No sewing - celebrating Spring!

We have been enjoying the Spring weather and participating in our town's Carnival of Flowers.

The Food, Wine and Flowers tent...

 With wandering entertainment...

 Beautiful gardens...

and textiles on show - this from the Toowoomba Quilters Quilt show, but I also enjoyed the Spinners and Weavers display...

Fabric & more fabric...

This weekend on Saturday I made up Vogue 8138 and wore the dress on Sunday on a trip up the coast. The reason for the trip is that my MIL is unwell and we were going to visit her in hospital - a 3 hour drive.

To break the trip up we stopped for a swim at Mooloolaba (not me however as it was overcast and cool-ish and I am still shaking off my cold) and lunch at a yummy Italian restaurant, then as my treat we found Kerryn's Fabric World, which I haven't visited before but heard many good things. Aussie stitchers would probably be very familiar with Kerryn as she appears regularly in the Stitches magazine, doing colour make-overs. The shop is well-stocked with a wide range of fabrics but unfortunately we arrived 5 minutes before it shut, as we hadn't checked it's opening hours.

However in that 5 minutes I was able to buy two pieces of fabric. First up I bought a piece of jersey to make a second V8138 dress in a rusty orange colour. As I was preparing to pay for this I turned around and saw the very fabric I had been thinking about the night before!

I had been re-reading Vol17 No 9 of the Stitches magazine the night before. In this issue they feature a modification of McCalls 5512 View A using a cute ruffled knit in black. I had decided if I could find that same fabric in brown that I would love to make the dress... guess what I spied!.... so I had to get that as well!

Here is a photo of the two fabrics - the orange isn't true to colour in this shot.

In this shot, however, with Lulubelle's help, you can see the colour better...

I will provide more detail of the plan for the ruffle dress later....

Shop, shop, shopping in Melbourne

Not much more has happened on the Chanel jacket front as last week was busy and this week I am in Melbourne for a short holiday.

Since I was in Melbourne, I decided to check out two city fabric stores -Tessuti's and Cleg's.

This is the fabric I bought at Tessuti's. Not real exciting I suppose in colour, etc but great basics in beautiful quality fabrics. The first is a silk (like a silk Georgette? - lightweight with a crinkle). It is a print and colour I just had to have to make a tunic-style top for this Spring. The next is a beautiful khaki-brown jersey from the remnant bin and then another jersey (a viscose jersey, I think) in a colour called 'aubergine' but like a really dark brown. Destined to be a frock. The last one in 'winter white' is a wool jersey which I haven't been able to obtain locally. I am interested to see how this one goes.

Next to Clegs - silk again! This time a lining and suit-weight silk to make my second Chanel jacket. I was lucky enough that the suiting was on sale (50% off).

Other than fabric shopping, we have been to see the Dali exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria and A Day in Pompeii at the Melbourne Museum. Then apart from more shopping we have basically been eating and drinking our way through the restaurants in Lygon St and around town. Great food everywhere!
Tomorrow we pick up a hire car and are heading to have two days in the Dandenongs at a cute cottage b&b.

Other exciting news ... I have become involved in a new neighbourhood group in the Australian Sewing Guild. I attended an Industry Day on Saturday and we will have our first meeting next month. I am looking forward to meeting with a bunch of other sewing-obsessed ladies!

More sewing hopefully next week, when I will be raring to see my machine again!

Pictures from my kitchen...

I have finished Burda wof 08-2008-103.

I loved making this top - the drafting was great and it needed no alterations to fit. YAY! I used a polyester satin called Genoa bought from our local Gardams shop. It was quite expensive but managed to score a 1m length from the remnant table (at 140cm wide) and that was all that was needed to make this blouse - mind you only little scraps left and no leeway to cut another piece if you made a mistake!

I asked my eldest son to take the photos in our kitchen. He thought it was hilarious because he would snap randomly and not let me know when he was about to take a photo so it was only pot-luck to get one with a smile! Review is here for those interested to read it.

No sewing yet... but shopping (...and catching up with reviews...)

I haven't got my machine back yet, but at least I have been able to catch up with reviews. At the beginning of this month I made Vouge 8486. I don't look very happy in these photos but here it is... My review is here. I am not overly fond of this dress but will use it. It looks better belted and I did buy a new belt today that looks better than the belt it is photographed with (more shopping... *sigh*) I wore it today shopping and it was quite comfortable to wear. At least I can add one and a half yards sewn to the stash contest.

Caity & I got together today. After a Powerfit class at gym (go Caity!) we went out for an excellent brunch at the Oxygen Cafe and then some shopping at our favorite fabric heaven Gardams to get the following -

The top three pieces were on the remnant table - a gorgeous wool/silk (1.5 m) to make a skirt/trousers/something for winter, a brown silk (1m - perhaps a cami) and a poly satin (1m - a top?) that is to die for.

The second row a poly/cotton/elastane mix to make BWOF 10-2008-106 (skirt) and the next another silk to make BWOF 08-2008-103 (top - I hope). All so yummy and totally irresistible to me!

Then we decided more shopping was in order so we went to our local major shopping centre and hit the shops. I bought a great brown curved belt from Cue and then we hit the jackpot - BNT has a sale so I got a pile of prettys for a bargain. I spent $116 and got the equivalent full retail value of $265 - so if you want to see my undie bargains here they are (all but the white & black lace undies in the corner are Elle McPherson) -

And yet another parting shot... we bought a bed for our dog to encourage him to not sleep on the furniture. We have not had heaps of success yet to get him to use it and not the sofa but I did catch him sleeping in it of his own accord the other night - success! Let's hope it continues...

Vogue bag

Recently I have made two bags from Vogue 7354. The first one was given to my good friend Caity before her holiday with her family. The second is made for another friend but I have been organised enough this time to take some photos of it.

The bags have been made with a beautiful (what I believe to be) silk velvet which was given to me in a box of vintage fabrics. It is really soft and shiny - beautiful to touch. The fabric piece has some little holes in it so it is perfect for cutting the small pieces required for this bag. The lining is silk - in this case blue silk leftover from another project and in Caity's bag it was red silk. The red silk was purchased as it was one of Caity's favourite colours until she dyed her hair pink! The bag is interfaced with silk organza I picked up from a remnant table.

Here is a photo of the bag. The nap looks more pronounced in this photo than it looks in real life. You can just see the blue silk lining in the inside of the handle.

Here is a photo of me with the bag to give you an idea of the size - perfect for your essentials - phone, keys, some money and a handkerchief. Best of all, you can hang it on your wrist when you have one hand holding a glass of bubbly and the other with yummy finger food in it...

I love this little bag and plan to make more. The one I want for myself will have a gold-yellow silk lining but I haven't found the fabric yet!

The pattern is simple and reasonably quick to make and makes a lovely bag with these sumptuous fabrics!

I hope the recipients love them as much as I have loved making the bags!

Qld Quilt Show

The girl's and I - Caity and Vicki all got up at sparrow's f**t yesterday to head down the hill to Brisvegas to attend the Qld Quilters Quilt Show. The Toowoomba Quilters Club raffle quilt (coordinated by moi and made by lots of members) had won a prize so it was with real delight that we attended the presentation. The quilt got third in the Collaborative Section and I received a parcel of Leutneaggers fabrics and other goodies and a voucher for Be Be Bold.

Here is the quilt - it was beautifully displayed at the show.

This is the parcel of goodies I received. This will all go back to the Club, probably to be used as a raffle prize.
The only annoyance was that I didn't realise the voucher was part of the prize until I was at home again. This was a shame as I could have used it at at their stand at the show. Now I will have to mail order as the shop is located at Lismore.

We had a great time shopping after viewing the quilt show. This is my booty-
I also ordered a magnifying glass for my Bernina machine and as they didn't have any at the stand they said they would mail it - well it arrived today at 11am - that must be a record for prompt service!

After lunch, we thought we should take advantage of being in the big smoke and went into the city to go shopping. I scored a MAC lippie and a big bling ring! We had heaps of fun trying on hats (as it is spring carnival racing season here at the moment and we are considering going to a Melbourne Cup function).



Then we still managed to make our way into the Fabric Barn on the way home and I scored a beautiful black jersey with the chain print and a cotton/spandex which is camel coloured with a stripe in it - that one is also in he photo above under the lippie and ring.



We had a great day but I think I really need to stay out of the fabric shops for awhile now and just get to my sewing machine. I did finish a dress today - piccies to come soon.

And for those interested I have done my review on the Silk dress McCall's 5039.

Shopping the blahs away...

I have been feeling a bit blah so asked Caity to spend a girly shopping day with me today. We had a really great day and successful too! Of course we ended up at Gardams where Caity bought the most gorgeous fabric and pattern for a 'frock-up' high tea we have been invited to. I also decided I needed a new frock so decided to use a pattern I had bought previously M5039:

And bought this silk fabric to make it with. I also bought some Jap Silk (I think that is what Nettie called it) in a beautiful green to make a slip with to go under the silk as it is a bit diaphanous.

Caity, luckily provided the slip pattern from her pattern as she doesn't need it for the version of her dress. So I am now all set! Nearly... I didn't have the pattern with me and as this pattern is not available in Australia (and therefore not in the shop) I had to phone home to find out how much fabric to buy. I have these details in a little book in which I keep a picture of my patterns along with fabric amounts. I managed to direct my youngest to find the book but he could not find the 'dress' section as I had it listed in my book as 'frocks'! That's boys for you. Anyway I didn't know what notions I needed so will have to pick up a zip and some elastic.

I do plan to make a pair of shorts also this week as I am going camping for a few days at the end of next week. I am hoping to be in sewing heaven for the next few days as I don't have to work (hopefully!) Yippee - blahs are banished for now!!!!

Happy Fathers Day and fabric shopping...

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's and I hope everyone is having a pleasant, relaxing day today! I cooked the father of my children a special breakfast this morning. Each egg was a double yolker - so I had to take a photo! I do buy free range eggs as I refuse to support the caged bird industry, but I don't know what happened to get four double-yolkers!

I have made some clothes lately and used some stash up but I still seem to buy more than I use. These are this week's purchases. The first one on the left is a linen I plan to make a wrap-around skirt from. The yellow jersey is intended for yet another jalie twist top and the dark fabric on the end is a black'ish denim I plan to make shorts from. Well they are getting washed now and I have to start tracing some patterns out.


Tell me how do I not get in to the viscous cycle of buying more fabric than I have time to sew? Oh well, I suppose the planning and playing with fabric is all part of the fun...

Too much work, not enough time for play...

I have worked everyday this week - not fun... my mind has fanciful images of all the things I want to sew dancing through it, but I have to keep drafting subdivision power conduits and details of how light fittings are attached to the roof of dongas.

I have ordered the patterns need for my SWAP, but today I was informed by Caity of a sale on McCall's patterns so I have purchased more patterns-

5464 - princess line dress/ jumper (smock I tell you!)

5039- empire line, simple looking dress with gathered top

5105 - daggy-looking T-shirt with many variations (with good reviews on patternreview.com)

I thought that would plug some of the holes in my pattern collection. I like a good frock but am also a T-shirt & jeans girls so I thought they would be alright - anyway it should keep me out of trouble for a while.

I went shopping at Gardams (in my lunch break) to get the notions & lining I need to get B4188 finished.

This is a photo of a swatch of the fabric I am using (the black print with cherry blossoms) and the stuff I bought today - black buttons with gold trim, braid to make the loops to hold the buttons and the pink cotton batiste is for the lining - I thought the pink would be cute as there is touches of pink in the flowers & I was hoping it would be easier to work with than black. I suppose it means I will have to change threads in my machine but that is really not a big hassle.

I also picked up an issue of the latest Vogue magazine (latest for us Aussies anyway!) as Gardams seems to be one of the few places in town which stocks it... now I am just waiting on tenterhooks for Burda WOF 03/2008 to arrive at the newsagent!

Anyway , time to get off the computer and start reading the magazine...

Day out at the show

Had another lovely day with Caity at the Stitches & Craft Show. We watched three separate fashion parades - see Caity's blog for more info on those. I wanted to show the lovely fabric I bought from the Japanese fabrics & beads stand.

The Japanese girls were lovely and when they told us to 'see the shiny man' to arrange payment for the fabric we just cracked up as they meant the bald'ish man who was sweating under the hot lights! They were really thrilled when Caity spoke in Japanese to them!

I also bought these trims. I have decided you buy trim first then match fabric to the trim as it is about impossible to do it the other way. Anyway some lovely use of trims in the fashion parade got me inspired to buy these.

When I got home I was overwhelmed with the epiphany that instead of randomly making items of clothes and then hoping I can wear them together that I should plan a SWAP - sewing with a porpoise (as Hubby puts it!) So I stayed up late researching the idea and started putting together a storyboard of ideas for a wardrobe to take on holiday to Finland this year. I will post it next when I finish getting my ideas together.

My puppy had a haircut on Thursday and is acting very strangely - maybe we brought home the wrong dog?

Lets Go Crazy

Today after a boring start to my sewing day (hemming jeans...blagghh!!), I got stuck into making some ATC's.

I have made some before in a class with Kathy Adams. I made 4 in that class - gave one to Kathy (and got one back), gave two more away and never recieved a return card (won't do that again!) and have one left from that 'collection'. This is it... it had an underwater theme.

Today I wanted to make some more as there might be some ATC's to swap with at tomorrow's 2QAQ meeting. So my chosen theme was 'Let's Go Crazy' as I had been wanting to make some crazy patch ATC's.

This is my Vintage Bride version...

My Pretty in Pink version...

Denim & Lace (Marty Rhone has a lot to answer for)....

Disco Divas...

Just a rolling along...

Not had such a great couple of days - broke a tooth (and can't get into Dentist until the end of the month), have got a uti (if you don't know what it is, you don't need to know). At least I got into the Doctor's quickly and got some antibiotics. However I find that a Doctors appointment is magic for making me feel better...why do you always start feeling better while you are waiting to see the Doctor. Anyway the worst thing is, it is making me feel guilty as I have taken the day off work and I know there is stuff to be done there. I nearly had a bad accident at work yesterday running to the loo, so I don't need a repeat of that!

I just reread that & found a typo 'quilty' instead of 'guilty'! Freudian slip I suppose - however I am feeling guilty enough that I am finding it hard to do anything quilty today!

This is a photo of what I call a Japanese windflower which is flowering in my garden at the moment. I love this plant and thought I had lost it to the drought, so I am very happy to see it back - it must be tougher than it looks!

I am feeling a little better, so I am still planning to go to my Personal Training session today - I think I can hold off for half an hour betweeen visits to the loo. Anyway luckily I am trained by Gwen and she should be pretty understanding if I bolt in the middle of the session. I have already done one PT session this week. I am aiming for five weeks of two sessions a week instead of the usual one session. I am feeling the fittest I have felt for a long time and I want to capitalise on that and get as fit as I can before I take a 5-6 week break in the middle of the year when we go OS.

This week I have done - Monday - Pilates, Tuesday - Power Fit (weights/cardio class), Wednesday - PT session and Body step. Today I will do a PT session and tomorrow I hope to attend Kimax. Probably nothing will happen exercise-wise over the week-end.

I have a busy day on Saturday - TQ meeting and a lesson at Gardams in the afternoon. I have purchased a pattern and the fabric to make a jacket so I am going along to find out how to make it look professional, bound butoonholes, etc. Should be fun!

It's Caity's birthday today -Happy Birthday Caity!

2QAQ

Well, the girls & I went on a road trip today down the hill to Bris-vegas (yes, I know its corny!) to attend 2QAQ's first meeting. We had a great day! Di, Caity & I don't seem to run out of topics of serious discussion and we tried to educate Di today about the benefits of Paul McDermott's version of the "I'll throw my arms around you / kiss you in 4 places" song - (help me out Caity - you probably know it's proper name!) Anyway after visiting the Auchenflower shop, we ran out of time to have a proper 'latte and lunch' lunch and had to endure lunch at Greenslopes bowls Club, apart from the beer, not to be recommended! The meeting was really interesting and has inspired me back to quilting. I will definitely start on the journal quilting and think about the art quilt for the juried art quilt show. With an OS trip in the middle of the year, I find it hard to plan for something like this, but I feel it is the road I need to take! The fact that the show is juried is scary but good because it means you really need to challenge yourself. The people at the meeting were very welcoming and it was great to meet some new people, like Linda from the Netherlands and Suzie. Sue Dennis chaired the meeting and was very welcoming and very self-effacing (is that a word?) . My main memory about Sue Dennis is that she was chosen by my husband for Viewer's Choice at the Sunnybank Quilters Quilt Show over a year ago now. He was very taken with her rusty nails thang. I loved it as well but admit to choosing a quilt which showcased original 1930's fabric as my viewer's choice - I am not sure who won it.

I told hubby when I got home that he could take eldest son to his party of choice tonight as I had already driven to Brisbane & back today, but when said-son was read to go, the scrap-heap challenge was on TV, so he could not drag himself away - so I did the honours! It was funny as we had difficulty finding the house number in the dark, but the one we thought it was had balloons tied to the front gate, so we knew it was the right place. No-1-son would not allow me to tie balloons onto our front gate when he had his 18th! Then I had to deal with the 'is this Kenny's party?' enquiries when the party was on! - you've gottta laugh!!

Wild Bunch

So far... I have fused all the shapes and started the free-motion stitching. I am coming to realise that even though I love the finished effect, that the making of this runner is really quite tedious! First much drawing (done twice , due to fiasco with Wonder Under), then cutting shapes, pressing onto fabric, then heaps more cutting of fine fiddly shapes - this isn't too bad as it can be done in front of the TV. Then placing all the pieces (130 wattle flowers!), peeling off all the backing paper and fusing again! Now I am up to the free motion stitching - it is quite tedious also as it is just going around many small shapes... why did I think this would be fun!! Anyway will have to wait and see if I have enough energy to make a second (or third!) one of these runners. The photo's colours are not at all true - the background is actually more grey and the darker blue more of a dark slate blue.

Beware Wonder Under!

I sent away for this pattern and on Wednesday arvo, had the opportunity to fondle fabric at the LQS to buy the bits and pieces I didn't have. I had a not so great day at work, so it does the soul good to walk into the Quilt Shop and choose fabrics. I also purchased some Wonder Under (made by Pellon). Fresh off a brand new roll and I took it home and started straight away as the fabric was calling me! After I had traced the whole blooming design - hundreds of pieces - the webbing fell off the whole back! Not happy Jan! The next day the Quilt Shop were very helpful and apologetic - swapped it for another style of fusible stuff. However this particular store (my favorite) has one assistant who irks me and who I try to avoid, however she still had to get her two cents worth in! As we were looking at the problem, she suggested I put some baking paper over it and iron it back on - OK short term fix - once I cut out all the hundreds of little pieces it is highly likely the webbing will do the same again or the paper if I actually manage to get it fused to the fabric! Then still managed to make a snide remark about 'have to keep the customer happy!' like it's a bad thing!

Dancing Beijing Challenge Quilt

Ta da!!! My final effort. I was blown away by the other quilts brought in for this challenge! (Double click to view larger image with more detail.) My entry detailed it as : "China is renown for its fireworks and at the Olympics there will be great fireworks. As you watch this show and the shimmering lights glowing, you see the ephemeral image of a dragon dancing in the night sky."

Dragons and Andy Warhol

Yesterday we had a terrific day - went to Brisbane to see the Andy Warhol exhibition. Stopped at the Auchenflower quilt shop - however, could not browse for too long as the boys were waiting outside (we need to do that road trip, Caity!) Then we moved onto South Bank and had lunch at San Marco Cafe - lovely - saw dragon boats on the river - is that a sign for my quilt?

Enjoyed the Andy Warhol exhibition very much - see tourist shot of me outside. (I can be a tourist in Brisbane now we don't live there any more!) I also saw some storm lillies which only flower after it rains. I am sure I used to have some in my garden, but they must have perished in the drought. I will have to try and get some more, but I am not sure what their real name is.

After returning to Toowoomba, one boy rode into the sunset to sleep-over at a mate's house, and I dropped the other at a party, where he also was staying the night. Sooooo... Hubby and I took the opportunity presented to go out and try the new wine bar in town called Swish. Had terrific tapas, great service and lovely wines - highly recommend it - but note to self, next time make a booking as it seems very popular.

Today I have been working on the challenge quilt. Up to the binding ... yeah!!! I have included a photo of the dragon's face which is the best shot I have managed so far. I am happy with it, but if I were to critique it I would say it does not have enough of a focal point. Anyway it will be interesting to see other people's reactions to it.

Purrina!

Happy Australia Day! - I am celebrating by spending a day on my Bernina... surprised? I have finished the cover for my machine. My MIL, June, made a cross-stitch which was given to me the year before. I have used it in the middle of the cover for my sewing machine. It has also allowed me to use some of the cat fabrics I had been collecting. I also used a scissors charm I had bought once on ebay.

It all went well when I assembled the front and back panels the other day, but when I started today the crap fairy had certainly visited my sewing room! When I went to round off the top corners, I rounded the bottom corner (on both the front and the back!) I nearly put it aside then, but straightened the cut and added another piece of fabric - in a quilt as you go style. Then when I cut the piece for the gusset, I cut it an inch too narow! So I added the black strips - I think of them like a design feature now! Anyway I am quite pleased with how it has come out.