Creating in my spare time

There hasn't been much spare time lately, but I did have an order for some eye pillows to be used in meditation! 

The beautiful feel of satin, the wonderfully soothing textures of the filling, and the calming scent of camomile. I read a few DIY tutorials online, then set to work on my own take on it. 

The practice run came together nicely, so it was time to try the real thing. 

The perfect addition? My new tags from Ted and Toot labels! 

Worthlife is stocking these eye pillows for me! 

Dress for a princess

This beautiful little girl turned 4, so here is the dress I made her. Floss Style Rosie Dress with fabric I had :) 

Bernina!

My birthday and Christmas came all at once when Mum and Dad decided they would like to buy me... A sewing machine! Mum has always had Bernina machines, and my Elna was made almost a decade before I was born, so a little upgrade is VERY EXCITING! 

She has yet to be named, I had a little play yesterday, however most of my sewing room is in boxes at present! 

Out came the scrap bag and a little wool pouch. I played with the stitch settings and she sews like a dream. A couple of orders have already come through for this year, as well as one that needs finishing from last year, so she's going to be a busy little machine! 

I'm so excited for all that this year holds. 

God bless! 

Monday madness!

I had an AWESOME day! 

My millinery order arrived at lunch time 

(But not the flowers) 

As well as some white trim which somehow avoided this photo which was thrown in complimentary. It's so wonderful, I'm so excited to play and create! 

My fabric order should also be here this week, apparently not until Friday though :( there are a few more bits in that for my fascinating fascinator encounter! 

Also WE HAVE HOT WATER AGAIN! Right after writing this out, I'm off for the best shower I've had in seemingly forever! 

And! This arvo I knocked off work, did the food shopping, then got stuck into the piles of leaves, branches, and rubbish in the back yard, and weeding the gravel beside the lawn. So rewarding! Rippy helped, as always. 

Helpful Rippy is chewing up his treasures, eventually they might even fit in the bin! 

I'd love to compost more, but our gardens are a foot deep in rocks, which doesn't lend itself to mulching all that well... So I'll do my best just to keep the rocks tidy instead! 

Happy Monday! Have an awesome Tuesday! 

Packing day

Tomorrow is road trip day! It's been a stressful afternoon attempting to cram all of my worldly possessions into my tiny car, but my super hero, rock star boyfriend managed to make the majority of it fit (yay) some things didn't make the cut- such as my rose cuttings. I'm hoping that mum will be able to keep them alive for me. My paintings in progress didn't fit either, but my paints have, so I'll just have to start fresh. 

Before packing we had a wonderful morning at church, c3 joondalup were incredibly hospitable and both the worship and fellowship were heartwarming and inspiring. From there we took a lovely stroll around bunnings, picking up a piece of MDF for a project we have planned (stick around, all will be revealed) and then in to the city to pick up a router for my Rockstar's new sound desk, and get the battery replaced in my phone (exciting!) 

Since my last post I have actually managed to do some crafting, I finished off this dress FINALLY! 

Sorry about the blurry photo. This is before I finished the hem I think. As soon as it was done I had to rush out, proper "complete" photos to come! 

And I have 3/4 finished a little roll for my sewing supplies. I think there may be a tutorial for this one day- keep watching this space! 

The next 2 days will be driving, then back to work and it'll take time to get myself sorted out and back into the swing of things. I haven't deserted you, I'll just be temporarily offline! 

God bless! 

Tuesday

Another creative day! Loving it!

One of my friends is having a baby later this year, I'm seeing her today (Wednesday) before I go back to Hedland for several months, so I thought I'd make her a little gift. This is a nappy wallet (for the handbag) from this tutorial by Melissa Esplin. She has many variations, I chose the one most in my comfort zone - the sewn one! My friend doesn't know the gender of her baby, so I thought orange would work. And orange is awesome!

 Then, work continued on the sprocket cushions. They got gussets and backs and they even got stuffed! I enlisted the help of my wonderful Mother, who seemed to be looking for something to do! She took it as a great opportunity to pull out her old Bernina which had been out of service for about 18 months, after visiting the sewing doctor, it got a new capacitor and is now a pleasure to sew on once again!

I have no really exciting photos of my dress progress, I sewed and pinned and sewed and pinned and ironed and sewed. I (think I) have 4 constructed bodices and 3 constructed skirts, just waiting to be joined together, zippered and have the lining attached!

"Neat" piles for each dress

Finally, I have another friend who I am catching up with before I go away, and it's her birthday this month (Agh! July already!!) So I used this tutorial from Sweet Verbena to make her a bag. It's not quite the same, I was limited by the fabric I had in my stash. My bag is a couple of inches smaller, has shorter handles and drawstrings, and a different method of attaching the lining. This bag made me think of my friend when I first saw it and I'm so happy I made it, I think she will really love it!

Cinched up tight!

about 19" square, plenty of space!

Musical fabric to line it

Monday! (UPDATED)

Happy Monday everyone!

Update: I'm on my computer now, so I can add in some photos!!

Sailor Shorts

I spent my day sewing, got an bit done, and I have managed to slice my hands with the pins... Clever me!
 I started sewing together a pair of shorts that I'd cut previously. I've overlocked around the edges of all the pieces. HOW did I live before having an overlocker! Seriously makes everything SO much easier!
I was working on these because I'd told myself I was going to make 5 dresses and 5 purses, and that seemed hard, so I did some housework and then started on these guys. I need to make some bias binding to go around the front before I can do any more on them. Not really a tricky task, just time consuming (and my brain needs to be functioning!)

Pinning requires chocolate and tea

Pinning....

Pinning...

Pinning....

I spent a long while pinning the darts in the bodice, skirt and lining pieces of the 4 dresses I'm making from the same pattern (McCalls M6699). I've been working on one of the dresses, a white one. 

It's not bad so far, I've since taken out the skirt seams a smidgen for a bit more space, the lining is ready once the seams are acceptable, and that will finish it off nicely. I have lining for the skirt of this dress too, even though it's not a requirement, as I didn't want to rely on the white being opaque under all lights. 

The sewing machine and I were had our differences for a couple of hours, so I decided to play with some other fabric to make couch cushions. I followed this tutorial and I used the overlocker to put them together.

At some point in the future I'll make backings and stuff them, and they will have a pretty button in the middle.

Let's hope tomorrow is even more productive! 

Late night sewing

After inspiration struck late last night, I rummaged through my fabric collection and this was the result: 

Hopefully this will make a beautiful 2 year old very happy for her birthday! 

Another busy 24 hours

So with very little sleep I have finished 4 NCW purses, 4 teardrop bags, and 2 messenger/laptop bags of my own design- stay tuned for a tutorial when I make the next one- and 4 more purses that are waiting for zipper pockets and then they will be complete too. (I have zippers now, it's just a matter of time!) 

I met my amazing man yesterday at the airport while he had a brief stop over on the way to a conference in frosty Hobart. After that, I had a nap, back to the sewing today! 

My Star Wars lined laptop bag! I got the Star Wars fabric from etsy well over a year ago, all this time it's been waiting to be made into a bag! I bought batman fabric at the same time, which was made into a bag for my man almost straight away, after being used every day since, it's looking a bit worse for wear, so I managed to find some Power Rangers fabric, also from etsy. 

I finished making it with just enough time to shower and meet him at the airport for lunch between flights. When he returns from the conference I'll make sure I get better photos than just this one! 

Yellow, green, purple and pink matching bag/purse sets! Plus 4 (mostly pink) purses waiting for their zipper pockets. 

I was getting a bit fancy with my top stitching... 

And then realized I had failed to put the magnetic snap in the flap before attaching it. 

Major frustration. 

So, I unpicked the top of the flap in hope that I could just top stitch it back, good as new... 

Weeelllll.... It isn't quite good as new, back to the drawing board... 

I slept in the kitchen last night, little foam mattress on the floor, because my poor puppy (13 1/2 years old is still a puppy) isn't well, and needed help getting up to go out every hour or so- he would do the same for me if I was sick. 

He seems to be feeling a bit better this morning. 

Beautiful puppy last night <3