Pot Pinchers

Due to the wild weather we have been having I have been staying home as much as possible.  The main reason is I love my little car and trees are being blown down and ripped apart all over town.  Our houseboat marina is a mess and the jetty has been torn apart.  My car has been hit by small flying debris on the journeys I haven't been able to avoid, like going to work or buying food, and the risk is too great.  My car is 20 years old so I can't just go out and replace it.

The benefits of staying home means I get to do some sewing.  I have been making a doll and is turning out cuter than expected.  I just have the clothes to make and then she will be ready to show. 

I have been making a bit of patchwork from a book I purchased called "Playful Patchwork" by Suzuko Koseki.  It has turned into a "completely done by hand" project so will be a slow on going project.  I may show photos as I go along or else you will never see it!  ha ha.

I have made some Pot Pinchers for me and I love them.  They were a necessity after taking a saucepan over to my daughters for a cooking lesson and her stove made the handle hot.

 

 As you can probably see, the pattern is from a magazine called "Making" (issue 20).  

The part I like the most about these pot pinchers is the fact that you only need your fabric scraps and the scraps of insulbright leftover from making oven mitts and casserole carriers.  

I like the charging station pictured also so will make one of those as soon as I find a suitable plastic container to cut up.  There is also an awesome messenger bag pattern in the magazine that has been put on my 'to do' list.  That list is getting pretty long!

NOTE:  I am getting rather slack/forgetful and forgot to add the link to the tutorial I used for my kitchen towel in the previous post.  It is here as well as added to previous post.

Also  I am going to update my blog with a makeover.  Change the layout etc.  If anyone has any ideas/suggestions on how to improve it or advice on what not to do, I would be extremely grateful.

Take care! 

xxoo

Thank you Internet!

The internet really paid its way today!  And about time too because its not cheap!!  How it saved a huge wad of money today is a DIY job it assisted in.  Here's the little story:

My daughter rang to say that the toilet in her rented home is leaking water.  Being a non plumber person but wanting to continue my daughters illusion that I can do anything.  I ummed and arred, asked some plumbing sounding questions and told her that first I needed to pop over to assess the problem.

Once I had seen what was going on I went home and hopped on the internet to find a fixing toilet tutorial.  Firstly I needed to find out what the different parts were called and so googled toilet parts and looked at pictures and found out that the part I was looking at fixing was called the Flush Cone which is connected to the Flush Pipe.

After that it was easy to find a tutorial on replacing a deteriorated flush cone with a new one.  They only cost a few dollars too!!  A plumber would have charged a few hundred dollars so my internet is paying for itself! Hooray!

My sewing has been taken up with sewing simple things for friends, ball gowns for my sister and making a dress for my mother in law.  The ball gown is a massive headache.  I made it according to the size she said she was and at the "fitting" I found out she has put on just a tad more weight than her dress would have liked.  So it doesn't fit and never will.

A friend who likes the kitchen hand towels I made for myself mentioned she would really love one that ties to the stove as her husband and kids always run off with her towels.  I can't resist a good sob story so I made her one.  Now her older daughter wants one and is currently thinking up her own sob story for me!

I used a tutorial from Pin Sew Press to make this towel. It was very easy to follow and the towel was whipped up in no time.

This photo is the best I could do due to the weather.  For the past three or four months it has been dark and grey EVERYDAY except when I am stuck in an office at work.  Then it is beautiful outside!!!

The sun is on its way so my photo's should improve!

Bye for now!


(PSST:  hello Wendy)