January 2013 – 3and3quarters

Love Affairs

I love Hexies. There hasn’t been a day that’s gone by this year that I haven’t made one; I’ve either been tracing and cutting out cardboard templates, raiding my scrap fabric boxes for usable sized fabrics or scrupulously sewing a little hexie to another, creating yet another project to soothe my hand sewing lust.

And so, for no reason at all, I’ve made this Hexie Pillow…

Maybe it was my subconscious telling me to add something new to my bedroom décor, because it seems to fit in perfectly with my other pillows that adorn my bed…

Ahhh…so tactile and pretty. That’s the way I like it!

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I love London. Although I’ve never been there (and am quite desperate to go!) I seem to have built an odd obsession for this ancient town. (See my Pinterest board for proof!) I think it’s a mixture of its offbeat and quirky history, inspiring landmarks, the creative diversity of its people as well as the endless possibilities the city seems to hum that attracts me. Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong country – missing out on true creative opportunities that would allow myself to grow as an artist. (PS. I’m a true whinger at heart and often take for granted what a beautiful and lucky country that I do actually live in!)

So to soothe my achy-breaky-London-heart I stitched this very appropriate embroidery…

And so I leave you with this thought that presently plagues my mind!

http://pinterest.com/pin/31384528625298548/

Happy Sewing!

Introducing: Colourplay (nee: 5 HTP Squared Quilt)

Colourplay – a nifty new name that I have christened this latest quilt with…

I think it fits the bill, don’t you think?

I didn’t have the patience to iron it before I took these piccys or even to trim some of the stray threads hanging off it – but I’ll deal with that when I begin to quilt it.

It took a little under a week to sew all 122 squares together. I battled through 46C heat one day and ferocious thunderstorms the next, all the while ensuring each square was in the correct position, each seam was pressed the right way and that I had enough space on my living room floor as the quilt grew bigger and bigger every time I finished each section.

Okay…

Reader Beware: this next paragraph highlights dangerously the quilting geek and the true simpleton that I really am!

As I was constructing this quilt together I took simple pleasure in the way that the seams both front and back were falling together and marrying-up to each other…

See here this photo:

My heart strangely skipped a beat when I saw all these seam lines on the back of the quilt joining together in a harmonious yet quiet way, all to achieve the clean and crisp surface of the blocks coming together.

It’s these simple moments, these glimpses of something great coming together that make my tragic little heart swell with pride and happiness, initiating my love for patchwork and quilting!

This is my other favourite…

Yeah, total geek I know!

Moving on from that embarrassing inner confession, I’ve begun my first embroidery projects for 2013 starting with this darling Bunny, embroidered on vintage cotton linen…

Currently I’m working on a design of a red phone booth (also on vintage cotton linen) synonymous of any London street, thus suppressing and soothing my obsession of all things London-slash-Britishy!

I’ve also been playing around with a very rough stitch sampler in an attempt to stretch my range of stitching skills from just back-stitch and slip-stitch.

I slipped and fumbled through a cable-stitch, chain-stitch, opened chained-stitch, a twisted chain-stitch, couching, chevron and herringbone stitch as well as my favourite – French knots…

My handy guide to accomplishing these tricky stitches was The Stitch Bible written by Kate Haxell who trained in the master art of embroidery at the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) in Surrey, UK.

The RSN offers my dream course to study – a degree in Hand Embroidery! I would jump on a plane this instant if I was a millionaire and could afford to live and study over in the UK! Do dreams ever really do come true??

Anyway….

Back to reality and back to my Colourplay quilt – hopefully by the end of the week I’ll be in the processes of buying some batting and suitable backing fabric to begin quilting. I just hope the last of the extreme hot-hot weather has ended and that I won’t bake under a-175cm-squared-half-finished quilt!

Happy Sewing! xx

A Convenient Side Project

Hexies: they’re the most wonderful hand and head project to under take during the insanely hot summer days we’ve been experiencing here in Sydney!

Over the past week or so I think I’ve churned out at least 150ish of these little six-edge beauties! This little robot hexie just has to be my favourite…

This was the only scrap of this fabric I could find anywhere – so it’s rare one-of-kind!

So through 40C+ heat today, I raided my stash for all of my pretty polka-dotty fabrics to begin a new project (involving hexies) that has been swirling around in my mind!

Hopefully it won’t side-track me too much from my 5 HTP Squared Quilt (see previous blog) which is ready to be pieced together, thus finishing the quilt top!

So, I’m keeping my self wonderfully busy – and cool during the hot sultry weather!

Happy Sewing! xx

Whoa! Whatta Scorcha!

As I swelter in the hot days of an Australian Summer, my ever-continuous need to keep my hands (and head) busy with a sewing project hasn’t let up!

With no ‘official’ quilt on the go at the moment, my interest was taken by a quilt that caught my eye in the latest issue of a quilting magazine I’m subscribed to. Designed and made by Jen Carlton Bailly, you can read her own blog post about this quilt here!

With an ever-growing hankering to tackle a quilt that deals with curved lines as well as with just solids, this pattern came by me just at the right time!

So with a wicked bout of the summer flu, struggling courageously through 35-40C heat and calming an obsessive need to watch all five seasons of The Big Bang Theory back-to-back, I plunged into cutting out 120 concave and convex pieces of fabrics….

To add to this, I’ve been feverishly creating hexies out of the fabric scraps to feature on the back of the finished quilt….ahhh heaven!!

And thus my creative journey for 2013 has begun!

Only slightly excited!!

Happy Sewing! xx

A Merry-Merry Handmade Christmas: Part Two

With all the festive season celebrations now at an end, I’ve finally found the time (and the energy!) to share the continued triumphs of my Handmade Christmas venture!

Working my little fingers to the bone right up to midnight Christmas Eve/Christmas Day Morning, I finished everything – all the while singing merrily to the Christmas Carols sing-along on TV – and savoured the sweet taste of victorious accomplishment!

For my two older nephews I designed and made them differing Ben 10 softies…

The bigger/taller one belongs to my oldest nephew, Caleb, who is five turning six…

While the smaller squarer one was made for Ayden who is two turning three…

I think they liked them. They seemed pretty pleased when they ripped open their parcels!!

For my youngest nephew Noah, who had only just turned one on the 22^nd December…here covered in chocolate cake!

I made him a sweet little lion softie with ribbons acting as a mane slash taggie-thingy which he can chew and explore to his hearts content.

Inspiration for this one came from Pinterest – it seemed simple enough to make and was age appropriate – he can drool, chew, throw and sit all over it!.

He also received a framed Noah’s Ark embroidery which I very conveniently finished at midnight Christmas Eve. (Pattern found in Google search)

Continuing on with the theme of Pinterest inspiration, I made and gave my second eldest brother Graham (who is 29 and a diehard Harry Potter fan like myself) a Harry Potter theme pillow.

He liked it, thank goodness!! Brothers are always hard to buy/plan for!

My parents appreciated their gift – another embroidery. This one was made using only one DMC colour – Navy Blue and reflects my parent’s daily love for cups of tea! (Pattern found in Google search)

For my oldest brother and sister-law I designed and made them a sweet little welcome sign intended to be hung on their front door.

I used some of my favourite fabrics from this year to make it all the while adding my own modern sense of style to it.

Each gift was wrapped in brown paper with either festive ribbon or string tied around it – for example….

And so that was my 2012 Handmade Christmas. At times it was challenging. At others it was just simply me in my element, letting the creative-juices flow.

Will I do it all again this year? My answer at this very moment is a judgmental no. But give it a few months and I may change my mind!

I do truly hope you all had a wonderful and safe Christmas season and I wish you all the very best in this New Year!

Here’s to another creative year of new projects, challenges and triumphs!

Happy Sewing! xx

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