I think it's finished...

It's rectangular, because I started off with the idea of making it into a box top, so the rectangular shape was marked on the fabric. I'm not sure that I'll use it for that now. Maybe I'll frame it. Whatever I do with it, I'm quite pleased with the end result...and it was a lot of fun to do! Although maybe it needs a few more beads at the top...hmmm...

Two in one day!

Please prepare to be amazed. This is my second post today! Don't get too excited though because, as I didn't win Lotto on Saturday night, I have to go back to work tomorrow. The number of posts per week will slow down again then... sigh.

In the meantime, I used my last day of freedom well and made a book cover for a friend's birthday gift. The book I used has a flower print on occasional pages, so I used that as my inspiration. Even though the flower I made looks nothing like the one in the book, it saved me sitting there thinking " Now what am I going to do this time?".

Transfer Printing

This is for Lisa, who was asking on her blog about transfer printing. I did this a number of years ago, at a workshop on using paints in embroidery. As you can see, it's been tucked in a corner of the studio ever since, although I notice that the needle and thread are still there, ready to go. No wonder I can never find my good embroidery needles when I want them. I have started the embroidery...that's the outline of a shell in the foreground. One day, when I retire I'll be glad to have this to keep me occupied, I'm sure! (That's a good enough excuse, isn't it?)

Anyway, I used a large, smooth ceramic tile for this. The design was painted onto the tile, the fabric was carefully laid on top, and then gently smoothed. When the fabric was lifted up, there was the design, transferred. I used acrylic paint mixed with textile medium, and could have used a pane of glass to paint on, if I'd wanted a larger image. However, you can get such large tiles that it's probably not necessary to use the pane of glass and the tile is much safer to play with.

Buttons and Beads

This is fun!
Following the ideas in Robin Atkins' book on beading (see my last post), I started with one of my great-grandmother's buttons and just started adding beads. I don't know where it's going next, but that's the fun of it.
I'll show it to you again when it's finished, whether I like it or not. I rather think it needs some gold beads now, to reflect the gold of the button. Hmmm...
The theme of Creative Every Day for January is "play" and that's exactly what I'm doing. Leah's playing with drawing and it's worth having a look.

Keeping Resolutions

Last New Year, I resolved to spend more time sewing in 2008. One of my Christmas Presents was a book called Bags with Style by Stephanie Kimura and I determined to have a go at making some handbags for myself. It's the last day of the year and yes, you're right, I still hadn't made any of the bags! So, I sat down and made one, after finding some rather nice upholstery fabric in an after-Christmas sale. I learnt a lot along the way, but it wasn't nearly as difficult as I had convinced myself it would be...so here it is...



Resolution kept! And I've already started a project based on the books from this Christmas - books about beading by Robin Atkins. Very inspiring!

Delicious Patterns

The Christmas preparations are on track. There's been lots of cooking done over the weekend, so still no time for playing with fabric and thread. That will come in the days after Christmas when we can all relax.
The Sourdough Rolls are made and in the freezer. They'll go extra well with the ham made from Free Range Pork, which is sitting in its calico bag in the fridge, smelling delicious and calling to me. Good thing there's a strict rule in this house that not a skerrick of it can be consumed before Christmas lunch!
These are the rolls looking pale and interesting as they rose.


And here they are the rolls looking tanned, healthy and good enough to eat. Yum!!

They smell wonderful, too!

Christmas Preparations

I haven't managed to play with fabric and thread very much in the last few weeks, but Christmas preparations in our house are well on track. The house has had its Christmas clean (the boring bit),the Christmas biscuits are made (that's more fun), and the Christmas tree and decorations are up (and that's the best bit by far!)


My first Christmas out of Australia was when I was 22. It was spent with my husband's parents and brothers in Denmark, and what a life changing experience that was! It wasn't only the ice and snow, but the food and the decorations were all so different. The Danish red and white flag lends itself so well to the Christmas theme, and hundreds of tiny Danish flags on strings decorate the Christmas trees. The other decorations were carefully crafted and many were hand embroidered. At least half a dozen different types of Christmas biscuits were made in each home, and served with hot spiced wine for supper, or with coffee at afternoon tea time. Back in Australia, we took our favourites from each of our Christmas traditions, and made Christmas a special family celebration. On Christmas Day, we have the cold meats - ham, roast pork and chicken, and salads that I grew up with. This year, instead of the cold prawns that we usually have, we'll do some extra spicy prawns on the barbecue for our new daughter-in-law who was born in the Philippines and just loves her chili hit! So a new tradition may be born.
For dessert, we have the Danish Ris a l'Amande - a cold vanilla-flavoured rice pudding mixed with whipped cream and chopped almonds, served with a hot cherry sauce, that is much better suited to the Australian heat than the heavy British-style Christmas Pudding that I had never really liked anyway. And instead of fruit cake, I make as many of the Danish Christmas biscuits as I can get done in the weeks before Christmas. This year, we've had a wonderfully cool lead up to Christmas, so I've done lots of baking. The tins are bursting with Brunkager, Pebernodder, Aeggeblommekager, Kanelstjerner and my version of Rutebiler.
I love decorating the tree, because it's so full of memories. The little cross-stitched 'pillows' that my Mum made 30 years ago, using patterns from a Danish cross-stitch book that she'd found, still look as fresh as the day she gave them to me as a surprise. Then there's the tiny knitted angels that my mother-in-law made and posted from Denmark all those years ago, and the angels that I have embroidered. Of course, the strings of flags that we bought in Denmark add the finishing touch, and even though it's a plastic tree, because we can't get anything like the real thing here, and we can't light those candles, it still looks pretty special to us.