Fairfield Restash 2018

Just a quick post to promote the Fabric Restash event this Saturday, organized by the lovely Anna of Blogless Anna & a team of other wonderful sewists!  

Hope to see you there, I will be wearing my floral Darth T so come & say Hi!!!

( photos blatently copied from Blogless Anna !!!)

Looking forward to Autumn

Did you see this brilliant mini magazine in today's Age?

Showcasing the Daylesford- Macedon region, the magazine highlights  the countryside, local producers & businesses of the region.  There is also a lovely piece titled "nature's bounty" written by Kate from "Foxs Lane".

Autumn is the time for festivals in the region, including a couple I visited  2 years ago- Trentham Spudfest, this year on May 5 (lots of amazing colours & shapes of heirloom spuds, and the BEST hot jam donuts I have ever eaten!); and the fascinating "Lost Trades Fair" held in Kyneton 10-11 March.

(2016 Lost Trades Fair)

There is also a comprehensive calendar of all events, markets etc. in the region during Autumn. 

I think I might have to plan some family road trips!

Blanket progress

I am officially half way through my grey stripe knitted throw- I added some extra plain grey in the middle, and started the next big ball on the weekend.

The big ball seems to make the knitting go so much quicker - not having to stop & decide if the coloured stripe is big enough or if it needs a couple more rows, not stopping to check which colour comes next, and taking time to change colours ( once I have figured if I am on the same side as other changes, or need to knit one more row!)

During a quick visit to the wonderful " Variety Store" in Bendigo yesterday, I spotted a shelf full of gorgeous new colour combo balls, " Ice Cream" by Porta Craft; $10 for each 200g 8 ply ball.

How great are these colours!!!

These are my 4 favourites-

So much yarn. So little time!

Comfy cushions

Still catching up on holiday sewing posts (not that I did very much!). I finally made some new covers for the cushions on the couch. 

 I had made a couple of new covers about 2 years ago, and then not got any further! The old ones were looking a bit faded, plus the fabric ( polyseter peach skin or somesuch)  although soft is kind of weird to touch, particularly on a hot day!
So I grabbed some fabrics from the stash and whipped up a couple of simple envelope back covers.

This fabric started life as a pillow case, cut up to make a quilt ( and a couple of pieces used for a patchwork cushion cover). Plus the back ended up with a pleasing pattern too!

 

Quilt scrap cushion made last year.

This next one was an experiment, after taking some screenshots from a craft book review online ( but I can't remember which book!). The fabric was really too thick to use, but I'm pleased with the final result- if you don't look to closely!

Mind you it is not particularly comfy to lean on as it is sooo bumpy with the thick ridges!!!

Printing fabric

I actually did this project back in May, but didn't have any good photos of it til I remembered to take some on the washing line last week.

I bought 2 sheets from Savers, cut the green one & sewed a panel to either end of the grey sheet. A larger grey sheet - king sized? provides the backing.

I cut a shape from some thin craft foam, glued it to a timber block, and made a print pad from some  fabric foam on an icecream container lid.

After printing a hot iron set the paint ( black acrylic with J Sonja fabric paint addative mixed in).

Veey happy with the result- a new  unique bed cover!

Darth tee version 2

Last year I made a freezer paper stencilled Darth Vader tee shirt, in time to wear it to see "Rogue One".

I had always wanted to try the Vader image with a floral print fabric, but was wondering how to do it, while looking for the right small print.

A lucky op shop find with a card of sample fabrics yielded a suitable print. Next step was to slightly enlarge and modify the design a little, then trace it on to the paper backing of some double sided interfacing - all using my handy kmart light box!
I ironed the fabric onto the interfacing and carefully cut it out.
After a lot of measuring and re arranging, I figured out the best placement of the image. I marked some guidemarks with fabric chalk, and ironed the 3 pieces on very carefully!

The final step was just as fiddly- applique stitch ( fine zig zag) on the sewing machine around all the edges, to make sure it stays put!  Very happy with the results!  ( and found the perfect spot to pose for a photo today too, outside Imax!)

Sewing adventures January 2018

You know I don't just sew clothes, right? That I also tend to try out all sorts of crafty ideas...I know my work buddies have seen some of my more unusual makes, and repairs! This is another one for work-

I had a clean up of my toy cupboard at the end of the year, and decided I didn't really need this toy caterpillar, it is not a useful toy, or something I can add to a story or game.  But... It is nice and long, and could maybe work as a weighted lap toy...

So I bought some cheap sinkers from kmart (after doing the math to figure out whether smaller but more in the pack vs larger but less in the pack would be better value and more weight. Uh huh- not a calculation that would usually happen in the fishing section of kmart! Anyway I ended up with 6 long heavy sinkers, about 300/350g from memory. I sewed a calico insert to hold them in place, unstitched each end of the caterpillar, inserted the weight and rearranged the stuffing around it.

A quick bit of hand sewing to put it back together, and its done!   Now I really must finish some more "finished" bags for work too.