Category Archives: Craft

Lucky Day

I was at my quilting group last week when I purchased some raffle tickets, and imagine my surprise when someone rang me the next day to let me know that I had won second prize!  This is my lap quilt and a bottle of wine as well!

Lap quilt (3)

Lap quilt

Pretty cat fabric

Which reminds me of my lucky streak before we left for our vacation – our quilting group has a monthly competition.  You purchase a pattern for 50 cents and the corresponding fabric which has all been pre-cut.  Sew it up, bring it back and you are in the draw to win approximately 25 blocks. The other blocks are used to make a quilt for a charity. I won these blocks two weeks running!

So now I have to make the quilts.  I will donate one to a  charity for sure – the other one I will make for my mother-in-law.  Time to get myself organised.  Hopefully will have some finished quilts to show in the next month or so.

C’est la Vie

DSCN1655
This is all I have to show after spending a great day at the annual Craft & Quilt Fair last week.  Yes, I did remember to take my camera and yes, I took lots of photos of some beautiful quilts which featured in two quilt challenges – True Blue and Lest We Forget in honour of the Gallipoli landing, as well as demonstrations and workshops.   Unfortunately, after downloading them onto my (new) laptop, it decided that it would not turn on the next morning and I had to take it back to the shop – for the third time!  Too bad I so efficiently deleted the photos from my camera after downloading.

So the good news is that I was given a store credit to replace my laptop (a different brand this time!) but the bad news is that I lost all my data.

As if that wasn’t enough, I just purchased a new washing machine in the last few days and used it for the first time yesterday. The first load went through perfectly;  unfortunately it broke down on the second load, which then got rewashed about 4 times while I tried to get the water to drain out, which it refused to do.  Result – a very clean laundry floor and a new washing machine being delivered tomorrow.

They say these things happen in three’s …… can’t wait to see what happens next!

Fun with Bias Binding

I’ve been umm-ing and arr-ing about purchasing a Simplicity Bias Tape Maker for ages, and after seeing it on special recently, decided to go ahead – and I am so pleased I did.

Apart from the fact that I find it very difficult to resist a gadget, this little machine works very well and I was delighted with perfect bias binding in a matter of minutes when I tested it out.

So of course, the next question was – what to make! I couldn’t wait to get started and luckily happened across a blog called “Made by Loulabelle”. Verity has many excellent tutorials but the one which caught my eye was the Knitting Needle Roll which had some bias binding on it – perfect! I highly recommend you visit this site – the tutorial was very easy to follow and I was so pleased with the result that I made a second one for my friend so that she could store her knitting needles as well. (So much nicer than the annoying plastic container that I had been using.)

Knitting Needle Rolls

Knitting Needle Rolls

As for the binding machine, I have seen mixed reviews but I am more than happy with my purchase. The 1″ tip is standard and is what I used for my project. It produced the narrowest binding in the photo below which has been pressed in half. Very easy to insert the strip into the tip if you cut the fabric on an angle.

Various other tips are available separately, and I tried out the 1-1/4″ tip. Unlike the narrow tip (and because I didn’t read the small print on the packet) I didn’t realise until I tested it, that this wide tip only folds the fabric in half; so you have to insert the strip into the side of the tip, which is a bit fiddly but so worth it when you think how much binding you need for a quilt, and this machine does it very quickly with a press of the button. So much easier than trying to create bias tape perfectly with the iron – gotta be worth the price just to have no more burnt fingers!

Simplicity Bias Tape Maker

Simplicity Bias Tape Maker

This post is dedicated to my friend, Maria, who was the inspiration for the Knitting Needle Roll. Thank you for providing me needles and yarn so that I could knit a scarf on the trip back home from Sydney.