Prints Charming Quilt

I thought it was about time I did another quilt, so yesterday I started this small quilt kit I bought from the Ice House Quilt Shop in Greyling, Michigan. I love that quilt store, definitely one of the best in Michigan! Anyway, I finished up the top this morning and here is what it looks like. You can download the pattern from the Freespirit site. This fabric is actually made here in Australia--it's very nice, but I do find it unfair that it costs almost three times as much over here than what I paid in Michigan. Shouldn't it be the other way around if it is made here? I will do the binding of this quilt in one of the black fabrics, thus it will show a black border all the way around. Happy Halloween everyone!

Boxer Shorts

This is a pair of boxer shorts I made yesterday for dh. I used a pattern from Simplicity (9958) to make them, but I was not very excited about the pattern. First of all, the directions were not very detailed and hard to follow. Second of all, they came out a looking a little, hmmm.... how shall I say.... dorky on dh. Maybe a little high waisted and too much material making his legs look a bit stick like. Maybe this pattern would be great on a bigger guy. So, anyway, now that I get the idea of how to make a pair, I might make a template from one of his better fitting boxers and then see if I can make a better pair. This will be an interesting challenge for me as I have never tried copying something before.

Custom Bags

I finally finished the custom bags some of the girls at tennis ordered from me. I got them done late last night after a full day roustabouting in the shearing shed just in time to deliver today at tennis. I hope the girls like them, I just love the colors they chose so they were easy and fun to make.
Here, I have material all ready cut and interfaced ready to make more bags! We'll see what happens with them.

Burning, Burning

I thought I would show you a picture of the fire we set off in the front of our house the other day. All in preparation for summer's fire season--we were burning off what we can close to the house so that we could have a fighting chance to save our house should a fire come through this year. It's a scary thought, I never had to think so much about fires, drought and lack of rain growing up in Michigan. As dh says though, "Australia is a land of subtle beauty." Hmmm... subtle is right.

Hair Scrunchie Tutorial

So, I have been meaning to post this tutorial days ago but I couldn't find my camera battery charger! But all is good now. I wanted to do a tutorial right after I made them because I would have liked to have an explanation myself as to how they are made. Thank you to all who requested a tutorial! Not as simple as one would think and dare I say it, but DH actually worked it out with me and we figured out how to construct them together over morning coffee.



So... Start with a piece of fabric 51/2 inches by 22 inches. I found that any longer makes it difficult to put the elastic in later, any shorter and it won't be scrunch up enough. One fat quarter could make three hair scrunchies! Also, you will need to cut a piece of elastic about 8 inches long, I used flat 1/2 inch wide elastic because it is easier to handle but I am sure you could use other variations.
Next, sew right sides together about 2-3 inches long backstitching at each end using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Then, leave a space about 2-3 inches long for the opening and continue sewing the rest of the length of material, backstitching at each end.

Now, turn the material right side out through the opening.

Next, turn only the short end so that it is facing wrong side out. Take the long end which is facing right side out and stick it inside through the opening so that the two short raw ends are lined up with the seams matching.
Pin the seams so that they stay matching.
Ok, here is the trickiest bit of the whole procedure. You have to sew the ends in a circle without sewing over the top of it and thus closing the tube. It took me a while to get the hang of this, but one thing that helped me was to place the material under the pressure foot as shown in this photo. With your fingers carefully pull the top of the fabric away from the needle. Be careful not to sew your fingers!

It looks like this when you complete the circle...

Now turn so that right sides are out.

Next, insert the elastic through the tube you just made. It helps to push with the thumb as far as you can go and then grab from the other side.

Pull on the elastic with both hands from each end to make sure elastic is straight and not twisted within the scrunchie.

Sew the elastic ends together back and forth several times to make sure it is secure.

Now it is almost complete.

All that is left to do is to edge stitch the opening together.
Try to be as neat as possible because the stitching will show! You can rotate the stitching to the inside of the scrunchie to make it neater.

So there you go! The final product!

I am not sure if there is an easier way to make these, let me know if anyone has an easier way through any of these steps. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial!

A Scrunchie Day

I had fun trying to figure out how to make hair scrunchies out of leftover fabric from my projects. I have always wanted to make these as I use them all the time, but I never tried working out how to do it. So, I figured it out and then went a little crazy and made over 30! Ok, enough of that for now, back to bag making!

Amy Butler Kimono Robe

Here is a picture of my latest project. This is the Kimono Robe from Amy Butler's book, "In Stitches." I really love how this turned out. I had to cut a lot of length off of the sleeves and the robe turned out shorter than I thought it would be, but it goes well with the pants. Now I am all set for lounging around the house in the mornings. So cozy!!!

And Another One...

So, I'm practicing making these bags while I wait for the fabric to arrive that I ordered for the custom bags. I think I will build up stock and try selling at the coastal market. It might work out, who knows... I need to come up with some more designs too.