Teapot cozie and Kindle Cover

It really has been a hectic few weeks trying to get my patterns finished, so over the last few days I took some time to do some 'fun' sewing, (as opposed to work). My sister celebrated a big birthday last week and so I made some pressies for her.

Tracey is a huge Tea fan and had been given a gorgeous Teapot for christmas, so of course she needed a tea pot cozie. I looked and looked for patterns, but I just couldn't find anything at short notice that was both modern and funky and practical, so instead I modified my Teacup Carrier pattern to create this.

 Considering I was working from measurements and didn't have a teapot to test it out with I'm really happy with it.

 Tracey also got a Kindle recently and wanted me to make her a pouch to protect the screen when she puts it in her handbag.

I went searching for patterns and was largely influenced by this tutorial, but I used a timtex type interfacing and pellon instead of cardboard to make it stiff like a book. and I used hat elastic for the straps to hold it in. Mainly because I didn't have any 1/4" black elastic, but it actually works because it doesn't obscure the keys.

Back to pattern writing now.... Oh and there is sneak peak pictures from the pattern cover shoot for my next 2 patterns over on my facebook page, just click on the facebook link on the right sidebar.

Hugs Paula

More New patterns

Next week patterns 3 and 4 will finally be out! Yeah! It has been a long few weeks, but totally worth it. Heres a sneak peak at number 4. I can't wait to show you the finished project, just a few more days I promise :)

I am also hugely excited to welcome another new stockist of my patterns! My Patch Fabrics is run by the lovely Val who lives just up the road from me, Thanks so much Val! Drop by Vals Ebay shop for the latest fabrics from all the top names. She has also talked me into doing a workshop, very nervous about that :) dates soon!

And finally tonight I'm going to go and spend some time stitching up a pressie for my beautiful big sister who had a big birthday yesterday, some fun, low pressure sewing! A new kindle cover, pictures and maybe a free pattern if it works hehehe

Hugs Paula xxx

Another Tease :)

After some very long hours at the design table and sewing machine I am almost ready to release my next two patterns.

Heres a sneak peak at one of them.... Meet Twiga!

Hugs Paula xxx

PS. If you want to see more pictures, head over to my facebook page.

The Quilters Stash

I was very excited this morning to get a text message from Sue at the Quilters Stash with a picture of her new display! I stitched up a Sit me up Donut and Sammy Seahorses for Sue and she stuffed them and I'm sure shes waiting for some little ones to come by the shop for a little sit in her donut :)

We used fabrics that Sue has in stock now, so give her a call if you are interested in a kit! 02 6386 2133.

Thanks Sue!!!

Hugs Paula

My patterns are in shops!!! and Winners!

I am so unbelieveably excited that my patterns have been picked up by several shops and they are now available both online and in stores.

First up is Perri of Stitches from the Bush Perri has an online shop and has given an amazing discount on mine and other big name patterns, so check out her shop and blog!

Also Sue from The Quilters Stash in Murrumburra in NSW. If your in the area stop in to Sues shop because she has a Sit me up Donut and a large and small Sammy Seahorse sample in store, so you can have a touch and play with them too! Take your little one for a test ride in the donut, I'm sure Sue won't mind. hehehe

The quilters Stash: 330 Albury St Murrumburrah 2487 or call her 02 6386 2133.

And just a note as some have asked, the Squeaky toys and Rattle inserts that I used in the donut, can be bought online from tomni design which is mainly a scrapbooking shop, but she has a great range of Toy inserts. I used the Rattle inserts and the Round squeaker toy inserts listed here

And now it is time to announce a winner or 2!

The winner of my Sit me up Donut pattern is....... SandyN, Congrats Sandy!

and

The winner of my Sammy Seahorse pattern is ..... Robyn *U*

Thanks Ladies for entering and I will be in contact to get your addresses.

Time to spill the beans and a giveaway!

Since I first started sewing I have always wanted to make up my own patterns, my Mum says that even as a child I would not use a pattern, I would just start cutting and see what happened. So over the last few months I have been getting together some of my favourite projects to make into patterns with the hope of selling my patterns on a larger scale.


Therefore Paula Storm Designs was born:


I have started with 2 of my absolute favourite projects! First up I would like to introduce you to my Sit me up Donut with detatchable Patchwork rattles and Squeeky Toys. My baby girl, loves to sit up, she really doesn't like laying down, so I needed to come up with a way for her to sit up on her own. This donut is high enough so that she can fall backwards or forwards or sideways and she can still get back to a sitting position on her own. It is also heavy enough that it doesn't slide around on her. It makes for a very happy munchkin and therefore a happy mummy :)


She can also grab her rattles and squeeky toys and because they are on an elastic cord, they don't fall down or get lost and she can always grab hold of at least one of her toys. They are also detatchable, so you can put one on babys wrist and they can take them where ever they go.



Next up is my cute little seahorse. Sammy is about 40cm tall and just looooves cuddles! She is a great mummy and loves to share her babys with other babys who love to have a chomp. A boy version is also included with different shaped eyes.


Baby sammy is perfect for little ones as her face and tail is just the right size for bubs to grab hold of, and the tags make for fun chewing.


My patterns are now ready to go and if you are interested in ordering Wholesale, please just leave a message here or send me an email to paula.storm@gmail.com and I will send through the details.


If you would like to order the patterns retail, head over to my Etsy Site and you can buy them there.


Or as a celebration of my first ever paper pattern release, I'd like to give away a few of my patterns, so leave me a message if you would like to win one and let me know which pattern you'd prefer! I'll be drawing a winner on Monday the 7th of Feb at 9am. Aust Time.


A few quick thanks, Thanks to my mum for her invaluable and unwavering support! To my Nephew for taking some amazing pictures on a very hot day, and especially to my husband and family, for putting up with me over the last few months :)


Big Hugs Paula xxx

PS. If you'd like to see some more pictures head over to my Facebook page, new pattern releases will be there first too, so click on the like button on the right sidebar, for regular updates.

What could it be?

The last few weeks have been very busy and intense! I will spill the beans in the next few days, but in the mean time another little tease :) and no Scottish Nanna, no more babys for me hehehe.

My precious super model at the end of a very busy and hot summers day!

Any more guesses?

New Melly and Me patterns!

I was absolutely elated recently to be offered the opportunity to test sew Mellys new 'Sew Little' patterns! As regular readers know, I am obsessed with Melly designs! She is also an amazing and lovely person. So I jumped at the chance to make not 1 but 2 of her newest creations!Jack absolutely looooves his Mini Mover! As you can tell he was very excited about his 'shirt' as he calls it :)Emma was not as impressed, but eventually she came around to being my perfect little super model lol.

Isn't Melly so clever!

Hugs Paula

Just a tease :)

Something big is happening next week!! Can you guess?

Queensland Flood Appeal Auction

As i'm sure your aware by now many of us bloggers are holding Auctions to raise money for the people in our devistated state of Queensland.

The stories of loss and also courage have ripped our hearts out.

Toni and Carli at 'Make It Perfect' have done an amazing job of putting together this amazing auction, head over here to read more about the floods.

So to do my bit I have put together a baby gift set. To be included in the auction are a Dolphin softie, a Seahorse Baby Tag Toy and a Giraffe Baby Tag toy. This auction is for the actual toys, not the patterns.

You can take your choice of colours, (The green dolphins are made using Minky) I will even make a custom toy for you in your choice of colours if you like.
The Dolphins are made from 'Melly and Me's' Dee Dee Dolphin pattern. Dee Dee is a large toy, while the tag toys are approx 8 1/2" tall, perfect for little hands.

These tag toys are made from my own pattern that I hope to get out in the next few weeks.

How this auction works:

1. Bidding will start at $25
2. You can place your bid by leaving a comment on this post, making sure to include your email address and the amount you wish to bid. Please make sure it is higher than the previous bid.
3. Your Bid must be in whole dollar increments
4. This auction is open to everyone, however $20 will be charged for international bidders postage. Australian bidders will not be charged for postage.
5. The Auction will end at midnight on Monday 24th Jan 2011.
6. At the end of the auction I will contact the winner. The winner will pay their money directly to the Premiers Flood Appeal and send me proof of payment via email.
7. I will then post out your softie package to you.
8. Thanks for participating and Happy Bidding.

Lets raise as much money as possible!

Flood Appeal Auctions

Having lived in Queensland for about 1/3 of my life I am absolutely devestated by the news of the flooding and losses of such wonderful people.

But as a mother, I am an absolute mess! The news of a teenager giving up his life to save his brother has just wrecked me! I'm in my own puddle of tears!

As a pensioner I can't afford to give as much money as I would like to, so instead I am going to join in an Online Auction appeal, started by Toni of Make it Perfect fame.

In the next day or so I will be putting up a group of items that you can bid on with all proceeds being directly paid to the Premiers Relief Appeal.

If you can please join in and have an auction on your own blog. These people have lost everything and some people don't even have a pair of shoes! Can you imagine it! Head over to Tonis blog and grab the link.

Block Fail! :)

Have you ever saved a really special or favourite piece of fabric that you need just the right project for, then finally used it and had it backfire? lol

I had this gorgeous spotty fabric that I just loved!!! I only had 1 fat quarter left and so I didn't want to waste it. Then I thought I'd found the perfect project!

I was involved in a swap group last year and did a gorgeous block for one of the ladies. It was a kitten that I just fell in love with. She had such a gorgous personality. So when I started a new swap this month, I decided that I must redo this block for my baby girl.

What was the problem you ask? My delightful puddy cat has a severe case of the chicken pox! lol Big hugs Paula xxx

PS. I found the picture on a colouring in page here.

More humbugs following on from the tutorial

I'm completely hooked on Humbugs! I love them and can't stop making them. That was of course till I ran out of zippers.

But a quick trip today to my local sewing shop and I'm all stocked up again! yeah!

I've come up with a new variation to my little cutes, and they now have an elastic handle. Don't they look cute!
If you'd like to make these handles you'll need to cut your handle strip 2" x 16 - 18" depending on how much gather you want. You'll also need about 9 1/2" of 1/4" elastic.

Fold your fabric in half length wise with the right sides together and stitch your seam using a 1/4 in seam.
Stitch all the seam but stop 1/4" from the end. Put your needle in the down position and spin your fabric 90 degrees, so you'll be stitching across the short end. before finishing the seam, slip the elastic under your machine foot and stitchover the elastic a few times to secure it.

Turn your handle through to the right side, but make sure to keep hold of the unstitched end of your elastic. Pin your elastic to the open end of your handle. proceed as before and insert the handle in your prefered position.

The photo love fest continues :)

How on earth am I going to sell these? I love them too much!

Oh and see the yellow whirly gig fabric, thats from the Melly and Me range, Where the wind blows, Its so cute I had to buy the whole range!

Till next time

Hugs Paula

Humbug Bag - How to insert a Zipper tutorial

100 posts! Yeah!

This being my 100th post I wanted it to be something special, so a tutorial it is! take 2 ;)

Just to be clear, this little bag/purse is not my original idea! A friend told me how she had been making them for her market stall, so I thought I'd give them a go. There is tons of these type bags out there, this is just the way I have put them together.

I thought they were one of the cutest things on the planet, so I decided to make some for my market stall. The only thing I didn't like about them was the way the end of the zipper bit was a bit raw like in this pic. I overlocked it, but I just thought that if my kids were playing with it, they would have it wrecked in no time. So what to do?
I tried a few different things, like the normal way of leaving a turning hole in the lining fabric, but it just meant that I would have to hand sew it up later, and that defeated the purpose of a quick super simple pattern, so back to the drawing board.
We were out at dinner when my daughter showed me a little purse her grandmother had bought her and it had the zipper inserted in a curve shape, so you actually only use 1/2 the zipper!
Such a clever idea! So this is what I did.

By the way If your scared of trying to insert a zipper, this is the absolute perfect project to start on! There is no zipper pull to get in the way, so its perfect to build your confidence on, its just like sewing a seam.


Anyway, lets get started, here's what you need:

1 x 6" x 8 1/2" main fabric
1 x 6" x 8 1/2" calico or plain fabric for the lining
1 x 6" x 8 1/2" wadding or iron on pellon, its a small piece so iron on isn't 'essential'
1 x 9 1/2 x 2 1/2" main fabric, for the handle
1 x minimum 14" zipper DO NOT use a metal Zipper!
General sewing supplies
Zipper foot for your machine

Some zippers can be a bit tricky to get the zipper pull back on, but I found this brand extremely easy, Especially with the technique I'll explain later. It's funny because they were in a discount bin at my local fabric shop, 50c each! bargain!
Ok first up grab your scissors, not the good fabric scissors though! I have 2 pairs of scissors on my sewing table, a pink and a purple pair.

Pink is for Paper! Is my mantra. Makes it easier to remember.


I use pink for everything other than fabric!

Anyway using your s#*t Scissors, cut both ends off your zipper, pull the zipper pull off and discard one side of your zipper, you can buy extra zipper pulls to use this side later on, but you only need one side for this project.

OK now I have made these bags 2 ways, one with the handle inserted in this step and I've also added it at a later stage, it gives a different look. I prefer the look of putting it in later, but I am using some pics that I inserted it here. So read the rest of the tut and you decide which look you prefer.

Take your 9 1/2" x 2 1/2" piece and fold it in half lengthwise with right sides together. Stitch it together using a 1/4" seam , then turn it the right way out and give it a good iron.

Now take your wadding and lay it on the table and place your outside fabric on top with the right side up.
Now fold it in half like in the picture. You can insert the handle here if you like. Sew along this edge only!
Repeat this step with your lining fabric and then turn it so the seam allowance is sandwich in the middle.

Now take a deep breath cause its time for your zipper :)

Take your lining fabric and push it into your outside piece until your 2 seams are right sides together.

You need to pin your 1/2 zipper in between your 2 pieces like this.

You need the teeth part on the inside.

Guess who just found the super macro button on her camera ;)

The actual teeth need to face your outside fabric (in my case the unicorn fabric).

This picture is of the back of the zipper.

Put your zipper foot on your machine and line it up like this

See where the little intend is underneath the zipper foot, this is where you rest the 'teeth' of the zipper.

Take your time and stitch all the way around the zipper. Go slow over the seam, theres lots of layers there and we don't want any broken needles!

Depending on how long a zipper you used you want to trim a little bit off the ends now, but make sure you leave one end longer than the other, it makes it easier to get the pull back on, and don't cut too close to the edges, just like this.

Now you want to put the zipper pull back on, thread it onto the long piece first, then put the other side of the zipper into the pull and give the pull a bit of a jiggle from side to side as you shut it.

The ends of the zipper will be uneven, but thats ok, we will trim that later.Make sure the zipper is on the right way! (ask my why I'm reminding you about this)

Don't close your zipper all the way yet. Leave it open about 1/2 way.

Now give yourself a pat on the back, because you just put in a zipper! Not so hard was it? This is where I like to put in my handle. you want to open out your purse and flatten it so your zipper is in the middle of the open end. I put my handle in the very middle under the zipper.

(sorry about this pic, still working out the macro picture taking hehe) Stitch this seam using about a 3/8" seam so your sure to get all the layers. Remember theres even more layers, so take it easy and you'll be fine.

If you have a serger (overlocker) finish this seam. If you don't use a small zig zag stitch on your machine and trim the end.

Now turn your pouch through the right way (through the zipper hole) and your done!

This is the way I like my strap.

The picture of my daughter at the top is the other way. With the strap added at the start. Now go and grab your camera and send me a pic!

Aren't you clever!

I hope you enjoyed my incredibly wordy post, sorry bout that :)

Instead of a humbug bag though I want to call mine a 'pub pouch' I recon they'd be great to take to the pub with just a key card, license and change in. Maybe in a different fabric though hehe.

Hugs Paula xxx

*Edit* I have changed the way I do the handles, look here for an add on to the tutorial.

Winner!

As promised I have done the draw for the yummy fabric and Magazines and the winner is..........

Number 18 = Jeannie, the Dogs and Cranky cat
hahaha, congrats Jeannie! I'm sure you'll love the fabrics!

Merry Christmas, Hugs Paula

My first Favourite things free tutorial list!

I spend all this time searching for tutorials and find so many I like, so of course I bookmark them, but then I can never remember what the bookmarks are, so I decided that I would do up a list of some of my favourite tuts with pics. I will be doing this regularly from now on, so check back if, like me you are a tutorial fan!

My first favourite things list is of gorgeous decorations and christmassy things.

First up is this awesome take on an old paper folding technique: This one is done using felt,but I made up my own using fabric. If you want me to do up a tut, let me know and I'll tell you how I did it.

Next up is the wonderful Gail Pan, she has about 9 of these wreath type embroideries on her blog. My embroidery group did up a charity quilt using these stitcheries, but we did them in Hexagons.
This was my Hexi that I did after my last knee recon.

Gail also has this super cute stitchery pattern for free.

I've wanted to make a tree skirt for years but just never get to it, this one is cute and uses up scraps! I've got plenty of them, so this goes on my list :)

Here's one I thought the kids could help with. How cool would it look instead of tinsel, (I'm not a big fan of tinsel on my tree) or as a garland with chrissy cards hanging on it.

Next up is somepaper projects. These would look equally good in felt though, or by fusing fabric together.

How cute is this basket! I think it would look great with little choccys or nuts in it, or evenas an easter project. This project is at the bottom of the last tutorial, so just scan down to the bottom.

How effective do these look! Maybe a set of 3 of these will be my centre piece this year.

These are so cute! They are so Me! I love the idea of having a new colour scheme. So why not citrus! Very Australian I think. After all, Snowmen wouldn't last 5 minutes in my yard at christmas, and anyone in mittens would be classed as a fruit loop in my neighbourhood hehe.

And finally, my absolute favourite blog of all time! Sewmamasew has a list every year with heaps of free tutorials evey day in November! Grab a cuppa thoughbecause you could be there for a few hours! Then once you've gotten through this years list theres always the 3 previous years lists :) Like I said, you'll be there for hours! :)

Oh and I nearly forgot, here's one of my own. These are my favourite christmas treats! Apricot balls! You can also make up the mix and spread it out in a slice tray and drizzle them with chocolate. Yum! and less time consuming than rolling up all the balls.

Well thats it for now, but I'll be back over the coming weeks as I find more tuts and make up more of my favourite things lists.

Don't forget my christmas giveaway too, look at the last post for details.

Hugs Paula

Oh and leave me a note if there is anything that you want me to look for in particular for you? I loooove reading comments and like a puppy, I respond very well to praise ;)