TIF February update

Some more progress on my postcard for the February TIF Challenge with Sharon B.

I've free motion embroidered over the background with rust coloured machine thread. Leaves of velvet in 3 colours, gold leather leaves, a couple of marbled quilting cotton leaves, some oganza leaves and some jute scrim are all trapped under marbled autumn coloured tulle. The threads shown around the rectangle are going to be stitched over the background in random stitches. They include DMC metallic gold stranded, perle threads, stranded DMC cotton and a great olive green rayon "perle" someone gave me. I also have some cute faceted olive beads which I think might work with this too, and a lovely dark olive tulle with a gold metallic diamond pattern which I also might use.

Unfortunately, a deadline I have for a costume job has just been moved forward so I now doubt I can finish this by tomorrow evening the 29th February (and stay sane!)
So if that happens, I apologise sincerely in advance, but I will certainly post the finished piece on this blog at the earliest possible. In the meantime, I'm sure you can imagine the finished piece.

I've definitely been challenged this time, in choosing the format of the piece and in allocating enough time to actually stitch it. I'm afraid I always underestimate how long things will take to accomplish, I forget I'm getting older and slower at nearly everything, VBG.

TIF February - light at the end of the tunnel

Tonight I've been watching the Oscars on the TV and playing with a background for a postcard for the TIF challenge, see sidebar link. I was in 2 minds about the size, but since there are only 4 days till the end of the month now, I thought I'd be sensible and work small. The song "Autumn Leaves" by Nat King Cole has been haunting me all month, I catch myself "singing" it out loud sometimes, and that's scary because I'm not a great singer, and sometimes I forget the words. Bob the quilting cat just looks bemused, and luckily the 2 Siamese fighting fish love me as long as I feed them every night ! I can't believe that I performed in 2 Australian musical plays when I was younger, though in the chorus no-one can hear you hit an occasional wrong note, VBG.

I plan to stitch on this background over the next few days, add some other embellishments and perhaps some words. I'm hoping that come the first of March, I'll be so occupied with the new TIF theme or colours that I'll forget Autumn Leaves for a while !!!

Progress on February TIF Challenge

I've finally found some time to pull out fabrics and a few embellishments for my February Challenge with Sharon B., see sidebar for link. I've decided on the actual theme, just not the format yet. I've printed out some words from the Nat King Cole song "Autumn Leaves" and these fabrics will be turned into a collage of some sort which pays tribute to a simpler, slower time. I'm old enough to remember when songs had words you could understand ! Can you tell I'm not a fan of Rap, LOL. I can't even call it music really, it's so alien to my ears.

My fabrics from my stash (see photo), some of which I intend to use, include hand dyed cotton muslin in orange, dyed jute scrim, a skeletonised leaf, velvet furnishing fabrics, some silk dress fabrics and a tea dyed (by me) lace motif. I'm thinking small this time too, perhaps a postcard, or a small A4 journal page. I'd like to do some free stitching, and some beading, so I don't think I'll have time to be too extravagant with the end of the month looming. It's my own fault of course, I spend too much time this month being Superwoman to the world, VBG. It's almost an addiction ! At least now I can recognise that, and start to take steps to fix it. Watch this space for more progress on both the Challenge, and my rehabilitation !!

P.S. I took the photo without flash to show the true colours, and have just noticed that I used my new leaf print tablecloth as the background. I'm very tempted to use that as the background in my project !!

TIF February Challenge - gathering thoughts

I've re-read my previous posts where I just let the memories flood out. There seems to be one overwhelming theme, I'm old enough to remember when life was much "simpler", slower paced, less complicated. Girls were destined, mainly, for teaching, nursing or clerical occupations, and when they married, they didn't go out to "business" again unless in dire circumstances. This only started to change in the 70's with "female liberation" and the reported bra burning episodes. Now I don't recall seeing anyone actually do this, but it was reported on the TV so it must have happened, VBG !! Personally, I don't feel so liberated lately. There is always the obligation to DO something instead of sit and stitch, relax, sleep, daydream if you choose. You're expected to belong to groups who volunteer and do good deeds, cook fabulous meals for your family, earn an income, be a fabulous wife and lover, mother perfect children who never get into any trouble, have a fabulous slim figure, exercise and be super fit, have perfect white teeth (gosh I HATE Zoom Whitened teeth!!!!)......... phew, how can you call all that liberated?

I'm digressing....last night my son and his wife visited for a meal, and I mentioned that I remembered "Autumn Leaves" by Nat King Cole being played on a wind-up gramophone at home when I was a child. I was obsessed with finding out what tune was on the reverse of the record, so he offerred to check an online music dictionary he uses. Did I mention previously that he was an amateur DJ and has played at large parties at Luna Park in Sydney? Very prestigious!! Anyway, in no time at all I had my answer. "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" was on the reverse of "Autumn Leaves" and apparently we had been looking on the wrong list, it was a 7 inch record not an LP. For some reason Autumn Leaves is my favourite, I just can't stop humming it!!
Here is a photo of the lovely man on a more modern album cover, our version of Autumn leaves was a bakelite record in a brown paper sleeve with a hole in the centre to show the label on the record, no fancy printed glossy album covers in those days !!

So it looks like that will be my focus for the February TIF. Not sure how it will be interpreted just yet, still working on that one, but at least now I think I have narrowed it down. You see, even the holder of a Black Belt in Procrastination can make snap decisions sometimes, LOL.

Growing up in Australia pt 3

I have to begin this next episode by saying that although we were pretty poor in monetary terms, I think I had a fairly happy childhood in retrospect. We had regular visits to our grandmother at Neutral Bay by train and ferry, and Dad drove us to Rockdale to the other side of the family too. We had picnics and sports clubs for the boys and I went to church youth groups and Girls' Friendship Society. All 4 kids managed to stay out of serious trouble for most of the time, VBG.

I remember in the early 60's how the milko delivered our milk in glass bottles with foil caps, by horse and cart in the early hours of the morning. He'd run between the houses with a little wire carrier with the bottles in it, and whistle for the horse to move along a couple of houses. There was one problem though, around puberty I started sleep walking. After a famous episode where I fetched in the emtpy milk bottles left out for the milko, filled them with water then replaced them, Mum had to put a slide bolt up high on the front door to stop me doing it again. My bedroom was the closest one to the front verandah and I used to have nightmares about prowlers climbing in through my window in the Summer. I still can't sleep with the window open without a sturdy window screen.

In the early 60's we still had daily bread deliveries, with the uncut square or tank loaf wrapped in white tissue paper. It was quite remarkable a few years later when the bread began to be packaged in a bag, and then it came pre-sliced. Don't we take these things for granted?

Any male readers are excused from reading the next bit.
I can recall when we girls had to endure being trussed up with belts, pins and layers of thick padding once a month. No thin, self adhesive sanitary products then, just one or two products at the chemist, usually Modess pads and belts to hold them up. You couldn't wear trousers, you couldn't swim, you felt "indisposed" even if you felt well. We've come a long way, girls.

The boys will WANT to read the next bit, the subject is ladies underwear, VBG. Modern girls think stockings and suspender belts are sexy, but I'm here to tell you that in the 60's they were anything but that. I recall going to church on Sunday wearing my newest bri-nylon paisley baby doll dress, in pinks and yellow and white swirl fabric. In the photo see some of the fabrics typical in that period. The quilt top was made by my paternal grandmother from scraps donated from the Osti dress factory, used for fete items for the church. She never wasted the leftovers though. For church I wore new nylon stockings held up with a suspender belt. It kept slipping down my hips, and then you had to get in and out of the car without flashing your legs and suspenders, I mean real ladies just didn't do that!! Whenever I wear real stockings I think of those funny times. I can also remember the trauma of being fitted for my first bra at 13, it was a monstrous all cotton affair, with 1cm wide cotton straps and it was uncomfortable. Years later when I wore cotton maternity bras I had flashbacks to those first bras.


I mentioned in a previous post that Australia was welcoming many immigrants in the 1950's and 60's from post war Europe. They were setting up Greek fish and chip shops, Italian green grocers and Chinese restaurants in larger numbers and we loved it. Our first take-away fast food outlet in Sydney was Kentucky Fried Chicken. As most Australian families had a baked dinner for Sunday lunch in those days, a leg of lamb or cooked chook, this was a real bonus. Mum could have a break from cooking and buy a full chicken, and possibly some potatoes and corn as well. She only had to put on the green vegies to cook while Dad drove up to the shop. This late 60's and early 70's period also saw a huge influence from ethnic cooking. Up till this time we mostly enjoyed English style cooking, meat and 3 vegies for tea followed by apple pie and icecream for instance. Now we were cooking Greek, Italian and Chinese at home, not just in the restaurants. And they were real restaurants, not little cafes. Recently my DH and I took a trip to Melbourne by car and we stopped at Gundagai overnight in southern NSW. The local cafe is still run in the old style, with wooden booths to sit in, bevelled mirrors on the walls and a mixed grill on the menu. It's been in the same family for over 50 years, and still going strong.

The area that has probably changed the most in my lifetime has been technology in the home. We didn't have a TV till we arrived at Lurnea in 1962. At the old house we had a radio in the kitchen, and I think Auntie Win had a TV in her room, but that was always locked. Our first TV was bought from Waltons at Liverpool, and paid off once a week when the Waltons man came around to collect the payment. Lots of families paid off furniture and appliances that way, but in the neighbouring estate in Green Valley there were lots of repossessions as people overcommitted and then defaulted on their payments. We didn't have a telephone, there was a red wooden phone box on the corner of our street though. When mum was expecting my 2 youngest brothers Dad rigged up an emergency buzzer to the next door neighbours' house so Mum could call her in the night if needed, while he was out playing the piano at a supper club. We did have an electric refrigerator and Mum only used the copper supplied with the house a few times. She preferred an electric washing machine, so the Waltons man called at our house for many more years to collect his payments.

We had black and white television of course till 1975, and I can recall watching our favourite shows in the loungeroom with the kids being told to sit further away so as not to ruin their eyes. Dad loved World Championship Wrestling and the televised golf programs. I can remember visiting my maternal Grandpa and seeing the cricket being played on the TV there. We kids loved "The Big Top" with Don Ameche, a circus show with fabulous acts including trapeze artists and lion tamers, plate twirlers and acrobats. "I Dream of Jeanie" and "Get Smart" were American shows which were warmly received by us in Australia and of course as a girl I started to watch "Days of Our Lives" the long running American soap opera which is still airing in Australia every weekday (when the cricket isn't on that is!) Of course the only way to learn to type was on a manual typewriter, with carbon paper for copies and a rubber to make corrections. Word processing on a computer was unimagineable back then, as were fancy phones. We had a beige plastic rotary phone installed after Dad left in 1972 as by then most families were getting the phone and the phone box at the end of the street was removed. Mum cooked on an electric stove with rings on top or in an electric frypan. She only got a microwave oven after I left home to be married in 1974.
And audio technology has made rapid advances too. In 1962 we brought a wind-up gramophone from Bexley with 10 thick hard plastic records, I think they were bakelite actually. My favourite was by Nat King Cole, called Autumn Leaves released in 1955. Recently I Googled it and heard an original record playing on a collectors' YouTube site. I cried!! I was instantly tranpsorted back to the front porch of the Lurnea house, with my baby brother Warren laying on an eiderdown in his play pen while I played the record at 78 rpm. The first portable music recording devices were 8 track reel to reel players, and in fact at high school the seniors recorded a mock radio broadcast on my DHs reel to reel player to be played over the PA system at school and we still have it in the cupboard. Not game to play it though in case we damage the old tape, must investigate having it tranferred to a CD for fun ! Cassette cartridges were soon all the rage, but they broke quite easily and you'd often see discarded tape littering the country roadside from an irate driver when the tape broke on a long journey. Cars only had a very basic radio until the first cassette players were availabe to go in the dashboard, no 6 stacker CD systems back then, or Ipods or MP3 players. Another area where technology has boomed.

I'm also old enough to remember when you didn't have to take a second mortgage on your home to pay for your daughter's wedding. When my DH asked Mum for my hand in marriage (because Dad had left us) she apologised that she couldn't afford a large wedding. We sat and planned every little detail and decided my DH and I could do it for a reasonable sum. I made my wedding gown and veil, 2 bridesmaids dresses and a flower girl's dress. I think my white hail spot cotton fabric cost $1.29 per metre and the bridesmaid's fabric was 79c per metre. My Nana paid for silk flower arrangements from a city florist and a head piece for me from my gown fabric. DH supplied the buttonholes and corsages, and for the transport ee borrowed his father's car and hired a Mercedes for the bride and groom. Our reception was held at the local community hall and we got in caterers, and if I recall the wedding breakfast was $3.50 per head including drinks. Friends who had a professional band entertained our 90 or so guests, and everyone agreed it was a lovely wedding. We honeymooned in Queensland and came home to sleep on my grandmothers' loungeroom floor until we could find a flat to rent. Contrast this to the average price for a wedding in Australia now, some $25,000 for a pretty basic wedding.

Well, I've enjoyed reminiscing about what I'm old enough to remember, a few ideas have begun to form in my head about a project for the February TIF. The problem will be which memory or memories to use..... I think I mentioned at the beginning of this year that I intended to try to F O C U S this year..... now seems like a very good time, LOL.

Growing up in Australia Pt 2.

I've decided to just let the memories flow, hoping that an idea for Sharon's TIF Challenge for February, see sidebar link, will crystalize.

Mum and Dad had applied for a NSW Housing Commission house and eventually in 1962 around Easter we moved to Lurnea, a south western suburb of Sydney near Liverpool. The new estate had few facilities to speak of. There was a brand new primary school, a red wooden telephone box on the corner of our street called Bare Avenue and a general store not far away. The major shopping centre, if you could call it that, was at Liverpool, a 30 minute bus ride away. We had an old Volkswagen car for Dad to drive so Mum and the kids went anywhere by bus. I started the new school in year 3 and it was a culture shock. The school at Bexley had old fashioned wooden forms with a seat that lifted up attached to a desk with a hinged lid and old smelly inkwells. The new school had seperate tables and chairs, and the plastic inkwells were all new. I remember struggling to write neatly with pen and ink, and using a blotter to avoid smudging your writing with your hand.

Our new house was fibro cement with a fibro cement corrugated roof. There were 3 bedrooms, a lounge room, kitchen and dining room combined, laundry with a copper, bathroom with a gas heater and wonder of wonders, a shower over the bath. The dunny was still up the yard though, but at least here it was a neat metal pan with a cover and a seat on a neat concrete floor in a fibro cement toilet building. Our old loo at Bexley had a wooden seat, and splinters were quite common. There we had a vertical plank toilet building with cracks which you could peek through if you wanted to spy on someone. The new loo had a solid wooden door with a lock and key. In the photo I'm in our bare backyard in 1963 with my brother Glenn, we were 9 and 4.
The "Sani Man" or night soil man, used to visit once a week and take away the full removeable pan, leaving a fresh empty one under the cover. They wore special leather capes with a cap attached as they hoisted the cans on their shoulders, I hope they got danger money because if you had guests or a party, those cans got quite full sometimes. Dad sometimes had to dig a hole in the backyard to siphon out the dunny can if that happened, it was a health hazard! I always dreaded going out to the loo in the night on Sunday in case the Sani Man came while I was enthroned. And we'd leave a bottle of beer out for him at Christmas and in exchange he'd leave a humorous printed seasonal poem, I wonder if anyone still has some in an album somewhere? Eventually the sewerage line came through our street, and we had a really deep pit in our yard as the junction and inspection pit was on our property. We could only afford to have one toilet though, so it was put in the out building.

We didn't have much of a garden in the beginning, when the estate was established they just threw the clay from the road up onto the footpath and front yards. Some people got in the rotary hoe man to dig it under, but Mum did it by hand so she could plant a few things. We never had a lawn like some people, just what grew when someone gave us a few runners of grass. Sometimes neighbours shared cuttings, we were all uprooted from inner Sydney and shipped out West so we were in a similar situation. Mum had 2 more boys, the last when I was 12 years old. By then Dad was spending pretty heavily on drinking, so Mum had to go out to work to help support us. The boys were looked after by neighbours until I got home from school when I'd take over. I learned to iron, cook simple snacks and clean the house to help mum out.

I remember when the Beatles came to Sydney in June 1964, I was in 5th class and had to make the decision whether to be a Rolling Stones fan or a Beatles fan, you couldn't be both, LOL. I still like their music, while the Stones never quite did it for me.

On the 14th of February 1966 Australia changed to decimal currency. Long gone were our farthings (1/4 of a penny) and florins (2 shillings) but now also the ha'penny (half a penny) penny, shillings and pounds. Instead of 24 shillings to a pound and having to work out complicated sums, everything was in multiples of 10. It did take quite some time to get used to, and shop signs, newspaper advertisements and eventually TV advertisments all continued to show prices in both currencies for quite a while.

I started at the one year old local high school in 1966, about 2 miles away. In the early days I'd catch the school bus, but by fourth form (year 10) I was walking with friends to school. Most of my friends went from my primary school to the local high school although quite a few others also came from surrounding areas. My husband was at primary school a year ahead of me, I was aware of him as he famously dressed up as a flapper girl once in a school fete parade. His mother made a wig from a dyed cotton mop head, and put fringeing on a black shift. He fooled his male classmates for quite a while, VBG. There are no photos, unfortunately.

TIF Challenge for February - first thoughts

Well, I'm a bit late blogging my thoughts about the February TIF Challenge as posed by Sharon B. at
http://sharonb.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/take-it-further-challenge-february/

The colour palette this month is "interesting" while the concept is very thought provoking. I started scribbling random thoughts on a foolscap notebook on the topic "What are you old enough to remember?" and 3 pages later I'm still coming up with memories. Some of the other participants have already blogged their memories, and a lot of them are political and significant events in America and the UK. So I thought I'd try and record my Australian childhood memories and see where that leads.

I was born in the early 1950's when Australia was just starting to accept migrants from the war torn countries of Europe. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second of Britain visited an Australia with just 9 million people the year I was born. My family lived in half a house at Epping shared with my godparents for several years after I was born. Vivid memories include the neighbours rose gardens and their children picking wattle (a small native bush with fluffy yellow flowers) to take to school for Wattle Day on August 1st. I must have been about 3 years old. The kids carried Australian made Globite school cases, which were made from pressed cardboard and could be shined up with shoe polish when they got dingey.

Our next house was at Arncliffe, again rented, as Dad had lost a business before I was born and money was tight. We boarded a disabled relation who helped a little around the house, Mum was having a difficult pregnancy with my oldest brother. I remember Maureen as a big girl who was intellectually delayed, but good at heart. It was sad when Mum had to send her on to a group home when my brother was born, Mum just couldn't cope. I can remember a group of kids setting fire to a palm tree in the park next door with fireworks, and the red fire engine racing up. We also had a grandfather clock in the house, it chimed all night.

In 1959 we moved to a rented house in Bexley. It was an old horizontal weatherboard one with a wooden plank verandah, 2 large bedrooms and a kitchen/ dining room. The landlady lived in the former lounge room. There was a back verandah closed in to make another room for me as I got a bit older, and a bathroom with a chip heater for the hot water. There was no shower, and the worst bit was the dunny (lavatory) up the path in the back yard. We had a very deep yard, with a chook shed down the back. I never realised it at the time, but we were pretty poor. We called the landlady Auntie Win (I guess Winifred) and she worked at Benson and Hedges cigarette factory and smoked like a chimney herself. She was very good to Mum, and often brought home little treats of food and sweets for me and my little brother. I used to run around bare foot all the time (still don't like to wear shoes, although I love them on other people!) so I was always treading on nails in pieces of broken down fencing, and we'd walk down the road to the doctor for a Tetanus injection AGAIN. I earned 3 permanent scars at that house. The first one was on my forehead where my best friend (?) threw a lump of concrete at my head after an argument. I remember the look on Mum's face when I ran screaming down the yard with blood pouring out of my face, she didn't know what had happened. Then my Dad made me a wooden swing to hang in the doorway of my room, and you guessed it, the silly think hit me in the mouth, scarring my bottom lip permanently. Lipstick still won't stick there. The third one I haven't seen myself, let's just say I climbed through a window where a nail was sticking up and scarred my groin.

I started school at Bexley in 1959. In the photo I'm the very serious little blonde girl in the second row from the bottom 4th from the right (marked with a spot)I think my dressmaker Mum sewed my fashionable jacket, you'll notice there wasn't an official school uniform back then. I did my first needlework in K2, where I made a woollen canvas work teapot shaped trivet (see photo). Mum put on the binding and a label for the Education Week display. Then an elderly neighbour taught me how to crochet. She did the little ring in the centre and then I crocheted around them to make squares for a rug but I don't recall making it.

I began my long history of "dressing up in public" at Bexley. My maternal grandparents attended West Botany Methodist church where there were regular fetes and parades. See the photo of me dressed as the Princess of Spring and my brother Glenn dressed as an old fashioned swaggie with my girlfriend Margaret beside us on the f ront verandah at Bexley. Dad found a little plastic pipe which had an insert not unlike incense which burned in the pipe bowl for Glenn. Another year my Papa found a hessian bag on Tempe tip full of flat pearl buttons, so mum covered black serge school uniforms with thousands of buttons and made Glenn and me into the Pearlie King and Queen for the church fete parade. We were too poor to afford a camera, the photos were taken by our grandparents. When my father left Mum years later, he took a lot of family photos away with him, so our remaining photos are few and far between unfortunately.

Paying it forward

Since discovering the blogging world I have come to admire and appreciate the kindness and support shown by fellow stitchers, whether embroiderers, quilters, knitters or tatters. So you can imagine how chuffed I was to receive a nomination for a "You Make My Day" award from Jane, of Nuido - a Student's Journey, see sidebar link. This student of Japanese embroidery in the UK is doing some absolutely stunning work. I have seen another JEC student's work in the flesh and believe me it's such fine and exacting work, the standard required is so high that the mind just boggles!!
The idea is to pay it forward, so here are my nominations for the "You Make My Day" award, in random order, and not all are stitching blogs !

1. The Life of Riley at http://www.allaboutolive.com.au/ where Mike Rubbo maintains a "blob" for Olive, who is 108 years young and sharing her memories and stories with the world

2. I religiously read Sharon B's blog at http://sharonb.wordpress.com/ every day, although now I have Google Reader it's SOOO much easier, thanks for that suggestion, Sharon. The "one stop shop" for information about the needle arts and lots more besides, and of course the current Take It Further Challenge seems to be very popular !

3. Dale Rollerson at http://downunderdale.blogspot.com/ has been a regular stop over since I went to a Playday in Sydney several years ago, and got to try out all the latest products Dale and Ian stock at the Thread Studio. And besides that, Dale is a very helpful, generous person, even if she is a Kiwi, LOL.

4. Norma at http://normasneedlez.blogspot.com/ participated in TAST and kept stitching despite a personal tragedy. Norma hardly missed a beat all year, a great testament to her faith and tenacity in adversity. We are participating in a Counted Thread Band Round Robin, so I'm looking forward to seeing what Norma plans for my band.

5. Jenny B. at http://jennysaustralianneedleart.blogspot.com/ is a friend from the Embroiderers' Guild NSW who I first met as a Leader for a Young Textile and Fibre Group club several years ago. Jenny does wonderful withdrawn thread work, machine embroidery and a little quilting. Such a talented lady, and a worthy recipient of a nomination.

6. Elizabeth at http://quietermoments.wordpress.com/ has been sharing her explorations of stitches with us, with some excellent photos and advice. Very inspiring, makes me feel VERY lazy !!

Well, those are my top 6, as I said in no particular order, but I could add quite a few more from the TAST participants, the TIF challenge participants and of course the regular blogs and sites I surf for research for costumes. So really, I'll just say to the needle arts bloggers out there, "You ALL Make My Day" I'm so lucky to have found you all, and a BIG thankyou to Jenny B. for starting me on this blogging journey in the first place.

January TIF Challenge finished !

I sat down after lunch today and finished assembling my little crazy scissor case from the TIF challenge block I made. It morphed from an MP3 player pouch because the foundation square was too small, that'll teach me to plan better !! I'm quite pleased with it actually, only my second ever CQ block made (the first was a kids' workshop project scroll down to post for picture.)

The photos show the front, back and the inside of the project with my "best" embroidery scissors beside it. I found a co-ordinating cotton fat quarter in my stash of small florals which I'm using for 2 different hand pieced quilt WISP's. I think I might have overdone the beading a bit, and the beaded tassel is not so practical, but a girl has to have pretty things around her all the time, doesn't she, LOL? The scissor case measures 18.5 cm including the tassel and is 11 cm wide at the top. I think I used a stitch called football stitch to join the front, must look that one up to confirm that, VBG. Bob the Quilting Cat and I look forward eagerly to the first of February for the next challenge.

January TIF Challenge NEARLY finished

Here is my January TIF challenge block, decorated some and bagged out with a nice floral lining, just before I turn it into a scissor case. It's so hard to know when you've finished with decoration on a CQ block, isn't it? Usually my projects tell me when, but this one hasn't yet. I have to stitch it into the kite shape, then I'll probably make a tassel and add a closure, and perhaps one or two more beads on a couple of bare spots I've just noticed as I loaded the photo..... Bob the Quilting Cat deserted her post after lunch, leaving me in the jumble of laces, ribbons and beads in peace. I have several other sewing projects that need my attention tomorrow, so I'll probably finish this before I retire for the night and will post the final picture on the TIF blog, see sidebar link.

Progress?

Bob the Quilting Cat and I have been trying to add some decoration to this little CQ block for the January TIF Challenge, but neither off us are very imaginative. I see so many lovely CQ blocks around, but I've never had much success myself, even with Sharon's excellent stitch dictionary and TAST stitches in 2007. Do other stitchers do as much reverse embroidery as I have been doing, I think the US stitchers call it frogging, you know rip-it, rip-it!!? Bob is no help just now, she likes to play with the ribbons and beads, but eventually she has nodded off, leaving me to wade through books looking for the perfect stitch and bead combination. And I've realised the square will be too small to make my MP3 pouch, so I'm now leaning towards a little kite shaped scissor case for my best embroidery scissors. This CQ block might be the only one I ever make at this rate, LOL, it's a lot harder than everyone tells you. Or is it "Secret Women's Business" and I haven't learned the secret handshake yet?

Progress on TIF at last.

The house is quiet, everyone has gone back to work today, so Bob The Quilting Cat has been advising me about the January TIF Challenge, see sidebar link. I've cut little pieces of silk and cotton fabric and tacked them to a 6 inch square. I rearranged them so often, I think she thought it was a game we were playing. (Did I mention that Bob is a female cat? My daughter named her Bob as a joke.)

And then, what do you know, I found a pair of G string pants (not mine, I can assure you!) in the clean washing I was sorting. Do you think the owner would notice them missing, they look about the right colour for my block. No? Oh well, just goes to show you that this Challenge has made me look more closely at colours around me to try and match the colours on Sharon's palette. Off to the sewing room now for some stitching and beading, I hear Bob calling me back.

TIF Challenge January, a beginning

I've definately decided to use the palette Sharon has suggested for the January TIF Challenge. Here is my collection of fabrics, threads and ribbons and a few beads from my stash as close to the colours as I can find. I know colour perception is an individual thing, and that some other challenge members have had difficulty matching colours for various reasons. My monitor and the printed page did not agree, LOL, so I've done my best. I'm thinking along the lines of a decorated bag for my MP3 player and earphones, as my current pouch holds my Walkman and is way too big, as well as tangling the earphones every time they are put away. I have a bit of a reprieve on one of my sewing projects, the deadline has been moved to the middle of February, so now I have HEAPS of time to work on TIF Challenge this week. DH goes back to work, so I will have the house to myself, yay. Just have to fit in some grocery shopping, a haircut, make a dress to wear on Saturday for Australia Day..... what was that I said about heaps of time? FOCUS dear, FOCUS !!!

Luvlie Buzzie - my first ATC

I have a couple of exciting projects I really want to get into, but more mundane things keep getting in the way, like housework, cooking, sleeping, eating.... you know, LOL. So I've tried to be really virtuous this week, then reward myself with a little "playtime" for me. Tonight I put on the TV in the sewing room, watched the last Parkinson show with lots of special guests, and finished a little Artist Trading Card. I joined the online SCQuilters group a while ago, and in May there will be a Retreat in Perth, Western Australia. There are over 2000 Southern Cross Quilters, and as we can't all go to Perth it was decided that some of us might need cheering up. So the Cheer Me Up swap of ATC is happening and as a warm up for some of us who have never made them, we are doing a small one-on-one swap this month. This is my first card, made with some leftovers from my first Blanket of Love made a few years ago. The print had bees and butterflies on it, and I had a packet of bee buttons, so I have made a little "flight of the bumble bee" in couched goldwork thread (Jacobean I think, for the goldworkers). The stiffening is Timtex (great stuff!) and the label on the back was made on iron-on Vilene which I put through the printer and then fused. The edging is satin stitch, stitched around twice. I'm fairly pleased with it, hope my partner Fran C. will like it.

Kids' workshop sample

Yesterday I was tidying up my sewing room/ studio, and pulling out fabrics to audition for Sharon B.'s TIF Challenge and looking for fabrics for 2 other quick projects as well. On Wednesday I'm teaching at the Embroiderers' Guild NSW Summer School, where the theme is Crossing the Borders. I submitted a proposal for a kids' workshop featuring Crazy Patchwork, where the stitching and decorations go along and over the seams (borders). I know it's stretching the imagination a bit, but it's not called "let's go crazy" for nothing, LOL. And I've asked the kids to wear a Crazy Hat to the class, I certainly will be!!

The photo shows the class sample which I have finally finished today, the colours are actually more aqua, hot pink and yellow than my scan shows. The little purse is 9 cm x 11 cm finished, and has a shell chip bead as the closure. I had to keep the stitching very simple, as I have to teach the 5-18 year old group the stitches if they don't already know them, and there is nothing more frustrating than leaving a workshop feeling overwhelmed by the workload. Been there, done that on several occasions as an adult, don't wish to inflict that on kids! Have finished the instruction sheet apart from some diagrams of stitches, so now I can concentrate on other projects for the rest of the week.

TIF Challenge, January, the research continues.

Today Sharon B., see sidebar link, has posted about a great online exhibition featuring illustrations and writings about women's relationships with nature. Of course I spent quite a while browsing the site, and found this lovely coloured rendering of Clematis which just happened to be in Sharon's January TIF Challenge palette. I seem to be leaning more and more towards the colour palette for my January Challenge so now I just have to decide
1. Threads or fabrics
2. Form of project
3. Size of project
4. How to present it

Now you know why I say I have a Black Belt in Procrastination, one decision made leads to several more pending ! I think my Goal for 2008 will surely have to be F..O..C..U..S

The TIF Challenge, January

I have a slight problem. I can't stop thinking about the TIF Challenge!! I'm checking blogs and flickr sites daily and seeing everyone making progress. Some people have even completed their challenge for the month, and posted their photos. I say "Well Done!" to those people, but can you tell me your secret? How does one focus on just one idea for longer that 2 minutes so that you can actually commit a project to fabric?

I began by making lists, my preferred method, no fancy "mind maps" for me !! 3 pages later I've still not narrowed down my concept ideas for "someone I admire". There are too many people out there very worthy, including textile artists, friends and relations, and celebrities. Even the qualities I admire in these people are many and varied.

So I looked again at Sharon's suggested palette. Now I have a thing for purple, as you may have noticed, LOL. So using a purple palette is not really "Taking if Further" for me. I can't even decide on the form of my project yet! How lame is that, I ask you??

I'm a member of the online Australasian quilting group Scquilters, and I'm doing an Artist Trading Card swap for those people not attending a quilting retreat in May. I signed up for a one on one swap as a "warm-up" so I've been pulling out Bright and Cheerful fabrics from my stash to audition for the card, see photo of one fabric. I've also found a few pieces which might fit into the colour palette for Sharon's Challenge, so all might not be completely lost.

I'm thinking I'm going to be posting my finished project on the last day of the month at this rate, LOL. But I'm quite used to working that way, that looming deadline seems to have a way of getting my creative juices flowing !!

I wish everyone else in the TIF challenge good luck, please send me some "creative vibes" too if you can spare a few !!

The TIF Challenge

As it's the New Year Sharon B. has set the first Take it Further Challenge for the 250+ participants, see my sidebar link.

We have the choice of designing something in fabric or paper using the key concept or the colour scheme Sharon proposes on the first of the month, and then blogging our process and hopefully a finished item by the end of the month. This time we have been asked to consider what or who we admire as the concept, and a colour palette which includes a purple, olive green and a lighter green. People have already started blogging their thought processes, while others are still digesting the challenge. I've started to write "lists" but I'm not quite ready to share them just yet, they are WISP's already, LOL. But I thought I'd share an exercise I did with Effie Mitrofanis at the Embroidery By Design course at the NSW Embroiderers' Guild a couple of years ago.

We were asked to make a collage of things that meant something special to us, first in paper and then interpret it in some stitching. The photo shows my stitched collage, and I will explain a few items.

I used a furnishing fabric in a "Regency stripe" as a tribute to my interest in that historic period. The cat on the lounge (sofa) pays homage to my pet and also my favourite spot to spend time relaxing. The lacy fan, made from painted lace with toothpick sticks, refers to my lace and costume interests, while the little quilted heart motif is of course about my love of patchwork. The Manolos shoes, well, every girl would want them if
a. she could afford them and
b. she had small dainty feet (which I don't, LOL). The laughing couple in the bed is a symbol of my relationship with my DH, while the theatrical lighted mirror around us refers to our theatrical past as we acted for a while when we were first married. The William Morris style fabric foliage in the centre was a piece in my stash that I liked and seemed to tie the collage together.

I'm still sifting though my thoughts, but this style of work has some possibilities.

Christmas 2007

Well, Christmas Day passed quietly enough. I spent the last few days before Christmas Eve shopping for food, and as usual overcatered for the 16 guests who eventually sat down for tea on Christmas Day.I managed some last minute gift shopping with my DD3, then on Christmas Eve I sat down to sew up a shirt for a regular client (her last minute decision) while I watched some Christmas movies on the TV. This is not the first time this has happened, LOL, but I think it will be the last. Too stressful when visitors have to entertain themselves while you stitch in another room!

While putting up the last of the Christmas decorations I found some handmade ones my kids made years ago. The Santa face was her own design, while the peg Rudolph was made at school by DD3. Not sure about the others, think they were made at home with leftovers from my kids' class one year.

Here also is my Embroiderers' Guild group Secret Santa gifts. The pincushion and tape measure are my gift to Jennie, while the stitching kit, emery board and lovely button are from my Secret Santa.

We also had a strange visitor in the garden this week. This alien looking "creature" was discovered one morning, and since it's been so wet in Sydney lately, we Googled fungus images, and eventually found it was a stinkhorn fungus. Looks a bit like a sea-anemone, apparently they smell vile, I didn't get close enough to find out!

Lastly, I can reveal the Bog, see previous post under Christmas traditions. I photographed Bog Santa with glasses and a lei and my DS photoshopped him onto a Hawaiian beach. An accompanying letter stated that "during a break in Santa Photo duties at the Mall.. I scratched $10,000 on a Scratchie (an instant lottery ticket) and so....a few days R and R.... to let my knees dry out, if you know what I mean" and signed by Bog Santa.
There were a few days lull, then my DD1 sprayed red Santa Snow on their front windows on Christmas Eve. BUT they must have been planning there "revenge" for a while because on Chrismtas morning, 14 pages of Bog posters where taped all over the yard. On the rubbish bin, the hot water tank, under car wipers, under the front door mat, on the letter box. You get the picture, and some of them were really clever. They must have been up at the crack of dawn, or perhaps returning after their night out. Then we got an SMS message, D = one, K = 14 !! Now to start thinking up next year's BOG. They say you're only a kid once, but we think it should last a lifetime!!

"All About Olive" on the television

Some people will know about Olive, the lovely 108 year old lady living on the New South Wales Central Coast whose friend Mike helps her with her "blob" as she calls it. The movie Mike and his friends made called "All About Olive" will be screening in Sydney at 12.30 AEDST in the afternoon on Tuesday 18th December on the ABC. Check your TV guide to see if it's showing in other regions, I hope it is. I haven't seen it myself yet, only little excerpts that have been on her "blob", see my sidebar. I'm staying home from Christmas shopping especially to see it, can't work my video recorder, technologically challenged in some areas you know!!

Christmas Traditions

I'm in a very strange mood today, might have something to do with it being my oldest brothers' birthday today, but alas he died 2 years ago. And possibly the fact that I have another birthday just around the corner myself, on New Year's Day actually, I'm suddenly feeling very "old" . So sing Auld Lang Syne then think of me.

I've started thinking about traditions and celebrations, especially Christmas ones, and so thought I'd share a few of our family's. Growing up in western Sydney meant that Christmas time involved travelling to the North shore to visit one set of relatives, then the inner Southern suburbs to visit the other side. This was often done on the same day, and if we happened to be on the Northside at night time, we'd detour through the city to visit the major Department store Christmas windows, at Mark Foys and David Jones in Sydney for those who remember them. They were usually animated, well clockwork in the early days, and brightly decorated and lit. You'd see many youngsters in their pyjamas standing with noses pressed up to the glass to catch a glimpse of Santa and the elves in the workshop, and the traditional and Disney stories all laid out and beautifully dressed. I think I decided one year that I wanted to be a window dresser when I grew up, so I could do those windows each year!!

When my own children started to come along, we started our own traditions. These included inviting the paternal grandparents and sister to sleep over on Christmas Eve. After a sumptuous dinner we'd all sit down to watch the televised Carols by Candlelight, then the kids would be bundelled off to bed. We'd all wait with baited breath to make sure they were asleep so we could play Santa and put all the presents under the tree. Of course SIL made it worse by buying knitted Christmas stockings, which stretched A LOT, requiring beach balls (blown up of course) and lots of large plastic bath toys and such to fill them. Even today the now adult kids insist on the stockings being draped over their wrapped gifts under the tree.

As they all grew up and the magic of a childs' Christmas dimmed a little, we still kept the traditional Christmas Eve, but sometimes work committments meant they couldn't come to dinner, or they got invited to their partner's family for a meal. When my MIL died suddenly, it just didn't feel the same and the meal got simpler, although we still sat up to watch the Carols. This year we might go to the neighbourhood church Carols by Glow Stick (doesn't sound the same does it!) which is only a short walk away, if the weather is kind. A new tradition in the making.

The other great traditions in our family include Christmas breakfast, which has long been warm butter croissants with jam and cream, orange juice and Champagne. Now the adult kids will drop everything to come along to this event, LOL, and we have been known to wait for a latecomer before starting on Christmas morning. A few years ago we started lighting up the house too, with many power boards and extension leads required to fit all the sets in. With only one young person living at home at the moment, we haven't put up lights this year, but I have put out my santa figurine collection, see photo.

There is one more that I'll mention before finishing this post. My kids were fortunate to grow up in a lower middle class neighbourhood, with the same kids going to Primary and High School with them and staying friends. One family lost their Mum suddenly a few years ago, and she had helped them with a silly Knock and Run Christmas trick we call The BOG. Not really sure what it stands for, not sure I want to know, LOL, but it has been a great source of silliness and fun over the years. We have done some really bizarre things in the name of The BOG, including filling a life size Santa Suit with air filled balloons and putting him on a garden chair on their front door step. One year they sent a music book of Christmas Carols with BOG inserted in the appropriate places in all the lyrics. We had Santa Snow all over our front garden at 4 a.m. one year, we almost caught them in the act! Last year one of the girls was overseas, and it seemed a shame not to BOG, but no-one really felt like it. Well, 2 nights ago I put the cat out, and we'd been BOGGED. Now to think up a diabolical revenge.. you can imagine how this will pan out, can't you... back and forth, when you least expect it, right up till Christmas morning. Stay tuned, I'll post my BOG in due course, after it's been done of course, in case they read my blog!!

The Hand Crafted Object

Today's posting by Sharon B. on her blog In a Minute Ago, see sidebar link, talks about the possible need for a philosophy of celebrating the hand crafted object. This is very thought provoking. I had always thought that "hand crafted" had a place in the scheme of things. Painting, drawing, sculpture and handmade pottery and ceramics are looked upon as "art" whereas embroidery, lace making, knitting, beading and associated needle arts are always considered "craft". Where does paper tole, cardmaking, collage (ooh, that one can be either, can't it?) fit in? Then there is free machine embroidery, computer embroidery, quilting (hand and machine) and patchwork (again hand and machine)? What about costuming, my area of particular interest, it is art AND craft at the same time?

I think I should elaborate a little on my own celebration of "hand made". I started sewing in the 1960's at a time when the Australian primary school system still taught sewing and embroidery. In kindergarten I did a canvas embroidered teapot stand, which I still have. My first sewing project was a pair of handsewn baby doll pyjamas, I can still picture them. They were made from a white glazed cotton fabric with a small flower print, Mum must have had it in her stash because she was also a dressmaker, as were both my Grandmothers. I distinctly remember having to model the bloomer pants to the class, they were very stiff and stuck out like a pair of Tudor mens breeches, and I don't think I ever actually wore them. We also made a traycloth from head cloth, a bit like homespun but a lower thread count, and an apron.

Fast forward to year 10, or 4th form as it was known. I took Needlework as my elective and learnt patternmaking, embroidery and dressmaking. My major work was an Assissi embroidered mat, I still have it somewhere, and a needlework bag with butterflies embroidered in satin stitch. If I recall, I chose a mauve colour scheme even then, my taste hasn't changed one bit!!

When my children were growing up I continued to sew for them until "homemade" wasn't cool anymore. I continued to sew for clients to earn a little "pin money" and took TAFE courses to update my skills. I also learnt floral art which has come in very handy over the years, especially when I decided to specialise in wedding and formal wear for 15 years. I could provide a total wedding package except the cake and cars! Then I decided to concentrate on costuming and that is where my attention to detail and handwork skills really bore fruit. All the while I was handknitting, crocheting and dabbling in a little embroidery.

Then in 1998 I finally decided to join the Embroiderers' Guild of NSW and quickly signed up for Basic and then the Intermediate Embroidery Courses. I also took a Home Study course in Traditional Embroidery, and did lots of workshops. So I have always appreciated the "hand crafted" and since I joined the Lace Guild a while ago even more so. Lacemaking is a SLOW process, best not hurried as "reverse lace making" is not simple, but the finished article is worth the wait. I also have many WISP's ("work in slow progress")at home at present. One particular item is worth mentioning in detail.

The photo shows my hand pieced quilt top, at least it will be a quilt top when I make another 100 stars from little diamonds, and then the hexagons from plain fabrics which surround the stars. The stars are hand pieced over papers, well old greeting cards and pages from pattern catalogues, and there should be 200 different fabrics all told. The main problem now is that I've been making it since 2002 and I'm not sure I like it anymore. I think it's a bit "wishy washy", now that's a great technical term isn't it, it lacks pizzaz. I think I'll need to find a few stronger colours to scatter among the lighter florals. I've been collecting the fabrics at craft shows, shops and from friends for a very long time, trying to keep to the old fashioned florals, and avoiding stripes. Perhaps I need to rethink the colour scheme a bit, because the Pioneer Braid, see post below, I started from some of the leftover scraps has more life in it than this Starry Starry Night from APQ V. 9 no. 4

Since I joined Yahoo groups, I've become more aware of the worldwide community of needle workers and other hand crafters. I think there has always been a "hand made movement", remember Tonia Todman's segments on TV where she showed us how to make Chrismtas bon bon's from cardboard tubes and fancy paper? Well on TV this week there was another girl doing exactly that, so it seems "hand made" is trendy again. There are nearly 1000 members of the Australian Lace Guild and around 2000 in the NSW Embroiderers' Guild including around 230 children so the future of hand made lace and needle work is looking pretty bright. I think that some people have always celebrated the hand made, it's just that the pace of modern life sometimes obscures the fact.

I find it quite interesting in the fashion world that the "haute couture" garment, which is often handsewn and certainly hand finished and often features hand made trims, is so widely coveted and celebrated. In the film and theatre scene, hand made is also celebrated. You only have to look at the accolades and even Oscars given to Lord of the Rings, Priscilla and Strictly Ballroom to name a few. These films all featured unique costume creations, often hand assembled and finished and real works of art in their own right. Then there is the reproduction historical costume fraternity, both for re-enactment and historic house guides, as well as for personal adornment. There is also quite a large "fan" area, for want of a better word, where fans of a particular show or story make a costume and wear it. Whether it's a fur clad Wookie going to a Star Wars screening, a Gothic Lolita going to a picnic, or a Pirate Wench going to Pirates of the Caribbean screening by public transport (alright, confession time, I really did that!) it is yet more evidence of the creative mind at work. And look at the accolades that claymation movies get, remember Wallace and Grommit, and Chicken Run? These movies featured hand made clay figures which were filmed one step at a time over several years!!

Sharon's post certainly made my think today, as she does everyday, but this topic is especially relevant to me, so if you have read this far, well done, and I'd like to hear your thoughts too.

The year in review

At this time of year I tend to look back on the year and take stock of my achievements and shortfalls, hopefully not too many of the latter.

Our family had an "eventful" year, with my son getting married in February, see pictures of us dressed in our best on the happy occassion! Unfortunately my estranged father passed away, my mother became less mobile and had to cope with her 2nd husband in full time care, and 2 more of my offspring moved out of home. DH had a 3rd back surgery and we still await results from the specialist. My husband and I both volunteered more, I joined another couple of groups and served on more Committees, and took on more (unpaid) consultancy work than ever. I was able to do less paid work, however, due mainly to an arthritic neck slowing me down. Don't they say that "retirement" can be the busiest time of your life? Gosh, I couldn't get any busier and I've still got several years before the "official" retirement age, LOL.

I researched and archived a lot of creative ideas for future stitching projects during this year, and I plan to do more recreational costuming in 2008. I've even toyed (briefly) with doing a Uni course in Museum Studies. I enjoy working with the Young Textile and Fibre Group, see sidebar link, and think that may be enough for the present. It would be nice to get some compensation for all the hours I put into volunteer teaching though, so am considering formalising that area.

I've signed up for Sharon B.'s Take It Further Challenge in 2008, see sidebar link, which will be running over a month, with weekly updates on my thoughts and development. At the end of each month Sharon suggests we show our progress. There are about 150 plus people "signed" up at the moment, with a few stragglers still to confirm. "Take a Stitch Tuesday" which Sharon ran in 2007 (2 weeks to go!) was a weekly challenge with a specific stitch whereas TIF is open to individual interpretation. This could mean working in any media, your usual one/s or something new. Sharon might suggest a colour, size, shape, or just a word to get the creative juices flowing. It will be very exciting to see how all the participants interpret the theme for the month, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Now, does anyone know of a good Personal Time Management Consultant, cheap?

Bob the Studio Cat

I've signed up for the "Take if Further" Challenge in 2008 with Sharon B., see link on sidebar, and today she has published a list of the proposed participants. This of course tempted me to start looking at EVERY blog on the list, some are new to me and some are "old friends" from TAST this year. This led to Vivian and her posts about studio cats. Which brings me to the subject of the photos, Bob my studio cat. Well, not exactly studio, more "former-nursery-converted-to-sewing-room" but larger than some people have. This is very lucky, as I am a horder of sewing notions, trims, fabrics, craft fabrics, patterns, books, magazines, cottons, embroidery threads.... you get the idea. I have commandeered 3 bookshelves in the hallway outside the room for storage as well as several plastic lidded bins under the custom made by DH cutting table. I have 3 sewing machines including an industrial Singer 591, 2 overlockers, an Elna press for fusing, a TV and sound system in the room and the ironing board permanently set up. Bob, who is a female puss by the way (daughter's idea of a joke) loves to sleep on the ironing board, the office chair on wheels, and is often also found asleep on (or should that be guarding) fabrics and patterns on the cutting table too. Recently she was advising me on the pinning of some pioneer braid strips on a sheet which was going along to show and tell at our quilting class. She just loves playing with pins and safety pins so I have to be especially carefull when I leave the room if she is in residence.

Thunderstorms in Sydney

We've been having some really tropical weather in Sydney recently, so that we have come to expect a thunderstorm most afternoons lately. We weren't quite prepared for the "mini cyclone" that hit western Sydney on Friday, with huge winds blowing and swirling every which way, and lots of heavy rain, so our street flooded outside our house. This hasn't happened in years! No major damage done thankfully, although our neighbour was a bit worried that it would all run down his driveway into the garage and then into his in-ground pool. It hung around for about 3 hours, until a Council pumper truck came and pumped out the drains and then most of it got away. We even had a "flood damage" sign up for a while, most exciting.Can you tell it was a quiet day Friday with not much else happening, hee hee? All the neighbours came out to see the damage and wade (!!) and we all talked for a while. I risked being struck by lightning to get the first photo while the storm was still passing, but I had on rubber sandals so I supposed I would be safe enough. The second photo shows the water just before the pumper arrived, receeded slightly, but still mid calf deep at the kerb.
Doesn't the street look lovely and green after all the rain over the last fortnight? But the humidity has been horrendous!! And the yard looks like a jungle already despite being mowed 10 days ago.

Plans for 2008

As 2007 is rushing to a close, plans are well underway for 2008 projects. I've been enjoying Take A Stitch Tuesday this year with Sharon B. (see sidebar for link) even though I've not stitched as many as I would have liked. I'm hoping to try out a few more stitches over the Christmas period. Recently Sharon asked all her readers what they would like to do in 2008 and she is proposing a "Take it Further" challenge, see the details at
http://sharonb.wordpress.com/take-it-further-challenge/
This looks like a great challenge, the brief is very flexible really, so it should suit lots of people.
I can heartily recommend Sharon B.'s blog, her committment to stitching and her stitch dictionary is just so easy to use with great explanation pictures.

This photo is the result of the Inchies challenge, and is the finished project by Sara, see more on the blog at
http://artsquaresswap.blogspot.com/
What a wonderful imaginative use of a small one inch deorated square textile !!

Counted Thread Band Round Robin progress

Well, this project was started earlier in the year, and here it is at the moment. 8 people from 3 countries will work on this band, not counting the 3rd section which was worked by a lady who has withdrawn from the group and was not able to complete her round. When the band comes back to me I will have to decide how to complete it.

I'm very pleased that Margaret decided to use some orange tones on the piece, and I think there is still some scope for some more. It's moving around a little slower than originally planned - not sure about everyone else but I've found 2007 to be a particularly difficult year for many reasons. Let's hope 2008 will be kinder to us all.

Making a feather bed.

Over at Hambledon Cottage at Parramatta I'm directing a group of volunteers to rehang the 1840's 4 poster Payten bed, and as part of that we decided to make a feather mattress. So yesterday was "feather day" and equipped with dust masks, gloves, 44 kg of duck feathers and a mattress casing Margaret sewed up, we made our way onto the front verandah at Hambledon to start. It was a sligthly overcast and breezy day, but not TOO many feathers escaped. Then we stitched up the opening in the casing and 3 people heaved the "matress" onto the stripped bed. The navy and white ticking cover needs to be made next so I needed to measure the feather bed in situ. It was so BIG that Margaret volunteered to jump on the top to push out all the air. The dust this created was incredible, so we all donned the masks again. We opened the windows, all ran out side for a breath of fresh air then remade the bed and put the famous c. 1860's Wood Quilt, see previous posts, back in place. I'm SO pleased with the resulting profile of the bed. The mattress is meant to come up to the fancy vasings on the posts, and it certainly does that. This bed will not be used in bed-making demonstrations like some of the other beds in Parramatta historic houses, but it will mean that Guides can lift the corner of the bedclothes to allow visitors to peek underneath to see what gives the bed it's height. There was already a small wool mattress on the bed which we will probably cover in ticking as well, to give the correct look. Sheets, a blanket which is being edged in red blanket stitch, and a Marcella cover will complete the bed clothes, and then the new curtains, tester and valances will all be added soon after. An overdue "facelift" for a lovely old 4 poster bed.

Why I blog.

Sharon B. (see link on my sidebar) has been asking some very thought provoking questions in the last few days. Sharon wants to know about if and why we leave comments on other people's blogs, and why we blog in the first place.

I belong to the TAST Challenge webring so I can easily manouvre around the blogs of those people who were taking part in the TAST in 2007. I also belong to about 12 Yahoo Groups (forum style groups with special interest focus) as well as a couple of online only groups, such as Australian Costumers' Guild and Southern Cross Quilters. Then there are my forum discussion groups such as LiveJournal, Truly Victorian patterns and Sewing Academy where people also put their blogs in their signture line. I usually click on these fairly regularly, you just never know what kind of valuable information you are going to find at the end of that link. For instance, one of this morning's posts in my 19th Century Women's group linked to the British Museum costume prints and I found this lovely print of two ladies sewing in the 1830's. Isn't it exquisite? Well it is to a costume nut like myself anyway.

So I tend to comment on blogs where I have something relevant to say about the post. I like to say a bit more than "well done" or "I like your work" without re-writing "War and Peace". I don't mind it when people post a short comment on my blogs, at least it tells me that someone is reading my blog, and since I put a Visitor's Map on the blogs I can see where people visit from, and that is very gratifying. I've never really kept a written diary, although I was writing a semi-biographical short novel in an exercise book once while a teenager. So I see my blog as a form of diary or journal I suppose, and since being encouraged by my friend Jenny B. (see link on sidebar) to start a blog, I have gone a bit overboard ! I guess I've always been a "communicator" but before blogs and forums I used to spend a lot of time on the phone when the kids were little, talking to girlfriends and relatives, because as a non-driver personal visits were difficult.

I've "met" a lot of very nice folk through forums and blogging, and I intend to keep doing it for a very long time. Have you checked out Olive Riley's blog (see sidebar link) Olive is 108 and blogging (well helper Mike does type her words) How wonderful to share Olive's world through her blog, and I guess that is also my reason to blog. Welcome to my world!!