Starting 2015.
Posted on January 8, 2015 | 16 Comments
2015 has definitely started here in true Australian fashion … heat, fires, beach and thunderstorms.
I suppose I should be used to this by now. We did have a mild start to Summer with few really hot days, but as soon as the calendar kicked over to the New Year that changed with days up to 40 degrees. Sadly some areas have experienced bad fires with a lot of homes lost. What a hard way to start the year.
We have had crazy thunderstorms going through yesterday bringing good rain in some areas. It was quite an impressive lightning display outside.
We have spent a few days travelling around catching up with family members. One day at Wye River we had the true Aussie experience with wildlife.
This sleepy fellow was in the tree out the front.
We then had a visit from a family of 9 kookaburras, all expecting to be fed. I could only catch 3 at once in the photo.
Next to arrive were the cockatoos checking out the bird feeder.
Apparently we missed the wallabies. They had visited the night before.
Only a little sewing happening here. I did finish a couple more of these. I finally have some to keep for myself.
I have packed away the Christmas decorations and quilts, but found there were a few bits I wanted to keep out a little longer. So I set up a corner in a spare bedroom.
I see lots of people making plans for new projects for this year and I am sure I will have a few to do as well, but at the moment I think I will try to focus on reducing the UFO pile.
I wonder how long that will last!
I do hope your year has started well.
Cheers, Karen
Post Santa Day.
Posted on December 29, 2014 | 15 Comments
Christmas is all over for another year. So what’s next?
I didn’t do a lot of decorating so that has been easy to pack away.
Lots of gardening seems to be on the cards with netting needed to protect the fruit on the trees being first priority.
And maybe a Spring clean in Summer.
I have a couple of photos I couldn’t show before Christmas.
These are scarves made for grandies in the Northern Hemisphere.
The cards I made this year.
A gorgeous gift box.
And a lovely biscuit tin. Loved the design and couldn’t resist.
That’s it for me for Christmas. Done and Dusted.
I do hope you had a lovely time with friends and family.
Cheers, Karen.
Playing Catch Up With Christmas.
Posted on December 8, 2014 | 15 Comments
As always at this time of year, Christmas is coming far too quickly. It is hard to stay in front.
But a lovely parcel arrived last week to improve the situation. It turns out Cheryll of Gone Stitchin is my final FHFS partner for 2014 and look at this lovely sight.
How lucky am I?
Thank you, Cheryll, for this delightful parcel of goodies. I look forward to discovering the contents when the allotted date arrives. It’s very exciting.
I have a large selection of ornaments that are too heavy for a normal tree and for several years I have been looking for an idea that would work for the heavies.
I found this perfect tree in a local store on the weekend and realised it would be perfect for the job.
It is as tall as me so should hold quite a few ornies.
I have been stitching away and getting in a few finishes.
These are Marg Low‘s felt Santas. Love the scarf on the back of them.
These little birds are also a Marg Low design.
And also a few more notebooks, also from Marg Low. (Definitely a pattern here.)
That’s a short and sharp post for today. Too many end of year functions to get to.
Hope you are enjoying a few as well.
Cheers, Karen
Summer Is Coming.
Posted on November 28, 2014 | 12 Comments
Here in our part of the world, Summer starts on Monday. In our southern part of the country we have not been hit with the early hot temperatures those further north are experiencing.
As a result the garden is growing well and the grass is still green. It is even cool enough at night to still have a blanket.
This is what is happening in my garden.
As a result I am making my third batch of jam. I am finding that we are able to pick a kilogram every second or third day. So why not turn some of it into jam.
I breathed a big sigh of relief when I posted this parcel today for our FHFS group.
I had bee quite concerned about making the deadline, but thankfully it all worked out.
This is a sneak peek at what I played with that eventually went inside one of the packages.
Now that one deadline is out of the way, I need to catch up on a lot more Christmas sewing.
In the meantime, I have found other distractions. I have a friend who is very talented when it comes to anything to do with paper. I enjoy going to some of her classes.
Last week we made this lovely fold out book.
All the papers used in the pages and on the cover are handmade.
A little bit of decoration was added.
It is made with concertina fold pages.
There are too many lovely distractions waiting to be made. The only solution is to live to 110 – at least!
Have a lovely weekend. I am planning to enjoy the sunshine in the garden.
Hope you have a great one planned, too.
Cheers, Karen
Lovely Colours.
Posted on November 19, 2014 | 17 Comments
Over the past few weeks I have been playing with these lovely fabrics.
This is a baby quilt I have made for our niece. She is due in the first week of December.
It is made using HSTs. I started with 12 fat quarters and still have fabric over. The fabric is all from one of Nancy Halverston’s ranges.
All the quilting is straight line.
I like the way it shows up well on the back of the quilt.
The backing fabric has cute little animals on it – elephant, rhino and giraffe.
The binding is a simple linen look grey.
I am very pleased to have this ready before the arrival of the baby.
I do hope she likes it.
Cheers, Karen
Little Steps.
Posted on November 12, 2014 | 20 Comments
It still seems to be very busy here, but progress on some projects is being made in little steps
I have finished the little stitcheries from a FigNBerry pattern. They will have to wait for a little while to be made into a quilt, but I have enjoyed having a portable project to work on.
The Country Garden thread in this one is named Cobblestone.
I am delighted to be back working on my Jacobean embroidery and making good progress there, too.
Only two sections to go!
And I have also completed the main blocks for the Christmas Quilt from a pattern by Viv Robinson.
Here are the blocks together.
In the completed quilt there will be sashing and borders. It may be ready for Christmas ………. maybe.
I am thoroughly enjoying our warmer days and have spent this morning picking a tub of strawberries. Great way to start the day.
Cheers, Karen
A Zoo Quilt.
Posted on October 22, 2014 | 19 Comments
Here we go. This will really test out whether all the repairs and upgrades work.
If this post works I can then see if you can comment and if I can reply.
Fingers crossed.
Several weeks ago I managed to complete this quilt top and send it to my LAQ. It came back within a fortnight and was bound and ready to take to our 2 1/2 year old grandson.
(We had a week of cloudy days so photos are a bit dull.)
The main animal fabric is Jungle Creatures.
The pattern is from a book called Precut Quilts.
The quilting pattern was a perfect choice as it is made up of zoo animals.
Here is close up to see the creatures.
Lions, elephants and giraffes.
The backing fabric fits well with the animal theme – a herd of rhinoceros. And the binding is a soft linen grey.
The timing of the finish for the quilt was perfect. The day we delivered it was the same day his new grown up bed was being constructed.
Lots of time was spent looking for creatures in the quilt. Lots of fun!
Cheers, Karen
An Enforced Break.
Posted on October 11, 2014 | 9 Comments
Looks like I am out of action as far as my blog and emails are concerned for a while.
Due to all sorts of technical hiccups I cannot access loads of data.
I can post on my blog and receive comments, but cannot reply to them.
I am not receiving any emails on my account.
And I am unable to leave comments on your posts.
So I do apologise to anyone who has left me messages, emails or comments.
I also apologise for not commenting on any of your posts.
I am, thankfully, able to continue to read your posts and will enjoy doing so, even if I cannot comment.
I am sure it will be sorted out, but when is another question.
Cheers, Karen
My Turn To Hop Around The World.
Posted on September 15, 2014 | 14 Comments
I have been invited by the lovely Joan at Moose Stash Quilting to participate in the Around The World blog hop.
This is a great way to find out about a lot of bloggers in many varied parts of the world. And to see what they enjoy doing.
Thanks for the opportunity, Joan.
I really enjoy working with all things involving fabric. Patchwork and Quilting is high on my list of most loved crafts. I make my quilts to be used and enjoyed. And sometimes they get to hang on my walls for decoration.
I was very proud when one of my quilts was published in the Australian Handmade magazine. This is a quilt I had made for our Grand-daughter to use on her bed when visiting here.
I also enjoy embroidery so of course it is logical to combine that with quilts.
Or just on its own.
I even manage to sneak in some play time with paper – scrapbooks, cards and art journalling.
But I thought for this hop I would focus on something Joan mentioned – ribbons.
Over the last 4 years I have been designing and producing patterns using a ribbon applique technique. It has been quite a surprise to me how these patterns have taken off so quickly. It is not something I ever intend to have as a business, but it is lovely that something I designed is being enjoyed by others.
So here are the questions and answers.
1. What am I working on?
I have made a number of mini wall hangings with ribbons, but I also wanted to make some decorations and tags.
I am trying to work out the best way to set the ribbons to make the stars and not waste ribbon.
2. How does my work differ from others of this genre?
Most applique pieces are fabric on fabric. I am using combinations of ribbons as the applique pieces.
I then like to add some embroidery, buttons and little decorations to the mini to add interest and character.
This is the first design I made.
Another colour way.
3. Why do I create?
I think it is the challenge to work out how to make an item that makes me want to create. Working out how to do it in the best way possible pushes me to try many different projects.
If it is in my head I want to see if I can make it.
With my ribbon patterns I wanted to work out a way that would let me applique ribbons firmly and securely but still allow them to have body and texture. I use vliesofix and iron pellon in combination to do this.
The bigger challenge is to write a pattern that makes sense and is easy to follow. I try to make sure that even the least experienced sewer can follow the instructions.
These snow mates took a little while to form into a pattern. Deciding what to embroider and how to use the buttons took a little testing, too.
4. How does my creative process work?
I thought when I started making my ribbon minis that the best way to work would be to write and draw the ideas I had, but this didn’t work. It seems I am better off just letting all the ideas swim around inside my head and then when I am happy that everything has fallen into place I can then start making some test samples.
This Ribbon Santa took a while to sort out the body proportions. Once that fell into place the rest followed easily.
Whereas the design for the angel was very straight forward right from the beginning.
Thank you visiting my post for the Around The World blog hop.
FHFS Spots.
Posted on September 13, 2014 | 11 Comments
I received a delightful parcel in the mail yesterday as part of our FHFS spotty swap.
It was from Sharon of Lilabelle Lane and was wrapped in lovely spotty paper.
Sharon has made this gorgeous Sew Together bag. Doesn’t it look amazing!
She has embroidered spots and dots to keep the spotty theme going.
And Sharon included some lovely spotty fat quarters.
When the bag is opened the inside pockets are revealed. And of course the lovely spotty fabric that has been used.
This is a great idea for all the sewing needs that we take with us. There is even a little pin cushion!
This is a perfect little bag.
Thank you so much, Sharon.
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