Saturday, May 31, 2008

She sews!!

I have a list of projects a mile long.

Next week, i am going to get out all the fabrics and paraphenalia (?) associated with making them and photograph it, then post it here with the order it all needs to be completed.
Weeeell..... that is the organisational Tracey's theory anyway.
But things pop up that push chook quilts, baby quiltsx2, niece's 3rd birthday quilts and everything that goes on from there, down the line.
I remember once, in a galaxy far far away (that is known as "Pre-childrenville") when I questioned a parent on why he was putting raffle tickets in his teenage children's names...."why don't you just write them all out for you?" I naively asked. He looked at me with that 'you are SO young and stupid' look and said, "one day, when you have children, you will find out!"
And wasn't he correct. Aside from the fact that when you have children you effectively just dangle your heart outside your body to be damaged for life evermore, you also want to do things for them......
-and so , back to the list of projects.
It is long and should be set in stone. Heck, some of these babies will graduate before the quilts come, my DN may get a custom made quilt for a bed she no longer fits in, but when the daughter makes requests all these considerations go out the window.
You see, she is well enough to go on her 3 day School camp on Monday and she can only sleep with the required number of quilts on. I think I may have conned her into foregoing one or two for a sleeping bag but she still needed a quilt bag for camp...like you do!
So here is the interloper to the list, made in my precious sewing moments yesterday.
It is made from the plastic coated Moda I love, and fully lined. It even has one of my new labels on it...and a zip! My girl thought it was very clever-the lamb thought it was something to eat.
Seeing I was working with the plastic coated I also diverted a little to something for me. I have been needing a new purse and tried out a prototype
here is the front...

The back

and the lining and card holder section.
All bag zips are from opshops.
It needs to be about an inch deeper. It was, but I had some trouble figuring out the lining and a little bit of depth asked to be sacrificed. As you can see, it is a bit over 2 credit cards long. when I get another break in the project list I will have another go.
As regards my last post.
I fully support local fabric shops in general, and I encourage you to do the same. If, however, you are like me and the choices locally are very resticted, you may like to look at the Australian stores online or, if feeling brave, try the US stores. It is a free country and this is up to you.
The trick is looking into their shipping rates before you fall in love with hundreds of dollars of fabric that seem cheap. I was caught out once with $100 shipping charge on an order totalling not much more than that because I dealt with a company that bills you for the shipping after they get the online order. I had dealt with other companies and thought mine would be in the $33 range. A hard lesson to learn. I have also had the fun of filling an online shopping cart only to find they don't deliver to Aus!

Some favourite U.S fabric suppliers that I have tried and like are:
Fat quarter shop.- Fixed rates of postage per $ values spent, good sales.
The Thrifty needle.- Fixed rate again, discounts off the Australian post and throw in extra fabric/surprises depending on spending. good backings.
Z & S. -Generally a cheaper standard yardage rate. Postage on par with first two.
Shabby fabrics.- Standard $11 postage to Australia no matter what. Not often on sale, but the reduced postage makes up for it. Have a 10% off coupon for your entire order in an ad in most recent quilt mags.
I haven't linked, you can find them in google as easy as I can!
Have a great day, and add in any of your favourites as well....especialy if you know they deliver to Australia AND reasonably!

12 comments:

Carol E. said...

It's beautiful! And with the sweet lambie, even better.

Kim West said...

try thousandsofbolts.com ; they have very good prices of fabric US$3.95/yard for most cotton and US$5.95 for most batik. I know they ship internationally (not sure about prices though). The one caveat is that they are older lines. At that price, the fabrics are awesome for backings!!

Needled Mom said...

Great bags.

$100 for shipping is unbelievable. WOW!

Christine said...

Love that picture of your gorgeous bag with the lamb. So cute. Purse looks good, too. Good luck with your project list.

Chookyblue...... said...

love the bag and the purse.......cute lamb........good luck with your sewing plans for next week........and pulling out all projects.......hmmmmmm.........does any of that involve using that new thing in your sewing room that is buried under fabric.........?????........lol......

Jodie said...

Great bag...and with zips. I am impressed. Your purse looks great too. I have things that pop straight to the top of the list as well - usually the things that are going to be fun!

Lissa Jane said...

Tracey
I shop locally too, but they dont have 30's or civil wars, or if they do, I already have every single one of them!

I like www.quiltbook.com she has $7.50 US fabs and will cut skinny quarters.. also www.homesteadhearth.com they have great scrap bags I bought one and was surprised most of the 'scraps' were 6"-15" WOF.. how cool is that??


Lissa
PS love the bag...

~Bren~ said...

Love the bag!! our little lambs are so sweet. I am so glad you found some time to sew.
Where is the information on buying your note cards???

Annie said...

Tracy, I love the little purse. I will add that to my list with that lovely fabric piece that you sent me. I just LOVE it. Thanks for all the tips for online. Reports all finished and handing in today. Phewwwwwwww ... now, back to sewing!

Chocolate Cat said...

Love the quilt bag and purse, I'm going away this weekend - do I get a new bag too????
Thanks for the online buying tips, I have only bought from 'The Cotton Patch' and 'Equilter'?. I spend enough money locally not to feel guilty buying this way!!

Lily Mulholland said...

I love the photo with the lamb's head poking up!

Stop tempting me with fabric buying! LOL

Ruth's Place said...

It's lovely.
You are perfectly entitled to shop online. I'm not sure some of your readers realise how far away from crafting 'civilisation' you actually are :)