Saturday, November 19, 2011

Vintage cotton reel tassels - one method



Inspired by my friend Doreen's post about her cotton reel tassels here, I challenged my sewing group ladies to make some today. Doreen kindly sent basic directions and with those in hand we started scraping and soaking off the labels on the ends of the vintage wooden reels. When clean we dried them and used fine sandpaper to neaten the ends. Next we searched my stash for laces, braids etc for the body. We layered them to get a really luxurious look. As today was very hot in Sydney we mostly took the easy way out and used ready made tassels but one clever lady made a beaded multicoloured one. These were threaded onto a large wooden craft button which was then glued to the base of the reel. Next we made hanging loops which were glued into the top hole with clear craft glue through another large wooden button. The ladies all glued beads, sequins etc around the top to dress them up. I sewed some beads on one thin braid on top of another wider braid around the middle of my reel, the copper, gold and green one in the photo. Thanks for the great idea Doreen, we had so much fun with these today.

Friday, November 18, 2011

I need more discipline !

No, I don't mean I'm into S and M (not that there's anything wrong with that!) I just wish I had the discipline to blog more frequently LOL. I follow several people who blog DAILY and I really envy how organised they are! But then I haven't been doing much lately to blog about VBG

We welcomed our 3rd grandchild, a little boy named Aiden James, earlier than expected on 22nd October around 11 pm. Despite the shock Mum and Dad and big brother Riley are thrilled with their new addition to the family.


First photo, just born


black and white taken by a doting Auntie Amanda

I've been busy visiting lots of specialists lately, trying to get a diagnosis for my dizzy spells and extreme fatigue. So far they've excluded sleep apnoea and a brain tumour! Will be happy to find out what's been having such a debilitating effect on me. I haven't felt like doing any of my usual things apart from struggling through my Intermediate Historical and Contemporary Embroidery course homework each month. One specialist has diagnosed chronic anxiety disorder so I'm on medication for that now. I think I'm feeling a bit calmer about everything, I even forgot about the 3rd anniversary of our house fire until I got into bed last night and remembered the date. The events are still so clear in my mind and I still sleep with a night lite (at my age !!)

With Christmas just around the corner it's nearly time to put out my display of Santa figurines again. Just have to vacuum and dust the house first, so hopefully in the next week I can manage that. Of course that also means I'm turning another year older in 6 weeks, oh dear ! Will try to post more often, I like the connection you have with people when you blog frequently.