other people's craft

other people's craft, patchwork, quilting

happy hexagons

Do you remember when I showed you my Mum’s hand-pieced hexagons in progress? Well, now I can show you the finished quilt!

I am so incredibly impressed that Mum hand-pieced the top of this quilt. I think that the borders might have been attached by machine, but otherwise it was many an evening of needle and thread.

Mum learned to hand-piece hexagons in a class taught by Kath Gale of Patchwork Charm. The long-arm quilting was done by Sue Evans of Quirky Quilter. I think that the swirls complement the hexagons beautifully.

And here’s the back!

Mum is already working on another hand-pieced quilt, also hexagons, but entirely different to these ones. I am really enjoying watching her progress (and thinking of the beautiful family heirloom quilts that will grace my daughters’ houses one day). Size wise, the quilt that she just completed is almost the size of a queen sized bed.

I also love watching the way that Mum operates when she is making a quilt. She buys just enough fabric, never any more than needed. In fact, with this quilt she bought small pieces of fabric at a time, only buying more as she ran out and wished to vary the palette a little. There is no leftover, no waste. She gets just the right amount for each part of the process. It is entirely the opposite of the way that I currently sew.

Congratulations Mum – this quilt is absolutely wonderful, and you should be very proud of your work! (And by the way, Mum does have a name – it’s Alison).

Thursday, 21 March, 2013 by thornberry

family, other people's craft, patchwork, quilting

Ripe and Blooming

Some months ago I read in Quilter’s Companion magazine that the Quilter’s Guild of NSW were running an Under 35s Quilt Competition. Being more than a little over 35 myself, I mentioned it to Clare. She was keen, and after reading the requirements and theme of “How Does Your Garden Grow” she started a concept drawing.

Then I let her loose on my stash! Clare chose all the fabrics for her project herself, and I was impressed with her appreciation for value, shade, scale and pattern. She started by piecing the background. I gave some minor assistance with the rotary cutter and the iron (although she rapidly took over the ironing) but that was all – absolutely every other stitch and decision related to this quilt is Clare’s.

Once the background was done, it was time for the applique. She started off by cutting out shapes in paper and arranging them, before moving on to cutting and fusing the shapes in fabric.

Clare did what many of us do as they are making a quilt and allowed it to evolve and vary from her original design as she worked. There are elements that she left out, and others that she added. She drew all the shapes free hand, including the fruits. Pretty good for a nine year old! Then before we knew it the applique was done, the quilt sandwich made, and Clare quilted around the appliqued shapes close to the raw edges to give them more definition.

She quilted long diagonal rows through the background, like the rows that you plant in the garden. A number of binding fabrics were auditioned before she decided on a stripe.

A hanging sleeve was added to the back and the final touch was a label that Clare carefully wrote and hand-stitched into place. Ta-da – Clare’s first ever quilt! And just in time too!

She named it “Ripe and Blooming”. Clare says “I’m really proud of myself. At first I was taking it slowly then I found there was no time left! I did the last few things quickly but also being careful.”

I’m really proud of her too! Clare has been to many quilt exhibitions with me over the years, and has watched me quilting and listened to my mum and I talk quilts. It’s amazing how much information is absorbed! I did give suggestions and guidance throughout the process, but Clare was fairly definite about what suggestions she was interested in or not and mainly used her own common sense. The competition quilts will be on display this Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10-4 at The Newington Gallery, Newington College, 221-235 Stanmore Road, Stanmore, New South Wales. If any of my blog readers are planning on going I’d love to see a photo of Clare’s quilt in situ! The winners of each section (Primary, Secondary, 18-24 and 25-34) will be announced on Saturday. Fingers crossed for Clare – but whether she wins anything or not, she’s definitely a winner with designing, planning, cutting, piecing, sewing, quilting, and binding this wonderful quilt all on her own at age nine!

Wednesday, 19 September, 2012 by thornberry

other people's craft

School Art Show 2012

Clare’s Primary School holds a show of student work every two years. I blogged about the 2010 show here. The 2012 Student’s Art Show was just as impressive.

From the flyer that accompanied the Show:

Art from Literature: Students studied the text and illustrations of a book and created one or more works, either on the subject, or in the illustrator’s styles. Have a look for:

The Staring Owl
Washing Line
Toucan, Toucan’t
Rudie Nudie
Clancy, Mille and the Very Fine House
Imagine

Australian Desert Landscape – Lake Eyre & the Channel Country: Students studied the works of Fred Williams, Sidney Nolan and John Olsen. You will see aerial views of the land in a variety of media: water colour, acrylic, mono-printing, threads and textiles, and the cracked, patterned bed of Lake Eyre in oil pastel.

Natural History Illustration: Students studied the work of several notable natural history illustrators: Beatrix Potter, John Gould, Audubon and Pamela Condor. Year Five and Six students produced work on the Australian Desert animal, The Greater Bilby, in the style of one of Pamela Condor’s works. Years Prep to Two completed a Bilby in the Sand collage.

Elements of Shape and Line: You will see examples of:

two dimensional line turned into three dimensional form
organic and geometric shapes
symmetry
concentricity
radial pattern in threads

Art and Artists: You will see Willow Pattern art work inspired by a study of the 18th Century English Chinaware design. Also, take note of the Great Wave and View of Mount Fuji paintings which were the result of a study of the coloured wood block prints of Katsushika Hokusai’s 19th Century works The Great Wave off Kanagawa and South Wind, Clear Sky (or Red Fuji). These are two well-known examples from his series, Thirty-Six View of Mt Fuji.

Silk Painting: A display of work created by years Three and Four with textile artist Mary McArdle.

The Art Show sets up in the school library and runs for a week. I am SO impressed by the amazing work that our students produce under the tutelage of their incredibly dedicated art teacher. There are more photos here.

Saturday, 8 September, 2012 by thornberry

other people's craft, patchwork

Mum’s hexagon progress

Remember my mother’s hand-pieced hexagons? She’s finally decided how she’s going to join them, and has made a start.

I think that she’s chosen the perfect background print. She’s still hand-piecing these together. I’m not sure that I’ll ever have that patience!

My tiny contribution was rotary cutting the background triangles (with the help of some groovy quilting rulers that I bought from Material Obsession last year). Now I mostly just gaze at these hexagons and ooh and aah. I’m super impressed, Mum!

And you know what – Mum has no scraps left over from this project. She’s used everything. So completely the opposite to my stash and my scrap bin!

Wednesday, 5 September, 2012 by thornberry

embroidery, family, other people's craft, patchwork

more craft by Mum – sashiko tablerunner

My mother is quite modest. She is quick to point out any small errors in her craft projects, rather than rejoicing in their overall success. She has high expectations of herself and high standards. I think that this project is absolutely wonderful, and it was a technique that she hadn’t tried before – and rightly, she is rather proud of it.

Mum spotted this sashiko tablerunner kit at the BeBe Bold stand at one of the craft fairs we attended last year. Mum rather likes a kit – there is not waste – and it combined her liking for embroidery and for patchwork. She’d never done sashiko before, but honestly, you wouldn’t know it.

The design uses different coloured threads going in different directions, and is extremely effective. The patchwork surrounding it is quite subtle, and really sets off the embroidery.

I love this table runner, and have great admiration for my mother’s skills. Mum taught me to sew and gave me free rein at her sewing machine, taught me to knit – although as you know, I prefer to crochet and leave the knitting to her – and her drawers include examples of beautifully embroidered doilies with crocheted edgings, candlewick cushions, and now patchwork. Thanks Mum for your example and your encouragement. And even for the eagle eye for the imperfections – because just like you Mum, I prefer to do things well rather than just adequately.

Thursday, 12 July, 2012 by thornberry

family, other people's craft, patchwork

Mum’s hexagons, and sick daughters

My Mum told me a little while ago that she was hand-piecing hexagons. I assumed that she was paper-piecing little hexagon shapes to one another. I was wrong – she was hand-stitching these!

Aren’t they wonderful! Mum has made around 25 so far, and is aiming at around 50. Then she’ll work out how she wants to assemble them – butted together, with sashing, in rows with diamond shapes inbetween, etc etc. There are actually loads of possibilities! Check out how pretty this one is:

and this one:

and this one too:

.

Completely opposite to me, my Mum doesn’t stash fabric. She is just buying more fat eights within the same civil war reproduction theme as she needs them, and is adding to her hexagons. When she runs out, she buys a little more. The hand-piecing makes all those seams intersect perfectly – as does the careful use of templates and tracing and marking. Mum, I am very impressed!

We are still the house of illness, although my two little girls seem to be finally improving a little. They’ve barely eaten since Saturday, when their gastro symptoms first appeared, and yesterday morning we even needed to take a little trip into the Children’s hospital for some oral rehydration (luckily we didn’t need to move onto intravenous fluids). It’s made for very broken and sleepless nights (they sleep in my bed with me near our ensuite when they are sick) and a considerable amount of washing and cleaning. Thank goodness for disinfectant! I’ve not seen the two of them so sick before, so I’m very relieved that things are starting to get a little better. Although the doctors have said to pretty much write off the entire week for them to recover. So much for week two of the school “holidays” – but the main thing is that they are starting to improve. It is so worrying and awful when your children are sick – and I know that this is nothing compared to the burdens that some parents carry. Gives a bit of perspective to a number of things in life. And makes me appreciate the trials and worries that my Mum went through parenting my brother and me anew as well – thanks for everything Mum!

But being confined to the house should mean that I can do a little more sewing and crocheting as they improve! Just trying to be a little Pollyanna-ish…

Tuesday, 10 July, 2012 by thornberry

family, other people's craft

artwork by my kids

Although I can sew and crochet, I can’t draw. But it seems to me that my children can! Although I could have my mummy blinkers on. Here’s one of Clare’s latest artworks. She is in the process of earning her “Nature” badge at Brownies, and decided to photograph some lemons – since they are part of nature – then draw them in pastels. So here we have the original photo:

the work in progress:

and the finished picture:

Not bad for an almost nine year old! And at four and a half, Stella is developing her own artistic flair:

I’ll be back again some time tomorrow to announce the winner of my giveaway!

Wednesday, 30 November, 2011 by thornberry

miscellaneous, other people's craft, sewing

feeling freer

That’s what happens when I have a weekend away at Sewjourn. I feel freer. It’s that uninterrupted time to immerse myself in the crafty part of me. And to immerse myself in the creativity, inspiration, understanding, support, friendship, love, laughter, thoughtfulness and intelligence that is such an intrinsic part of my Sewjourning companions*.

So Nikki, Karen, Tanya, Megan, Annie, Rachel and Kathryn – thank you all! And thanks for the lovely food and wine (and chocolate) as well.

Do you want to see what we got up to?

Karen and Nikki have written wonderful comprehensive accounts of our weekend over here and here. They’ve done all the hard work for me!

And as for what I made:

Simplicity sleeveless top
StyleARC Alice top
vintage nightdress
pillowcase nightdress for Clare
pillowcase nightdress for Stella
skirt for Clare
Skirt for Stella
finished Clare’s bathers (they needed elastic)
finished assembling a voile top with crocheted yoke for me
Simplicity drape front top
Butterick caftan style tunic dress
half a jacket.

Whew! Lots of future blog fodder there. Are you amazed at how much sewing you can do in 48 hours with focus, determination and inadequate hours of sleep? You’d think that I’d have worked it out by now – but it still does manage to surprise me.

*Jodie and Catherine – you were there in spirit and in our conversation!

Monday, 14 November, 2011 by thornberry

craft, other people's craft, softies

the toy formerly known as pickle

Meet Patchie – the soft toy formerly known as Pickle.

8 year old Clare sewed Patchie all by herself, with just the occasional piece of advice from me (and I put the eyes in for her). Jodie‘s instructions were excellent (and very entertaining), and Clare is extremely pleased with her new toy.

This is a terrific beginner’s project – look at what a great result you can achieve, even if you’re only 8 years old! Patchie accompanied Clare to church this morning where she was proudly displayed to anyone who would listen (and a whole lot of other people as well). Thanks Jodie for such a great pattern and well done to Clare from a very proud mother!

Sunday, 25 September, 2011 by thornberry

knitting, other people's craft

knitted by Grandma

As you know, I don’t knit. I can, but I don’t. Why would I, when my Mum still knits such lovely items for her grand-daughters?

This lovely cardi/jacket pattern is from Shepherd Moda Issue 6. Mum knitted it in Bendigo Woollen Mills 8ply Luxury, in the colours pink and koala (which Clare chose). I love the lacy edging and the textured body and sleeves.

Stella loves to be a part of the action! This is a little large for Clare, but is still quite wearable and will be for the next few years. Thanks to Mum for her generosity and wonderful knitting skills!

Tuesday, 6 September, 2011 by thornberry