Lots of things

Well, albeit a few days late, I opened my cushion cover swap gift from over at the Craft Forum, and hoot hoot, it's got an owl on it!  Seeeeeeeeeeee!

And check out the 'wrapping paper' Jeanette used

Yep, fabric, tied up with ribbon, both of which will end up being recycled.  Thanks for my cute cushion cover Jeanette, I love it.

Talking of swaps, I've joined in on Ally's (ala Quilting Mumma) Mug Rug Swap, and here's the mug rug I'm sending off to.....oh wait, ssssssh it's a secret who this is going to be sent to, which, unfortunately won't happen till Monday now....sorry mystery new owner, but I've had car woes again this week, but even if I have to catch a taxi, I'll get it to the Post Office on Monday.

 You can find the tutorial for this mug rug here.

See my little label?  I printed a whole bunch of the off a while ago, and had buried them on my craft table, but recently I re-discovered them, and decided to start using them up, as I want to make myself some that are a bit bigger, and a bit more user friendly!


I've also been messing around with HST's and here's some of the layouts I discovered so far:

 The gap in the middle in the one above, would be where you would insert a stitchery or a completely different block!

Of all the different ones I tried, this is my favourite layout of them I think, not sure if it has a name, but I like it....do you know if it has a name????  My absolute favourite block to use the HST's on is Annies Choice and here's a couple of examples of ones I've made for a Birthday Block Swap I'm in on a Facebook Group.

Moving along......

I'm super excited, there's only 11 more sleeps until sign ups start for this years Santa Sack Swap, hosted by the awesome Cheryll from Gone Stitchin.  This year, she's limiting the amount of participants, so if you think you might like to join, make sure you mark the 15th May down in your diary, or else you might miss out.  You'll be kicking yourself if you miss it, I did it last year, and it was a blast!  Cheryll also hosts several other great swaps throughout the year, so be sure to visit her blog to see what's on the schedule at the moment.

Back tracking slightly, as well as messing around with the HST's, I've also been finding heaps of tutorials, one of them being the D9P Variation, which you can find here and the pics of the ones that Polly made with my fabric (whilst I was busy making some D9P's of my own!) are shown below.  Sometimes, well usually, Polly usually brings her own projects with her (she lives next door so it's handy to have a crafty neighbour hey? lol) but when she doesn't and she's starting to look like she's going to spontaneously combust if I don't put her to work, I of course have to oblige!  That night was one of those times muhahahaha, well she does call me the Evil One!

Chock-A-Block really is chockers with some great blocks and I highly recommend going there for a squizz....grab a cuppa first, you'll be a while!

And below are the pics of the D9P blocks I was working on.  The bottom pic is a close up of the prints, although the green one is still a wee bit hard to see....they are little meeces on the green background.  I bought a few packs of 4" charm squares a while ago (read a couple of years or more ago!) and have finally used them.  I have a few of the fish ones left, but I've used all the kitty cats and mice squares and they will make a great quilt.  I just have to decide whether to make two cot quilts with sashing and borders, or to make a single bed sized one with sashing and borders. I think either will look great and I'll use the remaining fish ones in as corner stones.

 Well, that should have kept you busy a while, so I'll say ciao for now, don't forget to mark the Santa Sack Swap in your diary, and if you miss out, don't be blaming me, I've made sure you know where it's at, when it's at and have even put the button up on my side bar, should this post get buried under new posts before the 15th.

Forgive me readers

......for I have sinned, it's been 6 days since I last posted....and with no further religious references, because I don't want to offend anyones' beliefs, I'll get into my latest post.

Here's a sneaky peek at the cushion cover I made for a swap in the Craft Forum (link in my sidebar).  Opening day is tomorrow, and I'll post again then to show you not only the full cover that I made, but also the one I received from my partner.

 Doesn't give much away does it?   LOL, oh well only one more sleep and you can see the rest of it!

 I have a very dear friend, Jenny C, who I went to Para West Adult Campus with, a few years back, and we've kept in touch, via Facebook.  Well, a couple of times now, I've managed to be on at the right time, to catch her "who'll give me $ (insert amount) for (insert photo) this fabric....both times I've scored BIG TIME, and this last time was NO exception.....I even scored the huge bucket the fabric was in....as you can see, it's overflowing...and I got all that for $10....BARGAIN CITY right?

These are all pics of the fabrics I received....most are fq or bigger, some are even 2+ metres.  I don't believe I found one useless/ugly piece of fabric in there.

 I'm happy with all of it, and if you look at the pic below, you'll see she even had some owl fabric in the mix!

Honestly, it was like emptying out a Mary Poppins Bag....the fabric was just coming and coming....lol  Love it all, so thank you Jenny xxx

I did give a piece or two to my next door stalker, Polly, but the rest has been re folded and stacked neatly back in the bucket and will be getting used as I begin to practice quilting...yes, I still haven't mastered the art of FMQ on a domestic machine.....boo hoo hoo.

I have also started a new page (up there at the top of my blog) for videos I like, and no, the closest you'll get to porn is fabric/quilting porn!  The first video I've embedded there is a great FMQ stencil video tutorial by Don Link.  Do watch it if you've been searching for an alternative to plastic stencils and/or press and seal.

I had a friend visit for the weekend, and whilst I didn't get much done in the way of sewing, I did get a frilly scarf knitted for a client/friend who saw me showing the yarn on Facebook and put an order in for one.  They are sooooo quick and easy to knit, and once I had the right needles, had it finished in no time.  I started out with a circular needle, but got fed up of wrestling with the long loopy bit, then I swapped to straight needles but as they were long, I kept getting them hooked up in the knitted dangling end of the scarf, and it was driving me nuts, yeah yeah, I know, not a very long journey!  Here's a pic of Colleen B's scarf.

It's a really crappy pic sorry, but no one wanted to model it and the only place I could think of putting it, was on the door, which just so luckily happened to have a white dressing gown that I'm supposed to be 'blinging' up for someone!  Guess as it's gotten cooler, I should think about doing that soon hey?

hasta mañana

What do you think?

Of my new blog background that is?  It took a while for me to remove the old one but I got there in the end, so am doing a happy dance here.  If you have had hassles loading my blog in the past (ie red screen taking ages to go away and owly images showing up) is this template better or worse????

Another make for April

Apparently, my next door neighbour (yes, we really do live next door to each other....our driveways are adjoining!), Sharina (aka Polly) seems to think I lead her astray when it comes to crafting, however, that's NOT always the case.  The other night (Saturday I think it was) she decided that she was having a night off from crafting here, and flew solo at her place instead.  She made herself a crochet hook holder, and she used this tutorial.  I'm not a HUGE felt fan, so tonight I decided to alter the original tutorial to suit my needs.

For starters, there's not a single bit of felt in sight.  I made the hook 'pages' double sided (although I'll need to re-work them next time....as some of them kind of got split into two mini skinny pockets when I sewed the pocket page into the outside casing.  I also added an elastic closure to keep it closed when I'm taking it on my travels (no, alas, I don't have any planned yet, but these days, a trip to Adelaide is travelling right??? lol)

 

Above shows it closed...and yes, I've already utilize the fat quarters I got from Barb in the FQ Swap the other day!  There's still a wee bit of it left, so might make myself a notebook cover and that'll fit inside the cover me thinks.

You can sort of make out the pockets on the swirly fabric, but also, inside each of the covers, there's a long pocket so I can store patterns/notes in there.  I made the middle section totally different to the felt one, and had to reverse sew the whole of that square....only once though...wasn't going to catch me out twice!  Reason I had to unpick...I'd put the pockets so that one ended up upside down and everything would've fallen out, so had to rethink the layout of them and re-do them....am happy now as they turned out ok second time around.

Already loaded with the stray hooks that were on my computer desk.

Showing off the back pocket and the back of the centre 'pages'

If you've been and had a look at the original....do you think mine is nice too????  I wish Polly had pics of hers up on her blog already, but as at 2.26am Tuesday (Sth Aussie time), she hadn't...maybe I can cajole her into doing that later today.

This Wednesday, Polly and I are off to Lake Bonney Quilting group...for our first all day session there....OMG what to take along to work on....maybe I should be doing some hexie hand work, or should I dig out a machine and maybe make something on the machine....decisions decisions decisions!

Just wondering/I hate change! & Follower giveaway/pledge

I hate change just as much as the next person, but when I tried to make a post over the weekend (Saturday night to be precise) my blog editor has automatically updated and for once, I'm not going to see if I can find how to switch it back, I'll see if I can suck it and see.....lol

On the plus side, the new editor shows your list of posts and next to it, shows you the stats of how many people are viewing your blog posts, presumably so you can keep track of which posts are more popular and which aren't.....but the surprising part for me, was how many views I get, I thought you'd all abandoned me because not many people are leaving comments.   This is where the just wondering part of the title comes into fruition....I'm wondering if there's a reason why not many are commenting anymore?  I know you're still reading, or someone is....one particular post got 198 views and only 3 comments.....if it's something I've said, then please let me know, you don't have to leave a comment, you can email me here and I'll happily listen.

I want my blog to be somewhere you look forward to seeing what crazy antic I've done now, or what pretties I've been making, not somewhere you try and avoid at all costs!  Is it because of all the 'crap' you have to do on some blogs, such as word verification?  If I haven't switched that off already, I'll try and find out how to now, just in case that's why you're not leaving comments....the only other thing I can think of, is how I've set the comments up now....I believe they open in a separate window right?  I can change back so it opens in the same window if that's what y'all want????

If it sounds like I'm a desparado, then you're kind of right....I enjoy hearing from you all, and unless I miss seeing the email, I do try and answer every comment that's left for me :)

I'm in a giving mood at the moment, so have decided to have a giveaway to celebrate getting 300 followers, and yes, I do know that I don't have that many yet, but I'm getting soooo close...only 25 to go I think.  If you feel like helping me get to the big 300, please do so, but it's not a requirement of the giveaway, just that the quicker I get there, the quicker you'll have the chance to win either a patchwork gift bag like the one I made on Saturday or a wee owl.

Just in case you want a preview of the bag, here's a pic of it again:

This is an example of the owl that will be up for grabs.



If by some chance I end up getting to 350 followers, then I'll sweeten the deal, by sending both the owl and the bag and I'll use Mr Random generator to decide on a winner (when the time comes that is).

This isn't the actual giveaway post, so please don't get carried away just yet, keep an eye on the amount of followers, and the other eye out for the giveaway post and then you can enter.

2 month swap recap

As much as I do try and be a good swapper, I get so excited when I get parcels, that I rip into them, most times without taking pics of them in their wrappings....then I show any visitors I get my new haul, sometimes I even get close to posting about them on the blog by taking pics, but mostly I leave them dotted around the craft room so that I can delight in their presence whenever I want to.....I am hoping to start breaking that bad habit, and today I'm going to recap the last couple of months of swaps I've been in....and you can share in my excitement over some great gifts.

First up (not necessarily the order I got the swap in, but the order I've located them in!) was the Let's Exchange swap.  I was partnered with Sisbabestitches (no blog as such, so I won't link her up), and boy oh boy, was I spoiled brat....if you've received any emails from me lately, you may have noticed that I have a little gizmo below my signature that, surprise surprise, has an owl done in apostrophe's etc, and check out what Sisbabestitches did with it.

 See, told you I was spoilt lol  Isn't it a fantastic idea, I'd have never have thought of making it for me, let alone anyone else!

 Then check out my "Wonderings" journal and cover...and yes, I do deserve more owl....a gal can never have too much chocolate, too many diamonds OR too many owls! Hoot Hoot

This pic is to show a close up of her stitching....so even, I can only hope one day to have mine so neat and even looking.  Thanks Sisbabestitches.

Moving along to #2 in the hall of fame, was the Mug Rug Swap hosted by Aunt Pitty Pat.  My partner was Maria from Thunder Bay in Canada.  Currently her blog is under construction, but as soon as she sends me the link, I'll update this post to show a link to it.  Look at all the goodies I got.  A mug rug, a seam ripper, a wee wallet and a snap happy pouch...check out the feather quilting on it...so jealous of anyone who can do that!

 I believe the next couple of pics are the last ones I have to share with you at the moment, and it's the Fat Quarter swap.  This month I was partnered with Barb, which was quite funny as I sent to her in the Let's Exchange Journal Cover swap and mentioned to her that I had a funny feeling we would be partnered up for the FQ swap soon, and we were! We agreed to break the rules and not send what we were supposed to, which was "Brights".  Barb has requested reds or pinks and they're going to the Post Office tomorrow.  Below is what she sent me, I requested purple and didn't she do well?  I think she did.

 In addition, we were also partners in a Bookmark swap on the Craft Forum.  Bad (read lazy) me, I've stolen a pic from Barbs blog of the bookmarks she sent me, because I don't want to get off my butt and take pics of them lol

Being that it's my favourite colour, she made me two purple bookmarks.  Thanks heaps for being such a great swap partner Barb.

If you know you've sent me swap presents this year and I haven't shown them off on my blog, please send me a 'kick up the butt' email here, reminding me and I'll make sure I put pics up.  Lastly, I just want to say another big thank you to all my 'senders' I love each and every gift I receive.

Hot Crossed 9 Patch block

Today, actually I lie, it was late last night, I re-discovered the Block Lotto Blog and found a link to the above block by Sophie.  Of course I couldn't just make the block as per the instructions, I had to try it with 5" squares and the result is a 17" block.  The outer strips on my version of the block are 2" and the black strips that make the cross part are 1 & 1/2" wide.  I had fun making it, and it was really quick and easy (and for those who are new to patchworking, the tutorial tells you which way to press the seams - which is always really helpful I reckon) so thanks Sophie for sharing the block instructions.

Sew Sew Saturday

I happened to stumble upon Karen from Sew Many Ways' blog early this evening, and she has a post about Sew Sew Saturday...I cheated a little....I was planning on sewing tonight anyway, but by commenting on her post, it meant I had a bit more incentive to finish some things, and post them!

 First up I made this cute wee patchwork gift bag, tutorial can be found here.  I decided to make mine fully patchwork, but the tutorial has instructions on how to do it with a plain back as well as how I did mine.  Doesn't really take all that long to make.  I've even made a mental note (well written actually, as I've printed the tutorial off, and have noted it on that) to keep an eye on directional fabrics!

 The following is another free tutorial, that you can find here.  Personally I think the tutorial is a bit hard to follow, but probably clear as mud for all you 'veteran' quilters....me not so much!  I ended up kind of winging it in the end....as I couldn't work out what 3/5 and 2/5 in the tutorial meant lol

For the pink I made the cuts at 5 & 1/2", adding in a 1 & 1/2" strip each time and rotated the fabric square as stated in the tutorial.  For the dark grey, I made the cuts at either 8" or was it 8 & 1/2" and used 1 & 1/4" wide strips.  Lots of getting up and down to move between the ironing board, cutting mat and the sewing machine, but went together fairly quick once I'd worked out that I was going to fly solo hee hee hee.

Close up of the centre where it looks more like it's woven.  Might try this again in multi coloured strips....would you like that?

Scotty McOwl

Ooops, I forgot in my last post to show you my latest owl.....I've recently 'designed' my own wee owls....yes they're probably similar to other owl out there, but I drew this one up from scratch, took it to the photocopying place and got the pattern enlarged....the latest one I've made is the biggest of the three sizes.



Introducing to you Scotty McOwl, with his very own sporran and red tartan fabric body. Scotty would love to come and live at your house, and for $20 (Aud) plus postage, you could make his dream come true whoo hoo!

Look what I made this evening

Some time ago, I found a tutorial on the net (yeah I know, surprise surprise...I find lots EVERY day lol) for a Fold-up Tote and today was it's turn to be made. If you'd like to make one of these yourself, click here and you will be able to follow the tutorial easily, as it's well written and has pics in case you do get stuck. Above is the bag opened out.

Above you can see one side of the bag when it's folded up.

And this is a pic of the other side of the bag, as you can see, it's cute little Kitty fabric.

The last pic shows you how thick the bag folds. It's a great size to keep in your handbag/shoulder bag for when you make any unexpected purchases, such as fabric (not that I'd ever do that lol) This one isn't lined, I'd like to have a whirl at making a similar one or two but line them, as I do prefer a lined bag personally.

I'm all set for Bingo

A while ago, you might remember I posted about playing BINGO and there was a link so that you could make your own Bingo card....did anyone else do it? I know my next door neighbour "Polly" did, because I gave her a starter square and cajoled/convinced/persuaded/forced (strike out as necessary!) her into making a bingo card so she could play too.

Here's the explanation of what my squares represent:



If you happened to make a card, don't forget to add it to the Linky here, before Saturday 22nd April, or else you'll be too late. Don't forget to have a list of what each square represents...and please, Tonya has asked that we ensure they're one word descriptions....ie it's either cat or kitten not kitty cat, puppy or dog and not puppy dog....you get the picture right?

There's heaps of great prizes.....my 'spare' buttons are at the ready to be sewn onto the squares if I'm lucky enough to mark any off.