simple gift

 I wanted to give my co-workers a little something without spending much money and something that wasn't a baked good (we get so many of those from families and several co-workers are pretty health conscious so the amount of sweets is already a bit overwhelming).  I decided on cinnamon sugar-- probably the simplest thing possible to make but a nice treat (and it'll keep for a long time so it can just sit in their cupboard til they want a nice treat in a few months).  Basically it's a ratio of about 1 cup of sugar to 1 tablespoon of cinnamon mixed together.  I got some cheap spice jars from a $2 shop but decided to fix them up a bit so the scratched, painted silver plastic lids don't show.  Fortunately I've been collecting bigger size scraps of fabric from work and I hadn't come up with anything to do with them so I cut a bunch into circles to cover the lids.  Simple, easy and nice small gift (and it will come with a small photo card of Wombat in a santa hat).  I'm thinking next year I wanna make little bottles of vanilla extract (from this recipe).  It takes 6 weeks though so I'd have to get on to it early (I was going to get onto making gifts early this year but that never happened).

new bag

For months (maybe even more than a year) I have been planning on making myself a hand bag. I finally chose some Ink and Spindle fabric I liked at a market last summer or autumn. I got around to buying fabric for the rest of the bag about a month ago. Last week I finally worked out a pattern for my bag and made a test bag out of some scrap fabric I got from work. I made a few adjustments (like decreasing the size by 3cm on each side), decided to add some pockets and then started sewing the bag yesterday. I needed to buy some different bias tape today and then I managed to complete my bag:

View of bag with front flap open:

(There are also 2 pockets inside the main compartment of the bag that line up with the 2 pockets shown in the photo above)

My sewing skills are pretty basic but somehow I managed to complete this with minimal errors and messes (you can see a few issues like not quite straight stitching and slightly wonky corners when you look closely but generally nobody but me will do that).
I also discovered it seems to be imposible to buy the pieces to make an adustable strap. Spotlight only had D shaped loops and I wanted square (rectangle) ones and Lincraft didn't seem to carry anything either (I just looked on their website but didn't think it would be worth the effort to go into the city to see if the store might have something). I found a website that carried the pieces I wanted but when I put together an order it only came to just over $8 and the site wouldn't let me complete an order for less than $15 and there was nothing else I needed or wanted from the company. I ended up just chopping the adjustable strap off the bag that I got this year from our yearly conference we go too (I just gave 4 other bags from that conferenence to the opp shop last summer) and sewing it onto my bag. I'm very happy with the results.

busy

i just realized i haven't blogged in ages (well a week). its not that i haven't had anything to write about, i just kept getting busy with stuff. i have photos of some of that stuff but they're still on the camera (usually i upload photos to the computer right away but i've been that busy). i finished my doona cover a bit more (its got a back sewn on it now so i can put the doona in it). i just need to finish the bottom edge (probably velcro closure cuz i hate the buttons and snaps we have on our other ones).
i also fixed up a t-shirt i got as a gift (it was a mens small, i changed it into a girl cut t-shirt with shorter sleeves so i'd wear it more).
the major thing i've ben doing is getting the wedding invitations done (it's more like a wedding packet-- invitation, sheet with map and accomodation options, reply card and envelope. we're only doing the reply card and envelope for people we know don't use email much-- everyone else will reply by email or phone). so far zac got the photo part of the invitation printed up and the accomodation and map sheet, the reply card didn't turn out when he printed it so i think i'll just get some paper and do it at home. all we need to do is confirm the reception venue and then i can print up the printed part of the invitation and put the whole thing together...... hopefully in the mail by tuesday.
i'm working all long days starting tomorrow and all thru next week so it's still gonna be crazy busy then the week after i think i'll be working at least 6 hrs/day (if not 10 hrs) for 4 days of the holiday program. then we're off to canada!!!!
i just noticed some really cool spring photos on my camera but i'm too tired to upload them now. will try on saturday if i don't get a chance in the hour i'm home tomorrow afternoon after work.

refashioning

i finished this last week (i started it ages ago and then just never bothered to attach the sleeves until then). its taken me a week to post cuz i wanted to get a picture with it on but i haven't bothered so i thought i'd just put the pic i had. i was a long sleeve women's extra large top. i bought the pattern for it and chopped the shirt into pieces and resewed it. its got a few minor flaws and the piece around the neck was very difficult because the pattern was just 1 piece for the front and 1 for the back but i didn't have fabric scraps big enough by that point (i kinda cut the big pieces out funny) so i had to stitch 3 pieces together for both the front and back bits (hard to get them the right size-- and there's actually 2 for the front and 2 for the back plus interfacing inbetween). it'll be good enough for work though (i think i might wear it tomorrow). i've also finally fixed up the sleeves on a jacket that drive me insane (they're a bit too short and most of my long sleeve tops have really long arms that end up comming down about 6 inches past the jacket sleeve). i added a piece on the end of the jacket sleeve and put an elastic in it to help hold shirts inside the jacket.

almost finished

i'm almost finished my quilt (its actually gonna be a doona cover-- easier to finish and easier to wash when the dog puts her dirty feet--or bum-- on it). the sqares are all sewn together. now all i need is a sheet to stitch as a boarder around the edge and then as the backside. i think i mentioned it before but all the fabric is from cut up pillow cases and a couple fabric scraps i found at op shops. i think it cost me about $6 (plus several hours of cutting and sewing) to make. i'm hoping to either find a high quality sheet from an op shop this week or i'll get a cheap sheet from warehouse or somewhere (but those tend to pill and then they aren't very soft).