Business card holder

What a strange summer we're having. It's hot, it's wet, and it's almost over.... 
I borrowed Kate Golda's "Hand-Stitched Felt" from the Bendigo library and sat watching the Top Gear "3 wise men" (screamer!) 2010 Christmas special stitching this sweet little business card holder using the teensiest pieces of felt scraps.  The aim is that it will hold the copious number of coffee loyalty cards that are currently crowding out my purse. :-)  There's a slightly larger version in the book too which is used for carrying photos. Might be a good Mothers' Day idea for our kids to make for their Grannies? I think I'll include that on the Term 1 Sew Much Talent program.

My son Max (9) attended the Art Gallery today for a kids' workshop where they viewed the current exhibition Your Move and then created their own board game.  Max loved it and came home with a Karate-based gamed that we are looking forward to playing over our coco pops tomorrow.   I hope you're enjoying your holidays too.  Kristen x

T is for Tom

There are 6 boys in my sons/nephews generation in our family. Our youngest nephew, Tom turns 1 on January 24th. Here he is (with panda) on his Christmas present - a quilt featuring T-blocks alternating with fussy-cut panels of the gorgeous Michael Miller fabric "I think I can".

Sew Much Talent workshop

This bunch of kids has SEW MUCH TALENT!

Thank you to the boys and girls who took part in Sew Much Talent on Thursday 23rd December. You were a pleasure to have and you taught me so much!

I am very proud of the beautiful Christmas decorations you made, I hope you feel very proud too. Sewing beads can be very tricky and the final results were really gorgeous.

In the afternoon, it was a pleasure to watch the patchwork group choosing your fabrics and arranging your them into a pleasing layout (that's my favourite part too). We did need more time didn't we? I hope you will come back in January to finish the cushions or quilts off and I think you were right, we need to use sewing machines.

I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and hope to see you for the next workshop on the 13th of January.

5 photos, 5 facts

I'm playing 5 photos: 5 facts as blogged by Pip Lincolne from  Meet me at Mike's

Wonder

Explore

Rejoice

Experiment

Play

My 5 facts:
1. I adore electrical storms, especially with open windows, loud music and a glass of wine
2. I believe that everybody has a book and a song in them.
3. I think that every senior citizen deserves a scribe to capture their life story and every child deserves the opportunity to achieve their potential.
4. Sewing means more to me than exercise.
5. I want to make textiles within the reach of young children.

Covered journals/note books

These sweet notebook covers are quick and easy to make. I made them for the kids' teachers to go in a hamper put together by our class (nice idea!).

My boys wrote a thank you note to their teacher in the book too.

Amish squares

Working within strict guidelines

has never really been my cup of tea.

At least twice I have bought the backing fabric for a quilt and then figured out what the front will be. This is one of those occasions. 




I selected three pairs of coordinating fabrics and a simple Amish inspired cross design to complete the quilt top.  

TO MAKE THIS QUILT

Cut 2.5" strips from each of the black and "X" colours. Join the strips together. You need enough strips to make 39 colour + black 2 1/2" units for 3 blocks (or 13 units per block if you are varying the pattern). Some of these will need to be flipped.

You need 36 of each of the contrast squares (12 per block). Some of these units (about 8 units per block) can be strip pieced too, but you will need to have some single 2.5 x 2.5" squares in both black and the contrast colour. Make up the block into 7 x 7 2" (finished) blocks and sash with 14.5 x 2.5" black sashing strips into this colourful quilt. The quilt doubles as a draughts board!





Colour me happy

That's the name I've given to this easy-as-pie colourful little quilt I have made for the Knotty Ladies to sell at The Square.

To make this quilt, all you do is cut strips of fabric across the width of the bolt in widths every 1/4" from 1 1/2" to 3".  If you decide you want your squares to be 8" you will need 4 1/2" worth of strips (half the final block measurement plus two 1/4" seam allowances). Keep adding strips until you have your desired width then you make 45 degree cuts through the strips to create triangles and join 4 together to make a square. I have made every piece different but you could just as well join 4 identical triangles together for a less random quilt top. The finished quilt has a 3D effect. It's neat because matching seams is not essential.  I've machine quilted this with an uneven zig-zag on my domestic machine.
I hope it makes someone very happy.