Late Christmas sewing

Last night in the cool of my cellar I finished off two project that I hoped to give as Christmas gifts.

A little late; but can wrap and share as new years gifts tonight!




Tonight me and the kids are having a sleep over at Mums (Kd has his bag packed on his back already it is 8am!) and my sisters are coming too. We are having a crafting new years party. J if off to a festival to play in a band in Lorne.

Finished Kds snuggy too - he was in the cellar with me while I finished it off - I gave it too him and he told me it isnt the snuggy that he wanted. I felt the same - it is finished but not really with the grand vision that I had.


A quick reference to the source material for the transformer forms on the rug - I used images from a collage that Kd made for his 4th birthday invites



Finally a special gift from my Mum a sewing camel with some embroidery scissors - her web site is here and her blog here so you can learn more about what an amazing woman my mum is. (gee mum is that a proper sentence?)

more Christmas making exchanges

My family is rather large with six children (me and five brothers and sisters) in all and to make Christmas affordable and fun we have started a hand made chris cringle - this year being the second.

My last post was of the miraculous lap top cover I made (seriously proud of myself) and here are some pics of the lap top cover & the new owner and some other gifts made by my family (sorry I haven't documented them all - next year I will do this - sometimes Christmas grumpiness gets the better of my mind)


This is the amazing and wonderful apron made by my sister R by my sister soon to be C - it even came in its own little pouch - I have been making a lot of hints that an apron like this would make an excellent birthday present for me!


This is a coffee banger thing - no idea what it is called and it is a really bad picture of this useful gadget; although a good pic of J being very appreciative of the gift made by my Dad.

Lap top Christmas pressie

This little project was very exciting for me - thanks to E for the pattern making assistance and boost of confidence & also the inspiration of my family who do a hand made criss cringle!

This is a lap top cover I made for my mac mad brother in law.



The stitching reads geeking - but a bad quality image and the stitching a very close colour to the fabric!

Sunday afternoon cafe stitiching

I had a lovely Sunday afternoon with a good friend stitching in our local Wine Bank. Very nice - lots of gossping and lots of stitching. - a regular stitch in bitch

Here is a poker shot of my friend and also her work - isnt it lovely!

Christmas Badges

This year I had the brilliant idea of making Christmas badges as little gifts on cards.

They are embroidered pieces using my improvised version of Button hole filling and some text. A local designer, Lyndsay Meager, her shop and blog is here, runs a badge making business and she whipped them up for me.



Biscuit making today to give with the tags!


Here is what button hole filling is supposed to look like; I couldn't managed to get the loop under right; so just looped then tucked.

Transformer Snuggy Rug

Yesterday morning was spent in the studio with my darling son. It took a while to get him into the "mood" for making - really he wanted to make a racing car from plastic and glass - and being a hack stitcher I can't facilitate this. (do my best to be supermum!) Any how after making some spectacular covers for notepad Christmas presents we got into some sewing and he is right into snuggy rugs and decided that he would have a bash at making his own transformer snuggy.


With my help we stitched it onto a large piece of fleece and instant snuggy. He slept all night with it last night! (although in his bed and not on the floor - this pic is just a try out!)

Drawing : family connections

This image isn't so good as I shot it behind glass after it was framed.

It is a pencil drawing I did for my mother in law - she is going to hang it in her kitchen.

It is call Family Connections: from a small drawing series I did just after Kd was born

a little unsure

We went and visited a space that I am showing at next September in Melbourne called TROCADERO. I really liked the space I am working in (pictured above) and that was really exciting - but gee I hated the art that was in there and it is out Footscray - but I really liked being in Foostcray too... hmmm

Very undecided

Mostly undecided as I have a show coming up at Craft Victoria in November as well plus working plus being a mummy.... hmmmm

They Sold before the opening!

Got a phone call late this afternoon and both pieces I was fretting over last night have sold right before the opening how is that!

I am feeling full of confidence as I made them deliberately as a test to see if they would sell and they did as soon as they went up - I was concerned that my work wasnt connecting to people and sure enough it is - but would I really pack it all in if it was a flop?

Hell NO!

Here is a little snippet of a work that I am making as apart of a crafty blog exchange thing. It has been initiated by an amazing woman called Meg McElwee and from her blog



















Our instructions are:

To your partner, you will send:

1.) One handmade holiday decoration. Decorations made from any kind of medium are acceptable – from fabric to yarn, paper to paint.

2.) Your favorite holiday recipe.

3.) A "Tradition" Tutorial. This is description of one of your family's special holiday traditions. If needed, you should provide step by step instructions. (For example, if your family makes graham cracker candy houses each year, you would provide more concrete instructions.) You might also consider sending along a couple of photos of the tradition in action.

My partner is Stacey and she has a blog too.

This week the last week of spring and just before the first week of December I have finally started making my Christmas cards.

Here is a sneak preview



























got a bird theme happening - this year.

Palooza

I have two little works in a show opening on Saturday - it is a group Christmas show at Alluvial Gallery in Bendigo - for some reason the gallery director hasn't uploaded images of my work on the site (the dreadful doubt pit settles in my tummy with the thought she doesn't like my work or worse it ISN'T art) ; yet she has uploaded all the other artists exhibiting hmmmm


This work is called Leaf Sample 1: (from the experimentation interior stitch series)
Leaf Sample 1: (from the experimentation interior stitch series)

wedding invitations

My first of three brothers is getting married in February. He and his darling finance asked me to design and sew up their invites (so don't tell or show any one) her is one of my design drawings

Their brief was that they wanted something sewn and red and with a couple together and love heart leaves.

This is a picture of a piece I did for a show back in July at Alluvial

The pattern is from a some very old wall paper I discovered in a little old stone cottage called Tutes cottage in Castlemaine. I did a residency there way back in 2005 as apart of the Castlemaine state festival with a regional collaborative group that I sometimes work with called FOURCAST

So any how I have been repeating this pattern quite a lot and re-using for J&C wedding invitation - I hope to get it nearly all embroidered this weekend. Their wedding is on the 16th of Feb and they will be itching to send out their invites.

interfacing

Tuesday evening I prepared Kd's snuggy for my 4 hour sit on the train to Melbourne the next day. Really great opportunity to get some solid sewing done.

I chopped out the interface and ironed it onto the blanket stitched squares.
It made me remember how much I like patterns of squares and rectangles and lovely warm colours.

Kd snuggy

Here is Kds Christmas snuggy - a work in progress

What am I making?

this is snuggy ruggie that I made for my daughter - she is now 15 months; (started when I was pregnant) finally finished for her second Christmas - my four year old son wants one too - his is a transformer snuggy!