Sewing Christmas Presents

Wishing all my readers a very happy Christmas and all the best for the new year. 
Since I have a fair few boxes of bits and pieces of upholstery leftover material, I keep making bags, not just for myself but also to sell. I also started making aprons for both adults and kids plus Santa Stockings and little harts as Christmas decorations. Before Christmas I have a few sales either with the potters group or at Jazzercise. Sometimes people are coming to my home as well. Combined with my pottery this gives me some pocket money and at least contributes to the ever rising cost of my hobbies, especially pottery! Unfortunately I missed out on a few sales with our group because I am laid up with my left foot operated on. Bunion and one hammertoe gave me some grief and summer is the best time to have it fixed.   

 All laid out and ready to go for the next sale!

Tales from my garden

Since we came back from our holidays I started planting a lot more in my garden. We are going organic and I am sure everybody knows that this is more expensiv than buying mainstream. So it makes sense trying to grow more myself. After four years living here the possums have finally discovered the tasty morsels in my garden. My husband built a cage to protect salads and other delicate seedlings from the little critters. Another issue around here is that there is a lot of sandstone and very little good topsoil. I have to constantly top up with either compost or a couple of bags of garden soil to get things growing and something decent to harvest. I also found that watering in the seedlings with Sea-sol ( made from seaweed, very stinky!) solution works wonders

 A variety of lettuces










Leeks

 Radishes, capsicum and at the back lemongrass

 Beans 

 Mini strawberries, bearing fruit all year long

 Blueberries, never tasted anything as nice! Will have to buy a few more plants though

 Broccoli in between the flowers and succulents 

 A waterfall of nasturtiums, flowers seeds and leaves, all edible

Snazzy car seat covers

A couple of weeks ago I bought a new (second hand) car, a Nissan Tiida. My old one had a lot of mileage and also a fair few dingles. Bar a very small mark not my doing , mind you! I never had a car that looked so "well used" and when my husband proposed a change I was all for it. One of the first things I usually do is put in seat covers to protect the material from the sun. I was looking for something a bit nicer than the ordinary covers but could not find anything at all. So I bought just another ordinary set and beautified them with a piece of material from my stash. Another advantage of the cotton material on the seat is that I/we do not get electrical shots anymore when getting out of the car and touching the door.
Et voila, looks much better doesn't it? 

Ich habe heute per Zufall was ich geschrieben habe im Autouebersetzer auf Deutsch uebersetzt und musste laut lachen wie "kauderwelsch" das alles toent! Damit sich meine Fans im deutschen Sprachbereich nicht vernachlaessigt fuehlen nun eine bessere Uebersetzung des Ganzen:
Vor ein paar Wochen habe ich ein neues Auto gekauft da mein altes einige Beulen hatte, wohlverstanden, ausser einer kleinen waren sie nicht von mir verursacht! Normalerweise kaufe ich immer Sitzueberzuge um die Polster vor der Sonne zu schuetzen. Ausser den langweiligen schwarz oder/und grau fand ich nichts. Ich kaufte trotzdem etwas gewoehnliches und machte mich dahinter das ganze etwas aufzumoebeln. Ein Stueck Stoff aus meinen Vorrat passte genau. Da das Mittelteil nun aus Baumwolle ist  werden wir auch nicht mehr elektrisiert beim aussteigen. Sieht doch viel besser aus, nicht wahr?!?!

Temptation....

A little while ago Spotlight had 50 % of all patterns and I happened to be there and take advantage.  The Palmer Pletsch pattern for trousers was also part of the haul and I already used it. No idea what I will make next! Since I am not working any longer I do not need as many dressy clothes as you working girls! 

This funky piece of material followed me home and will become another pair of gym thighs. I know, I know its very loud, but so what......
I cannot imagine to wear some daggy old things to work out. Makes me feel good to have something nice to wear to keep fit! How about you???

More pottery

Towards christmas I usually make some more potter to sell either at the market, Cronulla mall or at Jazzercise. The pieces I made a little while ago have now been fired. I quite like the result but want to try a variety of the same decorating technique. One of the pieces broke on the way to Cronulla. My kiln is playing up and I have been using our groups kiln.

I bought some more tissue paper and quite like to use it together with loose shapes of the dishes.

The little angels are actually bells to ring in the fast approaching christmas

OOH LA LA!

After my muslin for the pants I tackled the real thing, namely a piece of material bought from Pitt Trading. I walked in there saw it and could not resist! The material is fairly stretchy but still firm, perfect for a pair of pants.  I think it is cotton.

Since the piece I bought was rather on the small side I omitted the pockets all together.
Again, I finished the pair and even though I took in the sides by another 1,5cm they where still a bit to big and I had again to undo the belt and make it smaller. From the very small off cut I also made belt loops. It seems there is no way around of me wearing some sort of a belt to prevent the hitching up!
I also tapered the legs a lot and made little vents. Overall, pretty happy but still not perfect.

 I will have to make an effort to attend some of the meetings of the Sewers Guild in Kirrawee. Perhaps someone will be able to help me to get the perfect fit. I know that a few of you are going to meetings at Rhodes for the Australian Sewing Guild. Unfortunately this is a bit far for me. However I may try Kirrawee and see how it goes.   

Tackling my demons!

There has been a very long silent period on my blog, my apologies! A lot of other things happening in my life and basically no mojo to write about it.
I have once more tackled making pants. I bought a Palmer Pletsch pattern since my measurements are all over the place and adjusted the paper pattern according to the instructions. I made a wearable muslin out of some teal cotton out of my stash. The pants turned out oke-isch but when I wore them a couple of weeks ago I had to hitch them up all the time, what a nuisance! Even though I measured carefully and tried them on in the process of making them. Seam ripper to the fore! I took off the waistband and tightened it and also added belt loops. Wore them today and they are quite comfortable!