Month: May 2008

craft, crochet, miscellaneous, op-shopping, sewing

The op shop gods were smiling

Rather than go to Magnolia Square on Thursday and look at things that I couldn’t afford to buy, I decided to go op-shopping.  And the op shop gods were smiling on me!

A vintage sheet to add to the fat quarters I’m sending off to the vintage sheet patchwork swap; some buttons; vintage hand-embroidered linens that will become part of clothing or a bag; a pillowcase that will become yet another pillowcase dress; extremely old knitting/crochet books; and a girls dress pattern that I’m sure I remember from my childhood.  Mum, did you make me a dress from this pattern?  The one with the short sleeves?  But the most exciting find of the day was this:

A complete set of Golden Hands craft magazines!  Oh joy oh rapture.  They are from the early seventies – Mum had a set when I was a child, and it went off to an op shop somewhere about ten years ago after I reassured Mum that “no, I won’t want these”.  Well, fast-forward ten years and yes, I do want these!  I had a look through a set at Brown Owls last week and realised what a fantastic resource they are.  I was absurdly excited to find them in op shop number three (of six for the morning) for the grand total of $12.

Clare was most excited with my other (unphotographed) op shop find – a pair of Barbie roller-skates for $5.  She has barely had them off her feet since.  I am also very proud of her – she wore her patch at school for two hours on Friday.  It is proving difficult to get enough hours of patch wearing done with only before and after school, so I suggested that she could take her patches to school and wear them there too if she wanted to – and she did.  What maturity for a five year old.  Thank you also for the lovely comments about Clare’s glasses and eye patch – they are all very touching and much appreciated.

by thornberry
craft, miscellaneous, musings, sewing

Fabric food

As you can all tell, life has got in the way of sewing and craft in recent weeks.  I’m back in paid work two days per week, and between hubby’s new business, old business, and the kids, I’ve really only had time to dream about the things that I’d like to create.  Apologies also to all those people whose blogs I normally comment on but appear to be ignoring at the moment – I’m not really ignoring you, I’m still trying to keep up with your doings, but something has had to give and rather than it be my sanity (although some people would say that went a while ago) my internet time has become a little more limited.

But of course, I haven’t been able to resist doing a little bit of crafting!  I’ve had this little kit for “sweet treats” for a while, bought from eBay, and finally put it together.  It would have taken about an hour tops if I’d had uninterrupted time.  As it was, it took me three days.

These can now join the chenille chocolate cake and chenille cupcakes!  Hubby can’t understand why I’d want to make fabric food when I could be cooking real food that he could eat.  I did manage to fit in a couple of other crafty activities as well; another red crochet necklace as a gift for my cousin (no Freya, not you) and I cut out a few fat quarters for a vintage sheet patchwork swap.  And does ordering fabric count as craft?

 Nicole Mallalieu had a launch for her new Beach bag pattern on Sunday – what a brilliant morning, full of lovely nibbles, superb bag patterns, clever crafty people and generous giveaways.  It’s a good thing that you can never have too many bags – because each time I look at her range, I want to make more!  And last night was Brown Owls – yay!  I manage to get there once per month, and it is such a relaxing and friendly time.  This time the inimitable Aunty Pat was teaching us how to knit – except I was a rebel and continued with my crochet – I’m much better with the hook than with the pointy sticks!  I am rather excited that I am starting to build a new group of crafty friends through Brown Owls – thanks so much to Kirsty and Pip (& friends) for running it; I can’t quite get over their energy and generosity.

I have a huge list of things to do before I can go to bed this evening, so had better stop blogging and start ironing/hemming/folding/sorting/tidying/accounting.  Magnolia Square Market starts on Thursday; I’m considering a visit, but maybe I’d be better off saving my pennies for the Handknitters Guild mini wool expo at Brunswick Town Hall on Saturday 31st May (from 10.00am to 3.00pm).  Magnolia Square is a good place to get ideas, but the prices are way too steep for me to actually buy anything there.  But yarn, that could be another story …

by thornberry
baby, craft, crochet, sewing

My pirate princess

About six weeks ago Miss Clare had to start wearing glasses.  We’ve been having regular eye checks since she was around three and a half years old, and they’d always been a little indecisive about whether she should wear them or not.  This time I took her to a different optometrist, who was fairly quick to prescribe them.  Clare has been incredibly cooperative in wearing her glasses, despite wishing that she didn’t have to.  Today, we had another checkup, and now she not only has to continue with glasses, but she also needs to have her good eye patched for an average of four hours per day in order to strengthen the weaker one.  So what does a crafty mum do?

I came across this wonderful eye patch tutorial at about the same time as Clare started wearing her glasses, and filed it away knowing that patching would be a possibility.  So today we made three different eye patches that slip over her glasses, eliminating the issues associated with stick-on eye patches and with the traditional elasticised “pirate” type of patch.  Clare chose the materials and decorations – there is another with a heart on the front, and another out of pink fairy fabric.  I am so proud of her – she wore her patch for around four hours today.  Well done my pirate princess!

Remember the crocheted dress I made for Stella months ago that I was unhappy with?  Now that she’s wearing it as a pinafore, I think it looks rather cute!  It’s definitely nice and snuggly in this chilly Melbourne weather.

by thornberry
craft, patchwork, quilting, sewing

Learning to do patchwork

Guess what I did on Saturday afternoon, while the rain poured down outside and hubby took the girls to the library?  A couple of my friends came over, with a mission – to learn how to do patchwork.  Luckily for me and my friend Jane, Megan not only knows how to do patchwork and quilting, she even used to teach it!  My first effort is this square, a Churn Dash block.

Megan is a brilliant teacher.  She showed us examples of the quilts she had made, and we talked a lot about the use of colour and shade, as well as pattern and proportion.  She taught us how to use the rotary cutter and ruler properly, how to piece correctly, and the importance of accuracy in both cutting and piecing.  I did this second block the next day, and I can tell that it isn’t as accurate.

Although I’ve managed to get points and seams to meet, I’ve taken too large a seam allowance when sewing the rectangular pieces together.  It will be interesting to see if I can accomodate it when I eventually piece together a quilt.

My plan at the moment is to continue making more of these blocks whenever I have the inclination.  The light fabric is just calico, since that was what I had on hand as a plain (my stash is chockablock full of prints with hardly any plains) and I’ll just use scrap prints.  Practice will hopefully eventually make perfect, and then Megan can give us a lesson on sashing, binding, then quilting!  I can already see how people become addicted.

While I had Megan’s handy 6 inch square ruler, I cut out some 4 inch squares from small amounts of Liberty prints that I had in my stash to add to the ones that Ravenhill sent me.

Any suggestions to how to incorporate these into a quilt would be gratefully received – what blocks might be good?  How could I best arrange them?  What fabrics and/or colours should I combine them with?

Thanks again Megan – you’re not only a brilliant friend, you’re also a superb and patient teacher!  And a funny little side note – my Mum is currently learning how to do patchwork too, but she is paying someone in a lovely patchwork shop to teach her.  Whereas I have Megan – my own personal tutor!

by thornberry
miscellaneous, this is ...

This is … my way of recycling

We recycle in the usual ways.  Compost bin for food scraps; recycling paper, glass and plastic in the recycle bin; recycling garden waste in the garden bin.  Although I have to admit to buying plenty of new fabrics, I also use old ones in my sewing.  But one of my guilty pleasures is fashion magazines.

My way of recyling?  I didn’t buy any of these myself – I have a friend whose husband works in the fashion business, and they are a business expense!  She passes them on to me.  I pass them on to my cousin.  She passes them on to her niece.  And eventually?  I suppose that they end up in someone’s paper recycling bin!

by thornberry
craft, crochet

Crochet necklace #2

This necklace was finished about a week ago – whoops, with everything else that has been going on I forgot to post it!  It’s made following the same patterns as crochet necklace #1, but this time I’ve used some Lincraft Bamboozle yarn (left over from crocheting Ric-Rac’s red boteh scarf) which has given a much nicer result in my opinion.

The navy and white buttons come from one of my local op-shops.

Originally I had sewed the flower onto the necklace, but then unpicked it (my favourite sewing tool is my unpicker – well, maybe it’s not my favourite, but it’s the most used of my sewing tools) and sewed a brooch back on instead.  This way it can be moved around or just worn as a brooch.  I can make one of these necklace/brooch combinations in under an hour.  Shall I do a few more?

by thornberry
craft, miscellaneous

Suppliers needed for Austral Quality Products

This is a change to my usual type of blog post!  My husband and I (gee, I sound like the Queen) took over a business, Austral Quality Products, two weeks ago.  It wholesales high quality Australian designed and Australian made cards, gifts and stationery, all themed with Australian flora and fauna.  Our clients are predominately galleries, botanical gardens, gift shops, information centres, etc right across Australia.

Austral - jpg logo

We are looking for some new suppliers in time for the Melbourne GHA trade fair at the beginning of August.  So, if you (or someone you know) designs cards, prints, stationery, maybe even tea-towels that have an Australian flora and/or fauna theme (anything with Bue Wrens on it sells well apparently!) and would like their products exposed at this hugely popular pre-Christmas trade fair, contact us!  You can reach us via email on info at australqualityproducts dot com dot au.  Or leave me a message here with your contact details.

Thanks very much – we are looking at growing this business and adding a modern interpretation of “Australiana” to the products that we wholesale.

Back to normal crafty blogging next post!

by thornberry
craft, miscellaneous, sewing

A present for Mother’s Day

I did manage to get a gift made for Mum for Mother’s Day.  A set of four placemats, and matching coasters.

The fabric is from Amy Butler’s Nigella line, once again.  Fantastic fabric!  I used a layer of fusible wadding in the centre of each placemat and each coaster.

Both the placemats and coasters are reversible.  Although Mum doesn’t have much blue in her decor, she says that they look terrific on their timber dining table (which was made by my dad).

And my Mother’s Day?  My parents came down from the country to celebrate the day with us.  I had to work in the morning, but got home at midday to a meal cooked by my Mum.  Clare made me some lovely cards at school, and bought a little gift at the school Mother’s Day stall.  She told me many times how much she loves me.  What a sweetheart!  Stella is now walking (gasp – she’s only just 11 months old) and had a lovely time with her grandparents.  I hope that she has as much fun at her first day of childcare tomorrow … and that I don’t cry.

by thornberry
miscellaneous, this is ...

This is … my Mum

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there!  This is my Mum.  There’s every chance that she’ll be horrified that this photo is now out there in the blogosphere!

Mum is/was a nurse – pretty obvious from the photo really.  This photo must be around fifty years old – now I’m giving away your age again Mum!  I love this photo, for many reasons.

Thanks again Mum for everything that you are to me and everything that you have done for me.  I wish that I was a little more eloquent so that I could truly express what a wonderful mother and person you are.  I love you very much.  Happy Mother’s Day.

by thornberry
books, craft, patterns, sewing

Patterns … Demystified!

By now some of you will realise that a couple of days ago I had a piece about Patterns … Demystified! published on the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog.  I was extremely flattered to be asked to contribute to Women’s Clothing Month, and really enjoyed the opportunity to be part of such an exciting sewing website.  So if you haven’t come across it yet, I’m going to blow my own trumpet, and suggest that you pop over and have a read  (I’m feeling rather proud of myself).  Thanks so much to the Sew, Mama, Sew! team for inviting me to take part, and to everyone who left such lovely comments on my article.  I’m glad to have been of help!

I’ve had very little sewing time lately, so because I don’t like to post without a photo, here is my sewing library (the books only – there are loads of magazines shelved elsewhere in my cupboards).

Most of these are recently published.  Now that I sit back and look at them, I realise that over the years most of my sewing knowledge came from my mother, from library books, and from trial and error, and is mostly to be found in my head rather than in my personal sewing library.  My memory can’t be quite as much of a sieve as I thought it had become after all!

by thornberry
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