Sorrento

Beach house interior with quilt

I was lucky enough to spend last weekend with 4 other keen sewers, in a beach house we hired in Sorrento, on the Mornington Peninsula.  After 6 weeks of company, 24/7, while the kids were on school holidays, it was lovely to be somewhere where the only person I had to really look after was me.

The Saturday was very wet and grey, so we stayed in the little house amongst the Coastal Tea trees and sewed, while watching girly movies.  I managed to get halfway round my “Wheel Of Fortune” Quilt with peachy squares.

Sorrento Ocean Beach, looking east

Sunday was a glorious day, so we went down to the Sorrento Back-Beach to have a wander, (The Back-beach faces the Ocean.  The Front-beach, on the other side of Sorrento, faces the same large bay that Melbourne is built on, and is much more sheltered).

Above is the view looking East, and below is the view looking West.

Sorrento Back Beach (Ocean Beach) looking west

Having spent a fair bit of my youth visiting this beach, I was pretty pleased to get a chance to get my feet wet and sandy here again, even if it wasn’t quite warm enough to swim.

The Ramp down to Sorrento Ocean Beach (Vic)

Everyone enjoyed pottering around the large rock pool, and dipping their toes in.

Sorrento Rockpool, Victoria

It was a wonderful weekend to recharge the batteries in preparation for the year ahead.

Where was your last sewing weekend?

 

Very Busy

Lotta and my growing Rag Rug

This week has flown by, and so will this weekend (because I’m off to Sorrento, on a girly, sewing weekend).

I haven’t had time to do much crafting (or reply to comments, sorry) except for a little “tooth-brushing” on my Rag Rug in the evenings.  It is now pretty much “Lotta Sized”, but Lotta was not as brave as Jodie’s cat, and has not yet sat on it.  If only she felt that way about the quilt blocks that I have laid out, on the floor, (with paw prints on them).

My Toothbrush Rag-Rug

You can now see that the next colour I went for was green, (three times in fact) along with some mauve and pinky-red.  I have not yet decided what comes next, perhaps more coral-pink from the middle.

See you – I’m off to the beach…

More Circle-Work

"Wheel of Fortune" Hand Pieced Quilt

It seems that my two main projects at the moment are both worked in rings, and as they get bigger, they grow a little bit more slowly.  I am still enjoying making my rag-rug, but it was time to give my “Wheel-Of-Fortune” some love and attention.

Now that I have completed the 9th, very bright-pink ring, it is getting harder to photograph.  The colours in the top photograph are probably the most accurate.

Wheel of Fortune - Ninth Ring

As I have mentioned before, this bright pink is just a little outside my comfort zone, but I’m very happy with how it turned out.  Next up is a peachy ring of squares, just like the second ring, and after that, one made of the paler browns diamonds, like the centre.

Michaela and the Wheel of Fortune Quilt

Michaela might give you some idea of the scale of this beauty.

Finally, for those of you that are also a little bit like me with pegs – here is some peg-love…

“Carpets” made of pegs (not to walk on though), an ombre peg backdrop, and an Artist who makes sculpture with wooden pegs – all found via Design Sponge.

Are you doing any “circle work”*?

*the term “circle-work” in Australia generally refers to the driving maneuver that is also called a doughnut.  I’ve never done one!

Round and Round and Round She Goes

Toothbrush Rug in progress

…where she stops, nobody knows!

This is still mostly made of old clothes, but I caved in and used some scraps of fabric for the second-most recent colour, the mid-blue.  I really wanted that colour, and the bit of blue fabric I had was very scrappy – a strange shape that I cut into lots of different sized strips.  It was scrap-chicken, as I only just made it around.  It contributed a whole lot of thready edges too, because it does not curl up like the stretch fabric.  You can read more about my rug and the Rag-Rug-Along here and follow instructions here.

I wonder if you can guess what colour I am using next?

 

Lucky. The tale of a craft fail in two acts.

Lucky Cushion and Lotta

4 years ago, I made 3 cushions out of some fabric that I purchased at Purl Soho, when I was in NYC.

Cushion Back

The beautiful Yuwa fabric, which features cups of tea, has faded (through use) on the front, but not the back (you can see the back in the photo above).  Because the teacups are in such a neutral colour, I decided to revive the cushions with new motifs on the front, rather than retire them.  I decided that at least one of them needed to be decorated with Typography, preferable something swooshy.

Zipper

So I found part of an old, hand-drawn logo that I liked on Pinterest, traced the part I liked, and used fusible web to cut out the lettering in nice fabric.  When it came to ironing the lettering onto the cushion cover, the chunky zip on the back was a bit of a sticking point.  The zip is usually covered, and is bright yellow because it came off another cushion – I’m thrifty you see, but that was not the problem.  In order to iron on the lettering, I needed a nice flat surface, and the chunky zip was mounding up the cushion cover, right through the middle.

So I had a great idea – I would iron on the lettering, while the cover was still on the cushion, making the cushion-front nice and flat, which brings us to my first fail.  It didn’t occur to me that the cushion-insert had it’s own covering of synthetic fabric.  While I merrily ironed on the swooshy word, I was also fusing the cushion cover to the cushion insert.  After it had cooled, and I had made my discovery, I carefully peeled off as much of the fused fabric as I could and tossed the ruined cushion-insert out.

Lucky cushion 2

Which brings me to my second fail.  I decided to send my hubby (at work) a short message, so that he too could have a laugh at my expense.  I went looking for a link to the original, really old, hand-drawn logo to show him.  Turns out that the really old logo, which I found amongst genuine old logos, was actually from a very-much-current brand, (not available in Australia – so not familiar to me) and was not old at all.

Now this might not be your idea of a fail – but I very much believe that I should not be messing with other people’s intellectual property, and feel like such an idiot for not checking out the situation more carefully before I steamed ahead.  I am a bit ashamed at myself.  I felt OK about using an old, out-of copyright, and out-of-use piece of typography, (just for in my home, and not for profit) because it felt more like paying homage to it, and celebrating how beautiful it can be.

So I just wanted to post, to prove that not only do I have the occasional craft fail, but to say, using someones Intellectual property is dodgy, and not cool, and I apologise for not being more careful this time.

Have you had a craft fail lately?

PS:  This was going to be a post about Australia Day, (yesterday) and how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful and safe country – I don’t take that luck for granted, but it turned into a post about what a fool I am.

Rug-a-lug

Progress on the Rag Rug and Prizes from Jodie

I’ve been around the rug once again, and then some, with a new colour.  I really wanted something darker, and am pleased with the navy.  Jodie, who is hosting the Rug-Along, sent me a lovely prize, for getting straight into the Rag-Rug-Along, which was lovely.  I feel that the reward of turning old clothes into new items is reward enough, but Amelia has already jumped on the prize, “Three Little Maids” and matching fabric – hoping to make them up herself, so I’m not sending them back!

New items from old clothes - cutting up old pants

The navy fabric comes from a pair of size 5 pants that are covered with paint, but the beauty of this stuff is that the fabric rolls up on itself, and you can only see the surface that was once on the inside of the pants – with no paint spots.  This fabric is quite a bit thicker than tee-shirt fabric, so I am cutting a thinner strip of it.  It also looses lots more fluff as I work, so I will have to vacuum a bit more often until I am done, or make it out on the deck.
Toothbrush Rug in Progress

I also added a large “lazy daisy” in the centre of the rug, with a remaining scrap of purple toddler pants.  I’m pretty happy with it, but can always pull it off if I change my mind.  Here is my post about making a toothbrush rug, if you are interested.  What do you turn your old clothes into?

Koala Quilt

Koala wonky star blocks

I have spent the last week with a boring cold/sinus infection which has really slowed down my crafting (and everything else).  Right before I got carried away with Jodie’s Rag-Rug-Along, I started making these blocks for a new quilt, using the Koala fabric that I designed and had printed by Spoonflower.  The co-ordinates are all out of my stash – I am really enjoying this colour combination!

pretty scraps

Gosh, I even think the scraps look pretty, very restful.

This quilt is actually a commission of sorts – I am making it for my sister’s nephew, for his 1st birthday.  He lives in the country, and is from my brother-in-law’s side of the family, I have never met him.  I feel pretty safe putting progress shots here, because I doubt his family read my blog, my sister and brother-in-law do though, (I hope you like it Al and Scott).

Blue Wonky Star with Koala

This quilt is going to be the same design as my Fairy Tale Star Quilt, with almost all of the stars either blue or brown, with the blue koala fabric as the centre of the star.

Brown Wonky Star with Koala

Just one of the stars has a different coloured centre – another colour-way of my koala fabric.

Yellow wonky star with Koala

And here it is, surrounded by yellow.

Hopefully I will get a bit more done now that I am feeling better, but who knows – it’s the school holidays after all.

 

 

And now with some colour

Toothbrush Rag Rug WIP 12.5" wide

This toothbrush rug has grown really quickly, it is now 12 1/2″ wide. Best of all, it is made of stuff that was destined to become laundry rags.  So far, the rung contains one PJ leg (the centre), and the bottom few inches of two coral coloured tees of mine.  The blue used to be a tiny t-shirt (size 2) , and the lovely purple fabric was the waist-to-crotch section of some holey, old, toddler pants that both of my girls wore all the time.

I imagine my rug is slightly more irregular than the ones that get made of sheets, or new fabric, because of the side seams on the clothing, but I don’t care.

The main limiting factor is going to be availability of old clothes to make it with.  I would like to add some darker colours to the mix, but don’t have any in my rag basket.  I don’t want to buy any clothes, (even at the op-shop) because I only want to use stuff that is no longer wearable.  I think I will start raiding other people’s rag bags, like my Mum’s.  Mum, you have been warned.

My husband showed us all his love by whittling…

4 whittled wands and a whittled needle

Can you guess which one is mine ?

OK – so that was pretty obvious.  Luke has made wands for the kids, (including an extra friend) who are going through a Harry Potter phase.  I was also a lucky recipient of a tool that is going to work magic – a hand made needle for rag-rug making.

Wooden Needle for Toothbrush Rug making

The needle is made of a piece of fallen Hakea branch, that has been hand-carved, sanded and oiled, just for me.

Toothbrush-Rug making from old clothes

I have been planning on re-purposing some old clothes – turning them into rag-rugs for ages.  I can’t stand throwing out (as in, putting them in the bin) old, worn or stained clothes, that are too yucky to send to the salvos (thrift store).  I started stockpiling them ages ago, they are mainly old t-shirts, but the stripy fabric above is cut from one leg of some old pyjama pants.

The stretch fabric is cut into 1" wide strips

I just cut the fabric in a spiral, all the way up the leg, so that it ended up all in a strip 1″ wide.  It curls up on itself, but sadly the more vibrant colour ended up on the inside of the curl.

The rug I am making is actually called a “toothbrush rug” because the needles for this method were often made of old toothbrushes that had the bristle-end cut off, and filed to a point.  The fabric is threaded through the hole that the toothbrushes used to have on the end (presumable to hang them up).

The stitch used to make the toothbrush rug

The rug is made with two separate strips of 1″ wide fabric, and the stitch is basically a version of buttonhole stitch, where one strip goes in through your previously worked knots, under the other strip and  back through its own loop.  When a strip is running out, you simply join another by looping them through small slits cut in the ends of them, it is rather ingenious.  You can have a look at the series of tutorials that I used, which start here.

More rag-rug making (toothbrush rug)

Just be aware that the tutorials make no mentions of making “increases” as you go around, and as the comments discuss, you will need to make “increases”, if you give this a go.  That’s why my baby-rug has that safety-pin in it.  It marks the beginning of a new circle, and I am changing the ratio of ordinary stitches to “increases” each time I go around.  I’m winging it, but it seems to be working OK.

It seems to be coming along fairly quickly – it almost takes longer to cut up the old clothes, than it does to knot them back together.  I can blame starting a new project on the wonderful Jodie, who gave me the nudge I needed to turn stockpiling into useful re-purposing.  She proposed a rag-a-long, and it seems that I am joining in!

Anyone else?

 

 

Tips and Tutorials for Grace (a new sewer)

Sewing kit for Grace

My niece, Grace, who is 13, has an interest in sewing and has just been given a sewing machine.  For Christmas, I put together a little kit of sewing supplies, for general sewing, and the requirements to make a small project I designed for her.  She lives in another state, so I can’t really teach her in person, so I have written instructions and directed her to this post.  All the tutorials and links below are for her, and correspond to some of the instructions I have written for her.

Sewing notions for Grace

I made the little bag to hold everything (which I am very pleased with) using this tutorial...

I had lots of fun picking out things in her favourite colours.  I used my tutorial for the star-fruit cushion to make the pincushion.  For the smaller size, you just start with 2 1/2″ squares.

The whole sewing kit

The project I wrote instructions for, was to embroider her name, to fit inside the photo frame.  She has 5 versions of her name, in different fonts to choose from.

Grace – here is a video on how to separate 6 strand embroidery floss…

This is how to make a starting knot in the end of your thread – I love this one, it is a beauty…

How to back-stitch…I would suggest starting with the method where you stab each stitch through, in two separate movements per stitch, rather than one.

Finishing knots – I like the third version myself…

Here are some other projects to try…

Double sided headband (Amelia made this one the other day)

A variety of Drawstring Bags

or another

A quick place mat how-to with diagrams

which are a follow up to this post

Spring Ruffle Top…You might need a little bit of help working this one out – I have never tried it…

Perfect Box Pouch…these look really cute, and would make a nice pencil case, but you will need to buy a zip…

Some patchwork…

String Quilt Blocks

A “string” block – the ones above are ones I’ve made using the tutorial here

You can see more about mine here

Wonky Star blocks

Wonky Star…here is the tutorial.  The wonky stars above are ones I made into a quilt for Indi.

Good Luck and have fun Grace!