Upcycled mat

Cleaning out the playgroup storeroom at work we found an execise mat with a tear in it. Rather than throw it out, I suggested upcylcing it into a large cushion. There was a large piece of blue upholstery fabric also in the sorting pile which was just the right size.
Around 10 minutes of measuring & sewing last night and ta-dah! One large floor cushion, handy for babies/ non mobile toddlers when they come to our Mytime playgroup at work!   Miss Bunny checked it out when I finished it...

I also did some other sewing for work, but forgot to take photos - will do so for the next post!

Mind your own beeswax!

My lovely in-laws keep bees * and after the most recent honey harvest there was plenty of beeswax left over.  I asked for some to use for various craft projects, and was gifted this lovely block- cast in a milk carton, so I guess it is about a half litre of beeswax! It smells divine!
* I often wonder about the term "bee keeping" - because of all creatures which can be farmed, surely bees- who can travel up to 5 kilometres looking for nectar  flowers- are really not " kept"!

I used some of the beeswax to polish some hand painted beads, and also to stiffen the ends of the thread, to make it easier to thread the beads on.

Now I need to think of some other projects requiring beeswax!

( and is beeswax the actual word, or should it more correctly be  bees' wax"?)

Shadow stripes

I love the shadow stripes made by the sun coming through the venetian blind...

Work bag makeover

My work bag started to fall apart last year, and after a couple of months  of searching at op shops ( and using another bag, which I didn't like as much!)- I found another one just the same. I improved on it- and covered up the logo- by adding a zip pocket on the front. It is super handy to keep my lanyard & keys in, I can always find them & they don' t get lost or damaged in my bag.

My lovely work mate & desk buddy Fran turned up with a similar- but slightly larger- bag at work recently, and decided my front pocket addition was a great idea, so she asked me to give her bag a make over too- and she also requested owls! So I sewed up a pocket on the weekend, and bought her bag home tonight to add the pocket on. I also added a key clip and some velcro to bonus pocket behind the zip pocket.  Much more practical now!

Fran's bag

My bag before the makeover

My new work bag.

Trying dyeing again

I bought a blue short sleeved cardigan at an op shop recently.  I liked the style but was not particulary taken with the sky blue colour. So I thought I would have a go at dying it, and found a great indigo denim blue rit powdered dye. The tricky part is you add salt to the dye bath for cotton, but vinegar for nylon- so what if the fabric is 50/50???
I also found a little white crochet top at the op shop today, I already have an almost identical one, so thought I could add it to the dyebath, along with a ball of bright white acyrlic yarn.
Everything looked brilliant in the dyebath, lovely denimy indigo colour, the yarn looked awesome...but then I had to tip the dye out & start rinsing. You can see the yarn colour in the dyebath, and once I started rinsing.  Everything is in the machine now for a final rinse. I think the cardi is a shade or two darker ( of course  I forgot to take a " before" photo.  But really, I suspect the thing that came out with the most colour on it is my right hand!!!

Saturday sewing

Saurday afternoon I actually got some sewing done! The Jedikid was at work, my H went fishing, and Tigetboy was doing battle with the Gotham underworld on the xbox.
The first sewing task was to make a denim pencil case, under instructions from the Jedikid, made to order & sewn up while he was doing his maths homework at the other end of the dining table. Even with putting in 2 zips I definitely had the easier task!

Pencil case done and given the tick of approval, I then sewed up 2 quick kimono sleeve tees and 1 boxy top ( all pre cut in the hols), finally hemmed the sleeves on a peppermint tee sewn up months ago, and did some minor alterations to some RTW jeans ( stitched down the pocket edges which were poorly made & only folded down, and added some elastic in the waistband to reduce the  gape at the back). 
A satisfying effort ( although there are still plenty more things on my sewing " to do list"!