Branching out

Dusting off the poor old blog again - it's just that Facebook and Instagram are so much quicker and easier!  Anyway, I am going to try and do one blog post a week and see how I go.

As always, I have greater ambitions than I have time to sew (or cook or read). But I've done fairly well recently in making a doona cover and pillowcase for my space fixated three year old nephew.  The space fabric is a gorgeous print from Prints Charming that I originally bought around 2 years ago.  As it wasn't wide enough, I had to frame it with something else; in this case a solid from Spotlight.  Sounds  easy but there was a bit of fiddling around to get the fabric to the right size (which didn't result in an even 'frame' anyway because of the double hem at the bottom) and the sheer logistics of cutting and pinning such large pieces of material.  Anyway, with the help of a neighbour's trestle table and a few applications of the seam ripper, the job was done:

My nephew and sister were very happy.  I was then asked if I could make a pillowcase to match.  As I only had a small amount of the space fabric left, I was going to make a green one.  After all, I wouldn't be able to get more of the print after two years.......  Then in Spotlight last weekend, I saw a bolt in the clearance section and before you could say Jupiter, I grabbed it and ran to the counter.  So the budding astrophysicist can now dream of outer space to his heart's content!

Learning

This year I have been trying to do different things.  Not radical, but moving away from the familiar and the tried and true.  This has included making an effort to try different restaurants and learning new things.  For the latter, I've started cooking lessons at the Ministry of Food and I'll write a post on this at a later stage.  With my sewing, I thought I would try to do something other than quilting - as much fun as it is, I'd like to be able to make something that involves other techniques.  So, in addition to the Sewing Circle Tote (which is still a WIP), I decided to make a sewing gadget roll.  After admiring one made by a lovely lady from the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild around two years ago, she lent me her pattern (Burda 7980) and this sat on my shelf until around April this year, when I decided that I wanted a project that would be relatively quick to complete.  So with some fabric given to me by another Guild member as the base, I dived in.  While a project like this wouldn't be a big deal for a competent sewer, it involved some techniques that were new to me, including sewing from a paper pattern, attaching velcro, using elastic and sewing on bias binding.  I also had a few frustrating moments of turning casings for elastic, painstakingly using a chopstick, before another lovely person from the Guild suggested a tool that I could use to make the task easier.  I think the answer actually is not to make narrow casings out of drill, but the tool was a help. Anyway, it was finished a few weeks ago and while a bit wonky in spots, I am really happy with it, particularly the measuring tape ties that I picked up from Spotlight.  And my rotary cutter won't be just rolling around the bottom of a bag when I got to Sit and Sew Events, which was the real reason that I wanted to make the roll in the first place.

Day 228: My Creative Space

I decided that on Melbourne Cup Day, I would do nothing.  We had no invitations, I had volunteered to be on call at the Day Job, and decided that, in the absence of going in to work, I would do nothing in particular.  Stos went to the hardware shop to get some stuff to fill holes in the second hand doors and to attack (prune) one of the roses in the backyard.  I was assured my presence wasn't required so finished the last book in the Millenium series, The Girl who kicked the Hornet's Nest (I think I am the last person in the universe to read this).  I felt a bit flat after this - what am I going to do now after finishing this series that has kept me riveted for weeks?  Well, keeping up with some commitments might be a good idea.  I started on a secret project, then as the light deteriorated, I've started on my Softie for Mirabel. I'm making Zing the Polite Cat from the first Meet Me at Mike's craft book. 

As usual, the Quick Unpick tool has had a bit of a work out but overall I'm happy with the results so far.  The only thing that struck me is that his face looks more owl like at the moment - hopefully sewing on his whiskers and mouth will help!  For more creative inspiration, head over here.