New books, new project.

Among many wonderful gifts that I received for my birthday this year were these two books: "Memorabilia Quilts" from my sister-in-law, and "130 MiniQuilt Blocks" from my clairvoyant friend Sharon. I say clairvoyant, because she seems to read my mind when it comes to finding books for me that I have been eyeing off in bookstores or on the internet! My MIL is in an aged care facility called "Iris Grange", so when I saw this tea towel in a shop about a year ago, I had to buy it! I knew straight away what I wanted to do with it - make a lap quilt or wall hanging using the teatowel as a centrepiece. I'd found a pattern in a magazine for a totebag with an Iris in the middle, and a log cabin design around it, and I cut it out in anticipation of the time when I'd buy the fabrics to start. Of course the tote bag in the pattern was nowhere near the same size, so I had to redesign the whole thing to suit my teatowel. It was a steep learning curve, and I learnt a lot in the process, going over and over my calculations, but I'm pretty sure that I've got it right now. Last week when I went to the Quilt Convention, at the top of my shopping list was 'fabrics to match Iris teatowel'. Here's what I bought:
So in the next week or so, I shall be ironing all the fabrics, cutting VERY carefully, and pinning it all together to see how it looks. Wish me luck!

Replying to the comments on a previous post.

I just discovered that I had six responses to my post about a hand written journal, and I'm chuffed to hear that I'm not alone when it comes to relying on good old pen and paper instead of the computer! Thanks to everyone who left a comment: Joanne, I love your idea of putting little swatches of fabric in the journal, and carrying it with me when I go looking for stuff for my projects. Toni, you are a new visitor to my blog - thanks for dropping by! I visited your blog and was going to comment, but this machine froze just at the wrong moment, so I'm hoping you read this. That craft store you showed on your blog is HUGE!!! I could get happily lost in there for at least a week : - )

Australasian Quilt Convention Melbourne.

Today (Sunday) I went to the Quilt convention with my friend Cheryl. I had about $90 in my wallet, and was determined not to spend any more than that; considerably less hopefully. Well. Pigs might fly. Backwards. Not only did I come home with an empty wallet, but the credit card is considerably higher than it was yesterday : - ( But what a great day we had!! Cheryl and I always argue (not really) over who pays for what, and it boils down to whoever is quicker at the cash register! She marched up to the ticket booth and bought two tickets before I even got there. But when we stopped for coffee I pushed in front of her and paid for our snacks. At the parking paystation, she had the card in her hand and a $20 bill, but it was $24, so I whipped out $4 and put it in the machine. So we kind of shared the cost of being at the convention...
She had excellent control over her wallet, and only bought a couple of items. I had a shopping list of things I wanted for particular projects, and I had no trouble finding them. It was all the extras that did the damage - fabrics, cute buttons, craft glue that is designed to use with paper napkins, and a pack of that fabric paper stuff that you put in your computer printer to print photos on fabric. I need that to make a memory quilt for another friend. But that's another story (see my 'Birthday' post shortly on my other blog). The highlight of the day had to be the Quilt display. As always, I was absolutely blown away. I took heaps of photos, and have posted them on a separate blog here. In the meantime, this is what I bought.
Two raffle tickets for a stunning quilt which I forgot to photograph just in case.
The photo fabric paper stuff.
The special craft glue for paper napkins projects.
Buttons for future projects that I have in mind.
Super-cute kitty fabric!
Japanese fabric that I probably would not have bought, but I needed to use my credit card to buy some stuff for $13, and the stall holder said their minimum EFTPOS sale was $20, so I had to find something else to add to my purchase to make up the total to over $20. (I'd run out of cash by this time).
And these are the fabrics I needed for specific projects.
Blissful browsing! And there's a couple more of these craft fairs coming up this year...

Lucky find in a collectables shop.

I haven't bought anything on eBay for a long time - at least a year! And I very rarely find any linens worthwhile buying in opshops these days, even though I am an opshop addict, and usually visit a couple a week. So I was delighted to find this sweet traycloth in a local 'collectables' shop today for $5.
One would assume with my husband home, recovering from heart surgery, that I would have heaps of time to stitch. Not so. Oh, I've played around with patchwork, and done a bit of stitching, but my heart hasn't really been in it. Still, I haven't been wasting my limited spare time. Like most of you reading this blog, I have a vast pile of books, magazines and miscellaneous articles in folders relating to patchwork, stitching and other crafts. (This is not all of them) It takes forever to find a particular article that I can remember seeing, but not remember where it is. So a while ago, I listed all my magazines, and wrote under each heading a list of the projects in each magazine that I was interested in. These pages got very messy after a while, as I added stuff and crossed out stuff.
A couple of weeks ago, I decided to do something about it. I found a leather covered journal at Savers last year, as good as new, no writing in it at all. I didn't know then what I'd do with it, but I figured it would come in handy. It has! From my tatty lists, I've copied down the information again, one magazine per page of the journal, with specific projects listed underneath, along with reminders for myself about any changes in style or fabric I thought of.
My friend Val saw this yesterday and asked why I didn't set up a spreadsheet or database thing on my computer. Well, several reasons really. Firstly, I don't have the skills to do those things on my computer. All I do is type. I've got Microsoft office, Excel, Word, etc. there somewhere, but I wouldn't have the foggiest how to use them, and by the time I learnt, I will have written up my book! Secondly, to put all the information on the computer, I'd have to drag all the magazines into another room, and switch back and forth between each magazine and the computer, to load all the information. Finally, if I want to find one of my projects, it is so much easier for me to look it up in my little journal, than turn the computer on, log into the relevant program and click around until I find what I want. Also, if the computer crashes (frequently) I wouldn't be able to access the files anyway, and my little journal isn't going anywhere except my craft room. Nuff said?

Scrappy Blocks all finished.

Ken wasn't feeling too good today, so he slept most of the day away, which gave me time to finish my blocks for New Zealand quilts. There was just enough dark blue fabric for me to finish them all, and I'm tickled pink with the result! Here they are all laid out on the floor. I haven't joined them up - I'll leave that to the experts! But I've asked Jean, the lady co-ordinating the quilts effort, if she will send me a photo when they are made up into something.

Quilt blocks for Christchurch.

I laid all my baby blocks out on the floor again last week, to see how they would look if they were joined up. I finally decided they would look better if each block was surrounded by sashing in a neutral colour. When I found a heap of dark blue cotton in my stash (that I'd pulled from the remnants bin at the Guild), I figured it would look well with the brightly colour blocks. I've made up two so far. As this is my first attempt at making blocks out of scraps in this way, they probably aren't perfectly lined up, but I'm hoping the ladies over the Tasman will be able to put them to good use. I'll have eight blocks in total when I've finished. What do you think? Be honest - I want to improve my skills here!
I promised myself I would finish this round robin this year, although I don't think it is on my UFO list, because all it needed was a border around it. Took me six years to get around to doing that border, and I'm happy with it!

Not doing much, but here it is.

Since Ken's heart surgery, I haven't been able to concentrate on much in the way of stitching, but messing around with fabrics is a sure way to relax, I've found! Cruising craft sites on the net is a great way to find freebies and tutorials, and I've printed off stacks of tutorials giving ways to use up small scraps of fabric. This one on "My Current Obsession" goes back to 2007, but is a great way to make up blocks using small bits of material. It is a mindless way to spend time with fabrics, just what I needed over the last few weeks, and I've produced 25 little blocks which I will join to make larger blocks. These will go to a crafter in New Zealand who is making up quilts from donated blocks, to go to victims of the Christchurch earthquake. Here are my baby blocks laid out on the floor. They won't necessarily be joined up in this order.
I've also done a bit more stitching on my NSW Waratah for another group making quilts for Queensland flood/cyclone victims.

Mug Rug.

The things people come up with! I saw a Mug Rug mentioned on somebody's blog, so I followed the links until I found the tutorial. It is quick and easy, a great way to use up small bits of fabric, and is just too darn cute to resist making one immediately! I used scraps of fabric that had teacups and cakes to make my Dresden wedges. Gingham and pink cotton borders, and a plain brown back.

Next small project.

The Queensland floods and cyclone, followed by the New Zealand earthquakes, have galvanised the craft community into action. As with past global catastrophes, quilters and stitchers immediately get busy making things to send to people who have suffered such terrible losses. Helen over at Hugs From Helen has asked her readers to stitch blocks for the Aussie spirits quilts that she has designed, and when the blocks all come back to her, they will be made up into quilts to be raffled to raise funds for Queenslanders. She sends the volunteer stitchers the fabric with the design already printed on it, plus a length of floss which she has selected. So all the blocks are of the same fabric, and using the same coloured thread. Clever and well organised lady! I offered to stitch a block, and Helen sent me this one - NSW with the waratah emblem. I'm anticipating that most of this will be stitched while Ken is in and out of hospital appointments in the coming weeks!

Valentine Biscornu finished.

Worked my little fingers off this weekend to complete the biscornu, and I'm quite satisfied with the result. I was going to add beads, but after going through my stash and laying various beads on the stitching, I just couldn't find anything to suit, so I just put the heart shaped button on the front, and an ordinary little red button on the back. Hope Kim likes it!

My current stitching project...

...is the Valentine biscornu for Kim in the USA. Today I finished the backstitch border around the second piece, so all I have to do now is sew the two pieces together, stuff them, and post the result to Kim. It is easier to photograph a 3-dimensional obect before it becomes 3 dimensional. And I just remembered that I'd promised myself I would add some beads to it. So it will be a few days yet.

Not my work, but well worth seeing!

I was visiting my friend Val last week, and her MIL (who is living there) showed me some of the tapestry she worked many years ago. It is actually petit point, and is so beautifully done that I asked if I could photograph it for my blog. I don't think she understood what a blog was, but when I said it would be on the Internet, along with her photo, I think she will get a kick out that! Val wouldn't let me take HER photo, but I've got other pics of her, so I let her get away with it this time! The framing sets both of these off perfectly, don't you agree?
This is Mrs Paulette Forbes, the lady who stitched these pictures.

Works in Progress.

I vowed I was not going to do this again (work on more than one project at a time), but I can't help myself. I committed myself to an exchange on Stitchin Fingers, which was silly of me, but as I initiated the exchange, I felt obliged to be in it. I'm swapping biscornus with Kim in the USA, and this is where I'm up to so far. I'm stitching on 28ct linen for a change. Pam K. sent me a heap of hand dyed linens ages ago, and I chose a pink piece for this project.
This is as far as I've got with one of my UFOs on this year's list. I've only been stitching it when I am in a waiting room somewhere, because it is portable, and I don't have to refer to a pattern. I've finished the two matching doilies, but won't show them here until I've finished this centrepiece.
I saw this design on another Stitching forum I belong to, and purchased three copies, as it is a fund raiser for Qld. flood and cyclone victims. It is so cute, and only $5, and I was so distressed by the catastrophe in Qld, I felt impelled to start work on it straight away. If anyone wants to buy one, you can contact the designer Carrol Nielsen at her website www.carrolsx-stitch.com

Painted and stitched picture.

After messing around with this for the past few weeks, adding stitches here and there, changing a few colours that I wasn't happy with, I suddenly decided I'd had enough of it. The end result is not quite what I wanted, but if I spend any more time fussing over it, nothing else will get done. So I found a suitable frame in my box of opshop frames (bought for the purpose of framing my own work cheaply!), and tried my picture in it. It is just a temporary job for now, as I haven't laced the back of the fabric properly, but I'll do that in due course.

Fabric postcard arrives from U.K. at last!

Sheila in Scotland posted her fabric postcard to me well before Christmas last December, and I can only imagine that it has been caught up with masses of mail delayed by the severe weather conditions in Europe at that time. It arrived today, and I just love it! The technique reminds me a bit of what I did with the painted fabric workshop at our Guild; Sheila as used a piece of fabric with a snow scene printed on it (patchwork fabric?), and she has embellished it with beads, stitching and bling. Gorgeous!

Hospital stitching.

I spent most of yesterday at the Austin hospital, while Ken had an angiogram. In the recovery room, family members are allowed to stay with the person they accompanied. It is one big room divided into cubicles by curtains. We had to be there by 8 am, and most of the morning is spent waiting until it is your turn to be 'done'. Ken went into surgery at 11.15 and came out at 12.30. I went off to have lunch with a friend and got back about 1 pm. I stayed until around 3 pm, but when I was told he had to stay until 6.30, I decided to go home and pick him up later. I had better things to do than hang around for another three hours with a woozy half asleep husband!
So in the four to five hours I was with Ken, I managed to get a fair bit of stitching done. I took my vintage peacock 3 piece Duchess set to work on, as it is has been on my UFO list for ages, and I keep putting it aside for something more interesting. Yesterday was a good day for simple stitching which didn't need a pattern to follow. I finished the two small doilies, but haven't finished the centrepiece yet, although now I've made a start on it, I'm determined to keep at it until it is complete.
The painted fabric scene I started at the EGV workshop is just about finished, so I'll scan that in the next day or so and post a pic here.

EGV Summer School.

The Embroiderers Guild of Vic. closes down over January, but runs a Summer School for the members, who sign up for it early in December. I decided to enrol in one of this year's workshops, and now wish I'd joined up for more! I thoroughly enjoyed my two days at the Guild with tutor Wanda, and a dozen other ladies. Our class was called "Embroidered Gardens or Landscapes", in which we learnt how to apply paint to fabric, then embroider details of a scene on to it. I have messed around with painting calico, and stitching random patterns on it, but this was a chance to learn to do it properly.
Wanda supplied the fabric (Clydella) and the paints, and we had to bring a photo or picture, our threads and sewing necessities. I couldn't find a photo of a garden or landscape that appealed to me, so I took this picture from a Japanese calendar. Which I folded in half to use this side of the picture.
The first step was to draw a sketch of how we wanted our picture to look, defining the background, midground and foreground. Then we wet our piece of fabric, and applied paint in the colours and areas we'd chosen to match our pictures. This was then dried with a hairdrier, and ironed to set the colour. This took about an hour, with much laughter as we moved around the table with tubes of paint and checked each other's fabrics. This is what mine looked like: The next step was choosing the threads to match the painted fabric, as well as extra colours needed to embroider our pictures.
Wanda showed us how to start stitching the background, and most of us completed that by the end of the first day. Mine shows the mountains in the background and the outlines of the ravine and trees on the right.
The next day, Wanda looked over our work and made suggestions for added stitching where she thought it would enhance the picture. By midmorning, I had filled the trees at the top with French knots, and couched threads down for the tree trunks at the foot of the picture.
We moved onto stitching the midground area, and by the end of the day, most of us were finishing off the foreground and highlights of our pictures. During the afternoon, Wanda also gave us a demonstration of how to frame our work, from stretching the fabric over board and lacing it, to selecting a frame. All in all, a very useful and enjoyable workshop.
By 3 pm, this is where I was at. All this needs to finish it is the foliage on the trees at the bottom, plus a few more seed stitches and lines on the ravine to fill in the blank spaces.
Our class room. Wanda has done many of these embroidered pictures over the years, and had about twenty on display to inspire us. These are just two of them.