half square triangle stencils

Tools,

 Half Square Triangle Stencil.

I love to shop in fact my mother in law and my kid say I can open my own fabric store. I like to think I am part dragon therefore I must have a horde.

In to my horde came my birthday gift to my self some very so very nice fabric from Sunday best.  Also in my hands came the half square triangle stencils. In a challenge to this must have item I sat on my floor holding to my chest and growling when my kid came to close. I have found the perfect pattern.  It is a bag, to feed my bag fetish, because every woman needs a new bag for her birthday.

Why this challenge you say well those wickedly crafty girls at Sunday best dropped this idea in my ear and there is nothing like a challenge to make a Gemini go mad.

http://www.sundaybestquiltworks.com/patterns.htm

I was told I can up size without measuring any half square pattern by just changing the size of my stencil and if I sew carefully and follow the directions they will come out perfectly every time. I will look like a genius.

So with this thought in mind I will sew 4 exact bags in small, medium, large and dragon size. I will use the same pattern only upsizing my stencil.

Perfect half square triangles; my mother in law hates triangles…..we are working this challenge together! I hope to drop a note on how the challenge went and our review..  ooh yeah pictures!

DEE

What my birthday consist of

The brother innovis 1500D


And a Tablet from my niece.

Now lets see what i can get into!

Untitled, a photo by ravenztarot on Flickr.

Untitled, a photo by ravenztarot on Flickr.

Mango Citrus Body Butter

Mango Citrus Body Butter p. 78


This recipe is listed as mango and LIME body butter, but I added a citrus essential oil blend which had an even balance of lemon, lime, sweet orange, and tangerine.

Ingredients:

■10g beeswax or jojoba wax

■25g cocoa butter

■30g shea butter

■25 g mango butter

■1 tsp almond oil

■1 tsp vitamin E

■20 drops citrus essential oil (recipe suggested 10 lime, 5 sweet orange, 5 lemon)

Equipment



■Double boiler

■Metal spoon

■Airtight 100ml jar

■Digital kitchen scale (this wasn’t listed in the recipe but it is essential for weighing your ingredients)



Instructions:



1. Melt the beeswax, cocoa butter & mango butter in the double boiler. Leave mixture over a gentle heat for 20 minutes to prevent the butter from going grainy when it cools.



2. Add the almond oil and vitamin E and heat for a few more minutes until completely liquid.



3. Remove from heat and add essential oils, stirring thoroughly



4. Pour into jars and leave to set.



Five stars! This recipe is great. It’s easy, smells delightful, and makes your skin feel amazing. Some people may be adverse to the oilyness that takes a bit of good massaging to rub in, but I don’t mind in the least. My skin feels delightfully soft if I apply right out of the shower and it is even healing my dry heels after a week of use when no other moisturizer has.

Summer Sewing Challenge: Win a Sewing Machine from SINGER!

Summer Sewing Challenge: Win a Sewing Machine from SINGER!

Travel quilt

Top Tip from the Sew Daily Archives: My Favorite Trick for Cutting Bias Strips




I was looking through the Sew Daily archives recently and saw that this post from early January 2012 was one of the most viewed to date. It's such a time-saving tip for bias strips that I had to share it again:

brilliant method for cutting bias strips lickety-split:

1. Cut a square of the fabric you want to use to make bias strips. I use the entire width of the fabric.



2. Fold the fabric in half, matching two opposite corners, like a napkin.

Steps 1 and 2

3. Bring each lower corner to the center, so that they are overlapping, and your fabric now resembles an envelope.

Step 3

4. Fold the fabric in half again, bringing the right side to the left. Your fabric now looks like half of a house.
Steps 4 and 5

5. Cut perpendicular to the last fold, cutting across in strips. When you unfold the strips, they will be on the bias. Tada!



P.S. John has this monstrous scissor machine that can cut through the thickest of home dec fabric. For home sewists, this technique works best with a rotary cutter.

Quilt guild quilt

Mursing

Man bag