A4 Art Folder

Another little Christmas finish....

I'd been looking for an Art folder pattern/tutorial but hadn't been able to find what I was after. I wanted the folder to hold an A4 art diary as well as have pockets for 12 coloured pencils, a lead pencil and somewhere for an eraser and sharpener.....it seems I'm too fussy so I had to come up with my own design.

 This is the result 

The outside has a plastic covering - not sure that you can tell in the photo.

I'm very happy with how it turned out and can't wait to give it to my little niece for Christmas!

When I make my next one I'll change the strip on the front to white and applique the recipients name onto it to make it a little bit extra special.... I didn't want to go to the bother first time around in case it all ended up in the bin (it has been known to happen).

I've already written the tutorial....and would love for someone to attempt making one using my instructions before I post it on my blog. I'm not overly confident in my abilities when it comes to written instructions and any feedback/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Please let me know if you'd like to give it a go!

** Note: My instructions are written with the assumption that you already have a reasonable amount of sewing skill and that you are capable using a zipper foot on your machine, binding with mitred corners etc.

Until next time...

Thimbelina

Another Christmas pressie finished

I've been making some more progress on my Christmas list.... with a little Dolly Carrier for a special little niece of ours.  I've made this pattern up before and I must say that it seemed to take a lot less effort this time round.

What Dolly bed would be complete without a matching mattress, pillow & quilt??

I even managed to find a doll that fit perfectly!

Awww

The pattern was from an old Country Threads magazine - Annual Kids Special (Vol.9 No.11)

Cheers

Thimbelina



Christmas Sewing

Well, my Christmas sewing is now underway and I can cross the first item off my list!

A Christmas stocking for our newest Nephew.... Lewis!

A used Hooley Dooley Artworks pattern by Suzanne Gray but the applique design is my own as I had already made 3 of the 4 designs by Suzanne for Lewis' siblings and I thought her Angel one was a little girly.

I sent this one off early so it can be used for the first time this year!

Until next time....

Bragging about my girl!

Early last month we had our local show...... I have been patiently waiting since then for Miss 13 to show off her creations on her own blog 'Little Miss Thimble' so that I can then share them with you. Seems that's not going to happen any time soon, so here goes!

Cute heart cushion made from scraps leftover from the quilt I made for her room:

She saw a similar one on pinterest that came from 'U Create' and just made it up as she went along to match the size of the cushion insert that we already had.

Then there's the cute little owl cushion to match..... 

This one is From the 'Hootie Hoo Family' by Natalie Ross

Owl shoulder bag, made from linen.....

Own design, after seeing several similar ones online

(She has had lots of comments on this one so there could be a tutorial coming up soon

if anyone is interested)

First attempt at grub roses..... clever girl!

And..... a monster pencil case!

I'm pleased to say that all her sewing items were first place winners in their various categories....

Then there was her cooking, for which she received several first places as well as a second and a third.

Unfortunately, the photo I took of her novelty cake seems to have disappeared from my phone so I can't share that one with you but she decorated a giant cupcake-shaped cake and it turned out fantastic.

She took home the Over-all junior Champion ribbon for her efforts and was very pleased with herfself!

Will share Master 10's creations with you soon too!

Until then...



I actually sewed something!!!!

I have actually gotten a little sewing done recently in amongst all the other crazy stuff going on around here..... not quite finished yet as you can probably tell, I haven't yet snipped all the seams or removed my marking lines from the squares but just had to share....

I think the range is 'Ruby' by Bonnie & Camille and being flannel it's just so lovely and cosy.

It's already beng fought over and it's not even finished! (Even hubby commented on how nice it was)

Not very exciting, but I also got this little project done.......

Our recyling used to be picked up in white recyling bags but we now have large bins instead..... I didn't want to throw away the old frame that the bags fit in so I thought I'd make a new bag .... I lined it in ripstop nylon so that it doesn't drip water from the washed containers on Master 10 when he empties it (you'd think it was acid the way he went on, lol).... no more complaining, Yay!

I hope you've all been a lot more productive than I have.

Cheers



Upsized Charm Square baby Quilt instructions

I've had a few queries about my Upsized Charm square baby quilt's that I made here, here, here and here, so I thought I'd blog about the changes I made rather than detailing the instructions in emails to individuals.

This is the link to the original Sew Mama Sew pattern: http://www.sewmamasew.com/store/media/blog/SMSCharmSquaresBabyQuilt.pdf

To make mine a little larger, I used 1.5 charm square packs (63 squares).... so with two packs it meant I had enough squares to be choosy about which ones I used.

You will need

42 x 5" squares

21 x 5" squares cut in half to make 42x  5x2.5" rectangles

6 x 2.5" strips of white sashing (39.5" each)

2 x 6.5" strips of white sashing for the top and bottom

You can then make 7 rows, each with six 5" squares and six 5x2.5" rectangles alternating between starting the row with the 5" square or the 5x2.5" rectangle

If you want to add a name etc to the borders, just make templates from a word font to applique.

This one is definately my favourite so far.... I just loved the colours:

I hope this helps.

Cheers

Thimbelina

Sock Monkey

I've often looked at the various different sock monkey tutorials around and I finally decided to have a go at making one myself. I chose the Tutorial by Craft Passion which you can find here.... I thought hers were cuter than most of the ones I'd seen.

I took the instructions along to our last Club Quilt day and Jo & I both managed to get one almost finished... Paula made hers a couple of days later so I will try to get a couple of photo's of theirs to share with you too.

I'm very happy with how mine turned out.... it was super easy and I'm looking at socks very differently now!

I couldn't help adding a little pink tu-tu and a rosette.... she is for my little niece after all!

Quilting Retreat

 Last week was our annual Club Quilt retreat....and once again it was a wonderful weekend with great company and lots of creativity flowing!

I took lots of projects along (I was a little over-ambitious as usual) but spent the entire weekend working on a quilt for Miss 13's newly re-decorated room. I'm loving how it's turning out and can't wait to get it off to the quilters!

The fabric I used is Riley Blake, Sugar & Spice and you can find the pattern here at the Quilted Fish

The tutorial is only for a small quilt so I made mine four times the size of the original pattern....hence the amount of time it took to make....well worth the effort though don't you think?

Until next time....

Hemming....check!

Club Quilt last Sunday.... unfortunately nothing exciting to show for it as I spent the whole day cutting out so that I'm prepared for our upcoming sewing retreat. I'm looking forward to being better prepared this year so that I can make the most of my sewing time and get lots done.

When I got home I managed to get six pairs of the kids pants hemmed and ready for the winter and I just had to share this great method of hemming jeans which allows you to keep the original hem. You can find the tutorial here at Sew Much Ado. I usually procrastinate when it comes to hemming jeans, (once I left it so long that my daughters jeans no longer fit her by the time I got around to it...ooops!) but not anymore....this method takes about 5 minutes and I did it with no broken needles and no SWEARING! Unbelievable!

The seam lines are quite obvious in these photos but when they're on you don't notice it at all!

Until next time....

Weekend project

Last weekend Miss 13 and I spent some time putting this mini drawer set together to match her newly painted and re-furnished room.

We purchased the little Kaisercraft draws years ago at a craft fair but never got around to doing anything with it. The frame is timber but the little drawers are made from a heavyweight cardboard and it all just slots together really easily.

I think it's designed to use with scrapbooking paper but we used Riley Blakes 'Sugar & Spice' fabric that I'm planning on making a matching quilt out of later. We painted it in 'Tapioca' first before adding the fabric to the top, sides and drawerfronts and giving it a coat of Mod Podge to protect it.... and voila!

Perfect for holding all those girly bits and pieces!

This is what we started with:

and you can find them here.

Until next time....

A finish for Aunty Lin

I was so pleased to finally get one of my quilts back from the quilter this week... this particular one was started by my beautiful Aunt who passed away before it was completed, you may remember it from my earlier post here.

So, I spent most of yesterday getting it bound and now I only need to add a label before it can be sent off to one of my Aunts very special Grand-daughters. I'm sure little Karlie will treasure it!

Until next time....

Hunger games party success

A couple of long overdue shots of the Hunger Games themed Birthday party for Miss 13.... it was a great night and the movie didn't disappoint:

Choc mud Mockingjay cupcakes with buttercream icing....

You can find the cupcake recipe in my earlier post, here.

Movie Snacks.... I purchased a digital file from Olivia's Collection for the invitations and water bottle stickers which I adapted to make the lolly bags.

Bit blurry unfortunately....but the girls (and boy) all looked great in their Hunger Games tees!

Until next time....  :)

Upcoming Hunger Games party

To celebrate Miss 12 turning 13, next weekend we're taking a group of teenage girls to the movies to see the Hunger Games..... If you haven't yet read the book, then you're really missing out!

So instead of the usual party favours, this is what I've been working on.......

A big thanks to Jess of Craftiness is not optional for her great inspiration!

My first attempt wasn't so successful but after that I decided that unlike Jess I would use heat 'n' bond to attach the applique (I just used a pressing cloth so I didn't stick to the shiny fabric). I also used clear thread on top and was much happier with the result.

My daughter is thrilled and can't wait to give the shirts to all her friends. :)

Hippy pants

Miss almost 13 has a school social coming up next week with a 70's theme.... she has the coloured glasses and peace necklace and earring's sorted so all she needed were some groovy pants to wear.  I think these should do the trick (although I probably should have flared the bottoms of the legs a bit more) and when the social is over she can use them as pyjama pants!

Miss 12 decorated an old pair of thongs (flip-flops) with some flower trim to match.

I used the Lounge pants pattern from this book, which was recommended by

 Lisa of A Spoonful of Sugar. They were really quick and easy to whip up and fit Miss 12 beautifully.

I can see myself making more of these soon!

A Christmassy finish!

Club quilt today over a week ago now..... and I've finally done a bit of sewing!

Four little Christmas stockings that have been incomplete for two years now.... I usually never think of sewing Christmas things until the festive season is well and truly upon us and then there's no time get things done. I'm still not 100% happy with how the white on Santa and on the snowman doesn't show up very well but I'd already re-stitched them once on darker background fabric and wasn't going to do it again. I may still whip stitch it or something to make it more visable and then I just need to get some rusty bells to stitch to each of the points on the scalloped top.

The Reindeer is my favourite.... so I think that one will be mine and the rest of the

family can fight over the others :)

The pattern is called 'A little bit of Christmas' by Annie Downs

Nice to finish something for us!

Until next time....

A big week!

Last Friday, saw me finishing up my very last day in the office where I've worked for the last 15 years..... It's a bit daunting to think that I'll no longer be working there but I decided to accept a position much closer to home. I start my new job next Monday where I'll only have a 5 minute drive each morning instead of the usual 45km trip.....will be so nice being closer to home!

After having farewell luncheon's on both Thursday and Friday last week, one for all staff and one just for the Export office where I worked, I also had a farewell dinner at my favourite Tapa's restaurant on Saturday night..... so spoilt!

My farewell gift..... my workmates know me well!

The lovely tray that all my sewing goodies came on.......

Handmade by one of the men in my office to make it extra special!

Amazing cake.... there were actually two of these but the first one was gone in no time!

Beautiful, bright coloured flowers!

More flowers..... these one's were mysteriously left on my desk??

Thanks to everyone who helped to make my last week a great one.... and for all your wonderfully supportive comments and wishes, you will be dearly missed!

Until next time...