Tough couple of weeks....

It's been a tough couple of weeks.  Ken has been unwell again, and it's resulted in me needing to stay home from work a few times, and calling in his sister to come and provide backup so that I could go to work for a bit. 

It's been tough, but at the same time I'm remarkably calm about it all.  I have some very dear friends, each with their own lives and issues, who keep checking on us.  We have great neighbours who are doing the same thing, and even though they probably think they aren't helping at all, actually are helping a HUGE amount.

In the meantime, Lorraine and I have been playing tag in the kitchen and taking him places.  It's been so lovely having an additional pair of hands.... 

I'm getting quite a bit of crochet done!!!  Hope to be back with you soon!!!!!

It's time to let go...

Yesterday I spent the day with some fantastic friends John and Tracy.  Tracy is the proprietor of Sparkle Connection and I can truly recommend all that she offers from her website. You'll notice when you get there that it's not an "airy fairy" sort of a website - Tracy is a very down to earth person, and takes what she does very seriously - I think that comes through in the products and services that she provides...
 
Anyway - how yesterday got started is quite a few years in the making.  My good friend Michelle plays the Bodhran (an Irish drum) and I have enjoyed having a bash at hers from time to time.  Then when we were in Glen Innes in May this year for the Australian Celtic Festival, Kathy and I attended a Bodhran playing workshop, and we both loved it.  So much so that Kathy has now purchased her own Bodhran from Ireland (to which she actually received two - go figure!!!).  I also decided that I wanted one, but didn't kind of get around to buying one...  which turned out to be a good thing!
 
I saw on the Sparkle Connection newsletter earlier this year that she was running Drum making workshops - one in Victoria, and one in Brisbane.  Less than 30 seconds later I'd shot back an e-mail registering for it...
 
Here are some of the pictures that I have taken and a brief description of them.  I am still absolutely amazed with my Drum, and I am now excitedly waiting for a month for it to dry out so that I can play it!!!
 

 



 

By this stage, we had journeyed to meet the Deer who had gifted it's hide to us, and I had received a message from the Deer for my drum. I had cut out the circle from the centre of the hide, and at this point was (successfully this time!!!) cutting the lacing in one continuous strip like a Mintie wrapper (I was never very good at that and on the first try promptly cut once around the hide and cut my lacing off -d'oh!!!)

 

 

 

 

This is a bit closer up of the lacing that I am creating from the hide. 

 

 

 

 

 

It actually took quite a bit of effort cutting out all that hide! The day was quite physical...

 

 

 

 

There's always room for a little silliness!!!!!

 

 

 

 

Some of the other ladies who didn't want to sit on the floor to do their drum, working on the tables.

 
 

 

This is Di - we shared a table together for our cutting out.  Tracy nicknamed us the "green pants" table...

 

 

 

My pile of lacing and the drum hide.We had punched 24 holes evenly around the edge of the drum so that the lacing could go through.

 

 

I'm starting to lace the drum here.This was really hard to do if you're just one person - I didn't manage it and needed both John and Tracy's help.If you’re doing it yourself, you need to sit on the floor as you need to use both your feet and your hands to hang onto the slippery laces. It turned into a bit of a contortionist effort, but the laces kept slipping away from me!

 

 

Getting closer to the end of the lacing!!!

 

 

 

The lacing’s finished!

 
 
 

 
 

Here I'm tightening and neatening up the laces on the back.  You wind the rest of the lacings around and around, and make a lovely Celtic shape from them.  This helps to keep the drum and the lacing taught. 

 

 

Here's the after photo - the drum's still quite wet, and we're holding it quite carefully!!!  Note it's quite light in colour here...

 

 

The back of the drum when it was still very wet yesterday...

 

This is some of the gorgeous Medicine that Tracy makes. I was really drawn to the smudge fan in the front of the two smudge bowls and so it made its way home with me!!!
 
 
 

 

Tracy has made this gorgeous pouch.  I was really drawn to this too, it's just so lovely and soft. 

 

 

This is my drum today, the morning after the workshop. It's darkening up, and you can see that it's getting tighter as it dries. 

 

 

 

 

The back of my drum today - you can see it's dried out quite a bit already.  It will still take a full month though before I can play it...

And the message from my Deer?  "It's time to let go"...  I have a good idea already of what that will mean for me, and it will be really interesting to see what else comes from that message.  It's really all about the journey that I've been on the past 12 months or so, with some additional connotations.  I understand a couple of them clearly already - now to put them into practice! 

 

I'll let you know how I go...

Says it all really...

Kerrr...................thunk.

Today's Monday, a long weekend Monday.  Nice to have a public holiday this late in the year - something new for us Queenslanders....

This weekend past has been busy.  Mal has been here and has removed 8 out of 9 trees, he'll be back tomorrow to remove # 9, the one that started off this whole process....

In the meantime, I need to whinge....  Really, I do. 

I belong to a website that's all about people doing what they can, saving money, saving resources, just doing the best that they can.  Having said that, there's... well, there's... well.... mixed messages.

Here's some....

"I have spent too much money so what can I do to cut back"
"I bought an XYZ - it will save me so much money"
"I love my routines - it keeps me under control"
"I'm so out of control - what do other mum's do to keep track of things at home"
"Studying - I have so many units to do to keep up with where everyone else is at - how do I catch up"
"I've sent in 6 out of 10 of the units I have to do with my TAFE course"
"I love spending time with my children - we are doing XYZ during the holidays"
"God I wish that others would do what they say they're to do with the kiddies"
"Why am I the only one that thinks of XYZ when the kiddies are going out with their father/grandmother/aunt/uncle etc. that never ever ever has them and probably has zero information about their special needs......"

ARGH!!!!!

Just in case you need more.....

20 mins is the same as weeds pulled, straw for the chickens chucked and collected. Such a small amt of time and stess but makes a huge difference to how it looks out there :)

Nice full garbage bag of clutter removed from my laundry cupboard and 3 whole shelves to go LOL... amazing how much just gets shoved outta the way

Most yard work done in a while LOL... full length of the driveway weeded and rubbish out :D Garden still looks blah but it looks heaps better already

Vines pruned and garden is much more 'light' now :P Full trash bag collected of rubbish from around the yard, 1.5 green bins full and 3/4 recycle bin full :P Yard is looking SOOOOOOO much better!


Seriously - how much can be done in one backyard???????

ARGH!!!

Must have had enough for one day - bed time for moi!!!!!

The Fridge is clean!!! Just the top to do next!!!

I finally got the clean fridge!!!  Woo-hoo!!

 

Just the top to do now!!!!

 

 

 

 

This is the inside of the pantry door now.  Yes, it's got lots of stuff on it, but we use it all.  It's easy to use, conveniently placed and all there so I think it'll be good...

 

 

This is the table after I'd just started with the metho and steel wool.  I did about 3 or 4 goes with the metho/steel wool.  Each time I used a new piece of steel wool and a cloth, and it got progressively cleaner.

 

 

 
Here's the table after I'd sanded it lightly.  We bought a new triangle shaped sander yesterday, which was really good!!!

 

Here's the table with one layer of the shellac on it.  Wow - it was sooooo easy to do the shellac, I can't believe it!  I used a thick terry cloth and just wiped it on.

 

 

We've been doing all sorts of oiling and protecting the timber around here.  Yesterday afternoon I sealed each of the beams here with more decking oil.  They look really good when they're not weathered!!!  This is a job we'll need to do about every 6 months, but we won't need to sand them each time any more...


I reckon I'm going to go and do another coat on the shellac, then I might skive off and go do something more fun for the rest of the afternoon..... 

Fridge Organisation

I promised you that I would show you a little project that I’ve been working on for a couple of weeks now.  Here it is!!!

I got inspiration from the Organised Housewife – where I’ve been following the challenge but haven’t really been doing all the tasks every day that she sets.  Anyway, one of them was to organise the pantry, so that took me a whole Sunday. Then I saw on here website a photo and a post about organising the inside of the pantry door, so I started on that (yes, I know the title of this blog is fridge organisation, NOT pantry door organisation!!!)

The thing I really wanted to achieve was a clean fridge.  God there was so much stuff on it, it was awful.  I’m still a little way from the fridge being clean, but I do have pics of the cork board that I’ve put in the pantry door. 

This is the cork board inside the pantry door.  Not quite finished yet, but you get the idea...

 

 



The other thing we did was de-furminate the kittens.  Wow - lots and lots of fur...  check this out!!!  From two short-haired kittens, that's a lot of fur...   

 

 

 

'tis a lot of fur on two kittens!!!

I'm off to paint the beams on the patio this afternoon, and sand and oil the chairs on the outdoor setting.  Photo's later!!!!

I'm getting a bit enthused about this decluttering and organising business!!!  I didn't declutter the froggie though that we found in one of the chair backs... he got to go and sit in the plants!  If he's still there I'll take a photo...

How did I go???

Not toooooooo bad I guess..... 

Friday

Finish off bookmark & get ready the things that I’m going to send to Corinne
Pick out 5 things to list on Gumtree for sale from the “pile”
Spend 15 minutes decluttering my office desk
Paint the first coat on my clipboards
30 minutes of crochet

Saturday

9.00 am – Sewing
2.00 pm – leave sewing and head home.  Shower and change and go to Brisbane
6.30 pm – TS Norfolk (Navy Cadet) Dining In night at Redland Bay.    (I stayed at mum’s place...)

Sunday

Paint second coat on my clipboards. 
Put up the corkboard & admire the progress!!!
Water the long suffering plants
15 minutes decluttering on my desk
30 minutes of crochet
4.00 pm – Lance & Christine’s for Sunday afternoon “before they go away again to Adelaide for god knows how long” drinks  (This turned into drinks & then dinner at our house...  you get that around here!!!)

What is interesting is that I didn't get the crochet done that I wanted.  I guess part of that is that I wound up with such a sore arm and wrist that I put Nurofen gel on it.  Ouchies!!!

I have just about finished my cork board organisation thingy, and will share it with you soon...  Just a few final touches to go!!!

Have a lovely week everyone - mine is busy, with dinner out tonight, Katie Rose Cottage tomorrow night, a haircut on Thursday night, staying down at Noosa on Friday night, and my brother coming for a visit on Saturday night.... phew!!!

Decluttering musings... it's Friday again!!!

I’m still feeling really good inside about all the work that I did last Sunday on the pantry.  I feel very satisfied each time I open the pantry door and everything is neat and tidy and, more importantly, I can see everything!!!

I had a little surprise this morning – I went to look at our joint bank account and discovered that the interest only period on our home loan had finished, with the result that the loan repayments had increased.  By quite a bit!!!  Ken and I had a chat about it and decided to keep it as principal and interest – the interest rates are quite good at the moment, and we’re going to have to start paying off the principal eventually anyway.  That then led me to do our budget for the house.  Not real hard, and it’s a good opportunity to add in the things that we buy that we haven’t budgeted for, like cat food etc.,  Ooops – better go and put kitty litter in there too!!!

This then got me to thinking about what I’m going to tackle this weekend in the cleaning up/decluttering of the house challenge.  It fits in with my HBDI profile – when I’m under stress, I head from my normal “square, 1 foot in each quadrant” profile to a little less yellow, lots more green (detail) shape.  So it fits perfectly that while I’m a little stressed over other things, I plunge headlong into being organised!!!

So – this weekend, my plan goes like this:

Friday

Hmmmm.... what will I do tonight???
Finish off bookmark & get ready the things that I’m going to send to Corinne
Pick out 5 things to list on Gumtree for sale from the “pile”
Spend 15 minutes decluttering my office desk
Paint the first coat on my clipboards
30 minutes of crochet

Saturday

9.00 am – Sewing
2.00 pm – leave sewing and head home.  Shower and change and go to Brisbane
6.30 pm – TS Norfolk (Navy Cadet) Dining In night at Redland Bay.  Still haven’t decided if I’m staying in Brisbane or coming home!!!  I’m procrastinating because I know I really want to go but I’m a bit afraid of it at the same time... 

Sunday

Paint second coat on my clipboards. 
Put up the corkboard & admire the progress!!!
Water the long suffering plants
15 minutes decluttering on my desk
30 minutes of crochet
4.00 pm – Lance & Christine’s for Sunday afternoon “before they go away again to Adelaide for god knows how long” drinks

Whatever you have planned this weekend, I hope it’s a lovely, productive one.  The sun is shining here, and it’s likely that it will continue to do so over the weekend with only a slim chance of some showers on Saturday.  Hopefully on Tuesday the prediction by the Bureau of Meteorology of rain will come true!!!

Organising - it's time to get back to it...

I've kind of been following an organising challenge from The Organised Housewife.  I signed up, I get the e-mails, and I've done a few things but that's been about it...

Friday I was looking at the website, and they had some lovely fun looking things to try, and they revolved around the pantry.  Kinda handy, because Thursday's (I think) challenge was to declutter the pantry.  So - I decided that today would be the day...

I got up sorta early and had a cup of tea and got stuck into it.  Nearly forgot to take the "before" photo's!!!

A before photo

Close up of the main shelves...

The "in progress" shot...  note that I have two bins operating here!!!

The "after and God help anyone who messes it up" photo...



4 bags of rubbish departed that pantry.  Gosh, you can hardly see where it went from.  Still, it's a lot neater, I know what's in there, and it's the first step of many in my attempt to organise (but more importantly KEEP it organised) my house...

I bought some things to help me keep organised in the grocery buying and note keeping stakes, I'll post that soon. 

It's a boy!!!!

Tyler....

Born at 1.10 am on Saturday morning after a 20 hour labour. 

Just gorgeous!!!  I'm so excited!!!

We went up the Noosa North Shore for the weekend, which was loads of fun, and of course I'm trying to find out what's happening in Melbourne before I ran out of mobile signal for the weekend.  I didn't find out and so had to wait an agonising eternity till Sunday morning when we went to the Double Island Point Lighthouse, where you're high enough to get mobile signal to find out what had happened.... 

Did I mention I'm excited???

hehehe......

Okay - back to the weekend.  We had a LOT of fun.  Sue and I went up after work, Hugh, Brent, Ken, Lance and Christine went on Friday morning.  We all met at the Noosa North Shore pub at about 6.00 pm on Friday night.  Lovely meal, then a 45 minute trip along the highway (aka the BEACH) to get to our camp site.  Saturday - a lot of doing nothing... tried to get to the Lighthouse at Double Island Point but the tide was against us.  Tried again Sunday morning and had success... 

Left about 2.00 pm on Sunday, what an adventure getting to the cutting to the ferry.  We drove in water at times - the beach has been badly eroded, and the difference betwen low and high tide was only half a metre... that means that waves come right up to the dunes at low AND high tide....

Anyway, here's some pictures I took.....

The beach is actually a designated road. I'd taken... maybe... 50 steps from where our campsite was to this location, looking north

Footprints mixed with tyre prints....

The sunshine in the middle of the coldest month is just gorgeous....  This was about 7.30 am... I think!



Again, I'm loving the mix of people and tyres...  I love that they can both share the space.

Down near the Lighthouse at Double Island Point is this piece of metal in the water's edge.  I really wonder what it's from...

Oops.... Lance left his headlights on when we went up the hill.  We knew about it as when we were leaving the top of the hill, some people who were climbing up asked us if we were driving the Blue Surf....  The battery was as dead as a Dodo, but in true community fashion, some other 4WD'ers came to our aid.  We saw these men again about an hour later helping some other people who were bogged at Freshwater......  the spirit of community is alive and well, and it gives me renewed faith in the human race.....

Not long after I took this photo I had an "oh oh..." moment when I was standing on the rocks and the swell surrounded me.  The worst that could have happened was I got really wet feet, but I was lucky.  

I know it's a long way off.... it's the best my best zoom lens could do, but if you look closely at the splashing in the centre of the photo, it's 2 x Humpback whales having a lovely time frolicking in the warm waters of Rainbow Beach.....

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Today's the day!!!!!

Well – I haven’t been at all good at keeping up with writing, have I???   So much happening – I haven’t made time to sit and write about it.  So – today is just a VERY quick update, and a quick photo too... 

My girlfriend Nicky in Melbourne is going to be a Grandmother – TODAY!!!  How exciting!!!  I got a text at 6.00 am telling me that the waters had broken at 5.30 am and that she was to ring the hospital at 7.00 am again and find out when they were going in...

OOoohhhhh!!!  So exciting!!!

I managed to be in Melbourne for work which happened to coincide with the baby shower which was lovely, and now I’ve finished crocheting a cot blanket for the bubs...  I can’t wait to be able to send it off...  once I know if it’s a boy or a girl that is!!!

Anyway, I’ll leave you with some pictures of my handywork and the excitement that soon there’ll be a new little person in the world!!!


Edited to add:  Seems I can't post pictures at the moment.... so I'll finish this off later, but publish it so that you know I'm alive and kicking!!!!

Overcoming procrastination...

I would have to be one of the worlds’ best procrastinators.  Honestly, I am a master at it.  I can even fool myself from time to time that I’m NOT procrastinating – now that takes skill!!!

I’ve tried all manner of things in the past to get over this issue, I’ve used lists, I’ve used no lists, I’ve tried the “just do it”, the “just do it for 15 minutes” and of course I’ve just ignored it.  None of which have had lasting success... 

I tried something new last night.  I decided that I could have free time (well, “me” time) after I had completed 5 jobs.  I had a list (I do love lists....) and I put on it:

·         Washing                                               (10 minutes)

·         Pills                                                        (5 minutes)

·         Notes                                                    (2 minutes)

·         Bills                                                        (10 minutes)

·         Carrots                                                 (10 minutes)

I also had two phone calls to make.  I took great pleasure in having such a short list, and watching everything get ticked off... 

This might help – if I only have to do a few quick-ish things each day, I’m more likely to actually do something rather than nothing.  Hmmm – time will tell!!!

Sometimes the best trick is the JFDI.... Just do it.  I was reading Rhonda’s blog and she has an upcoming talk at a place called Bell.  Hmmm – she described it as “south western Queensland” – but I know she wouldn’t drive a gazillion miles for a one day workshop, and she doesn’t fly, so it can’t be actually that far away.  A quick whereis search showed me that it’s south west from where we live, not south western Queensland, and it was about 2 ½ hours drive away – very do-able in a day. 

Following the just do it principle, I immediately e-mailed Rhonda, and now I am registered to attend the day.  I’m really looking forward to it – it’s being held on Saturday the 23^rd June, and fortunately it starts around 9.30 am – so at least I can get up at a normal week day time and get out there.  I have to take a couple of jars so that I can bring home some chutney, some jam and some clothes washing detergent...  On top of that, for my $40 investment, I also get morning tea and lunch to boot!!!

I’ll let you know how the day goes!

I'm still of this earth!!! (and a wonderful recipe for a Sewing Machine Cover....)

Ahhh... I have again neglected thee, Blog...  oh dear.  It has been a bit of a torrid few months. 

I think you know I did a LOT of travel between February and April – phew, thank goodness that’s over for a bit.  Don’t get me wrong – I do love the travel, but I also love spending time at home, quietly doing things that are important to me...

Mum’s been ill again.  Well, not really ill I guess – as she kept saying, she felt fine.  Except her heart, which normally beats at around 45 bpm, decided it needed to again beat at about 190 bpm.  She spent about a week in the Mater Hospital before her doctor decided it’s time for a pacemaker.  In her situation, a pacemaker keeps her heart going at a faster rate so that they can give her drugs that will ensure her heart rate is kept lower... sounds odd, but it’s working so far.  Most people don’t need the pacemaker with her condition because they have a normal heart rate.  Hers is so low to start with it caused issues!

Mum was quite calm about the pacemaker...  I wasn’t.  I don’t think my brother was either.  Graham was okay...  It turned into a very long day.  She was going to surgery at 9.30 am.  Then 10.00 am.  Then 12.00 pm.  Then 1.30 pm...  She left at 6.30 pm, and then we had a visit from a nurse in her room at 8.30 pm and she was still waiting to go into the theatre.   We went home.  I rang when I got home at about 11.00 pm or so and she had not long come back from theatre.  All was good. 

Did you know – a pacemaker is fitted under a local anaesthetic?  How good is medical science nowdays???  They gave her a good dose of valium and a local, and she doesn’t remember much other than them sticking some dots on her chest.  I can tell you – I breathed a sigh of relief.   She now has a small 2 inch long scar near her collarbone – and that’s it.  Amazing!

My hair is now back to falling out in great quantities.  It’d only just stopped falling out from her heart episode last Easter when it first happened and the associated stress that went along with it.  Bloody good thing I have plenty of it to start with!!!  I think I might need to put some more enzymes down the drains – they’ll be clogged up beyond all recognition otherwise!

Last weekend I went away with a gorgeous group of ladies from my Craft Group in Pomona.  We went back to Cathy House in Tin Can Bay.  It was such a wonderful weekend – I can’t begin to tell you how nice it was to spend the whole weekend being indulgent and doing craft and sewing.  I went with not a lot planned, but some material, some half baked plans, and my crochet.  I actually got a LOT done. 

I came away from the weekend feeling like I’d really relaxed.  I guess that’s what happens when you spend the weekend sewing, chatting, and not doing housework, cleaning, cooking or anything else!  I spent it with the most wonderful group of ladies – we had a lot of laughs, fun and shared that “woman time”...

I made a few things (after not having much of a plan...)

·         3 x pin cushion/scrap & cotton bags (two of which are Christmas gifts – how organised!!)
·         1 x sewing machine cover
·         Sewed all of the ends into my crochet blanket for the new baby entering Nicki’s life...

I then had 4 more squares to do for the blanket, sew them on and weave in the ends and that was that.  (I’ve now done them but more on that another day)

I have been asked by some lovely ladies that I know from Simple Savings and also from a wonderfully supportive Facebook Group to share with them the pattern making and sewing up of the sewing machine cover.  I’m not much of a sewer yet, but once I was shown how to do this, it was really easy.  I just kept measuring and fiddling with a large piece of paper, and then measuring it against my sewing machine...

This is how I did it:

Get a large sheet of newspaper, or other paper.  It needs to be large enough to go over the top of your sewing machine.  I used a piece about the size of a sheet of the Australian Financial Review as I have a fairly small sewing machine.  If it’s not big enough, sticky tape the sheets together. 

To cut the pattern, we’re going to work with your sewing machine, so have it out on the table next to you or near you.  First of all, we’re going to do the front and back of the machine.  We’ll worry about the sides later. 

Place one side of the newspaper on the table at the front of the machine and lay the rest of the newspaper over the top of the machine.  Mark on the back side where the paper hits the table.  I folded my newspaper edges up with the centre seam of the newspaper sitting over the machine, if that makes sense.

I folded the edges of my newspaper up so that I could make sure that I got it right before I chopped off the excess paper.  I also tried to get it close to correct size at this point, and then when I was cutting out I just added extra then for the seam allowance.

Measure your paper against the sides of the machine, bending/folding the paper as best you can so that you wind up with an outline of the shape of your machine.  Cut the edges off.

Now the handle.  Feel under the paper for your handle, and draw a shape so that your handle can come up through the hole that you’ll cut in the top of the cover.  That’s if you WANT to be able to leave your cover on your machine if you’re taking it somewhere.  You may choose not to have a handle hole – it’s up to you.  Cut out the handle hole if you are making one. 

You should now have a piece of paper that fits over the front and back of your machine and has a hole in it for your handle (if you’re going this way).  Make sure at this point you’re happy with your template.  It should fit over but not be too big. 

Next is the sides of the machine.  Grab another piece of paper, and do exactly the same as you have for the front/back piece to make the sides.  Be careful to mark which way is which (ie front/back and which side is which) if your machine has a different shape about it on the front to the back.  I did a kind of U shape for mine, but the front was more on a slope than the back which was almost straight up and down.  Cut our your paper.

Now stand back as best you can with your paper on your machine and have a good look about it.  Remember, once it’s all sewn up you won’t see minute little details, so if you choose to do a U shape over your machine, and your machine is a little different in shape, it’ll all be ok.

You should now have some papers that look like:

Next you need to cut out.  I cut out two sides and one front and one back.  Even though the pattern is in one piece, I still cut a front and a back as I had material that needed to be a certain way up.  Also I didn’t have enough of my fancy material (I only had a fat quarter) so I joined up my fabric with a plain bit in the middle and plain sides. 

While you’re cutting, you’ll also need some Pellon cut to all the same sizes as your front/back and sides.  This machine cover is the Pellon on the bottom against the machine, and the fabric on the outside and bias binding around the handle hole and the bottom. 

DON’T FORGET TO ADD YOUR SEAM ALLOWANCE BEFORE YOU CUT ANYTHING!!!!! 

I bought the iron on Pellon – you may not have that.  If you don’t, sew the Pellon onto the fabric.  Next, I put the bias binding on the handle hole.  I found it best (after unpicking twice) to tack on the bias binding and THEN sew it on.  My handle hole is quite tight...  (and I’d never sewn with bias binding before – thank you to my lovely SIL who told me to iron it together first!!!)

Next I put the sides on the cover.  I fitted them in so that they were even at the bottom (I hadn’t managed to cut them the same length as the front/back – mine were slightly longer!!!).  I trimmed them up once I’d sewn them on and had it straight so that the base was the same. 

Finally, I put the bias binding on the bottom of the machine cover, and there you have it – one Machine cover!!!

I found it very important to iron everything as I was going.  It made it a lot easier to sew things up when it was all nice and flat. 

I have seen others put a flap over the top of their handle – for now, I’m going to leave my cover like it is.  I’ll let you know if I change it!!!

I used black bias binding around the handle, and red around the bottom.  The photo above here you are looking at the front of my machine - the handle sits quite a ways back.