Santa Sacks for Reid and Marlie

16/11/14

A little bit of Christmas sewing…..

These little Santa sacks are for my dear little niece, Marlie (4) and nephew, Reid (1) for Christmas.  I made one of these years ago for another niece, Shannon, using a pattern from an old magazine…. But do you think I could find it to make these two? I ended up borrowing Shannon’s back so I could make my own pattern from it.  They turned out great and I’m loving the more modern colours I chose this time… makes me want to re-make Shannon’s (but she loves it just how it is).

Sorry about the sideways picture.... I just couldn't get this one to co-operate (it seems this happens whenever I take pictures on my phone).

 

Cheers

Thimbelina

A special bag for a special little girl

My husband's 2.I.C has a little daughter, Mackenzie, who has recently been diagnosed with diabetes. I wanted to do something special for her and decided on a cute little bag to carry all her essentials like her needles and sugar tester, etc. After a bit of thought and some sneaky and very technical measuring by my husband (almost as big as an A4 sheet of paper by half a fist wide... you get the idea, lol) this is what I came up with.

I used much the same method as for the snap-happy bags I've made in the past (book bags).

I thought the snappy closure would make it quick and easy to get in to, and I included a layer of plastic on the outside of the bag and added handles so that she could carry it over her shoulder easily.

Lastly, I added her (very long) name to the front just to make it special!

Mackenzie was absolutely delighted with it....

and I know it made my husbands day to be able to give her something special.

Cheers

Thimbelina

Something else for Cath

Another little bag I also made for my friend Cath's Birthday..... I just love these little shoe bags by Annie Downs and I especially love the colours I chose for this one!

and a couple more in progress..... I wonder who these will be for?

Cheers

Thimbelina

Upsized Book Bag take 2

You might remember my first attempt at an upsized book bag a few posts back, which ended up being too short to hold most of my friend Cath's larger books? Well, I'm pleased to say that my second attempt was much better and I was able to give it to Cath for her birthday last week. I went to a little extra effort and added some applique to this one as I was pretty confident that this time it would be just right!

I just love the clever use of the old steel tape measure in this pattern to make the snap-close top and plan to use the same closure for some other ideas I have soon too!

Cheers
Thimbelina

Upsized Book Bag

I wanted to make another little book bag for a friend of mine who often reads larger format books these days that don't fit in the book bag I made her years ago.... so I upsized the Snap Happy Bag pattern by Stitchin' Sisters that I usually use for my book bags. Unfortunately it still needs to be a bit longer as it doesn't quite close properly over a larger book... so back to the machine!

Cheers

Thimbelina

For Tom

I made this little drawstring bag for my friend's little boy who just turned seven..... I thought it would be just the thing for carting some of his growing Lego collection in when away from home.... he just loves his Lego!

I used the Peek-a-boo toy sack tutorial from Make it Perfect which was really easy to follow - the little window is such a great idea.

I just had to applique his name on the front too.... 

kids love stuff with their name on it!

 

 

Look who's hiding inside.... naughty bunnies!

And I'm pleased to say that Tom just loves it too!

Cheers

Thimbelina

Car Tidy Tutorial

Car Tidy Tutorial.pdf by thimbelinas

Of course, if you make one.... I 'd love to see it..... please add a link to your comment!
Also, please let me know if anything in my instructions doesn't make sense!

Cheers
Thimbelina

Car Tidy

My last project from our weekend retreat was a little car tidy. There a quite a few tutorials around for this project but once again I couldn't quite find what I was after so made my own version.

This one is for my sister.....

I made her a bag out of the same fabric a while back which she just loves

I've tweaked my instructions a bit since I made this one and put a tutorial together which I'll put up tomorrow for anyone who would like to make their own.


Cheers
Thimbelina

Retreat time!

Last weekend saw a group of us once again heading over to Ridgecrest for our annual Club Quilt retreat.... and again, we all had a wonderful time with lots of sewing & catching up.

Fortunately our 'must eat every two hours' rule kept us all from passing out due to creative fatigue. :)


The first thing on my list of projects was a couple of 'simply gorgeous shoes' bags from the book 'Some kind of Wonderful' by Anni Downs

Aren't they cute!

I think the pink one is my favourite - might even keep it for myself

If you want to check out what the other ladies got up to.... head over to Narromine Club Quilt blog and take a look. They're such a clever bunch!


Cheers
Thimbelina

A pressie for my Sister

It was my Sister's birthday yesterday so I can now show what I made for her last week. I've been promising her a bag for a while now and since her taste is a little bit different to mine I had her choose the fabrics and the style of bag a few months back.... with no promises as to when she would receive it, lol.

And it's reversible.... so my Sis gets two bags from the one!

I did the handles in denim so that it would go well with both fabrics and I'm very happy with how it turned out.... She loved it!

The pattern for this one is the "The Reversible Bucket Bag" from The Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam -

I just love this book with lots of tips and great ideas when it comes to making bags.

Now I just have to find time to make the other one she's picked out... :)

Until next time......

A pressie for Jo

I'm pleased to say that those yummy fabrics I gave you a sneak peak of last post have now become this:

An Abbey Bag (Pattern by Abbey Lane Quilts)

I just love these little pincushion/scrap bags and have made three of them now. My dear friend Jo has been admiring mine for a while so I knew she would love one for her birthday.....she was thrilled!

My colour inspiration came from here:

A cute little Pillowcase dress that Miss 12 made for her new little cousin... I just loved the fabrics she chose!

Until next time.....

Happy Birthday Mum!

Another Snap-happy bag I made for my Mum's birthday last Thursday..... not a book bag this time but a pouch to keep all her bits and pieces tidy in her Frilly Dilly Bag I gave her for Christmas. I also made a matching lanyard for her phone and filled the pouch with some other goodies!

Happy Birthday Mum..... Love you!

Until next time.......

Final OPAM for 2010

Here we are in 2011 already....... I really don't know what happened to 2010, it just seemed to whiz by didn't it? I hope you've all had a wonderful year and thankyou for all your comments and encouragement throughout the year..... I really appreciated them!

I just realised that I had two more December finishes for OPAM (One Project A Month) 2010 that I hadn't yet blogged about..... although I'm sure you're all sick of seeing my Snap Happy book pouches by now??

My sister requested one with "no flowers" .....

so this is what she received for her Birthday early in the month

I also made one for our Niece for Christmas but was is such a hurry to get it wrapped up that I didn't take any photos of it.....Duh!  I used a black and white floral fabric and some red and white polka dots....which was really cute, just a shame my brain wasn't working!

So that brings my total finishes for the year to 76.... and when I joined I thought I'd be happy just to have one finish each month! *Happy Dance*

A huge thankyou to Peg and Kris for the great job you do in sorting through all the finishes each month and organising the fantastic prizes....so glad you're both going around again this year!

Until next time.......

Another One

Not feeling very wordy tonight but I wanted to share some pics of another Frilly dilly bag I whipped up for someone extra special.... lets just hope she's not poking about my blog! It's much the same as the one I made for Khris in the recent Friends Swap here.

Until next time.......

Playing catch up!

On Tuesday I had a visit from a dear friend of mine who was keen for a lesson on making a couple of items she'd seen on my blog:

We started on a book pouch for her Mr 10......

 in suitably blokey camo fabric:

And finished with a dear little Retro Mummy dress for Miss 1.....

who was NOT impressed with having to try it on at the end of a long day!

Overall, a productive day...............

Although, I'm surprised we got around to sewing anything considering how much talking we did!

Thanks for a great day Trish.....Hugs xoxo

Until next time....

F.R.I.E.N.D.S swap continued

Well now that I know Khris has opened her F.R.I.E.N.D.S swap parcel I can finally start to share with you what I sent:

F is for Fridge Magnets
R is for Runner
I is for Inspiration (Magazines)
E is for Embroidered Heat Pack
N is for Notecards
D is for Dilly Bag
S is for Sweets

Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of the bought items and of everything together so I only have pics of the things I made............. The Frilly "Dilly Bag" was my favourite so I'll start with it:

I just love this pattern by Janelle Wind and I'm sure I'll be making a few more of them soon!

Until next time......

I just love these!

Since the book pouch I made Miss 11 was such a hit, I just had to make a couple more! This is what I was working on last Wednesday as well as some more secret stitching. I've now almost got my F.R.I.E.N.D.S swap ready to send off.... so will be able to post some piccy's of that soon too!

One of these has already been delivered to another young reader I know who just loves books.... 13yo Georgina travels an hour each way on the school bus and spends most of this time reading so I couldn't help making one for her just because! Who doesn't love "just because" pressies??

I used the "Snap Happy" pattern again by Stitchin' Sisters and Michael Miller fabrics and the only difference between the two is the the colour of the little pull tabs on the sides.

Until next time........

Book pouch

I've been planning on making some book bags for quite a while now as Miss 11 is an avid reader and rarely goes anywhere without a book of some kind. It always upsets her when one of her precious books gets knocked about in her school bag and a leaking drink bottle is a disaster! I attempted one version with a flap and magnetic clasp closure which proved way too difficult to sew together since I was using plastic on the outside.

I ended up using the "Snap Happy" bag pattern by Stitchin' Sisters and just adjusted the measurements to fit a good sized book. I also sewed across the bottom corners so that it would have a flat bottom and used a layer of plastic over the external fabric to protect it a bit more...... Miss 11 is delighted! I just need to get busy and make a couple more now... Such a great gift for any reader and I could use one myself too!

I just love how this pattern uses a piece of old metal tape measure to make the snap closure....very clever!

Until next time......