2011 reflections

So, I was a bit disappointed the other day when I tallied up what I had produced in 2011 - it wasn't as much as in 2010. But then it's not a competition and I certainly worked on a whole lot more than I actually got finished.

And there were some real highlights:













Creating beautiful things from recycled materials which absolutely express my design and craft aesthetic.

Completing something which, at a few points, I truly feared that I would not be able to.

And doing some knitting that I never thought I would tolerate (namely stranded colourwork), as well as working with my own sense of colour, trusting that and being really pleased with the results. That was a big leap of faith in myself and such a reward.

And finally doing some screen printing again.

So, a very good year.

brought to you by the letter b

Little miss bear is allowed to watch a movie each weekend. She loves Madeline but last week was asking for the a-b-c movie. We had no idea what this was so Tim downloaded an episode of Sesame Street and that was a hit.

So today's post is brought to you by the letter b. This is part of my embroidery work on the wagga which is actually to be baby brother's baby blanket. For embroidery thread I am using cotton unravelled from a sweater (or cardigan?) that I bought at the op shop in Seymour (a town in country Victoria).

It is not mercerised so drawing it through the fabric can be a bit of a tug at times. I am using back stitch in an attempt to achieve as solid a line as possible.

For the other waggas I am contemplating testing out the 'perle-8-in-the-bobbin' technique as used on the White Romance project in Make Your Own Contemporary Quilts. Has anyone out there ever tried this?

wagga wagga wagga*

I was having a poke around in my stash yesterday evening when I found a few dozen pre-cut squares and rectangles that I prepared about three years ago in Australia, transported across the Pacific and promptly forgot about. Now that I have a sewing space permanently set up, the temptation was just too great - I started piecing and pinning and sewing. Twenty-four hours later, I have three more waggas to work on (eventually).

Hmm, no idea what I'm talking about? Sorry - last August I finally finished piecing together my version of a wagga, a traditional Australian quilt/rug that was often improvised from suiting samples, hessian and flour sacks. I improvised mine from squares cut from fulled cream-coloured woollen sweaters. Back at the time I was planning to add some other Australian(a) touches to it. I have started on some embroidery, more on that later.

But even longer ago, about three years, when I first had the idea to make a wagga-type blanket, I toyed around with a number of fabric ideas, all recycled clothing from the op shop. What I found yesterday evening and sewed up were a heap of squares from a llama coat and from a couple of woollen blazers. One day I will think of a way to decorate and back them but for now it is infinitely more satisfying to have them sewn up than in piles.

* Wagga Wagga is a town in New South Wales, Australia.

perle 8

I got some thrift shopping in today - hooray! And at a thrift store that I had not known existed what more (and I pride myself on knowing these things). The Northwest Thrift Store (14130 Juanita Dr. N.E., Ste. 108B Bothell, WA 98011 (425) 820-2662. 10:00am-7:00pm. Mon-Fri 10:00am-6:00pm. Sat 12:00am-5:00pm) is what I know op shops to be like in Australia - it's small, friendly and interestingly does not have that thrift store smell so familiar to the big chain places.

For a smaller place I did suprisingly well - a set of red Tommy Hilfiger queen size cotton interlock sheets which I will use as backing for the wagga (yes, I'm still working on that); a grab bag with some Filatura Lanarota 100 per cent cashmere yarn, enough to knit a baby hat; some cute boys trousers and Timberland shirt; two childrens books; and another grab bag with a few skeins of DMC embroidery floss and a few balls of coton perlé 8.

Coton perlé 8 - whoo-hoo!! I always look for this at the thrift store and while fine crochet thread like Cebelia is easy to come by, this was my first success finding it. Some time ago I was consulting with a quilting friend (that's you Justine) about the estate sale quilt and how I could go about working on it. She recommended coton perlé 8 for the quilting and when I had the epiphany that it comes in 200-odd colours, well, that was it for me: I started collecting. Because why be required to go to the shop to find a matching colour if you could just consult your stash instead? I have about 40 so far, mostly purchased from ebay. Now I'll have to start working on that quilt.

running out of doily-associated word play

I have sewn them all up! Yes, Monday evening and Tuesday afternoon were filled with the whir of my sewing machine and all thirty-five squares of nine patches each are complete!

Looking back on my blog posts I estimate that I started cutting the blocks out for this quilt late in July, so in the absence of a sewing version of Ravelry (when is somebody going to start that? even just an on-line database for projects, stash and pattern queue - pleeeease) I calculate that to be just over three weeks of tracing, cutting, *pinning, sewing, ironing, repeat from *.

And I am at peace. Really. The imperative I had to get working on this quilt has been quelled and I feel like I can let it sit for a while or just work on it at my leisure. Such a relief. Needless to say, percolator style, other projects will soon enough rise to the top to demand my attention.

In some other random news, my copy of Quilting from the Traditional Needle Arts series has arrived - hooray. And some fabric also arrived in the mail - I took a gamble and bought a couple of metres of red cotton jersey on ebay. A gamble because red is a colour very close to my heart and it has to be a good shade of red. And this one is - it will be the backing for the wagga. And a package destined for me that has been held up at a sort facility in Denver, Colorado for three days has finally entered Washington - hooray! I hope that it gets delivered tomorrow.

Oh and by the way, did you know that I knit? Yes, really. I'll prove it tomorrow.

the finger

Ah, hand stitching. What a pain in the middle finger.

Turns out that stitching through two layers of fulled wool requires a bit of effort and an extra push with the tip of the middle finger, which ends up feeling a bit tender. But, it has been worth it. I'm almost finished and the blanket as a whole is going to lay flatter. And I will be satisfied which is also a good thing.

I would like to continue the recycled theme (all of the wool patches are from jumpers that I bought at the op shop in Australia ... and transported over here, over a year ago, yes) with the backing but am concerned that the whole might end up too patchy-patchy; that is, a pieced backing in different shades and textures of red would vie with the blanket itself.

Ok, just a few more seams before I can retire my middle finger.

wagga seams

Ah, hand stitching. So soothing.

The seams on the wagga are quite narrow and some of the fabrics quite stiff, so getting the seams to lay flat is a bit difficult. There will be a backing but I don't want the seams to be bulky through the backing. Anyway, I'm slip stitching along the seams to keep them nicely in place. Yes, it's a bit onerous and Tim thinks that I am nuts but I actually find the rhythm of the stitching very calming.

I'm wondering whether to take the wagga to the dry cleaners to have it pressed. The fabrics are already fulled and flattened out so I don't think that having it pressed would affect the texture of the fabrics. I want it as flat as possible in order to do some embroidery on it and think that would make it easier. Any thoughts?

percolator

I keep lists. I love lists. I love ticking things off on my lists. in fact, I have so many lists that I could well keep a list of all of my lists. As Di wrote recently, "... it's interesting to see which projects percolate to the top of the list and come into being." I am fully convinced that creative endeavours do not follow the usual to-the-top-of-the-list logic; my creative mind is not so much an incubator as a percolator. They buzz and simmer and percolate until they reach their own critical mass and suddenly, they need to be done, have to be done, must be done.

So, despite all my lists, that is what it was like today. I had to sew up a woollen blanket that I have had in mind for years. You'll understand the strength of the imperative on this one if you note that it was about 34 degrees centigrade (94 degrees Fahrenheit) in Seattle today, and humid to boot. Just sweltering. And I was sewing up a woollen blanket.

I have had this blanket, or at least a version of it, in mind since baby bear was about eight months old, so let's just say for a couple of years. I have been slowly but surely collecting and preparing the materials for it ever since. And here is the result, a patchwork blanket of fulled woollen squares:

It's not completely sewn up yet, that will have to wait until the temperature drops a bit.

I have previously mentioned the exhibition "And so to bed" that I once saw at Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney. That was a really significant day for me; I attribute it with rekindling my interest in needlecrafts. An item on display that day was a wagga, is a traditional Australian quilt/rug, often made from suiting samples, hessian and flour sacks. That was the inspiration behind making a blanket like this and I have some other Australian(a) touches that I intend to add at a later date.