19. Printing block complete

I have just finished carving out my "jellyfish" printing blocks.

There are 2 and the plan is to layer them on top of each other.  I was going to make the first block, the one that is going to be overprinted, a solid circle but during carving I changed my mind.  I hope that by having the negative space carved out, it will provide more of a 3D effect with the overprinting.  Unfortunately I only have one stamp pad, so I really can't test this out until we start printing on Tuesday.

As part of our decluttering for the sale of our house my carving tools, paints and stamp pads are all packed up in storage.  So today I had to buy tools and a stamp pad so that I could get started. I bought the stamp pad at Riot Art and Craft and the carving tools from Melbourne Art Supplies.  I did notice that Riot has some awesome Speedball screenprinting kits which start at $70 for the basic kit and $130 for a large screen kit.  I know I don't need another hobby, but just thought I would tell you in case you were interested.

18. Umbrella Prints Trimming Comp

Umbrella Prints is once again running their Trimming competition and my crafty friend bought me a pack for my birthday.

This is my pack:

I was thinking of a placemat - yawn I know, but I use placemats and damask napkins EVERYNIGHT, so I would use it.

So I was looking through last years entrants on Pinterest and loved this one:

Source

It is by Salty Oat who is my groupie in the Handprinted Fabric Swap - small world!  I love the arrangement and the quilting looks fantastic. 

I am getting excited.  Better get my thinking cap on!

17. Handmade Fabric Swap

Today I received the group I am in for the Handmade Fabric Swap.

And here they are:
Louise in London: http://www.flickr.com/photos/louisebatten/
Stephanie in  Berkshire: www.thecraftykitty.co.uk
Amber just up the road in Victoria: www.cumquatsandquinces.blogspot.com
Caitlin in North Carolina:  www.saltyoat.com


I am excited and nervous all at the same time!  I am not Albrecht Durer but I have carved lino blocks and printed on paper before.  Surely fabric printing can't be that hard!  Gulp.

Thankfully my little group doesn't look as intimidating as my friend whose group includes Leslie (the organiser), 2 professional fabric printers and someone who has just completed a Lotta Jansdotter printing course - No pressure!  I should say that she does have buckets of printing talent, so they may even learn something from her :)

Now fellow groupies don't get nervous, but this is my inspiration:

 

Source

I am thinking of a layered print but my plans may change once I begin drawing/carving/printing when my ambition outstrips my ability.  I also don't want it to look like a childrens print so hopefully I can pull this one off.

I wonder what my groupies have planned?  I can't wait to see.

PS - we sold our house a day before the auction, so the cushions obviously worked ;)

15. The Everyday Wardrobe

If you haven't read this post on Sewaholic, read it now!  Cake vs Frosting.  I only just discovered it and I found myself nodding the whole time.  Seriously, how many dress patterns do I own?  How many have I actually made?  How many do I actually wear?  This summer I have only worn ONE.  (It is the Tessuti Lily Linen dress which I have been meaning to blog about but haven't.  Silly really since I have been wearing it nearly non-stop.)

Then read this about The Everyday Wardrobe about sewing clothes you will actually wear!  What a concept!

And then this post by Scared Stitchless about the fabric you buy and the fabric that you would wear.  I have 12, yes TWELVE, 53L plastic tubs full of fabric.  Some it dates back to when Ballantynes sold fabric downstairs and their toilets had a 10c coin slot to get in the door (early 90's).  Without a doubt I will never wear some of it but I have this inability to just let go...

Anyway, the point is that I only work 3 days a week in a very casual environment where if I wanted to I could wear jeans or Hard Yakka to work and I would fit in.  The other days I am a Mum which means comfortable clothes which you can go down a slide in.  I try to get "dressed up" for work but that just means I wear trousers instead of jeans otherwise my wardrobe is the same day in, day out.

As we are moving to a bigger house and consequently a bigger mortgage, it is time to tighten the belt and cut out the unneccesary spending.  I don't spend much on clothes but it finally dawned on me to make clothes out of my stash. 

The first problem is that I don't really have any patterns for Everyday clothes (what have I been buying?).

So I bought a pattern which I first saw on SewBrunswick - the Grainline Studio Scout Tee which is only $US6.50.  A bargin.  I have made one:

 And this is another in progress:

I found that if I added a centre back seam and used pre-made bias binding for the neck I could get the top out of 1.2m - yay me (as this is all I bought of the small flower print).

Both are from the lovely Japanese Tana Lawn range at Spotlight.

I will do a proper post with photos of these tops ON ME as that is so important for you to see the fit.

14. Handprinted fabric swap

If you have ever looked at Spoonflower or read Printing by Hand or Heather Ross prints, you will want to try your hand at this:

The lovely Leslie from Maze and Vale has started another Handprinted Fabric Swap.  I have never (that I can remember) printed my own design onto fabric.  The really scary thing is that I will be giving away 4 fat quarters to complete strangers who are really on me to do a good job.

My oldest friend from high school suggested I do the printing with her, so after she did the research we bought supplies from Cavalier Art Supplies in Geelong.  The service was fast and the prices were the best she could find anywhere.

I have signed up to a Red and/or Navy group.  After our visit to the Aquarium last week, I am thinking of a jellyfish block.  Fingers crossed my drawing and carving skills are up to it :)

13. Stylish suggestion

We are upsizing our house which means tidying our unit ready for sale.
Joy.
I think I have good taste.
But it may not be the taste that gets us the most money at auction.
Our Real Estate agent suggested a Stylist - I am not reading anything into that.
She drives a Porsche Cayenne 4x4 so her style must be ok ;)

She liked our furniture and our paintings, so that was nice.
She suggested cushions.
I suggested the fabric.
She agreed.
The result:

I bought this fabric AGES ago and covered these IKEA rocking chairs (can't find a link, so they must no longer be available) with Amy Butler Nigella Imperial Fans print in the stone colourway (upside down, but who is looking!).  I bought a fat quarter pack from some US online retailer, planning to make a couch quilt with it.  Now it is cushions, which I kind of like.  If I change my mind, I will cut the cushions up and make the quilt :)

12. Focus on Enjoyment

One of my favourite blogs is The Curious Kiwi and in this epic post she mentions this post from so i sewed this on sewing for enjoyment.

What a great idea - why do we put all this pressure on ourselves?

11. Zara's quilt

The first quilt I ever made was a wedding present for my friend who lives in an 1880's farm house (old for Australia).
It was a Queen size quilt - what was I thinking?
I managed to finish it for their first wedding anniversary ;)
...
Anyhow, a year ago they had a baby girl and I was planning to finish it before she was born.  This didn't happen.  I bought the fabric before she was born and then I cut everything else the week of my birthday in January.  Things slowed after that and I managed to finish sewing on the label the night before her first birthday partyin December!

And here it is:

 I used the Purl Bee Flying Geese Mini Quilt as the basis of the design and just keep adding blocks until I got the size wanted (approx 90cm x105cm).

The front fabric is all from the first Denyse Schmidt range for Spotlight (Picnics and Fairgrounds).  As I was making it I kept cursing myself for not using a higher contrast range of fabrics so the piecing would be more visible.  There is a lot of piecing with Flying Geese!  However, I wasn't going to change halfway through and now that it is bound and finished, I actually like the busy look to it.  The backing fabric was on sale at Fabricworm a long time ago (Michael Miller?) and I bought it as the Mum loves elephants and I love red and pink together.

 As a link back to her parents Queen size quilt, I used left over fabric from that quilt for the squares in the corners - they kind of go with the rest of the quilt.

 I embroidered the label and I love it! No more printed labels for me.

10. Christmas presents

For Julians carers at Childcare (all 10 of them!), I decided to use this fantastic tutorial and make little zipper pouches for Christmas thank you gifts.  They were really simple to whip up - that is once I decided to put in all the zips first.  When I was trying to complete a pouch at a time, I was swapping needles from the zipper foot to the 1/4"seam foot and forgetting to change the needle position - it only took 3 broken needles to discover that I am not switched on enough in the evening to do this!

 

 

 I liked these so much that I decided to make them for my cousin-in-law (top left); Mum (bottom left) and sister-in-law (bottom right).  And for once, I made one for me (top right).  The little key-ring on the side allows me to clip it onto my work bag - now I will always be able to find my phone :)

 

 

9. Baby shower gift

A woman in my Mothers Group is about to have her second baby and we have decided to throw her a Baby Shower.  I decided to make her daughter and her new bub matching t-shirts as a gift.

She doesn't know what gender the baby is, so I have made them gender neutral.  I bought t-shirts from K-Mart and used Heat'nBond to do the applique.  Now on to deciding what fun games to play at the shower...

2. Plans

So here we are.  I have plan.

First up is Butterick 5644.  The fabric is blue/purple Japanese Tana Lawn from Spotlight.  Due to the directional print, I will be making view D (the red one).

Second up is the raved about Vogue 8815.  After seeing the great Burda peplum top on Fehr Trade and this excellent version of the Vogue from Sew Brunswick I thought that I should give it a go.  And yes, it is the same fabric as above.  Taking the lead from Leith, I am going to modify the short sleeved version - what was Vogue thinking with that horrible length sleeve!

And lastly, Lisette 2246 in the version shown in the pink check.  I bought this navy cottone gingham at Spotlight probably 3 years ago and the original plan was to make a shirt dress.  I made a muslin of McCall 4469 and it wasn't what I was after.  Then this Lisette pattern popped up and it looked like it had potential.  I have made a muslin and I am very happy so far...

I have tomorrow to work on these items before it is Kids Clothing Week which I am planning to be involved in.  More on that later.