite colour USED to be....it's purple now.....but that's not what I used to favour......all correct answers will go into the draw, and on 15th September, I will use the random number generator to pick the lucky winner.....open to everyone....international entries welcome.

I just had a light bulb moment!! (Mini Tutorial)

I just checked my emails and I had one from Missouri Quilt Co....Jenny was showing us the following video for a JRR (Jelly Roll Race) quilt version 3.0



It was whilst watching her do the triangles that I thought of this technique that Ricky Tims & Alex Anderson shared



Then......I thought oooooh, what if I combined the two techniques...and so I madly scrambled to the cutting mat (ok, so it might have been stumbled over fabric etc to get to the cutting mat, but we won't go there lol), found a few pieces of fabric in the right sizes, because I don't want to try it on a big size project if it ain't gonna work, right?

So I cut myself two x 2 & 1/2" strips by the width of this roll of fabric I have (the roll is approx 9 & 3/8" wide) THEN, I cut a 2 & 1/2" x 4 & 1/2" rectangle in another colour fabric.

I folded the rectangle together with the wrong sides together. As shown in this next pic.

Have your 2 & 1/2" (Jelly Roll strip) strip laying horizontally with the r/s facing up, place the folded rectangle onto either the left or right hand bottom corner of the longer strip.  Make sure that the fold is at the top, click on the pic to enlarge it to see it better  *Note, it shouldn't matter which end you do, so long as you are consistant, especially if you're doing this on a quilt sized project.

In the next pic, I've put my scissors on the fabric to show where the fold of the rectangle should be.

Now take the next 2 & 1/2" strip and place it on top, to create a sandwich, making sure to place it r/s facing down.

Now you're going to sew down either the right or left hand seam...depending on which end you've placed the folded unit between the two jelly roll strips.  In the pic, I sewed down the side seam indicated by my thumb!

(This next bit I didn't take pics of, but it is shown in the video down a bit further.)  Take your work to your iron, and you are going to set the stitching first, then you'll open up your jelly roll strip so that the seam allowance is away from the goose!  Press this nice and flat.  Now you're going to reach in under the goose.....no, not to tickle his belly, but to open the goose out....spread his wings so to speak!

Once that's done, and you're happy with how the bottom edges are lined up, press your goose down really nicely, you want a nice crease along the triangle edges, especially if you're doing this as a JRR (Jelly Roll Race quilt....guess this one is 4.0 or would it be 3.1??) as the geese are going to be loose until you start sewing the long strip together as you would normally do.

 This pic shows the front view

And in this one, you can see the back view

If you're making this as a smaller project, such as on a pouch. bag or tablerunner, then just add strips either side as I did in the crappy video below.

Once you've either sewn strips to either side, or you've finished making the JRR quilt top, then you get to Cathedral window the geese....however many you've done or want to do....because this version of the geese have bias edges to them, they soooo easily curve towards the centre and make a really nice effect...see the video and pics for more explanations.

Hopefully I've explained this good enough for you to understand....do you like it?  I do, and I will be trying it out on a quilt size project soon....wish me luck.

I'm not claiming this as all my own idea, but more like inspired by Jenny Doan and The Quilt Show with Ricky Tims.  If you know of someone else who has already done this technique, please let me know...and I'll happily give them credit.  I wouldn't even know where to begin to name it apart from JRR Version 3.1 or 4.0 lol

Now it's your turn...if you try this mini tutorial out, please let me know and send me a link to where you have the pics of the block so I can see how yours turned out.

Well, here's where the video will be...eventually, it's taking what seems like an eternity for the block to upload to my dropbox, so hopefully I can work out how to share it on here directly from there, or I'll have to upload it to YouTube and then embed it here...bear with me, the video is coming, I promise.

Update....the video is in my dropbox, so fingers crossed it will be right under this paragraph by the time I submit this post.  Sadly it is too big to be embedded, so for now I will share the link to the video in my dropbox, and whilst I sleep tonight, I'll upload it to YouTube and pop it in later.



Error alert...in the video I tell you to fold the rectangle in half with the r/s together....the observant viewer will have noticed it should be w/s together......ignore my jammie sleeve in the video, and my fluff bunny coated iron.  No laughing at my accent either lol

Relaxing too much???

I couldn't resist sharing this cartoon I just saw on Facebook....I know you want to know why.....so here goes, one of my readers' (name withheld to protect me!), was telling me a while back, that when she goes to her Pilates class and once they get all warmed up and start doing the class, she always gets the urge to pass wind.....from the look of the cartoon, she may not be the only one who fights the urge hey? lol  Wonder how long it'll take her to realise this post is for her benefit lol

Till next time, happy sewing

Show n Tell

Hello you lovely people,

I have a few things that I have finally uploaded pics for, and thought I would share them with you tonight.....hope your eyes are ready for a photo feast?  I hope they're not disappointed lol

First up, is a pincushion, you can never have too many of them I reckon, but this one is like the big Momma pincushion that presides over all other pincushions lol

The pattern has you leave a gap along the bottom edge of the pocket section....and I don't like having to hand stitch through so many layers, so I used my creative licence and altered the construction of the pattern....guess where?  I made the wedges up as per the pattern, but once the top piece was done, I folded it up and cut a bit off the centre bit, to make a hole.....this is where I turned it the right way out, and also how I put the stuffing in...then I covered it all with those two yo yo's.  Check out the super cute scissor buttons...and woot woot they're purple too.  (Pattern is from The Patchwork Cow)

Next up, is two Bionic Gear Bags.....which you can purchase the pattern for here.  Sally Thompson, the lady who is behind the Bionic Gear Bag (BGB) pattern, is a really lovely lady, and if you go check out her website here, you can see not only her video on how much stuff she fits in her BGB, but you can see all the other colour combo's that other people have made.

First up is my bestie's BGB....it was part of her birthday present a couple of weeks ago (yes, it's take me 12 days to pull my finger out and upload the pics lol) She now has even more stuff inside it than when I took the photos....coz these bags hold a WHOLE bunch of stuff...and now Terri has one big pouch instead of about 4 that she used to tote around with her to quilting!

Terri is like me, she loves owls, and her favourite colour is purple....makes it hard to have 'unique' hooty stuff I can tell ya lol

Next up is Marc's BGB....I made it as part of her birthday present too, but it's not her birthday till next month, but I had kind of mentioned to her that I was making her and Terri the same thing....so she got her BGB about a month early....her fabric tastes are 'country' so I went shopping in my stash and these are the colours I came up with for hers.

In the front right of the last pic of Marc's you can see the small fabric dish...it's held in place with magnets, and you can use the gap behind the dish, in the corner there, to stand your pens, small scissors etc. I believe they both like them, Marc must like hers so far, as I couldn't spy a single baked bean or tomato sauce stain anywhere lol  (Sorry Marc xx)


If you want to make a BGB, then please click HERE to go purchase the pattern, you won't regret it.

Next up, is a USB wallet that I designed ages ago...in fact it was about 12 months ago, and I can't remember if I've shown you before or not, and I'm too lazy to go check previous posts (am still in disgust at losing my template etc so am still sulking with my blog lol)...so either tah dah, here it is, or here it is again lol

I'm in the process of doing a tutorial for the USB wallet....and will need someone, maybe two people to test it...if you're interested in being a tutorial tester for me, please leave a comment....ideally, I'd like a relatively new sewist as well as an experienced one, so I can guage whether my destructions (instructions hee hee) make sense.....these would make a great stocking filler...especially for the geeks in the family lol

Ahhhhh, it feels sooooo good to be sharing pics of a few projects.....and if anyone makes the BGB, I'd love to see the pics....I know I'll be making some more soon....one for me is next on the BGB to do list.