The last of the Christmas projects

When I made the Jenny MacWhinney peg bag back in September, we had limited laundry use and difficulty getting to the clothes line. I thought of giving the peg bag away, but decided to keep it for a future in which washing and hanging out was easier - as it now is.

However, one of my daughters really loved the bag and said her family would really like one - so another Christmas present solved. I had enough linen and threads to manage.

This time I managed to transfer the whole design to my fabric - last time I missed two birds the first time! The Doodler lap frame works really well for this project.

I was also able to work quite a bit from memory - and improvise here and there.








Even the second time around, I love the variety of stitches and stances and the keen observation of bird behaviour evident in this design.

I had enough fabric for the bag and enough webbing. I had to send away however, for the clip to hang it. At this point, I decided to make a third bag, for my other daughter and her partner, who would not be with us on Christmas Day, but with whom we would exchange presents in mid-January. So I ordered two clips - and more webbing.

I had enough fabric for the third bag, but the linen piece was slightly darker than the linen I used for the first two - no bad thing.

In the pre-Christmas stitching effort and building activity, I missed taking any construction photos, so focused on those for bag 3.




By now I could stitch the scallops pretty quickly.

Once again, I used stitching plastic in the base to allow water to drain out if the bags get wet.

 I ran out of suitable fusible interface on the third bag, so quilted the interfacing I had into the lining.

The base insertion has also become a fairly easy exercise on the third time around!

 I filled the bags with UV-resistant pegs that I found in a catalogue. Time will tell if they are last longer than other pegs.

Everyone is happy with their pegbags.

I am doubly happy, because I responded to a Country Bumpkin Facebook request for information about what followers were stitching for Christmas, and won an Inspirations kit!

No, not a kit for the pegbag - for the Fallahi pincushion in Issue 72, something I had thought of making but I resisted the call of the kit!

Millie Molly Dolly Bags

http://peppermintpatcher.wordpress.com/millie-molly-dolly-bags/

I came across this pattern while looking for something else (as one does) and thought it would be great to make for my granddaughters so I bought a pdf pattern from The Peppermint Patcher. The pattern seems to have disappeared from the shop since I bought it but it still features in the Peppermint Patcher's blog.

It took me about two days to make these bags. I was a bit hampered by our building work. My stash is accessible behind racks of wine, my cutting out space was a bit of my desk and my ironing board the top of my office cupboard.

I intended to take more photos of the work in progress, but ended up just focusing on managing the project in the space.


The clothes are mostly from bits left over from dresses I have smocked for the girls at one time or another. One has pink underwear and the other pale green spots.

The clothes fasten at the shoulders with press studs. I am a bit nervous that they will be too hard for the girls. I could have replaced them with velcro, but  think the press studs give a better look if they work.

The project tested my skills at working with fusible batting and fusible webbing. I also used the three lines of stitching option on my machine for the first time!

It is a really fun project and went down a treat on Christmas Day.

The press-studs were fine - much better than velcro would have been.

Peg Bag Construction

The fabrics I chose for the peg bag were a plain garnet-coloured homespun and two pieces of deep red screen-printed fabric designed by Lara Cameron of Ink and Spindle , 'Birch Forest' and 'Bonsai Forrest', both purchased at a Bowerbird Bazaar in Adelaide.

There are a number of Ink and Spindle fabrics using Australian plants that would be great for this bag  but I had Birch and Bonsai in my stash and they worked quite well. I also chose a red webbing rather than the natural colour in Inspirations. I figured it might look better over time.

I made a few changes in the notions as well. Rather than use a metal ring around the top of the bag I used nylon boning which I had to hand. It is lighter, won't rust and keeps the top open quite well.

The other change was to the base. Hettie's Patch, my local quilting shop, didn't have anything recognisable as 'ultra firm double-sided fusible stabiliser' so I substituted plastic canvas. It gives a firm base while allowing any water to drain away easily if the bag gets wet.

Once all the decisions were made the construction flowed fairly smoothly. The screen-printed fabric holds its shape really well, making the scallops quite easy to work with.

The top stands open nicely with the nylon boning.

My only problem was that I mislaid the latch hook I had so carefully purchased from the UK and spent the best part of a day tidying up all my workspaces before finding it on the floor where it had fallen!


I was pleased to use some ceramic buttons I had bought in Hobart on one of my visits about 10 years ago - just about perfect colour.

I think this is the most satisfying and enjoyable project I have worked on all year.