DOLLAR DAY SALE!!!!

I have just spent the last few hours uploading all of my current craft items onto Etsy. To create some attention I am having a sale.

From midnight tonight - (really from now but whos counting) to midnight tomorrow - feb 1, all of the fat quarters will be $1 each.

Check out my store:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/nannyrau?page=1

I currently have over 40 items up including upwards of 30 fat quarters - for only ONE DOLLAR each. After tomorrow I will go through whatever is left and return them to normal prices but for now they are super cheap.

Happy Shopping :)

table runner

I have had the design for a wonky modern looking log cabin block on my computer for ages now and finally sat down last week to start on it. Of course I was slightly lacking in fabrics that gave the desired matching effect so couldnt make a huge quilt so I thought I'd make a lap rug. But then I figured I've never done a tablerunner before. The last one I did was with QAYG hexis while this would need to be machine quilted. Check out what I ended up with.

runner with matching coasters

thats the back side

I also made a coaster/mug rug to match one I did last year.

more applique and quilting

the original Sashiko flower

Etsy

I'm finally getting my etsy store up and running and with actual items to sell as I'm expecting a fabric order to come in in the next few weeks. Right now I only some bags for sale but will be posting more items as I finish making them and precut fabrics when I get them in. 

The link is below, I'd love it if you would check out my store and when I work out how I'll find a button or link of some description to leave in the sidebar so it is easily clickable when I don't post about it.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/nannyrau

Btw, for those who follow me from the craftlovers forum, yes it is a typo that I sadly cant fix. oops.

my how time flies...

I attempted the impossible the other day. I taught my sister how to make a bag. In the past I have shown her how to knit..about 5 times and she still cant do it, crochet..she caught on but isnt so good with keeping the direction, it ends up twisted, hand sew..she lost the needle, and cross stitch where she knotted the cotton and made a huge mess.

Despite this, she does know how to use a sewing machine and had a fine old time trying out all the stitch selections while she practiced sewing in a straight line.She learnt how to use it at school but got a D...maybe because she cant sew straight. Oddly enough, she grumbled about rotary cutting because she couldn't get it and then miraculously picked it up and was doing my cutting for me for the basket weave bag you'll see at the end.

So there you go. Something that usually take about 45 minutes to cut and sew took almost 4 hours and hers still needed fixing later. Practice dear sister practice.

trying to drum in the need to line things up perfectly and match her lines

practicing her straight lines. dont you love the fluro nail polish?

handle-making

trying to turn the bag right side out. thats her 'you're kidding me right?' face

After some creative discussion about where her handles should go she top stitched around the completed bag and discovered...that her handles were too close to the edges and didnt aid in opening the bag at all, in which case she could have just had one large strap instead. she also wasnt so terrific with sewing so close to the edge of the fabric and ended up with something uneven with handles that werent stitched in correctly and frayed edge hanging out.

This is her the next day after she let me fix it.

The brown bag is a FQ one I made as I was showing Jess how to do things and the other is some jelly roll madness that she expertly cut now she knows how.

bags bags everywhere

I believe it may be time to admit I have a problem. On the other hand, maybe its just time for a tutorial. What do you think?

These bags have been the focus of my attention for the past few days. They are all reversible/fully lined, however you want to look at it. They are made from cottons, except the purple one on the left. Some were pieced together i.e. the sudoku bag and others from a fat quarter or a few jelly strips. The linings/inside are made from yardage I had on hand but you can use whatever you want and even piece the inside too if you would like. There are even a couple in that collection that are made from pillowcases.

This type of bag is fast and easy to make. Plus its a lot of fun sorting through fabrics to find a design that catches your eye that would look perfect on your shoulder.

I'm really loving the jelly roll bag, not sure though whether it will make it to my market stall because my sister is eyeing it off already.

it's a bag, it's a cushion, it's...I'm not sure yet, but right now it's SUDOKU

I decided that since actually enjoy sudoku puzzles there was no reason why I couldn't make one myself. Of course it means combining my fear of not being able to sew straight with the need for sashing which I avoid like the plague. But...here's what happened.

transferring numbers on a page to teeny tiny fabric pieces.

the finished boxes, marked with the order and the orientation so as not to stuff up the sudokuness of the piece

so my phone takes sideways photos, but thats it with sashing attached

I made a slight booboo when I put the sashing together and had numbers 7 and 8 together but upside down. Relatively easily fixed though.

I showed a friend when he visited last night and he informed me that making a fabric sudoku was really sad. I of course told him where to shove it :)

another new bag and some fabric flowers

my beautiful sister modelling her new bag

twigs from the garden, fabric scraps, a hot glue gun and 'hey presto'

So this is what I have been up to the past few days. My bag making is still by hand for now because I was waiting for my family to vacate so I could take over the dining room and pull out the sewing machine, which i did within 24 hours of their departure.

look what I did yesterday

this is my brand spanking new (but really old cuz i bought the materials from a Salvos shop) tote bag. and this......... is the inside. yup its a reversible bag. I designed it a couple of days ago and put it together yesterday. all by hand because im away from a machine, which is why i used pillowcases because they are already pre-done. after i finished it i packed all the extra things i had acquired while i was away in it and took it on the train with me. when i got home my sister decided she needed one too. so it looks like more are in the works.

a new project

times change, decisions have been made and as a result i have started a new project. confused?

without going into too much detail, im planning on getting back into selling my handiwork at the local markets. i have done this before and now have the opportunity to do it again. so i have been going through and making lists of all the things i need to get sorted to do this. 

on the product list are most of the things i still have packed away that i need to unearth but also designs for a few new things. one of which is a hexi tablerunner. not the same style as the one i made at christmas with framed hexis, this is just paper pieced hexis, the design for which is currently laid out on the lounge room floor. pictures to come later.

im working on this piece while im away from the rest of my stash because i desperately want to pull my knitting needles out but they are packed and in my brothers garage in sydney. so for now this will have to satisfy me, im just thankful that the hexi basting fabrics and papers i brought with me to hubbys actually go together and that i have enough of them to complete the entire runner top here if i want to.

it pays to be prepared and overpack

an update

since the completion of everything in last months pictures I havent started anything new nor have I been working on anything major. I did pull out a cross stitch a I started a few months back, because its portable and can go back in its little bag and everything will be nice and contained.

other than that I am still...um...how should I put this....battling? family. yea not quite. Either way my nan has been down from queensland since my nephews christening in early december and hasnt left yet. shes tried to a few times, but last time her car stopped an hour up the road.

other than that im hanging to get to boyfriends house for a few days away but I now have a job interview so plans have change, or been put on hold rather because if the interview goes well training will start the next day so they can open the shop next week in which case I dont know when ill get up there.

its not a fantastic job but it pays and money is necessary for the whole having a roof over your head, eating, and actually being able to get to classes at uni.

other than that...i have a new cd? exciting stuff I know. It was a deliberate move though as my laptop plug had a tantrum and now refuses to charge my laptop. which means that i cant play the new game i just downloaded and am thoroughly addicted to, cant listen to music on my itunes (hence the need to put some on a cd from my sisters computer) and more important still.....i cant login to the forum because all my details are on auto and I cant remember what they are anymore.

fortunately though, I was able to email one of the forum big wigs (ill get in trouble if she reads this..oops) to let her know im still kicking just computerless and tell her im still in for this months hexi swap.

either way ill be back in a few days...i hope. it will depend on the job thingo as to when and whether hubby dearest can fix said cord because hes wonderful like that, or whether i am stuck here because of the work thing and suffer such withdrawerals and fork out the $130 for a brand spanking new universal power cord.


so thats me, i bit hum drum at the moment really. but i have to write somewhere and i actually know this password hehehe

hope all is well.

wait i remembered something else to prove my hum drumness....

on new years eve when all of you im sure had fantastically exciting plans....i was home in bed with a book. sad isnt it? i did have plans with a friend but he ditched me (he got in big trouble too). i hear you ask 'what about your boyfriend?' and the answer is...his best friend since high school has a birthday on the 31st and so he is always at her house to celebrate her birthday. my family, the odd bunch that they are spent the evening concurrently watching AND recording the basketball on tv. I however who could give two hoots about the sport took my book and a dvd and got comfy in bed.

there you go i really am pathetic. i hope you have enjoyed my random ramble and that it has at least kept you mildy amused for a few minutes

have come back again because i forgot something slightly important. I have just started a certificate in Faith Education which will, eventually, enable me to teach RE in Catholic schools. So that combined with the course I'm currently doing will mean that in 2.5 years I'll be a fully qualified high school teacher. My subject areas will be Society and Culture ( cuz i like people watching), Religion (cuz its something i know and am passionate about and history, not sure whether it will be ancient or modern, it could be both depending on the next few subjects i take. im not actually all that interested in either its just a fluke of the uni requirements.

either way, this course, or rather the people that run it, send me out lectures on cd and reading materials and essay questions and give me ten weeks for each subject. i can email them with questions but other than that work on it fairly independantly. the irony is im doing 2 subjects at the moment and while i did start working on them last week, ive been a bit distracted with other things the last few days and havent gotten back to it. methinks that im being sent a message from someone higher up...perhaps he figures that without my laptop i wont play silly games and might get back to my study

he does work in mysterious ways. am off to study now, so maybe he had a point