Diversions and Action

The brain is a marvellous thing - just as you are really winding yourself up with "the last list" of things to be completed before the working year winds to a close, it is also capable of noticing the extraordinary that is so often right under our noses. I mean to say - just look at this - how's this for a fantastic use for spray cans?? So much better than the graffiti and tagging that seems to be endemic.... I found it on my regular route to work - and one day I even remembered to bring my camera with me to share this fabulous sight. I think it definitely qualifies as gorilla art.

So I'm feeling pleased with myself that I noticed it and then remembered to photograph it - an all this while my brain too resembles that lace that Jude, from Spirit Cloth, referred to in her recent post. I'm afraid that my mind also appears to be all holes and patches - nothing that a good holiday can't start to mend... after all, where there is life there is hope...

But before the holiday there is "the list" to be got through... so here are a couple of the more recent things I'm pleased to be able to cross off - another use for doilies... this time as part of a doll quilt for a particularly adorable two year old, who had such fun playing with some of my lace doilies while I had coffee with her mother last week that I thought she definitely needed a small something to keep her dolls warm. If I remember rightly, the butterfly fabric was the backing on the quilt I made her when she was born.

and the prototype for the annual Christmas decorations that I'll be making this year. Here's the full confession - I pinched the idea from an advertisement in the current edition of Selvedge magazine - I can't credit the inspired person who came up with it as it was part of the advertisement for their next edition. It took my breath away and I immediately took to the sewing room. I have altered it, but the full acknowledgement for the idea rests with Selvedge - my favourite of all the international textile magazines - and that is really saying something!

On the home stretch

Serious countdown time now and it's starting to come together nicely - wedding quilt is all completed with only the label to go.... I'm so pleased I decided to get it quilted by Sue - she's done a marvellous job in super quick time. It has a large leafy vine pattern all over it which really suits the colours and feel of the quilt. Without her I'd have been turning up at the wedding without a gift for my brother and almost sister in law. Never a good look!

Of course I made too much binding (I always seem to have this problem) so decided to put it onto a few small pieces which have been sitting around. I'm so pleased with the improvement its made to them that these are also destined for the gift giving pile. I will never think of excess binding as a problem again.

I've even been putting the odd doiley on the back in preparation for labels. I particularly love this Lily.

It's quite exciting really - its probably the most organised I've ever been for Christmas and it feels rather good.

Now there's just the children -that will be another story altogether....

Focusing the mind

There's nothing like a close examination of your diary to really focus your mind. This weekend I came to the realisation that it is only one month until we head away for my brother's wedding and we have a lot of things to pack into that short time. Some would call it an act of denial but this sent me quickly to the sewing room to finally get cracking on some gifts that I may (or may not - depending on who is reading...) need for a holiday that is coming up in a mere 6 weeks. That's right - the Christmas rush is almost upon us.


Being ever mindful of the state of the world economy, and in the knowledge that something handmade is so much better than anything I could find in the shops anyway, I decided that a close examination of the stacks of fabric that I seem to be hoarding would yield some interesting possibilities. In no time at all I had the bag production facility in full swing - I'm rather pleased with the results.... a rather nice Liberty number....
something more restrained for one of my quieter relatives and then a couple for the floral lovers among us.... Someone asked me a couple of days ago if I had found a use for lace doilies, which got my fingers into action. I think they are just perfect for some bag embellishment...

and I've hand stitched a couple onto the very boring hoodie that I seem to almost live in at this time of year when the weather is still so changable. They have made this garment far more 'me' and I've had lots of positive comments about it already. I'm starting to think that there are a few other garments in my wardrobe that could do with some similar attention.I think there may still be a couple more bags to come, but first I have 34 feet of hand stitching to get through to get the binding on the wedding quilt done. The quilt has arrived back from being quilted and I'm thrilled with it. Sue has done a fabulous job, as always. However the amount of binding to be stitched down is slightly daunting - just as well I like hand stitching.

Somehow I think the new quilt that is in the brewing might be a post holiday activity, but then it's always good to have something to look forward to!

What if...

I've had reason of late to be reflecting on life and the value of friendship, for a variety of reasons that I won't go into right at the moment. While mulling this over last week I had one of those "what if" moments that always gets the pulse racing among those with a creative bent....

What if I used some of the textiles of my mother's closest friend to capture some of the thoughts that I've been having about what is really important in living a happy, balanced life....

What if I tried embroidering on her damask napkins - the same napkins that played a central role in the almost legendary hospitality that my Auntie Dorothy offered to whoever turned up at her house at meal time...

My mother and Auntie Dorothy were close friends for almost 50 years before Dorothy passed away a few years ago. They remained friends even when they lived far apart, in different countries and even on different sides of the world. As a child I knew that my Auntie Dorothy, and her husband, were to be my legal guardians in the unforeseen event that something happened to parents. My mother used to say that she always knew that there would be lots of love and food on the table in the event that anything happened to them.

Auntie Dorothy wasn't my "real" Aunt, but actually she couldn't have been more real to me. In my family its always been very clear that family can be whoever you want it to be and that the blood ties aren't always the sole way to define "family". It's something that I have continued with my children - some of my dearest friends are called auntie and uncle by my children even though there are no blood links. I'm very clear that it isn't the blood links that creates the love.

Recently my Uncle gave me a box of her linens that he didn't need anymore - he hoped that I would find something to do with them. And it's been looking through those linens that really bought me to my "what if"...

Well, what if..... I think I feel a new quilt coming on.... and I hope Auntie Dorothy would like it....

Of your fingers take care

And while I'm telling you what Ive been up to I should probably also confess to spending a little bit of time finding treasures for my collection and to share with you. This is the current star on my dresser and my latest acquisition..... a truly irresistible tea cosy that was begging to move to my house..... the front

the back...

and the real item that sealed the deal - the cloth to hold the teapot handle which lives in a pocket by the back door....

Can't you just picture the person stitching this to make the family laugh!

Lost in Action or Hard at Work...

Hello - remember me? Don't worry - I'll be quite understanding if you don't - its been a while.... However there has been the odd thing going on in my little corner of the world. Do you remember this pile of fabric?I've been spending quite a lot of time with it lately - getting closely acquainted with every different shade, value and pattern and I'm rather pleased to say that after a lot of elbow grease and many hours secluded from the family, I've managed to transform it into this....It's based on a Kaffe Fassett quilt called Gridlock that I have always loved from his first book. I changed it by putting in some whole pieces, from the Loni Rossi fabrics that my "soon to be" sister in law choose when she visited NZ last year, some four patch blocks and playing around with the colour recipe. It is so large that it is rather hard to photograph in my studio, and it only just fitted onto my available hanging space. It measures a mere 9 foot wide x 7 foot deep (or 2.8m x 2.2m for the metrically minded). Anyway you look at it, it really is large but will fit the King sized bed perfectly.

So here's a couple of detail shots which will give a better idea of the colour and fabric ranges - for once the camera decided to cooperate!I am very pleased with it - not least I am pleased to have the top finished as it is only 6 weeks until we depart for the wedding in the topics of Townsville, Queensland (and yes I do know that no one who lives in Townsville actually needs a quilt, but some things just have to be done!).Having got this far, I'm pleased to say that sanity has prevailed in my quilt room and I've decided that someone else can quilt it on their longarm machine. After all, as one of my very dear stitching friends pointed out to me, Nancy Crow never quilts her own pieces......