Fee's Shabby Shack

A new online shop has opened. One of my good friends recommends it (she has really good taste!) and they have a great opening offer happening to launch it. One lucky winner will win a mystery pack of Deals valued at over $100. Entry is open to everyone worldwide. Click on the picture to be transported there to learn more.
 

Baby Sets.

 Finished today are 2 baby sets for my nieces neighbours who are both expecting babies in a couple of weeks time. I will have to find better light globes cos they don't quite match the colours in artificial light.

They are getting picked up mid week. I am also busy making cord as I have run out.

Aussie Hero Laundry Bags.

A couple of days ago I set myself a challenge, I just wanted to see how many I could make in one day. I made 20 laundry bags. Today I posted them. It was a fun challenge that I do not see myself breaking any time soon!

Craft & Quilt Fair.

The Craft & Quilt Fair is on in Melbourne at the moment, and I had a wonderful surprise, My Hubby took me to it yesterday, and I am still buzzing! Two outings in one week! I saw the lovely Jodie, a real highlight for me. I also bumped into some other people I knew too. If you have a chance to go you should. This is the link to know more.
http://www.craftfair.com.au/wp/Melbourne/
(while I was there I also handed out cards to the people at the fabric and quilt stores there and talked to more people about Aussie Heroes).

Crafty Hijinks.

Crafty Hijinks
On the 15th September at the Brown Hill Hall is an event. Jodie Carleton of Ric-Rac has all the info on her blog. It is going to be very low-key but lots of fun. Its a day just for hanging out, chatting, laughing and crafting. Its early days, but we have a local shop setting up a stall for the day, some door prizes and plans for goody bags. You don’t have to be cool or groovy or particular friends with anyone – You just need to be a blogger-its that simple. Come in a group or come along on your own. You will need to buy a ticket for $21.50. Want to know more? then click on the Crafty Hijinks link to know more!

Out and About with my Friend.

 No sewing today, Instead I had a most fantastic time with my friend Melody. This is her blog.
http://thehouseonthesideofthehill.blogspot.com.au/  One of the stops was at a shop called GJ's Discount Fabrics. Such lovely fabrics and the staff are delightful. Some of my very favourite designers have their patterns for sale here. I talked a bit about Aussie Heroes and left them a card to find out more about it.

Right next door to her favourite bakery is this wonderful Fair Trade store called Mundo Maya. I bought a couple of friendship bracelets for us.

This is their web site.

http://www.mundomaya.com.au/store.aspx

I am sure that Melody will blog about the delightful felt shop on her blog, (I forgot to get their address) They have moved from where they were to the other side of the road.

The last stop before going home was Preston Market. I went and bought some lined paper note pads, 5 for $2 to go into the Aussie Hero Laundry bag boxes. As per normal I bought quite a few packs, 65 note pads in total. A great amount to add to my Aussie Hero Stash.
A most wonderful day, and we did not get lost at all. Thank you Melody for everything.

Zombie and PNG

 This is one of my sons' who went to a birthday party as a Zombie Pilot. The dreadlocks are his own hair.

This morning I have sewn 7 more wraps for PNG the ones on the left have the warm buttersoft double knit fabric on the back and the two on the right have brushed cotton on the inner side.
Now I am itching to get back into making laundry bags. I also have a request from my niece for two knitted baby layettes, one pink set and one blue set for two of her neighbours who are expecting babies in 3 weeks time. Plenty of things to make. I am a very happy crafter!

Special Felt Crafting.

Is she not just delightful? Look at what one of my Crafternooners made at her home today. Yesterday they had such a good time at my house and went home with a lovely bag of assorted felt and fake fur fabric. So lovely to see her making stuff on her own. Too cute!

Crafternooners.

 This afternoon from Midday until 5pm we had out monthly meeting of Crafternoon.
Tracing, drawing and cutting out and stitching.

 A wonderful hand puppet has come to life, using pure wool and felt and decorative stitching with safety eyes.

 I think he is just too cool for words.

 He will at the end of the year go into the schools' Shoe Box Charity Christmas Drive with more puppets. They enjoyed him so much that he will have a wife to go with him.

Traced out, the paper pattern pieces of the pattern from 
http://rhythmofthehome.com/2010/08/michaelmas-dragon/
cut out and started sewing together is a dragon to take home and finish. I think he will be quite wonderful too! Note the lollies and biscuits to keep us going.
They went home with an assortment of fabrics and teddy bits as well as stencils to trace for future projects. We had just the best time! We just love Crafternoons.

Zombie Party Makeover.

 Yesterday my son bought this shirt from Savers to be turned into a Pilot Zombie Outfit for tomorrow. I made some epaulettes and added the black and stripes.

He also bought this lovely wool jacket that I added stripes on the sleeves and made a badge and name plate.

Aussie Hero Laundry Bags.

Today I have made 4 more laundry bags ready to post.

 This is my knitting for the Guardian Pharmacy Angels Project. 4 scarves and 3 hats. All pure wool for warmth. All wool bought from Savers. They will be taken to my nearest drop off point tomorrow.

 This scarf was originally for the Guardian Pharmacy but has been nabbed by my nephew. This one is made out of cotton.

 Today on my walk to Savers I bought this lot. It will be turned into knitted cord for the laundry bags. Great colours! You never know what you might find there. The stock changes daily.

Charity Sewing

I have been busy knitting scarves and hats for the Guardian Pharmacy and in my sewing room I have been preparing the fabric stash and donated fabrics into pairs of 30cm x 30cm and 40cm x 40cm sets for the PNG and Angels for the Fogotten self binding covers. These are the tutorials I have used on the internet and have made one this morning. I love it when I have learned something new.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqwdNqMZ8Ro

http://sewstormy.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/self-binding-baby-blanket-tutorial.html

http://blog.poultonfam.com/megan/2011/03/02/self-binding-blanket-tutorial/

Christmas In July Meeting.

 

 Yesterday we had our ACDA Christmas In July fundraising day. This is the delightful table of goodies people had made. The charity chosen this year was Angels for the Forgotten.

http://www.angelsfortheforgotten.org/  We had about 40 people attending and raised about $250, not a bad effort but the best thing is that one of our members can collect the things on our behalf for the charity each month which will make it easier on our members to contribute. 

  

My hubby won a raffle prize which he has given to me, this wonderful mug bag made by one of our members. It closes with velcro and has a pocket on the front for tea bags. fully lined, Just delightful!

 One of the ladies made this double fleece cover for the PNG charity. I am going to add some applique to pretty it up, It is a really good size and lovely and warm.

 Another donation I have been given are this lovely cottons for the laundry bags.

 For the charity Angels for the Forgotten, some lovely fabric to make some bags with and some new items to add to the bags. Just lovely.

 A huge amount of fabric for the PNG quilts/flimsys. The top fabric is brushed cotton, the pinks creams and whites are stretch double knit, very very soft and the bottom one is a a huge amount of a stretch velvet.

 This lovely ball of fancy yarn will be knitted up into a scarf incorporated with another yarn to add some bling for the Guardian Pharmacy charity makes.
Everyone enjoyed the party, they liked my brooches and the decorations, It was a really fun day.

Aussie Hero Laundry Bags.

Today I have finished 14 laundry bags. A special order all going to the same place on the 1st August. I made them now so that I can relax and make the ordinary ones.

Today.

 They are all finished ready for Saturday, 6 sets of bags and comfort blankets with goodies to go inside.

 Each pack has a comforter, a draw string bag, a pencil, eraser, sharpener, colouring pencils and a note book.

 

 I have made some rice crispy and marshmallow bites and marshmallow and popcorn bites. 30 of them in a box in the fridge for Saturday.

  

Meggie enjoying the winter sun in the family room.

Angels for the Forgotten Charity.

This year we are having on Saturday at ACDA http://www.clothdolls.asn.au/ our cloth doll club we are having our Christmas In July meeting and our yearly fundraiser. This year we are supporting Angels for the Forgotten. http://www.angelsfortheforgotten.org/
On the list are things we can make to donate and things that they need so today I have been preparing some things. I am using the laundry bag style draw string in the size that they need, 40cms by 50cms. using both left over fabric from Aussie Heroes and fabric I have put aside for the K Mart Wishing Tree at the end of the year. (I have plenty of time to find more fabric for it before then). I am making 6 sets. In the bag there will be colouring pencils, eraser, pencil and a sharpener. I am also making 6 Angel blankets which will have the wool fabric on one side and cotton on the other. These are 70cms square.
This is the link for things that they need. http://www.angelsfortheforgotten.org/items-needed.html
As always I am enjoying what I am doing.

More Laundry Bags.

I am enjoying my new method of organization, I have today been busy in my sewing room and have made 12 more laundry bags. The couple of weeks of making the quilts feels like I have had a holiday and I am enjoying making the bags more than ever, Must be the horder mentality! I will have plenty of boxes to take to the post office on Monday.

Nice and Tidy.

 Much better now I have it all organized. The large crate that had the 4 inch strips in them in a messy way has now got the laundry bags ready to sew in sets of 4. On the top are layers of full sized laundry bag strips.

In the smaller crate are the hand made cords in sets of 4 and the half sized strips of fabric for the laundry bags. This will make my life so much easier!

Laundry Bags.

Today I did some sewing. 12 more bags ready to post on Monday.

Sorting Out the Strips.

Before I do any more sewing I thought it would be a good idea to sort the plastic box out. The top strips are 21 1/2 inches long. Half the size needed for a laundry bag. I sew two of these together to make the right length strip. The middle row is 42 inches long, the correct length for the laundry bags and the 3rd strip are lengths that are too short to be whole lengths but I did not want to cut them for the laundry bags so I have left them as long strips. Once I have done the whole box I will sort them out into Hero stuff and PNG stuff by adding cardboard to keep them separated.

4 Inch Box of Strips

 This box is full of strips 4 inches wide. (The size needed for Aussie Hero laundry bag tops) all left over fabric from the bags made and from the PNG quilt fabrics.

 This is how I am going to use them. First I sew three strips together, top and bottom one the same. Cut them into 10 1/2 squares, sew three squares together to make a strip, turning them around so that the seams do not meet. Do the next strip so that they turn in another direction, sew those two together.

The last strip is just like the first one. The only seams that intersect are the ones in the middle block. Super easy, Super quick! Great for beginners like me! The finished size is 30 inches square Just lovely for a baby wrap The last thing to add is a border to make it fit the 36 inch squares I have already cut out.

Fabric Preparation.

Our internet has been very patchy for a while now, so I have busied myself in my sewing room. This is what I have been doing for the past couple of days. Cutting up fabric bought from op shops all around the place. 38 squares of 37 inches for PNG Quilts.

 Cutting up the fabric for laundry bags, linings and outers, all paired up in sets of 4

52 bags ready to sew. This should keep me busy for a while.

Laundry Bag

 I recently made some laundry bags with this fabric. A request to all my viewers out there, I would love some more for a quilt. or Wile E. Coyote fabric. While out and about of you are op shopping, Keep an eye out for me, thanks!