Months disappeared...Where? and What?

I’ve wanted to post, for some weeks, but other things kept happening!!! Then a dear friend posted a comment, hoping I was okay, so I knew I just had to sit down and get it done!!

So where do I start?
My new job – as a school chaplain, started off and went very well. By the end of the term I knew over half the students by name and started to place sibling groups together. Coming into my office for “teddy hugs” has been a huge hit.

I also made some cushions for the office, using a very colourful cardigan someone had knitted, which I bought at a second-hand shop. It wasn’t complete – just the back and two front side panels, which had been joined, but no sleeves or anything else. I unpicked it, and made cushions with them. The photo’s show the outcome.

Just before I started the job I managed to get some DJ blocks made for someone I’ve been swapping with for a while. I made great progress then they came to a halt.

I made progress in getting 3 mug pouches sewn up for my giveaway, commenced the embroidery work after completing the colouring-in on the stitcheries, then they came to a halt.

Everything changed as my hours and days changed with working and affected my creative/sewing times. Plus I was feeling quite tied.

On top of all that, my sister-in-law was getting married and asked my daughter to be a flower-girl, along with her cousins. So making a flower-girls dress became priority one, in what little time I had. I really enjoyed making this dress, it's been a few years since I last did some dress making, which was also for a wedding. Back in my teens I used to make most of my clothes.

From this:-

To this:-

Along came Christmas, with family coming here. When we have Christmas here in our home, it’s become our tradition to make a ginger-bread house. So this is our 2010 Gingerbread house!!

Our son now has his "L" driver’s license . . . some of you know me as calm, quiet and easy-going. Well, we may have to now add, “she’ll go grey very quickly!!!”

Then yesterday morning…….my daughter had gone into the kitchen, when she called out “Mum!” I said “What?” (Hubby and I were lying in bed relaxing and talking.)

“Mum, there’s a snake in the kitchen!!” (Action…..fast jumping out of bed, unbelief that it could be so….)

There it was right in front of the kitchen stove. Hubby raced out for a shovel, while we kept watch, as it turned and slithered back across in from of the cupboards and sink.

My husband has said “it ‘naturally’ died of ‘natural’ causes!!!” It was a 3ft “tiger snake”. Some interesting stats: one person a year dies from snake bite in Australia. 60% of people die from a “tiger snake” bite.

We can only guess it came through the front door, when the flywire door wasn’t properly closed. Don’t try and think about it being in the house for the day and night, without us knowing!!!

So I’m happy to say we are all safe and well and I’m hoping for some creative times in coming weeks. I’m suffering badly from “withdrawal symptoms”!!

More denim and more things

You have probably seen those adverts that want to sell you something, then they say “but wait there’s more!”

I’m going to tease you and do that right now.

Firstly, you need to see the view from my sewing room window at the moment. Isn’t it beautiful?

Secondly, I mentioned the “ah huh” moment I had after notification of the position as school chaplain, how I still having left over denim to use up and that I could make a journal cover. Well here it is. Can you see the “splotch of paint” on the denim? which is the reason these denim jeans were no longer wanted.

Well you can’t see it in the finished product!!!

Thirdly, I had a swap with Cyndi from blue bird swing, after she made a lovely comment on Sue’s blog "The House That Love Built" when I made and sent Sue a crocheted hat pincushion. I offered to make Cyndi one, so she offered to make something as a swap. I had wanted to make the wallet tutorial she had, and so she made it for me using denim fabric. Here is the gorgeous parcel.

But here are the special contents!!

Fourthly, I had contact from the editor of HOMESPUN after seeing the mug pouches I’d made. I was asked if I’d like to submit a “Readers Letter” sharing why I made the mug pouches, any changes I made and so forth, after using the pattern from their magazine. That was a real surprise!!!


Finally, the winner is…………


But wait there’s more………….


I decided, because I can, that I would make an extra couple of mug pouches. I knew it would be sad, when so may entered the giveaway, that I couldn’t make one for everyone.

So I decided I would choose -

Number 1 – Jeannette , because number 'ones' don’t come up often in random number generator’s, also because Jeannette has just started a new position in a school situation, in New Zealand. A similar story to me!!

Here are the next two winners, by a random number generator:

Number 92, which is Darlis, one of my anonymous entries. So Darlis, I need you to email me your email address. If I don’t hear from Darlis, by Monday Sept 13th, I’ll draw another number.

And

Number 18 which is Marianne. I shall be emailing you shortly.

I had 154 entries into my excel document, accounting for those that in one comment were a follower, or blogged etc. Thank you all so much for entering and for the increase in followers.

Re-Invention Challenge

Jenny of ELEFANTZ has a Re-Invention challenge this month. I've continued to re-use a couple of denim jeans (which was Jenny's challenge a couple of months ago).....but I've also re-purposed an icecream container!!!

Firstly here is what is left of one pair of jeans!!!

In the previous post I've shown the bag I made from these jeans. I've since made a "remote control" pouch/pocket for my hubby as well!! I unpicked different seams to end up with workable pieces. For the control pouch, I retained both pockets intact, and added extra denim between each pocket to be the part that hung over the arm rest.

Secondly, here is what is left of the re-purposed icecream container!!!

I've made a "mug pouch" for myself and also for a couple of friends, which I'll blog about next time. However, it required some templastic, cut out to fit the bottom of the pouch, to hold the shape. I didn't have any, so I thought, I know what I can use....the sides of an icecream container....and it worked very well!!

THE OTHER PAIR OF RE-CYCLED JEANS

I made a "masculine" cover for my hubby's new iPad, from the other pair of jeans, shown in the previous post. Well "masculine" now meets "feminie"!!! A Kindle cover for me!!!

A gorgeous pattern from Moda's Bake shop...the...Bookkeeper Cover.

Re-cycled Denim Jean projects

More projects for Item 2, on my 52MMMC list – using re-cycled jeans.

I made a “masculine” cover, using left over denim from the first pair I’d been cutting up, for my husbands new iPad. These jeans had top stitching already done in medium brown thread, so I continued that theme, top stitching where I could. I had some old plain brown fabric that matched well, to use as the lining and binding. I finished off by top stitching the brown binding in dark blue thread.

A great find in a second-hand shop some weeks back were jeans going at a $1 each. I picked out a pair where the denim was still a very nice dark colour. It also had a light blue cording set into the side seams. I made another bag this time working out the pattern as I went, with knowledge gained from the Make-A-Bag-Sew-Along.

I didn’t want to undo the seams where the blue cording was so that was left complete and I then sewed in a centre panel of fabric. This fabric is a Windham Fabric line “Sally Rose” ca. 1845-1865.

To make the bag base for making the box shape and to have enough denim, I had to sew a couple of pieces together, then set this in a bit as the “jean leg” panel flared out a bit as it went down to the base of the bag.

I wanted to be able to close my bag with a zip, and spent hours trying to figure it out thinking of the toiletry pouch and gathered clutch I’d previously made. But I had help from a fellow scquilter (Southern Cross Quilter's yahoo group) who pointed me in the direction of “how to insert a concealed top edge bag zipper”.

So I was able to accomplish this. Although in the tutorial she took the zip apart, I didn’t do that, just carefully made and sewed the fabric casing each side of the zip and achieved the same result.


I made denim straps using what long length I could cut from the left over jeans, which were 20 inches x 3 ¼ inches. I folded the denim in half and pressed in a ¼ seam down each length and top stitched these seams together, then a line of top stitching on the fold, to have a nice finish.

I cut the selvedge off with the fabric name on it and made a loop that I caught up in the lining seams to attach keys too.

I have really enjoyed these projects, loving the look and feel of the denim.