Made a bag........

Marina and I exchange hand made gifts every now and then

this time I made her a bag

for the main fabric I used a piece of 'raw linen'

it was more open weave than other fabric to I first lined it with thin vilene

a bit of texture and just the right colour

How cute is that bunting and the singing birds, patchwork base (only 121 blocks!)

button detail and magnetic clasp

Design by Anni Downs from her book "The Simple Life"

I might just need one of these myself?

Righto, Gotto Go... I think a song ..... 

My weekend sewing.....

The gorgeous little elephants have been put into blocks and joined together now....

(Baby Elephant by Anne Gadsby)

I think I will find some nice flannel to back it with ....

I love this fabric and it matches the threads in this stitchery (Rosalie Quinlan Scandanavian Rose) 

two layers of wadding over a canvas frame and a play with the staple-gun....

sometimes we just need a picture of a tree in our lives....

Righto, Gotto Go..... preparing packs of felted wool blanketing....

Hope you are having a lovely weekend.....

Cleaning up space....

Melody has been making lots of goodies with felt.... (she also finds lots of tutorials and ideas from the www ... so keep an eye on her blog for ideas).  I am sending her some pieces from my 'stash'....

Some time ago I got extremely enthusiastic and bought up the op shops of lots of wool blankets.... now I still love working with my recycled wool felt but a blanket does make an awful lot.... and I need to clear up a bit of space ....

so I am offerring a trade (I have done this before) and will send off a 500g bag of wool felt in exchange for a fat quarter or similar size of a nice neutral... something good for background applique or stitchery....

Sorry... Australia only.... external post is just too high..... I cannot guarantee colours - there will be a mixture... some are quite thick from blanket, others are dressmaking wool, plains and plaids  No pretty packaging... I will just stuff the bag as full as I can.....

Let me know if you would like some....

In my finding space frenzy I picked up this UFO .... I did some stitch in the ditch quilting....

... and now the binding is on....

I had a fat quarter of that lovely vintage style pictoral fabric so I fussy cut the centres... then used the Sawtooth 12" block and bordered it...

Righto, Gotto Go.... I still seem to have a whole lot of half done things.... perhaps I should start something new....  well... I did get a finish....... 

Some trivia for you....

Friday 13th and a full moon coincide this month .... last one was in 2000 and next one will be 2049.  

Fixing......

In my attempt to reduce my grocery bill and also do more environmentally friendly cleaning (but without too much extra work!) I am trying out a few alternative cleaning methods....

This week I just sighed at my shower door... why do they make clear glass ones?  they only look nice when they are new ....

Here are the comparison pictures... there is an improvement.... and it wasn't hard work either and inexpensive 

The etching marks aren't completely gone but they are a whole lot better....

Shannon Lush is the clean queen in Australia and her recommendation for the 'etching' that happens to the glass due to the suds and salts is....

~ spray with vinegar and wipe clean

~ using a rolled up pair of pantihose wipe over with small amount of sweet almond oil

(I found this at a chemist ... $9 for 100ml and it will last forever as I hardly used any)

this picture shows when I started wiping with the oil... you can see the marks where it has helped...

This remove etching  treatment will need to be done regularly (like once a month which is not bad) as the almond oil does wear off.... 

Has anyone else tried this... how did it work for you.. any improvement ideas?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now to something much more pleasant and happy making....

I finished off the edging of my framed hexagons and put them together.....

... and sighed....

... you can clearly see where I went wrong???..

... so I left it and went to talk to my sewing machine.... as she was being friendly to me...

sewing on the binding... I saw this tip somewhere.... I have a lever lift for my machine foot but you can use the leg under the machine.... It did help not to get those miles of binding in a big rolled up knot...

... last night I fixed the hexagons table topper.....

These are lovely little stitchery designs by Michelle.... I love them... and I love the happy Christmas fabric I used to frame them (Nancy Holverson I believe!)

I traced an extra heart by mistake and Michelle sent me an extra picture on purpose so I have two matching coasters to go with the topper.... 

.. they are perfect to hold the Christmas bottles glasses of beer and wine

Thank you so much Michelle... these have been such fun

Righto, Gotto Go.....  no cleaning today.... I'm going to sew....

I love long weekends.....

Starting with Friday Night With Friends hosted by Cheryl...... I sewed with 58 others!!

It all started with some body parts....

... which came together slowly and made a body .....

(can't show you more... 'tis secret)

.... then I did a bit more applique

(can't show you more.... 'tis secret)

... and then started some borders on my stitched hexagons....

- I have done 5 of these so far... will show you once they are all together)

.... On Saturday we drove to Brisbane to make use of Hubz Christmas present last year ...

... a voucher for a tour around the XXXX beer factory and lunch...

I was a bit peeved that I had bought the tickets for tour and BBQ lunch and they have since changed it to an increased price of the tour, no BBQ but a free cap!)

However, they were wonderful and charged us at the old price for the tour and gave us a voucher for lunch ...

I chose the Thai Beef Salad... and it was delicious.... the beer wasn't too bad either

(not as nice as Hubz' in my view!)

We didn't get as cold as the forecasters predicted by the evenings are definitely cooler... you can tell by how the dog snuggles up....

she really is funny.... when it is even colder she will hide her nose under the blankie...

Sunday morning brought some cleaning up of the mess we made in the garden..... trips to the tip....

so this ......................................... to this

Long time since I shared a recipe.... I had a few too many overripe banana's... this is a lovely easy peasy banana loaf recipe 

INGREDIENTS

2 cups plain flour

1 cup sugar

1 level tsp bicarb soda

pinch of salt

pecan nuts (handful) (optional)

100g butter

2 eggs

1 heaped tsp baking powder

4 ripe banana's

I also added a handful of sultana's (optional)

METHOD

Grease and flour a loaf tin (I use two of the half loaf size ones)

Mash bananas.

Cream butter and sugar together

Add banana's and beat until well blended

Beat eggs and add to banana mix

Dissolve bicarb in 1/4 cup of water

Sift flour and salt and soda and add to banana mix

Beat well

Add baking powder and chopped nuts (and sultanas') last, folding in

Bake at 175C for about 1 hour - until well risen and golden

Moist recipe, freezes well and can be doubled successfully if you want loads of it!

There is a story to this recipe, I picked up one of the few recipe books I brought with me from my first country and was looking through it... This is a school fund raiser recipe book and years later I met the person who sent it in... but only after we had both immigrated to Australia....

Righto, Gotto Go.... naked bodies need clothing.....

Tommorrow we celebrate the Queens Birthday here.... hoorah!

... fun times....

This Friday is

Sign ups are HERE (thanks Cheryll for hosting it) if you feel like having a bit of stitching on Friday night when lots of others are doing the same....  I stitch most evenings anyway but I do try and do something specific on those nights ... it's a good motivation to get something done since it needs to be blogworthy???

FRIENDS

This week we had the big FarmFest which is only a few kilometres from where I live and Narelle visits it annually .... the company Hubz works for always has a stand there so I pay him a visit and Narelle and I catch up for a coffee and a chat and a bit of walkabout....

Forgot to take a picture of us together .... at first we had a bit of a communication difficulty.....

(Narelle might forget to tell me her name but at least she can spell!) - we both had a good laugh

..... when we said goodbye Narelle surprised me with a lovely parcel of goodies...

Very, very spoilt...... thank you so much!

QUILTING

I have been toying with the idea of being a bit more serious about quilting for others..... I do love it so I have set up a page showcasing some of the work HERE I have done for other people (with permission from them) and also one describing a little bit about my process HERE ...

There are links in my sidebar for quick access and of course the pages can be found on the page bar of the blog....

The plan is not to turn my blog into a 'business blog' but just to have the links and show the occasional work I am doing.... this is my play time blog!!

There has been a few enquiries so I though this is the easiest way to let people know .... comments, suggestions and questions all welcome....

STITCHING

This is the finished stitchery (one from Rosalie Quinlans Scandanavian Rose and stitched in Cottage Garden "Lavender") ... I just need to get some coordinating fabric and make it up...

Righto, Gotto Go..... I have a pending swap gift to make..... it requires legs... and arms... and little fiddly sewing ... and Tilda fabric ...... 

..... maybe some coffee to start? ..........

All sorts... but not licorice ones.....

Take a look to your left

... and take a look to your right....

Even baby elephants should watch where they are going

my 12 little stitcheries are done and I have cut the blues for piecing the blocks...

Michelle sent a couple more Christmas stitcheries (thanks my friend) so I have had the opportunity to try out the Thread Heaven on the metallic thread.... AMAZINGLY better.....

Hubz and I are both so much happier.... me because it is much more stress free.... and him as he doesn't have to evade flying objects (especially sharp ones) flying from frustration!!

Thank you Annette.... (you could add marriage saver to your CV now!!)

A little while ago I made up this shop sample for The Quilters Angel......  just beautiful flannellette, gorgeous colours and gorgeous quality flannel.... this pattern is called chocolate box.... 

you can see more of the range and a better picture of the quilt HERE

(I took this one before I had sewn down the circles)

Marion very kindly gave me the 'scraps' so today I sat and had a play with them.... There was enough to cut into pieces and make a couple of scarves....  these are the front sections and I will buy a bit to back them and make some edging.... Oh dear... I HAVE to go to my favourite fabric shop ....

(one if for a grown up and one is for a still growing person)

Yes, it is now winter here .... the leaves are yellowing, the sky is blue, the sun is shining... but we do get jolly cold too.... I love the different seasons.....

Whilst Mr Postie was riding around in the sunshine today he dropped off a package in my postbox....

I won a pincushion giveaway at Susan's place.... isn't it beautiful and adorable...  thank you so much Susan.... I loooooove it.....

It has joined some wonderful company in my small things bag for when I go to sewing with friends....  it's a perfect size, small enough to be mini but big enough that the pins in sideways don't have the sharp ends sticking out

... there is the scissor keep made by Shez, the scissor fob from Christine, the thimble bag from Michelle, a thread catcher from someone I don't know the name of (oh that is terrible I hope she doesn't read my blog) and the little needlecase and bag I made from a kit from Debbie.  I love them all

Righto, Gotto Go... I'm going to try a new banana bread recipe.... since my banana's got overripe!  I wish I had some licorice allsorts here....