Thursday 8 May 2014

FO: Zippered Pouch

I have some big news. Next week I'm going back to work. From Monday I'll be working in an office, full-time for the first time since mid 2006. So I'm now the proud owner of a normal sized handbag. That perhaps sounds a funny thing to mention but when the children were babies I carried around a huge, huge bag full of cloth nappies & wipes and bottles with my purse and keys and not much else (who wants to carry more than that?!?). Since the children potty trained I've been pretty minimal as I'm so used to not needing anything else.

I have a small basic zippered pouch that holds a few pens and similar that I made ages ago. It makes them easier to find in your bag. This time though I wanted something for a few bits of make-up so it needed to be lined. Most of the tutorials online are similar in the technique used with just a few subtle differences. I decided to follow this one by Flossie Teacakes. It has covered zip ends, which I liked the look of.

I picked out a zip first because I had a limited selection in the size needed. Isn't that always the way? The fabric was a Christmas present from Alan back in 2012 I think!

I struggled with the sewing around the outside (the final stage before turning through) as my machine doesn't really like sewing through bulk so it's not as neat as the one in the tutorial but it's good enough.

I lined the bag with the same fabric as the outside, not least because I was an idiot and cut two rectangles for the front and then realised the picture/text would be running the wrong way. I was so concerned with remembering to double check the picture/text before stitching to the zip that I totally forgot to do it when cutting out.


Wednesday 7 May 2014

A Couple Of Finished Pieces

Well firstly, sorry for such a delay in posting. We had a really busy school holiday. It was Erin's birthday during the holidays and so we had a party for her at Ponderosa Centre. They have various options for parties and Erin chose the one that included a tour, a reptile talk and half an hour in the play barn as well as party food in the party room. We were really impressed with the party. Everyone got to feed the llamas and goats, there was the chance to hold a giant snail, rabbits & guinea pigs and during the reptile talk you could hold a snake and a bearded dragon.

Alan with the bearded dragon...
and a really bad picture of me holding the snake

After the party, everyone is able to stay in the centre for the rest of the day if they wish so it works out very good value for money (especially if you book a morning party as we did). Erin had a pony ride (Orla didn't want to!)

Her "I Love Ponies" fleece was very apt
We also spent a few days in the Lake District visiting family. We managed to go for a few walks too as the weather was lovely.


When we got back I was able to finish sewing the binding on my Star Trek quilt. So it joined the finished cushion on the sofa. I took the pictures outside as I thought it showed the colours a lot better.




I really love the back of it too.


That's not all I've finished though. There's a reason it took me so long to finish sewing the binding. I had to put it on hold because I've been redesigning my friend's website and the person who was updating the original site for her wanted to give it up fairly soon so I had to focus on that for a few days to get it to the point where it could go live. There's still work to be done on it (isn't there always with techie projects!) so I guess it's technically a WIP but one that is finished enough for me to ask you to take a look. If you're in/around Leeds/West Yorkshire (or if you want to travel there for yummy cake and crafty workshops) here's the link to RiversMEET Craft Cafe.