Tuesday 23 September 2014

A little creativity goes a long, long way

Busy busy, this weekend... Despite feeling like I've been hit by a truck, I still managed to cut out & sew the top of a Schoolhouse Tunic - this is such a great pattern, and pretty easy:



And of course I chose the most expensive fabric in the shop - really, who goes shopping for dress fabric in a quilt shop?  Me, of course.  Well, it's a Liberty Voile, in case you were wondering, and it's so soft... just beautiful.  I'm hoping to finish it on Saturday, to wear to Miss E's Baptism on Sunday.  Proud Father advises it's "smart casual", so I guess I won't be wearing my hat & gloves...

In other news, I took the Second Chance quilt in to be quilted - only to discover that they won't accept anything that's creased, and so I spent an hour ironing the 2m (6'5") X 2.5m (8'2") backing fabric:


It's a good thing this is for MGF Kaz, because I doubt I'd do it for anybody else.  Even Mr Golightly's shirts are the sort that don't require ironing.


Anyway, I have great faith in the quilter, who I'm sure will do a fabulous job, and I promise pictures will be posted before it goes off to the Hunter.

In other news, I have made more Bilbies - I keep selling them to friends and family, and so the numbers need topping up:





 I need to do some more work on the pattern for the bigger guys, because I'm still not happy with the shape.  This guy is made from some linen I bought at the Handmade Market two years ago (I think it's by Saffron Craig, so if you know, please drop me a note to confirm!), it's beautiful quality, and while I was rummaging through the boxes of red fabric to find a co-ordinating colour for the gusset, I found this beautiful lustrous Japanese cotton, with multi-coloured balls - and that's why this guy has purple eyes, to go with the interior of his ears.


This big guy nearly ended up in the bin - he's made from a really soft linen which is going to fray the minute you look at it, and I had to completely unpick the rear seam twice to get it right, and I'm still not happy enough with it to sell him.  He's going on the 'keep at home' pile. 



Which is where I am now, keeping at home.  Back to the office next week, and a return to normal.  Whatever that is.  Ciao!

Wednesday 17 September 2014

Can somebody stop me?

Well, Gentle Readers, I think it's Intervention Number 4.  It may be number 44 for all I can remember.  And what is it you're stopping me from doing?  Making these guys:





So far I've made 12 and there's no sign that I'm bored yet.  I've applied to have a stall at the Mona Vale Christmas Market, and I intend to sell these little guys, along with some fabulous fridge magnets made by Miss D yesterday and Monday - they look fabulous - she has such good taste, which is why she's my friend :-D



Yesterday I made the grandfather of all bilbies - I had the pattern sized up to 400% of original at a well-known office supply company, bought beautiful blue velvet and some grey polar fleece from the lovely Mr Fenner, and, three 1kg bags of stuffing later, here we are:


Yes, he's leaning slightly.  It's the leaning tower of Bilby.  You can see how big he is - the others pictured above are the medium size, which is 15cm/6" - the bigger guy, Mr Blue & Red is 19cm/7.5", and little Monkey-Face, who is about 10cm/4".  As I said to my good friend Miss JodieRicRac on Instagram (oh, wait, did I mention that I'm besties now with a celebrity?  Oh... well.  Hold onto your hats, Gentle Readers, there's so much excitement to come!!), it's like having a dog that doesn't need feeding or walking.

So.  Celebrity.  I went to Urban Stitches, the Parramatta one, not the Melbourne one, (more's the pity).  I had a great time, even though I was a singleton, because there were other lovely sewists there who also had no friends.  Who sew.  Yes, that's it.  Friends who sew.  We made things:


And I cut out and blanket stitched two legs of a fox.  I don't know how Miss Jodie does it, Gentle Readers, those tiny little legs and feet nearly sent me nuts, but anyway... The other two instructor/presenter/facilitators were Miss Mel, of Melly and Me, who gave me some excellent advice about publishing the pattern for the Bilby, and Rosalie Quinlan, who is a generally amazing woman.  Somewhere in the Ethernet is a selfie of Miss Jodie and me, and one day, when I'm very brave, I'll DM her on IG to ask her for a copy.  See?  Us besties can talk in code.  Can so too.

What else?  Fabric was purchased (of course), and eating and alcohol-free drinking went on.  Well, it was during the day... and I won a prize, a kit to make a felt teapot. Absolutely beautiful, and immediately added to the "maybe one day when I've got a broken leg" pile.  

Only complaints? - I'd only signed up for one day (there were two on offer), and the chairs got a bit uncomfortable after a while, which is absolutely nothing to do with the lovely organisers, and more to do with the Parramatta Novotel not understand the needs of sewists for a straight backed chair with support.

And I know, Gentle Readers, that you're wondering why I'm at home when I should be *insert music here* working for the man... working for the man... I had an operation on my nose, and I'm at home recovering.  No jokes about Joan Rivers, thank you.  And now?  Back to the Bilby Farm.  Ciao!
  


Tuesday 2 September 2014

Rolling along like a 50 cent piece

Not quite smoothly like a 20c piece, Gentle Readers, but still rolling along. What's been happening?  Mr Golightly went skiing for a weekend, for the first time in at least five years, and had an excellent time.  I think he's got a previously undiscovered talent for photography, because he took a couple of excellent photos of the snow, admittedly with his phone, but still very nice pics...




I spent the weekend in Melbourne with Mr Golightly's delightful Mother (aka my lovely MIL), which was excellent - we spent quality time with Master Two, Miss E, his lovely Mother, and a little bit of time with Mr K, his lovely Father (which was still quality time, but there just wasn't much of it!) and I discovered the Museum of Melbourne, which was amazing.... have you been, Gentle Readers?  Lots of taxidermied (is that even a word?) animals, arranged by continents, and placed so you can see how big they actually (were) are, before they were killed in the interests of science...

We also went to see the exhibition of Italian Masterpieces from the Prado, which was really interesting, but the catalogue for the exhibition was so big & heavy we both left (almost) empty handed.  Cards are the best souvenir when there's no tea towels available, if you ask me...

We wandered down to St Kilda Markets on Sunday morning, and I bought a couple of nice tea towels with a tram route printed on them - one for MBF Deb & one for MGF Kaz - more tea towels I don't need.  Other sorts of fabric... well... maybe.

I've discovered a new source, based here in Australia, and I'm busy exercising the Parcel Locker system, giving my new colleagues no end of amusement.  I don't care.  Fabric at a good price is good fabric, as far as I'm concerned, and it's an added bonus that it doesn't have to come from a(nother) foreign country before it gets to me.  So, I'm looking at you, Evil Alison - I've completely thrown away my vow not to buy any more fabric this year because not only are the deals excellent, the service is fantastic.  Plus she's signed up to read this, so I have to be nice... not that it's hard!

I've been getting a bit of traction of my Instagram account, which is nice, but I haven't had an Etsy order for yonks, and I'm wondering if I should move my shop over to one of the other possibilities?  I had a look at Shopify, but it was way too complicated... and I've already got a Big Cartel space, but I don't really use it - I had zero interest from it when I had lots of stuff listed... so.. what to do?

I'm thinking about selling the pattern for the Bilbies, on my Etsy page too.  There are lots of nice patterns out on the market, which seem to do quite well (well, I know I've bought a few!), so there's definitely room for one more... but I'm torn between focusing on getting stuff made for the market (7th December, come on down), and trying to do other crap like, you know, washing, putting away (I don't do ironing, no matter what!), cooking, tidying, life's little joys.

Here's 10 bilbies on the way:


and more later.

And now, it's 10.38pm, past the time small Golightlys should be in bed.  Ciao!