quiet...but not quiet

Things have been quiet on one side of the fence - hardly any "posts" (ha ha, I crack myself up sometimes), but over on my side, it's been a hectic rush of HSC major works, the MatH (Man about the House) travelling for work, my (paid) job, housework (unpaid job) and a sanity-saving amount of sewing...oh not to mention the fantastic trip to visit family and friends on the other side of the world that happened earlier in the year.

So where to start...maybe I'll just work backwards...

Currently in the sewing room, and spread out through the laundry and the lounge room, is the 21st birthday quilt -for the 22 yr BatH (boy about the house) who will get it before he turns 23!

The kaleidoscope blocks come from the SBH flickr swap that I was in, in 2012.  I still have to add the top and bottom grey borders, another border of 12" sawtooth stars (cutting in progress), a 6" light blue and dk blue strip border (cut and pieced) and the last border will be black/dkgrey & white/light grey flying geese (thought about).

Some delicious fabric has made its way into the house...

MoMo...old and new ranges...totally addicted...

I get them out to play with, dream about cutting into them, then chicken out.

Botanics...what can I say...if Craftsy want to sell it off, who am I to argue...

I like to help out friends who want to destash too...hello Tula...

That's a start to catching up - there's still a lot more, both fabrics *blush* and projects, to come.

I'll leave you with a last cute little project - a request to make a mini flannelette shirt for a work colleague's new grandson - finished on the weekend...

thanks for taking a peek over the fence...

The Sew Together Bag...and the not so fiddly zipper tabs.

Sunday Sewalong at the GWSMQG are a highlight of each month...yeah I don't get out a lot!

Last weekend was the June Sunday, and a plan was hatched to have a group sew along - and what better to sew together than the Sew Together Bag. This is a downloadable pattern from Sew Demented on Craftsy

I really shouldn't have started yet another project,

but the fact,

* it is FINISHED,

* it was great to have assistance from someone who'd already made it,

* I cut into my Charley Harper fabric,

* it doesn't take up a lot of fabric,

* you can use scraps to make the outer shell, and

* you'll lose your fear of zips,

I figured I'd was ahead before I'd even started!

So two of the things that I learnt from following in someone else's footsteps are:
a)  that the zipper tabs are a fiddly as all get out, and
b) an 18" zipper is a tight fit if you're trying to avoid the metal bit, luckly I did have a 20" zipper (thanks @iamacraftykat).

The Quilt Barn has a sewalong on the blog that is worth checking out for great detail on the construction.

One problem I found with the pattern is the minimal photos and diagrams. The explanation of the zipper tabs seems a bit unclear and there are no photos or diagrams of this particular step. The way it is done in the Quilt Barn Sew Along, looks really awkward (to me, anyway)...much better to sew the sides first rather than all that pinning and trying to get folded seam allowances to stay put.

The way I sewed them is perhaps what the pattern instructs you to do, but with the lack of diagrams, it's hard to tell. The ones I sewed just slip onto the end of the zipper...

Anyway here goes with my version:

- fold your fabric in half and finger press the fold.

- open out and with wrong side facing up, turn up the short raw edge towards the fold and iron or finger press - I turned up mine about 1 1/4", on either side of the fold.

- the fold in half again with right sides together, and pin to hold in place.

- the width of the zipper and binding is 1 1/2" , so by sewing a scant 1/4" seam along each side of the zipper tab you will still have a wide enough opening for the zip to slide in to...

- sew 1/4" seam along each raw edge side LEAVE THE OPENING WITH THE FOLDED UP ENDS OPEN!

- turn right side out through the opening...and you have a tiny wee pouch with neatly folded in ends.

- there's no need to trim seam allowances (because you didn't go around a corner)...just gently poke out with a skewer, so the sides are neat and square.

- it's really easy to poke the zipper inside the wee pouch and push it down to the end...just scrunch it together a bit and shove, then smooth out! I just made sure there was no metal where I want to top stitch this in place.

- topstitch 1/8" in around all four sides.
The last step is to sew the bound ends to the middle of each side for your handle.

Look at all that Charley Harper lovliness! Such happy, happy colours! And cute birds! And gold and blue leaves! And a little red pincushion!

thanks for taking a peek over the fence...

Bye Baby Bunting...Hello 2014

Well hello 2014...where did you come from? Sneaking up on me like that...you should be ashamed of yourself! You're here to stay you say? Ok I'll have to make the best of  it then!

I did say that my next post would be about making mini-bunting, and even if it has taken 3 months, here it is!

Just to recap, the bunting postcard was made for the Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap #6 . It made it into the round-up post, which was a bit of a buzz!

So, if you've ever felt like making minuscule bunting you've come to the right place...

Gather your supplies:

• scraps of fabric - smallest size is 1 1/4" squares.. I had quite a few 2 1/2" squares that I cut in half and then used one of the halves to make two small squares, keep the other 1 1/4" x 2 1/2" rectangle for the bunting "string".
• quilters awl or unpicker or even a small skewer ( helps with holding and folding)
• tweezers (ditto ) 
• usual sewing supplies, sewing machine etc...(you're not silly I shouldn't have to point out the obvious!)

Cut 1 1/4" squares from your scraps.

If you are using 2 1/2" squares, cut them in half, and make two small squares and one rectangle.

Here's my finished pile of 1 1/2" squares and the leftover rectangles...make mine rainbow thanks!

(I didn't realise how bad these photos were but if I wait to take them again in better light this tutorial might get posted sometime in 2014! ha ha ha guess what? It does get posted in 2014 and the pics didn't get retaken!)

Take one square and fold it in half to form a rectangle:

Fold the bottom right hand corner of the folded edge up to about 1/3 in from the left hand edge

Then take the other folders corner and bring it up to lap over to the right hand side - you've basically folded the rectangle into 3. Make sure you have a nice sharp point at the bottom.

Turn it over - tweezers are a big help here- so the "pointy" bits and fold are at the back.

As you fold each one, feed them through the machine with the aid of your unpicker/awl/skewer.

Don't separate them, leave them in one long line.

Hard to tire of looking at all that cuteness!

Now you've done the bunting, sew those rectangles together into one long strip, open out the seams and iron them flat. 

Then fold them in half down the length, iron well...starch is your friend with this mini stuff...open out the fold,  and then fold each long side into the centre and iron well again (see picture below), just like you are making binding, which of course is exactly what you are doing!
Start inserting the first little triangle and clip in place. See how they are all chained together - you just shove and peg, shove and peg, till you get the arrangement you want.

I made two strips as they fitted the layout of the 6" x 4" postcard.

The binding hides the stitches and keeps those pesky tails that may not quite get sewn, hidden away too!
Snip off the tips of the prominent pointy bits if they didn't fit neatly, but be careful not to cut your stitches.

I sewed slowly over each piece and it fed through the machine fine.
I tried my zipper foot but the results were pretty ordinary, so I went back to the general sewing foot. I also lengthened the stitches which gave a nice effect

And here's the finished product again:

I hope you have fun making mini bunting...now wasn't that worth the wait?

Thanks for taking a peek over the fence...