calico & linen

Quite a while ago I did a market for my Dad's ironwork and I bought several metres of calico to cover the trestle table.  So without much in the fabric budget right now I have put the calico to use, a quilt top - just because I had to do something.  I've cut it into strips, squares, rectangles and sewed it all back together with a few linen & double gauze placements.  I wanted to keep it simple so there's not too much going on.  We'll see where the hand quilting takes it.

The calico is a little coarse - this one is going to be hard wearing...

You can't see how nice the double gauze below is in this photo, it's some nani iro by naomi ito - it's so lovely & soft with painted flowers & patterns on it.  The linen above is also some nani iro by naomi ito - 'yes' I like her fabrics very much.

Whilst I'm looking forward to hand quilting this one, I can't start until I finish the 'fill-in-the -blanks' quilt top for flip, I just can't - that wouldn't be right.  It's quite difficult to work on, well I'm finding it difficult, I did a few houses last night and it's quite taxing.  There are only about 3 rows of houses to go.  I'm looking forward to the hand quilting, I just can't seem to get the darn top finished.  You should see the mess in our dining room at the moment from last night - it's still there today.  I'm hoping to get a spurt and carry on with it, or maybe a good kick in the pants is what I need.  Hopefully something happens soon as the day is nearly over :) and we'll be at the beach tomorrow - hoorah for the warm weather!

blackwork

It's been a little while since my last post, things have been a little hectic with work, kids, Christmas and all the festivities.  I found a book called Made in France Blackwork a few months ago at Readings and I had to have it.  So many beautiful designs, here's one I've started...

It had to have a home, so here's a cotton/linen converted tea towel, that of course has never been used, I bought it because I thought it was so lovely - too good to use as a tea towel.

a few favourites from the book

linen pouch

We were at the beach the other day and I thought I needed a little pouch to put my phone, wallet & keys in rather than take my handbag on the beach.  So here it is - a pouch for the beach.

I didn't have any trouble with the zip, I've only attempted a few :)

colours

a little collection matched by bells, I can't believe she'll be in prep next year - where does the time go?

 

a home for a new pencil

I bought a new pencil today, the green one below and it's got some different coloured leads I can interchange - at the moment it's got red, that's the favourite.  The red clutch pencil was already floating around in my handbag, I couldn't have two floating around so I whipped up this little home for them.  Linen & calico with a shell button.

Sometimes it's the small & quick things that give us pleasure, just what I needed today.  I bought a diary for next year during the week, just a small one, week to an opening - I aim to use it.  Not just for birthday's and my few appointments but for ideas, thoughts & feelings, even it's just a sentence or two, or just a few words everyday. 

That's why I needed a new pencil ;)

baby quilt - quick fix

My sister has a friend who is putting together a website to sell baby related things, she asked if I'd be interested in making a cot quilt.  Why not, it's small, I could use fabric I already have in my possession - all I had to buy was a little white/neutral and the binding (which I still have to get).  It's my first attempt at machine quilting, I think it looks ok, the lines aren't meant to be perfectly straight.  It was fun - sort of.  I can't imagine doing anything larger tough - that scares me, perhaps experience would make the prospect less daunting - a lot more experience.

There is a little drifting in the quilt, lets just say that not all the rectangles look 'square', after the binding is on I'll give it wash and see if it will be sellable.  I don't know how much 'character' is ok.

fill in the blanks

Months ago I saw this fabric in the ikea catalogue, purchased a few metres and started filling in the blanks with a range of reds, blues, greens, yellows and a touch of linen.  This will be a new quilt for Flip and it's been taking a while to fill it up.  I've been doing it on the sewing machine but I have to work with the whole top all at once, turning, turning, turning & turning all of it!  It's just under half done, I'm hoping and Flip is hoping it's not going to be another couple of months.  Whenever I sew something and he sees me I get asked "when are you going to finish my quilt mumma????"  I just need to get going - set aside a day and go for it.

Soon...

finished collages

I have finished the collage I started in class - so much fun to make, I'd like to put it up on the wall some day.  It features the stamp of my flip & bells with balloons, a rainbow of sorts and some bunting.

 The collage above was so much fun to make, I thought I'd make another - this time featuring the house stamps with small additions, rolling hills and billowy clouds in a soft breeze on some calico.  This time I used some bamboo batting, not quite so pooofy as the wool I used in the above. A different look.  I'm happy with both.

I think it's necessary for me to be working on a project, small or large - something, I get some release, some satisfaction, some pleasure and in turn probably some sanity.
Waiting patiently for my next idea...
I hope it comes soon ;)

sketchings & more rubber stamps

 I bought a note book before I went to the collage class and now whenever an idea strikes me I sketch it in there.  I do wish they would come more frequently...

 

Above are some newly carved stamps, little houses - the largest is 8.5cm in height.

Below are the original sketches and stamped results in my note book.

 I drew a bird and I've cut out a few in different fabrics which I'd like to do something with one day.  I have some little metal birds and they hang in a very similar way as below.

A sketch of my old Nikon FM2 which I love, the poor old thing hasn't had a great deal of use lately in this digital age.  Years ago (before kids) I used to love taking black & white shots, maybe one day in the near future.  It is a little more costly as there's developing & processing costs, but there's something special about photos from this camera.

I've made my own rubber stamps

After a whole lot of inspiration from a class I attended on Sunday (see previous post), I thought I'd give stamp making a go.  Yesterday I went to an art shop at lunchtime and purchased a couple of ezy carve printing blocks and some lino cutting tools. These first practice ones I did last night using erasers, the flower below was from an eraser 2cm x 6cm.  It's quite satisfying dabbling in this new found craft.  I'll admit I was a little pleased with myself :) I'm well aware they aren't works of art, but I'm happy with the outcome and the possibilities.

The one below is of flip & bells, which I may put on my fabric collage - I had sketched this in the class with the intention of sewing the design on.  I used the real printing block for this one, it's so nice to carve into.  The block is 8cm x 8cm.

what will tonight bring forth......?

fabric collage with elizabeth barnett

Today I attended a class at amitie with Elizabeth Barnett who is a young, very talented Melbourne artist, the class was on fabric collage.  I really loved the class and it was great being able to look and touch some of Elizabeth's works of art.  This is what I have started, a piece of linen with a $0.50 ikea tea towel as the backing/binding.  I still have a bit to add, my idea is to sew on a representation of flip & bells and lots of running stitch all over the place.  I have 2 weeks until the next class - we'll see what eventuates...

In the next class we'll look at creating our own rubber stamps, I can't wait - I'd love to have something stamped onto my collage, a pic perhaps or maybe some text.

My collage is around 7" x 14", the smallest in our class today.  One of Elizabeth's pieces was a fabric book which was just beautiful, a great idea to capture a little story.  She also showed us some silk that she had dyed using natural dyes from leaves, onion skins and tumeric, just to name a few things - that too was beautiful. 

So much fun, I love the non-perfectness, the frayed edges & the mix of media you can use.

squares is finished

Squares is finished, it was a pleasure to make - completed last night.  The only fabric I purchased was for the binding.  Everything else as previously mentioned was from the stash, a dent has been made which I'm very happy about.  I decided against more quilting, I think it would have been too much - I'm really happy with the outcome.  The binding was hand finished, I did do stage 1 of the binding with the machine - the machine has this thing behind the foot which feeds the top at the same rate as the bottom making sewing several layers a breeze, no need for a walking foot.  No regrets at all about spending a little more on wool batting, I love the look and feel of the finished product.

I had a helper this morning, bells was keen to get the photos done so it could be put on her bed.  A happy little girl this morning when I told her her new quilt was finished.  "Hurry up mumma I need to put it on my bed now!"

and now flip would like a new quilt.....

soft toy cube

This is for a new little man whose name is Thomas, although he won't be throwing it around just yet - before you know it I think he will.  A big congrats to the 'B' clan, you can see the little fella over here.

This was whipped up last week-end in a few hours, with direction on fabric selection from bells.

sock monkey x 2

 I went to a factory outlet the other day and found some cheap socks for the kiddies, on the back of the Rio pack was this pattern for a sock monkey.  Needless to say I had to make two and here they are.  Both have bits inside out / wrong side out / right way around.  To be honest the first body I did was the wrong way around by accident - never mind, it makes the two a little different and the kiddies know who's is who's.  The buttons I found for the eyes really suit - they were from Spotlight.  I think the socks were specially designed to make the monkey as there are red bits in the heel which make the mouth.  I sewed the tail over the red bits on their bottoms - no explanation necessary...

pfaffing around - flowers in a pot

 

 

 

 

This was so much fun to make, it's just a little collage - 'flowers in a pot'.  All the fabrics are from the squares quilt except for the cotton/linen background.  It measures around 21.5cm x 17cm, lets just say it's not your exact rectangle.  I felt a little inspired as I have booked myself into a fabric collage class at Amitie with Elizabeth Barnett later next month, it should be fun.  It was also a good excuse to whip something up / practice on my new machine - no regrets with that purchase, none at all.