A Fantastic Cause.

Awesome Charity.
http://meetmeatmikes.com/2013/10/softies-for-mirabel-meet-greet/

Playing With Paper.

 Today I have been playing with paper. Making ornaments for Christmas. Just using a regular sheet of paper, some paper fasteners and a ruler and a hole punch. This particular ball has 8 strips but you can decide what you need for the ball. The band that goes around the middle has 16 holes, each strip goes around in a circle.

 this is the bottom of the ball. using the middle holes line up the strips and hold in place with the paper fastener. Using another fastener put the top and bottom holes together to make the rings.

 Almost there, Now using your 16 holed piece of paper place it around the ball fastening as you go. Add a loop to the top and you are done.

Finnish Star using this video tutorial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_ofEJL23TA

Pincushion.

 This is what I have made today, a pincushion. Sometimes you have to have some time out and just play.  The pin cushion is sitting on top of the bottom of a jam jar which gives you the size perspective, the hat pins are sewing needles.

This is the back.

Christmas Mail.

This is an interesting web site about sending care packages for our troops over the Christmas period.
http://www.defence.gov.au/christmas/mail/

Thread Spool Holder.

I replaced my make shift spool holder with a real one from Spotlight. only $4. Money well spent! I have however attached it to a block of wood with a piece of non slip rubber on the on the bottom to make it more stable.

Christmas Card Shopping.

 As per usual, after posting my parcels I go straight to Savers for more supplies for Aussie Hero stuff. This time instead of fabric I was on the hunt for Christmas cards. All the Aussie Hero laundry bags will have 5 cards each as part of the care package that they can use to send to their loved ones or share around.

 I was very surprised to see how far my $15 went.

A lot of cards still in their boxes and some loose ones too. I went home a very happy girl.

Aussie Hero Laundry Bags.

 I have today made 8 laundry bags.

They are all boxed up ready to post.

Problem Solving.

 This lovely large spool of strong upholstery thread is too big to put onto the machine spool holder and I wanted to use it for the case I made so I gave it a thought and remembered this, A toilet roll holder I bought to hold my Morris Men dolls I made a while ago. 2 rubber washers stretched over the top,  the thread between them (I bought a pack of mixed sets from Aldi a couple of weeks ago, the small rubber washers I use as markers when I am knitting) The large ones we will be using in an up coming crafternoon activity so more on that later.  A very heavy magnet that I have (The kids know to ask me if I can make use of anything before they throw them out and I could not pass up on a large magnet, very handy for picking up pins) holds the whole thing down and the spool fits neatly on the top.

This is where I have it placed when I was sewing. Problem solved!

This is the solution for thinner spools. Place it in a jar or container.

Garden and Makes.

 This is a collage of my front garden today, The flowers are looking lovely.

I had a visitor yesterday, My good friend came by and asked me if I could make a case for her ukulele, I told her I would give it a go. First I traced around it and then added a seam allowance plus a little bit more. (vinyl is difficult to sew), using a tip from the internet I used newspaper under the foot of my sewing machine then pulled the paper off afterwards. I still have bits of paper to remove but on the whole I think it is ok.

Aussie Heroes Quilt Raffle.

 Aussie Hero Quilts (and laundry bags) is having a Christmas Raffle See this link here,
  http://aussieheroquilts.blogspot.com.au/ 

These are a couple of prizes and more on the way,  This top picture is a beautiful ruby pendant from Afghanistan, 

There is a $200 Quantas Domestic travel ticket,

A Quilt made by Aussie Hero Quilters,

This is the feature fabric used in all the blocks.

I am making this clock in the winners favourite colours.
The pattern used is Jodie Carleton available here, if you want to make your own.
 http://vintagericrac.blogspot.com.au/p/my-patterns.html 
Her patterns are DIVINE!

Tickets are $5 each and If you would like to buy some then go here for all the details.
 http://aussieheroquilts.blogspot.com.au/
Good luck!

Christmas Makes.

 This is the first of the 5 bags I am making for Christmas for the ladies at Spotlight. Fabric and plastic from Spotlight and the very long zipper from Savers.

 I used the for the straps and around the plastic and added buttons to the corners to finish it off.

This is for a swap at our ACDA Christmas party, every year we have a pin cushion and a Christmas decoration swap.

Sewn Cord.

Using Vera Moda Triple Fever Mesh, twisting and then straight sewing on the machine I have made a lenght of cord. Pinned elastic holds it in place and ready to use. Simple easy and quick.

Sewing And Crochet.

 I have finished off today the 5 long table runners for the ACDA Christmas Party in December.

I have also the past few evenings been making cord for the Aussie Hero Quilts and laundry bags bag. Bundles of 4 so 20 cords done. Now I can get to sewing some laundry bags.

Shopping at Savers.

Today I went to the shops to pay some bills and whilst I was there I dropped into Savers, Look what I bought! Long zips, 6 of them! I needed 5 long zips now I can make one for myself too! How happy am I! Plenty long enough to make my Christmas prezzies with, (Fat 1/4 tote bags for the lovely ladies at Spotlight), long enough to go around and be used as straps too! Very funky!

Lovely Thank You Gift.

 Quite a different weekend for me this week, On Sunday I gave away a sewing machine on
http://www.freecycle.org/group/au/victoria
The lovely Anna had asked for a machine and she was a beginner sewer and following my lovely win from Spotlight I answered her call. She came and picked it up and I also gave her some needles, threads and fabric to go with it and she was very happy indeed.

Two lovely sprays of flowers were grown from her garden, They are beautiful, so I put them onto a container and hung it on the tree out the front. They look really lovely.
Anna is already using her machine and she sent me a lovely thank you e-mail. I am so glad it went to a good home.

Christmas Beaded Bell.

 First make your bell pattern, It needs to be symmetrical,  so fold your paper/card stock in half and cut. Trace out the bell pattern on your felt, With felt you do not have to worry about grain as there is no grain so you can place your pattern and cut it out to make the most of your fabric.

 This particular bell had 8 pieces, If you want more honeycomb segments use more bell shapes. You are going to sew them together. I have done this bell in two pieces of 4 felt shapes together because of the thickness of the fabric. Draw a sewing line on the front and the back one to keep your stitching even.

 Hold your pieces together using clips. Sew your loop in the centre of one of your sets. (these will be sewn together to make a bell with 8 pieces.

 Sew all 8 together on the stitching lines you have done already.

 Now this is where you will be pinning to make the honey comb shape. First row. Pin the pieces together, 2 by 2 by 2 by 2.
Next row, Again they will be pinned 2 by 2 by 2 by 2  you will be staggering it making the honeycomb segment.
next row. This set of pins will follow the first row of pins..

 next row. This is the last row on the outsides of the bell. this follows the second row of pins, the lower tips.

This is showing the underside of the bell. The tips have been pinned and now the inner segments are being pinned.
When you are happy with the placement of where you want to sew, one at a time, take out a pin, sew and add a bead, cast off, cut thread, go onto the next one.
When they are all done add a bead to the bottom centre of your bell and it is done.
If you want a fuller bell with more honeycomb, add more layers of bells at the first stage.

Crafternooners Christmas Makes.

This is what our Crafternooners will be making for Christmas. The bell is using the same principle as the circle decoration, 6 bell shapes sewn together down the middle and then sewn in segments and beaded.

They will also be making Jodie Carletons' Woodland Christmas, All hand sewn, I love it! Thanks Jodie! the pattern is available here,
http://www.favecraftsblog.com/diy-santa-from-ric-rac/

Making Cord Continued.

I forgot to add this picture on my last post. This is doing the same thing on the sewing machine, twisting as I go, but this time I have used the zig zag stitch.

Making Cord.

 Having the yarn I bought the other day to turn into cord, I realised that it is too thick to use the crochet chain stitch so I decided to see if using the sewing machine would work instead. Perfect! On this demonstration I have used 2 different coloured threads so that you can see more clearly exactly what is happening, It twists.

 Twist the yarn in whatever direction is most comfortable to you a little at a time and keeping it even sew.

 This is a close up of the newly created cord.

This is the cord and the yarn that I am using.

Sewing.

 Today I made a sewing machine cover for my new baby.

 Very simple.

 Aussie Hero Quilt block for the Christmas Raffle Quilt. I will be posting this on on Monday.The middle patch is 6 1/2 inches and a border added to make it the size needed for 10 1/2 inch block.

Based on this pattern,
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/12/02/candy-cane-crafts-for-a-crowd/
Something for my Crafternooners to make.

Meggie and Tilli

 Meggie enjoying the sunshine.

Tilli in the laundry basket.