Helping to Zig and Zag

My mum loved my version of the Zakka Style Zig Zag tote. So last year she came for a visit and chose some linen and fabric from my stash to make her own. She chose the last of my natural Essex linen, a cheery yellow Denyse Schmidt and a blue bee print for the zig zags.

Then she got stuck with quilting the front and back panels and asked if I would do the zig zags for her. No problem. Just so long as that was all. I did not want to assemble that tote again in a hurry!

On New Year's Day, she (at 78), my father (who is 84) and my older brother (48) came down to see our new house. The kids were excited to see grandma, grandpa and their uncle. I was able to give her back her bag panels all quilted. She was very happy.

My Other Patchwork WiP

We inherited an overgrown vegetable patch with our property. This has been my project for the past week. I have gradually been tackling a section at a time.

Weeding - path laying - brick laying (no mortar) - turning with a fork, raking, adding blood and bone, adding sawdust and chicken poo, mulching with sugar cane and then watering. 

As it is very hot and sunny during the day I can only work on it in the early morning and late afternoon. But it has been very therapeutic. I have never had a large vegetable garden before.

I will give the soil a week to absorb the nutrients before adding new seedlings. I have to start thinking about what I will plant. 

Hoping to link up to WiP Wednesday if I am not too late!

April Finishes

This month has seen me:

• learn how to sew a zipper. So pouches are in abundance at my place. 
• learn to make fabric covered buttons. Heaps of fun.
• make my first ever bag. Despite sewing the handles on upside-down the first time.
• join the Zakka Style Sew- Along. Learning the joys and pitfalls of sewing smaller items.
• skip this month's hexagon blocks with the Craftsy BOM.
• cut into 'my precious' Denyse Schmidt stash.
• realise that half square triangles are cantankerous creatures.
• meet my lovely blog buddy Kristy at a Mystery Quilt Weekend.
• make use of my collection of selvedges.

All the while listening to or watching some great series' on SBS on demand, ABC iview, dvd, or the History Channel - Coast, Who do you think you are? Australian Series 2, Is the West History?, Barbarians, Ken Burns' The Civil War, The Civil War Journal, The First World War, Gallipoli, Anzacs, Narrow Escapes of WWII, and Downton Abbey.

1. Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt - cut into 15/4, 2. Fussy Fairytales - basted 30/4, 3.  Fussy Fairytales - back 28/4 4. Mystery Quilt - top finished 27/4, 5, Diamonds in Squares QCA Bee -  5/4

6. ZSSA Zig-Zag tote - 10/4 7. ZSSA Sewing Kit - 20/4, 8. ZSSA Pin Cushion - 17/4, 9. ZSSA House Pouch - 12/4, 10. Small zipper pouch - 2/4.

11. Large zipper pouch - 6/4, 12. Pocket zipper pouch - 28/4, 13. Selvedge zip pouch swap 1 - 16/4, 14. Selvedge zip pouch 2 - 16/4, 15. Large selvedge zip pouch - 26/4

So now to plan my new 'to do first' for May. Yikes!

How did you go in April? 

I am linking up with....

Zakka Style Sewing Kit

I did not plan to get ahead of the Zakka Style Sew-Along for this week. However I woke up early on Saturday morning and thought that the Sewing Kit for this week might come in handy for the 'Mystery Quilt' weekend in Coffs Harbour. (It did!)


I wanted to use some of the left-over 'my precious' fabrics from the Zig Zag tote. I am not sure what the leaf fabric is - it was SL flat fat, but my favourite grey/blue fabric is called 'Surf & Sand' for Marcus Brothers Textiles. I also used the thick linen/upholstery fabric I found at the op-shop last Thursday. 

Step 1 - Cut Out the Fabrics
I cut my rectangles 2 inches wider than the pattern called for. This was because I had enough fabric scraps and I also wanted to throw an extra pocket into the inside.

Step 2 - Sew the single-fold binding onto the pocket

sew right sides together 1/4 " from the edges

iron upwards and fold back behind the pocket

sew the binding down at the back by sewing 1/8" from the fold down 

Step 3 - Pin and sew the pockets to the lining with a 1/8" seam.

 4. Measure, mark and sew the dividers onto one of the pockets. I marked my first 2 pockets at 4" rather then 3". 

 5.  Instead of leather thongs I used decorative tape with measuring tape markings on it.

6. Lay the linen rectangle on top and then the batting on top of that.

can't get this one to load right side up!

 7. Stitch all 3 layers together, 

leaving a 3" opening in the short end of the undivided pocket.

 

 8. Trim the corners.

 9. Pull the pouch right side out through the opening. 

10. Press flat and stitch the gap closed.


The Pincushion


1. Stitch the linen and cotton squares together and then sew these to the linen backing.

 2. Leave a gap in one small side.

 3. Add a button or a stamp.

 4. Stuff with polyfil

 5. Stitch closed. Ready for pins.

Don't they look great together?

And I did use them on the weekend retreat.


How is your Zakka Sew-Along going? 


I still haven't managed to convince any of my sewing/quilt/blog buddies to join me...but I have visited some great new blogs courtesy of the LRStitched site and Flickr support group. 


The Zakka Sew-Along host this week is Monkey Do and is full of helpful tips especially about changing the single fold binding to a double fold binding. Her red and grey versions are stunning!


I am linking up with....

Zakka Style House Pouch

I was not planning on doing this week's Zakka Style Sew Along project. I'll have to amend my 'April To Do List' now. But I am so indecisive about my next quilt project (and I didn't want to piece a quilt back) that I just wanted something small and acheivable in half a day of sewing.



Charmed Give-Away


Just a reminder for you all to post an entry or 3 into the 'Tandem' fabric giveaway here on Finding Fifth and there on 'Quiet Play. We 2 small bloggys have 2 adorable charm packs to ship out to 2 lucky winners. And with ONLY 18 people entered into mine so far, you are in with a ripping good chance!



                                           


Here's how I put it together

1. I cleaned my iron from the carnage of the Zig Zag tote meltdown!

 2. Fetch the materials. Most of these were scrap. Scrapbuster Yay!

 3. Cut them all out.

4. Iron on all the interfacing. This time I used my OLD iron and a non-stick applique mat to avoid melting glue onto my iron again.

5. Pin the applique features in place. I opted for square 2" windows and a 21/2" x 4" door rather than use the template in the book. Mostly because I didn't know how to enlarge it by 200%.

 6. Applique the features on using a tight zig zag stitch. I used all 3s in my settings including the thread tension.

 7. Here I decided to handstitch the flower stems and buttons on whilst I was trapped in the chair at the hairdressers. Very soothing...I should try more hand stitching! My mum would have approved.

8. Now that I know how, I added zipper buffers. (However these created a bit too much bulk in the end stage though).

 9. Sandwich the up-side-down zipper between the exterior piece and lining with right sides together.

 10. Pin well and stitch 1/4" in.

11. Do the same for the other exterior and lining piece.

12. Then, with the zip halfway down, attach the back and the front exteriors right sides together.

 13. Pin and stitch all the layers  in place. Here you can see that I pinned the bottom layer diagonally and then the top straight.

 14. Open out and press into place the layers.

 15. I then stitched the zip down through the layers as well. (Don't my zip buffers look lovely and neat here? But DON'T put them in! Because of the nature of the lining and house assembly, in the next stage, they just got in the way and came out all scrunched up. I tried to fix them as best I could. So stick to the original, no zip buffer, pattern).

16. Pin the exterior pieces right sides together

  17. and stitch 1/4" carefully.

 18. Do the same for the lining pieces but leave a 3" GAP in the bottom seam for pulling the bag right sides out. You will also need to open the zip all the way down to complete this step.

 19. Snip off the corners. Pull the exterior panel through the open zip and then through the opening in the binding. Push out the corners. Now that they are smiling at each other from across the zip line, sew the 3" gap in the lining closed.

 20. Push the lining inside the pouch.

21. I added ribbons in pink, white and wine to the zip. These were offcuts from my t-shirt hangers, hanging around in my ribbon box waiting for a better gig in life.

22. I had some whimsical Japanese fabric that was ideal for the back of this pouch. It was a newsprint style. The writing under the piggy says..."The best time to of the flower is about one week. Have the parasol because the sunlight is strong." Priceless!

 23. I had to extend the bird stand. 

 24. Button detail. I had seen another pouch where the buttons were stacked - clever idea. Other pouches had flower shaped buttons - even more clever. Sadly not in my stash - yet!

And that's the whole journey. So much easier than the Zig Zag tote but not without its challenges. I am enjoying learning new things with this Zakka Style Sew Along. 


I am linking up with...