Afternoon tea delight

Yesterday afternoon the lovely Cathie  hosted an Afternoon Tea for Australia's Biggest morning tea to raise money for the Caner Council at Nikki's Studio.
Supporting the cancer council is something I feel strongly about and is very close to my heart - having lost 3 grandparents to different types of cancer, it is a cause that I support 100% and thank Cathie for hosting such wonderful event.

Two tea cups from my collection

It was a lovely afternoon with the most amazing cakes, cup cakes, tarts and  savoury dishes made by Cathie herself, along with drinking tea from gorgeous tea cups and the generous donations for the fantastic raffle.

I love drinking tea out of gorgeous tea cups, I feel like a princess (hahaha not really, but near enough) and I confess I have a bit of an obsession when it comes to tea cups.


As a new blogger, it was so nice to meet fellow bloggers and crafty ladies, who were all very lovely and extremely welcoming to a newbie like myself. As big as the blogging world is, it can be overwhelming but in a good way to see that there are a lot of people out there that love to do what I do and we all have a common passion of sewing or some other craft.  It was great to discuss what we do, as sewing is not something I can discuss with my girl friends as I'm the only crafty one amongst us.  I'm happy and honoured to be a part of the sewing community and meeting ladies that are amazing at what they do and create.

A huge thank you to Nikki for inviting me to the fundraiser and introducing me to these lovely ladies.  Also to Cathie for hosting a lovely afternoon and for the gorgeous take home treats - absolutely divine!


xoxo

No place like Melbourne

I adore Sydney, but I Love Melbourne.

Got back this morning from an amazing long weekend in Sydney with my friend Franca.  I have a great appreciation of Sydney and enjoy the city and it's diversity, but Melbourne is an incredible city and yes I might sound bias hahahaha, but Melbourne will always be home.

It was a weekend filled with laughter, fun, amzing food, checking out the markets and a lot of walking and even more SHOPPING!!!! It was SALE overload all over and the money I had put aside for a shopping trip to Zara (which was a little disappointing to say the least and after going in twice, we still walked out with nothing) went on a few Mimco purchases hahaha.

For our little weekend vernture I made a little toiletry bag with plastic lining, I haven't worked with plastic before but it worked out ok. I wish I had of made it a bit bigger and maybe with handles, but now I know for next time and I will still continue to use my "I Love Lucy" toiletry bag.

xoxo

I love the smell of leather

I love the smell of leather and the character a bag takes on when it's made of leather, although working with it can be a bit tricky at times. My industrial Singer sewing machine and I are still getting to know each other after 2 years, it has taken a little bit of warming up to and when I bought it I didn’t know what I was in for.
I was running with the idea that I know how to sew now so this will be a piece of cake, I was mistaken. This machine has guts and a powerful motor behind it that is frightening – it was definitely a reality check when I sat at it properly for the first time to sew.

Brother Sewing Machine

Singer Sewing Machine

At first and maybe still a little bit now I was afraid of my machine, but slowly I have been getting over that fear. I think the fear stems from the power this machine has over my little Brother sewing machine that I love and does amazingly well, just not with leather.

There have been quite a few broken needles and bent plates from me trying to force through thick bulges and yes the machine has the capacity to do get through it, but I don’t help the situation by pulling it from behind – I need to let the machine do what it has to do. I guess I try to pull it through so my hands are completely away from the needle, but every time I do this the needle snaps and it thankfully gets stuck in the leather and doesn’t fly up at me, but I still wear my glasses to sew on my Singer machine hahaha, I guess paranoia remains.

Yesterday’s projects were a complete success on the Singer, granted the leather was a little thinner than I usually use (which is couch leather from my brothers friend who gets me off cuts), but none the less it worked a treat. I have mastered the art of hammering the seams to flatten the bulge a bit, so it’s easier for the needle to get through – it might sound crazy but it helps.

My foot pressure is something I’m still getting used to, but I’m getting there and every time I use the machine I get a little more confident. The stitching isn’t always consistent due to my foot pressure going from fast to slow or slow to fast, but in time I will get there – at this point the bag is for me so until I can maintain the foot pressure and stitching I will have a lot of bags hahahaha.

I have a new appreciation for leather goods and for all those amazing people out there that work on these industrial machines day in, day out.


xoxo

Baby Bag completed ..... check!

I woke up this morning with every intention on finishing the baby bag and voila - done!

I was having doubts last week that I wouldn't finish it in time, but I'm so glad I have and now all that is left to do is fill it with baby gifts. 

I wish Liz and Dale all the best on the arrival of the new addition to their family.

Now that the baby bag project is finished, I look at my board and there are a few projects on there that I need to get around to – some requests from friends and family, some new things I want to try and believe it or not some Christmas orders already.

I have had a pile of make-up and coin purses cut out for a few months now, but haven’t had time to sew them. I do love Nikki’s make-up purses and coin purses; they are quick and easy to sew and they make a great gift (considering it was my staple gift for everyone at Christmas I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do this Christmas hahahaha).

I have been playing with different ideas with the make-up purses, like putting a little pocket in contrasting colours , sewing on buttons or putting a little flap and pocket on the front.

                            
I’m not the most creative when it comes to making something plain look nice, but I try hahaha. I think of what I like or what I think looks good and try to portray it in my sewing, in some experiments it hasn’t worked, but I am all for trial and error.

Let the sewing begin :o)

xoxo

Too much socialising, not enough sewing!

It’s a busy week ahead catching up with friends and not a lot of sewing time. I seem to go through phases where there are some weeks I’m free every night and then some weeks (like this week) that I’m out every night until Sunday.
I do try to keep my Sundays free, so I can get up and dedicate the entire day to sewing – I put a movie on or music in the background and sew my life away. I can’t work in silence it kills me; I need background noise to help me along hahaha.

So at the moment my number one project is another baby bag for a family friend who is due at the end of May – so time is ticking, but I’m nearly finished :o)
I must say there has been a lot of gratification this time around, as it is my second baby bag and no instructions were required – it came so natural to me and I guess a lot of that comes from doing Nikki’s bags. Once you grasp a concept of how to do something and apply it to something similar, it all makes sense and pulls together so easily.

Straps for the bag
Elastic pocket on side of the bag
Getting there - straps, zipper and lining to finish













I decided to go with the same Noah’s Ark theme as my previous baby bag, because I don’t know the gender of the baby and all the other materials I found were gender specific, it’s still cute and practical none the less and very sturdy as I used a curtain fabric. I must say that the original baby bag I made for my niece has been packed to the limits and still in one piece hahaha.

It has been a longer process than last time I made the baby bag, just because of the social calendar over the last couple of months.  In saying that - I'm off to dinner with my beautiful friend Linda.
xoxo