Shopping Therapy and Sewing

I've been running at top speed this week, getting to know my new students and trying to catch up with the massive amount of paperwork that has been thrown my way. This weekend has been my chance to catch up so after typing up a few things for school I noticed that all the emails I had written in the last 2 weeks were still sitting in my Outbox! We changed internet providers during my absence and I hadn't set it up properly so I am sorry to anyone I haven't replied to. I really did say hi and the email has now been sent.

I am a girl that thrives on retail therapy but not the usual girlie therapy. I do like new things to wear but the best new things for me are in the way of textiles.

Although I probably have about 10 projects incomplete and awaiting my attention, I decided another wouldn't go astray. I just had to do it.

It's not a patchwork project that I needed but a woollen one, despite the high temperatures we are  enjoying in Melbourne at the moment. 

The wool is a gorgeous Rowan Felted Tweed and it knits up beautifully.

The thing about knitting is that it is extremely transportable.

I'm not doing the thing on the cover, just a little cardigan - I hope.

I don't want it to be another case of a half done project.

In India, my sister bought a beautiful patch worked bag, which was missing a strap.

I was lucky enough to find a woven strap from Zigu Zagu in Malvern and attached it to the bag.

If you live in Melbourne this is a 'must go to' place.

It has the most fabulous range of Japanese fabrics and lots of other interesting textile things.

The strap came from a box of oddments (treasures).

I have bought cotton kimonos from here in the past and pulled them apart and then used the fabric for some quilt backing. Cheap and easy to do.

The other thing I wanted to show you was I did manage to finish my little Malka Dubrawsky Quilt before I went overseas.

 I just machine quilted it with wavy lines and backed it with the same check fabric that I used for the border.

I was so much more organised at the end of the year than I am now.

I think I am always in a state of panic at the beginning of the school year.

Can't wait till I calm down and get back into rhythm.

A Colourful Post

I was just playing with my wish list on Amazon when I accidentally hit the buy button and that was that! Oops I thought, I really didn't need to spend all that money. Too late, I thought. But 2 days later I received an email to say that my credit card was wrong and and could I update the details. At that point, I could have cancelled the order (but I didn't) and so just a few days later 2 out of 3 books arrived on my doorstep. 

I'm not really into autobiographies but having met Kaffe and loved his work for so long, I think I might find it interesting. Of course, if all else fails, I can just look at the pictures.

On the completed list this week was another shawl made from a single ball of wool.

This one is called Holden Shawlette by Mindy Wilkes and you can download the pattern from Ravelry for free.

It is a good one for beginners.

Way back, I stitched a quilt top using mostly Malka Dubrawsky fabrics.

I was very lazy and did not pin the rows together and they ended up being rather warped.

I bought the fabric a year ago but it was so badly put together I don't think I took any photos of it and certainly didn't look at it again until now. I get like that with work I hate. I can't bare to touch it until it is fresh and the failure is forgotten because it becomes a chore if I have to keep fixing it.

Anyway today I unpicked and restitched it up and I am much happier with it.

So here is the other colourful part of my post.

In the shade

In the sun

It's Stitch and Bitch Night at my House

We stitch lots but actually don't bitch too much.

I was so lucky to be invited to join a group of people for their monthly stitching get togethers.

It is so much fun to be involved with like minded people and although these lovely people prefer the knitting and crochet stitch to the patchwork stitch, I have enjoyed their company and advice. I have been away from knitting for so long and am a little bit rusty with the purls and cables and the jumper I am making has been unwound so many times I could have made two by now.

Anyway to night it's at my house but I have no idea if anyone is coming because I hardly know these ladies. I'll just wait and see what happens.

Here is a gorgeous little dress Sue made for her granddaughter that I photographed last time we met.

I haven't been on the PC much but I have done a bit of stitching. I happily sat through lots of sessions of the Olympics and quilted a few spiderweb patterns on to this quilt.

This block had so much promise when it was just small but I don't like the way I have finished the edges. Anyway I am quilting it now and I do like the back. I ran out of fabric and didn't plan it well as to how far it should grow. No matter, it is done now and no one will really care except me.

There goes the doorbell!

Binding and Stitching x +

The thing about small quilts is that they are really easy to stitch and bind.

I used some lime pearl 8 which I found in my basket of colours.

I could do lots more stitching but the basics will have to do for now since I have 3 more quilts still waiting to be done.

The next thing to do was to chose some binding. I had green in mind initially but no matter how hard I tried to use fabric from my own stash, nothing seemed to be right.

A quick dash to Amitie and I had the best match in hand.

It was funny because I couldn't see anything and Judy picked up a couple of things and then grabbed these stripes that went ZING! 

We both went "Wow!" because the fabric practically sang to us.

The photos don't do it justice. The binding is only half on but I couldn't wait to photograph it.

Baby Capri received her blanket this weekend.

The backing was with Anna Marie Horner Velveteen - so yummy.

It's been a beautiful weekend of fine weather and I'm feeling a lot better after a hectic week back at school.

Capri's Blanket

I have been working on this for a while but it is now time to put the back and binding on because the stitching is finished.

It is for my great niece Capri, cousin of Summer.

The blankets are like twins.

I'm not sure how practical the loose monkey arms and lion ears will be but time will tell.

I also received a delivery from the postman today.

The main reason I put in a order was for the Kaffe woven cotton on the bottom of the pile.

I tried to buy some in Melbourne but no one seemed to have it.

Unfortunately postage has gone up so much from the US, I decided I had to fill my allowable weight with more fabric so most of it was stuff that I needed. 

The coffee pots will make some oven gloves I hope.

The Parson Gray is to compliment the blocks I've already started for a new project.

I do like getting postal deliveries of fabric. It feels like my birthday. I could get addicted to it so maybe it is lucky US postage is increasing and local fabric prices are decreasing.

A Bit of Shopping and a Bit of Stitching

It's sale time for fabric.

 $5 per metre for backing fabric is brilliant so I snapped these up 

as well as some Loulouthi Velveteen (half price) by Anna Maria Horner that I am going to use for the back of my new baby blanket for my newest great niece.

A Couple of Finishes

Finally the long awaited perle thread colour arrived in store and I was able to finish this quilt. I looked back through Flickr and it said that the top was finished in September and here we are in April. That's a long time ago!

It is amazing how such a simple block repeated can turn out such a bright and happy quilt.

The second finish has not taken so long to put  together.

It's Summer's blanket backed with light weight Echino fabric that I originally bought to turn into a scarf, but never did.

 We are hoping to meet her next week.

Also I'm still working on the giant hexies. I have sewn strips of all the fabric so I will just keep going until I run out of them.

It is school holiday time. I have not much planned except going to the quilt show.

Looking forward to having no plans!

I know these precious days will just slip through my fingers.

Finished Stitching and a New Quilt

I've finished Summer's blanket stitching but now comes the bit I don't like; the backing and ribbon.

I've decided what will be the backing fabric and I'll probably stick to a cream ribbon. It is really hard to put the backing on so that it sits flat and straight. Last time I pretty much did it like a quilt, using lots of pins and it worked better. 

The weekend was blissfully quiet, unlike the upcoming one with an engagement and a 60th.

There were hours where I had the whole house to myself. Although I am in the middle of a dozen different projects, I just had to try out Sujata's pattern (The Root Connection) from the Victorian hexagon Quiltalong 

Here are the first few blocks.

And the next few blocks although I lay one down in the wrong way.

I have to say I am loving the way these are looking.

Once I worked out how to do these, following Sujata's very easy instructions, I found a few short cuts to get them done faster. For one, I use freezer paper instead of paper for the templates. Secondly once the centre strip is in place you can sew the next few strips together in long rows and then join them up as one piece.

Stitching for Summer

My nephew and his wife have a new baby girl and as per family tradition that means I have a new woollen blanket to stitch. Our new little great niece is called Summer and here is a preview of her blanket.

Apart from the new blanket all I have managed to stitch are some more x + blocks. They take ages and no matter how many I do, the quilt is still way too small so I just have to make more. Hmmm.

When you make the block you have to snip off all the triangle corners. Hating to throw out anything I saved the tiny triangles and sewed them together as well. They make squares less than 1" in size.

I've started playing around with these guys as well but I am not sure what they will end up doing yet.

So although I have been quiet as far as blogging goes, I have been getting a few bits and pieces happening.

More Crochet

I've been experimenting.

Once up a time my sister bought home a crazy crochet bag from Nepal. Apart from the fact that she should have bought more of them, the work in it is fabulous. I have envied and studied that bag for years now. It is old and shabby and yet she still wears it wherever she goes. It is made up of crochet squares.

I experimented with regular wool trying to get the basic pattern of the block. I am a very new crochet person so I really did not have a clue what I was doing. To make matters worse I have discovered that Americans and the English use different names for the same stitches. What a pain.

Anyway the regular wool just looked ordinary. The wool in her bag is made up of all sorts of blends of fibres.

I solved the wool problem in a dream. This is quite normal for me. I wake up and know what to do. About 30 years ago I studied how to do tapestry weaving. It's an awesome textile skill. I did about 3 short courses with the Australian Tapestry Workshop and still had, locked away somewhere, a fair amount of their reject wools that I just couldn't bear to part with. My loom is still hidden in my brother's cellar. I will have to rescue that one day.

Anyway, I found the wools and started making them into little 3 ply bundles and began making the crochet blocks. I have made enough blocks for the body of the bag. They are all sewn together  so now I need to stretch them as they are a bit lumpy. A wooden frame and some water spray should do the trick.

Recycling and a Variegated Wool

It was Grand Final Weekend this weekend and that means chilling at home and enjoying all the hype around the game. I love footy, unlike most of my friends and I love it when my team wins and plays well.  I love sewing with the TV on, half concentrating on what is happening in the game while making things. 

On Thursday I was at my Mum's house and I found one of my Dad's old cashmere vests, hanging in the cupboard, full of moth holes. Mum doesn't throw out much. My son was rummaging through Dad's stuff too because these days his clothes are known as 'vintage'. It was a bit lean in the cupboard as my nephew had already raided Dad's stuff a few months earlier. Mum is thrilled to have her grandsons wearing Dad's clothes. I decided I wanted to wear something of his too so I took the old cashmere vest and cut it up, sewed some fabric on to it and made a scarf.

It is so beautiful and soft and took me about an hour to put together.

I am so besotted with granny squares but not into the changing of colours and sewing in loose ends. I bought a ball of variegated wool to avoid those annoyances. It is called Zauberwool and it is dreadfully expensive, as all wool seems to be these days. It makes the craziest squares and I am in love with the stuff.

Baby Pepper

My niece just had a baby girl. She is as sweet as can be. Her name is Pepper! I have been working on an embroidered, wool, baby blanket for many months now. It's not as babyish as I would like it to be. The colours of the wool felt was a bit too sombre but there are lots of little animals to look at.
I used some of my Ikea fabric for the back because it brightened the whole thing up.
Putting satin binding on cashmere wool and the cotton backing is always a nightmare. In the days before I learned how to quilt, it was worse and I used to unpick and re do continuously. Now I stretch the cotton backing and pin the whole thing, just like a quilt. The binding is hand sewn on first and then machine zigzagged. It's still laborious but at least I didn't have to unpick it even once!

Too Pooped to Pop

Usually my weekend is filled with the clacking and vibrations of my sewing machine. The table top is buried by scraps of fabric in all shapes and sizes. The carpet is strewn with fibres and threads and I am happy.
This weekend was devoted to cleaning, tidying, rearranging furniture and preparing for 30 plus eighty year olds and a few of us 'young ones.'
My nephew and his wife, who live in Adelaide, have a new baby boy and my 86 year old father in law decided he just had to have a party to show of the baby to his buddies. The baby and Mum are here for a visit while dad plays cricket in South Africa. We ate, drank and ate some more and everyone had a great time before going to their respective homes for their Nana naps.
It's now 3pm. The house is clean, although another load has to go in the dishwasher, and it's all quiet.
But I just can't move. My mind is saying 'Get your gear out and start making,' but my body is saying that it's not going anywhere. Maybe later....
Anyway just because you can't post without a photo, I will show you what I have been working on for the last couple of months. It's another baby blanket but I am not really that happy with it. I'm just going to show you bits in case it doesn't work out.