It's been a while...

So.....August was the last time I was here. It is just crazy how quickly time is going past.

I started this beautiful Bella bag from Chris W Designs months ago. The pattern has since been revamped by Christine and is even better now (I look forward to trying out the new design). I originally hoped to finish this bag in time for the birth of my niece for her Mum to use as a nappy bag, but she is already 8 weeks old (and completely gorgeous). Luckily my boys were a little more organised and chose a cute little gift to send their new cousin.  I'm hoping that my Sister in-law will still find a use for it.

Christine's patterns are so detailed and easy to follow, even for a beginner like me and my basic little Janome sewing machine had no trouble at all sewing through all the layers but I did make sure to just to go slow and be careful.

It was a learning curve working with all the different hardware and I have to be honest and say that punching the holes for the grommets at the top of the bag really had me nervous as the bag was pretty much finished at that point and I was so afraid of stuffing it up.

Inside the bag there is a zippered pocket and also some open pockets. I was going to put a little clip inside for hanging keys (or dummies) on but I completely forgot.

There is another little zippered pocket on the back of the bag too as well as some pockets on the side. I couldn't find a zip to match the brown fabric so I decided to go with a cream colour instead.

It is also a pouch/pocket at the front too.

My boys are on school holidays now for another five and a bit weeks and it is the tropical wet season here in Far North Queensland so I am hoping that I will be able to get a little sewing done and it wont be quite so long before I have another project to share with you.

I would like to share this bag on the following linky parties:

Creating My Way To Success - Round Tuit 289

Threading My Way - Bags & Totes

Sew Can She - Show Off Saturday

Sew Can Do Craftastic Monday

Thank you for stopping by my poor neglected blog today. Please leave a comment to say hi so that I can come visit you too.

Bye for now..

Michelle :)

Garage sale bargain

We were taking our boys to garage sales for a while there as we were trying to teach them that they could get better value for their pocket money that way and that it was much better for the environment (less landfill etc) and while they always managed to find some great toy or new books I was lucky enough to find a few bargains for myself too.

I was pretty excited when I picked up this lot of wadding/batting (still not sure what it is called) and heaps of fusible fleece for $20 even if I didn't really know what I would use it for.

I grabbed some fabric bits and pieces too including this partial layer cake.

I had used a couple of pieces of this to make a little zippered pouch  but still had about 20 squares left.

A suggestion from my Sister in-law the other night inspired me to have a go at making a quilt. I thought that these squares would be perfect for my first practice run.

This rag quilt design is so perfect for a beginner, I love it!
No real science to it just arrange the squares in a way that you think looks good and it's all straight stitching from there. What could be easier!

Cutting up the batting was a bit of a chore but with only 16 squares to do it didn't take all that long and by the end of the night I had my first little quilt made (well, lap rug really).

I think I like the Raggy side best but they are both nice.

It really was a great little project, so quick and easy to make and lots of fun. I will definitely be making more of these :)

I will be sharing my quilt on the following linky parties:

Creating My Way To Success - Roun Tuit #269

Threading My Way - Quilting and Patchwork Linky Party

Stitch it, Blog it, Share it

Flamingo Toes Show and Tell

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Michelle :)

Sugar and Spice

I'm still plodding along with my attempts at teaching myself to sew. Bags seem to be my thing as they are relatively quick to make and you have something useful when you are done. They are also great to give as gifts!

I bought this Sugar and Spice bag pattern from Chris W Designs quite some time ago but I was a bit hesitant to get started on it as it looked like it was going to be really complicated but in actual fact it was pretty straight forward. Christine's patterns are very detailed with lots of photos.

The piping was a real learning curve for me. Luckily Christine even has a great post on her blog on how to make your own piping.

I love the look of the added hardware for the handles. I was a bit nervous when it came to punching the holes for the rivets and then setting them but it was pretty easy with the right tools. I think next time I will add some metal feet to the bottom. I chose to use the black material for the bottom of the bag so that any grubby marks wont show up but the addition of metal feet would be even better.

I love that there is a zipper fitted to to the top of the bag to keep everything secure inside.

I also swapped one of the internal pockets for a zippered pocket.

I made a bit of a mistake and fitted the other internal pocket a bit high inside the bag so that it is too close to the zipper at the top but it is still usable.

Over all I am really happy with this bag and will definitely be making more.

I will be sharing my bag on the following linky parties this week:

Threading My Way

Show Off Friday

Freedom Fridays

Craft Frenzy Friday

Show Off Saturday

A Round Tuit #267

Flamingo Toes - Show and Tell

Thanks for stopping by today.

Michelle :o)

Little zippered pouch

I really wanted to sew last night but I didn't know what.

So I had a look in my cupboard at my little stash and was hoping that inspiration might jump out at me......nope.

I decided to grab the layer cake (well part of one I think) that I picked up at a garage sale and wondered what I could make with these little pieces of fabric.

I'm not brave enough to try tackling a quilt yet, although one made of these fabrics would be absolutely gorgeous.

In the end I thought that I would make myself a little zippered pouch to carry my phone and keys in when I walk down to the school to pick up my youngest two boys.

Certainly nothing fancy but a practical, quick little project.

Not that you can see it in the photos but I boxed the bottom corners just a little bit and I used some fusible fleece to give my phone a little extra protection and I lined the pouch with another piece of the layer cake.

I will share my nifty little pouch on the following linky parties this week:

Sew and Show

Threading My Way

Thanks for stopping by today.

Michelle :o)

It's just a blur..

The last six months that is.

I can't believe that it has been that long since I had my sewing machine out. It's not from lack of wanting to that is for sure it has just been so crazy busy around here. Since starting homeschooling for our eldest son (he's 12) I have been so busy trying to fit all my "must do's" around his school schedule that there has been very little time for the "I would like to's" and I'm guilty of falling asleep as soon as my backside settles on the couch in the evenings when normally I would be getting my machine out and getting creative. But I was given a much needed infusion of creative inspiration when my lovely, wonderful, special Mum sent me an early birthday pressie of a gorgeous bundle of fabrics and a not so subtle hint that she needed a new toiletry bag.

I did a quick browse on Pinterest (who am I kidding, there is no such thing as a quick browse on Pinterest, lol) and stumbled across this great pattern for a Boxy Bag from So-Sew-Easy.

I was a little daunted at first, thinking it looked a bit complicated for a beginner but it was actually really simple and a lot of fun to make.

My Mum had sent me some fat quarters and unfortunately the base of the bag required some fabric that was a bit bigger than a fat quarter so I decided to use some co-ordinating fabric from my stash instead.

It all came together quite quickly and I forgot to take progress photos as I went along (I'm out of practice with this blogging business).

There was a bit of hand sewing involved with the lining, something I am still getting the hang of.

This is a great sized toiletry bag. Final measurements are approximately

19cm wide

13cm deep

14cm high

Over all I am really happy with how well this turned out and how quick it was to make, just a few hours start to finish (for me as a beginner). 

I'm so happy to have my creative mojo back (Thanks Mum!).

I hope to be back with more little projects for you soon.

I will be sharing this Toiletry bag with the following linky parties:

Threading My Way

Show Off Friday

Freedom Fridays

Craft Frenzy Friday

Show Off Saturday

Sew and Show

Stitch It, Blog It, Share It

Creating My Way To Success

Thanks for stopping by.

Michelle :o)

Teacher's gift bag

It's been pretty crazy here the last week or so as the school year comes to end for my boys.

There have been end of year class parties to bake for and errands to run and appointments to be squeezed in before I have the boys home full time for six weeks. All this has left me little time to be creative.

I did need to whip up something for the teacher's gifts though. I only got them boxes of chocolates this year and I felt I needed to personalise the gift a little by making a nice bag to put them in.

I only needed a simple Tote but I wanted to use the furnishing remnant that I picked up from Spotlight so I teamed it up with some black cotton and lined the tote with Red to give it a pop of colour.

I love that these Totes are so quick and easy to whip up. I didn't add a zip or any velcro this time as I really just wanted to keep it quick and simple.

I also decided not to use any interfacing this time but I did reinforce the bottom of the bags.

I actually quite like this furnishing fabric on the bag, might have to make myself one of these but I will add some interfacing so that the bag will hold it's shape better.

Thank you for stopping by my little blog today :o)

Please leave a comment and a link back to you and I will pop on over and say Hi.

I will enter this Tote in to the following linky parties:

Threading My Way - Bags and Totes

Sew and Show

Show Off Saturday

 A Round Tuit Linky Party.

Brag Bag Tuesday

Michelle :o)

Feeling organised now

I've been playing around with some remnants I picked up from Spotlight this week and some more of the Doona cover that I am up cycling.

Not sure what kind of fabric it is (pictured below) but when I saw it in the remnants bin I thought that it would be great to use as a cover for the second hand sewing cabinet I picked up. The cabinet is in brand new condition but does not go with the rest of the furniture in my house. Turns out that there wasn't quiet enough of this fabric to cover the cabinet so I thought I would see if I could do something else with it instead. I also picked up a 55cm  x 250cm piece of black quilting cotton for $1.20 which seemed like a really good score.

I have been wanting to make myself a little organiser to go in my handbag so I had a little play around with a simple design to hold a small spiral bound note pad, a pen and some business cards.

I found the silver fabric a bit tricky to work with as it is quite slippery and frays really badly.

But i did manage to create a little organiser that was pretty much what I had in mind.

 I made a couple of mistakes in the design, like that the velcro tab wasn't long enough so I had to stitch a bit of extra fabric to it to lengthen it. So I thought I would have another go with some of the fabric from the Doona cover I am up cycling.

The second organiser worked out better but the denim did become too thick and made it hard going in places.

I might have another go with out the denim next time. Practice makes perfect they say :o)

I am entering my organiser in to the following linky parties:

Threading My Way - Purses, Clutches, Pouches linky party

Round Tuit Linky Party

I'm off now to have a look around blog land for some more inspiration. I

Thank you for stopping by and for your lovely words of encouragement.

Michelle :o)