Seaweed

 The seaweed wreath is coming along quite well.

It is a little hard to see the detail in the pics but I am building it up with yarns and beads and anything else that comes to mind.

 When creating something like this I love to have lots of options available.

 

It is rather messy but it all goes back in the basket at the end of the session.

sketch box

Well this is a productive week so far.  I have managed to paint more window frames and clear out our storage area.  Having off site storage is very handy but you keep so much junk!

Anyway tonight I have spent some more time on the box that I started a few weeks ago.

It is done now. 

I think.  

I hope. 
 
This will be great to hold a small sketch book and pencils.

I have another box on its way already so that will be tomorrow night's project.

In the meantime two of my grandkids are blogging.
Matthew here 
and Ally here

Spotlight End of Bolt Sale

Today I decided to take advantage of the Spotlight End of Bolt Sale.  30% off if you buy whatever is on the bolt. 

I am planning some curtains and cushions for our downstairs room: the room where I sew and work on creating and where I mind the twins.  

I am so pleased with my purchases as now I have a clear idea of the colour scheme of the room and can undertake the sewing in the winter.  Meantime the walls need painting


 As I was having a last look around I saw this Pellon Rainbowspun which I think is the same as Lutrador.  Anyway each pack has 10 sheets 60cm x 60cm for $8, which I think is irresistable value so I bought aqua, green and yellow.  Just for the stash.

  

Fabric finds

Over the past few weeks I have been picking up some lovely pieces at the local op shops.


These doileys are old and a bit worn but they look great. 

 The embroidery is very sweet and the edging is beautiful.

 This pretty supper cloth offers Greetings from Australia and lovely floral design.

 The linen in this large cloth is in good condition, the design is simple but striking.  













 

 I couldn't resist this piece of beaded emerald green satin.

And this pretty floral poly fabric would make a lovely summer blouse.



I am amazed at how much linen and fabric there is out there in the op shops at present.

Crazy patchwork & machine embroidery

I am currently working on some challenges & swaps for the Embroiderers Guild UK Forum and so cannot show what I am doing until these projects end.

In the meantime I thought I would show you a cushion I made quite some time ago.

 The fabrics and ribbons I used are some favourite scraps and left overs: the burgundy and grey work well together and the ribbon and lace complement the fabrics.

The rose in the centre and the one in the right hand corner were stitched with my Janome memory craft 300E.
I had stitched the fabrics together; some by hand and some by machine and then hooped the fabric up to create the roses.

I then added lace, ribbons, buttons and hand stitching.


I am going to investigate the use of the embroidery machine in future projects.  The use of machine generated embroidery is often criticized as "not creative":  I hope to show that this is not a valid criticism.
 

PLAYTIME IN THE WORK ROOM

I have been revisiting my scraps and left overs lately and I have to admit to having difficulty throwing anything out.   Instead i have been stitching tiny scraps to small scaps to larger leftovers to see how they work together.  Once they are of a useful size I can fold them and put them away for later.

I am quite happy with the results so far. 

 

  In the meantime I have bought three more pots of fabric dye and of course they needed to be used immediately.

I will post some pics of what I dyed once the camera, fabric & computer are all in the same place.

 Isn't this a perfect kitchen: not so good for cooking but great for playing with colour.

CHENILLE WORK - BACK TO STITCHING AT LAST

At last I have found some time to stitch.  I have been wanting to do some chenille work for some time and today I managed to make a start.  This particular technique is great for using fabrics that you don't like so much.  You know, things you bought in a sale, thought you would use.  These fabrics pictured are some that I am really tired of.

I chose 4 diferent pieces of fabric (I will use one twice).

The green one is for the top and the red is next.  I used a second piece of the red as the last layer in the sandwich:  each piece except the last is facing up.  


I pinned the five layers together ready to stitch.

I attached the walking foot 
to my machine - this has been set aside because I have been putting a zip in a bag and had to use the zipper foot.

After stitching around the edges the pins came out and I marked diagonal lines on the top of the fabric, ready to stitch.



Now I have to make lunch so will show more of this later.

I also have some bits and bobs in dye at present.  Plenty to enjoy.

ANOTHER NEEDLEBOOK

 This is my December needlebook.  It was very much a fun project.  I was given some scaps of fabric & ribbon by a fellow embroiderer: her project wasn't working out so out came the stitches.   I cannot waste such bits and pieces so they were added to my stash of similar scaps.

 I decided to create some fabric using my felting/embellishing machine.  I started with the scraps and ribbons and added some other fabrics and fibres.  Having done that I fused some more scraps and some chiffon from an old scarf to the base fabric: after that I applied the heat gun and then fused some tulle on top.  To break up the "neat" look I took to it with the soldering iron, just opening up a few areas to show 

 the original colours.  I also added a bit of gold foil to lighten it up . Then I stitched some green braid on each end:  I was going to line the inside but I realised the "wrong side" of the fabric looked really cool so I did some free machine stitching through the whole lot and 

then stitched in some felt
and here it is - my final needlecase for the year.

Oh I also stitched some soft braid trim to the upper and lower edge and then painted some liumiere metallic paint to seal it. 

It looks a bit dodgy but it actully feels really nice to use.  

ANOTHER PROJECT FINISHED

Yipppeee, I have finished another needlebook.  This is one I have really enjoyed making.  The original fabric had been sent to me.  I cut some "windows in the fabric and inserted another fabric

 in the space.  Onto this fabric I added different elements: some threads, some
other fabric and then covered them with organza and secured the lot with free machine stitching.

To make the needlebook I lined the fabric with some batting and then some fabric I had in my stash.  I made a cord to finish the edges and used some pink felt to accomodate needles.  The edges looked a bit bland so I stitched on some lace that I had dyed some time ago.  This seemed to finish it off nicely.  To fasten the "book" I made a cord on my machine and that just completed the project.

Now to finish the ironing!!!!

Playing with Colour

 I have been playing around with colour and prints - the background fabric is some I dyed recently and you have to agree it is "interesting".  It is also very difficult to put to any good use.  
The printed fabric is some I purchased some time ago at a patchwork shop.  It is a design registered by an aboriginal artist although the fabric itself is made in asia somewhere.  Our textiles industry is all but dead here, saddly.  Anyway I have not been able to figure out a use for it and the dozen or so other prints I bought at the time.  Anyway as it turned out as I was looking through my stash this came to hand just as I was thinking about the dyed fabric and I thought it would be an ideal combination.  The next thing was to decide how to use it.  Out with the scissors and the sewing machine and this is what I have done so far.  I want to add some beads or buttons and some stitching and see where it ends up.  Your comments or suggestions would be most welcome.

WHAT A MUDDLE

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The last few days I seem to have made more mess than anything else.  I have been going through my stash and and ufo's .

I called at a local gift shop and after a bit of a chat it was decided that I could display some of my 'creations' in the shop with the hope of selling some.  Very exciting!!!!

It  is just a small shop and the area is not very well-to-do but you never know where it will lead.

Any way I found this little purse that I made a while ago and a book cover created this earlier this year.  This afternoon  I started putting together some ideas for the shop.  I have lots of  pieces of hand dyed fabric. 

Of course I am not sure what they will be but I have a few ideas.

The colours are lovely & bright.

Colouring my world

I woke up yesterday feeling like I simply could not keep up with all I need to do on a daily basis.  I planned to have a day out with a friend who is visiting from the UK and felt a bit overwhelmed.  Well in order to make things even worse I decided I simply had to dye some fabric - right away.  So first thing in the morning I soaked some fabric in soda ash and water.

I left it to soak for the day while I was out and when I arrived home I squeezed the excess liquid out of each piece and put them  into  plastic zip lock bags. I had some procion dye (powder) that Linda had given me so I mixed some up in a plastic jug with hot water.  I don't measue anything much and don't record what I have done.  This is not a problem as I don't want to repeat anything anyway.  Well, that's my excuse!!  As I mixed each colour I poured some onto the fabric in the bags.  Again, this was done in a fairly hapharzard way.  

Once I was happy with the colours I had produced I sealed up the bags, giving them a bit of a massage to distribute the colour.  This was done fairly gently as I didn't want to create an even distribution of colour.

These stayed in the basin overnight to ensure a reasonable depth of colour.

 This morning I took each piece of fabric out of the bags and rinsed under cold water until the water was clear.  This is the most time consuming part of the whole process as each piece needs to be thoroughly rinsed seperately .

Once that was done the pieces that were of similar colours i.e. reds, browns, oranges went into the washing machine and then into the dryer and finally ironed.

I was very pleased with the results - the fabric I used was some old calico curtain lining and some old sheet.  They are perfect for this sort of dying and take up the colour really well.  I also dyed some lace with the fabric.

So as you see, the colours are terrific and will be handy for crazy patchwork and the ironing and the rest of the housework is still waiting for me.!!!!  Best of all I have really enjoyed doing this.