No 18 Gift Purse

  I designed these little purses for my students to practice sewing near the edge using guides, in this case the presser foot, rather than looking at the needle. Also, how to use the reverse function on the machine. (Without reversing so many times that you get this great lump.) Every one likes to complete a project not just practice on scraps.  This little purse recycles the end of fabric swathes that have the paper stuck on it and are usually thrown away.  I find that once the kids start sewing them they don't want to stop.  Adults like them as well.

Download No 18 Gift Purses from recycled fabric swatches

April Stitch Explorer

I never thought that I would get this one done.  It is amazing that I am only three days over the time limit.  Smarty pants thought that it might be a good idea to work this months challenge on silk in silk thread.  Now that is fine but when I started stitching I realised that I would have to stitch in one thread because it would make holes in the fabric if I sewed with more than that.  I had to use a very fine needle which was difficult to thread.  I don't think Casalguidi stitch is designed for this fineness of work, I know my eyes are still complaining.

This style of work is usually stitched against a drawn thread work background but I wanted to use the stitch to create a three dimensional shape, in this case the garden hose, and I feel I was successful in this.  I would like to work a sequel to this of a child on a climbing frame, with the frame worked in this stitch but I think I might wait until my eyes recover!

Velcro dots

I just LOVE Velcro dots.  They are the best thing since sliced bread.  I have a number of gifts to send to friends and relatives so I have been busy making gift bags.  Some I wanted to make into an envelope and the best and quickest way to make a tie?  A Velcro dot.

You just make a fold and stick the closed dot (top & bottom) onto the top edge and press down at the closing position on the bottom edge.  So easy.

 I have just finished reading  "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer. It was recommended to me by Maggie and I just loved it.  I had to ration the amount I read each day to make it last, a bit like chocolate.  I see your can buy it on Amazon and they also have a little video interview with the co-author you can watch.

A no sewing day

I spent most of today looking at houses with my son Guy. He has been looking for months and been beaten on a number of houses by other bidders.  But today he made an offer and it was accepted.  So now he is 40 days away from being a first home owner.

In the down time between looking at houses we had to find somewhere to eat and what could be better than Ikea?  The men went; "Oh no", and the women?  Well their eyes all went starry and their hands began to twitch.  What did I buy?  Well fabric of course.  I NEED to make another bag sample for school showing how much better the bag will look in furnishing fabric and this one said buy me.

Also, I'm finishing a disappearing 9 patch quilt and there were these rabbits.  It was obvious that they needed to be bought because they matched the  quilt.  (I'll show you the whole quilt when I finish the borders.)

On the way home I stopped at another fabric shop to get a piece of fleece for a student.  (She has cut this giant hole in one of the sleeves.)  There in the car park was a car with a slogan on the rear window and the most beautiful reflection of the sky. In the shop I ran into a new quilter, starting her first quilt.  She marveled at where $200 had gone to.  I warned her she would also have to buy more storage if she got hooked and take another job.

Embroidered Blanket

I had a comment the other day in which the writer said that she wanted to make an embroidered woolen blanket for a baby.  I got thinking about that and remembered that I had embroidered a blanket a number of years ago.  I had no idea what I'd done with it.  So, I've been looking and discovered it packed away in a blanket box.  I remember it took ages to finish and that I put far too much detail into it.  When I unpacked it I had forgotten how big it was.

The finished size was the length of the bed and almost the width, no wonder it took so long to embroider.

I really got carried away with the roses.

But some of the other flowers came out quite nice.

  

I remember inserting the piece into a quilting frame to pull the wool tight to work the bow in Shadow Stitch.  When I took the frame off the wool returned to shape and the bow stood up in relief.

When I unfolded the blanket there was a note in it, it read:

When Mum dies this is mine so don't even think about it - Laura

Well at least I know it won't be given to the Op shop.

No 17 Baby Cot Cover Tutorial

I have crocheted since I was about 9 or 10 years of age and had forgotten how hard it was to crochet around the edge of a piece without the 'hole' already in place.  I learnt of course but I have devised a way to machine the edge to put an even line of 'holes' in place.  This was the first crocheted edge my Grandmother taught me and variations of it have been worked on countless edges.  It is still an effective finish and is great for the beginner crocheter.

Download No 17 Baby's Cot Cover

Busy, busy.

Sometimes I think that this merry-go-round is just turning too fast.  But then things can stop with a crunch.  This has happened this week at work, all the computers have been down since last Friday.  I hate the thought of having to catch up on all that work.  Still all my folders are now neat and tidy.

I had to put an extra blanket on my bed so it was into the quilt box to see what I could find.  Out came my soccer quilt.  Well, I know it's Grandmother's  Garden but I sewed all of the hexagons by hand while I watched my daughter play soccer.  Sometimes it was so exciting I stitched fast.  I stitched so many flowers that when I came to sew it together I found I had enough for a queen sized bedspread!  My daughter is now 25 but I look at that quilt and see my teenager running around.

 

My other project has been making some cot covers for my niece's new baby.  I'm really getting into making things for babies.  But sadly when I crocheted around one of the cot covers I used the end of my Myart rayon thread.  I bought a box of thread in a sale in the 1970's and have been using it for the past 30 years.  Now it is all gone and I can't get any more.  I like the Perle cotton but it just isn't the same.

Itchy Feet

It seems that everyone I know is either traveling or about to fly away and I'm stuck here.  Pam is putting up maps of where she has traveled.  Di sent me an Email to say she was off to Spring Market in Pittsburgh and my friend Kay if off to Canada next week.  My feet are itching.  I want to fly away again.  Instead I have three days of National Testing  (NAPLAN) ahead of me.  Oh poor me!

I have to make a sample for a 'Quillo' for a year 10 class.  I have been putting this off  because I just couldn't find a design I liked.  Then when we were out at lunch on Sunday I saw these wall lights.

I think this gecko will make a great applique design.

And I liked the way that they used native plants and leaves to decorate the concrete in the paths.

 

I wonder if these could be adapted into quilting patterns?

Mother's Day

My family took me to breakfast this morning to the Walkabout Restaurant at Brisbane Forest Park.  This park is one of the treasures on our doorstep.  The hills at the back of Brisbane are just there, we forget to look up and see them.

After breakfast my husband and I continued down the road and up into the hills.  We stopped at all the lookouts that we have previously just driven by and found families having breakfast in the middle of the most beautiful scenery.  The free BBQ's that are in all our parks from the city right out to the country areas are well used and you have to get up early if you want to get a good position.

There was a morning  haze and from Jolly's lookout you could just make out the shore line of Moreton Bay and the high sand hills of Moreton Island.  Behind that is the Pacific Ocean.



After the drought there is water in all the creeks and rivers and the bush has come alive again.  Problem is, so have all the noxious weeds that are everywhere, especially the Lantana.   The show of flowers is beautiful but this weed strangles the native plants and kills the forest.  All I could think was someone should spray all of these plants before they set seed.

Reality set in when we got back to the highway and found it gridlocked.  Even the traffic signs were flashing that you should find and alternate route.  So we drove back towards the hills and took a back road through to Mount Mee and Daysborough.



When I got home I found that Charlie had eaten the backs out of my new shoes .  I'm not talking to her!

Finishing Up

To finish up I think I have to talk about the sewing of clothing. There was an exhibition of clothing from Esmod Australia  and it took me back through the eras of my life.  (Scarey that there were so many.) 

When I entered the industry, in Sydney, you went to East Sydney Tech or got a job in one of the salons to learn about fashion.  I was lucky.  My company had their own design studios in those days and I was put into the workshop and experienced it all.  From designing, pattern making, cutting, sewing, pressing through to the sales floor.  A great background for a Fashion Buyer. I was also lucky that at that time there as a huge influx of migrants, especially from Eastern Europe, who knew the fashion industry inside out and shared all that with me.  It wasn't until 2007 when I traveled back to London for the Textile Society Conference that I realised how fortunate I had been in my career.

I also popped into the Burda Style booth and had a look at the Reconstruction Zone.  (Love the name.)  If you like sewing this is a great on-line group to join.  I think I was in the first 300 to sign up now it numbers hundreds of thousands of members. (202,456 to be exact.)  My daughter is addicted to down loading patterns, this is another reason the lown-load limit is reached to quickly each month.

So it is a week ago that I went to the show.  A week since I opened up a new area of research to draw on for my classes.  I have revisited my lessons and thought out practical applications.  I have found 2 excursions and even framed the written assignment.  I wonder what will be next?