Tag: Embroidery

In love with progress!

I love a good dose of progress in any way possible and the past few days have been full of it!

I’ve come to the point where I’ve almost, just almost, finished the Butterfly cot quilt and I’m so-so-so-so-so happy with it!

While finishing this little beauty, I tried out two techniques that I’ve always shied away from: spray basting and free-hand quilting (stippling).

First of all: I thought I’d give spray basting a go as I knew that safety-pins would constantly get in the way while I was trying to free-hand quilt. So I bought a small can, sprayed away (following the instructions of course!) and was dumb-founded with the instant results I got. My god, the stuff truly does work!

It’s not too sticky but sticky enough to hold all three layers to one another, it’s repositionable and it doesn’t gum up the sewing machine needle. These were my fears of using spray baste but I was happily proven wrong. Plus it only took like two seconds to baste the whole quilt together compared to a few hours rolling around on the floor, pinning and stabbing yourself while tackling all three layers together.

The next technique I successfully conquered was free-hand quilting or stippling. At first I was hopeless and was having terrible issues with the tension – all of my stitches were too loose and it looked horrible and messy. But with YouTube and the Missouri Star Quilt Company to the rescue, I was able to remedy my troubles by changing the tension (very high or tight!) to achieve beautiful, clean and crisp stitching. Here’s the link to the YouTube clip http://youtu.be/yGNOS5JQHYQ Check it out as they go over how to spray baste, set up your machine for stippling and do a little demonstration. They do talk a lot, but it’s helpful if you don’t know what you’re doing!

Here is the quilt on it way! A minute into it I had to stop to have a look and see if I was doing it right, and HUZZAH, it was working!!

Now I’m not going to show you a whole finished look of the quilt just yet – I want to wait until it’s reached the ‘mum-to-be’ before I do that. But here are a few sneaky-peeks!

So from one quilt, onto another…. Today I begun cutting and piecing together another project for a friend who bought some adorable Gumnut Babies fabric. I’ve had these fabrics sitting in my to-do pile for the last 3-4 months, so I thought it was about time to get it started! This lovely lady has been ever so patient and tolerant with my poor time management skills!

Here’s a peek at the fabrics just before they were pieced together this morning.

I also managed to finish my babushka embroidery that I started over my horrible sickie weekend.

It’s just so sweet and colourful. I’m not too sure whether I’ll just frame it or if I’ll add a border around it to make it into a little wall-hanging. I’ve got some adorable babushka print fabric I’ve had sitting in my stash for a gazillion years that I’m just itching to use!

Last but not least, two days ago I decided to quit my job and take up quilting, patchwork, crafting, and blogging as my ‘full-time’ career. It was decision that I didn’t make lightly but felt that it was a now or never kind of feeling/situation. Quilting is my life and my deepest passion and I couldn’t think of anything else in this world that I could commit myself to to make me happy and content in life.

I have sat down and written out a full list of goals I want to achieve and know that I will accomplish them with hard work and dedication along with support and encouragement from my family and friends. I’ll also be taking this time to finish my Fine Arts degree with the plan to go on to studying Education so I can teach my craft to others!

So that’s been my week: busy, stressful, teary, successful, content and intense! Hmm.

Happy Sewing! xx

The Greatest of Intentions

So I had the greatest of intentions to commit myself to my sewing machine and to projects that need to be finished ASAP this weekend. However, as the way life goes, I got sick and was lounge ridden with near-to-no energy, killer sore throat and the worst headache that could ever be ached.

But I did mange to make myself do some sort of sewing and made my nimble fingers start a new embroidery.

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This is what I managed. I’ve mixed it up from my usual use of back-stitch and decided to chain-stitch the main design and satin-stitch the eyes and other roundish/circular features.

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Therefore I stayed on the lounge all day, omitting toilet breaks and panadol stops, and watched a few seasons of Friends – one of my favourite TV shows – and the last two Harry Potter movies (Deathly Hallows Part I & II). Both of these definitely cheered me up in some kind of way but didn’t help me getting any of my quilting projects done! Fingers crossed I can find some time during the week to get the things that should’ve been done, on their way for this following weekend.

 Happy Sewing! xx

 

A Perfectly Honest Blog….

Okay, I need to be perfectly honest. I haven’t done any real sewing (that by which I mean on my sewing machine) in almost – get ready for it – 3 weeks! *I feel a fainting spell coming on* As I sit and type, I can’t quite believe it’s been that long since I’ve sat down in front of my machine, heard it’s sweet beeps as I switch it on and watch as it chugs along harmoniously while stitching…

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Aww…poor thing. I must take time and sew this weekend. I promise on all that is good and fabrickey in this world that I will! And I must because I have so many projects that need to be finished and started! Arggh!

So, what have I been doing if I haven’t been quilting, just like this blog says I do?

Well, I’ve just completed my 3rd week of my new job, my first full-time position (and no, I don’t work for Moda Fabrics – I wish!)

and am quickly realising that it doesn’t give me very much time to get all my projects done and sorted. However, that doesn’t mean I’m not doing any sewing at all…

I’m patiently, very very patiently, appliquéing the Butterfly Baby Quilt,

while finishing my Hexie rows ready for appliqué

and I’ve started a new embroidery which I devote my hour-long lunch break to. I find that I must do something (even though very small) to occupy my hands and soothe my daily crafty needs…

So not much, I know. I admit I do feel a little lost and sad that I haven’t been cutting fabric, piecing, pressing and quilting very much lately. It’s as though an invisible wall has been put up between me and my sewing desk and I can’t access it due to lack of time, lack of energy as well as a lack of inspiration – which is funny to admit to actually as I always have new ideas exploding at the back of my head. I research quilt and textile artists all day long at work and have loads of inspiration pumped into me daily. I itch so badly for home so I can get stuck into planning, cutting, sewing, pressing and that wave of instant satisfaction!! And yet, when I do get home, all thoughts and feelings leave my head; I’m distracted by dinner (yum!), the television, people and sleep. What about the weekends? So far they’ve been jammed pack full of events now that I have them work-free. Bad excuse? Yes. And also no. But I have come to the conclusion that this Saturday (after a much needed workout at the gym!!) is my Sewing Saturday, my Craftinoon, my one-day quilting retreat! Yeah!

Talking about inspiration still, I’ve been pinning a whole heap of stuff on my Pinterest boards this week – I swear I’m living vicariously through this website! – I can not express just how addictive it is to scroll through other people boards or simple word searches and discover little jems of inspiration! I’ve started two new boards Art Quilts (obviously devoted to the brilliance of Art Quilts) and Keep Calm – a board dedicated to…

As well as to some splendid parody’s…

I bid my final farewells to my Spotlight friends last Friday and received one of the most loveliest and personal presents I think I will ever receive in my life. My beautiful department manager Kerri, made me the most wonderful memory card/book that was impressively scrapbooked with photos, hand written messages from team mates, arty stickers, British bunting and accessories, buttons, ribbons and other sewing relating items.

It’s very easy to say that I love it and am truly honoured to receive something so lovingly made!! Thankyou Kerri!! I was also spoiled with a very generous gift card to one of my favourite ever department stores along with the sweetest High Tea party kit (Very convenient as I’m organising a High Tea party for my 25th birthday! Yay!) Thankyou to everyone at Spotlight Mt Druitt!!

Lastly I would like to finish up with this awesome stitchery from Radical Cross Stitch which sums up life I think…

Happy Sewing!! xx

 

Hexi Fever and Scrappy Memories….

Argh! Hexi Fever has arrived at my house and there’s no cure! I’ve cut out over 100 hexi’s in the past 12 hours (with more to come!) and have got them ready for some good basting. This, by the way, is all for an unpredicted, self-indulgent and slightly crazy Scrap Hexi Quilt I’ve got in my mind to complete.

Who knows why I’ve gravitated to this technique so quick and easily. I think it grabs me as I get to work so finely with my hands, to simply stitch with a needle and thread and finally have a reason to rummage through my scrap tubs – just the thought of it makes me giddy with excitement!

Going through one’s scrap tub is like a walk down memory lane. You discover fabric remnants from long past quilts you’ve made for family and friends, tragic remains of projects that went totally wrong along with that once favourite fabric you used over and over and over again only to cast away it’s skeletal remains to the bottom – long forgotten. The projects that you vowed to make one day are trudged back up into focus when you find that one fabric you planned to use. Words like ‘Oh yeah! I totally forgot about that one!’  Or ‘Oh! I used to LOVE this fabric!’ escape from your mouth, eyes wide opened with excitement!

Then comes the discovery of the abandoned mistakes. These little numbers are usually hid at the bottom; HST gone wrong, Pinwheel blocks that look more like a Drunkard Path, attempted curved blocks puckered and misshaped and left over applique pieces that didn’t make the final cut. One can learn of the Quilter’s journey from their scrap tub – the years of learning from mistakes, reminiscing over that one quilt that could never be made again, that other quilt that tested your patience like non-other and then there are those special projects that you knew would light up that one person’s life because you made it specially for them. Now that’s the best memory and feeling one can gain as a Quilter….

A few sneaky peeks of a few special projects on the way….

First is the Butterfly Cot Quilt I’m making for a friend. This is the central panel or block of the quilt and everything is sort of being constructed from and around it.

Hand embroidered, the pattern is from an awesome book by Aimee Ray called Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection. It’s the perfect book for those who want to start stitching cutie little projects for their kids or add some whimsical touches of embroidery to home décor items, clothes or gifts. It comes with a CD-ROM that has all the patterns on it ready to be printed off along with some sweet and easy projects to make.

These next sneaky peeks are some Embroidery pieces for a few very special people in my life who have nurtured and encouraged my love and passion for quilting and whom I respect and will miss very much. One is half way completed the other is next!

Both designs I found on Urban Threads who have one of the most amazing online libraries of embroidery designs I’ve ever discovered. Plus I just love just how funky and contemporary they are! I have so many designs sitting in my to-do tray it’s not funny! I think I’ll be an old woman of like 96 before I reach the end!

Last, but not least, I’m drawing up and finalising my quilt design for an Australian Quilters Guild Quilt Challenge: 2012 Under 35’s Quilt Competition How Does Your Garden Grow. I’m basing it off a beautiful flower I had growing all over the summer months.

I was drawn to the colour and lines that this little guy has and plan to make the quilt based around a colour wheel constructed design. Can’t wait to get started!

Oh, can’t forget the Regeneration: Contemporary Quilt Textiles 2012 Exhibition starting this weekend! ‘The exhibition showcases some of the best work to be seen in the art quilt world. It will be an opportunity, not only see the finished artwork, but in most cases, to also see the processes used by the artists to achieve their vision and response to the theme ‘Regeneration’, via individual display boxes. This will include the artists’ sources of inspiration, photos, sketches, samples of fabrics and techniques.’ It’s open free to the public from 27 April to 4 June 2012 at the Manly Art Gallery & Museum. Yay! Can’t wait!

Happy Sewing Friends xx

 

 

New Projects, Rain & Green Tea

Right now, here in Sydney Australia, it’s the middle of summer. And yet, today outside my window, it’s pissing down rain! And has been all day!

This is my backyard pool. So alone. So deserted. So abandoned. *Sigh*

But, with a lemon green tea steaming away on my left, Daniel Merriweather’s Love and War album playing on itunes, let’s blog!

Two new projects are on their way…

First. A much overdue promised lap quilt to my best friend Dan. She gave me a great list of inspirations and themes she would like and it’s been fun and wonderfully tricky to figure out the best path to take. In amongst my piles and piles of fabric I have almost a full bolt of this wonderful retro cherry fabric which is just Dan all over and have always wanted to make her something with it the first time I ever saw it! I decided to teamed it up with some awesome coordinating spot fabrics; black spots with cream background and white pinspots with red background. I think the diference in the size of the spots will add character and dimension to the over all quilt top. (Plus I love putting contrasting prints like together – it’s very contemporary and modern at the moment). So at the moment I have only made a ‘demo’ eight-pointed star block, that will eventually become apart of the quilt, just to make sure the fabrics work well together. I think I’m onto a winner!

Second. Not only do I LOVE quilting but I’m a big fan of embroidery. Now, to clear the air, I’m not a big lover of crossstitch, but projects more like needle work and such stuff. Embroidery like this…

This one is a personal favourite and have terribly procratinated about getting it framed… I used almost a blood red DMC thread (two strands) on a medium weighted homespun-cross-denim type of fabric which has a fantastic texture to it.

This one is a just a sampler I’m constantly playing around with, perfecting newly learned stitches and brushing up on old ones… Here I’ve just simply used a mix colour pallete of DMC threads on natural coloured homespun.

And finally this one is the new project. Not sure for who or what yet. I just had it saved on my USB stick and came across it the other day and just fell in love with it. He’s such a cutie! Again I’m using natural coloured homespun and have matched two shades of browns for the body and facial features along witha vibrant orange and yellow as a contrasting colour in the mane. I’m so eager to get it finished!

So there we are for now. My green tea has been drunk and my Daniel Merriweather album finished after the second time around.

And, yes, it’s still raining….

P.S. A wonderful package came in the mail today – NEW FABRIC!!

I discovered a new Australian based online fabric store called Duckcloth. They have the most delightful and sweet quilting fabrics that I could never get at work. I was just like a kid at Christmas; ripped the packaging open in one swift tear and ohh-ed and ahh-ed at the wonderful delight inside. Plus, I got an extra matching cut of fabric from a particular range of fabric I bought for free!! SCORE!!

Another great Australian based online fabric store is Kelani Fabric Obsession. They provide fast, FREE delievery anywhere in Australia and have fantastic fabric for quilting, home decorating, kids prints and feature excellent Australian based textile/fabric artists like Saffron Craig and Aunty Cookie. Safe to say I’m a big fan! Check it out!