Needle Book

My cousin has a birthday next week and I made her present the other night.  She likes to craft but she does lots of different crafts so in the end I decided to make her a needle book.  I recently bought myself a retro sewing book and it has some great easy projects in it.  I mostly bought the book for the interesting info in it but I thought the sewing projects were easy enough for The Princess and I to do together.  I got the idea for this needle book from there.  The inside has two pockets on the left and two flaps of wool felt on the right for all sorts of needles.  It only took me an hour to make but I really like it.  I think The Princess and I shall adapt the pattern again and make ourselves one each.  I have seen a picture of one with different pages for different types of needles and that is the one I would like to make myself.  I seem to always be looking for a needle when stitching on my pages and this would help to keep them all in one place!

This makes a great inexpensive gift for a crafty friend and it really is just two rectangles sewn together.  It probably only cost me about $3 to make.  The wool felt was the most expensive part!

Chipper

Recycled Denim Bag

I hopped on to blogger to write this post to find my blog had been removed!!!!!!  I could have cried :-(  It turned out blogger had taken my blog down due to 'suspicious' activity.  WOW!  I have a bit of a blogging break and when I start posting again more regularly they call it suspicious!  But it is all fixed now and hopefully back up permanently.  Now to my intended post ...

It was my niece's 14th birthday on Saturday and I wanted to give her a present I thought she would really like but I didn't want to spend any money on it (not because I am a scrooge, but because money is just tight at the moment).  The notebook cover I gave her at Christmas with a movie ticket wasn't a big hit so I was a bit nervous about making her anything else.  A few weeks ago i saw a really cool bag on Pinterest made from recycled jeans that was constructed from a pattern.  But when I went to see if I could buy the pattern it was going to cost me $25 including postage!  I googled lots of free bag patterns but none suited my purpose so I decided to make up my own.

It is a simple construction but I really like the way it turned out.  It is made mostly from the top part of a pair of jeans that no longer fit me, but I only used the back and half the front.  I kept most of that part intact as I thought why ruin the stitching someone else has already done.  I even left the zipper in for a bit of texture and the left side of the bag is actually the button hole part of the jeans front.  After I made the bag I blinged it up with pink and clear rhinestones.  The 'B' is for her name.  The strap is the long side seam of one leg cut off and sewn into a tube.  I must be the right height for the perfect shoulder strap as it was exactly the size I wanted!

I removed the pocket that would have bent around the side and added it to the lining on the inside.  I also blinged the outside pocket.  The bag does have sides and a bottom, made by just sewing a triangle point on each side seam.

The back part of the inside had a strip of denim containing the brand and the SIZE!!!!  I couldn't remove it as it is pinned in place by two studs.  So I cut it out  and sewed in a strip of pink grosgrain with a keyring.  I find this kind of thing so useful for clipping my keys to so that they don't get lost in the buttomless pit!  I quite like how it turned out.  You can see the pocket on the lining in this picture.

And she loved it too!  I know this for sure because she was using it when she came to my nephew's birthday party.  She had filled each of the pockets with stuff and crammed her swimming stuff into it :-)  Now it seems everyone wants one but I don't have that many jeans that don't fit any more ... soon maybe :-)

Chipper

Bits & Pieces

I keep wanting to blog more, but time seems to slip though my fingers and before I know it another few more weeks have past and I haven't written anything!  I keep up with all my blog reading via the Feedler app on my iPhone, but it doesn't make commenting easy.  So I am reading your blogs but only commenting when I really, really, really need to say something or I will burst!  So a suppose a few updates are in order :-)

The Princess has been continuing with her sewing and really enjoys it.  She even made a notebook cover all by herself as a birthday present for a friend. (like the ones I made as Christmas presents.  If you want to make one for yourself the link to the blog I got the pattern from is back in Nov last year)  These are the fabrics she chose from the ones she got for Christmas.  I am just a little envious as all of my fabrics are castoffs and I don't have anything as nice as that cute pink flower and birdie print!  I altered the pattern size for her slightly so that their school diary will fit in it and verbally instructed her in each step.  But she did all of the sewing and pressing herself.  Below are the photos of the finished cover.  I was a little nervous when it came time for her to give it away.  It is never a nice feeling when the receiver doesn't like the gift, especially when you have spent two days making it yourself!  But I shouldn't have worried as it was warmly accepted and now ALL the girls want one!

The cover.

The inside.  The cover of the diary slips in under the pretty pockets.

Her next project is a dress for herself.  It is the pattern we bought her for Christmas to go with some of the fabric.  It matched a dress she liked at the shop.  We spent three hours cutting out the pattern and marking all of the dots on the weekend!  I am trying to not do it for her but just explain each step.  I am quite impressed with how quickly she is catching on.  However, there is one step that The Princess does NOT like.  And that is cutting out.  I think I need to get her smaller fabric scissors as mine are quite big.  But I will not cut out the pattern for her.  If she wants to sew it is all part of the process :-) but if I am honest with myself it is the one step I don't like either.  However I would do all the cutting out in the world if someone would do all of my hand sewing!

The boys have both started back with Army Cadets this year and their first day of community service is this coming weekend.  They are cleaning up at the local weir.  It is forecast to be HOT and their uniform is so heavy that I do feel a little sorry for them.  The first camp of the year isn't until April when it has started to cool down.  The Thinker got heat stroke at the last camp of the year in December and it is far hotter now!  He drank almost 6lt of water that day but it wasn't helping replace his electrolytes.  From now on they take electrolyte powder with them just in case.

There are so many decisions to make in our lives at the moment that we seem to be living in limbo.  Every time we think we have taken a step forward we end up taking a few more back.  I always had a picture of how I thought my life would be and it is a far cry from where we are now.  Some days I am struggling to cope with it all and other days I feel positive.  I thought we had finalised what we were going to do, but then the next lot of information we received as caused a bump in that road.  So now I can honestly say that I have no idea what to do about anything ... and therein lies the dilemma.

But everything isn't all bad :-)  The work change around we did now means that we are all home together on Sunday every week!  We have been able to go to church again after over two years of working every Sunday, and we generally just veg out at home.  We even went to a friends house for a BBQ and had a great time.  I have been doing the Dukan Diet and am loosing weight by the bucket load!  I think it is important for everyone to find a weight loss program that fits their lifestyle.  With the very limited time I have at the moment I can't use a program that requires me to weigh everything, it just doesn't work.  But this one is working fine as there are 100 foods I can eat and everything else is off limits.  It means that there is one less decision for me to make everyday and I can eat the quantity that I want of those foods.  For the first time in my life I am not hungry!!!!!  Which is pretty rare for someone who is borderline hypoglycemic.  The first two weeks were the hardest with day 8 and 9 being AWFUL!  Although I didn't eat sugary foods or many processed foods before, the hidden sugars must have still been quite high as I had awful sugar withdrawals.  I had a terrible headache for two days but then it disappeared suddenly and I have never felt better.  Since Christmas I have lost about 12kg and have gone down two dress sizes!  I shall keep you posted as to how I am going.  My mom was very skeptical about me doing it as Weight Watchers had been working for her and she was almost to her goal weight.  But she has been stuck in a rut for the past few months and started the Dukan Diet last week just to get rid of those last few kilos.  Even she is liking it as that last bit of weight is starting to fall of.

Well that was one long post but I feel better now that it is all written down :-)  Join me on Sunday for the next installment of Storytelling Sunday with Sian.  I am still trying to come up with another story and maybe the craft ladies on Friday will help me again this month.  Unless of course I get the urge to photograph any layouts in between I will see you all on Sunday! LOL

Chipper

The Princess' New Adventure!

What do you buy a 10 year old Princess for Christmas?  This was the question we wrestled with this year.

She doesn't need any toys, she is the youngest in the family and all the outdoor toys have been purchased before.  She is on the verge of 'growing up' but still wants dolls for Christmas and an iTunes card (of course!).  The boys were easy to buy for this year ... books and camping supplies.  But I do remember it being VERY hard to find them a suitable present at this same age.  We toyed with so many ideas and none of them fit.  The main items The Princess wanted were new clothes for Bell (her doll) and new clothes for her Barbies.  She already has an abundance of clothes for Bell as every time I made her a dress I made one for Bell with the scraps.  The Princess may not have any of those dresses anymore but Bell still has ALL of them!

Then we hit upon the perfect idea.  We bought her some doll clothes patterns, lots of cute fabrics, all the sewing supplies a new sewer needs, and a pretty pink box to put it all in.  That way she can make her own clothes for Bell and just perhaps develope a love of sewing.  This is also a skill she will be able to use once she is no longer making doll clothes.  I wrapped each piece separately so Christmas morning she had LOTS to unwrap :-)  At first I think she was a bit sceptical, but by the end of the morning she was bursting with excitement.  When we went to my Grandparents house that afternoon she proudly told everyone that she "got sewing stuff for Christmas"!

Our first sewing lesson together

So on New Years Day we sat down to have her first sewing lesson.  First I showed her all the parts of the sewing machine and how to thread it properly.  Then she practiced sewing a few straight lines.  Then I showed her how to change direction and she sewed along pencil lines I had drawn on some calico.  She took to it like a fish to water and was excitedly showing everyone her sewn lines.  Even The Extrovert who did sewing this year at school was impressed.  In the picture you can see her sewing box.  It is a pink Artbin Supersatchel that I decorated with vinyl letters that I use on my Cricut.  I then added some glitter butterfly stickers.  It looks so cute and so girly!

It fits Princess and just needs Velcro.

The next step for our lesson was to learn how to cut out a pattern.  I downloaded a doll nappy/diaper pattern for her and showed her how to lay it on the fabric and cut it out.  We then pinned the inside and outside together and away The Princess went.  She was thoroughly confused at this point as the fabric was all "the wrong way".  But the penny dropped when I showed her how to turn it inside out and stitch the opening closed.  She sewed all of it herself, even the hand sewing!  The pattern fit her doll Princess so now we have to enlarge it for Bell.  She was so impressed with herself.  Now all she wants to do is sew!

After the success of the nappy/diaper The Princess really wanted to sew something from one of her Christmas patterns.  So I helped her lay out all the pattern pieces for a skirt and jacket for Bell.  It was one very complicated pattern to lay out as it has just as many pieces as an pattern for a real person!  But it was a good learning experience for her.  We stuck to stretch fabrics for this one as that is where I am at my most comfortable.  It took her most of the afternoon to cut out all the pieces and sew the skirt but it turned out so beautiful!  I am sorry that I don't have a picture to show you yet as the minute she finished it we rushed out the door to the fireworks.  The Princess really wanted to get it finished so she could show her Grandma and rushed at one point.  Then came the lesson covering unpicking :-)  I don't think she will rush again LOL

It was such a great decision to buy her sewing supplies.  Maybe a little unconventional in this day and age but we are both really enjoying it.  We also bought her a pattern for a dress she liked in the shop along with all the fabric.  With a little bit more practise she will be ready to try a dress for herself.  I will keep you updated :-)

On an unrelated note there is a wonderful weekly storytelling time happening over HERE.  I have considered getting involved on occasion and will see how time goes throughout the year.  But the stories will make you laugh, and some will bring a tear to your eye.  But they are all definitely worth a read.  This year there is a different aspect in the storytelling and you can tell your story with pictures if that is more you.

The weather here is very HOT at the moment and trying to keep cool is hard.  I hope you are all enjoying the start to your new year.

Chipper