I'm trying...

I'm trying to load my stuff on ETSY so I can make my (self-imposed) deadline of launching tomorrow. But my photos are too large...my banner doesn't work - aaarrggghhh! But I will keep trying and fingers crossed will have some good news for y'all later in the day.

psssstttt...the above photo gives a hint to what wares suzy will be selling.

Ikea haul (Part Two)

As I alluded to last week I have been on a bit of a shopping spree at Ikea of late...especially fabric! I just love it. It's simple design at its best, great decorator weight for the home (or bags for that matter ) and cheap. These cushions above were made from pieces found in the remnants bin. I'm not going to insult y'all and tell you how to make cushions. But I will say that I decided to use an invisible zip on these babies, because my invisible zip presser foot is my latest crush...and I'm loving the result.

The second set of projects that I completed from Ikea fabric are these stack of tablecloths. Finally, after years of searching I've found fabric wide enough for our six seater table that I actually like....The top one has a bit of a Marimekko feel to it don't you think?

Suzy's got it covered...

Yes it's me again, suzy of the cheesy blog titles!

I've quite a bit to share this week, because for once I managed to tick off and complete 3 wips over the weekend. But don't worry this won't be a monster blog post I'll spread them out over the week.

First up is this sewing machine cover, made of course from some fabric that I bought at Ikea! My sewing corner (well it's really a wall) is in our family room and is on show all the time, which makes it a challenge on two levels. One - keeping it tidy and clean and two - stopping everybody dumping their own treasures all over it!


I got the idea from Benita at Chez Larsson - who else I tell you? Between her and my Ikea fixation maybe I should just move to Sweden, but I digress...

The process for each of ours is a little different, same result. Here is the suzy way:

1. Choose a decorator weight, or mid to heavy weight fabric. The Ikea fabric is perfect because it is quite stiff, almost canvas like. I needed 0.5m of a 150cm fabric width.

2. I stood my machine cover on some newspaper and traced the end. For the main part, I kinda rolled the cover along the newspaper tracing away to get one single pattern piece.
So you should end up with 3 x pieces, 2 ends and a main piece.


3. For cutting I was quite particular to make sure that the pattern design on the ends was vertical. I couldn't stand looking everyday at dodgy positioning.

4. Sew the pieces together, right side facing (you know, here's me telling you the bleedin' obvious!). I pinked the seams. It would have been to hard to overlock a u-shape piece, you could have done it before you made the seams up, but this baby won't be washed a lot, so it didn't seem necessary.

5. I really wanted the hem to sit right on the table, so I fitted the fabric cover over the machine cover, turned it upside down and marked the hemline. I then overlocked about 1/4 inch outside of it, turned it up and voila perfect.


6. Last but not least, Suzy added a tag to the front so that I can tell easily which way is the front...and more importantly so I don't forget my name!

Now I've got to go and rip this cover off and do the final push of sewing before my ETSY shop opens next Monday - how exciting!

Into the abyss

Whilst I've been sewing for a wee-bit now haute couture it is not! That is until I saw this latest offering from Vogue patterns - just stunning.

I have a wedding to attend in a month's time...and I'm gonna give it a go, and I promise whether it works out or not I'll post the result...I feel some more bloghonesty coming on.

Organizing Burda

So I've been committed seriously to buying Burda Style (BWOF) every month for over a year now. When I say committed, I well sort of stalk the newsagents in town every four weeks when I'm expecting the latest copy to arrive. It sux that it is 3 months behind and we pay nearly $16 aussie dollars an issue, but no longer people! I've finally got the lovely people at Burda to answer my email and I'm about to get a direct subscription which will come in a touch over 9 bucks an issue, including postage - ORGANIZED!


..and for some time I've been meaning to sort out my issues like thus so that I have a quick reference for when a potential project pops into my head. This way I don't have to flick through every copy to find the right one. So simple, and flogged from someone's blog that I can't recall (sorry fellow blogger). You colour copy the summary page from the beginning of each issue, and then b&w copy the line drawing summary page and voila. Sort them into date order, add some tabs for each year, season if you so desire and clip the pages into a ring binder. Your mags and pattern sheet can then be filed away- see ORGANIZED!!!!

Cheers....

A nice surprise

I'm not sure about others out there, but I try hard not to pre-determine what my squidgets will be like when they are all grown up. Despite my best intentions however the odd thought creeps into my head every now and then, like "my dad was good at sport, and I was a sprinter so maybe they'll be good at sport" then I beat myself up for trying to preempt the future - let it be Suzy I say.

So in the last few months it has been so refreshing to find out that my boy has this unexpected talent. He can draw, and more importantly he LOVES it. This came as such a surprise to us, and we only really noticed it after his teachers and other mums kept commenting on how good he was. We, as the parents, were a bit slow on the uptake.

So here is his latest 4yr old version of the house from the movie Up...now for the challenge for mummy (the frustrated would-be architect) - don't read too much into his subject choice!

Ikea haul (Part One)

In the last two months I've managed to go to Ikea three times, which is quite an achievement for someone who lives 3 hours away from the closest store. Twice I visited the store in person, and once over the phone ie. directed the man of the house around the shop, particularly the fabric section whilst he was on an interstate work thingy.

What I miss Ikea for the most is NO not the furniture, but all of the house styling stuff. So today I completed one of my mini Ikea projects when I went to the nursery and bought one of my most favourite indoor plants - Baby's tears (Soleirolia), which is just perfect for a bright, but not sunny window sill in my kitchen.

...and for good measure I wanted to show you where I first fell in love with this plant and using it indoors, in my still beloved mid-1980's plant decorating book.


Stay tuned for more Ikea related projects...

I'm back

Just a quick post to say that I'm back, but alas no crafting/baking/sewing or homey stuff has gone on yet.

But I will be putting on the skates, or so they say, in the next couple of weeks so that I can launch my very own little Etsy shop before I'm due back at work in Feb...stay tuned.

BTW...the above picture was taken our last night in Fiji over a few glasses of vino...ho hum back to reality!

A bit of last minute needle and thread

Yesterday I finished a bit of last minute sewing before we set off on holidays. But nooooooo it's not the crisp white resort pants that I had imagined me strolling around in the Fijian sunset, but a Car Caddy for the boy-child. If the truth be known I meant to sew this for him as a Christmas present, but well, umm...time kinda gotta away from me. Never mind, I think it does the job nicely as a pre-holiday surprise...and it helps me limit the cars that he brings along to 6...hehehe.

Kuka sent me the link to one from So you think you're crafty ...and it then led me to Little Gems. It was so ridiculously easy to make I think I'll start doing some more already for little boy gifts for this year. I used scraps for the inner, felt for the "road" at the top and some lovely soft denim as the outer fabric. I used some fabric paint for the line markings on the road, and figure if they give out in the future I can use some double-sided fusing and add some felt markings.

Well that's it for me for a week or so, Happy New Year everyone!