All in good time

I (obviously) haven't been finding much time for blogging lately. Blog reading, or writing. Life has been full to the brim, with other things drawing me away from the computer. Which has been mostly good.
Not so good when it's dealing with the next round of gastro, or bringing work home to soak up my evenings with, or cutting out the back of the pants I'm making for the second time because I was a bit too enthusiastic with the first round of pattern adjustments.

But it's good when it's playing around with fabric paints again, testing and trialling and finally just getting on with it- sponging a light grey paint to fill up textured bubble shapes on a white cotton, using some Contact (adhesive plastic book covering film) as a removable restickable mask (thanks for the tip Mel!).

And good when it's quietly sorting through my bulging folders of traced and drafted patterns, tidying them away into neat white envelopes, and then into a box on our new craft room shelves. There is still a lot of sorting to go in there, but with two floor to ceiling walls of Stolmen shelving and a heap of plastic see-through boxes it's much more organised and seems a lot bigger. (Simultaneously fortunately, and unfortunately, big enough to accommodate a vomity baby in her porta cot so we can try to keep her away from her sibling...)

Toot!

Moving on from disappointments** to some quick, fun crafting.

Inspired by Made by Joel.

Drawn by C*

Sewn by me (with C assisting on the stuffing stage).

And played by resident jazz virtuoso in training.


*Drawn straight onto the fabric, and capable of being a trumpet, cornet, clarinet or saxophone as desired. Our simpler shape was easier to stuff than the design in Joel's book, and I sewed a black oval to the end to make it a bit more three dimensional.

**Pleased to report we seem nasty bug free at the moment. Touchwood...

Remote Craft Camp.

This weekend I went to Remote Craft Camp.
That's the Craft Camp when you've been waiting for for months and months, your first overnight escape from parenting duties in over a year; your first chance to catch up (in person!) with some of your crafty friends in over a year.
That's the Craft Camp when you carefully plan and pack all your making stuff a couple of days in advance, only to find yourself half unpacking them the night before, because you're going to have to miss the first day and night to look after a sick child, so you may as well get on with some making in the meantime.
That's the Craft Camp when you've placed your bags next to the door, awaiting the moment when you hand over child minding to your partner, to set off eagerly and make the most of what remains of the weekend, as if reducing the carrying distance will somehow, miraculously, enable it to get out the door.
That's the Craft Camp when you find yourself resentfully unpacking everything before it gets out the door, because another family member has fallen prey to the stomach bug lurgy, and you realise that you just have to accept that what you want to happen is not going to happen.
That's the Craft Camp when you spend your evenings sewing on your own, stereo turned up, chocolate in one hand and and an appropriately creative cold beverage in the other, wishing that it was all accompanied by the conversation and laughter of friends in the room with you.
Oh, what a wonderful world it would be if wishing & hoping that it were not so could make it not so.
Best try and just make the most of where you are, and what you can do, than lament where you want to be, what you want to be doing. You may not completely succeed, but it is at least worth trying.

At least A seems to like her new cloth shoes, and I managed to cut out some pants for myself (hoping they will fit...), and there is talk of a Special Weekend to make up for the disappointment of this one...

A hat

One of the things I have sewn recently.
A new hat for C.
He needed a new one and the fabric printed by Wil was begging to be made into something straight away.
I used the Nicole Mallalieu pattern that I always use, and lined it with some painterly Ikea fabric left over from the hanging pockets.
Very pleased with it. Especially as C loves it too.
Thanks Wil (and Suzie) for the fabric!

A Lot

It's not that I haven't been doing anything blog worthy.
Just that I've been doing a lot of stuff.
A lot of stuff that I've been gladly, happily making time for instead of blog writing and photographing or reading or lingering on the internet in general.
A lot of summer relaxing, a lot of craft room reorganising, a lot of sewing. 
Last month there was a lot of jam making too.
30 jars of it.
Every jam jar in the house, filled with the fruits we harvested on our summer excursion to the countryside.
There has been a lot of adjusting to new routines too, as C starts kinder, A starts childcare, and I start back at work.
Which is all good, but does mean I probably won't be spending a lot of time here for a little while.
But I will try to stop by every now and then..

Spots of red

C and I did some fabric printing last week- inspired by last year's fabric printing swaps, but this time a little swap between crafters' kids. I have to admit the process had it's moments (protective clothing and sheets of paper not withstanding), but it was a great experience. It was wonderful to see C experiment, discover, learn and ultimately we got into a groove- me inking between each stamp, him placing carefully with regard to his previous marks, and then declaring it finished.


We have received some wonderful fabrics from Wil and Ali in return. One has already been sewn into something and the other will be very soon. Thanks Kirsten for organising this one!

My new love

Late last year, as I was putting the finishing touches to some (yet to be blogged about) gifts, my trusty old sewing machine went pop and hissed and fizzled and let out a puff of smoke and an acrid electrical burning smell. After 19 years of use and abuse it was letting me know it had had enough. So last week, after about year of thinking about it, and saving for it, I finally bought myself a new sewing machine. A Bernina 550QE sewing computer* to be precise.

With one project under my belt (our belts?) so far, I am completely and utterly in love with it. Far more than I expected.

It started with the fact that it fills the bobbin almost entirely by itself (and I have a few to be filled), and ended with the fact that this first project was so easy to sew with it.


It was a project that had been on the To-Do list for a long time- a hanging pocket organiser for holding shoes and sun hats inside our all-purpose storage cupboard. I probably could have managed to make it with my old machine, but I know it would have been a struggle.

There would have been broken needles and cursing and swearing and hand cranking as I wrangled multiple layers of fabric through the machine. It wouldn't have had the triple stitched top stitching that I chose to use (for extra strength and durability), and the top stitching wouldn't have been as neat because I wouldn't have had the clever presser foot that makes neat top stitching so easy.

All the necessary stopping and starting would have driven me batty, with all the needle up/down adjusting and presser foot lifting that becomes so much easier (unnecessary even) when you have touch button and knee lever controls. And having a big work surface to support a big project was brilliant too.

Really, I was amazed. I expected it to be a more robust and helpful machine but experiencing it really blew me away**. I am smitten and looking forward to spending many more evenings together with it.

*According to the manual it is a sewing computer, not a sewing machine. Although it does lack a Qwerty keyboard and touchscreen.
**Actually being able to set foot inside our all-purpose storage cupboard, now that all the shoes that used to take up the floor space in there are hanging up on the inside of the door, is pretty amazing too.