Happy Stash

Hands on

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:55:00 +0000

I recently celebrated my 40th birthday with a bit of a party.............

I don't know what made me do this but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

I bought a bolt of white quilting fabric and a heap of fabric markers. I asked people to trace around their hands and then write a message. I'm going to use it to back a quilt.

Had some lovely things written, but perhaps didn't think through the consequences of alcohol, texta's and the opportunity to write a permanent birthday message to me.

To quote one friend "I should have done the "hand thing" before I had 5 glasses of Sauv Blanc".

I left the bolt of fabric at the venue and they rolled it up and put it away for me.

Suffice to say that the next day as I unrolled the fabric the messages got funnier, cheekier and a lot less formal and there's the odd anonymous one ( don't think I don't know who you are 'big hand'). I also have a sneaking suspicion that there may have been the odd individual who kept going back to leave more handprints throughout the night as 'inspiration' hit.

However I loved the idea. Probably more appropriate for a 10 year old than a 40 year old. But hey.

I plan to quilt around the hands with some brightish thread, maybe the top will just be white also with coloured appliqued hands.

Suggestions would be more than welcome......

Incognito

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:18:00 +0000

I'm back........... In a fashion............

I've not been in hiding or anywhere exotic. Not for want of trying mind you. Chance would be fine thing indeed.

I was going to have a competition where I made up some wildly fabulous reasons for not being here and the person who guessed the right reason would win a prize. Well, I was until some impertinent imp (no names but her initials are Jenny Frazzydazzles) suggested that in order to have a competition I would "need to finish something to give away". That's just plain trude**

In short it's been a busy few months we had the death of a close family friend (rip mr b), I had a submission from work that saw me chained to my desk from the start of oct to mid november and then I had to prepare for a significant birthday. In all this time needle has not pierced fabric. Main thing is I'm back... Well kind of .

I have two (count them) two projects lurking close to the surface so stay tuned....... (or come back)

* trude - i've just coined this expression this morning. It means that even though it's rude, it's still true.

RIP Mr B

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 04:38:00 +0000

This is stitching unrelated.

Mr B was a really close family friend. He and his wife and family have been around our family for as long as I can remember. I spent school holidays with his kids, his son was my best "holiday" friend/partner in crime for most of my teenage years. Mr B inspired me to apply myself at school, not an easy task, talked to me about books and literature and spent a fair whack of his time telling us to 'pull your heads in'. It occured to me this morning that when I first met him, he was younger than I am now.

He'll be missed by our family

Motivate, Motivate, Motivate....

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:02:00 +0000

Apologies for my slovenly blogging habits. Been busy, been away for work, been slack, been cursing the fact that the hard drive on my pc died. It just started not working (that's like 'stopped working' but a bit different, in fact quite different!)
All my photo's, lots of my writing (including some of my freelance jobs that were either complete or in progress) and general guff was kept on the pc.

And NO I didn't have some of it backed up. And YES I should have had it backed up. Had some of it backed up but not all.

The other half who, as luck would have it, is an IT guru, seems to think it may be able to be fixed. I'm not convinced but I sure loves his optimism.

What is interesting is this. I've asked several times if he can 'have a look' at my computer. His response to this is usually an enthusiastic "Yes! I will do that, can you remind me later".

Then when later comes, and I ask "can you have a 'look' at my hard drive?" His response is the same "Yes! I will!!! - Can you remind me to do that?"

I'm confused - I thought I was 'reminding'. And, furthermore, I love 'reminding' him about stuff usually and he calls it 'nagging'! (such an unpleasant word!). I spoke to my friend Bel, today who said her word for nagging is 'motivating' - so much nicer.

I'm not sure how I can 'remind' him more effectively. I'm thinking I might paint his toenails in his sleep and rid the house of nail polish remover until he comes to the party and 'looks' at my hard drive, but that's not really reminding, just peurile and childish. Mind you it seems like a fair way to deal an individual who may or may not have put make up on me in my sleep and then took photos because and I kid you not, He was 'bored'. (should I admit that??)

Mind you none of this is getting my computer fixed! I've reminded until I've needed to sit down and fan myself and take some 'salts', but to no avail. I'm beginning to wonder if he even knows how to do it. (that last comment was just on the off chance he DOES read my blog.)

So until my reminding/motivating facilitates some change and I figure out how to upload more photo's, It's going to be slim pickings here at Happy Stash with downloaded photos from google image!

Buyers Remorse

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:00:00 +0000

I bought this at Spotlight about a month ago and I've got a mild case of buyers remorse!

I'd covetted this fabric for months for months. Had plans for it before it even left the shop.

I thought it would look great in my red room and I thought this would look good in a cathedral windows quilt. I could picture it very very clearly. It was 40% off if you bought the remainder of the bolt. As far as I was concerned I couldn't go wrong. My mum had a quilt in a similar fabric to this (not sure where that ended up) and I think the pattern triggered something in me. She used to have the quilt on a miners couch that sat in our back sunroom, right next to her sewing table and I spent many hours on the miners couch with a book while mum would be sewing. Maybe, I just wanted to recreate a bit of that. Who knows!!

Well, when I got it home and put it in the red room. All I could see was pink!
Yep! those tiny pink flowers that were practically invisible in the shop, just seemed to bleed all over the fabric the minute I put it up against the red wall. It just isn't going to work as I had intended. And with quite a few metres of the stuff I had better come up with something to do with it. I still think it's lovely. I think I'll still do the quilt, but it just won't go in my red room.

Not my usual carry on.

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 03:02:00 +0000

This is a bit of a departure from my usual drivel.

Our friends Paul and Jules are having a bit of a rough time of things at the moment and recently had these shots taken. Paul has cancer and they recently found out that it has spread to his liver. Life isn't being kind.

I'm posting this link, just because I think it is something I want to share.

Have a look at the pictures on Liz's blog and read her post. I don't think I could put into words what these guys are going throughords any better than she has.

Jen

Flannel

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:12:00 +0000

I think I need to face facts. I have a flannel obsession. I can't help it. It gets so dang cold here in Melbourne that I NEED flannel. But all I ever seem to do with it is make it into quilts for other people (yes prior to me starting this blog, I did have a couple of finished projects).

After finishing the quilt for baby Emma, I got to thinking "Why should she get all the snuggly, toasty fun of a flannel quilt?" I've had that quilt over my lap most nights for the past 6 months watching it get bigger (and warmer) and I 've kind of grown to like it. Which brings me to the point that......... I *ahem* haven't put the quilt in the post yet. It's still folded up on the couch in the lounge room. I found the other half snugged up in it the other day and I just keep finding excuses not to post it. It's not good. ("Shut UP! I've been busy, and the lady in the post office isn't nice")

So in an attempt to wean myself of the baby quilt (no pun intended), I purchased this ("Of Course You Did!" I hear you cry).

All that lovely warm, flannelly goodness - and it is going to be ALL MINE do you hear me? Mine. However, this brings me to another confession (seems to be the week for it). I have this sitting in my stash, abandoned,unfinished and not going anywhere.

Oh, and before you ask, Yes, Yes I am abundantly aware that the colours in the yet to be completed quilt and the recently aquired fabrics are similar. Quite similar in fact. Did I think of the quilt top, lying abandoned in my stash, when I was buying the new flannel fabric?? No. No I didn't.

I'm starting to think this is how addictive/ obsessive personalities get kick started.

You know those women who end up living in houses with like, 87 cats - there but grace of god go I, I'm thinking.

Oh and just on a completely unrelated topic............. Your blog content can't be used as conclusive evidence to say, have you committed to an institution......... can it??

Wanted Dead or Alive

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:24:00 +0000

"Patchwork fabric stealing lady, police are urging people not to approach her as she could be dangerous and ridiculous" ...............

Well that's what they might be saying about me on crimestoppers........... or not.

Yep I confess I'm nothing more than a a petty thief, shoplifter, clepto, nay robber if you will, because apart from describing this fabric as 'green', you could also describe it as......... (insert da da da daahh crime music) 'stolen'. That's right! You heard me 'stolen'.

I popped in here earlier this week for a bit of a look see. Great fabric to be found here, not a regular haunt for patchwork fabric, but every now and then she has a bolt of something that "will do just nicely" in my stash.

Yep I made like a bandit with this. Well, when I say 'made like a bandit', it was more a case of the lovely Lisa at TDQ cutting the desired amount of fabric, bundling it up and then we got to talking (read "me talking, her listening until her eyes glazed over and she was jerking her head in an attempt to stay awake"). I then hightailed it out of the shop. Simple really. It wasn't until I was checking the finances later in the day that I thought "where did all that money come from?" The answer to that rhetorical question was "It didn't 'come' from anywhere - it never 'left' my wallet".

So after a very rushed phone call that involved me coming clean, I said I'd pop in and pay her next week when I'm back in her neck of the woods. ( I figured it was only a matter of time before the law would catch up with me - well that, and I go into her shop on a weekly basis - didn't want her thinking "here comes that 'clepto' again, lock up the expensive stuff").

But.......technically, I've not paid for it. That makes me, technically - until next monday- a robber. So be careful, I is dangerous.

I think this is what's commonly referred to as.............

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:47:00 +0000

............ an anti climax!

After all my palava about what lay beyond the red curtain, I kind of got to thinking "Shid! you've built that up a bit, love!" So I thought I'd better pull the pin on my 'carry on' before both my readers got unduly excited. Mind you I was looking forward to hearing Lizzie Jane "cuss" if I didn't reveal.

Well......... Here it is. Yes folks, my first finished project on the site. There is a little lass called Emma (my great niece) who'll be rugged up in this for her walks along the beach with Mum and Dad. It's english paper pieced and it's taken me since January and I've calculated there are approx 39,200 odd hand stitches in the top of the quilt. (there's a chunk of my life I aint gettin' back anytime soon - I'm referring to the time it took me to do those sums on the stitches, not the quilt.)

and in case you didn't get the idea, here's one more pic for good measure.

PS and thanks to Jen at FrazzyDazzles who talked me out of backing the quilt with more of the same - ie english paper pieced but bigger blocks. I think her words were "Why don't you just make that into another quilt ? " Yet another example of the obvious walking straight toward me in a flouro lycra screaming "Helloooooo, Yoo Hoo! Pick me!" and me just walking straight on by.

Being a Helper

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:01:00 +0000

I don't know if this phenomenon happens to anyone else, but it happens to me ALOT.

Even though I spend an abnormal amount of my waking time thinking about, doing or looking at quilt related stuff, I often tend to forget the basics. A recent example of this is forgetting to attach my walking foot for quilting, and as a consequence I spent a lot of time growling at the machine and using language not often heard in your garden variety quilting circles. My husband stuck his head through the door at one point laughing and saying "Whoa ! don't think I've EVER heard anyone call a quilt THAT before !". It was like the writers from Deadwood had re written the script for "How to make an American Quilt".

I get a chronic case of the 'forgets' and I need to have visual direction for something to sink in. I can look at diagrams in a book and get the jist,it isn't until I see someone 'doing it' that the penny drops. So, in the absence of having someone living in the spare room who I can summon to provide visual instruction, I fall into a bit of a slump. It's a frequent cause of what I like to call "Project Paralysis" (some people call it procrastination, but they're JPR -Just Plain Rude!).

So when I stumbled across these tutorials on the innanet I was 'beside myself'. Admittedly it's all stuff I've done before but they are great refreshers! She does things so effortlessly and, I note with interest, without feeling the necessity for "cussin'"

There is still something lurking behind the red curtain.......... but she's just not quite ready to make an appearance................

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard.....

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 02:09:00 +0000

My Darwinian theory is if you can survive the first three days of freezing Melbourne after a week of sunny Darwin - you can survive anything.

I'm baaaaack - loved every minute. Well nearly every minute. Races = fun, lolling around the pool like a pool loller = lots of fun, being able to read because I simply had nothing better to do = very much fun, putting up with redneck neighbours with ill behaved kids = not fun, but fun thinking that their karma is in fact that they are......... well, them.

On the way up we had a bit of a stop over in Cairns and killed most of our time wandering around Cairns and sitting around in Qantas Club doing not much. Sitting next to a pilot in QC reading "Australian Flying" magazine. Could not fail to notice he was engrossed in an article entitled "It's never too late to learn how to Fly". Like Flick it isn't! To top it off he had an attack of the yawns and was lamenting the fact that once he starts yawning he finds it 'near impossible to stop'. All I needed for him to do was to open an exercise book and start taking notes straight from aforementioned article and I would have flown the bloody plane myself! Never been bothered about flying......... That is until now. In fact I'd have been more comfortable if our pilot had looked like this!

All in all had a great time.

Oh and by the way stay tuned to find out what's behind the red curtain!

Away, Away

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:35:00 +0000

I'll be off the air for the next little while. Actually I'll be up in the air very soon. I'm off to sunny Darwin to loll around a pool for a week. We had a hankering to loll around a pool and could have very easily stayed in Melbourne and lolled around a pool but decided it was more sensible to go somewhere sunny. Can't wait, love Darwin. We are off to the Darwin Cup.

I'm keeping this short as I'm over tired, a bit cranky and really disorganised. I don't like being disorganised before going on a holiday. It ups my stress levels and when my stess levels go up it's not good.

Oh, and is it sad that just before I started this post, I googled 'patchwork, fabric Darwin"?? Rhetorical question folks, don't need you being free with your opinions on my sad habits. What's even sadder is the next poor sod to do exactly that (google Patchwork Fabric Darwin) will probably land themselves in the Land of Happy Stash................"Aha! I have you now my pretty"

God I am over tired.

Over and out.

Big Day Out

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:00:00 +0000

I took myself off to the Craft and Quilt Fair at Jeff's shed on Saturday much to the alarm of the other half who had visions of getting a phone call from the bank to say that there seemed to be unusually high activity on our account.

As he dropped me at the station, muttering something about having to sell a kidney, I vowed that I was not actually intending to buy fabric but I was keen on getting some "tools" or some good thread or somefink..........................True. That's exactly what I SAID. The fact I was toting a large EMPTY satchel may have been a non verbal contradiction of my verbal declaration. In any case, there's nothing wrong with good intentions.

So after cotemplating the queue - I think the queue to get on the ark was shorter than the one snaking it's way along the foyer of Jeff's Shed - I made like non athletic fast walker into the pavillion where the quilts were exhibited. I felt inspired, intimidated, envious, in awe and downright amazed. If you went, you know what I'm talking about. There was one paper pieced hexagonal quilt circa 1890's ( I think ) which had the notation "found in Sydney" some of the hexagons had been eaten away and in places the you could see the stitches - it was just beautiful and I think I stood there transfixed for about 20 minutes and then kept coming back for more. I watched some of the people wandering around and noticed lots of Mothers and Daughters and felt a real pang of sadness that my own mum wasn't there with me to marvel at the quilts. I'm sure she was in spirit. (Which, if she was, I'm guessing she had something to say about me spending $3.60 on a bottle of water)

I didn't really spend much time browsing the stalls but I did come home with two pairs of small applique scissors, a Daylight!!!!!!!! (I've long been coveting one of these ) and...............
for $3.50

and ..............

For $2.50

You wouldn't buy a bottle of water or an electronic ankle bracelet for that. The latter, apparently, is something the other half is considering purchasing.

Tagged!

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 01:11:00 +0000

I've been tagged by the lovely Lizzie Jane (sorry I couldn't help but include a footy reference. With the exception of the last two rounds, the Bulldogs are having too good a season for me NOT to say anything.)

Now I get to pass the 'tag' on to six more people - but first some rules:
1. Link to the person who “tagged” you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

Six random things about me:
1. I am the youngest of 9
2. My mother named me by getting my siblings to write down a name on a piece of paper and she drew my name out of Dad’s hat – Risky but it paid off. Thanks to my brother Tom!
3. I only started quilting after my Mum passed and that makes me a bit sad
4. I’ve been to New York but not Perth.
5. My husband won’t let my family discuss politics in our house (and with very good reason!!!)
6.I couldn’t ride a bike until I was 13.

The six lucky people that I'm tagging are:

1. Zia Koko – She is a gem!
2. A spoonful of sugar. A Mother and Daughter blogging team who always manage to inspire me.
3.Curly Pops I love popping in here for a look. You will too.
4 Vintage Magpie Quite a Lovely place - can spend way too long looking at her beautiful photos.
5 Lucy Locket Recycled her Pocket Another blog I stumbled upon and I'm glad I did
6. Tozz at Tozz’s corner (have a look at the hexagon quilt)

Needlework.

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:29:00 +0000

Yes, I had an ARI (Applique Related Injury) or at least that's what I thought! After a night on the couch doing this block for the Rosalie Quinlan quilt I woke up the next morning with a niggle in my shoulder. The niggle turned from a bit of a twinge into a full on pinching, excruciating eyes rolling to the back of my head pain that by 3pm I couldn't lift my arm forward or move it to the side............ I was starting to think I was going to be cut down in my applique-ing prime.

There was only one thing for it.

Phone the Chinese Medicine man for some accupuncture!!

Which I did, only to be greeted by a message saying the number was disconnected. ( a later reconoscance revealed that his rooms are now an 'adult entertainment centre' - They had outfits in the window that even with a good shoulder you'd need to be a contortionist to get into !). I was desperate and a quick google brought up an accupuncurist about 15 minutes from work who could see me 'straight away'. So off I went. I arrived in a sorry state and his first question was "Have you been doing anything strenuous?" Can you believe I actually responded with "Applique". He then asked "What??" and I had to explain that it was needlework, but 'ahem' "very strenuous needle work)". He then asked me to show him just how much movement I had in my arm. After much wincing, and demonstrating my mobility or lack there of, the very nice man said -"Go into the other room and sit in the chair". So I did. He comes in 5 minutes later with a foot stool and said "Take off your stockings and shoes and put your feet on this". OK, at this point I was thinking "um, but it's my shoulder". I had visions of me, 6 months down the track, sitting glazed eyed in a witness stand with a QC badgering me with such questions as "Ms Happy Stash, do you mean to tell me you didn't think it odd that he was asking you to remove your stockings????" and "At what point did you realise this had gone too far?"

In spite of this I found myself sitting there sans stockings wondering what was going to happen next. Nothing dramatic, as it turns out. He just stuck a needle in my shin and proceeded to question me about the rigours of applique. You'll be curious to know that it was only at THIS point I began to feel ridiculous. After about 5-10 mins. he said "ok can you move your arm?" . Could I move it??????? I was flinging it around like an eastern bloc gymnast impersonating an extra from Flashdance!!!!! I was elated until he explained that he couldn't keep the needle in there permanently and He need to do a bit more tweaking. I have long been an advocate of accupuncture, but I've never struck one like this. Anyway after about 45 minutes of him sticking some more needles in my shoulder, setting fire to some stuff that he stuck on the end of one of the needles, some cupping and a few more bits of metal being jabbed into my ankle, I was 'cured'. Like Lazarus throwing down his crutches, I was a revived woman.* I asked him if I had to steer clear of applique and he said he didn't think it was the 'mending' (yeah don't go there- I wasn't about to get snippy with him about the nuances of sewing given he'd just 'cured' me) but rather I'd got a chill in the shoulder.

As I drove home from the miraculous acupuncturist I marvelled at his needle work. It's amazing what you can do with them there needles!

* Now, before any of you decide to pick me up on the Lazarus reference I was intentionally mixing my biblical metaphors for no other reason than I thought it was funny. No correspondence about my limited knowledge of scripture will be entered into.

Lordy I feel like a fraudy..........

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:15:00 +0000

Which is exactly what I said when Jen** at Frazzy Dazzles awarded me this.

I have been a slack blogger and I initially wondered if 'brilliante ' was some obscure language for 'she who only blogs when she can be arsed' - but upon investigation, apparently not. I'm feeling flattered and a tad guilty. However as most of my posts tend to revolve around the unfinished project, it's kind of fitting that I'd dropped off the blogging twig for a few weeks.

Anyhow, there are a few little proviso's upon which this award is dependent and in order of appearance they are......:

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog. (tick)
2. Link to the person you received your award from. (tick)**
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs. (tick)
4. Put links of those blogs on yours. (tick)
5. Leave a message on the blogs you’ve nominated.(tick)
6. Write an acceptance speech in the style of the Academy Awards, thanking every body’s mother, father, sister, brother, aunties and uncles and the kitchen staff at your favorite restaurant!(tick)

So my seven deadly blogs are (in no specific order)

11.Angry Chicken Cooking AND stitching - does it get any better?
2. Turkey Cookies - I promise there is not a deliberate poultry theme going on here! Jess has a lovely blog and I manage to waste a bit of time here.
3.Applique Today....... I stumbled upon this the other day. If for no other reason than .... her tutorials on needleturn applique.
4. Wee Wonderfuls All kinds of wonderful is found here
5.Barb's Creations I hope Barb doesn't mind me putting this here. Barb is a woman who loves her craft and decided to give blogging a shot. It wasn't that long ago that she didn't know how to put photos up and now she is just chugging along nicely.
6. Quilty's Corner I love popping in here to see what Clare is up to.
7.and last but not least and I know this is probably cheating Frazzy Dazzles. I call in here on a daily basis and it was Jen who provided the inspiration for Happy Stash. (again see footnote re linking to her website)

Acceptance Speech

Ok. I need to get a grip here. I'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners of my stash (Spotlight/ Lincraft). I'd like to thank the academy and Jenny at Frazzydazzles for having so much faith in me. I'd like to thank my employer for paying me a salary that I can squander on fabric that sits in my cupboard. Without which, I wouldn't have a blog. I'd like to thank the man in Dimmeys who failed to understand the concept of a stash, therefore providing me with material for this entry. I'd like to thank the woman in the Patchwork shop in Essendon who gave the idea to put a bunch of celery on top of the bag of newly purchased fabric, making my husband think I'm overdoing it on the fruit and veg bill, rather than spending the equivalent of a mortgage payment on fabric. Had to change tack when he contracted scurvy - some things just weren't adding up. Anyway I think I've said quite enough!

**I was tempted to link to a site like "Liturgical Dancing for Beginners" or "Banjo Fantastic" but then that would be just plain rude and ungrateful. - note to the best of my knowledge they are not real sites. I just made 'em up

All quiet on the quilting front..........

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:25:00 +0000

I've been somewhat quiet over the past week or two. Lots happening and none of it quilt related, I'm sorry to say. It's not for want of trying mind you, just not enough minutes in the day.

So in the absence of anything remotely blog worthy happening here,I'm going to post the link to Jen at Frazzydazzles who is having a very gorgeous MONSTER give away to celebrate her 100th post.

I challenge ANYONE not to crack a smile at her monster! If you have a look back through some of her older posts you will see that some of her monsters are very very naughty monsters.

Give me one good reason why I shouldn't have.......

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:45:00 +0000

...........brought this home with me.................

Yesterday during my lunch hour I went here and found this beautiful flannel. It's awesome quality and the price was too good to be true. So I bought it. No justification needed. Liked it. Bought it. There's just so much I can do with this. Stuffed things, quilt backing, I'm thinking a double sided 'ruggie' type thing with some cute red quilting could look good too................ and did I mention it was too good to leave in the shop????????

If you can think of a very good reason I shouldn't have brought it home with me, feel free to let me know. ("You don't need it" does not constitute a reason that's merely an ill informed statement!)

RIP Jane McGrath

EDIT!!
I decided to include a link to the McGrath Foundation so those of you who may not know of Jane and what she did for women with Breast Cancer in Australia .......
http://www.mcgrathfoundation.com.au/

Cutting loose

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:05:00 +0000

I need a day at home to just cut stuff up.

I've got so many projects in my head and to be honest I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at this point in time. I plan on getting a few out of my UFO's of the way so I can make a start on something for ME (yes you heard correctly -" for "ME").

I need a planning day, followed closely by a cutting day, which would then be followed by a month of procrastinating days and finished off nicely with a few days of starting projects that will remain unfinished until I dig up the inspiration to get them out of the way.

Someone out there in blog land has recently fantasised about having a cutter upperer and I am so on that wave length. I see all those tags with the question "what would you do if you were a billionaire?" You don't have to ask me twice - I'd hire a cutter upperer..............

Your What???

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 04:00:00 +0000

I visited Dimmeys this week and found 5 of these fat quarters for .99c each. I thought they were sweet and would look nice in my stash. When I got to the register the man commented that they were a bargain and asked what I planned to do with them. I answered by saying "Oh they'll just sit in my stash until I get some inspiration"............
He looked a bit confused/ embarassed and said "your what?". I stood a bit taller, cleared my throat and said in slightly quieter voice "my stash, my fabric stash, it's like a cupboard, shipping container, small warehouse where you put fabric that you may not have an immediate use for, but you like it when you see it so you buy it"

He just looked at me and said "that's a bit ridiculous......... why would you buy it if you don't need it?" (the rudeness!)

I also bought a pair of flannelette pjs ($5.99 a pop) and the insolent muppet asked me "Do you need these or do you have a pyjama stash too".

Opinions please - is this man worthy of spending his days amidst the frippery and trinkets in a haberdashery department?? (he even had a tape measure around his neck!!! all show I suspect!)

Gobsmacked!

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 07:00:00 +0000

I'm gobsmacked. I arrived home to find a lovely bulky parcel in the post. It was from Zia Koko (see my blog roll - every time I try to create a link it goes utterly pearshaped!) and it was this.

Zia had a give away a few weeks ago and I put my hand up for some tone on tone fabric that I thought would look beautiful with Mum and Granma's quilt. When I opened the parcel (Lordy !How I love the word parcel!!)it contained THREE different bundles of fabric, a lovely crocheted brooch and some gorgeous home made cards.

I really can't believe her generosity. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! The parcel is a bit jet lagged after the long trip so I'll put let it have an early night before I introduce it to the rest of the stash tomorrow.

Skewed not sewed!

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:24:00 +0000

I've come to the conclusion that I really do suffer from skewed thinking. It comes in handy, but it holds me up and serves to distract me when it comes to finishing a project.

Skewed thinking means I can justify anything if I put my mind to it.

However, Friday's skewed thinking kind of really took the cake...............

I was in the throes of basting the flannel quilt to the wadding, I thought to myself " I need pins", in fact what I really thought was "This is taking way longer than I thought it would, I'm starting to get bored, I need to implement an avoidance technique - I need pins".

So after very very carefully removing all the papers from the quilt, I decided to reward myself with a trip to the local patchwork shop to buy pins (skewed thinking alert number one - I have a bloody cupboard full of pins. To use a "house that Jack built" analogy, I have so many pins, I could feed a dairy farm the size of China with all the haystacks I would need to hide aforementioned pins in). In any case, I decided pins were needed. In fact these pins.

I have to confess to never having used quilters safety pins and I wish I'd known about these before now.

So there I was at the counter, waiting for the women to finish serving the other customers. I had the pins in my hand, determined not to look at anything else. At this point, the dialogue in my head (between 'Sensible Thinker Me' and 'Skewed Thinker Me') went something like this.

Sensible Me: "OK that's it! You don't need anything else, don't look at any fabric."
Skewed Me: "But the women behind the counter are going to be AGES you might as well have a look around the fabric section"
Sensible me: "No, you have enough, you know you'll just buy something you don't need"
Skewed Me: "You mean something you don't need YET, what if you don't look and you miss out on something you might need further down the track (I told you I was really skewed) - besides it's just plain lazy to be standing here when you could be burning random calories by walking around the shop"
Sensible Me: "Are you listening to me? You don't need anything"
Skewed Me: "Back in a tick - I'm just going to look over there"
Sensible Me: " nooooooooooooooooo"
And that's how I came home with this!

This olive green and grey range caught my eye a few months ago and has really niggled at me since. I love it. It's pretty without being too feminine and I think it will look fantastic with my pins!

Very little progress on the flannel quilt. The back and front are both patchworked so I'm taking my time with the placement on the wadding to make sure they are aligned properly. I have to say the new quilting pins have been a godsend. I have never used them before as I've always hand basted the layers together..........

See I really DID NEED those pins!

Liberty Quilt

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:40:00 +0000

I've wanted to make a quilt from Liberty fabric for a long long time. I had a picture in my head of a quilt made up of squares using a variety of prints and colours and the idea was to arrange them in colour waves. Given the cost of Liberty fabric, I realised that it was going to be too expensive so I put it into the 'dreams are free' category and just went about my stashing business.

Then, during one of my random ebay trawls I came upon these! (well when I say random I was typing "Liberty Fabric" into the Ebay search engine under 'quilting' fabric on a daily basis, so I guess I was bound to come up with something sooner or later!)

They are 4" squares and they are perfect for the quilt design I have in my head.I have about 400 of them all up, so it will make a decent size quilt- about 180cm square. I figure if I'm going to do it, I may as well end up with a quilt that's a good size.

Have no idea where I will find the time, but the inspiration is there! (hmmm can you buy extra quilting time on Ebay?)

Scraps and naughty acts with the good scissors

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:15:00 +0000

One of the local patchwork shops has a scrap basket. They sell the scraps for $1 a pop. Every time I go in there I have a bit of a forage around in the basket and usually manage to come away with something. So far I've came away with these. I think they are leftover from classes that they run at the shop and women leave them there rather than take them home. It kind of strikes me as odd that you would do that as a quilter - but each to their own. However I'm glad they do, and I wish I wish more patchwork shops would gerry onto this notion of having a scrap basket............ hmmmmmmmmmm.

The initial plan is to use some of these in Mum and Granma's quilt. I figure they are scraps from SOMEONE'S quilt, so it's kind of in keeping with what they intended. But looking at what I've got so far, I wonder if I could just make a quilt top out of the scraps.

Melbourne is trialling the 2am lockout at nightclubs over the next few months. The other half is suggesting that the patchwork shops instigate a similar approach with me. Well not exactly similar -he's just hoping they may lock me out permanently!!!!

It's a long weekend here and we had lunch with my niece and her family yesterday. My 9 year old great niece embarked on series of 'trivia questions' over lunch (or that's what she called it - interrogation would be a more apt term). The "TQ's" basically revolved around the behavioural traits of myself and my siblings (one of whom is her Grandad). Questions like "what was the worst thing you ever did?" " Who was the naughtiest in your family?" "What was the naughtiest thing Grandad ever did?" ** I may or may not have told her that Granpa had stolen a police car when he was young and nearly had to go to jail. Not true, but I saw an opportunity and went for it.
Where's this going? I hear you ask - Well, I struggled to come up with an appropriate response to the question 'what was the naughtiest thing you ever did?". When I say struggled, it's not for want of examples of naughty behaviour - Ha! there is an abundance of those. I just needed to exercise some editorial discretion given my audience was a 9 year old and mentally absorbent 4 year old.
I pondered this question on the way home and it wasn't long before I had my answer. My cousin came over last night and we went through a big box of old photo's and stuff that had come from my grandparents. And that's when I found these.

These were sent by my grandfather to my great Aunt Rae when he was serving in France during World War 1. They were some of mum's cherished posessions.

The one on the top is hand embroidered silk organza and it was a fabric post card intended to store little snap shots. It used to have a little embroidered sleeve on the top. That is, until some busy little fingers took to it with some scissors. The aim was to use the top sleeve as a hat for dolly.

The one underneath used to be attached (apparently) to a beautiful silk card. Hmmmm not sure what I'd intended for that, but I took to that with the scissors as well.

So, while it's not a hangable offence, I still have awful guilty cringey moments when I come across them. I know Mum wanted to 'crown' me when she'd discovered what I'd done to her postcards, but I guess that's the risk you run when you teach your little one's early how to use the good scissors!
I think I might put them out on view, maybe as a reminder of my heinous past and because they are still beautiful.

Finish your peas and carrots!

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:21:00 +0000

This is what happens when I'm left unsupervised and I have the urge to get behind the wheel (or as the case may be, the pedal on the janome). I've had these charm squares lolling around the cupboard for a short time and they've just been daring me to start another project.The range is called Pea's and Carrots.

They came in a pack from Ebay . (don't you just love the way I make it sound as though I just came home from work and there they were!)

I had a night at home and I hadn't actually done much on the sewing machine for a while so I thought I'd give this a burl. I didn't put a great deal of thought into the placement. I really just grabbed the pieces randomly and stitched them up. I plan on bordering it with an orange print from the same range and then find a stripe for the backing. Not sure what I will bind it with, but it will depend on the backing I guess. In any case I excused myself from the sewing table before I finished my peas and carrots and I fully intend on returning to finish them off, but for the moment I've got other stuff on my plate that needs to be pushed around with the fork and buried under the mashed potatoes before I can give this any further thought.