February 19, 2008 - Time for something PINK!
Now, my latest project.
For a change of pace I bought some gorgeous pink floral to use as the main fabric in a new sewing caddy. It only took a day to sew the embroidery on the pincushion centre, then make the caddy itself. I love the way this closes neatly for easy carrying, but opens to a lovely size for taking needles, pins and threads to my sewing group each Friday.
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February 19, 2008 - I'm a nana again!
Our third grandson arrived on February 8th – Deegan Kane Reynolds weighed a healthy 8lbs, and both mother and baby are doing wonderfully!
With babies on my mind I decided to play around with making a bassinette quilt – something from mostly recycled fabrics (my new obsession). I did some small embroideries, cut up ancient doilies and embroidered hankies, threw in some vintage white cotton from an oversized petticoat that I found on one of my recycling threads trips, and used some extra blue cotton check from my stash. Not satisfied with that, I found a small piece of blue-silver fabric that looked as though it had come from cushions or a bedspread, then set about using it for the small appliqués.
With some words of love embroidered along the inner borders I was almost done. My only purchase was the lovely white and blue/green print for the binding and backing.
This will be put aside for the next grandson…but I’ll be making a pink equivalent too, in hope that we get some girls to balance things. ;-) Of course, this sort of thing is what I love to do, so I may make a mint green one, then a mauve.
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January 27, 2008 - I've been tagged!
I've been tagged by Earthen Vessel
Now, the fun part is coming up with 6 unimportant things about myself.
The rules for this meme are:
(1) Link to the person that tagged you. √
(2) Post the rules on your blog. √
(3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. √
(4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. √
(5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
1. I'm only 5'1" and all my children are taller than me
2. My favourite drink is Sarsparilla
3. I eat quickly because I hate my food going cold
4. I was raised by my grandparents
5. I am a First Fleet convict descendant on my mother's side
6. I have the worst memory for peoples names and faces, but I can remember my first ever phone number and most things to do with numbers.
Now I'm off to tag some random bloggers!
Now for the tag:
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January 21, 2008 - Waiting for a grandson....
My new little grandson has not made his appearance yet, but the days are counting down and we should hear of his arrival sometime over the next 10 days or so.
As we live so very far away it will not be until April that we meet him face to face, but I am joyfully preparing for their visit! As we have hard floors I wanted to make a floor quilt that he could have a kick on, something soft and colourful. This is to be known as 'Nonna's Quilt' (my husband is of Italian descent), and will stay with us so that every grandbaby in the future has a special place to lay and play when they visit.
It has all been done by hand - slowly, and with much love and prayers. The quilt is 52" square, and the appliqued frogs, ladybirds, snails, leaves etc are all felt - so gentle to hand sew.
Thank you Lord for blessing me with grandchildren!
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January 21, 2008 - Recycled Threads
As a New Year kickstart to my craft I set myself a challenge from January 1st. Until my birthday on February 21st I could only sew with things I already had in my stash - the only allowance I gave myself was to buy cushion inserts if needed.
Over the last couple of years I've enjoyed scouring second-hand stores for pre-loved clothing, not to wear (though I have found some!), but for the fabrics and notions! Mostly I have found little girls dresses the best - such gorgeous textures and designs for the material, but also the large yardage used in the gathered skirts.
So, with my recycled threads challenge in mind, I focused first of all on using these pre-worn fabrics and displaying them to their best advantage in a new guise. Something I never counted on though was the beautiful nostalgic feel of these garmets, the softened texture that comes from a beloved dress being worn over and again by a child until they can no longer get it over their head. I have seen many times the disappointment on my own younger daughter's face when a favourite dress, skirt, or blouse no longer fits. With tears she has mourned the loss, then after a time been able to parcel it up for a younger freind or the Goodwill shop. I wish I had been a quilter years ago - so many things would have found new homes in my designs. But...perhaps some other woman saw their promise and rebirthed them into cuddly quilts for her family? I hope so.
These are two lap quilts that I have made in the last couple of weeks, complete with matching pillows. Aren't the fabrics beautiful!? They feel so 'loving' to lay across your knees on a cool night.
I had the heart embroideries lying around in a draw for the last 18 months - I did them for another project then changed my mind so they have been waiting patiently to begin life in a project completed.
The pink lap quilt has some lovely strips of embroidery along the edges. These were across the front of a little child's worn through blouse - though the blouse had holes, the embroidery strips were surprisingly pristine.
Both lap quilts have polar fleece backing - a pretty pink for the pink floral one, and cream, red and green roses for the green heart quilt.
Now - what do you have lying around in your home that you can recycle into a lovely something? Please let me know if you make it - I'd love to see!
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December 7, 2007 - I love raspberries!
I love raspberries - I could eat them 365 days a year and never tire of their luscious red taste! Yes, you cannot taste red, but if you could I'm sure it would taste like a raspberry.
Earlier this year I bought a few metres of quilt fabric that caught my eye because of it's raspberry-ness...and I knew that once I hit on the right design it would be gracing our bed before the year was out.
Ta da!
The centre medallion and third border are buttonhole appliqued, and those have been hand quilted as well. The rest of the quilt is machine pieced and machine quilted. I was going to add another border but it all became too large and heavy for my basic sewing machine. This weekend I'll start on matching cushions before dressing the lot on our bed just in time for Christmas!
Jenny
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November 23, 2007 - Back on the camel train...
I've finally finished the second cushion in my camel themed trilogy. Yay!
Again, I found a great photo in an old copy of National Geographic - from that photo I designed the cushion, this time focussing mostly on the camel's companion rather than the camel itself. What do you think?!
I love the colours in the boy's clothing - incredibly vibrant!
I'm hoping to start the third in the cushion set once I finish making Christmas gifts, but I bought a new toy today - a darning foot for free motion sewing - and that could totally send me off in a direction from whence I'll not soon return! I just love trying new things......
Jenny
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November 20, 2007 - Deegan's frog quilt
The time is drawing near when my newest grandson will make his appearance in this world, and that meant a giddy-up was needed on my plans to design and make his cot quilt.
If you have read previous posts you'll remember that his nursery is 'frog-themed' and I was to make a quilt that complemented that...so after dilly-dallying for a couple of months I finally found inspiration and starting drawing up my plan.
We're not a pastel kind of family these days so vibrant colours were used, colours that excite the eye and hopefully amuse the new bundle as he grows.
Ta da!
Here are some close-ups for detail -
Once I finish a few Christmas gifts for the rest of that arm of our family tree I shall be posting them, along with the quilt, to sunny Queensland. Thankfully we shall see Deegan, and big brother Calab, in April when they fly over to spend Easter with us...one of the downsides of living so far from loved ones - you can't just pop in and spoil the grandchildren! I think that's one of the reasons I enjoy making unique gifts for them: a part of me is with them always.
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October 21, 2007 - The process of change....
A few health issues have taken centre stage in our family lately, and one of the minor ones has caused me to rethink my creativity. I have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in the pointer finger of my right hand...not a helpful diagnosis for a right handed embroiderer/quilter. I do lots of applique - something I have been drawn to for a while now - but the stress on the joints of the affected finger by the pressure of pushing a needle and thread through 2 or 3 layers of Vliesoflixed fabric has taken a toll. After my intitial night of despair I realised I just needed to turn my hands to something gentler. Hence my new foray into wool felt.
It began with a photograph in a magazine...
Being a lover of vibrant colours and camels, this sparked an idea. I made a black and white copy of the photograph, higlighted the main lines, the traced that onto some beige marbled cotton. With iron-on Pellon the fabric was still very soft and pliable...lovely to work on. I let my imagination take me out of the photo and used colours I thought would work well with the final plan I had in mind.
After finishing the initial embroidery I gave the camel and the driver some deeper definition with colour pencils...
Once this was done I began my 'freelance' journey with the red wool-felt borders. Using Perle 8 cottons I began to work around the felt...I had NO plan for this, I just did what came to mind as I went along. The felt was incredibly lovely to embroider and my finger managed quite easily as long as I took breaks every few hours. It may not look like it but this entire cushion took me about 40 hours of sewing time. The end result was a surprise - I realised that this would be the beginning of a whole new dimension to my sewing style!
I'd love to hear what you think of it! :-) Ta Da!!!....................
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September 30, 2007 - A touch of elegance...
The cushion below is one I designed and made over a 4 hour period on Friday night, and is a belated birthday gift for my dear friend Liz - I shall be able to give it to her in person too! Liz always impresses me with her natural elegance...she's just lovely. So with that in mind I chose this gorgeous fabric with it's tiny gold threads woven throughout - truly elegant fabric to touch as well as being definite eye-candy.
We leave tomorrow for a 5 day stay in Perth, a round trip of 20 hours driving for my darling hubby, but an opportunity to see Liz and her family whilst attending to some medical treatment in the 'big smoke'. My daughter and I shall also take time out to shop - her for clothes, myself for fabric. Our gorgeous seaside town is quite tiny and we have very limited shopping so this trip will allow me the chance to rebuild my fabric stash for the year ahead. I cannot imagine being unable to create and sew...'twould be awful!
Liz and her hubby have a naturopathic clinic - Paul being the naturopath and Liz attending to the best massages you can imagine. Her hot stones are incredible!
Hopefully in the weeks ahead I can finish the new medallion quilt for our bed and post some pictures here, and then of course there are the numerous Christmas presents to make, and that quilt for my new grandson, due February. Just think, two years ago this was all foreign to me...hmmm...what new thing are you going to try?? You may surprise yourself with what you can do!
Have a blessed week while I'm away!
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September 28, 2007 - Theme : Japanese
My oldest friend, Vicki, and her husband Pete lost nearly everything they owned in the recent Newcastle floods. Describing the scene months later it was quite eerie for us as we used to live in her house and every scene she visualised was startlingly real to us, even though we had not been present to see it. They sat atop kitchen benches as the waves met in the middle of their living room; stood chest deep in water, shivering, as they watched floorboards drift upwards and float out the windows; shook their heads in disbelief as the wahsing machine and other whitegoods fell sideways and drifted out into the back yard. Both their cars were lost, as was everything in the storage shed - a lifetime of memories gone. Two days later after the water subsided they dragged up sodden muddy carpets and threw them out in the street where their neighbours were busy building their own rubbish heaps. For the next three months they sat cold and depressed with only two camp chairs and a bed to call their own. The floors were so badly damaged that they could see the ground beneath, and being midwinter they caught chill after chill from the icy weather that no longer could be kept at bay within their walls. We live on the opposite side of the country and had no idea until I rang her a few weeks back to catch up.
Hearing their despair, still present as they work through the total rebuilding of a home left shockingly uninsured by a glitch in the fine print of their contract, our desire to so something to help them regain a sense of 'home' once again was overwhelming.
Knowing that God gifts us in different ways, I looked at what I could do, what things I had the ability to do. Sewing seemed the place to start.
My friend has always loved things Japanese, and with that goal in mind I have begun to make some furnishings that she can scatter around the still barren space of their house.
This is the first cushion. I drew the embroidery design from a picture I had of a geisha, and I chose to finish the cushion as though one were looking the sliding doors of a traditional Japanese house.
I'm planning to make other cushions with kimonos and fans, and a quilt in the sashiko method.
How wonderful that God has given us all a way to contribute to the needs of others.
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September 10, 2007 - Calab's Quilt
My eldest daughter has a new baby due in February and has requested a 'frog themed' quilt for the cot (along with matching bumper, bag, pillow, wall hangings etc etc....). Fortunately I am hooked on threads so I feel I can do justice to her Herculian task. Well, I hope I can! 
If the baby is a girl it will be Lily, a name chosen by her expectant big brother, Calab, all of 6 years old himself. We're just crossing fingers that if the new arrival turns out to be a boy he does not offer Kermit as a substitute.
With months ahead to get this nursery furnished I decided Calab needed a quilt first...something to remind him just how special he is to his nana. Hence "Calab's Quilt".
I had to move away from my customary mellow colours and into the pallette of 6 year old boys. At first I tried to explain my colour scheme to my family who were not sure how it would all look in the end - shame we can't pop a memory card from our imagination into their minds so they see what we do - but once I started putting the fabrics together they got my idea.
There is a lot of embroidery in the central blocks. The apple tree is all satin and backstitch, whereas the applique is all buttonhole stitch.
You may not be able to see by the photo but around the four sides of the first purple border I have stitched -
"Calab sleeps safe
and snug under the stars
dreaming of dinosaurs
motorbikes and cars"
These are Calab's favourite things to play with and to draw. I'll make a matching pillow case this week and finally post it off to him. He lives on the other side of Australia which makes this gift even more special for him and me.
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September 4, 2007 - Chasing out the rust...
It’s been about 9 months since my last post on this blog! I lost a lot of my sewing enthusiasm whilst living in the desert this year, but six weeks ago we moved back to the coast and things changed.
I could almost hear those cogs in the creative centre of my brain crunching as they worked to cast off the mental rust and re-oil once again ready for some serious sewing ahead!
First major project once the re-oiling was complete was to make a new quilt for my friend Pam whose fourth baby is due this month.
My latest project is a quilt for my grandson, Calab, who is 6. I need to get it done before his baby brother or sister arrives so I can then start on a baby quilt and matching cot bumper….and then of course there is the new quilt I want to make for our bed, the sword quilt my 14yo son has requested, and the MANY other projects that just burst into my mind around midnight…but for now I'll finish Calab's quilt (and I'll post a pic when it's finished!).
"Hi ho, hi ho, it's off a-sewing we go..."
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December 12, 2006 -
Here are some 2007 diary covers I made for gifts this Christmas.
I also decided to cover my Bible as I loved the soft, homely feel of the cotton covers. The more time I have given to making gifts, the more I have appreciated the gifts that God gave me. He gave me a love for the beautiful, and a heart that loves to create. Thank you Lord.
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December 5, 2006 - Simple Christmas gifts
Here are just a couple of simple, but useful, Christmas gifts that I made this week. They were quick to make, too!
Calico shopping bags are eco-friendly, and do not cost a lot to make. I simply embroidered an easy backstitch picture on a piece of calico, added some pretty gingham and buttons, lined the bag with more calico, added a tie in the handles, and for 2 hours work I have bags that will be joyfully used by an eco-conscious friend of mine!
I also made some very pretty but incredibly simple lavender bags for placing in drawers, or hanging from coathangers in a closet. Buy dried lavender in bulk bags (if you have none in your garden), and some lovely organza ribboons. Add some elegant fabric scraps and you have all you need to bless someone! I made all four lavender bags last night in less than an hour.
If you have some ideas for easy gifts, please share!
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December 2, 2006 - Preparing for the next road trip....
I made this pin cushion during a road trip last year. It was a challenge I had set myself - learning to embroider 'good' French Knots. (the entire embroidery is French Knots) Well, it worked, and I've progressed to more difficult embroidery stitches since then. However, it is still the favourite of all the things I've made.
My 12 yo daughter is an amateur photographer and she set up, and took, this picture of my pin cushion. She took a few with different backgrounds and light settings, but I really liked this particular one. She has some of her photos on her blog Coffee Girl, and I'm hoping she'll add some more soon.
We embark on another road trip in around 18 days, so I'm looking for some good embroidered projects to prepare beforehand - things that are not cumbersome, are easily sewn whilst sitting in a car, and teach me something new. I've tended to stay away from grub roses in the past, so perhaps I should leave myself no option but to sew hundreds of them on a pretty blanket or two?? I'm sure an afternoon spent browsing our craft books will birth a project - but if you can think of something or send me a link I'd be most grateful.
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November 27, 2006 - Love-made giving....
As much as is possible we are making our Christmas gifts again this year. Last year I found such a joy in praying over gifts as they were made for special friends and family members!
The quilt above was a gift to my 12yo daughter, and because she watched me make it, it was not a surprise (though she was thrilled when I gave it to her!). Behind the scenes I made her a sewing caddy - a copy of one I had made myself and something I knew she really wanted.
The thing I love about making special things is that they go on with the ones you make them for. Unlike consumerable gifts a hand made one has the ability to bring joy for so many seasons. This is especially poignant to me as I have nothing like that from my parents or grandparents. My mother died when I was 3, and I have nothing of hers to cherish - that is something I have always been saddened by. So, to ease that loss I decided years ago to give my children things that will live on past my own life - things that will remind them when I am gone that they were loved by their mother. I think that when you find an empty place in your own life it is much easier to recognise how important it is to fill that place in the lives of others.
I love the stories of pioneer times, such a the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, where the smallest keepsakes were cherished because of the love with which they were made and given. That is something 'good' to hold close to our hearts. I'd rather a cake baked with love, than a diamond given out of obligation. Know what I mean?
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November 27, 2006 - The real santa - St Nicholas!
With December 6th not far away, I spent the last few days making Saint Nicholas stockings for the children in preparation for our celebrations. Here is a great website for learning more about the real Santa - Saint Nicholas.
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November 20, 2006 - In Nana's Kitchen
Growing up as an only child raised by grandparents was pretty unique in my early 1960's neighbourhood, where we were surrounded by much younger couples, and larger families.
But I always believed I had it better than my friends. I was the centre of my grandparents lives - and though I was never spoiled with material things, I was incredibly loved and wanted.
We lived in a 1 bedroom flat, and my bed was the couch. Our windows were mostly broken, but nana would effortlessly repair them using strong tape that my grandfather found lying around the wharves where he worked shifts loading and unloading cargo ships. Our toilet was way up the back yard - a writhing green choko bush its only decoration - and the outdoor bathroom you would also find along that path.
The weekly bath was on Saturday nights, and what a big event it was! My grandfather would fill the old copper with water from buckets he'd fill at the tap outside the back door. It was the only tap we had. Nana would light the fire under the big old copper, and when it was warm enough my grandfather would begin the trek of filling bucket after bucket, carrying them up the back path to the bathroom (which was no more than a glorified shed with a tub in the middle) to fill the tub.
I was first in, and nana would scrub me something fierce. Nana was next, and I'll always remember that sweet smell of lily of the valley that surrounded her afterwards. Pop was last of all, and had the task of emptying the big tub when he finished.
In our narrow kitchen nana had a big kitchen hutch. It was a friendly cupboard, with broken panes of stained glass in the cupboard doors, all sticky-taped back together with the same finesse nana used on our windows. Even now, when I close my eyes and think of that cupboard, I am haunted by the smells of the vanilla she used liberally in her bread and butter pudding, and those big spicy jars of choko pickles that I missed so terribly when she passed away.
When I remember her it is always with a fragrance....she smelled of all things lovely and safe and sure.
The wallhanging above is a tribute to my nana. She brought out the best in me, and though it has been 24 years since she died, I miss her still.
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November 18, 2006 - Bread Or Threads??
Quilting was something I always wanted to do - I just didn't have a clue where or how to start.
Last year (05) my husband took a temporary teaching position in a little town 'far, far away'. We put all our things in storage and gallantly set off. We moved into a tiny two room cabin in a tourist park on the outskirts of Armidale, NSW.
While hubby was away at school each day the kids and I would shiver through our morning homeschool lessons until, at last, the sun begrudgingly shared some warmth. By then it was after lunch, and we would drive into Armidale to soak up the peaceful atmosphere of the quaint New England mountain town.
After a couple of weeks in our temporary home, a new friend showed us a quilt she had made - I was quite in awe of her skill. She declared that it was not very hard to quilt, and as we parted she loaned me some "Homespun" magazines, filled to overflowing with the most beautiful quilts I'd ever laid eyes on!
The rest, as they say, is history!!
For the last 15 months I have immersed myself, and my 12yo daughter in fabric, patterns, thread, fabric shopping, fabric, rotary cutters, fabric, fabric shopping, fabric.... did I mention fabric??
The avatar on this webpage is a portion of the first quilt I made in September '05. I named it "For The Love Of Mark". I had always dreamt of making a wedding quilt, and finally I did.
The quilt above is one that I made my eldest daughter for her 27th birthday.
I have made many, many more (shall add more pics in the weeks ahead) yet find that my appetite to create another is never satiated! I have given many items away as gifts which just means I have more space at home to start all over again.
I especially love adding embroidery and applique to the things I make. Wallhangings, cushions, journal covers, dolls, baby quilts, bags, household items, table runners....all these things become avenues for my addiction to thread.
Having a few different things on the go at any one time assures me that no matter what the time of day, or the weather, or the light - I always have something to keep my hands busy and my mind creating.
For so many years I prayed that God would open the creative room in my mind. I felt creatively stifled. Although I tried many things, it was not until this foray into quilting that I felt an "aha" moment - that moment when I just knew "this is it!".
I hope you enjoy the things I'll share along the way. This is really my way of keeping track of what I make - for posterity.
PS: A benefit I never realised until a few months into my quilting obsession was that when I'm in the throws of a new creation I loose my appetite....hence the title of this entry - "Bread or Threads?". If I'm in my sewing zone I'll take the threads every time! Just bring me a coffee, okay?
