Another one bites the dust.....

Bag.... DONE!!

A very productive Christmas Day all round, I think.

Finished up all the appliqué, handles and lining, only need to close the turning hole and I'm done. Another potential Show prize winner - I hope....

Since all the items I added (and I'm very proud of my seagull!) had very small pieces, I used the straight edge stitch technique. The was no possible way that I could have gone around many of those pieces with the blanket stitch. I also did this for the sunglasses. I probably should have done the whole project with this technique, but I was following the instructions at the start, then just, sort of, made it up from then on!!

As I had run out of the water fabric, I used some sky fabric I bought for the Apple Tree wall hanging, however this meant the starfish didn't look right floating in the sky, so I deleted them all, bar one, that I hid in the bottom left corner. I also added a silhouette of a seagull onto the snorkeller, however looking at it now, it looks a bit like a vulture circling its prey. Maybe if I had made it white instead of grey?? Too bad, it's done now!!

Boxing Day tomorrow..... No family until 2.30. Wonder what I can get started before then? Maybe I need to sleep on it.....

Playing around.....

Added a couple of embellishments to the Bikini Babes. This was soooo much fun!!

I scoured the Internet for free images, and drew freehand copies of a hat, seagull and thongs! Plus some imaginary fish and bubbles for my snorkeller.

Still need to attach them permanently, but so far I'm happy with the results....

It's such a hot Christmas Day, I'm glad we were able to stay cool! No plans for visiting family today, but tomorrow is a whole different story! I hope my local butcher is open, because I plan to make our signature pulled pork in the slow cooker. All I'm missing is the pork!

Progress!!

Appliqués are done. Now, for some extra stuff!!

I need to cut out some starfish, some bubbles and maybe some fish.....??

Let the fun begin!!

Bikini babes.....

12 months ago, when Bernie was playing up, I made a couple of Bikini Babes from a Patchwork and Sewing magazine. I preparation for Bernie's return, 3 bikini babes and one snorkeller were completed.

They are supposed to be on a beach bag, and I think that I will follow this idea, although slightly modify the proportions - not because I think it will look better, but based on the size of the fat quarters I bought for the sea and sand!

As you can see from the magazine pic, there should be the same print top and bottom, plus the side that is not shown of the snorkeller underwater. I don't have enough "water" to do both, but I do have some sky that can be used for the top and handles, which I think will suffice.

I have already cut the back with the snorkeller and ironed him on, and prepped the girls on the sand panel, so lets get machine blanket stitching! I think I'm an expert, after the last one!! LOL!

The pattern is from smeedesigns.com, and they have a bunch of cool designs I would love to try. Maybe I will even email my finished bag to put into the gallery? Depending how it turns out, of course.....

More beach babes...

I loved making the first 2 Beach Babes, so I made a couple more!!

Made a slight mod to the bikini top and took a few liberties with hair colours, but the look cool, hey??

Now, what to do with them...... Hmmmmm.....

Something a little different....

I've had this magazine for AGES and always wanted to try the Beach Babes pattern by Natashia Curtin but never got around to it.... Till now.....

Once I decided on the fabrics, it was so easy to trace off the pieces to fusible web, iron on, cut out and iron in place.

Obviously I haven't done the blanket stitching, since I don't even know what I am going to put them on, but you get the general idea.

I love my nonstick teflon sheet I got at the last quilt fair! Just let it cool, and they just peel off!! And you can see through it, which makes it easy to line up the pieces before ironing.

Think I might make some more, just to have handy...

FYI, the magazine doesn't ACTUALLY picture the snorkeller, however I did find the finished pic at smeedesigns.com, where you can buy this pattern, if you want to try it yourself....

(I wonder if I could make her a "topless" bather, for a naughty twist???)