My 'French' English Paper Piecing

During November and December 2010, I was spending most of my time in Poitiers, France. I couldn't bring my sewing machine with me on the trip, so took some English Paper Piecing templates that I bought from 'Patchwork With Busyfingers' after watching the DVD 'Learn English Paper Piecing with Sue Daley' that came with Quilters Companion #44. I had never made anything using the technique before, so it was a good learning process to eventually work out how it's done. Being a practical kind of person, I have decided to make a Christmas table cloth for my dear friend Marijke who lives in Maastricht, The Netherlands. I bought all the materials from the craft shop in Poitiers. All the French ladies at the shop were nice and helpful. We couldn't verbally communicate much because of the language barrier but we had a lot of fun and understood each other well. I got what I was looking for without any problem. I finished the handwork and posted it to my friend before leaving Poitiers. Voilà, Marijke is now the proud owner of my very first 'French' English  Paper Piecing table cloth. I didn't think I would enjoy hand sewing this much but I have to admit that I really like working with the fabrics using English Paper Piecing technique.

Dora and Diego

Somehow, I have been invited to a 2^nd birthday party on the same day as a 40^th birthday party next Saturday 6^th November. I have no problem with finding a present for the 40^th birthday party. But coming up with a present for the 2^nd birthday party, I need to be a little creative. ‘Dora and Diego’ is the theme. First of all, I needed to educate myself who Dora and Diego were. I’m not a girlie kind, so I resorted to EBay to find something suitable as a present. Making a rug from Dora and Diego pillow cases came to mind, and so the project got started. As I'm a bit more experienced, getting a project started and finished has become easier for me, with less time spending on thinking things through over and over again. With some colourful scraps, I have made this rug for the birthday girl, Isla, my friend’s daughter. Being a practical kind of person, I have made the rug to be used and dragged around the house, and not to be kept. I hope Isla will enjoy using her rug, made with my loving hands. :-)

Through 'Cathedral Window'

I took a quilting class with Meg Orr at Craft Depot last Saturday 30^th October to learn how to make ‘Cathedral window’. I’m very pleased that I went after the complication of double-booking my day with something else. Meg is specialised in ‘Cathedral window’ and has been accredited by the Quilters’ Guild of NSW. While driving home at the end of the day, my creative brain was very busy thinking about all kinds of windows and colours that I could create using this particular technique. After ‘playing’ with corners of a few sheets of A4 recycled paper for a while, I have decided to incorporate the technique into making a Japanese wall hanging as a present for Lidia, my Spanish colleague, who is leaving to go back to Spain next month. Lidia loves all things about Japan. I picked and chose the fabrics for the piece from the scraps that I bought when the sale was on at Aussie Patches. I found the process (of making it) was relaxing with some hand sewing – Naturally, as a physiotherapist, I always enjoy fine hand movements and motor control. I’m quite happy with the result and I hope Lidia would like her present too. I’m giving it to her at our farewell lunch at work tomorrow, 3^rd November, when I will also farewell my creative craft work. [ PS. Lidia was so delighted to receive the present, and I was very pleased to see her delightful face and smile at the lunch. :-) ]

Marijke and Em (mE)

I love old things and enjoy being around people who are ‘experienced’ in life. I hope Marijke doesn’t mind that I tell everyone she is turning 60 in a couple of months. To celebrate my ‘special’ friendship with Marijke, I have made this appliqué and mounted the piece on an old canvas. I was on the plane back from the Australian Machine Quilting Festival (AMQF) in Adelaide a few weeks ago and was flicking through old magazines that came with the bag given to me at the festival (and yes, I will soon become on of the Statler sisters). I found this particular pattern in the Australian HomeSpun No. 82 (Vol11.3) that instantly reminded me of my friendship with Marijke and thought to myself that I must make it. I got the project going straight after I came back. I even forgot about my piano lesson on the day while working on the appliqué (my piano teacher wasn’t impressed). I have made the appliqué ‘mine’ by changing the colours and adding a few things to the pattern including the hearts and my tatted trims on the skirts. I used the Dutch Houses fabric for the background to reflect my love for ‘Dutch’ and the fact that Marijke is a Dutch lady. Linda Robertus designed the fabric and I bought it from Spoonflower. The canvas is now sitting on the window sill in my sewing room, in front of my Bernina where I can see it all the time. And, I smile at the appliqué every time I see it.

My 'Monster' Bag

I have bought my beloved Bernina Aurora 440 QE in December 2009. I thought to myself that the best way to learn to know my new ‘friend’ was to join the Bernina club at the local sewing centre close to home. A year-long project for 2010 is to make up panels and put them together as a craft bag. Kits were made up for each lesson and everyone in the class learnt to use different techniques and sewing feet to sew up panels with their own 'finishing touch'. It has been almost a year since then. I missed three lessons due to my work commitments but did have the kits to work on in the early hours of the day when it’s quiet and cold.!! This weekend, I have finally caught up with the project and put together all the panels to make up a bag. The bag turns out to be quite large, so I call it ‘Monster’ bag. The colours and designs aren’t my style. But as part of the learning process, I’m prepared to accept what comes. I took it to the Tatters’ Guild get together yesterday and the ladies loved it. They all thought that the bag was great and ‘arty’. I will have to make a point of using it now and then when I feel like being a bit ‘different’ from my usual creative self, especially when I go to sewing lessons.!!

 

My first quilt-as-you-go

At the end of August, I took a quilting lesson ' Quilt-As-You-Go' (QAYG) with Meg Orr at Craft Depot in Pennant Hills, Sydney. I was half asleep for most of the time during the class because the warm air was blowing directly on my face the whole time I was sitting there, trying to sew. The fact that I was very tired from the trip to Brisbane to learn more about DISMOD III and had just arrived back in Sydney late the night before didn't help either. Nevertheless, I did manage to grasp the idea of how QAYG was done. I chose the Arcadia Jelly Roll by Sanae for Moda for the quilt I was making. I like the combination of colours. Meg was a very good teacher and a kind person. In a nice way, she didn't expect any of her students to finish their quilts so soon, and so I quietly took that up as a challenge. At that stage, I knew I would see her again in mid-September for another quilting class. Wanting to show and impress that there was a student who could finish her quilt in a few weeks, I stayed up late a few nights to work on the quilt. I know it's a silly thing to do after working long hours during the day, but I was determined. I finished the binding about midnight on the day before my next quilting class with Meg. I was very pleased with myself and the quilt, and so was Meg with her student. She complemented me on the finish and quality of my sewing, the reward from being a very good 'un-picker', I gathered. !! I'm a slow learner...I'm making another QAYG.!!

Em's 'evening handbag'

At the Hornsby Bernina club last month, we were learning to make an evening handbag. I never thought that I would be making anything like this with my sewing because I'm such a homebody and going out at night is just not me. Anyhow, I always like to finish a project that I have started and I did finish making the bag. It didn't take too long for me to get it done, with my own favourite touch of simple and 'plain Jane' style. As it turned out, on top of enjoying the process of making it, I quite like the bag. I, now and then, make a point of carrying it around the house in my pyjamas/nightie before going to bed because it's an 'evening handbag'. :-)