Tuesday, April 26, 2011

It's Holiday Time

I hope you all have had a wonderful Easter break with your family and friends.  Our little family went away Camping.  I have not had so many days away from my trusty sewing machine in a long time so the break was a good recharge.  I did not think to much at all about all things Tied with a Ribbon but spent the days amongst wineries and spending time with hubby and the girls.  I do admit though in amongst loads and loads of washing upon our return home I did have a sneak peak in my sewing room to make sure all was just as I had left it. 


From my last post it was great to hear from some of you about the Scrappy Block Tutorial.  I love reading your comments so thank you for taking the time to have a "chat". I promised I would show you the next blocks I have completed and here they are. 




Sadly though there are no more to date - once I emerge from all the washing I hope to add to this pile instead.  I have never felt the need to make a Picnic rug.  The thought of putting down on the ground a handmade treasure has been a little more than I can bear but since working on these blocks I can't wait to be invited to a Picnic when Spring arrives!

With the girls home for holidays I am sure there will be lots of crafting going on over the next week.  I have bought some children's sewing/stitching books which I am so keen to get working on with the girls.

One of these is "Embroidery for the Little Miss Crafty"  by Helen Dardik

Embroidery for Little Miss Crafty: Projects and patterns to create and embellish (Little Miss Crafty)

This book is full of wonderful projects for the girls and has lots of instructions on stitching and with lots of modern projects to make like Mobile phone covers.  I went over and discovered her blog - Orange You Lucky  the other day and was delighted at all the colourful illustrations and work that Helen does.  There were so many things to look at and I even found this Pattern to download for a beautiful Bunny

Although Easter is over I am sure I can stretch out the Bunny theme for a little while longer.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

A Scrappy Quilt - A - Long

Have you heard of Aneela Hoey?  If you don't know her name you may know her range of fabric - Sherbet Pips?  Well I have been following her blog Comfortstitching for a little while now.  I love her approach to design and the way in which her colours just flow.  She is very inspired by her children and they feature as a large part of her work. 


My Scrap bucket looks like this:


It is full to the brim!  Although they are "scraps" there are lots of pieces of fabrics I love and usually the last little piece of my favourites are hiding in here.  I use these alot in my works but at the moment the pile is a little larger than I like it to be.

When I was reading Comfortstitching through the week Aneela posted a Tutorial on a Scrappy Block Quilt A Long , I was sold.  She talks about how addictive these little squares are to make and I definitely agree - here's one I made yesterday.


Since making this one I have made another 5 - I will show you a photo next time of my growing pile of Scrappy squares.  I am not sure how big I will make it at this stage - but I think I might just keep adding to it to be more of a picnic rug size.  I have gone with bright colours - green, yellow, pink, teal, purple and orange.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Camera/iPod Pouch Tutorial

It was my youngest daughters birthday over the past weekend and as you may know she is a keen photographer at the ripe old age of 7.  She loves taking photos and I was not so keen on her using my camera (Although since I got my new one, I have been happy for her to use the "old" one -  lol!)  Well she was lucky enough to get one from her grandparents and she was thrilled.  She has been taking photos left, right and centre - all great but only one problem!  There was no case for the camera - well I knew how to solve this by making one. 

I have put together this Tutorial for several reasons - yes I know there are many, many tutorials on this type of item but I wanted to go through and practice my camera skills, photo editing and wanted to improve on the quality of the other two tutorials I have put on my blog so far.  I had made this type of pouch before with students in my High School Textiles class so I knew this would be a great little project to adapt to the size to fit the new camera.  I am very keen to hear what you think - about the turtorial, if anything doesn't make sense or even if the photos themselves are getting better!

Camera/iPod Pouch Tutorial


 
Materials

25cm x 25cm Fabric for Outside

25cm x 25cm Fabric for Lining

25cm x 25cm piece of Pellon (fusible, light weight)

26cm x 6cm strip of fabric for Handle

3.5cm piece of Velcro (hook and loop tape)

Cotton thread

Scissors

1. Print out Pattern and cut out. 



Using pattern cut out the outside fabric, lining fabric, pellon.



2. Cut out Handle strip to required size and iron in half with the long raw edges matching. 

3. Unfold the handle strip and then fold one long raw edge into the centre and press.

4. Fold the other long edge into the centre and also press.


5. Fold the strip in half and press together.


6. Stitch along the open long edge of the handle and down the other side for a neat looking finish. Set aside for later.

7. Iron the Pellon onto the wrong side of your outside fabric piece. (Make sure you stick it glue side down and use a steam setting on your iron!)


8. Take your outside fabric and fold in half, pin the side seams. With right sides together sew down both the side seams with a 0.5cm seam allowance.


9. To make the corners, pull out the corners to have the side seam facing flat (the right sides of the fabric will be facing) in a horizontal direction.


Place a pin across the seam and stitch the corner closed in the opposite direction to the side seam.



Repeat for the other corner.

10. Take your lining and fold the top of the Camera pouch in half to mark the centre. Place one of the sides of Velcro 1.5cm down from the top and in the centre. Pin and then sew around the outside to secure.


Repeat for the other side.


11. To make the lining repeat steps 8 and 9 as you did with your outside fabric.
 12. Take your sewn outside fabric pouch and turn right way out. Take the handle and fold in half. Pin the handle in place at the right side seam with the loop falling down. Sew across the top to secure in place.


13. Take your lining and with right sides together put your lining inside your outside fabric to have the top raw edges matching. Pin at side seams and then around the pouch.


14. Sew around the top raw edge of your pouch 0.5cm leaving a 5cm gap so that you can turn inside out.


15. Turn you pouch out the right way and then pin and top stitch around the top of the camera pouch closing the opening.



All finished – your new pouch will fit many things.  Not just for your Camera but your iPod or mobile phone will fit also.  You might like it to hold you lipstick or make up – what ever you like!
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