Instant gratification…

Hmm...what I really should have been sewing up, is the pouches for SIT.

But I’m snatching bits of time at the machine, in between Minky’s textiles project…her schoolwork deadline is waaaaayyy more important than my SIT deadline…or so I’m led to believe…

I was digging around the internet and found this project, a Gadget Travel Tote. All that was needed was a teatowel. I didn’t really follow the project instructions. Next time I make one, I’ll take step by step photos, because I avoided having to do that “concertina” fold thingy in the instructions.
Here’s what mine looks like…all ready to take to Canberra for SIT…

Now I can take the camera charger, camera cord, kindle cord, iPhone charger and computer mouse, all safe in one place in my bag.
I’ll get on to those pouches on Friday…it’s my day off…and the textiles project will be handed in tomorrow!
Would you like to see some of the textiles project?…here’s some photos of a four of the eight pages…

I’ve shown Alice in another blog post.

Takes my breath away with her artistry. All her own fabric choices…she’s just lucky there is such a stash here for her to choose from!

thanks for taking a peek over the fence…

Quilting Bloggers Directory...is yours there?

Have you got your blog on the Quiltitng Bloggers Directory? This is a huge resource for quilters, with blogs, shop, markets and guilds listed as well as running contests and advertising many specials from loads of online shops.

Michele from Quilting Gallery, maintains the Quiltitng Bloggers Directory, and has just done an overhaul of the site and now you can see your last few posts listed next to your blog badge.

She's asking for all bloggers to come along and add their blogs, especially as over 1,000 inactive blogs were removed (imagine all the quilting time that ate into!).
Go here  to add your blog.

See you there...

thanks for taking a peek over the fence...

MP&Y…did you say buy?

Cherie has tapped into a theme I have been meaning to blog about for a while...showing you "stuff"...

This week My Place and Yours is all about

the last thing you bought

thanks for asking Cherie....

No you’re not hallucinating…this much fabric has arrived here in the last few weeks - all on sale, and the Aussie dollar was a bit helpful ( and it's way better than eating when something is bothering you), but the 

very last things I bought...see those 3 books...

they were $20 for all 3!...from Lincraft.

My local one has tables and tables and more tables of books from aran knitting to zebra soft toys (ok I made the last one up, but the a-z-and-everything-in-between analogy is a good one), and I lost an hour out of yesterday just browsing.

I’m totally in love with the paper piecing book…and with all that fabric I’ve bought, well now I have some thing to make with it all…that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

So head on over to Cherie at Waste Not Do Want and do a bit of window shopping of your own…or better still show us the last thing you bought.

thanks for taking a peek over the fence…

MPAY…third drawer down

I'm a little late to the party, but one of my favourite bloggy memes has a new home.

My Place and Yours is now living with Cherie of Waste Not do Want.

This week’s theme is the third drawer down...


I was going to show you my kitchen drawer full of plastic and tupperware, but it's unusually empty as most of it has been used to store leftovers.
Bathroom and bedroom drawers were out (you don’t want to see a drawer full of hairbrushes and I’m definitely not showing you my knicker drawer!!)

So the only other 3rd drawer I have is in my lovely old dressing table. It actually holds some very modern stuff…

It is home to all my ‘electronic’ gadgetry. There’s the kindle, computer mouse and my old HP iPac and it's usb keyboard. I have some things that were my Dad’s and he really loved gadgets of all sorts.

There are cords for connecting things to the computer...camera, kindle, iphone and various power cables. Some stuff I can’t throw out because I still love it and the time in my life it represents, even if something shinier and prettier has come along.

There is even and old nintenodo game boy magnifying light attachment that I salvaged from my son’s rubbish heap (fyi…older teens do occasionally clean their rooms). I checked it out on line and it was one of the best gadgets made for the old gameboys…I felt like I’d had an ‘oppy win’ in my own backyard. Son is now under instructions to give me the gameboy before he even thinks about throwing it out…it’s part of history and who knows how much fun any future grandsons may have with it)…ok my name is quilary and I could be accused of being a hoarder...…
The only thing not in this drawer is the camera…I was using it at the time!!

I hope you liked the peek into my third drawer and if you're drawn to drawers, you can see a few more at MPAY’s new home.

Thanks Cherie for hosting this fun meme!

thanks for taking a peek over the fence…

Sew It Together 2102

Only a month to go till SIT in Canberra! I'm really looking forward to the chance to get away and be immersed in craft/sewing/quilting and meeting other bloggers.

The name badge I made has been received by it's new owner, so I can reveal it here in all it's glory...wonky embroidery and all. (I don't think I gave Sheridan the stray bit of cotton though!)

This is from a paper piecing pattern from Sewhooked that you can find here - the embellishments are my own invention.

I've been snatching a bit of time to make the 5 Sample Swap gifts as well. I'm really happy with how this one turned out. I'm using a charm pack of Modern Workshop (gifted by Retromummy after a quilts for queensland sewing day) and some fat quarters of sss blenders (which came with a long ago subscription to Patchwork & Stitching - or one of those mags).

This pink one is the first one I made and I don't like how the zipper ends turned out, plus I forgot to put on the wrist strap - which means I have to cut out another one, but I learnt a lot doing it.

 They do look sweet together!

They are around 10" x 6" - hopefully quite a handy size for fellow SIT-ters

I can't even direct you to one pattern or  tutorial that I used, because I seriously read so many. I guess you could start with the Moda Bake shop strippy charm pouch, but that one doesn't do zipper tab end-y things so I looked up a few more to get different ways of doing the zipper ends - I guess mine is a mish mash of different ideas, but here are a few blog tutorials you could check out: Kelby Sews or Pink Penguin or  Make It Perfect or finally Sew Fantastic  ...that should keep you distracted for a while!

Life has been fairly hectic around here - I can't really complain - we chose to have 6 children!
Through the "hectic", I was having a mild conniption that I had to have 4 more of these made by May 18 and then I went and re-read the "rules" and found that it's by June 1 ...is this what it feels like to win lotto?...so no more panicking...perhaps I'd better go and get rid of the family of spiders that have taken up residence on the stairs, light fittings and window sills now that I have a bit of breathing space?

thanks for taking a peek over the fence...

Mail out…mail in…

I’ve finished my partner’s name tag for Sew It Together 2012…

…and even better, it’s actually in the post, hopefully to turn up in their mailbox today!!!

AND

this is what’s turned up in my mailbox in the last few weeks…

I was lucky enough to win this charm pack from QuietPlay…

celebrating 50 followers (now over 100) and another Aussie blogger for you to have a look at too…thank you Kristy!

…and then I won this DVD from Samelia’s Mum…thanks Anorina. There hasn’t been much to watch on TV lately, and I only get time to knit my little Amigurumi critters if I can sit with the TV on, so this has come in handy.

Also, in the funniest/weirdest co-incidence since my parents’ next door neighbours ended up with our old lease stationwagon -  (that really did happen, same number plates, same extra bootspace seat and we lived almost an hour drive away!- and we didn’t sell it to them either) – the charm pack and embroidery threads came from Anorina’s shop Fabric Buzz…spookkkky!

I love a good mail day…

And finally a little bit more sewing did get done…

March Blogger BOM…just in time for the April one to get put up…darn behind again!

Today is a no paid work day so, after a bit of a much needed housecleaning, I'll try and get a bit more sewing done and blogged...


thanks for taking a peek over the fence…