Saw this glorious tree when visiting an open home.
Snapped a shot as it was so summer-full.

Photo to Fabric #2

So, I'm partially through the photo fabric project. You can see in the photo that I've made an attempt at putting the basic pieces of the picture down. I tried to cut it down to the key bulk colour parts. I'm not sure I had enough correct shades of brown/fawn to reflect the tones and I'm not really happy with the boat form in the bottom left. Nevertheless, if you squint and hold your head at an angle it kinda works.
Next step is to try my hand at some free form sewing and see if I can add some detail. Eeek - detail has never been my strong point.

WOW

WOW - the World of Wearable Arts - an extravaganza of creativity. I was so grateful to a friend who arranged and bought a bunch of tickets for this show (and great seats too Deb - ta!). The Wearable Arts show started in Nelson and moved to Wellington. I have always wanted to go to this (I often managed to miss the dates by a week or two when I’d pop back to NZ for a visit) so I was delighted to be able to finally go. And what an amazing show - such excellent sets and dramatic backdrops to these costumes. So much creativity, so much originality, truly awesome.

Fabric on the doorstep

Pretty excited about my wee fabric delivery. Hawthorne Threads has such a wonderful selection and I have been coverting some of the designs for a while now, tempted every week by their newsletters. I finally jumped in and got some wonderful new designs. The owl print from Alexander Henry I've been wanting for a while. I was going to recover my sewing chair with it but couldn't justify the postage cost at the time. But after a while ... well, a girl just has to have ... now I just need to find the perfect project.

Taking orders

Had a request to make some bunting for my friend's baby Jame's room.

Deb makes the best muffins, so all in all a good trade.

These flags were made from the same material as her curtains she used in James' room.

I used the very last scraps to make some wee birds using the pattern at Bird Mobile (forgot to take a photo of them though - whoops).
I love this mobile pattern so was delighted to be able to use it and share it.

The sweet brrrr of the machine

I feel like work life has been taking up way too much time recently. There doesn’t seem to be enough time for hobbies. I mean, sure it pays the bills, but I tend to get a bit antsy when I haven't snatched a few hours of sewing. Does one get addicted to the brrrr of the machine or the satisfaction of a straight line of stitches?

Anyway, I managed some time this week and achieved something – hey, I even completed something (which hardly ever happens). I'm starting quite a rack of shift style dresses but for some reason I kinda like this one - maybe I just feel proud. And the fabric had been a bargain at $3 a metre so all in all, a cheap outfit.

Photo to Fabric

My dear mother had kids in the 70s amongst hand printed fabric and hand-sewn clothes. Whilst I get the feeling she is somewhat baffled to see her daughter enjoying crafts and sewing decades on, she is also one of those treasured people who encourage your enjoyments, however daft.

She gave me a book the other night she’d bought on a whim which she thought I might like called “Photo-inspired Art Quilts” be Leni Levenson Wiener. I quite enjoyed the book and on a night this week when I thought I couldn’t listen to the grind of the sewing machine, I started to give the idea a go. Its a quiet pastime.

Despite the teachings in the book, I haven’t thought things through or mapped things out to make sure they work - it’s a first go after all, I’m surely allowed to make mistakes.

I chose an industrial photo of Battersea Power Station in London. Leni talks about applying a photoshop filter to break the photo down to its essential colours. This is the outcome after the filter I’ll be trying to render in fabric scraps. Hmmmm, might work or might be a total disaster. Watch this space – I’ll be honest either way.

trade me - out of control

'Trade me' is New Zealand's equivalent of ebay. It is people selling their stuff - sometimes nice, sometimes total rubbish.

Now, for fear of sounding like a grumpy old puss, it has to be said that this 'trade me' culture seems to me to have got totally out of hand. Previously people would give to charity or simply put their old stuff on the side of the road for a student to adopt, knowing it would be appreciated somewhere. Now people put their junk on trade me and ask silly amounts of money for the item.

I just saw a single piece of lego on trade me for $3. First - why bother selling this for the princely sum of $3? Surely the cost of the advert was more? Second - what kind of miserable git sells a piece of lego? Third - who buys it? I can't be alone in thinking this has it all just gone a wee bit crazy?

When I lived in London I loved the site 'freecycle'. People gave and donated the things they didn't want. When we touched down in London with a backpack only, we were so grateful for a TV, two chairs, and a coffee table that people donated. I carried them happily across town on the bus and loved them. And when we left, we kept the circle going, and people were equally grateful to accept kitchenware, sewing materials, quilts, and that very same coffee table. Does this happen in NZ anymore - or does everyone want their $3 for their piece of old junk? Some of this stuff is just mean spirited. Calling something that's simply old an "antique" doesn't make it valuable, and calling something that's plain dirty "shabby chic" does not make it cool. Whats going on? Leave the unrealistic selling chatter to the real estate agents I reckon and give away things you don't need with dignity. Surely it will bring you a lot more worth than $3.