Ahem

Please excuse this brief interruption while I do battle with blogger to change this bleeping header. Don't know what stuff-up I'm doing, but the display always comes up grainy. Grrr!!!

Everything should be back in order in a day or two.

Ciao!

Edit: Hey! That doesn't look half bad at all. Huge thanks to Amisha for pointing me in the right direction. If anyone else needs a hand with changing the banner in blogger, the tutorial is right here.

Another day, another tote

While I took a break from the tedious cutting of fabric for the "monza" quilt, I whipped up this small-ish tote this afternoon during the bub's nap. This bag is for my 12 year-old cousin's birthday this weekend. She's just starting to get into fashiony stuff and its meant to go with a light blue dress that my mum got her.

Ever since making the colourful hot air balloon tote, I've had some good feedback from fellow bloggers and my family. My sister actually requested a similar bag for her birthday next month. And since March is the busy-birthday month for us, I'll be keeping occupied churning out the presents.....giving me an excellent excuse for the crafting, he he he.

You wouldn't know it, but that birdie applique was giving me some serious grief. Anyway, its beginning to grow on me....to the point where I think its kinda cute.

Patchy patchy

First the quarter blocks......just to test out if I like the look.



After discarding two other quarter block combinations (they're in the scrap box), I've settled on the ones above.

Now, when I picked out this quilt pattern I thought, hey this is simple....no sweat, easy peasy. Not quite so! The devil, I soon found out, was in the cutting. The background fabric had to be cut so that the grain was in a certain direction, and then there's all of those round edges.

Result is everything and I mean every piece has been cut individually. I haven't figured out a way to cut a pile of the pieces in one hit, yet. If you have a suggestion, please let me know.

Fortunately, the first complete block is a pretty as I thought it would be. It might actually be worth all the fuss. One down, eleven more to go!

One last thing, I've added a block count-off or count-down on the sidebar, just so you know how near (or far) I am to finishing this quilt top. Such is the hold this project has on me right now. Once I committed to the blogosphere on this here quilt, I have to carry on. I'll show you the quilt again once its finished, hopefully before winter starts.

Illustration Friday - Communication

Two cans (or plastic cups will do, too) and a piece of string are all you need to have fun. I remember playing with these when I was a very young lass. And if you both hold the cans so the string is nice and taut, it won't matter how long or how far from each other you are.

Just do it

Ever have one of those weeks where at the beginning it feels like you have all the time in the world. Then everything (and I mean lots of things) happens and all those lovely lazy feelings come tumbling down with reality rearing its ugly head.

Okay, here's what happened - I send the geezer off to soccer practice Tuesday evening thinking, ho hum, I've got some me-time and lots of crafting for the rest of the week, as I had sufficiently convinced myself that I can now start the humungous quilt top. Anyways, he came back too soon limping and in agony due to a bad achilles ankle injury from soccer, of course. So, from Wednesday until today we've been in and out of doctors and chemists (drugstores, for the folks in the US), and I've been looking after essentially two babies. The poor geezer now needs a set of crutches to get around and he's lapping up all the attention from me. Its now "Darling, can you please get me a glass of water?" or "Darling, can you please do me a favour?" or "Darling, can you please hand me my mobile phone?".........and on and on and on. You imagine the rest.

Of course, there is also the "real" baby to look after and thankfully, she's still working on a timetable. So, aside from THAT major drama a few other opportunities presented themselves, which I can't really say much about at the moment, but suffice to say there will be interesting times in this household in the next few weeks. Lots of fun and mayhem to come.....a source of some blogging amusement, for me anyway. Hence the motto of this week is - just do it!

In between of all the headless chook running, I finally finished this stuffed kitty for a little girl's birthday present - pattern from Wee Wonderfuls.....


....and I'm about to cut into some beautiful Freshcut fabric to make a queen size version of Eclectic which you can find on this site. Wish me luck!

Delaying tactics

Yep! The sewing machine was wasting away and with all of those unfinished projects weighing heavily on my mind, I started another project.

This has been in the works, theoretically so to speak, as soon as I saw this fabric at the bargain bin.

Something easy, that I can start...

...and complete in the space of a couple of hours.

I'm feeding my anal tendencies. Now that the sewing table is nice and neat, maybe I can actually start the huge queen quilt top (sez moi, biting my lip).

The cool catalogue card was from here, as borrowed from Tumbling Blocks.

Illustration Friday - Gravity

The GRAVITY of her situation had set in......Sally was locked out and mummy wasn't going to be back for hours! Pen and ink on a page in my sketchbook.

Signs of procrastination are revealing themselves in the studio *ahem* sunroom. I was being a busy bee cleaning and organising my boxes......

....trying to ignore the unfinished projects and making labels instead.

Other art on my walls

After a fun-filled weekend, today is reserved for some me-time....or as much time I could manage with the bub literally glued to my hip. Camera in hand, we walked around the small flat looking for today's blog fodder.

Flower and ink etching, late 1999, by Joseph Austin (from his studio near Salamanca Market in Hobart)



Vortex, 2002, by Geri Taylor, ink block press (from her stall at the Central Coast art market some years back)

Lotus mandala, 2001, also by Geri Taylor, oil painting on canvass (same art market as before)

I've always had a soft spot for original art, so whenever I had some dosh to spare off it went to getting some wall adornments. I'd like to show you some more, but the rest are in some dimly lit spots and are just being stubborn at the moment. So another day, perhaps.

Also this past weekend, we went to visit my mum. It had been a while since she last saw the bub and we were already out on the road, the weather was good, I didn't want to stay indoors...yadda yadda ya. Inspired by this recent post from Moonstitches' lovely blog and last week's visit to the craft show, I raided mum's wool remnants and came away with this box of potential....stuffies, pincushions, tote bags....lots of potential in there. Didn't I tell you my mum is the original fabric hoarder from way back? And she lets me raid her stash once in a while. That was my morning, sorting and folding the wools, houndstooths, tweeds and other whatnots.

Now I must refill my cup and be like a potato on the comfy couch. Ciao!

The boohbah's footsies

Ta da! The last of the eight for the summer studio challenge "the bub's tootsies", 25"x25" painting in oils on gallery wrapped canvass. Phew! A bit more high-brow than the few I've been doing lately, but still lots of fun.


Wouldn't you know it, but painting is actually my first love....even before I discovered boys. I love oil painting and I wish I could make a living out of it. I find it hard to part with paintings, can't bear to give them away. I feel that I've vested so much of myself into each one, that handing it out is akin to cutting off my arm or leg. But, I'll have to seriously look into it sometime soon, as the pile of artwork behind the living room door is now cramping our style.

This is another one I started today, the next massive high-brow...just the first layer, and my first abstract ever. I already know how it looks like in my mind. What you see below is missing at least about four more layers, if not more.

Promise to show some crafting next week!

Tweak

After posting the robot painting yesterday, I saw a different perspective and I wanted to touch it some more. So touch it I did......now I'm happy!

Don't know about how it looks on the blog site, though. Inferior light and inferior camera...humpf!

I am a geek

What with it being the "big V day" and all, what do you get when these have been your inspiration for the last few weeks?


A lovesick robot!........see, I told you I'm a geek.

"If I were human", acrylic paint on 5"x7" canvass board and #8 on the summer studio challenge. Woo hoo! I'm thinking that its now finished, but I might still tweak it later on.

Back on the "big V day", the geezer took me out for a nice romantic night out yesterday. We're not usually the lovey-dovey sort. I think I'm too pragmatic and he's too much of a goofer. Anyway, there was mussels bucatini in cauliflower and olive sauce, lightly panfried baby octopus and for dessert, winter berry pannacotta. Mmmm, all very scrummy! I love the man who knows his food, the restaurant was his choice. Well done, mister geezer! Then, it was back to the real life and we picked up the grubby bub from her grandparents. So there you go, a nice and sweet "V day". Hope all of yours are as nice, too!

I'll leave you with a tableaux of unfinished craft projects. I'm itching to get back to it now. Ciao!

Getting on the pouch bandwagon

I've seen a heap of fabric pouch tutorials in various blogs, with one of the best at AfricanKelli's blog. It's very easy to follow and she's got excellent commentary to go with the photos. Sewing the zipper wasn't too big a drama, either. Phew!

I've put my own spin on the pouch by turning it into a wristlet and stamping the name of the soon-to-be new owner on the front, on cotton twill tape with my newly acquired fabric stamp pads.

In the spirit of handmade gift-giving for this year, I whipped up this pouch for a friend who's about to have her second baby. As you all know, the new baby usually gets a truckload of pressies while the mum, who's done all the hard work is sometimes forgotten. One of my friends gave me a handbag when I just had the grubby bub, which gave me this idea. Anyway, I'll just slip this among the parcels and hope she gets a nice surprise.

Illustration Friday - Crash

CRASH!....and the prized heirloom plate broke into a thousand pieces. It was the cat that did it! No really!

Quick post

Well, what do you know? Its dark and its late....and the rest of the flat are in snooze-land. Typical!

I had a great time with my mum today roving the exhibitors' aisles at the Stitches & Craft Show. I'm now very inspired and plotting new projects for the rest of summer. Got my craft notions box replenished, replaced my tatty old cutting mat....and finally found some fabric stamp inks. I've been searching everywhere for these, but it appears the ass end of the world is again behind the times as there was only one tiny stand stocking them. Ditto for those funky fabrics you see on eQuilter.

Anyway, just thought to show the bag I made for my swap partner since she has now received it and is loving it to bits! Yay! And here tis......

....complete with dotty insides!

The Next Trio

I have something to confess....I'm addicted to Etsy! I was doing my own thing yesterday, restraining myself from the computer, because you know I was actually painting. And anyway after the three blog posts the other day it would just appear bizarre to be adding another so soon. Besides I had nothing much to add here, except a heap of boring stuff.

So I allowed myself a sneak peak at the machine after two hours of solid painting (almost burnt the bub's food!!!) and surfed right on to etsy. No joke! Under 5 minutes I had already racked up 2 purchases, realised what had happened and then I had to unpack my cart.

Anyway, there were a lot more lovelies left, which I'd earmarked, but I'm going to have to ban myself from etsy for the rest of the month.

Onto the actual post topic, I finally finished the set of small canvasses that were languishing on the work table....I had neglected them because I couldn't figure out the colours. For want of a better title, they're called "I love my teddy 1", "...2" and "...3". They're painted on 5"x7" canvass board in acrylic and ink.

Okay, accomplished #3, #4 and #5 for the summer studio challenge. Yay!

I think they look better bunched together!

The Bub's Tootsies

Well, this has got to be a record.......three blog posts in one day! Yeah, while the housework (what housework?!?!) goes out the door.

Just letting the folks at AAF know that I haven't forgotten the challenge and I'm still beavering away with the paintings. So here's my in progress work for #7. I posted about #6 here, and #3, #4, #5 are still being worked on. That's what happens when you do several at once.

This was what it looked like yesterday.


Then after the 4th layer this afternoon. Light's quite poor inside the studio and there was a thunderstorm raging outside at the time, so its much more yellow hued than it should.

I'll be finishing this next week, as I suspect I'll be sick of it by then.

Mailbox love

I love getting mail....since I'm more or less house bound nowadays, a lot of my shopping vices are done via the "great" internet and post delivered. First off, I received these two amazing prints from Lara of Kirin Notebook from her etsy shop. Such amazing artwork and quality!

And for the big surprise package was this beauty from Jennifer whom I met via the January tote bag swap organised by One Hour Craft. I love the bright colours! And its just the right size for string hopping (that's code for shopping). Would love to do another swap with you, Jennifer, whenever you want. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Now as the tote bag I made for my swap partner is still in transit I can't post a picture of it yet. So everyone hang tight. Okay, I'm off to figure out how to upload photos to someone else's flickr account. Then later, painting all afternoon at the studio class. Yay!!!

Illustration Friday - Sprout

Sally sprouted wings when she least expected....causing her to hide behind the wall from her friends. Nobody knew she was an angel in disguise.

As before, pen & ink on paper after the initial pencil sketch. Had a difficult time figuring out what to draw for this week's theme. I just kept seeing brussel sprouts in my mind, and that's just not my favourite vegetable.....yuck!

Also for the crafty bunch among you, Flibbertygibbet is hosting round two of the fabric swap she had last month. As usual I got there late and missed out last time. Being a fabriholic (yes I admit it!), I'm not going to let it pass me by again this time. Surf on here if you feel like taking part.

Playtime (for me)

What started out its life of "toyness" as this wee bed......



... became this after some apple green coating and some new bed clothes.

And now for the actual test!

Still crafting and playing me! Back to the work table now .... and more blog world lurking.

Procrastination

It seems that I'm always finding ways to avoid house work nowadays and spend time reading all of your blogs or updating my own. Sometimes to the detriment of my art *gasp*. Sad, but true! So I'm going to give myself a huge kick in the butt and get a move on with the list of projects that need doing.

1) These have been in the same state for a week (or more?) now and need to be finished. I'm giving myself a deadline of 14 days from now to make them presentable.


2) Finish the purple kittie stuffie, it still doesn't have a face?!

3) Start designing and putting together the piece for this swap

4) Start piecing the humungous quilt top for the geezer and me

5) Start cutting and making two birthday presents

6) Finish this painting of the bub's footsies

7) Lastly, a secret project for the bub which will be revealed in good time.

Now I'm going to retire to the couch with a cup of chai and be like a potato for a bit. These bits of eye candy will be keeping company.

As an aside, I have a huge pile of back issues of Real Living taking up space and waiting to be decluttered. Its an aussie home decoration mag. Don't know if its available overseas. Would anyone be interested in swapping old decorator/craft magazines with me?

Here's some more pages from a previous issue, November 2006.

Edit: I just asked the geezer to look into how much postage to everywhere else around the world would be for magazines cos they're heavy, right.....and geeze louise! Okay, I don't really have the dosh for this at the moment, being a full-time mum - so instead of landfill it'll all just have to go to the local freecycle. Declutter, declutter, declutter!