Matching Pegs

Making this tutorial is revealing a strong family trait that I inherited from my fathers side of the family.  Trying to make the clearest tutorial possible is bringing out my pedantic, wordy, particular behavior.  Why make a tutorial with 6 photos, when you could use 50?

This is also why it is taking so long, but hopefully it will be really clear and easy to follow.

I think the finished product looks pretty cool.  I’m calling it the Star Fruit Cushion Tutorial and I’ve nearly finished it.  Stay tuned.

Last night we welcomed in the New Year, at our place, with our dearest friends who always gather at our place for NYE.  It felt festive, relaxed and went a long way towards building me up again after our difficult Christmas.

The light show was all supplied by nature – we had quite a thunderstorm, and received a decent amount of rain, which here in Melbourne is always good.

We have had a very quiet time at home in the last week, and one project I accomplished was to put some of my fabric up on the shelves in my sewing studio.  I still have a couple of small crates of fabrics, which are designated for specific projects, but I have emptied the largest crate onto the shelves, which was general stash.  Because applique is what I am mostly into, I keep even very small pieces of fabric, and while I have a fair breadth of fabrics, my stash isn’t really that large.

Needless to say, I took great delight in lovingly sorting my fabric into colour stacks and lining them up on my shelves.  You can also see my supply of “little stuff” – mini pegs and tiny buttons, (lots of tiny stars, dragonflies, bees, ladybirds and tiny button-shaped buttons).

I didn’t quite make my target of getting my new house quilt top finished before the close of 2009.  I have finished all the blocks and after arranging them all and labeling the block placement, I have started joining them.  2 columns joined – 8 more to go.

Luke gave me a fantastic present for Christmas – this fantastic book.  I am itching to start experimenting.  It is full  of tutorials on using Illustrator and Photoshop to create textile designs – so this is fair warning of what might grace the pages of this blog before long.

The other fantastic present we got each other was a dishwasher – the gift that keeps on giving, every. single. night.  It made cleaning up after dinner for 15 people last night easy peasey.

I am deeply grateful for all your messages of support after my last post.  I have not felt quite up to replying to them, but please don’t take it personally – I really appreciated that my family was in your thoughts.

Spending quiet time with my family has been the balm I needed to get me through the past week, and I did not feel up to being on the computer.  Things are not a lot better, but Christmas is behind us, so that helps.  It felt really good to type in 2010 – that’s my optimism coming back – I’ve read that we have just entered the ONEder years – I kind of like that description of the decade to come, I wonder if it will stick.

So, what are you looking forward to doing in 2010, or what have you heard the next decade being called?

These are not quite as clever as some others I have seen on the web, (featuring mini knitting and made up as tiny terrariums) but I had lots of fun filling these glass baubles with some buttons, and some tiny felt offcuts, which I have been collecting all year.  I have 4 more left, and I am thinking at that they will contain tiny pegs.

I think I will string these together, to hang as non-seasonal ornaments, so that I can enjoy them all year round.

There has been quite a bit of last minute crafting going on, which means no time to take photos before gifting.  This kind of means the gifts don’t exist, blog wise.  I thought I would show you other versions I have made of the same things.

This is “Thank-you Flower, which I designed in February 2008.  I made these for the three carers at Occasional Care, in three different colour-ways.  The spots you see are all french knots.

I also made a version of one of these (which I first designed in 2004) for the Kinder assistant – I have made her a different one every year, which together make up a set.  This year’s one was gold, and said “Family” on it.  Others have been “Love”, “Peace”, “Hope” and the “Joy” one you see here.

The officially started the long summer school holidays yesterday, so we are going to have lots of time at home.  Thankfully it is not too hot yet, so we are really enjoying relaxing in the garden around our new house.  This little fellow (or gal) has been hanging out a lot in our yard too – a juvenile kookaburra.  He/She is often in the tree outside Rory’s window (where I took this photo) waiting patiently for his family to feed him/her.

I think if we ever named our house, it would have to be called “Kookaburra Hollow”.  Does anyone out there live in a house with a name?

I spent about 2 hours  today colouring in.  Such a calm thing to do as we race towards Christmas like a meteor rushing towards earth, gaining momentum (being sucked into the gravity of the big day).  Christmas time also means the end of the school year here in Australia, and I was colouring in the presents for the kid’s teachers.

This was actually meant to be a little framed stitchery of children’s faces thanking the teacher.  I designed it a little while ago but have not left myself enough time to stitch it up, so instead it became a framed coloured picture on cloth (calico or seeded homespun, I’m not sure which).

Months ago I drew up a few pages of little faces in my sketchbook.  I scanned my favorites and drew their line work again in Illustrator, so that I could make them all the same relative size.  Just this past week I drew Amelia and Rory to join them, as this is their thank-you to their teachers.

Those familiar with my kids might be able to pick them out, I think I have captured a fair likeness (Amelia is the one wearing the headband – she wears one to school every day, and Rory is  at the bottom right).  I hope the teachers like them, if not they can use the frames for something else .  Now I just have to whip up something for the Kinder Teachers and the Occasional Care Carers (5 more presents).  What is your family giving to the teachers?

A few days ago I finished putting the “skirt” on my new cutting table – it is complete!

Made from two IKEA kitchen cabinets, an interior door, some small lengths of timber, little hooks and eyes, some stretchy, covered-springy-stuff that holds up the curtains, and about 5.5 metres of fabric (Shangri-La by Three Sisters for Moda – stolen from an uncompleted project).  I am so thrilled.

The top is painted in the same custom colour that we had mixed for the gutters and the heater surround at our last house – it is hard to pick from the photos, but it is a very dark kingfisher blue – verging on black and I love it.

The cabinets are holding my stash, which is still stored in several plastic crates.  I am debating storing less attractive items under there, and putting the folded piles of fabric on my open shelves – but that is a pretty big job, I’m still thinking through the pros and cons.  Can you see these lovelies well enough – here is a better look.

This is the other side of the space (which was the formal dining room for the previous family – you can see it here)

My Mum has been extremely generous, and has given me her Horn Cabinet, to store my sewing machine in.  I have yet to colonize the space inside it with all my bits and pieces.  It will take me some time to decide where to keep everything – the thing is full of little partitions.

You will have noticed my little friend in the first photo.

After Lotta’s recent clip, the weather turned cold again, so I had to put her in a coat, which I almost never do.  She is wonderful company in my beautiful sewing area, and pretty cute as well.  Stay tuned for more sewing room projects.

Does anyone keep you company when you are sewing?

Sometime I hear people trade stories about the size of their ironing pile, about the enormity of their backlog.  I keep pretty quiet, and I must admit, slightly mystified. I have never really been an ironer.  My iron sees a lot of action – but about 95% of that is for sewing.

All our washing is line dried, (or occasionally dried on airing racks inside) – business shirts and the like are hung straight onto hangers to dry, and Mr Matching Pegs irons his own shirts when he needs to wear them (about twice a week – he is a designer, and does not wear business shirts every day).

For this reason, starch has always been a historical item to me – something I knew people used to use, to stiffen a collar, or a special linen tablecloth.  I had never used it myself.  I don’t even know if there are people out there of my generation that use it (are there?).

After having trouble ironing under the 1/4 inch seam allowance of my little Ohio Star, (so that I could sew it on the back of my quilt) I decided to give some starch a go.  It made ironing a crisp, thin edge a piece of cake.

Now I have started using it on the remaining “New House” string quilt blocks.  It really helps the ironed fabric sit flat against the paper, ready for the next piece to be added.  I am hoping that it also helps to hold the block stable once the paper has been pulled off the back.

Here are some more recent blocks – making them is really quite relaxing.  I think I will run out of the green for the middle, before I run out of cut strips, my pile does not seem to be diminishing.

While I was musing on starch, I wondered what people had made it out of in the “olden days”.  My guess was potato (the starchiest thing I know of) but I knew the Internet would have an answer for making some at home.  It seems it can be made using corn flour (corn starch in US speak).  I assume that it can be made of other things – I am sure it would not have been made from corn in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries to stiffen neck ruffs! Make your own starch recipe found here.

Just one word of warning about starch – apparently the bugs love to eat it.  Only use starch on things that are going to be washed in the not too distant future.

So tell me, do you use starch for anything?

This weekend required an activity to keep small people entertained, and it ended up involving the whole family.  I was the designated goop chef, and I made up this batch of papier mache glue, using only the ingredients you see here – Flour, sugar, water (and heat).  I found the reciepe here.

We blew up small balloons for the kids, propped them some jars and glasses, and got dipping with our ripped up newspaper.  Luke and Michaela are collaborating on a chirpy bird.  Rory and Amelia are making frogs.  Best of all, I think this project will provide amusement for days to come.

We stored the goop in the fridge overnight, and this morning it was the consistency of good old Clag.  It was great to be able to whip it up in our own kitchen for free, and we now have enough goop for a papier mache house.

Speaking of houses, here is another activity to keep the kids amused (found via Simple Mom) – celebrating our favorites, Charlie and Lola.

What did you get up to this weekend?

Six years ago I first stepped inside an independent patchwork store and swooned.  I was already deep in love with fabric, and quite familiar with Lincraft and other dress fabric stores, but on this occasion I discovered  a love even closer to my heart.  Imagine, all the fabric displayed by colour!

It was around the time of my 29th birthday, and I decided there and then to purchase some fabrics as a birthday present for myself.

It all started with this “dirty” purple, (my love for “dirty”, slightly greyed-out purples has not diminished).  I based all of my selections on this fabric.  I danced around the shop picking out co-ordinating fabrics, and before I knew it, I had quite a stack – boy was I shocked at the price, once it was all added up.

My mother – my guru in all things sewing – had a book on quilt blocks, so I picked out the beguiling Ohio star, borrowed Mum’s cutting mat and ruler, and got cutting.  I finished this quilt that year, and it has languished in the cupboard even since – it’s size was overwhelming, and I could not justify the price to get it professionally quilted.

This year I pulled it out of that cupboard, and entrusted it to my clever quilting friend, Anita Ellis.  Anita and I met at the North of the Yarra Quilting Guild, and she has quilted one other of my languishing quilts for me earlier this year.  She has done such a beautiful job.  You can reach Anita, (whose business in called “Hillside Quilting” and is based in Warrandyte) on 0430 135 281.

So after 6 years, I am finishing my first quilt – sewing on the binding.  I want to make a really nice label, so I have made this little Ohio star (6″ wide), to go on it.  Luckily, I keep every small scrap, so I still had some of the fabrics to make it up in.

The colours remind me of Autumn, and I have called the quilt “Autumn Sunset”.  It doesn’t go with any of our decor, but the colours make me sing on the inside.

Now that everything has calmed down somewhat in the Matching Pegs household, I have brought my computer back into the lounge room, and out of the cold unheated bedroom – back to blogging!

Here is a look at my current work in progress – a string quilt I am calling “The New House Quilt”.  I am hoping that I will have it finished by the 20th of October, when we move into the new house.  My string quilt is inspired by the delicious looking quilts that Ashley from Film in the Fridge makes.  You can see Ashley’s tutorial for making your own one here.

Just after we signed the papers to sell (but before the builder and pest man had checked out the house for the owner-to-be) I actually escaped for the weekend to our Guild’s anual retreat (that’s the North of the Yarra Quilters Guild).  This was the project I started while I was there.

The retreat was sewers heaven – sew all weekend, and only stop to eat or sleep.

To cut the strips for this quilt, I spent about 5-6 hours cutting at the communal cutting table, but the excellent, like-minded company made the hours pass quite quickly.  My strips were all cut to 2″, 1.5″, and 1″.  I chose to make my blocks 10.5″, so they will finish up as 10″ blocks.

The idea of this quilt is to use up scraps, but to use one constant fabric across the centre of each block – here you can see I have chosen a green, (that my friends know dominates my wardrobe).  It is actually a foundation pieced block – but there is not a lot of precision involved – you just have to make sure you are covering the paper as you sew.

I have not even been using pins.

What amazes me is how much better the block looks when you cut off the extra edges

I initially thought I would make the quilt 5 x 6 blocks, but the strips are going much further than I thought, so I will make it at least 6 x 6 – and depending on how much the stack has dwindled (or not), I may even make it 8 x 8.  It has become clear as I have made it, that the blocks look best in groupings of 4’s, with no extras on the side.  I will keep you all up to date with my progress.

Thank you for all the house love.  Once we are over the various minor ills that have beset the family (including me – I’m off to bed), I will get a chance to catch up on comment replies.

What are you making at the moment?

A clever friend showed me how to turn my illustrator drawings into repeating patterns, and I have been waiting for a chance to give this a go.

You are looking at my first try (just in black and white so far).

What do you think?