A weekend of practical stitching

Not a lot of creativity, but definitely some productivity!!!

I'm sewing some new clothes for myself. Yesterday I found some great fabric for $2.50 a metre and am making a skirt and a couple of tops. Also finishing of a couple more tops that I started - 1 that was cut out, a few others that were planned.

I guess I have employed a little creativity in altering the patterns? Well, not really altering, just using a 2 different fabrics together - I even sketched it out before I started to get a feel for it!!

Back to work now - I want to get something finished that I might be able to wear to work on Monday.

WIP's and other progress

Since the BIG CLEAN-UP, I have re-discovered a pile of WIPS (works in progress - although perhaps works in SLOW progress). One item that I found was a knitted/felted bag that I was making. Turns out I'd finished knitting it, and all that was left to do was to darn in all the loose ends, sew up the base and thow it into the washing machine on a very hot wash. And so I did just that and here it is.... (Oops I forgot to take the before pics) (it measures about 30cm long by 20cm high)

It's a good size, and the colours (orange and dark grey) have blended really well. I very pleased with the result. It just needs a nice big button cosure and it'd done (doing that tonight as I found the perfect thing during the clean-up)

Today, being my day off, has been quite a productive day - even if I have spent most of it in front of the TV with B. Each of us have been doing ur own thing whilst watching a plethora of movies, including several hours of special features from the Star Wars Trilogy, something call the Assassination of Richard Nixon and Cinderella Man. Star Wars (Episode 4, the first one made) is on the agenda for tonight along with a yummy meal of Kangaroo steaks and Roasted Veges. (Ooops a bit sidetracked there)

What I wanted to show you were the for new rusted landscape postcards I made today. B tells me that I was so absorbed in my stitching that he managed to walk into the room, stand beside me for a bit and walk out wihtout me even knowing - I think he's lying, but if he did, it'd be due to a combination of my extreme concentration and the incessent noise of the sewing machine at high speed.

The newbies

All 8 together (minus the rocky creek one)

Travel Stitch-case

Here are pictures of the stitch-case that I made on the weekend. Again it just needs a couple of buttons/closures to complete it.

I'm very pleased with it - just the right size and fits everything I want to put into it.

Travel Stitch-case

Here are pictures of the stitch-case that I made on the weekend. Again it just needs a couple of buttons/closures to complete it.

I'm very pleased with it - just the right size and fits everything I want to put into it.

Where was I this weekend?....

I spent most of this weekend under piles and piles of textiles and art related STUFF!!

I decided it was time to get in and finish setting up the studio. A few weeks back B and I were passing the local op-shop and noticed this fabulous cupboard/display cabinet. Of course we couldn't pass it up at $45, delivered, and it has been sitting in our garage taking up space ever since. There were 2 reasons for this, firstly I needed to clear space for it in the studio, and secondly, we weren't all that sure that we'd get it inside!

Turns out that the hallway and doorways are JUST big enough to get this rather large cabinet through without dinting or scratching any walls or cornices, and without taking out a window (which was definetly NOT on the cards!).

Having successfully installed the new cabinet into the room late Friday afternoon, I then proceded to spend the rest of the weekend sorting and storing the bags of stuff that had collected on the floor since my last re-arrangement. I must have run out of steam last time, cause there were quite a lot of bags and boxes of miscellaneous stuff that had no place.

I am now happy to say that all "STUFF" has a home and the room is looking quite tidy and very useable!

As for creativity this weekend - I'm afraid there wasn't any. Actually, only a little. I have been working on a small case for small hand-stitching projects that I can put in my handbag to take with me on the train to and from work and at other spare moments. Whilst the plastic zip-lock bag does the job, I felt that I needed something a little more. I've used some of my hand-dyed fabrics so It's nice and bright and has places for everything. I'll post pics later when I've put the final stitches in.

It's snowing in Geelong... and it's Summer!!

Well reportedly... apparently people from Lara (near Geelong where I live) have reported seen snow on the YouYangs. It's also expected that this cold front will bring snow to Ballarat, the Macedon Ranges and the Grampians.

Meanwhile it's also snowing in my back yard - well, they're hard lumps of ice, commonly called hail - but hey it's all frozen water so what's the difference!!

Kimono Quilt Progress

Just to prove that I haven't abondonned the Kimono quilt, here is a pic of it sitting at my sewing machine - quilting in progress...



I spent a fair bit of Sunday pinning it together and have made 3 lines of quilting. I've given up in the hand quilting - it's way too thick, even the machine struggles a bit at times.

My bad!!

I found the camera. B-the-Bower-Bird didn't have it in his bower (oops, bag), however B-Secure, the ever security conscious B had hidden it in a place where a burglar wouldn't find it, should they decide to ransack our house. Only problem is, B-Secure couldn't remember where that place was. After searching the usual places and lots of unusual places, I found it!

So here's the pic I wanted to show you yesterday...

The first completed postcard

I actually achieved all of what I set out to do yesterday and more - and the housework even got a look in (well some at least).

The farmers market was fun as expected - lots to taste and yummy stuff to buy. On the way I discovered a book sale which made my Mum sooo jealous - sorry Mum!!

The bonsai show was great!! There was an exhibition of members work, and they were selling pots and plants, and there were some members potting and pruning plnts for people. That's what I enjoyed most - hovering around watching plants being turned into bonsai, and bonsai being replanted and given a facelift. Here are some of my favourites:

The bottom left are all Morton Bay Figs (that's a real leaf at the bottom - it's bigger that some of the plants!)

I met my target of 4 complete postcards!!! Shock horror!! I did have a kick-start as I developed the ones that I started last week. But these are finished and ready to send so I'm happy with that. I also have a few more ideas to work on so I should get these ones that I owe to people done soon. Here they are:

I liked the rocks on the first one so I developed them a bit

Here I added a few more rocks in the middle ground - I think next time, I should try to keep the line connecting them under the rocks as they seem to 'hang' in mid-air a bit. No-matter, I like it anyway.

The rocks ground the mid-ground stitching that I'd already done. Now looking at it, it may need something above in the higher mid ground - a thought for next time.

Here I developed the rocks even more - without the trees - kinda like a creek-bed. I like it, but I think I need to dvelop this one a bit more too.

Mum - here is my bucket FULL of rocket!

It's the weekend!!!!!!!!

I was going to share a post of my first finished postcard, but it seems that B has taken it to work with him (his bag is a like a bower birds nest . Not that everything is blue (except all those blue pens that seem to find their way in there), it's just that once something goes in there it rarely comes back out again, a bit like a black hole. I'd better rescue the camera before it's too late.

Anyway....

B has another Sunday off this week (well part of the day), so I have to crammmmm all of my planned 'alone weekend activities' into today, otherwise I'll miss out. As much as I enjoy spending days with him, I also enjoy having a day (or two) to myself.

So today I'm going to:

• Go to a Bonsai show put on by the local Bonsai group - I've always love Bonsai but have never been successful growing any. They've got demosntrations on too so maybe I'll learn something...
• Go the Farmer's market in the mall - I went last month and whilst it's only small there's lots to taste and sample, and they have cooking demonstrations using the local produce and I can't go past a god coooking demo.
• Attempt to get at least 4 postcards finished and ready to post - I'm going to do a couple more like the one I was going to show (a further developlment of the trees - with foreground), and I've had a few other ideas too. I'm liking the idea of working just with the machine stitched line without adding any (or not too many) extra fabrics or embellishments and a using minimal of colours. I have a whole pile of bases made up (rust dyed fabrics that I've stiffened) so they're ready to go any time I get the urge.
• Keep a watchful eye on my eBay auctions - I know shameless self promotion, but it's my blog and I I'll tout my own trumpet if I want to. There has been some good activity on them and hopefully everything will sell. 8 items go off on Sunday (tomorrow night) so I'll be watching closely tomorrow. BTW - thanks to all my readers who have gone over and checked the auctions out - a bigger thanks to those who are bidding!!

IF I get around to it, there's also the housework too....

Journal Quilts

There are quite a few images of people's journal quilts appearing around the net at the moment. This is something that I briefly looked at at the beginning of the year but didn't get around to it. Maybe this will get me going for next year. I'm not sure if I'll do it officially (with the group) or on my own yet - we'll just have to wait and see.

Here are a few that I've found today:

Maria Elkins 2006 Journal pages - these are interesting as they are a sort of mural that all link up

Pat's Art Journal - Some very effective designs using rather simple techniques free machine embroidery and not over-embellished. I particularly like March and November where Pat has used line to emphasise images/shapes created on the fabric using inks and bleach. You should also check out Pat's rust dyeing - makes me keen to do some more myself! Also lots of other scrumptious work. I;ll defitely be visiting this site again.

Helen Cowans of Textile Goddess has used the Goddess (from her blog title) as her theme. I like Helen's use of colour and the way she has used the Goddess image in each of her quilts

Sarah Ann Smith - I particularly like the 2004 Journal Quilts

I have also listed some more items on ebay. There are now a few more books and a whole bunch of cloth doll patterns. Check them out here

A wonderful sunday!!

Our first Sunday together in ages was great.

After a bit of a sleep in we went off to crawl the local markets (so not too much of a sleepin or we'd miss all the good stuff). I found a book on Experimental embroidery for $2 which I think I'll probably sell on eBay after I've had a bit of a read.

Then we came home and had a lazy day. We cooked bacon sandwiches for lunch (hmmm bacon sandwiches!!), and had salmon steaks and mashed roasted sweet potato and roasted veges for tea (a late tea as we were still so full from the bacon sandwiches).

Speaking of eBay, I've started to list some of my books on eBay. These are books that I've bought and read and want to send them off to a new home. I've got 8 on so far and have another 8 to go. I'm also going to list some of my cloth doll patterns too, as these are just sitting in the cupboard taking up space too.

If you want to check out my auctions please go here.

Weekend update

I worked today so no creativity so far this weekend. During the week however I managed to do some onion dyeing using alum and cream of tartar as a mordant. I've had the onion skins sitting in the garage for a few weeks now and haven't done anything with them until now (I scored them from a fruit and veg shop - one of the staff just happened to be de-skinning the onions when I was there and asked if I could have some - I got them all!!)

Tomorrow B and I have our first Sunday off together in what seems like forever. The last time was when he' hurt his back and that wasn't much fun - the time before was the V8 races at Sandown, and before that it would probably have been Christmas. We haven't decided what to do on this momentous occassion - perhaps a spot of fishing or some more beach-combing, or maybe even some snorkelling. I guess the weather will be the decider. Anyway, I don't suppose I'll get to do too much sewing so I think I'll pack the sketchbook and camera and see what I can come up with.

Here are a couple of pics from our last beach trip;

Looking down into a very shallow rock-pool.