Saturday 28 April 2012

Make Baby Stuff

Make Baby Stuff

Goodness... just when you thought it safe to put the sewing machine away... you stumble on this outstanding lady with such imaginative sewing ideas and pretty much all created for and with mothers, pregnant, nursing, babies and toddlers....

Thank god I bought a stash of cotton today to make a dress for my angel... :-)

Thank you very much for sharing ... all I wanted was the doll one lol

Thursday 26 April 2012

Sugar and Spice = Cake....

So, today - despite being lethargic and very sleepy (mostly asleep through the day like a vampire), I opened my eyes this afternoon and remembered I have college tonight.
A new course, only 6 weeks, but new to me and just what I want to do, hands on and immediate results can be seen... Cake decorating... We did flowers this evening...

Roses, Mine Baby Blue, well the first one was blighted with disease, very poorly turned out,
My second, slightly less diseased, and getting there,
My third, well, what can I say, looks delightful, very pretty and rather too pretty to apply to the top of a cake for munching on.

What do I do? Historians tell how Icing statues and buildings were made to adorn dinner tables for 'posh' do's that the gentry held. These were so very intricate, very lifelike, very very edible, and very very expensive, so very beautiful that the shame was in the eating of it at the end of the meal...!

its a little bit like the ice sculptures that just melt away, or the sand monuments made on beaches by very talented artists, that most likely do it for either notoriety or for the kicks. Again, they can't last, they are a melting pot medium.  So the question begs to be asked, why?

Why create something so beautiful that can not possibly last and in reality will only be appreciated by a fixed audience who can see it in the flesh... all lose their story in photographic evidence, no finger prints or tell tale markings of the creator can be seen....

Do I enjoy making things that are not permanent? Why yes of course I do, It gives me pleasure to see an item go from a blob of sugar paste into a little perfect flower, that couldn't be created by anyone else because it has my markings, has my personality, and is my creation, for someone I know, and therefore someone I have a modicum of feelings for.

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Birthday Blues

Another year older.... another year none-the-wizer!!!!

What is my purpose here on this plane? erm collecting soo much fabric that our entire street can have eco-friendly insulating ...? Soo much fabric that I could keep us in cushions through here to eternity? Sooo much fabric... yeah you get the gist... 

In all honesty I don't know, I've reached supposed middle age, I don't reckon I am  middle aged, but timeline wise I am, and well what am I supposed to feel? If tired is one of the 'symptom's' then, well I have that, but that could be attributed to the four children, plus friends of children that run riot through our home at all hours, keeping us "young".., or it could be attributed to me still breast feeding our youngest, he is now just over 1 years old and still prefers to have my milk over and above any other kind of liquid. Give him a beaker of juice and he will take a mouthful, then dribble it down his front... much easier on the wash basket to have me feed him... oh and I get loads of cuddles too... ;-)

Well if truth be known, there is another year between me and middle age, but I think its going to take me that long to get used to the idea of being 40! :-(

Friday 20 April 2012

What do you do when you are alone with a sewing machine and fabric?

Surely the answer is simple... well actually it isn't THAT simple is it?


Too much fabric, too many projects and a bedroom that doesn't know what colour it is!!!! tonight, I make pillows to go onto our bed, we already have the pillows, its just the cases that I am trying to create. One problem maintains its plaguing.. I keep sewing the Zips in the wrong way, or on the wrong side, or back to front...and now, the thread has ran out of the bobbin and I don't have any matching that will go into the bobbin and not clog up! 


hrummph!"


I am not going to give up though! oh noooo, I will of course have a few nibbles of the Easter Eggs I have stashed in the fabric and stock cupboard and then eat my way through a big bowl of cereal and full fat milk and then, AND ONLY THEN, will I attempt the unattemptable and sew the blinking Zips in the right way and create a pillow case or two that look good enough to sell and therefore are good enough to go onto our bed! ;-)


Photo's will of course follow, though right now, I'm off to eat x

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Now thats stunning

Look at the work that has gone into this quilt, some of the pieces are so tiny that god only knows how this talent has learnt to piece them together. If anyone should go to quilty heaven it is this woman - Thank you for letting this piece out into the public domain, Paula. Ladies in America can see this in the flesh by visiting her exhibition at the Helfler Visiting Gallery at Endicott College-Center for the arts in Beverly, MA. Dates March 25 to June 16.. Not that I am jealous - much!!!!
(come to the UK Paula!!!! well Wales anyway x)

Kaleidoscope Quilts, one day maybe

Paula Nadelstern Well there's a talent for colour, design and geometry all in one fabulous outcome... This woman's work is truly inspirational, and one that I can only hope to attain with hard work and no children tugging at my trousers.


However, the children tugging at my trousers give me the whole reason to get up in the morning and keep going, climbing the ladder of depression. I think I'll keep the children then, would I ever have more? well actually yes I would, were I 10 years younger, fit physically and mentally and we had the money to buy a property large enough to fit a family as large as ours. That said I do know a woman who has had near 20 babies and they only have a normal 30's style semi-detached, which was a 3 bed when they bought it.... now there is an attic room, but all the same, its got to be a squeeze hasn't it? and 20? god imagine what that must do to your inners?? actually I'd rather not if I'm honest -


As for the quilting, that is one of the other reasons why I get up and go, fabric, hmmnnn its just so lovely to look at a piece of fabric and wonder what to do with it, its also a bind to then go to use it and find that you feel its too precious to use in that project! now we have a home packed with children and fabric and not enough storage space, my idea of a solution, put a sun room on the back, which would then become my work space, his indoors can then have this study as his 'work' space, and on top of the sun room, we can put some railings and make it a out door lounge for the summer months, with steps going to the garden - this also doubles up as a fire escape for the rear of the house as we don't currently have one.


People need to buy my BubbaGemz necklaces first, and the quilted items too, so come on people, I need to realise a dream here!

Friday 13 April 2012

Liberation Round 2 Part 2




This was in fact the easiest of all the parts I have done thus far..
the inspiration came from the bottom of my celebrations bits stash, known collectively as 'crumbs' by the girls on the Liberated circuit. I already had the crumbs sewn together, that part I did yesterday whilst coaching a n other doing her cushion. The hardest part was deciding what corners to put on each block, However, once that decision was made, the rest was easy as pie...

There you have it, two liberated crumbled blocks, ready for the next instalment, can I wait? Nope, even though I have many things to complete, There is always a little time for liberation x :-)

Thursday 12 April 2012

2 O'Clock and alls well;

phew, today is now tomorrow and what a day it has been... 


Babies up incredibly early, quick trip to a local petrol garage to see a Rugby international celeb; back home past the haberdashery shop and charity store to get some 'dust sheets' for our 6 gorgeous puppies to lay on... then erm well actually I can't remember exactly what we did, but know that myself and a n other have spent all day in the study making a cushion for her using a fantastic method of 'fabric art' -


We layered several fabric's, on top of each other,  then stitched around the outer edge to hold them all steady. A pattern was created on a piece of paper, which was then transferred onto tracing paper and then pinned onto the fabrics. The paper was stitched to the fabrics following the pattern that was drawn. Then chosing the layers at random, we cut through layers until a lovely layered picture emerged. No chance of perfection, no chance of perfect symmetry either. And the result was stunning, a great job done by someone who hasn't tried anything like that ever. She then embroidered her initials, again something she hasn't done, but my goodness her work is so very very neat and on the line it was as though she was a seasoned pro!


The final bit, create a pillow case or cushion in fact, for the art work to go onto, so using linen I attached the art work onto the linen and covered it with red/black organza and sewed it all up. the finishing touch were the three diamanté buttons adorning the back of the cushion... A job very well done, and though it took a while the outcome is fantastic.


Now onto the real deal... its two in the morning and I have just finished on line of crumb gathering... now I need sleep but after I have attached the pictures... :-)




 mayhem?

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Quilting Lady Saves the Day

Clare the quilting Queen

This beautiful lady has embraced the quilting ethos completely and utterly.  Quilts were initially made as 'keep sakes' for young women who are taking their passage into adult hood. Materials used are special outfits worn for occassions such as Christenings, brides maids outfits, first clothes etc so on and so forth.. these were done by a member of the immediate family and not a woman commissioned to do one.


Now it is the commissioned route, which is good for us, but that also detracts somewhat from the beauty of the love involved in the making up of the quilt, the memories that these 'dresses'  hold, the smells also carry so many memories alone. However, the woman who is at the header of this blog entry, Clare, OMG she has touched my heart so gently but deeply and did so without knowing it.


I have posted blogs regarding a young woman being murdered and leaving behind her two year old daughter. Clare upon seeing this has immediately offered to help out, that alone is fabulous, but what really makes her stand out from the crowd is that she also makes quilts for children with Leukaemia, (follow the link at the top of the page), How does one woman find the time to do all this? its obvious, she bends time! After all a deity can do such things can't they???


As a thank you I will spread the word to all I know regarding the work you do Clare, and see if we can get some blocks (if not quilts) working their way back to you x


Thank you for all your generosity and warmth x 

Sunday 8 April 2012

A day of productivity no less...

When all about lose their heads

I decide to keep mine, as the title would suggest I have been very productive, not only starting a project, but finishing that and a few more!

Could it be that I know realise that the blocks just won't get done by themselves? or the dresses just won't pull themselves together? or that the house won't get tidy or cleaned by anyone else? or ... whoah there!

All of the above, 

The blocks that I started to do for the liberated quilting round robin stage 1, do look lovely as they are, but as neat blocks they just aren't liberated enough, with a bit of advice and a shove from the organizers that be (in the shape of the next stage instructions) they are now done, all two of them, only two but thats enough for me (right now anyway)
original block prior to hacking up!

Block mid - re sewing with newly added bits.
The top of the block was also given a turquoise stripe, don't ask why, it just called me.

The second block to receive the attention of the day was this one
The beloved Cerise Butterfly - the out of focus photo doesn't do anything for it!


Now that's a change isn't it? totally unexpected and just by following my eyes and hands, my son directed the cut (he had a choice of straight across of diagonal), the first was the straight across on the left hand side, the other two were my own work, and what work its turned out to be...

The other item I started and finished in the same day - a lovely little dress for the young lady who's mother was murdered a few days ago, I saw a duvet cover of my eldest daughters. She has now out grown it, as she's no longer in her princess phase (shame really 'cause I loved getting her princessy things), anyway, I saw this dress inside the frame of the duvet pattern and out it came, I cut and pieced and managed to come out with a half decent design and dress, fit for a princess....

The front of her dress, the rose panel was down the front of the duvet cover, and the lined area was the frame surrounding the roses


Here you can see the collar, I had cut it a little too wide, but made it good by adding two elasticated straps to make it an off the shoulder type dress.

Finally the rear of the dress, well the collar of the rear anyway, this pattern is all the way down with no interruption apart from the lined hem around the bottom of the skirt. The button proved to be the most difficult part of the whole process! I delved through my entire button collection and ended up with a pink toggle, however, when I thought to check if it would actually allow the loop to come over and then open up the collar, it was too big! back to the drawing board and back to the first button I had selected.. Isn't that always the way?

This dress has truely brought back some lovely memories, and will hopefully give young Isabella some good memories too. She is young enough to make a clear recovery, but also young enough to forget who mummy was too, THAT is the saddest part.

Still, if you have anything you can give to a young lady who's nearly three and has lost her Mummy forever, then please do, message me and I will send you details of how to help.

Thanks ladies and gentlemen for taking the time to read x




Friday 6 April 2012

Young girl of murdered parents needs our help

There is a young girl (2 Yrs) whose parents have sadly been murdered.

She needs clothes and maybe toys sent to her as her belongings are in the flat where she lived, and clearly due to forensic's working hard in there - no one is able to get in to get her belongings.

Currently I don't have her name or address, but I know where I can get it. As soon as I know I will pass the details onto anyone who gets in touch with me via email
Thanks in advance,

janey@bagsocharm.co.uk

Quilting in a Fuzz...

pahhhh
piffff
Fiddlesticks...

I am making a quilt for a young baby whom should be the recipient of one of my breast feeding necklaces, However, the edging of this blinking quilt is proving to be particularly troublesome, and in fact is almost beating me... Looks like I may have to cut off the trim and bias and begin again
:-(
But
If I get to the finished product this side of his first birthday then I can't grumble can I?

If anyone can suggest options then I am open to all comers, Please,???

Wednesday 4 April 2012

Farcebook....

What a 'farce' Facebook' is turning out to be...
Social forums, to create links between people, areas, and advertise businesses... YOU THINK?
.
.
Despite not adding a friend for - erm I don't know how long - I have had a 14 day!!! block placed on me, thus rendering me unable to add friends, and I have only added people I have known, selling pages and or friends of friends, something everyone does...

So who has blocked me by doing this? Either a disgruntled relative for some rediculous reason, or maybe one of the selling pages, for reasons of? well a competative nature... Can that be right? wouldn't healthy relationships between people and creators etc be something we should be engendering as a newly cropped down world. Mrs Mctavish in Scotland is now closer to Johny Denimdrawers in USA than ever before..

The ladies in the Lib Quilting group are my 'friends' but I don't know them face to face, I know their names and their blocks (its a quilter thing), (a bit like dog owners knowing people by their dogs). Does that make the world a more competative place to live in? No it makes it a better educated world, people are more able to share ideas, these ideas then get translated into the way another would do it, this is then translated by another so on and so forth...

I wouldn't suggest this is a bad thing, not at all. My youngest daughter now has an array of Pillowcase dresses she wouldn't have had if not for the charity, dress a girl around the world. I used their influence, did some research and now can put a dress together without rummaging through pages of patterns. That is 'education' at its best, surely....?