Tuesday Treasure

Hello Everyone, Tuesday again! Gosh, weeks seem like days - whizz there goes another one. It's nearly February already!
I have some lovely treasures to show you today.
First are some treasures which belonged to my mother. I have been slowly wading, (as if through silky warm chocolate, heavy going at times but lovely fun when you stop to sample it) through her 'bibs and bobs' and have come up with a few things that I thought may interest you.

Clockwise from top left: A 'Boomerang' brand, teeny tiny mouth organ. A printer's magnifier. A liquid fuel lighter (prob WW1). A cylindrical whistle (my Dad - Herbert William - 1919- 2000 was a teacher and would have used this for his sport's classes. He may have also used it in WW11 as he was a corporal in New Guinea). Gold plated cufflinks which belonged to my Grandfather Herbert Joshua -1882- 1949. A penknife from WW1- this item has hallmarks on it - both the blades have been used and sharpened so many times that they have been almost ground away totally. AND underneath them is a printed sheet entitled 'Receipts for Aerated Drinks' There is no date on this but the copperplate script and contents appear to be very old. Probably pre WW1.

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Secondly is a dear little elephant pendant which I hardly recall every seeing. It is, no doubt, made of ivory but as this was purchased over 50 years ago I'm willing to overlook it's involvement in the travesty which was (or is) the ivory trade.

A tiny, perfect ivory elephant. He stands just 3/4" tall.

I love this little fellow. He is so small and beautiful. My mother never wore it and never spoke of it so I don't know where it came from or who it belonged to. Shame.

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Lasty is just a photograph that I love:

The Dog - The Kid and The Hippo!- Priceless.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my little treasures. I will be showing you lots more over the next few weeks. Please head over to Melody's blog to see more lovely Tuesday Treasures.

Electronic Reader-Cover Class

Here is the first project for our class:

Yes there is another one with a slightly different finish; scroll down to see.

Electronic reader, Phone or iPad cover.

Steps 1-4a

1. Firstly you need to measure the size of your electronic device whether it be a phone, reader or tablet.
2. You will need to cut out two fronts which are the size of the device plus 1" in length and 1" in width.
One piece is for the front the other is lining. You may use the same or a contrasting fabric.
3. Cut two backs 2 1/2" longer than the fronts to allow for the turnover.
4. Cut two pieces of pellon. One the same size as the back and one the same size as the front then cut them down by 1/2" in length and 1/2" in width to allow for a 1/4" seam allowance.
4a. Iron the pellon onto the back of one of the fronts and one of the backs.

Steps 5 & 6 (The ruler is only here to hold the fabric down - do not cut here!)

5. Take the two fronts and sew them together along the top with right sides together. This is the top so make sure that if you have a one way design that it is the right way up.
6.Turn it out, press with an iron and topstitch 1/4" from the top.

Steps 7-10

Now you have to sandwich the layers together.
7. Place the back lining on the table right side up.
8. Place the fronts, which are sewn together, on top with the right side up and matching up the bottom edges of all three pieces of fabric.
9. Place the back on top, wrong side up. If this piece has an right way up eg. writing that you want to appear correct when it is folded over the front, then you will need to place it upside-down but still with the right side of the fabric facing down. (I hope this is clear?)
10. Make sure the bottoms of all these layers are aligned.

Step 11

11. I decided at the last minute to round off the edges. If you wish to do this then you can use a cup, as I did or anything else which has an even roundness. Cut the shape and then pin all the bits together.
12. Sew with a 1/4" seam leaving a gap along the bottom of about 3".

Step 14.

13. Clip the rounded edges, if you have any, and the corners carefully
14. Turn it out the right way and gently press all the seams flat. (Oops I turned it out the wrong way but tried again and it was fine - Phew thought I had made a booboo)
15. Fold in and iron the turning seam at the bottom. Topstitch along the bottom from one side to the other using a securing stitch at both ends.
16. You may also topstitch around the flap if you wish.
17. Finish off with a button, as I did or with press-studs or velcro.

VOILA! and Good Job!

Here is the second project

This cover has a folded flap which is just a little more fiddly to do.

Steps 1&2 are the same as for the first project.
Step 3. Cut the backs 1 1/2" longer than the fronts.
Steps 4-6 are the same as for the first project.

Step 9

Step 7.  Place backs right sides together and sew across the top remembering that if one side has an 'up' (which you want to be seen on the fold over) then it has to be sewn upside down to the lining piece.
Step 8. Turn and iron the seam then topstitch 1/4" from top.
Step 9. Place the front section (which is already sewn together) in between the back and the back lining aligning the bottom of all the pieces. If there is an upside down piece for the fold over this should be on the top as shown in the picture above (it is the piece folded back to show you the fronts. Can you see it is upside down?)

Step 10

Now this is the slightly fiddly bit.
Step 10. As shown in the picture above concertina the top of the back down over the front.
Can you see how the back is folded firmly down on top of the front section?

Step 10.

Step 11. Iron these folds so that they are all level with the top of the front then pin them in place.

Step 11

Step 12. Pin the sides and the bottom leaving a gap of about 3" for turning out.

Step 13

Step 13. Stitch down the sides and the bottom corners leaving a 3" gap for turning out. Do NOT sew across the top.

Step 14

Step 14. Clip your corners and turn it out the right way. It took me two turns to get it  but you will be able to see when it is right. You will have a fold-over attached to the back which can easily flip over to the front to stop the device from falling out.
Step 15. Turn the little open section across the bottom in and iron it neatly then sew across with a narrow topstitch making sure that you catch all the layers.

DaDah! Your finished cover.

I hope my instructions have been easy to follow.

Please link me if you make one I would love to see your version.

Happy Sewing everyone!!

A Little Sewing Project.

This Christmas it was Kindle readers all around in our family. Husband, Son in law, Sister in law and Daughter all got one! I don't read enough to make one worthwhile for me. I do listen to audiobooks though and find it a very convenient way of 'reading'. Anyway, that is degressing from the point of my post. My DD decided that she wanted a cover for hers so she chose some lovely butterfly fabric and got all the little beads out of mothballs and began her project. She got quite a way and then discovered that she had sewn the wrong butterfly! She was devastated and defeated. She threw it on the table and said 'blow it'! (no she didn't!) In fairness she was struggling with sleep deprivation (her 17 mo son is still waking through the night for a suckle) a headache and stomach cramps SO I offered to finish it for her. It was actually quite fun to do. I haven't done any beading for ages (which is probably quite apparent from the finished product).
Anyway I thought you may like to see it.

Here is the padded 'envelope' Kindle Cover. 

If anyone is interested I will post a pictorial 'how to' hopefully in the next couple of days. This will be for the making of the little envelope, not the beading.
I made one for DH too but didn't bother to photograph it. It is very 'blokey' and boring, just as he ordered it to be! ;o) They are simply for storage to stop the screens from getting scratched.

The Kindle in the pic is too big for this cover, just in case you were wondering. But it shows you what I'm talking about. The Kindle simply slips into the 'envelope' cover and the flap buttons shut.

So there we are; a tiny project but so nice to get something pretty done so quickly. The cover measures about 5" x 7". I was surprised at how quick the beading is to do and as I said good fun too!

Dogs, Spiders, Butterflies and an Apron!

Today is Harry's 1st Birthday. Can you believe it. He is one already. 

He has a plateful of turkey and for dinner is having a meat and cheese pie. Lucky boy.

Harry Scally Waggus Barton

Below: DH Trying to coax Harry up onto the trampoline for some birthday pics.

Not jumping up on that Trampoline and that's that!

 The Spiders:

We have 'seasonal' spiders, would you believe. Last year in early spring they arrived - and there was an unbelievable display of the entire grass area (paddock) covered in webs. These webs would show themselves in the morning when covered with dew and elegantly string out their long, long wisps as the howling October, Korumburra winds blew relentlessly across the valley. Their owners would hide, for the most part, in the matt of grass below but some of them, way too many of them, would hang around the house and 'fall in' through the doors whenever they were opened. Fortunately they were not big spiders but I would find them everywhere around the floor on kids toys etc. which was a bit yucky. They didn't climb though so I wasn't too bothered.

This year the spiders came but this time about a zillion of them set up house on my barn. This appeared to happen overnight. I'm not sure that it did as I'm not the most observant person in the world BUT it sure did happen fast. One day the barn was normal the next it was spotty. What a mess. Anyway it's a job for the Spider broom and the Gurney for the ones that are too high.

Every vertical face of the barn covered in webs

Every bolt, rivet, window, door etc. encrusted with webs

The Butterflies:

Another seasonal phenomenon we have which is a lot nicer than the spiders is the brown butterflies.

Common Brown Butterfly - far from a common sight in their hundreds around the garden.

We have hundreds of them every January. They frolic, flutter and float all over the garden and the grass.

One of my old pics. Couldn't take any pics today as it's too windy.

The Apron:

During November I bought myself a very cute apron panel from Spotlight, but didn't get around to making it up before Christmas. Then for Christmas my SIL gave me the same panel as part of my pressie. This made me very happy because I knew that I would have trouble keeping my panel from my DD - - - - so now we can both have one. 

I decided to make the lining a reverse apron and used some fabric my MIL had given me, to keep the owl theme. This way it can be used all through the year, not just at Chrissy.

The Owly Christmas apron - (please forgive the 'Granny' hair, I'm trying to grow it)

The other side with more owls - I love owls and aprons

Well there it is. A very long post. Hope you haven't been bored. Took a while to get to the sewing bit. Have a great Wednesday everyone.

Happy New Year in my January garden!

I was up early, on account of having a rotten bug for several days and clearly getting way too much sleep! So now I'm back to normal and only feeling really tired when it's extremely inconvenient, like just before dinner time. Oh boo-hoo, get over it - you would quite rightly be saying just now.
Anyway I was up and thought I had better get the blog updated for the new year and I had a thought about taking a pic of the particularly unusual purple hydrangea outside the window. So .... I grabbed the camera and stepped outside just as I was - light cotton nightie and new summer slippers.
I thought to myself - Oooooo, self, ooooo just lookie over there at that shattering orange rose sker.. reaming to be photographed too. Now, self, the grass shouldn't be too wet, it was a warm night... So out I step and discovered that the grass was a little wet, um well perhaps wetter than I should be walking on with my new slippers, um too far now, oops better remove slippers.
So there I go on the very wet grass barefoot, camera in hand, tip-toeing around the bees on the clover in the grass in my skimpy cotton nightie feeling very grateful that the building is now finished next door and that the new owners are away. Rose after rose called to me - "Look at me!" How could I resist?
So here are the pics of the particularly unusually coloured hydrangea (hereafter know as the Puch) the vociferous roses, some pansies and dear penstamon not hitherto mentioned but none the less one of my faves.

Here is Puch - Labelled Strawberries and Cream! Ha!

This is labelled Strawberries and Cream also! Very odd.

My recycled wheel barrow full of pansies etc.

The shattering, unlabelled, sideways (succumbing to the Easterlies) orange rose.

Rosa Mutabalis - So many colours on the one bush - gorgeous.

Beautiful Tiffany my 1954 release rose.

Playboy - Wow this looks like a painting

Peace - delicate perfection

Oklahoma - colour and perfume sensation

Pom-poms of frilly bicoloured gorgeousness

Delicate penstamon - (will grow quite large)

Another penstamon - very hardy, pretty and useful plant

I hope you have enjoyed your early morning stroll around my garden. Come by anytime!

Next post I will fill you in about my spiders and butterflies!