August

I'm going to try to link up to Lynne's Fresh Sewing Day, I've been trying to do that for a few months now and I always forget and miss it!  I've done my August mosaic, might be cheatin just a little putting the Innocent Quilt in, but the hand quilting was all done in August and it wasn't finished until the hand quilting was done...  so it counts for me!

You know, I'm really glad I've done this, I was so sure I'd spent most of August asleep!

I also had a whole lot of lovely post in August - my bee blocks (which I will share later on), my Japanese Scrap Bag for the Eternal Maker / Pings and Needles Competition,  and some lovely birthday treats including this selection of wonderful handmade pressies too.

L-R  Pins from mum, Pincushion, Needle case and birds from Mimi, Blue Lady pincushion from Judith, Whack of red pincushion from Susan, Hexie monkey mugrug from Judith H, card by my mate Alison (who did the blog header narcoleptic in a cupboard picture for me)

I'm so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family :-)

Also in August I completed my ridiculous self imposed challenge from this post and have concluded that in actual fact it is much cheaper for me to buy a little bit of fabric when ever I want to than it is for me to force myself not to buy at all and then "treat" myself after 5 weeks of abstinence...
I would like to say that I completed my "learn and practice sewing zippers" challenge, but I think there's a ton more practice to do on that one before I can cross it off the list...
And finally, I've embarked on another self imposed challenge, perhaps less ridiculous than my usual challenges, and certainly tougher than most.  One week ago today I became an ex smoker...  If you want me I'll be climbing the walls!

A gold star week

Guess what....  I actually had a pretty good weeks sewing!  Not too much sleepiness, not too many disasters.  First of all I got the 20" cushion cover for the "For the Love of Solids" Swap done.

I also had a go at the zipper pouch mark II.

From last weeks post I can deduce the following  - Adjustable zipper and piping foot is not a particularly popular foot, or at least no one that wanted to comment had one!  But I did get loads of kind comments, encouragement, and zipper hints and tips :-)  Thank you all.  I did some rooting around in the cupboard and found the old "normal" zipper foot, so I had a go at using that one.  Hmm.  Apparently I just suck at zippers.  I'm guessing it is something that is just going to require a whole lot of practice!
However, cushion and pouch are packaged up and ready to go off to my swap partner, I hope she likes them!
I got my partners assigned to me for Cindy's Mug Rug and Goodies Swap too, so it looks like I finished just in time...got a whole lotta thinking to be thunk.

Also, I'm a contender!  Check out lovely Sarah @ pings and needles Japanese scrap bag competition :-)  I'm thrilled to get in to round 2, some of the other contenders suggestions are soooo cool!  Japanese scraps fluffy muff anyone?!  Love it!   I wont be asking you to vote for me though - you may have noticed, I'm up against one of my best bloggy buddies - Hadley of Flying Blind on a space rocket or whatever ;-)  We all know that gals gonna come up with something pretty awesome!
There are sooo many QAL's going on at the moment.  Across the sea, Log Jam, Dead Simple, Hex-along ...I've been sorely tempted to sign up to all of them...  However, I know when I've got too much on my plate, and lets just say I've got a whopper of a serving platter never mind a plate at the moment.  The only one I am taking part in (officially) is the Hex-along, and this is how I'm getting on so far.

Got rather a lot more to do methinks!  I am really loving having a little project to do downstairs though - its perfect for when I think I'm a bit too tired for going up to the cupboard.  Not that that has been an issue this week, I've been up there all the time and it is so good to be able to say that for a change!  Despite having a "next I'm going to" list that's stretching off into eternity at the moment, I somehow ended up doing this...

It was on the list, just not even near the top ten.  I guess I just felt like joining some strips together!  Shame I didn't feel like reading my own instructions though... I found out one morning I'd cut 70 out of 100 strips too short!  Fortunately it was my own design, so I don't feel too bad about it, and I'll just re-jig the design to make my shorter strips fit.  Well, wouldn't you rather trim 30 shorter than re cut 70 the right size?!  You'll have to forgive the bad photos again I'm afraid, its not been particularly light up here recently, but its not been quite dark enough for the flash to work well either!  You'd not believe it looking at the picture, but in daylight / artificial light that solid does not stand out as much as it looks like it does in the photo.  In fact, in daylight I was worried the solid was so close that you'd not really notice the stars it took me hours and hours to get right...     I guess judging by the photo that should no longer concern me!  Bonus ;-)

I'm linking this up to Sew Modern Monday @Canoe Ridge Creations (whilst there's still a couple of hours of Monday left!).  Pop over to have a look at lots of other lovely creations going on in the blogiverse, and check out the fantastically retro vibe of Megan's Weekender Bag!  Love it :-)

I should zip it.

Sorry I skipped a week of blogging.  I'd only made one thing, and I'd forgotten to take photos of it before I sent it off...  You can see it here though!  I've also been a bit of a misery guts so less said on that the better!
Its been a pretty sleepy couple of weeks for me.  I did have a couple of awake days last weekend, but I had to use them  for housework!  Well, it had kinda built up, and no, I don't like housework, but I don't like a totally messy house either.  (boyfriend if you're reading this, stop choking with disbelief...)  So, I ended up using the only awake days I had getting the house in order.  But at least it was nice to nap in a very tidy house. (boyfriend, again, if you're reading this - its even nicer napping in a very tidy house you've cleaned for me...come home soon!)

I have done little bits and pieces of sewing though, mostly in the last couple of days.  I'm in the "For the Love of Solids" swap, and getting something done for that has been top priority.  I don't know why but I really haven't been feeling like it much!  I kept thinking that one day I'd get a good idea I actually felt excited about, but its gotten to the stage that I need to have something done, whether I get really excited about it or not.  I've tried really hard to come up with something my partner will like, but lets just say I'm not entirely confident about it!
Its going to be a cushion cover by the way.

The colours are genuinely much nicer than they look here, the blues are brighter, the green is not as dark and murky as it looks here.  Bad lighting, honest ;-)
In between doing that I've been playing about a bit...

Now this I am excited about...  This panel here had a purpose, more of that in a minute, but this panel has made me want to do this bigger - 4" squares instead of 2" and a whole quilt of...  cos I just didn't have enough on my "next I want to make" list...   However, this panel is now this!

My first attempt at a zippered pouch.  I have now sewn a zipper 3 times - as a bag closure, as an internal pocket, and this zippy pouch.  I still suck at zips.  I've got another pouch to make up so I'll be having another go right away, but I'm kind of stuck at what to do differently.  I've studied every tutorial I can find, and I still don't feel confident with it.  This is my main reason why.

The zipper foot.  I hate it!  Don't know if you can see from the pics but it has a half circle on either side, and a teeny gap in the middle.  I've tried the needle positioned in all three ways.  None seem to make sense to me!
If you can see it, the foot is angled too.  I swear I tried it three ways and none of them worked right.  Needle on the left and the top fabric got stretched out of proportion.  Needle in the middle and it was not close enough to the zipper.  Needle on the right and, well, I might as well have been doing free motion it was skidding about all over the shop.  Does anyone have a foot like this?  How am I supposed to be using it?!!

Ach well, pouch mark 1 is passable, it wont fall apart, it zips up.  And I've pre cut the pieces for mark 2, cos I knew if I didn't I'd just postpone trying again!  I WILL do this.  But if anyones got some zipper foot secrets to share, please do...

I'm linking up with Sew Modern Monday @ Canoe Ridge Creations  so have a nosey there at all the gorgeous projects others have on the go!

wordless.. (believe it or not!)