Kids crafting

It seems that I am not the only creative one in the household....

With his very fine motor skills, 3 year old Sambo loves to create and mould shapes and dough.

They get squashed up pretty quickly, so how lovely to keep a record of his creations here too.

a bit of relaxing applique

And here I have been working on the Love Always quilt, so happy to have started using these gorgeous red and pink and beige fabrics.

Just finding it so relaxing to make something for my own bed.

With all this furious machine stitching, I am enjoying the slow steady creation of this special block. 

Gingerbread time

3 year old strikes again this time, it's adding stickers to Mummy's hair. ouch!

It's the right time of year to bake gingerbread here. Usually it's too hot to keep the dough in its shape, so here we are.

Making our gingerbread that is not necesarily Christmas shaped.

The lollies seem to have melted which looks a bit strange. Maybe i go back to currants.

They tasted delicious! I do love the cooler weather for this kind of thing.

Fairy landscape altar cloth

Starting with a close up... look at these trees growing from the forehead (I think I've had a headache like that once... hahahahha)...




Making a wish, being a part of the landscape, flying fairies....

And she really complements this oracle deck.

A gorgeous altar cloth or divination cloth... she has gone to her forever home with love.

Angels vs Demons

I've been reading a little bit about angels and demons. There really isn't much difference between them.

We tend to think that one is all light, and one is all dark. But Lucifer, a demon, is known to have once been an angel.

Anyway, in terms of energy or as unknown powerful beings, they might as well be the same, which brought me to create this piece

"If I lost my angels, I'd lose my demons"



The first one went to its forever home immediately, and a second one was also snapped up.

Pomora harvest/apple goddess

Well, I have probably put more into this than other altar cloth so far... and unless she sells for a high price I am keeping her.

She is absolutely striking!

Check out the hidden stitching that doesn't quite show up in photos.

 And a couple of close ups.

Expect to see this baby on my altar in Autumn.

Well, guess I'd better put something else under the needle because I am keeping this sweetheart.

I loved myself

I created this altar cloth and freehand machine stitched the words

"I thought I knew myself, And then I loved myself"

I am reminded of the two faces of the Gemini twins.

My meaning for this cloth, is to know oneself is not to love oneself. Only when we really love ourself, deeply, through all faults and successes, ups and downs, do we really know ourselves.

There are so many layers like an onion. More than this I cannot explain, but I love the deep feel of this altar cloth. I do hope the user understands.

Love Always fabric acquisition

Every now and then a girl gets an urge to start something big.

And she knows it's going to be big.


I have decided to make Esther Aliu's spectacular "Love Always" applique quilt.

The pattern has been purchased, and I collected fabrics. The above range shows the pieces I bought from the bolt.

And the images here show some pieces from a layer cake pack.

This image is included twice because the fabrics appear in different tones in each picture.

I am making it in a two tone format with French General muted reds from a number of fabric ranges.

Getting exciting! I am looking forward to achieving some hand stitching without thinking about designing the pattern also.

Free tree recharge

We all recharge by hugging the trees and walking at the beach.

Only the tourists are swimming in the water without stinger suits.

The rest of us are pool swimming, but not until its well warm enough.

I love zippers

It's been so cold here in far north Queensland, that we are wearing slippers and dressing gown.

The only dressing gown left in town anywhere near his size was this cute rainbow one, but rather than worry about a waist belt, and his penchant for wearing it around the neck, I put in a huge zipper I had on hand instead.

Now that's a win. (And he loves rainbows!)


I guess it comes in handy when your Mum can sew!

A special commission divination cloth

A client sent me a message requesting a pretty cloth that she could take photos of her card readings on, but with the layout showing how to do the particular cross reading she likes.

She sent me a picture of the cross, with the questions on it.

I created this cloth, and measured it especially to make sure there was room for cards of 3 different sizes (traditional tarot cards are the smallest, and they cover the white labels completely), but I needed enough space for the standard oracle cards and the extra large format cards to fit on the cloth also without overlapping each other.

As you can see, the cards cover the prompts completely, making it easy for the client to create her reading.

What a success!

Painting and Decoupage fun

These little drawers here have my name on them. I bought all there were on the shelves.

I have some sample paint pots.

These are 37ml pots. 

It turns out that I still have heaps of this chair coloured paint left. Enough for the table I think.

This is what I made in the class I took. Made from serviettes and book pages.

While I enjoyed making it, it's not really my colours or thing, I may just paint over it.

I also used a glass medium to paint this bottle then decoupaged some serviette pieces on here. I can put some of those battery LED lights on a wire into the bottle to create ambience.

Good to learn the techniques. I wonder what mine will turn out like.

Tea time

I was wandering around in a new (For me) local shop and I found this amazing fabric!

I hadn't seen anything like it since about the year 2000, and here it was, just what I needed.  Teacup fabric for the applique quilt I started 2 years ago. (Secret Garden by Esther Aliu, my Alice in Wonderland version).



I had halted at the teapot block, because it just wasn't going to turn out how I had first envisioned. Especially, as it was a mystery quilt, and I needed to work out how I was going to use these massive applique blocks and turn them into something I liked.

Check out this teacup! Yeah! I am back baby!!!

Let's see what we can make from maybe 4 completed applique blocks.

Venus

Ohhhhhhh.. Botticelli's the birth of venus on fabric.... could it get any better?

YES! I have done detailed freehand machine quilting all over to add dimension, texture and interest.... and I just love her.

When I was stitching the red mantle, I found.... a RED MANTLE! *wink wink*

And so this has become a coveted piece by a feminist woman, who is going to stitch it onto the back of her denim jacket as a mark of her feminist nature.

Such a lot of work in this one, and it is so beautiful. I am very happy.

Finished the chairs!

Well the chairs turned out to be SO BEAUTIFUL!

These pretty chairs really change the feel of them.

And no top coat of paint necessary!

I just pressure hosed the original cushions, covered them with new fabric and plastic.

LOVE IT!!!

The discovery of Fusion paints

And in other exciting news, I have come across a mineral paint I love called "Fusion".

I did a mini course in transfer techniques and now I am hooked.

Why not practise on these old chairs? The beloved said it wasn't worth putting the paint on them, but I understand the value of practising on pieces that don't really matter in the end whether it works or not.

The chair was cleaned with a high pressure hose and that is all it needs.

Next chocolate paint applied. Then some wax on the sports where I don't want the paint to stick as well, so it looks worn.

And here are my "distressed chair frames".

So I took my hands (which had the paint on them) into the fabric shop to find the right shade to cover the seats.

Next update to follow.

(Miss 8 LOVES the chairs, and so do I!)

Kids apron

Even though I don't make his clothes, I did make the apron 3 year old boy is wearing, from a tea towel.



And what a starring snap it is, first time on his bike. Time to work out how to push the pedals.

Digital print fabric

The new era of digital print fabrics are here, and they are everything they should be and more.




For a long time digital prints were very hit and miss.  If the shop ordered them without seeing a sample, they were often a very poor quality, and then they couldn't sell the bolt, let alone a range.

But things have changed and these are absolutely beautiful.

I bought a panel for my daughter's next quilt.  She is 8, and is using a quilt I made to suit her 3 year old interests of horses.

These days she still likes fantasy, and her favourite colour is aqua followed by purple, so I know this will be the right choice. 

 I can take my time collecting additional fabrics, but this is a great start!

Catboy

You never know with kids, what they will play with next, or for how long...so I am happy to say that finally this Catboy costume from Santa last Christmas is being worn.

Mind you, it is our cool weather and the right time to wear it.

But it's another reason why I don't make all those special toys for him to play with... er... break, in my case....

Bright and Australian

I wanted to use this glamorous tie dyed tea towel for something more special than wiping dishes, so I used it to make a padded, quilted and lined tea cosy.

Making it a generic shape it should fit over most teapots trapping in the warmth, with a loop on the top to safely remove it without burning oneself.

And most teapots I have used dribble tea down, so if you have a cosy directly fitted to the teapot, there is always a slurping of a stain, and this fabric is too pretty to be stained.

I loved making the dimensional gum leaves so much, and I have a whack of Australian wooden buttons I picked up on sale somewhere.

This one has been snapped up, but I do have more of these hand dyed tea towels... Hmm... what to make with the next one?