Crazy Patch As Promised!

A few posts back, I shared some photos of some of my stitching treasures with you - including some yummy antique laces. My blogging buddy Judy suggested maybe I should try my hand at some crazy patch blocks and incorporate some of my laces. Well ... it just so happens that I actually already HAVE 12 crazy patch blocks all sewn and partly embroidered, so I don't think I'll be making more soon, but I promised Judy I'd share some photos.

About 5 years ago (Maybe more?!?!) I attended a weekend workshop with well known Australian Quilter Robyn Ginn - who also happens to be a family friend who took a lot of our wedding photos for us ... but that's another story!! Robyn usually makes 'story quilts' using her own (much simpler!) version of needle-turn applique, but she went through a bit of a crazy patch phase, which led to her creating some MAGNIFICENT crazy patch quilts, winning a number of quilting awards with them and teaching lots of crazy patch classes. Robyn's crazy patch quilts are works of art - you can look at them for DAYS and still find something new every time you look! She just incorporates so much GORGEOUS embroidery, beautiful buttons and lots of lovely symbolism. So ... that's when I made up my blocks and started the embroidery. Yes, this is one of my very WISPy WISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSPs!!! :0)


I love the grape vine on the right of this block and the wreath towards the top. And do you see that little bear on the blue satin background? Cute, huh?!!


I haven't done a lot of embroidery on this block, but love the shiny variegated thread I used to do the big leafy things on the right - I've saved the photos at a bigger size than usual so you can click on them to see the details a bit clearer.



There's a "K" for "Kris" on the left there, and I love how the peacock feathers came up on the right. I also love the effect of the multi-coloured fly stitches up the top there. Robyn showed us this little trick - each time you finish some embroidery somewhere and have just a little length of thread left, pop in a few random fly stitches. With all the different colours, over time, it builds up into a really cool rainbow effect.


There's an "S" for my Sweetie - Scott. And I love how the Sturt's Desert Peas came up in that top section - a native flower here in Australia that is truly spectacular to see in person.


I love the effect of the block on the left - using three lazy-daisy stitches, I created a leaf shape and then did them in all different autumn tones - looks like a tree dropped all it's autumn finery, doesn't it! And I was really happy with how the strawberries came up at the top there, as well as the lavender bush to the right.


Another "K" for "Kris" and can you see the crazy cows to the right on the green background? I embroidered them rows of stocks flowers to munch on.


Here's a green 'spring' version of the leaf effect, on the right, and a spray of fuchsia's at the top left that I was really happy with how they came up.


This is the large sample version of a crazy patch Christmas stocking for a class I taught at our church craft group some years ago. This stocking is about 50cm long, so once I actually FINISH it, Santa will be able to put LOTS of goodies in there for me!! All of the embellishments are finished - I just have never got around to putting a backing and binding on this. Maybe I need to make this one of my finishes for the OPAM Challenge!!


And this is the smaller version of the Christmas stocking, only about 20cm long, so not so many gifties will fit - though small, shiny jewellery boxes would fit nicely! Tee! Hee! Hee! This one, too, just needs the back and binding done - I really should do that!! I think I put off finishing these because I was trying to work out whether I wanted to line them or not, but perhaps I just need to do backing and binding to get them finished!

So ... there you go Judy! That's some of my crazy patch blocks (I have a few more with the piecing done, but no embroidery yet). I loved working with these blocks - I love the depth of colour and textures of the satins, velvets, brocades and silks that I worked with - I particularly wanted to get that rich, exotic and luxurious "harem" kind of feel about them, which I think I achieved. Of course, there is so much more embroidery to do on them that I may be a little grey-haired old lady before I ever get to snuggle under my Harem quilt, but that's part of the fun of stitching!

I did manage to finish a long-term project yesterday, but it's a secret squirrel one for now, so can't show you yet, but will do so once it reaches it's new home. OPAM gals, don't forget to UPDATE your sidebar lists of your finished projects for April and if you have a chance to email May Britt or I with the number of projects you've finished this month, that would be great too. May Britt will be choosing this month's winner, so stay tuned!! And now ... I'm off to find a pair of snuggly socks, cos autumn is starting to make itself known here on top of our hill (you know, that little series of 'hills' we like to call The Great Dividing Range! Tee! Hee! Hee!) and my toesies are feeling a bit icy. Hmmm ... Karen sent me a SUPER pair of stripey socks in the SSCS, so I think it's time to give them a test drive! Stay warm and til next time - Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

Friday Fun With Friends!

Friday dawned (much earlier than I think a day off really should!!) bright and sunshiny with just a hint of winter in the air. The perfect day to pack myself up and drive down the hill to Brisbane to catch up with my bestest buddy, Lynette, for a play date! So ... off I toodled!

After some delays due to some roadworks and an accident where a little white hatchback discovered that bumping into the back of a 4WD was like a mouse trying to move an elephant (no one was badly hurt!) ... I arrived on Lynette's doorstep and we began plotting our path to visit another friend ... the Lovely Lilly Linda at Lilly Cottage!! YAY!! Double play date!!

We managed to get ourselves to Old Petrie Town without taking any detours or scenic routes (a minor miracle, we decided!) and proceeded to spend a very pleasant few hours with Lilly Linda and her Mum, sitting under their shady tree admiring the pleasant atmosphere and soaking up the serenity! "Smell that Serenity!" (Had to include that for all the Aussie film buffs! Tee! Hee! Hee!) Here we are, enjoying our morning ...


I'm the short one in the middle! SIGH!! Can you see ... Linda and I have matching hair colour at the moment!! :0) And look at all those treasures in the background - bet you could play Find It Friday with this photo!!

It was such a relaxing way to spend several hours - drinking coffee and eating fresh-cooked yummies from the Bakery two shops down (I can recommend the custard tarts and Lynette looooooved her caramel tart!!) and generally forgetting the rush and bustle of everyday life - at least for a while! The only drawback was Linda's 'good luck' run-in with some local wildlife! Tee! Hee! Hee!

And, of course, a visit to Lilly Cottage isn't complete without some serious retail therapy!!! Here's Lynette showing us why she should be Australia's next top model! (She'll probably hurt me if she reads that! Tee! Hee! Hee!)



Lynette was better behaved than I was ... here are my new Lilly Cottage acquisitions ...


I fell in love with this GORGEOUS shabby chic mini food safe and the lavender-scented wheat bag will be great not only for soothing sore necks and backs, but also warming cold toesies as the nights get cooler!! Here is where the little safe is living at the moment ...


Here it is in our lounge room, the perfect platform for Elegant Ella to stand on and look gorgeous!

Thank you so much for a FABULOUS morning of fun, laughs ... and yummy baked treats ... Lovely Linda! We had a wonderful time and hope to plan a return trip in the not-too-distant future! Who knows, next time we visit, we might even get around to seeing what ELSE is at Old Petrie Town! Tee! Hee! Hee! If you find your self in the vicinity of Old Petrie Town and Lilly Cottage - or want to plan a relaxing excursion, I can HIGHLY recommend it!! And if you're too far away for an 'in person' visit, pop in to visit Lilly Linda to see her GORGEOUS goodies - she has some SERIOUS eye-candy in her shop and shares LOTS of photos on her blog!!

So ... there you go! That's how I spent my Friday! What could be a better way to enjoy our mild Autumn weather than a fun-filled play date with friends! Hope you've had a great weekend - I'll be back in the next day or so with another sneaky peek of my quilt-in-progress and to share some crazy-patch photos that Judy wants to see. OPAM gals - don't forget to send your end-of-month reports to May Britt or me in the next few days! Til next time - Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

We Will Remember Them ...

In Loving Memory of Edward (Ted) Paten who served in WWII in the tropics of New Guinea.

My Gramps.

"At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,

We Will Remember Them."

Vintage Stitching Stuff!

That's a very TECHNICAL term for what I'm going to share in this post, of course! Tee! Hee! Hee! A few days ago, Julie over at Provincial Patch shared how she placed an ad in her local paper telling folks she was wanting to buy/adopt vintage sewing paraphernalia (big word!!) and she showed some photos of a few of her stitching treasures. I mentioned in passing that I had a little collection of stitching treasures, too, and Julie encouraged me to share ... so ...!

While I've bought a few of the things in the following photos, most I've inherited from someone or other over the years. My mother says I'm a born pack-rat ... I prefer the term ... COLLECTOR! :0)


Don't you love the tin?! I was given this tin by a friend when we lived in Bourke - they'd bought a house from an elderly lady who was returning home to the USA after living in Bourke (in that house!) for about 50 years and so she was travelling light and left a LOT of 'STUFF' in the house. This tin and another box were full of BUTTONS!! Some were pretty ordinary, some were quite old and some were really pretty and detailed. I actually gave quite a few to a fellow quilter who collects buttons - before I really appreciated what a treasure I had and started adding to it! I have wonderful memories of playing with Mum's button bottle as a child ... and that fascination still stands! Tee! Hee! Hee!


Here is part of my ric-rac collection - some of these are still on their original cards and several are a mix of two colours - pretty!


Here are some of my vintage laces. I love the wide, white crochet lace on the right - I have a length of about 2m of it that I will one day find just the right project for. The dark ivory lace is so soft and intricate, but one of my favourites is the piece on the left - I think it was once a cuff from a piece of vintage clothing - before you hang me ... I didn't remove it, I bought it in a bundle of old laces as it is.


Hmmm ... sorry this one's a bit blurry, but you can see that its my collection of wooden cotton reels. Most of the cotton is pretty useless to use, as it snaps off very easily - makes a nice little display on my pedal sewing machine, though!! :0)


Here are a couple of my big wooden spools. They are part of the collection of 'bits' that go with my little Thumbelina spinning wheel. And that isn't a magic mushroom, it's a darning mushroom that belonged to my beloved Geek Boy's grandmother - looks pretty good with my spinning wheel bits!


I don't know if you can see much in this photo, as my camera is pretty basic and doesn't do close-ups very well. Here are a couple of packets of old needles in their original packaging - good strong needles, too, I might add! And with them are a couple of little treasures that, again, came from GB's grandmother. Here's a better photo ...


The top treasure is a little travel sewing kit. You can't see it in the photo, but the picture on is is London Bridge and it has "London" written on it. The thimble screws onto the tube to act as the lid and inside is a cute cotton reel that has a hollow centre to store a needle or two. The other little "thing-a-ma-bob", I've been told, would have held wax to run thread through to stop it tangling and help it run through the fabric easier. Does anyone know if this is in fact what it would be?

So ... there you go, some of my sewing treasures. It's a nice link to have these vintage sewing bits and bobs, as it gives me a sense of connection to the stitchers who've come before me - some family members, some not. I wonder what stories these treasures could tell if only they could talk?!?! Pop over and have a look at Julies ever-growing collection of vintage sewing treasures, too - it's well worth a peek!

Back to some present-day stitching! Til next time - Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS

A Present, Prizes & A Peek!!

Well ... it's been over a week since I popped into blogland to chat (well, on MY blog, anyways!!) and it's been a very busy week - which explains my absence! We headed three hours north west for Easter to my home town of Mundubbera to spend the long weekend with my folks and had a WONDERFUL weekend! We didn't do very much at all, really, except relax and kick back. There was a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle on the table that we all worked on throughout the weekend here and there, we watched a few movies, ate lots of Mum's home cooking, read and I managed to do some stitching on my quilt-in-progress. (more on that later in the post!) All in all, it was a lovely way to spend Easter and since Scott had this week off work, my boss told me to take Tuesday off if I liked, to travel back and avoid the Easter traffic - I have a terrific boss! :0) So, then of course it was a case of playing catch up - at work, unpacking (partly!), washing, washing ... oh and some more washing!! We had friends stay in our house over the weekend while we were away, so ... more sheets and towels etc. Plus, there always seems to be loads of washing to do after being away - not sure how that works - do we wear more clothes while we're away?!?! One of life's little mysteries - right up there with where to pens disappear to when you need them in a hurry and what happens to the second sock when you put a pair in the washing machine and only one comes out?!?! Please tell me if you know the answers to any of these! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Then, to end my week on a sweet note ... a parcel landed on my doorstep yesterday. (if anyone ever sends me breakable things, make sure they're well-padded cos our parcel delivery guy is NOT gentle!!!) Now I'd been told to stalk my postie for this parcel, all the way from Germany - Julia let me know she'd posted a belated birthday present to me - What a Sweetie!! I opened my parcel ... and found a note from customs - Uh oh!! The meanies had taken a weighted pincushion from a GORGEOUS thread catcher because they couldn't identify the filling and it will cost HEAPS for me to pay to have it irradiated - oh POOH!! Australia has some of the toughest customs regulations in the world and although I know it's necessary to keep our flora and fauna safe, this is the second time they've taken things from parcels lovely blogging buddies have sent me. Still ... I've got the pocket part of the thread catcher and will make a new weighted pincushion from the pretty blue fabric Julia included in my parcel. I'll show you my goodies ...


Aren't those fabrics PRETTY!! And you can see Julia has also included some sweet treats to help keep my energy high so I can stitch! At least, that's MY story and I'm sticking to it! :0) There's some yummy gummy lollies that are, I think, cranberry flavoured, a lovely mix of sweet and sour; some German Smarties (kind of fun to see chocolates that we see in our shops with the wrapping written in a different language!) because Julia knows I like dotty things and a chocolate bar called "Kuhflecken" and Julia tells me this literally translates into English as "Cow spots" - because the milk chocolate is covered with white chocolate kuhflecken ! Tee! Hee! Hee! How cute is THAT!! And I looooooooove white chocolate! Thank you so much for my sweet present, Julia!! I really have been spoilt by my blogging buddies this birthday!!

OK ... now onto what many of you are waiting for - the announcement of the winners of my pattern launch giveaway! Firstly, thank you so much to everyone who left comments sharing what their ideal weekend would be like. I had such a wonderful time reading them all, and I found that even though details differed, some aspects were common in almost all of the ideal weekend lists - good company, peaceful setting - and CHOCOLATE! :0) Quite a few said their ideal weekend would involve getting all their blogging buddies together for a super stitching weekend - WOW! Can you IMAGINE that party!! All that chatting in so many different languages - what a BLAST it would be!!! I think we'll all keep dreaming about that one. If you haven't yet taken the time, click on the comments on the give away post and read what people said - it will make you wish for a weekend getaway!! So ... I've done my prize drawing magic trick and the winners are: (suddenly I feel like I'm at the Academy Awards! Tee! Hee! Hee!)


The winner of the "Girl Stuff Bags" pattern is ... PEG!! YAY, Peg! (Some of Kerryanne's cute faux cupcakes in the photo there!!)


The winner of the "Beary Christmas Stocking" Wonderful Weekend Kit is ... SHIREE!! Congrats, Shiree!! (The little snowman bell was part of my SSCS gift from Karen!)


The winner of the "Grow With Love" Wonderful Weekend Kit is ... JANICE! Enjoy, Janice!


The winner of "Love Bears All" Wonderful Weekend Kit is ... HANNE! Have fun, Hanne! (Here's the little bear Deb sent me for my birthday!)


And lucky last, winner of the "Lavender Tea" Wonderful Weekend Kit is ... JOY!! Hope you enjoy this 'brew', Joy!

Congratulations to all the winners and if you can email me your snail mail addresses, I'll go and bemuse my mate Raymond at the post office this week. Thanks again to EVERYONE who took part in this fun give away - I would have loved to give a prize to each and every one because I had so much fun reading your dream weekends, but unfortunately it's not possible. However, if you'd like to treat yourself or a friend to any of these patterns, pop over to my Tag Along Teddies website - Paypal means that no matter where you are in the world, you could soon be enjoying stitching one of these fun patterns! :0)

And just quickly before I sign off, I thought I'd show you another sneaky peek of my quilt-in-progress. As I said, I got quite a lot of stitching done over the Easter break and apart from some grumbling about vlisofix not sticking (must seek out an alternative!!), I've been enjoying doing some blanket stitch applique`. Another peek ...


Oooooooooh! A red butterfly!! Butterflies are just so cheerful, aren't they, spreading joy and beauty with their rainbow-coloured gossamer wings!! OK, enough poetic stuff!! If you're lucky, I might share some more sneaky peeks again soon! Hope you all had a wonderful Easter and that your weekend is filled with fun! Til next time - Bear Hugs!

CHEERS!
KRIS