Scarecrow

Today I could finish my scarecrow. Hurray! On a doll making topic we decided to make a doll each month, but I am always late. Today I am so proud, this is the lat day of the month and my scarecrow is ready, I have taken a picture, so I have to wait a bit more and I can post him to the forum...

The rules are simple. We decide the topic and then choose a pattern or usually a template only. Everyone makes the doll using the given template, but adding extras is OK, so everyone tries to be creative. We mustn't show the pic till the last day of the month or the first day of the next month. Then we put all the pics on the forum and see how different dolls we make of the same pattern. It is funny.

My August doll (the fat German lady) is in a previous post and this scarecrow is the September doll. We had the template of the head, legs, arms and body. All the clothes are my own designs. The hat was a Tildas design and also the crow.

The 'pumpkin' is a crop I found in my hobby box.

I hope you like him!

Money, money, money....

Today I had some plans to do, but I didn't make anything as I went away and spent money. My dearest B took me into a meeting with the ladies, where I got a kilo of batting (which I can use for dolls) and 25 m of molino.

I need some of it as it is very useful. It is whitish and very thin, so good for back fabric. It is also good for dying, and I am going to meet my net friends next weekend to make a shibori party and dye a lot, so I had to fill my stock again. (I ran out of that when I sewed my apron for the play in spring.)

We went shopping, so I also bought 2 m of yellow (like the sun) and 2 m of red (Christmas is coming). Unfortunately I couldn't find a nice 'Christmas green' fabric, but there was a piece of creamy, so I bought that one. I also found a red and white checked fabric which is perfect for the coat of my Christmas friends. (mice, angels, Santa... who knows?)
Finally I got an ironing board which is small enough to keep in my sewing room :D
Hurray, day of the fabrics for me!

But I don't want you dear guest to read so much without a photo of a something, so I show you the purse which I spent the money from.

This is a piece I made last summer in a camp. Actually it should be a purse to keep your papers in (like identity card and driving licence), but I needed something for my money, so designed a bit more for myself.

I used beautiful blue and white fabrics which I got for Christmas from a quilting friend. Her sister works in a sewing workshop and they make curtains and bed covers. The remains (sometimes only 2 cm band, sometimes bigger pieces) which are usually really nice or interesting fabrics go to our group. These fabrics I used were samples for the company, but nobody used them, so I got the little pack.

(Ah, I have to tell you, once we got a huge amount of a horrible fabric. Maybe that was the reason why we got so much.... It was white with ugly flower patterns. Nobody liked it. But we didn't want to throw it away, so tried to use small pieces in quilts. Finally it turned out like a competition: who can make nicer quilts with it? Who can hide its ugliness?)

I had really small pieces of the fabric so it was quite tricky to make this wallet, especially the band, as that was the last step. I put a zipper in to make it more safe. It was not easy (my second zipper ever), but it seemed OK at the end.

I think I am very lucky to get those wonderful fabrics!

Little backpacks

This summer my friend asked me to help her... She is a teacher and her class left school in June. In this country at the end of the school the students get little purses and some memories inside. She decided to make them backpacks as the poem she wanted to give to her class fit that. She asked me to design a little backpack. I had to make something not too complicated as we had not too much time to make 29 pieces and the others couldn't sew.

We went for fabrics together. She decided to buy four colours and make different bags.
Two ladies cut the pieces and I sew them together. My friend's little daughters helped us as well, they counted the pieces and matched them. We spent a night with this work and then we met on a Saturday afternoon. It was a sunny day we sat in the garden of a friend, we celebrated my birthday and sewed the bags. I loved that afternoon. Sitting in a garden with friends, having fun and sewing...It was amazing! It is a very good memory!

I am very proud of this design as I have never sewed a backpack before, so I had absolutely no idea how to make it. I have just taken a piece of fabric, a pair of scissors and my sewing machine, and this is what came out at the end! I still don't believe I made it alone! The bags are not too big, cc. 14 x 10 cm.

These are bags we made.... altogether in the school.
















This is only one, the back and the front:

No coffee....

Ah, today I am too tired and too sleepy to write anything interesting or long.... My favourite soft toy friend (was not made by me!) drank my whole coffee... He is a real addict...

'Thread bin'

Today I made myself a little 'bin' to keep my thread rubbish in it. I saw something similar at a friend and it seemed very useful. You can keep it on your table next to the cutting mat or sewing machine. You can throw the thread or strips of cloths into it. It is small so you can take it with you when you travel. It is a very clever accessory.

I bought a piece of this beautiful fabric with the sun and moon on it. This was the easiest part. Later I tried to find a bit of matching fabric which was not very quick and easy but finally I managed. That was this light blue one.

I got a quarter of a glazed tile, it is about 12x12 cm. It is heavy enough to keep the whole thing on the table. I sewed a tight cover for it with two rubber band loops in it.

I have a little pillow (it has double cover) filled with sand. They say sand is good into the pillow cushion (also hair as I have heard, but I am not brave enough to try it). It goes to the top onto the tile. (It is also heavy, so it helps with balance.)

Finally I made the sack, 40 x 20 cm, patterned fabric outside and blue inside. I used a piece of plastic string at the opening of the sack. It keeps the sack open. I sewed a loop of the patterned fabric which I can put my little scissors in. On the edges there are two buttons (handmade wooden buttons) which I put the loops in.

The first picture is made with flesh, its colours are bright like in real life but no flash was used for the second pic.

Isn't it sweet? I am very pleased with the colours and the whole thing itself.

Artichoke

Today I am going to write about a half-made project.

In summer I went to a patchwork camp where I learned to make this artichoke. I have just learned the technique but unfortunately I have no idea what to use it for. Hopefully once I will get an idea about it.

I made some pics about the steps, so I can give the 'how to'.

First you have to choose the matching colours. You need very similar fabrics, then must be the same thickness.
Here are my fabrics:


For an artichoke you need the same size squares (I used 6 colours 8-8 pieces each, so 48 squares altogether). You cut the same size squares then fold them half and iron, fold and iron again (your folded fabric must be quarter of the original square).
This is my little mountain made of fabric squares:

You need a bigger piece of fabric (I used molino) which you can put the others to. It will be a backing, so you don't need to use your best fabric for that. Draw the horizontal and vertical bisectors and the two diagonals of your backing fabric square. They will show you the place where to put the colourful fabrics.
Then go line by line and put the fabrics on top of each other. You must sew them onto the backing (on the drawn line), use matching thread. Then fold the tops as it is shown in the picture.

You have to do the same with the eight parts. Put a pin at the end to keep them on their places while you are working on the other parts. It should be like this:

Finally sew it round about 1 cm from the edge and you can continue your work and make a pillow, bag etc.
My artichoke is like this:
The colours seem different because I used another camera for the last picture. I know it is not a very economical technique, but I think the end is beautiful. I hope you'll enjoy to work on it. Have a nice time!

WOW! I am so excited!

Today I wanted to write a long post (as I didn't do a good job yesterday), but I can't. This year I am going to work on another play with my colleagues. I read an article about a play which I liked, but it seemed totally impossible to get it, as there is no published text, and I don't speak Italian :( (Ah, I forgot to tell it is a Goldoni play, so originally it was written in Italian)

So I am excited, because finally I could manage to get one (with a huge help of a colleague). Hopefully it is understandable but this night is for reading. I am going to read the play!!! :D

Busy Sunday...

After the lazy Saturday I felt very active on Sunday. Finally I started two projects and while one dried I worked on the other. Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough, so none of the projects are ready now, so I can't show anything this time:(

And this was a busy and too long Monday too, so no sewing today :(

(But working on the Australian Advent Swap, and have some ideas :D one of them half-made...)

Made of pieces, but non-fabric

This is a story of the thing I made today. In fact I wanted to sew as I have lost of things in my mind (as usual), but somehow the day ended without it.

After sleeping (half of the day.... I got up early but then something happened, my eyes closed and I woke up in the afternoon. I don't understand....:D) I started to clean the flat with B then it was late afternoon, we were waiting for friends, so no sewing.

By the way it was a very good day. In the evening we had three friends and we had a very good time with them. B cooked with the other guy (A :D). To tell the truth - and please don't laugh - A and B cooked the meal, and we (C and E and me, D - or C, D and E) ate it :D. It is like a Maths exercise in a boring lesson :D

So A and B made caprese salad, baguette filled with cheese and spices, rizotto, and chicken with veggies. We ate a lot (really, it is nearly impossible for me to move my fingers, they are so lazy after that huge meal we had).
I made the dessert (it is always my job and I love it), the chocolate cake with marzipan. The recipe is not my invention, I saw it on TV. I just changed some things and missed other things, so finally we had the thing we liked. And here is a picture about it. (I am so proud as I got a ceramic dish in which I can bake cakes and it worked!)

I know it is not patchwork at all, but that is I could do today instead of sewing!

Quilting? hmmm....

Yesterday I got a post - which was absolutely true - that I had not too much quilting on this blog... so I've just browsed my pictures and tried to find something quilted. I realised I have not too much 'patchwork' as I prefer usable things which I can give away as presents. Unfortunately my friends and family have the same problem as me... quite small flats or houses and not enough free walls to hang quilts on. And I absolutely don't want to sew for my wardrobe.... I think it is a kind of punishment for the quilts to roll them and put them inside a box or a wardrobe... So I chose other things to sew.

Unfortunately - as all of us - I have problems with time. I have lots of ideas to sew, but I have not enough time to make them. And I always choose to make the presents for special occasions, like birthdays, 'name days', Christmas etc. or bags to make my life more practical and leave other things just planned.

As I mentioned before I am a member of a patchwork guild (or group). Usually we meet once a month or every third Saturday. We don't meet in summer as everyone is very busy with children and grandchildren, and some of us go to camps or have our holidays. The last meeting is always in June. We have some members who have houses with garden or houses in the countryside so we go to them and have a garden party together.

We usually plan to make some little handmade presents to the host lady. This year we went to a small town not far from the capital. The lady we visited had moved into that house some months before. We made sitting pillows to her into he new kitchen. Everyone had to make a 40x40 cm pillow with thin batting in it. We all used yellow, orange and brown fabrics. The patterns were chosen by the makers. We didn't plan to make the same.

I wanted to make something in 'kitchen' theme. I found a Tildas pattern (as I love Tildas patterns-maybe you could realize it before :D) which originally is a wall-hanging of course. I decided to use it for the pillow. Yes, i think it can be a very unusual feeling to sit on a whole plate of cookies. And you can do it this way without being so dirty at the end. Yes, I know I am crazy, but it seemed a good idea, so I made it.

I know it is not a quilt, only an applique on a pillow, but at least something 'quilt-like'.

And here is a picture about the pillow. (I know the quilting part is not perfect at all but I had some problems with my sewing machine and at that time I didn't know what to do with it...)

Ribbons..... today.....: embroidery

Last year I had the chance to go to the countryside and do my favourite hobby: patchwork and other sewing projects.
One of the programmes in the camp was ribbon embroidery. I didn't know what it meant but then I liked it.


I think you have to be very careful with it. As you can use silk, organza or satin ribbons it is very easy to make too fussy projects. Some of the pictures I have seen in books were too tawdry for me. I decided to work with narrow ribbons and not to use too many colours in the same work, make quite small flowers and not to put a lot of them in one picture.

I use satin ribbons only.


My first project was made in the camp, a bunch of flowers with yellow-orange-red colours. I used 6 mm satin ribbons and some DMC. Later I made borders and gave it to my mum as a present.


In the evening of that day I decided to make a small picture to a friend, that is the ghost. I used 12 mm satin ribbons for that. It was not easy to stitch with. I found the pattern in a book called The ABC of ribbon embroidery.

Last Christmas I found a picture which I liked so I stitched something similar, only green and red flowers. I used 6 mm green, 6 and 12 mm red ribbons. Ah and some yellow, too. (Hmmm I totally forgot the yellow part :D). It became a present in my family at Christmas.

The fat German lady

There is a forum with lots of doll maker friends. They make beautiful dolls, soft toys and other small things like fruits and veggies.

Once we talked about doll making and agreed that we put a bit of our heart in it. And it is funny how different dolls we can sew of the same template. Soon an idea came: what about using the same template and see how unique dolls we have at the end?

Now we have a template each month, we sew our dolls during that and at the end we show our dolls to each other on the last day. This was our second doll. I was late (I am always late.... I am a "last minute-sewer"...), so I finished her in the middle of September... (As you know the deadline was 31st Aug as this was the doll of August). It is a Tildas design called "bathdamer"... Maybe that is why I called her German lady...

I sew her of (horrible) pink fabric. The green and white striped fabric came from an internet friend who sent me lost of different pieces. I used the same for the cap. There are two mini yoyos on it as well.
I made her bag from an other remain of fabric. I stitched it by machine. Her towel is from terry cloth and the other side of it is a pink and white striped piece.

She has a drink.. You know it is very important to have liquid with you on a hot summer day. The fabric is hand dyed by me, the design is mine, too. The straw is made of something (I don't know what is it exactly, something like stick....) I found in my bunch of flowers. Those flowers were my last birthday pressie.

Finally I am happy with her, she is a funny lady I think. She has no name at the moment, but hopefully once I can find out the right name which suits her....

Easter-friends of Albert and John

As I told you in my post before at Easter I was in a big work. I made lots of (OK, the expression 'lots of' is relative... maybe 'lots of for me' is the right one) soft toys for family and friends. My first one was the sheep called Bárány made of terry cloth and the second was Albert, the bunny. He was mentioned in the post before. His best friend John is not in this picture as he was made some days after I had made the photo...

The next one was the other bunny (the green one). It went to an other friend of mine. I don't know if it already has a name or not and to tell you the truth I don't even know if it is a he or she. The funny thing about this bunny is its clothes. My friend (who is now the owner of it) gave me some old clothes to use them for patchwork. The trousers, hat and top of bunny were made of her trousers. The fabric was white linen with yellow flowers on it.

Goose was chosen by my step-father (some of the soft toys didn't tell me who they wanted for owner, so I showed all of them and the new-owners could choose soft toy friends for themselves). His clothes are made of an old flannel shirt of mine, which didn't suit me anymore.

My mum took the hen. It has blue trousers from new fabric, but its buttons I inherited from my mother-in-law. I wanted to make jeans-like trousers (I didn't want to use denim as it is too thick for a soft toy like this). Hen also has a hat but it always loses that.

Goose stayed at home with B. He is standing in front of the computer and maybe he is reading this post at the moment... :D

Here again with Albert and John

Hello Reader,
Sorry about yesterday but I had such a horrible headache I couldn't write and post anything. Just laid in bed....:(
But today I am going to post two texts, one for today and an other for yesterday.


So today I would like to introduce my other 2 softies. My friend has already written some comments about them and wished to see them here.Geszt, you do not have to wait more :D
At Easter I was in a big work. I made some soft toys for friends and family. The second one in the row was a white bunny made of terry cloth. For his ears I used pink fabric with white spots. I had no idea who this bunny was made for when I chose the template, but right after the cutting I was sure he went to Geszt. Working on him was a great pleasure as he soon became cute...:D Geszt spent half of Easter at out place. I enjoyed this time very much. After she got the bunny (or maybe a bit before I am not sure....) I felt he was a bit lonely and I was sure he would be happy to have a friend with him. So during the days of Easter I went to my sewing room and made his friend, the goose.
At first the bunny was very excited about his new owner. I promised him to have someone special. I know today (after getting to know Owner-Geszt) he is very satisfied with his home and family. He was also excited during Easter about his new friend, the goose. Fortunately they became friends at the very end...

I talk about them as 'bunny' and 'goose' as they got their names some days or maybe a couple of weeks later. Geszt named them of course. The bunny got the name Albert, and goose is John now.

I am not sure where they are at the moment. They lived with Geszt for a while and travelled with her I think to Ireland. (sorry if I am not right, maybe I will be corrected in a comment...) Some months later Geszt went abroad to his new boyfriend, and Albert thought one of them must look after him or at least keep an eye on him .... So he stayed there and John came home with Geszt. I think they have changed places nowadays, so Albert is here with Geszt and John stays with the boy. I am happy to know they are all right (and the couple as well), it is always good to hear about 4 happy souls like them........ Enjoy your days you 4, wherever you are!


Here are the most recent pics about them.... Thanks Geszt! :D

Karamella, the teddy bear

Last year I went to a patchwork camp. I was excited as in the programme I read about teddy bear making. I planned to make a teddy in Australia (2nd post I think in my blog), and I got a bear making kit, but I was not brave enough to start with the fur and the other magic things which I found inside the box.


So I went to the camp and waited for the first programme: the teddy. As my train was late I could not reach the second one, so I had to wait an hour at the station for the next one. Then the only taxi of the small town went away just in front of my eyes. So I asked the bus driver and after travelling by 2 buses I reached the place. I was very late for my course, but luckily the teacher was so kind and nice (one of the nicest ones I have learnt patchwork from). She helped me a lot, and finally at the end of the day I have the little teddy with me.

I was so proud to make this cute one. He was a perfect present for my B from the camp. He was very happy to have him, and from that moment he is sitting next to the computer screen. After a while (I think a couple of weeks later) he got the name Karamella, which means Caramel in English.

He is a poetical teddy... Not very cheerful, he likes thinking and writing poems. He is happy but not that forever-smiling one.
Soon he had two cousins (made for our friends, a sweet couple, their names are Pung and Ám) and later he had two brothers, Menta (Mint) and Málna (Raspberry).


I love making bears, they are all different even if you use the same template for them. They have a bit of your heart and soul. I can't imagine a person who doesn't like them.

Ah, I must tell you Karamella says hello and cheers for you!

The play

Today I tell you the story of the play I directed. It is Carlo Goldoni's comedy, 'The servant of two Masters' (Il servitore di due padroni).
There is an amateure company of my colleagues. We decided to make this performace as a charity play, and this way we can collect money to our school's foundation. Getting the idea we started to work on it and after 8 months of rehearsal we performed it in April. It was a surprise for our students, and we also had a surprise when we had to make a second perormance because so many of them wanted to see us.
As we wanted to give as much money as possible to the foundation, we tried to save on everything. We collected the costumes from old ceilings, parents and grandparents and I sewed the rest of the accessories we needed. My colleague made the background and we borrowed the furniture of the school and the community house.
As I usually talk about patchwork things (or at least things in connection with sewing) I am talking about the three things I made.
I had a role of the maid of the lord's daughter, (maid is called Smeraldina) so I needed an apron. I spent hours on the internet browsing for templates, but then an online friend helped me with her grandma's old template which she found in a dusty box some weeks before. I had a sketch which helped me to design my apron (fortunately it is not a big challenge). I am very sorry, but I have no pic about it, so i can't post it here.
The other two things I sewed were accessories of my lady, Clarice. She had a wedding dress of a colleague as a costume, so I used only white fabrics. First I made her a little purse. It is always good for a young lady to 'play' with when she is in embarrassing situations with young men. :D
The template is from a Japanese magazine. I used white fabrics and pink lace for that. The fabric is remain from a company which makes curtains and bed covers for hotels. We (in my pw group) sometimes get the rest of the fabric, usually small pieces which we can use in quilts. The funny past was that I had not enough time to make this purse, so when we went to a concert with my colleagues I worked on it. All of them new the purse and was curious about it. :D
The other one was an umbrella. In the middle of the rehearsal-period we found out Clarice needed an umbrella. Luckily my friend's little daughters had a pink one which the didn't use as it had some holes on it. I simply sewed white lace (I think it is more madeira than lace- about 20cm wide stripe of fabric with embroidery on the edge). I sewed the lace onto the umbrella, and I finished with the same pink lace I used for the purse. The idea came on a birthday party, so again I spent the whole night making it (of course I talked and had fun with the others at the same time). My only problem was that I nearly finished when I recognized the lace would not be enough. It was about 70 cm shorter that I needed. So I cut it off and started again with smaller creases. That was the favourite of the company, so I was very proud of the idea! We call it the 'huge marshmallow umbrella'.

My first textile book

Today I found this picture in my patchwrok folder. This was my first textile book. I made it more than 3 years ago, when I was a very beginner quilter. My week part was sewing by mashine. As I told you I didn't use it for a long time, so this was a really big project for me.
I started with the designing on paper, of course. The whole thing seemed easy and fun, but then I started to sew... I was asked to make a textile book for a little one (less than 1 year old). I wanted to use bright colours because children like them and I tried to design something interactive.... or at least interesting.... I hope I did a good job, but can't be sure.
It is not a difficult technique, only simple machine applique. I think it was problematic only for me.
So first I washed, dried and cut the fabric. I pinned them onto the basic yellow fabric, and zigzagged them on. I used small stiches and matching threads. After this I added the batting. I cut small squares (the same size as the pages of the book) and put them to their places. Between two pages there is no batting, only a sewed line. This makes the book easier to fold because the book is thinner there. The tricky point was the sewing of the other side. I didn't really know how to put the wrong edges inside the book. The wadding was quite thick and after I force the edges inside my machine didn't want to sew everything together. I had to pressure it.... but finally I could manage :D
There is a Sunbonnet Sue and Bill inside as I didn't know if the owner was a boy or a girl. I sewed an umbrella from the striped fabric because I thought it looked great. The ball is filled with extra batting, so it is a 3 dimensional picture. The door of the house can be opened and the sun is under the cloud which can be folded up. You can have nice weather that way! :D The worm can come out of the apple, but he is sewed inside the apple, so he can go back easily. The door of the car is a pocket, so you can put small things in it.
This book is somewhere in Portugal, and its owner is too old for it now, I think. I hope he/she has it as a nice memory of his/her childhood or someone else inherited it....

Dwayna, the goddess

OK, this is the point where I lose the chronological order, but after starting patchwork I was usually working on 3-8 projects at the same time, so I can't really remember the things.
Dwayna is not an old project, I made it last year.
I have been playing the quite well-known Guildwars game for 2 years. Arenanet and the Guildwars-team pay attention to the social life as well, not only the gaming part of GW, so they often organize competitions for the GW community.
My first success was the 2005 Halloween competition, when I carved a pumpkin. Actually this was my first carving, but it turned out very well, as it was a 'honorable mention' and I got a T-shirt as a surprise.
After this nice prize I became very excited when I heard about the Christmas contest in 2006. I decided to make something strange. I tried to mix my 2 hobbies: Guildwars and patchwork.
In the world of Guildwars there are 5 gods, they reign. I choose a goddess, Dwayna, and I used a patchwork technique called stained glass window to make a quilt for the competition. It was not very easy as I had only 1.5 weeks to make it (or nearly 2 weeks, I don't remember exactly, but I was in a hurry). My friend helped me to draw the sketch. I cut a lot of (really-really lot) black fabric and ironed them. Then I drew the pattern to the backing fabric (soft white one, nothing special) then cut the top fabrics. They were dyed by me. It was not easy, but fun to make. Then I put all the pieces to their places and started sewing. And sewed and sewed and sewed during the day and night, at home, at work, on the bus, during the weekend... I sew slowly so it was quite hard for me to be in that hurry and the deadline came closer and closer....
But finally it was ready to be photographed. The picture was sent to Arenanet, and then I had the huge surprise, Dwayna got the 4th prize!!!!!
I was nearly flying :D Thanks for the competition and thank you for the prize Arenanet!!!
And thanks for my B for this good idea to make a stained glass window quilt!!!

And finally I have to show you a picture of Dwayna (the quilt):

Little bunny, my first soft toy friend

I have to introduce my first soft toy. I made him with a pattern of a magazine. He is a tricky one. He is a bunny, but can hide and then he seems an egg. It is very good, as he is a bit shy...(He was very kind to let me take this picture about him)
He is absolutely handmade... It was a big project for me that time, as I have never tried to make soft toys before.... In fact the only difficult part is the fabric. I used plush for him, which I got from my mother-in-law. I had small pieces only but that is a good thing about patchwork, you can use everything, even really very small pieces....
His eyes are made of beads and he is filled with lentil (or something like lentil...).
And I have to tell you his story... Once he went on a big journey. He travelled to Australia with a friend. You have to know there are very strict rules in Australia... You mustn't take any food or plant to the country. At the customs they look for these things (too). So poor bunny was picked out of the huge suitcase he travelled in, and X-rayed alone.... (Can you imagine this small one in that huge X-ray? he is about 10-15 cm only) I think they found out something because my friend was asked about his filling. My friend didn't know anything about it as he got the bunny as a present, so bunny was examined again and again. He went through the X-ray 3 times (!). After a while one of the officers wanted to cut bunny's stomach and look at the filling. Poor bunny was frightened, you know, nobody wants his stomach to be cut and emptied.... And just before the huge knife reaches his skin..... the other officer spared him and let him go through....
Poor one was trembling for one or two hours. Since then he is a bit more careful with travelling. Anyway he enjoyed the holiday as I heard, he liked the country and the huge mountains. He didn't met any friends (hmmmm strange... Australia is told to be the home of the rabbits...), but still....he was happy to be there...
This is a picture of him in a shy moment...He is hiding...

Home, sweet home!

After arriving home, unpacking all the dirty clothes and the things we got in AU, I had a quick tour in the corner my sewing machine was. It was staying there sadly, waiting for me patiently. I felt sorry for it. I left it waiting for years and poor one got only two projects to work on: the curtains (not a big challenge for a machine) and a bed cover (To tell you the truth (you know I am that 'honest-type') it is still not finished, I made the quilting part of 6 hundred something pieces and I hand-dyed the borders, but was not brave enough to make the stitching. It is my big project for the near future, but no worries, I am working on the design of the stipling, machine quilting or whatever now).
Back to the point I visited my sewing machine and promised it to work together more. I don't remember what I made, but I am sure a designed something small. And next summer a patchwrok camp took place. I found it on the net and it was only 2 days after the deadline of application, so I phoned them and told a long story about everything. Finally they let me in, and I found myself among a group of patchworking ladies. We made a lot of things in that 4 days. The first one was a huge and fat cat. (I don't like cats very much, but this one is sweet. It is really crazy, so I loved the whole work.) It can be a pillow for smaller ones, and it looks funny. Hmmmmm.... I think I have to find it and make a pic.....
We made a bag and an organizer for my accessories and some more thing I don't remember. (Maybe they were not so important :D) And that was the point I started to sew again. I had nearly no time because I worked a lot, but I found 2 nice ladies (in fact a lady and a young one) who invited me in their pw group. We met once a month and made something together or got/gave some ideas.
It was a strange period. It was frightening to be with experts.... They had been sewing for ages. Some had more sewing experienge than my age..... You can imagine. But one of them was really kind to me and helped a lot when I had problems. I didn't know half of the tools they used, and most of the techniques were new for me as well.
Unfortunately some ladies were not so kind and they often make me angry or sad because of thier huge selfishness. But who cares? I still have that nice one (unfortunately my first two friends are not there any more) and my new best sewing friend joined the group.
Ah, that is another funny story.... It was Christmas time. The group decided to make presents. Everyone made a present and we made slips of paper with the names on them. We chose a slip and gave the present to that person. I missed 3 or 4 meetings before and Christmas was my first visit in that term. Then I saw a nice girl smilng and looking for me (poor she got a slip with a totally unknown name on it). I got the most beautiful present and her friendship as well...:D I am sure this was the best Chritmas present in the group that year..... We are still friends, laughing together a lot. With her help I can forget all the matters the others cause to me....

But some years later.....

.....I went to Australia to visit my father-in-law. During the second week we were talking about my hobbies after breakfast in the kitchen next to the fireplace. I mentioned patchwork, quilting and the 3 or 4 things I had made before... (At that time I was working on a tablecloth, a small cross stiched one.) My mother-in-law became really excited and suddenly found me a leaflet about the Sydney Quilt Fair which took place that week. I didn't need more motivation. The next day I bought my first train ticket in Australia and travelled to Sydney. And when I entered the fair I couldn't breath for a minute. I have never seen so many nice fabrics, quilt accessories atc. before. Actually I hadn't been at a quilting exhibition before (not to mention ours which was only a small one in school, can't be compared with this one). So first I looked all the quilts...I suddenly realised that the U12 (under12) cathegory's quilts were much nicer and professional that I could do (or just imagine).
And after that I went through the fair...So many nice fabrics and things I have never heard about, which help the quilters' work. It seemed like heaven for me. The only missing part were the angels (quilted country angels of course :D). I made a timetable as there were some workshops which I wanted to sit in. Some were information about the newbies and some were about techniques. I visited 4 I think then went back to the shops. I have never seen fat quarters or patchwork kits before...
I spent the whole day there and bought some fat quarters, little and funny buttons (biscuits, small country houses and a sewing button pack) and some old magazines. Yes, it is a really very nice thing there. You can buy the old magazines for some cents only. They offer a pack of 3 or 5 for only some dollars. It was not easy to choose as I had no quilting magazine before, so all were new for me. I tried to choose different ones. Finally I bought some about country style, some usual patchwork magazines, one about crafts and a bear making one. I went home late in the evening. I got some telephone calls from my family as they worried about me alone in Sydney for such a long time... To tell the truth I could sleep there.... I could spend a whole week among those things...
But I caught an evening train and went home. During the journey I started reading my new magazines and I got some new motivation to start again sewing and patchwork, to think about trying and using my inherited sewing machine, and to cut fabrics. ( I was and hmmm... I think I am sometimes afraid of cutting beautiful fabrics)

When I arrived home (to my family's house), some good news waited for me. My sweet mother-in-law told me about a patchwork shop near their house.
I couldn't wait for the next morning. I was so excited. My B (he is my husband, but I can't call him like 'husband' he is my B) was so kind and he came with me. I think we spent 3 hours in the shop, browsing the shelves and touching everything. I bought my first bear kit there on a sale (I think I knew the introduction by heart at the end of the day I read it so many times) when my B showed me a sign. It said something like: 'if you want company just come and sew with us on Thursday evening'.

I was thinking about that sign all evening and decided to be brave and give it a try. So on Thursday (which was the next day of the week) I took my ebroidery things and went there. And it was really amazing! I met some really nice ladies, a very good company. They asked me at least 200 questions, we laughed a lot and spent a good time together. (Did I mention I was frightened to talk to natives? I was always thinking about my grammar mistakes and trying to correct them during speaking... I have to tell, it makes things really difficult.) So we had tea (hihi, tea at 10 o'clock in the evening-seemed strange at first, but then I realised I was in a place where people have some English habits) and wonderful cake with it. I was so happy. I made some new friends, I saw them sewing, I spent an evening in that beautiful place having that tea together. I couldn't ask for more...

I think you guess I was there every Thursday with the ladies and all evenings were as good as the first one. (After coming home I kept in touch with them, and I hope I am still somewhere in their memories).

And my sewing machine was waiting for me at home.....


This is an edition of the original post. My dear father-in-law has just sent me a picture about the place I met those wonderful ladies on Thursday nights. It is a nice memory and I am happy I will be able to see the place whenever I want :D

welcome

Hello Everyone,

This is my blog which was created for two reasons:
1.to write about my favoutite hobby: patchwork and
2.to practise my loved language: English.
That is why I am going to write in English... Sorry for all friends, who don't know or don't like English.
I have started patchwork in college. We had to choose one faculty of several crafty subjects. I have just browsed the list when I saw the word "PATCHWORK". In fact I had no idea what this word meant, I only understood the word "WORK" but not "PATCH". But I always liked English language and culture so I decided to try this. I thought nothing can be bad which is in connection with English.
Luckily it turned out very well. I enjoyed the lessons, I had a wonderful teacher, and I could use my mum's sewing machine (which had been forbidden for me before).
We started with the basics: log cabin, hexagons, stripes, Sunbonnet Sue and Bill applications. Unfortunately I had only 15 weeks of it (I think only about 1 hour per week) and it was not continued.