Back to Stitching
18 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in Craft, Sewing Tags: Craft, Finished Projects, Handmade Shop, Sewing, Stitching
Today I visited our local, and quite well known, Handmade Shop to do a stitching workshop.
I have been shopping at the Handmade Shop since it opened and admired all the gorgeous things so many talented people had made. I’ve bought a lot of presents for various friends there. Over January they doubled the size of the shop and now have a space up the back to do workshops for 10 people.
When I saw that the first workshop was a stitching sampler & included learning to sew on a button I was thrilled and quickly registered to attend. I arrived at the right time, and just as it started. Disappointingly I hadn’t left enough time to grab a cuppa before the workshop, which I had been thinking about while driving into town.
Vanessa, the instructor, told us about her background which included a lot of crafty things, including making wedding dresses. She was very good at explaining slowly what to do & was very very patient. We started off with running stitch, followed by whip stitch (a personal favourite of mine) and then chain stitch. The last thing she showed us was how to sew on a button. The stitches were all familiar to me from the Prints Charming stitching workshop I did last year, but the refresher was very helpful.
I managed to finish my sampler:
I’m not particularly happy with the colours I chose, but the choices were limited when I was picking & the lady next to me quickly grabbed the pinks I had been admiring. But I finished it!
We also discussed with Vanessa other types of workshops we would like to do – so now I will be watching out for other interesting crafty things for me to learn.
Prints Charming
28 Mar 2011 4 Comments
in Craft, Friends, Sewing Tags: Sew It Together, Sewing, Stitching, unfinished projects
This last week has been a crazy whirlwind – moved house, struggled to meet work deadlines, dealt with banks and solicitors for way too much time and finally had an awesome trip to Sydney for the Sew it Together weekend!
SIT was amazing and I have so much to share and so many amazing sponsors and organisers to thank, but just wanted to share what is making me really excited this week.
On Friday I arrived in Sydney on the bus (3 1/2 hours with someone’s knees in my back, thanks for being so thoughtful fellow passenger) and caught a train into the city. I managed to get an early check in for my room (the only one of us staying there who managed that) and caught up with one of my favourite people, chaletgirl, and her very dear friend, Donna – someone who I have heard so much about over the last 6 years and had been very keen to meet. We had lunch and then headed off to catch a bus with 15 other women to hit fabric shops in Sydney.
Not being a huge fabric shopping fan (apart from eyeing off how beautiful some of it is) I was expecting a trip in which I would be able to spend some time with my friend and enjoy watching her participate in one of the many areas she excels. The first stop was Remnant Warehouse and their Fat Quarter Friday (2 fat quarters for the price of one). Who can resist a bargain???
Next stop, after being fortified by the very brilliant snackpacks provided by Donna, was the beautiful Calico & Ivy at Balmain. I admired the fabric and how gorgeous the store was, and then snuck off to do some browsing & shopping in downtown Balmain.
The third and final stop was Prints Charming – the most amazing place! All the girls present converged on a table near the front where there were baskets filled with scrap packs of the screen printed fabric created by the very talented Prints Charming ladies. It was an absolute feeding frenzy – all the packs were sold, Sheri missed out & so will need to take a trip back.
About half the people present then caught a bus back to the city, but a very lucky group of us stayed to do a stitching workshop with Kirsten & Cath. And it was awesome – the highlight of my weekend (apart from meeting some very talented people). We were shown how to do some stitching & then Kirsten came around to assist each person as they required. Being a beginner stitcher I needed a lot of help! I was also very lucky to sit where I did, and was surrounded by other talented ladies who assisted me to keep going.
And this is what I achieved over the weekend:
I am loving the stitching I have done & just need to work out, once my little bird is complete, how to turn it into a cushion without destroying all my hard work. Loos has laid claim to the completed pillow to replace his very tired and torn cushion he sleeps with each night – so my incentive to actually complete this is to make a little boy happy!
Thank you Cath & Kirsten, and also to Megan & Bronwyn who patiently assisted me when I was struggling. And also to Renae for teaching me how to do Lazy Daisies on Saturday.
Something is finally finished!
13 Mar 2011 3 Comments
in Craft, Sewing Tags: Craft, Finished Projects, Sew It Together, Sewing, Stitching
Over the last few weeks I have been a bad blogger – never seems to be enough hours in the day to sit down and write something. My house has been sold, I have bought a new one & the moving process starts next weekend. So I have been flat out dealing with solicitors, real estate agents, builders, painters and everyone else who needs to involved in a move as well as starting to pack!
As well as moving I am also planning a quick trip to Sydney for a special event – Sew It Together, organised by my incredible friend Chaletgirl! As part of Sew it Together I decided to take part in the name tag swap – a very ambitious project for me given that I have never finished anything, let alone made something for someone else!
So here is the completed product, which I know has arrived:
My photography skills are excellent here as you can see by the shadow over the name badge! I felt a bit sorry for the recipient in that she was receiving something made by an very much beginner, as opposed to some of the beautiful work done by others.
So this time in 2 weeks I will be sitting on a bus on my way home after a hopefully wonderful weekend away where I will have seen some old friends and made some new ones, as well as meeting some amazing people whose blogs I regularly enjoy!
And thanks to my other wonderful friend Narelle for helping me to work out how to make a name badge!
Kelli
I finished!!
23 Jan 2011 2 Comments
in Craft, Sewing Tags: Craft, Finished Projects, Quilting, Sewing, Stitching
12 blocks for my friendship quilt all stitched. Not a great photo, but then my camera isn’t that great either. It has taken me nearly 10 months to get to this stage. A lot was done quite quickly, but then everything ground to halt as the rest of the world took over, I dabbled with some knitting & tried out a sewing machine for the first ever time. I really enjoyed doing this stitching, it was something I had never done before, but definitely something I will keep doing. Have just started my next project – stitching some Prints Charming panels that my dear friend gave me for my birthday last year.
Now to start the next stage – need to catch up with the lady who started me on this, who I think is probably the busiest person I know!!
Zumba!
28 Oct 2010 2 Comments
in Craft, Exercise, Friends, Sewing, Weight Tags: 12WBT, Craft, Quilting, Sewing, Stitching, unfinished projects, Weight Loss, Zumba
For the last three weeks I have been going to Zumba classes at Salsambada – once a week on Tuesday evening. I have managed to juggle babysitters, get dinner organised before I go and head off for me time.
I was very apprehensive about going – I had heard it was fun, but it looked like it needed co-ordination, something I certainly don’t have. I managed to convince a couple of friends to come with me and we headed off to the Serbian Club.
To my surprise it was so much fun. A whole hour to myself, dancing (which deep in my heart is something I would love to do & look at salsa dancing very wistfully) and exercising without realising. I didn’t think I would be able to keep up, and certainly didn’t think I would be fit enough. But all these morning workout sessions have achieved something – while I sometimes feel tired, and sometimes have a stitch I can make it through the whole hour.
The best thing about where I am going is that there are 3 or 4 instructors. So lots of people to watch and people to help. They do it slow and then speed things up – you can go at your own speed to a certain extent. The instructors also teach Salsa so they know the steps well. And they look like they enjoy it too!
This week my friend and I both felt like we put a whole lot more effort in as we are getting better at being able to manage the footwork. So instead of taping our feet we are doing kicks. And keeping in time with the music.
Zumba is my new friend, and hopefully one I will continue on with into next year, and not finish with once 12wbt is over.
In other news, today I paid my deposit for Sew it Together next year. I feel like a bit of a fraud as I still haven’t finished any sewing projects or even the practice knitting project. So I had better get moving on my last block, finish cutting out the material for my quilt top & sew it together and then get started on some of the embroidery projects I have. I am really looking forward to it, just need to get myself together!
Kelli
Some Stitching
24 Apr 2010 3 Comments
in Sewing Tags: Family, Knitting, Quilting, Sewing, Stitching
This is part of my first ever attempt to create something involving sewing. This is the 7th block I have completed for a friendship quilt my pastor’s wife is teaching me to make. So far it is fairly simple – trace a picture & then backstitch around the outline. I have found it to be really relaxing to sit down in front of the TV & sew, something I thought I would never say.
I don’t really know how all these blocks are going to end up as a quilt and so I will be needing lots of guidance and teaching.
Sewing is something totally beyond anything I have ever done before. I have knitted a scarf for myself, and have half a scarf knitted for one of my boys, but that is all very simple knitting. Nothing tricky there & I need Mums help to finish off. I plan on picking up the half finished scarf soon and finally getting it finished.
I feel all thumbs when I pick up something needing to be cut, drawn or sewn. Nothing ever ends up straight and is often quite wonky, something I think is very obvious from the picture above. I have also hated sewing in the past – couldn’t see the value in putting all that time into something. But now I understand. It is very calming, keeps hands too busy to pick at food and keeps the mind quietly ticking over in that down time.
I truly hope I have found a new hobby. I have a few other projects to be started and I will be roping in lots of people to teach me.
I have organised with my Mum to borrow the sewing machine which she has in the cupboard. She borrowed it from my Grandmother and has never used it. Problem is I need to learn how to use that too. You can see how much sewing is done in my family by how often this sewing machine has been used. Mum even mentioned to me that she was worried about opening the box it was in in case there is a nasty surprise as it has been so many years since it was even looked at, let alone used.
Sometimes I really wish that sewing had of been one of my Mums passions and she had taught me when I was much younger. I envy those people who were taught how to do these things at home and don’t have to struggle to learn new skills as an adult.
I figure if I manage to finish this quilt and learn to use a sewing machine, then maybe I could actually buy some of the fat quarters I have been drooling over and do something useful with them!
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