Hungry?

Made for a swap

Ice-cream, cupcakes and chocolate creams.

Fruity fun
All crocheted

I made them 'life' sized.

I tried to follow a couple of patterns but gave up and worked it out myself. I used double stranded 8ply and a 3.5mm hook for most of these creations.

The kids love these and want a set. They gave me lots of suggestions of what to make.

He sleeps.....

... when I least expect him too.

Crazy bag Tutorial

I designed this little bag a few years ago. For a class I was teaching in Tennant Creek, on crazy patchwork. I miss my Tennant Creek Crafty friends we used to have such fun, inspiring, sharing and helping each other develop our crafts. My friend, Nancy, fell in love with this little bag and made a few for her friends and family for xmas.

This is a great way to use up those scraps you just can't bear to throw out. It's a nice introduction to crazy patch. too

This bag isn't very big, a nice size for a small wallet and a mobile phome. After making my little one you may like to experiment making a bigger one.

Materials:
Lots of scraps - For beginners a single colour works best - Monochromatic
Lining fabric - a fat quarter will do
a piece of calico or any woven cotton to use as the base for the crazy patch
thread and sewing machine.

Cutting
From the lining fabric cut-
2 drawstrings 22inches by 1 and 1/4 inches
1 bag lining 15 1/2 inches by 9 1/2 inches
2 casings 1 1/2 inches by 6 inches
From the Calico-
1 crazy patch base of 15 1/2 inches by 9 1/2 inches
From the scraps-
2 drawstring tags 1 and 1/2 inches by 3 inches

My pieces ready to go

A pile of scraps - cut offs from a lone star quilt I'm making.

Place a scrap into the center of your crazy patch base piece.

Stitch another scrap to the side of the first piece. Sew it down and flip it.
Press as you go. This is important as it keeps your seams nice and crisp and your piece flat.

Add another piece.
I tend to work around the center.
You can piece scraps together and then treat them as one piece to add to you crazy patch.

Continue sewing, flipping and pressing until you have covered your base.
If you have a fancy machine with decorative stitches, and you want to play, you can embellish the crazy patch along each of the seam lines with the decorative stitching.
I didn't do this today, but it does add a special touch to your bag.

Make the casing for your drawstring.
Fold in the short ends and stitch them down.
Now fold over the long sides 1/4 inch and give them a good press to keep them folded.

Place and sew the casings onto your crazy patch.
I mark the center top with a pin to help me place the casings
You want them 2 inches from the top and 1 inch from the center.
Stitch the casings onto the bag along the top and bottom edges.. not along the ends or you won't be able to thread your drawstrings!

Sew your bag lining to the the crazy patch.
Place right sides together and stitch with a 1/4 inch seam along the top edge.

Fold you bag into half lengthwise
Sew around the edges leaving a 3 inch gap in the lining for turning the bag.

To make a base for your bag.
Pinch out the base seam of the crazy patch.
Sew a triangle at each end about 1 inch in from the ends.
I don't bother doing the lining as you don't see it and I'm lazy.

Turn the bag out through the hole you left in the lining.

Next you need to sew up the hole you turned the bag through
I did it on the machine, by folding in the seam allowance and edge stitching it closed.

Push the lining into the bag and top stitch around the top to keep the lining in place.

Make the drawstrings -
Fold the two edges into the middle and press with the iron
Fold over again and stitch along the open edge.

Thread the drawstrings through the casings.
I use a safety pin to thread the drawstrings.
Thread one from each side.

Make the tags for the end of the drawstrings
take the 1 1/2 inch by 3 inch scraps
Fold them down in half
stitch along the sides
turn them out

Tuck in a 1/4 inch of the tag to hide the raw edge.
insert the ends of the drawstring into the tag
and top stitch the edge catching the drawstring ends.
Do this for both drawstrings.

And You're finished!

Mug Bag tutorial

Materials Required:
Lining - I used calico and drew my pattern onto it
A Fat quarter for bag outer
An old CD
A scrap of batting/wadding and iron on applique paper or iron on pellon
Ribbon or cord
Beads for the drawstring
Sewing machine and thread

I used 1/4 inch seams and my 1/4 inch sewing machine foot

This is a very basic Mug Bag. You may want to patchwork the bag sides or add a stitchery. Also if your mug is taller than mine you may need to adjust the height of the bag wall.

Start with an old CD

Trace around it and add a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
This will be the base of your mug bag.

Measure around the circle with the added seam allowance.
Here it is 17 1/2 inches now add a 1/2 inch.
This gives you the measurement for the wall of the bag

Cut a Lining of 7 1/2 inches by 18 inches.
The 7 1/2 inches is the height of the bag.
I added a few inches to the height of the cup to work out this measurement.

Cut from your outside fabric a bag wall and base.
I used my linings as my pattern.

Here is all the fabric pieces ready.

Next I want to add a little padding to the bag to protect my mug.
I cut a piece of wadding 4 inches by 18inches
I don't have any iron on Pellon so I improvised with some iron on applique paper and a piece of scrap wadding.

Iron the iron-on-applique paper onto the wadding.
Peel off the paper.

Position it with the glue side down onto the back of your fabric.
I positioned it a 1/4 inch up from the bottom of my bag wall, so the wadding won't be in the way when I sew the base to the wall of the bag.

Carefully turn the wadding and fabric over and iron from the front.
This helps the iron melt the glue better.

Fold the bag walls in half and sew along the short end to create a tube.
Do this for both the fabric and lining.

Pin the circle base into position.
I use 4 pins. Dividing the circle and the tube into quarters and matching the pins

Sew the circle base into the tube with the tube on top. Gently ease the tube.
Practice with the lining first, don't worry about any puckers as this is the lining and won't be seen. If you find the wall a little big, alter the fabric wall a little, by sewing a new side seam, before you sew it into the fabric base.

Now you have two bags.

Put the CD in the base of the fabric bag.

Put the lining bag inside the fabric bag.
All the seams should be sandwiched between the two bags.
Turn down the top edge of both and pin them.

Topstitch the two bags together.

Avoid the baby climbing up your legs.

Using masking tape as a guide on your machine, sew another line of stitching 2 inches down from the top of the bag.
Start and finish at the seam of the wall.
Make sure to back stitch well at the beginning and end.

Sew another line of stitching 1 1/2 inches from the top.
Make sure you back stitch well at the beginning and end.

Open the seam between your two rows of stitching.
Only open the top fabric, this created a casing for the drawstring.

Thread a cord or ribbon through the casing.

Knot the ends of your cord.
Decorate with a couple of beads.
Load up your bag with your mug and off you go.

Simple but effective shawl

Simple But Effective Shawl a free pattern
Knitted in Naturally Woodland 12ply 77% Mohair, 5 Balls
Needles 8mm

So quick and easy.

I varied the pattern and cast off with a picot edge.