A bit naughty

They discharged me from hospital and I went straight to the Stitches and Craft Show down the road.  I'm not sure it was the soundest decision I have ever made but I got there when it opened and only spent a couple of hours doing some shopping.  By this time I was ready to get home to bed.

I now have a raft of medical appointments I have to attend but hopefully this will get me back on my feet again.

I spent a whole heap of money on very little.  Things were very expensive but as I only shop here once a year, and I really wanted and can use the things I bought I think the expense was justified.

A couple of metres of Japanese fabric,cord, a mould for a broach and webbing plus some extra threads.  That little lot was over $180.00!  I can't buy these machine threads anywhere in Australia and I do love wonderfil threads, those two boxes were $100.00.

And then I got to meet Cecile Franconie.  (http://www.facilececile.com)  Her English is a bit better than my French but we managed to chat for over 30 mins.  Luckily for me she didn't have any kits with her or I would have broken the bank.

I would have loved to attended her workshop but knew I wasn't well enough so I just bought her book.  I took a flyer for the Quilt Show in Nantes next year.  I think that would be a good trip, then, as I would be in Europe I could include Sweden and some other places?

 

A new course

I managed to get ill again just when I was about to start a new on-line course, and one I really want to do.  So much so I paid for a Certificate of Attainment before I started, just to make sure I finished it!

It is a free course from the University of Newcastle New South Wales Australia.  One of those tasters that Uni's offer to attract paying students to their degree courses.  My daughter, who is a University lecturer, tells me these courses really do attract paying students.  Because of this they put a lot of funds into the making of them.  This one is very well put together and although I am a bit behind I am looking forward to getting into it. 

It is a six week course, so doable.  I may even be persuaded to undertake the full course if it was offered on-line.  It will all depend on the cost! 

RSI

The Physio tells me my sore shoulder is a Repetitive Strain Injury.   I couldn't believe this.  The only thing I do repetitively is stitch and use my computer.  Then I tried to draw a new Kogin pattern and oh boy did I believe her.  I have got the pattern to trail stage now.  I also put a higher chair at the computer and will limit the amount of time I spend here.  

 

Seems it is common to get RSI from using your mouse and keyboard.  But I never thought I used it that much!  All those lessons I taught about how to sit at the keyboard when I was a classroom teacher for workplace health and safety were wasted on me.  I should have heeded my own advice.

Starting the portraits

This has been a long process but I have at last begun. 

A number of years ago I asked my patchwork group to make me a block which was a portrait of themselves.  But not a photo realistic one, rather one of how they saw themselves.  I was going to make a wall quilt out of it and for the shashing I was going to have some fabric printed using photos of each lady.  Well the years have gone by and the cost of having the fabric printed was too much.  Then I moved and didn't have the wall space anymore.  Now I have decided to make these blocks into a fabric book and on the page opposite their block I am going to embroider a portrait of each person. 

I have now taken their photos and turned them into line sketches.

This is Betty who passed away a few years ago.  She got a form of lung cancer from the asbestos fibres that were trapped in her husbands work clothes which she washed.  We all loved Betty and still do even though she has passed.  She was the most quirky, creative person.  At one point she took herself off on the Trans Siberian Railway just to see what it was like.  Back then you had to take all your own food all that was provided was the transport.

Her block is full of her dreams.  She saw herself as still young, and she did look like this when she was young.  The kind of house she always wanted, the flowers in the garden, her cat, the rural setting and her quilting.

I think this will take some time but it will be full of love.

 

Tassels

These are not as successful as I would have liked but they will do the job.

And I have just made an alarming discovery.  The dye isn't colourfast!!!  Lots of care needed now.

Stitching birds

My original inspiration for the bird designs has some from those wonderful women in Guatemala.  This woman was selling hand made items in the street.  All the work in the beading and the embroidery.

Stitching all these birds has really got me looking at feathers.  Their colour, especially the turkeys.  Here are some in the markets in Guatemala.  I don't know how they fitted so many in one basket.

Here is our one turkey on the island.

His tails feathers are a delight.

The range of colours is wonderful.   What stitches can mimic this?

The more I look the more fascinated I become.

That was quick

My replacement bag clips have started to arrive and my stock bag is looking a lot more healthy.  I paid postage on these, about 15c each, which in the scheme of things isn't very much.  I think I will pay postage in future to get the stock that much quicker.

I love these little bird clips but they are 8.5cm and only have an attachment loop on one side.

My bird bags are 12cm.  Luckily I have found some more in the size I like.

This larger size comes with attachments for a shoulder strap, so I have ordered some of those as well.

And then I found these lobster claps for jewelry.  I had to buy 100 so I think there will be some embroidered jewelry in next years Children's Classes.

All this rush is to beat the governments new GST on small imported puchases.  I hope I have enough to see me through?

I must be getting better

I have managed to start stitching again.  That is a relief, I thought I had lost the knack. I take that as a sign that I am getting better.  I think it will take a little longer and I am not going to rush into doing lots of things but it is certainly an improvement.

The other thing that has happened is that I have got carried away with designing  my 'bird bags'.  I sat and came up with another 5 designs so that I could make 6 different versions.  The next thing has been to refine the pattern for the actual bag and after a test run I think that pattern needs to be 1cm longer.

The width and curve of the top for the clip frame is perfect but if I put a phone and credit cards inside it is a tight fit.

So another 1cm will make all the difference.  And my husband needs a new cover for his phone.  It is his birthday this month so I have solved the present problem that has been nagging at me as well.

Hiding from the vacume cleaner

I am still in my sick bed or rather I have progressed to the chair beside the bed.  Charlie is still my constant companion and can now go up and down the stairs on her own.  It is so good to see her improving.

This last virus is continuing to  give me grief and my husband is doing the vacuming.  The noise of that machine just goes straight through my head.  So Charlie and I have retreated to my sewing room so that I can shut the door.  I am now on super strong antibiotics, ear drops and pain killers, all of which leave me tired.  But at least the pain is under control and I have begun to think about sewing again.  I can't remember what I was doing last time so I have decided on a new project.

I decided on a clip purse.  Why?   Well that is a bit of a wander of the mind.  The government here is bringing in a tax on all purchases from overseas and making the persons selling the goods collect the tax for them.  Which just blows the mind.  I don't mind paying my taxes but I hate being ripped off.  I can buy rat tail cord on line for 5cents a metre but have to pay $1.00 a metre in the shops here.  They would buy in bulk and get that cord even cheaper than me.  The same can be said of my purse frames that sell for about $10 to $15 each in the shops or $2 or less on line.  So I looked in my bag of purse frames and found I was down to 3 only.  One I really liked so decided to make a clip purse and I also put an order in on line for some more frames.

He was still vacuming so I did a little vector drawing for an applique.  Just a silly little bird but it is about all I can handle at the moment.  I have found the fabrics, drafted a pattern and got everything ready.

I have no idea what I am going to do with it when I am finished.  It will probably go into the Xmas gift draw.

Puddling along

I am slowly adjusting my life to accommodate this virus.  That means everything is slower and I try to stay close to my bed just in case the fatigue overtakes me.  But I am adjusting.  Where it would take me one day to make something, now it is three.  I am talking about the nurses capes I promised to make for the ANZAC day ceremony here.  I have 2 put together and 1 more ready to sew.

But I am still having a problem with my brain.  I have to put tabs on the shoulders and I made the big trip to the shop to buy the buttons.  It wasn't till I got home I realised we have 2 shoulders not one!!!  I still have another 9 days before the day so hopefully I can get some more buttons.  I do worry about my brain though.