Working Hard for the Money ...

So, since last post I was working hard to get through the final week at work before the Christmas break closure and getting myself organised for Christmas celebrations, so I didn't get a lot of sewing time in on the Rose Quilt. But since Boxing Day I have been working hard to get blocks completed towards Aunt M's quilt.

(You can see to the left the baggies of fabric pieces that I'm using to keep organised as there are 45 blocks that go into making the whole Rose block.)

As of ... well, now today, I've got the last four pale rose blocks underway. I timed myself tonight and it takes about three hours to piece together all the pink fabric blocks. As I'm using a dark blue background fabric I'm using two colours of thread to complete the blocks. Blue for all the pieces that are blue and green fabric, and pink thread for all the pieces that are pink fabric or pink with blue or green. So I've been swapping back and forth the bobbin and top thread until with the last batch of blocks I decided to save myself a little aggravation and make up all the pieces that use the pink thread first.

So now my sewing desk looks like this:















And the floor beneath the sewing desk looks like this from all the little triangle offcuts. I'm debating whether to keep them all and see if I can sew them all together in some way. But I'm not a big fan of miniature quilting.















But last night I entertained myself with laying out the pale rose blocks that I have completed so far to see how the quilt is beginning to look like. And I am very pleased so far.


It's a good feeling when you can get to this stage and see that the vision you had in your head before you even bought fabric is coming together as expected. I'm glad that the blocks are looking good and the colours and textures are working as I wanted them.

Even though there aren't a lot of reproduction or vintage 1930s prints as I'd first envisaged, the patterns and colours are resembling the Arts & Crafts style rose as I had hoped they would.

Big Smile.

Current Major Project : Pink Roses for Aunt M

The main reason this blog is important is to help me chart my progress with my current WIP, which is a 60th birthday present for my Mum's older sister M. I might add that at this point in time Aunt M's birthday has come been and gone for a few weeks, but as she lives in another state and at the current time is overseas enjoying a snowy Northern Hemisphere Christmas, I can get away with some latitude in the promptness of her gift.

So, several, several months ago my Mum approached me with the idea of a quilt for M. I agreed for two reasons; one being that M has in the past remarked on my ability to match colours and patterns so I know that I can hit the right high points for her aesthetically speaking. We speaka da same language! The second reason was that I felt I needed a challenge, something to push me past my current projects. I was picking easy projects that didn't require a lot of thought and I know I needed to improve my quilting skills. How else to do that than plunge in the deep end!

So I had a plan. Aunt M's middle name is Rose and she loves the dusty rose pink colour in many things. (Just like the pinks of Phrynne's tunic as she's riding the horse in the above bookcover)

Find a Rose pattern and then make it up in lots of different rose-pink fabrics, preferably 30's reproduction prints for that nice vintage pastel feel and Bob's your uncle, Sam's your aunt - I was in business! (I think I'd read too many Phrynne Fisher books, and I was being subconsciously influenced by all the flapper fashion and 20's culture. I needed the outlet!)

One night I did a search online for Rose quilt patterns. And found this!

Oh My Goodness! It was perfect! I could easily substitute pinks for the yellow and find a similar blue and it would be perfect for Aunt M.

And to add to it's wonderfulness it was totally machine pieced and rotary cut, which to someone who abhors applique (i know, it's such a shame, i do!) it was a god-send.

Thank the wonderful Pam Bono and her wonderful rotary pieced designs.

I could see each rose as a magical blend of 4 different 30's period fabrics swirling happily on a dusty blue batik background, dropping the white lattice work for a simple pink on blue theme.

Can you see how I not only take a leap off the block into the deep end, I take a running jump at it. With springs attached to my feet!

Late May I found the pattern: early June I hit the fabrics stores hunting colours. I bought about 30 different pink fabrics that were of light, medium, bold and dark values that I thought would work together in various different combinations. I also found a terrific blue that was a Civil War reproduction print from Windham Fabrics that was an almost exact match for the blue of Aunt M's lounge room.

I gathered my pretties and washed and pressed them and admired them, but couldn't cut them, for you see, I'd started to read the pattern ...

Oy Vey!!

But that's a story for another time ...

ElleKay

First Day. First Post. Introduction.

Well hello,

The intention of this blog is to give me a place to record the craft and textile projects that I begin and sometimes complete successfully, to be used as an archive and reference for myself and other interested sewers and crafty people.

I have been addicted to fabric since I don't know when. My Mum was a quintessential Australian 70s domestic goddess and a small family gave her plenty of scope to exercise her considerable artistic and craft abilities. Cane weaving, cloth doll making, smocking, dressmaking, window treatments, macrame (it couldn't be the 70s without macrame) along with the whipping up astounding culinary feasts for all occasions.

So I've always been surrounded by hand-made objects, worn hand-made clothes, and thought it was the norm to spend hours in Drapers and Homewares stores and to collect trimmings and fabric and notions with the intention to use in future projects around the house and body. And by the time I was earning my own money I had my own collection on the go, and being a thrifty body I sourced alternative and creative ways to build it quickly. Thrift stores and flea markets were regular haunts for me and I developed a consuming desire to help friends and relatives unearth possible treasure in their junk rooms and under beds with the zeal and industry of a shipwreck salvor bent on Spanish gold.

I now have a dedicated sewing room in my post-war Queenslander, filled with lots of wheelie boxes of fabric sorted by colour hues a dressmaker's dummy whose name is Ruth, boxes of buttons/ribbons/broken old jewellery, Patterns and books of quilting designs and sewing ideas. Glue, glitter, beads: You name it, I have it somewhere in a box or jar hidden away. I've kept anything that I can use to create something unique, colourful and purposeful.

And I know there are other people out there who do this too. I've seen blogs showing pics of craft rooms that have made me swoon in envy! This will be my contribution to sewing posterity. Small and inconsiderable though it may be.

This blog will be infrequently updated. I admit that now. But I hope that it will over time, teach me some discipline by keeping it maintained for myself, if for no other.

So, that done; it's back to bed for a lounge with coffee and an unread Julia Ross book for me.

See you anon,
ElleKay