Vietnam - a world away

Gosh - it feels like an age since I thought about sewing, purse catches or lining colours. It has only been a few weeks but in the interim I squeezed in a few weeks in Vietnam and it certainly makes everyday life seem miles away. What a crazy, hot, vibrant, loud, and delicious country. I thought I'd share a few pics as it will take me a while to get my head back in the zone I suspect.

Gorgeous right?

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.