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 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...

Of Rainbows and Give-Aways

It always rains at Easter time on the east coast of Australia. A huge statement I know, but it's mostly true. This year we had the best weather that I can ever remember instead. Sunny warm days and light breezes. My husband and the kids camped out in the backyard and had a fabulously DRY time.

Then yesterday the usual Easter weather arrived. The temperature plummeted by at least 10 degrees. The usual combination of thunderstorms, rain and wind. But when I woke this morning there was a rainbow. Very special. The kids and I all admired it. 

Yesterday I received a well wrapped parcel from the talented Christine of Lavenderlore. Frances and I gleefully unwrapped each hand knitted outfit for Florrie and one of them was this gorgeous rainbow top. I will show you some more of the outfits in later posts as well.

WiP - Zakka Style House Pouch

I had doubts about whether I would join in on this week's Zakka Style Sew Along item - the 'House Pouch'. It's not really my style at all but I was keen to try something a little less demanding than last week's tote. I am also at a point of severe indecision about my next quilting project. I have cut out all the fabrics, fused the interfacing and pinned the applique features ready to start sewing tomorrow.

I am linking up with...

Turning 50 Charm Give-Away

My favourite QCA blog buddy from Quiet Play, Kristy, and I both hit 50 'followers' today. (Small cheer to you all for bothering to show up each day). So we've devised a tandem 'Charm Pack' give-away to mark this significant occasion for our small bloggys.

You can pop over to Kristy's Give-away post today and see what charm pack she is offering. Here's what's on offer from Finding fifth...

                                          

The gorgeous 'Petit Odile' by 'French General for Moda. In keeping with the Quilt Club Australia theme, I found this one at 'Want it, Need it, Quilt' online store run by fellow QCA Quilt Jane. Even with postage, her prices are equal to anything I can get in from overseas. 

                      

Isn't the range lovely in these colourways? I may have trouble parting with this Charm Pack.

Kristy has written the entry details below...

So how do you go in the running for this? Easy. You have three options - each one gives you an entry.
1. Leave a comment of any sort on this blog post.
2. Become a follower of my blog and leave a comment telling me so.
3. Become a follower of Kristy's Blog 'Quiet Play' and leave a comment here telling me too :)

Entries end in one week - at 8pm Wednesday 18th April (Aussie time).  

That's it! Do one, do all three - your choice. This is open to everyone - happy to post internationally. Please make sure that you leave a separate comment for each entry. And!Most importantly! Make sure you are not a no-reply blogger! I need some way to contact you in case you're the lucky winner :)  If you're a wordpress user and can't follower via Google Friend Connect, you can subscribe via RSS to your preferred reader. It's all about options!