Tag Archives: stitching

Inspiration

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A lot of people ask me where I get my inspiration from.

Most of the time something will just pop into my head as if sucked out of the ether. Sometimes I have to work for it, and sometimes I will spot something that will trigger off a thought and the inspiration surfaces somewhere along the way.

This afternoon as dad and I were driving home from the shop (in the most circuitous manner) I spotted a cluster of trees. Now even though it was lovely and sunny and clear blue skies, these trees felt a bit spooky. I think mainly because they had leaves higher up and so the more exposed gnarly trunks were spooky because of their lack of foliage.

So I whipped out my poor battered camera (which lives eternally in my handbag) and snapped a couple of shots.

 

I’ve been looking for a good set of spooky trees for an art quilt for a while. I think that these guys could be what I want but I will have to test them out with my sketches and see if they fit.

Over the last few days I have been slowly going through the things in my craft room at home. It has been a real eye opener to all the things I had  forgotten. Its good though because there are lots of UFOs that I can finish and put up for sale. I have also discovered many of my beading projects from the last few years – I will get them all sorted and loaded onto my jewellery FB page. Some of these will be for sale too if any one is interested. I’ll reveal the page details when I have it all sorted. 🙂 Plenty of things suitable for gifts and perfect timing as Mother’s Day isn’t far off.

A customer brought her quilt in today for me to quilt. So I am busy with another on the machine at the moment. I like seeing what people are making. That’s inspiring in its way too. I especially love other people’s take on colours and patterns. I’ll put some photos up soon of these customer quilts. I’ll make a new page in the tabs for them.

Oh… just some housekeeping – we will be closed for the Easter long weekend. And Anzac Day as well.

It’s funny but I’ve been really looking forward to winter this year. I have ordered some hand-dyed yarn to knit myself a scarf. The lovely Belinda at Fairythread is doing a custom dye on some cotton for me in my favourite halloween colours. I’m still in the process of making my vintage halloween lap quilt for this chilly season.

I’m off now to do some more writing for my beading magazine.

Marni

Procrasti-sewing…

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What is procrasti-sewing?

Procrasti-sewing is sewing that I do when I don’t want to do what I HAVE to do. Such as my BAS. Like I was doing this week.

My poor brain had a bit of a rebellious meltdown and went ‘nah we are not doing this, go do some sewing!’

So I did, mainly because one does not argue with one’s brain. Especially when said brain is in that kind of mood.

So I’ve done some sewing – I have been (slowly) piecing a custom order. It is using a large drunkards path block and I’m am happy to admit I am not the best at curved piecing, so I am cheating (not really) and using a curved master presser foot. To see it in action click here. The colours for this quilt are lemon, lime, two-tone mid green and dark emerald green. I was laying out the pieces on the table at the shop and realised that this quilt is a couple of firsts for me – a curved design and a green quilt. I mean I’ve used green but not for the whole quilt.

I have also been making Frankie’s girlfriend Bridie.

She doesn’t look like much…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She really was a bit of a mess this morning but she is starting to look the part. I’ll finish her tomorrow after my new (shiny) toy arrives in the morning. I am SO excited. I will post pictures so you can all admire it with me.

Pin the fabric and trace 2 arms and 2 legs - and yes that is a monkey pencil....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week has been a mad rush of deliveries – there was fabric arriving left, right and centre. All the images have been uploaded to Facebook – there are still some technical issues with the shopping cart here on WordPress so any orders are still going through FB, etsy and hand-made.com.au. My apologies for the dramas!

 

Anyways – I am about to have dinner, bit of a rush dinner (because there’s things that need doing) of fish and chips.

Marni

Sometimes…

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I surprise myself sometimes. I make silly little toys like Frankie and the act of making something so simple and cute makes me feel better. Or at least distracts me from how I am currently feeling. Toys are good when I have quilters block or if I just don’t feel like sewing a big job but still want to do some sewing.

So on Thursday I made Frankie (his girlfriend still needs stuffing) and he made his appearance in the shop this morning. He came home with me on Thursday night because for some reason in the mornings I am not the most organised of people. I quite frequently leave things at home when I need them (coffee mug, toy fill, mobile phone). So when Frankie came home, he got stuffed (haha!) and mum stitched his head closed.

For those of you who don’t know me I am the most atrocious of hand sewers. Mum enjoys it so she gets the work. It’s not so much that I won’t do it (and believe me there are a few quilts with the bindings sewn by me that look like a drunk spider crawled across it) but I don’t like to do it. Hand-sewing is not my forte and I don’t push the issue.

So Frankie is part toy, part cushion – definitely in the spirit of Frankenstein’s monster. His girlfriend will be finished on Tuesday so I’ll upload some pics of her. Her name is Bridie.

I am going to make them up as patterns/kits so if anyone is interested please email me.

Here’s Frankie helping out at the shop today –

Frankie looking at the halloween quilt.

Helping on the till

Looking at the new fabrics - Bella Butterfly.

So this week – new stock is pending, some cute things and something for the bunting fans. Maybe even slightly Hipster. 🙂

Australia Day on Thursday – please note we are closed. Any public holiday we are closed.

I have orders to fill and quilt tops to stitch. 🙂 But that’s par for the course.

I am also looking at starting a swap – anyone interested please email me frankensteinsfabrics@hotmail.com – I will send you the information. It will be patchwork postcards made and sent (like to a penpal) every two months. Anyone can be involved and are more than welcome. The more the merrier.

I’m off to be now to read my book.

Marni