Ta....

First of all, before I go into anything else, I wanted to say a big thankyou to all the people who commented on my quilt in the last post. It was so nice to get emails and comments, and requests for tutorials, and I'm still quite crap at replying to everyone in person, so please take this as my personal thankyou......

Today, like many days in this household, began with eggs.

So weird to think that I used to be vegan, and the very thought of eggs was enough to make me gag....now I eat them by the bucketload. In fact, the reason I don't post too often over at Breakfast Sunday, is because I get shamed by all those gorgeous, healthy, meusli and yoghurt/ fresh fruit combinations!

Though once the weather gets warmer, I'll be eating less stodgy things to start the day.....

Speaking of the end of winter, even though I look forward to some sunshine like a woman possesed, I will miss having a real, concrete reason to knit. I wandered into the Spotlight winter yarn sale the other day, and came home with all of this, mostly at 2 or 3 dollars a ball:

Which I very quickly turned into a pair of these:

Which, in actual fact, I don't really need anymore. Brilliant. Bring on Spring, I say!

And just to bring this completely random post full of Nothing In Particular to a fitting end - Self Portrait Saturday.

Taken in the mirror in my kitchen.

I've been working on the tutorial for the quilt, by the way, but the photos I took turned out a bit shit due to lack of light, so I'm gonna have another go at it tommorrow...... promise!

Sleep well, my pretties.....xxx

paper.string.cloth - open for business!

That's right.....my Etsy Shop is now open!

So get your arses in there and buy something!

I guess this is a bit of a test run..... if they don't sell, then I'll go back to being a bog-standard home based crafty person with no entrepreneurial aspirations. My niece and nephew will receive an armload of toys in the mail, and there'll be no hard feelings on any side.
If they do sell, I'll make some more from time to time, plus a few other things, and spend the money I make on fabric! Easy!

This isn't actually the Big Thing I wanted to share today, but the light was so shit this afternoon that I couldn't take any decent photos of the current project. Perhaps tomorrow?

until then....xxxx

New Nongs....

Here's a couple more little buggers that I've been working on for the last few days...

This one is one of the best of the lot....I've changed the pattern around a little, trying to make the limbs sit a little better, and changing the place where I leave it open for stuffing......

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Nongs never have arms. It's just the way it is. For some reason I don't think they need them...

This one is from the old pattern....so is a little more wonky than I would like....

It is satisfying to know that each one I make does get a little better, though... I'm still not convinced that anyone will actually want to buy them, but after I've made a few more, I think I'll list them in my shop, and see what happens.....

Right now, I'm tossing up between opening an Etsy shop, tried, true and tested, or going out on a limb with a similar site that is Australian-focused.... It's called MadeIt, and it's the same as Etsy, really, just an Australian company, using Aussie dollars, and open to overseas buyers anyway, with PayPal and all that jazz...... So I can't see that it would make a HUGE difference which one I should choose, I guess I just feel like I should give the local one a try......

Anyways, whatever I decide, you'll all be the first to know!

Well, it's Taiwanese Noodle Soup time for me, before a crazy Friday night working at the pub......see you all after the weekend!

* Oh, and for those of you who asked - I HAVE finished Harry Potter, and I've added an email address at the top right of the page, so if you want to email me about Harry, or anything else for that matter, go ahead! xxxx

Slow Week....

Well, it's safe to say that I have spent the last two days solidly reading the new Harry Potter, and holy shit, I'm still recovering! I know there's a few Potter fans out here in blogland, and we're all probably offline, reading and re-reading, but in between the pages, there have been a few bits and peices....

Here's the apron I made for my neice, who has taken to helping my sister clean the house, and of course, needs to look the part!

It's reversible, with a girly side, and a tomboy side!

and apparently she loves it, and I've seen some pretty cute photos of her wearing it....

There's also been a bit of leisurely breakfast eating...

And some experimenting with some new styles for my stuffed toys, none of which are worth showing below the neck.....

So tonight is going to be all about making patterns, and trying again. :sigh:

Pincushion Tutorial!

*Editors Note: For those of you who have visited this page before - I had to rephotograph the tutorial due to some technical difficulties! So now the photos are a little different, but the tutorial stays the same! Thanks! *

I've seen a few pincushion tutorials around on the net, and most of the time I skim over them, because pincushions seem so, well, easy.... This one is no exception, but I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring anyway....

After rearranging my studio, and ending up with two workspaces, one for cutting, and one for sewing, the need for an extra pincushion became very clear, and after seeing these two examples by Heather, and Manda, I thought it was time to give it a go. (I probably would have bought one of Manda's, but by the time I saw the post she had sold out! Gah!)

So here goes:

This pincushion is a simple patchworked number, four squares on each side, with a button detail in the centre. Easy Peasy.

First of all, you need to choose some fabric. I ended up with a plain white linen, plus two contrasting cotton fabrics, so the cushion would be different on each side.

Then, make yourself a little 2 1/2 inch square template out of cardboard or such. I don't have a rotary cutter or quilt ruler or any fancy tools, so I trace directly around the template onto the fabric, and then leave a seam allowance around that when cutting. This leaves the traced line as your sewing line, and gets rid of the need for perfect 1/4 inch seams and such. It's a inperfect art, but there you go.

So trace around your templates, remembering to leave a seam allowance....You'll need two squares each of the contrasting fabric, and four of the plain.

Cut out your squares.

Stitch the squares together, following the traced stitching line, to make two 5 inch square blocks. Press the seams down flat. Don't stress too much if your squares don't meet perfectly in the middle, your button will cover that at the end anyway...

Place the two block right sides together, and stitch all the way around the outside, leaving a small hole for turning it round the right way and stuffing. Trim the seams and clip the corners.

Turn that sucker inside out (well, the right way round, actually), poke the corners out, and then stuff it quite full with stuffing.

You want your pincushion to be quite plump, so overstuff it as much as you can without straining the seams....

Sew up the hole you left for the stuffing with tiny little stitches, or some crazy invisible stitching method that you know (and I don't!)
Now it should look like this:

Now for the fun part - finishing!

Choose some buttons that you like to go with the fabrics you've chosen.

I used waxed linen thread for the button part, because it's strong, and you'll be pulling on the thread quite hard, so make sure you use something reasonably strong.

To start off the stitching for the buttons, thread your needle with a double length of thread and tie a knot at one end. Poke your needle through the centre of your pincushion, making sure it comes out in the centre on the other side.

Pull the thread through, but leave a small loop on the front side.

Make a small stitch on the reverse side, bringing the needle out in the centre once again. Don't pull the thread through just yet.

Before you pull the thread through, slip your needle through the loop you made, which will stop the knot from slipping through the fabric into the middle of the cushion.

Pull the thread tight, which should tighten up the loop you left hanging, and bring the whole centre of the cushion in, giving your cushion that cute shape you want.

Now sew your buttons on, stitching right through the centre of your cushion, pulling the thread tight, making the buttons press down in the centre. Use similar sized buttons so you can match up the holes reasonably well on both sides.
When the buttons are secure, bring your thread up to the top, but not through to the other side of the button. Instead, ease the needle out behind the button. This takes a bit of managing, but you should get it without too many dramas.

Your thread should now lie behind the top button like this:

To make a secure knot, use the thread to make a loop behind the button, like so:

Slip the needle through the loop, and tighten well, behind the button. Do a couple of these knots, and then trim off your thread so it hides behind the button.

And voila! You're done!

For those of you with loads of sewing experience, this is a peice of cake, and nothing you won't have seen before. But if you're a beginner, give it a go, especially the button tying technique; this is how I sew on all my buttons, and I haven't had one fall off yet!

Well, there you have it, my first tutorial. If you'd like to see any of the photos in more detail, just click on one and you'll be taken to my Flickr page, where you can see them bigger if you like.

I hope you liked it!

xxxx

Still Standing...

Though it is a fabulous tree, huge and majestic, I was hoping it would depart with just one branch to do away with my crappy laundry; alas, the storm passed with no real drama in my suburb, though the beachside got quite a battering....

Today: Presents In The Post! Though coming from Ebay, it's not so much a present..... On sound advice from Shula, I am now the owner of a fucking GORGEOUS cashmere jumper....ooooohhhh my lord, this is by far the most warming, luxurious and divine garment I have ever owned. The fit isn't perfect (as usual, a little too big), but I swear, I'm never taking it off. Never.

Though cashmere is expensive, I managed to score this one for a great price, and even if I'd paid twice as much for it, as soon as you hold it in your hands, you know it's worth every penny.

In other news, we have some more additions to the Nong family:

I'm having a little bit of trouble with the stuffing....I know not to just stuff wads of it in, and to feed it in in a slow, contast stream, but I still seem to get lumpy bits.....any advice?

Nong #4 is a good example:

His legs just don't sit how I'd like them to.

But y'know...... imperfection = originality in my book.....

I've also completed a request from my sister for an apron for my neice, who has taken to "cleaning" the house....but I'll post photos of that once the package has been recieved.... don't want to spoil the anticipation!

xxxxx

If On a Rainy Night.....

There's a storm on its way tonight, causing King Tide in the Port of Adelaide and wreaking havoc over the Southern end of the state, a perfect night for staying in with the knitting, hoping that if the massive gum tree in the yard does, in fact, decide to topple over, that it will at least have the sense to fall on the bathroom and laundry, which I would love to have re-done!

In the meantime, some things I've been up to....

I bought this lovely grey pure wool jumper at the op shop the other day, but as with most things involving breasts and shoulders, it was a terrible fit.....Even on my gorgeous model, whose 50's waistline and fabulous pointy boobs still don't do the jumper any favours.....

Clearly some cutting and pasting was in order....

A bit of pattern checking,

A whole lot of pinning,

And voila! Jumper For Skinny Girl!

I'm terrible at taking photos of myself, despite having a tripod and timer setting on the camera....but anyhoo, you get the idea. It's finely knit, warm and fabulous, and that wee little moth nibbled hole on the front is for authenticity, y'know.....

My neckwarmer order has gone from this:

To this:

Amazing how quickly I can knit when I have a deadline.... plus I've been catching up on some dreadful TV watching, so it just seems to make itself.....brilliant!

And tonight? There'll be a bit of this:

And episodes of House and Medium to keep me happy.

Before I go, I wanted to send out a thankyou to all the lovely comments I got about the Nongs, and about my blog in general over the last week or so..... When starting out on a new endeavour, it's easy to poo-hoo your own efforts, and lose confidence in your making skills, especially when there are so many more talented people out there making things I couldn't construct in my wildest dreams.
So getting a little comment or two from people who are, essentially, strangers to me, and have no obligation whatsoever to do so, is gratifying and humbling in the extreme.
So thankyou, to everyone who has sent me a note lately, and if I haven't responded to you, please take this as your personal thankyou.

Cheers, m'dears..... xxx