Things I have been working on lately

I suppose it's a little bit like cheating showing you my uni assignments and no actual unencumbered sewing projects ;) ;) But since Uni is taking up 100% of my time these days, I will show you anyhow.

Dad made Mum a cup of tea

She struggled to get to the table, she was so weak, but she wanted to sit at the table.

When she was done, Dad wouldn't wash the cup over the days she was in hospital.  He wanted to look at that cup and see her lipstick then he could pretend  she was still in the house, and not in hospital dying.

I made these using free motion stitching on the sewing machine and lots of coloured thread. I used two different colour thread each part, one for the top thread and another bottom thread, changing the tensions altered the colour of the thread stitches and gave variations for shadow, light and variation.

It was an assignment for uni. It was to tell a story using a cup. My cup narrative was called one last cup of tea. It was a personal story of Mum's last day in her house, drinking her last cup of tea in her own space before she went off to hospital. 

I Loved doing this work so much I didn't want to stop!

I wish I could work out how to not bunch up the fabric,(Please someone tell me!!) sometimes it got very bunchy, other times not so much!

Mola (Reverse Applique) representing Mums Garden.

Mola (Reverse Applique Work representing Mums Sewing,  Dresses, tops, skirts, shorts,  and the yellow swimmers.

Mum

Me, safe in Mums cuddles

A year ago I lost my Mum.
Things are not the same.
My world is more sad and more lonely.
I can't believe it's been a year, that seems almost cruel.

I miss you Mum. Always.

A time for everything? Really?

The next two study periods at uni are textiles subjects, so i am hoping so much that I might be able to sew again soon. Mostly though, I have written essays and made some prints in my printmaking subject.

Sadly, and to my own detriment I have done no sewing since February really - how depressing!

I have a further confession. Spotlight here, moved from it's old location into a new -big- mega warehouse space, and I have not even had the pleasure of walking into it yet - devastated!

I have done a bit of crochet here and there, nothing finished, some went very wrong and needs re-doing.

At the moment I am working on a little, retro-inspired yellow, cotton, summer, baby cardigan, with bee buttons. I'm hoping I can make the sleeves correctly, because the last time i made this pattern in a blue and white, thicker yarn, the sleeves came out quite a lot narrower than the shaped space for them, I have no idea what happened!
This time I am going to check it bit by bit and not just follow the pattern!

Theres still a lot to do, the sleeves, the neck band and front border for the buttons.
I hope you are all having way more sewing/crochet/knitting time than I am. So now I will go and catch up with all your lovely blogs before i go back to my art history essay!!

Not my blog!

Hi lovelies, I was made aware that a link on my blog roll of the blogs I read was coming up as having been hijacked by Malware losers.
I've removed Handmade Matters from my blogroll at least until they are not hijacked anymore.

VERY thankful it wasn't my blog that had been hijacked!

So, if you are hearing of people getting the same messages about Malware when visiting your blog, check your blogroll links, and check them in multiple browsers. I'm on a Mac and it only showed up in Chrome (because Chrome pre-checks every link on the page it is loading) and Camino another browser picked it up too apparently as well says my husband.

And to distract you from the Losers who have hijacked some poor persons site...Heres a little bit of pretty I made the other day for my Art course.

Well, you know, stuff happened!

I know I know I've been gone soooo very long.
I didn't mean to it just kind of happened!

I haven't been sewing:(
I haven't been knitting:(
I haven't worked very much:(
I did a little bit of crochet. - I still haven't stitched it together yet YIKES!
I enrolled in University...WOW what a workload! A Fine Arts and Visual Culture degree for the next 3 years! All my work for this SP is due next week...STRESS!
I've been filling my days with Art, and Artists, research, research and more research, drawing, painting and photographing, visual art diaries, plasticine clay-mation animations, charcoal, pencils, paint and paper....ahhhhh I feel like I haven't had a moment to breathe! BUT it is all delicious!

This is one of the favourites of the things I've made so far, it is a collage made from painting sheets of paper in tonal greys then cutting them up to create a picture.

Next SP I get to do Printmaking...I CAN'T wait for that one! But also looking forward to some free time soon, maybe to sew! I bought fabric at Ikea at Easter...I have such big plans! Please let me at the sewing machine soon!

A Prayer for Christchurch

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. (Psalm 46:1-3)

We offer our heartfelt condolences. We are saddened by your loss and weep for you in the devastation. We pray for your safety and for you to find the strength and support you need. Know that we are sending our thoughts and prayers and love to you all. And in the coming days our blogging community with it's overflowing heart will be sending whatever help that you need to recover both emotionally and financially.

My Crochet Heart...

...belongs to Garry

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Doodle Stitching on a Wallet

A little bit of stitchery from one of the new books I bought ( Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection by Aimee Ray)

A little bit of cutting and pinning and sewing and velcro...

A little bit of zippidy doo dah...

A little bit of polka dot action...

Equals a happy cousin on her Birthday.

My Creative Space

In My Creative Space today there is singing!
Spontaneous Way OUT OF TUNE type singing!
The kind that begins with...Brown paper packages tied up with string...
Well the delivery was not quite tied with string, more cardboard and adhesive glue but these are a few of my NEW favourite things!
MY HEART IS FULL and overflowing! Oh how I HEART these beautiful books!

The first book I went to buy on amazon was Scandinavian Stitches by Kajsa Wikman her blog is syko.

She does fabulous, amazing things that I adore. I wanted to buy it around christmas time, but well, I figured I had bought too much already *g*
I think the very first thing I would love to make is "at the summer house" you can see it right there on the front cover of the book. But, I have this enormous frame in my spare room that has just been waiting and waiting for a project. I had hopes of stitching a tree with different fabric leaves, but life got so very complicated last year! Now I am wondering if I can stitch a smaller tree, and the summer house and some of the birds from 13 birds art quilt and maybe some other houses and make it a neighbourhood scene...some flowers and make it fill the enormous  frame. This might be a year long project! I can already hear my husbands reaction in my head "don't you have enough to do already, what with work, and art studies, and crochet and other sewing stuff"...hehehe
So when I went to purchase Scandinavian Stitches amazon had this deal for 3 books so I bought the other 2 as well.
The next book was Scandinavian Needlecraft by Clare Youngs

This book has some beautiful projects in it. Like the Reindeer that I would like to make for Christmas this year and the blue dandelion felted bag and the folk bird garland and felted wool slippers, floral winter scarf, felt baby boots, crested bird chair pad and the lovely, lovely book is full of templates and stitch guides..ahh heaven!
The third book, Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection by Aimee Ray

I vaguely remember I had seen the books around the bloggy traps, but hadn't really taken too much notice. Boy oh boy I should have!!! This books is choc-full of delicious little motifs and sparks off a storm of ideas in your head for what you could stitch them on. It is fantastic! It has a great simple stitch library and instructions for applique and embroidering with beads. Some of the projects I love already are the All weather Draft dodger and the happy day flag banner(I want to make this now), the  fabric basket, hoop framed embroidery art, soft sculpture trio. Oh my! The Motifs section has some gorgeous letters, flowers, garden, trees and leaves, weather, woodland fairytales & animals, space, embellishments and farm animals to name but a few! It even comes with a CD & 17 projects to make! My mind is racing with all the possibilities and..more to the point my fingers are twitching at the thought of stitch-stitch stitching all those lovelies!

Thank you Husband, writers of bookalicious lovelies, Amazon, Aussie Dollar AND delivery man for making this spontaneous outburst concert performance possible.

A New Year Promise for Peace

I know, I know it's a month into the New Year already BUT yesterday was the start of the New School Year, and my husbands school and the school I teach in the most as a casual placed this on their website and I couldn't help but want to take it's message onto my shoulders and spread it around:

I Promise:
To respect myself and others.
To communicate honestly and positively.
To listen carefully to the other, especially to those with whom I disagree.
To forgive others and to apologise and make amends when I hurt another.
To respect God’s creation and treat the environment and all living things with respect and care.
To pursue healthy activities and entertainment which promote a more joyful and less violent society.
To act courageously and to challenge violence in all its forms whenever I encounter it.
And to stand with others who are treated unfairly, even if it means standing alone.

Crochet Placemats - 1 a night - a crochet binge

This week, the last week of holidays, I was taking a bit of time off the blog and the machine after the huge sewing stint to make things for the flood auctions and I went a little crazy every night with the crochet while working our way through season 1 and 2 of The X-Files til the wee hours of the morn. Now that work is starting again, late nights and lounge time are over and it's back to regular scheduled sleep for 6am alarms...eep.
So..this week I Started and finished about 14 squares from The Art of Crochet magazines I've been buying each week. I find the squares mostly boring and repetitive, but sometimes they throw in a cool one here or there just to peak your interest again. I buy it more for the other projects in the book each week, the squares are good practice but I don't think I will ever want to make the squares into the blanket.
One of their projects was a table mat. So I made 4 of them. It was supposed to have a picot edge, but I didn't like it as much as without it, so I took the picot edging off and just left the underlying plain edge.
So here are the finished 4 placemats. They just add a little bit of colour to the table I think.

Green centre, green edging.

Lavender Centre, and edging.

Chocolate Brown centre and edging.

Orange centre and edging.

I just have to dampen them and block them out properly and then they are done.
Last night I started in on some crochet slippers for my sisters 1yr old twins. They have grown SO much lately! I didn't have  a pattern to fit a 1 yr old so I read through a couple of other patterns and adapted them as I crocheted I wrote it out if it worked, or unravelled it and started again if it didn't! I have one finished, if the second one makes it to completion and looks the same, I will post the results;)

SOFTIES Auction and a doll for Hope Softies for kids - QLD Flood

I've been making a doll to send to the lovely Steph at mon petit poppet who organised a softie drive to help ease the suffering of the little ones who's lives have been turned upside down by the QLD floods. With so many families having had their houses and all their stuff destroyed and living in shelters or other temporary accommodations, kids are really going to be doing it tough. I can't imagine dealing with any of this at their age, most of us adults can't believe the devastation we watched on tv.



This is the doll I made.

I have not named her,

She can whisper her real name to her new friend when they meet together in QLD.

She's very good at listening, cuddling and whispering. She likes twirling.
She's all wrapped up ready to be on her way to the lovely Steph at mon petit poppet.

Quick Reminder today is the FINAL DAY for the auctions to raise money for the QLD flood appeal.

These are the 5 Softies of mine being auctioned off, Have a look and bid please! All the money goes directly to the QLD flood appeal and they really do need every cent to help lots of people cope with and clean up from a disaster of this magnitude.

Seth the Robot Softie.

Falafel the Cat Softie.

Dave the Giraffe Softie. 

Arcan the Owl Softie.

Bunky the Bird Softie.

My Creative Space

My Creative Space is all about Raising money for the QLD flood by making softies.

These 5 Softies are being auctioning off, Have a look and bid please! All the money goes directly to the QLD flood appeal!!

Seth the Robot Softie.

Falafel the Cat Softie.

Dave the Giraffe Softie. 

Arcan the Owl Softie.

Bunky the Bird Softie.

The 5th Softie auction to raise money for QLD flood Appeal!

Here is a list of the 5 Softies I am auctioning off, Have a look and bid please! All the money goes to the QLD flood appeal!!

Seth the Robot Softie.

Falafel the Cat Softie.

Dave the Giraffe Softie. 

Arcan the Owl Softie.

Bunky the Bird Softie.

AND Here is Bunky the last of the 5 softies I've made to raise money for the QLD flood Appeal.

Be generous and bid on this auction as all the money goes directly to The Premiers Flood Relief Appeal

His name is Bunky. Bunky is not an angry bird, he's quite happy and his best friends with the pigs. The other night, in my head Bunky the Bird looked like this, so I drew him up in illustrator:

And today, I made him up in Fabric. I had a great time working on him.

He's made from all new fabrics, mostly poly-cottons, with felt details, such as his eyes, beak and blanket stitched heart on his tummy.

He is about 35 cm with his legs extended.

To bid and win Bunky, here are the rules for the auction. Just leave a comment on this post with your bid amount and some way of contacting you, email address, blog address etc. This Auction is in Australian Dollars. The winning bidder will be the highest bid when the auction finishes on Monday the 24th Jan at Midnight AEDST.

We'll pay the postage if you are within Australia. You pay the winning bid amount as a donation directly  to The premiers Flood Relief Appeal and show me proof of your donation and I'll send Bunky out to you. As it counts as a normal donation, it's also tax deductible!! And you'll get to play with Bunky and feel good for donating.

The more you bid, the more money raised for the QLD Flood Appeal to help the victims of the QLD floods who have experienced unprecedented devastation and loss and they really need it!

I'm just one of a whole heap of bloggers/tweeters/facebookers who are auctioning off stuff to raise money for the appeal, thanks to Toni at Make It Perfect  for bringing everyone together to do this.

4th Softie Auction to raise money for Flood Appeal - Arcan the Owl

Here is the 4th of the 5 softies I'm making to raise money for the QLD flood Appeal.

Don't forget I'm also auctioning off:

Seth the Robot Softie.

Falafel the Cat Softie.

Dave the Giraffe Softie. 

Arcan the Owl Softie.
Bunky the Bird Softie.

Be generous and bid on this auction as all the money goes directly to The Premiers Flood Relief Appeal

His name is Arcan. Arcan is a very clever little owl. The other night, in my head Arcan the Owl looked like this, so I drew him up in illustrator:

And today, I made him up in Fabric. He came out so cute! I'm really a little bit in love with this one. I'd definitely like to make some more of him one day. 

He's made from all new fabrics, mostly poly-cottons, with felt details, such as his eyes, beak and blanket stitched heart on his tummy.

The inside of his wing is rainbow coloured to match the feathers on the outside.

He is a petite 25 cm with his feet extended.

To bid and win Arcan the Owl, here are the rules for the auction. Just leave a comment on this post with your bid amount and some way of contacting you, email address, blog address etc. This Auction is in Australian Dollars. The winning bidder will be the highest bid when the auction finishes on Monday the 24th Jan at Midnight AEDST.

We'll pay the postage if you are within Australia. You pay the winning bid amount as a donation directly  to The premiers Flood Relief Appeal and show me proof of your donation and I'll send Arcan out to you. As it counts as a normal donation, it's also tax deductible!! And you'll get to play with Arcan and feel good for donating.

The more you bid, the more money raised for the QLD Flood Appeal to help the victims of the QLD floods who have experienced unprecedented devastation and loss and they really need it!

I'm just one of a whole heap of bloggers/tweeters/facebookers who are auctioning off stuff to raise money for the appeal, thanks to Toni at Make It Perfect  for bringing everyone together to do this.