Weekending

 

 

 

 

A relaxing weekend at home, a little gardening, some cleaning up of my sewing room, just pottering around making the most of the lovely autumn days we have been having.

• Chocolate Beetroot cake in the making
• The last few grapes on our vine - deliciously sweet against an autumn sky
• Enjoying  all the colours and textures in my front garden
• Morning glory flowers - lasting just a day, they decorated the shelf in my sewing room

Sew Together Bag - Finished

 

This was not the easiest bag to make. Mine is not perfect, but on the whole, I am pleased with how it has turned out.  My seam ripper was used a lot. I now have a great little pouch for using when traveling and taking crafty projects with me.  I may even make another one or two later in the year. However next time I would use mid-weight interfacing in the pockets rather than lightweight, and I may even try interfacing on the exterior, rather than pellon.  I couldn't find 9" zips for the pockets,so just used 10" ones that I trimmed.

Pattern from: Sew Demented on Craftsy

Have a fabulous weekend.

Lately

Making : my Sew Together Bag

Cooking : Dinner - crumbed fish, mashed potato and salad
Drinking : A glass of chardonnay
Reading:  A Hundred Pieces of Me by Lucy Dillon (The Luminaries has been displaced for a while)
Wanting:  A new camera
Looking:  At wool and  scarf/shawl patterns
Playing:  On my Pinterest boards
Wishing: My sister lived closer
Enjoying: The lovely fine autumn weather we have been having
Waiting:  For another swap parcel to arrive in the mail
Liking: New season apples and fejoias
Wondering:  What the old wooden door we have bought for my other sewing/cutting table will be like

Loving:   My new red shoes

Pondering:  What to get Miss B for her upcoming birthday
Considering:  Making a pressing board for my sewing room
Watching: My rocket seeds growing

Hoping: The missing Malysian aeroplane is found soon
Marvelling: At how tall my children are getting
Needing:  A new computer for the family
Smelling: Perfume samples from: Valour Parfums
Wearing: Jeans and pretty shirts
Following: My Garden Diaries and 1/4" mark
Noticing: How dark it is in the mornings now (there have been some pretty sunrises though)

Knowing: I really need to do some housework 
Thinking: About sewing my  Jacobs Ladder quilt blocks together
Feeling:  Tired - I haven't been sleeping too well the past 3 nights
Admiring: The fabulous creations my friend Rachel is sewing
Buying: A new quilty book
Bookmarking: My Beetroot Chocolate Cake recipe for the last of my beetroot
Opening: Happy mail from one of my swap partners

Giggling: At a smiley litttle toddler in a cafe today
Feeling:  Pleased that it is nearly the weekend


What is happening in your lives lately?

Wednesday WIP

 

 

I have been slowly working may way through the pattern for my Sew Together Bag.  I have all three inside zips installed and pockets made,  A little pin cushion has been added on one side and a  felted needle rest on the other. The lining and exterior are now together and the side binding has been sewn on. Now only the  18" zip and binding needs to be attached to finish it all off.  I think because I made the exterior quilted, it has made it a little to thick to top stitch nicely, so I am hand sewing the binding down as I do on quilts. All going well I hope to finish it tomorrow.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Weekending

 

 

Sunday morning I traveled to Hamilton for my sewing day with Rachel and Deb.  I had a great day. We went out to a lovely little cafe for lunch, talked and chatted away, drooled over Rachels' amazing quilts and fabric stash.  As you can see the machines were set up, but we didn't get a lot of sewing done.  I did baste all three zips in, and managed to then get two sewn in properly, in my Sew Together Bag project. Hopefully I will get to work on this later in the week.

My sister celebrated her birthday on Sunday too, so I can finally reveal the photos of the little snippet I was stitching way back in January.  I made her a sewing machine cover to co-ordinate with the sewing room set  I made her for Christmas. Scrappy 4" squares, some hand stitching with variegated thread on natural linen, lined with a vintage sheet that was one of our Gran's. I am waiting for a photo of the full set - could be a while though, she is currently mid project on another quilt.

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend, whatever you ended up doing.

Today I ...

• planted my vegetables for winter - this small patch is the only part of my vegetable garden that receives any sun in winter.  So just my tried and tested survivors get planted - celery, spinach, rainbow chard, parsley, and under the tray ( so the cats won't scratch them up) are rocket seeds.  
•  packaged up small goody bags for Rachel and Deb - for our sewing day on Sunday in Hamilton.
•  cut all the pieces for my Sew Together Bag - which all going well I will start on Sunday, that is if we don't spend all afternoon chatting over a lazy lunch.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Coffee Sack

Office Chair

Recycled Dining Chair

Last week, The Scout brought me home a coffee sack  He was sure that I would be able to use it for something.  I have washed, line dried and folded it. Now it is waiting for inspiration to strike.  Yesterday I spent a little time on pinterest looking for ideas.  Upholstering furniture or making cushions seems to be the most popular option.  So now I am wondering about using it to cover that little brown chair that came home a couple of weeks ago, or maybe even my sewing room chair which is like the office chair above.

Has anyone used coffee sacks for upholstery?  Does it wear well - the sack seems pretty robust.  Does it stretch or go loose after a little while?  It doesn't appear to be scratchy on bare legs. Would love to know your thoughts on this.

Weekending

I worked most of Saturday.  I have finished my training and am now officially a casual library assistant, rostered on when people are away or they need weekend staff.  I have the next three days off, which I will probably spend doing housework and catching up on things I haven't done over the last month.

We had rain this weekend - not enough to really make a difference to my lawns and garden yet.  But it is a start.

I have a pile of the most fabulous books to read - though I think that The Luminaries  (864 pages) is going to take up a large chunk of the month I am able to have most of these books.

A little time was spent playing on my sewing machine - four more envelopes were made for my SWAK Swap partners.

How was your weekend?

Weekending

 

 

A busy yet satisfying weekend for me.  I cleared out all the old dead summer vegetable plants from my vegetable garden, and picked the last of the tomatoes. The garden really needs a good rainfall now, before I dig in compost and horse manure.  Then I can plant my winter vegetables.

• Slowly the passionfruit crop is being used up.  A lot of pulp has been frozen in 1/2 cup bags for use in winter.  I also made a Passionfruit and Coconut cake.
• Vegetables ready to be roasted for Saturday's dinner - Creamy Chicken and Roast Vegetable Salad.
• Hoheria flowers - one of New Zeealand's native trees - I know we are heading into Autumn when the flowers appear
• This mornings sky as I opened the curtains
• Sewing 2.5" squares for a project - the weekend after next, all going well I am going to Hamilton to have a sewing day with my Flickr friend Rachel.  We are planning to make the Sew Together Bag.

Looking forward to reading what you have all been cooking, baking, creating or reading this weekend.

Seat Yourself

Patchwork Chair

 

Rocking Chair

The other day, The Scout arrived home with a chair for me.  I have been saying for a while that I wanted an old chair in the style of the brown checked one on the left.  He found me one - on the roadside.  Apart from the grotty fabric - the rest of the chair is in good condition.  The blue rocking chair on the right, is one he found the same way - when I was expecting Mr J (10 years ago).  We recovered it in the blue fabric - but as you can see, it needs a lot of TLC too now.

So I am currently thinking of ways to revamp these two chairs - I like the idea of bright funky patchwork, perhaps with painted arms and legs, but also I think relatively plain chairs would be good, so I can change the cushions on them (a good excuse for making new covers.)

What do you think - patchwork , patterned or plain?  

Weekending

 

 

 

 

Gosh it is hard to believe that a week has gone by since I last wrote.  Summer is now officially over and we are into Autumn. This weekend I have had the house to myself, both Miss B, Mr J and The Scout have been at a water activities camp for their scouting group.  They have just arrived home as I am writing this.

So what did I do this weekend. (Apart from catching up on all the baking and housecleaning that I didn't do during the week).

• There was some a little paper-piecing with beautiful bright colours from V & Co for the beginning of a swap project - yes I joined another Flickr swap.
• preparing lots of vegetables for my favourite Harvest Sauce.  I was the very lucky recipient of lots of tomatoes from my neighbours garden - this sauce is great, added to casseroles and pasta.  I have frozen it away in 1/2 cup batches.
• A little more sewing - adding linen to my paper-piecing.
• A lovely pile of books - I have two on the go at present - Paris Was The Place and  and some lighthearted chick lit The Misplaced Affections of Charlotte FForbes.  Looking forward to reading and dreaming too, of holidays in Italy with the new Mr & Mrs Smith book.
• A sewing finish - one lined drawstring bag from this tutorial

Another busy week ahead of me - I guess I'll be back here next weekend.  Have a great week!