Bag Lady

My friend Jocelyn and I were called Bag ladies when we used to meet during our lunch break. We were together for two years and we made many many bags during that time. The reason we stopped meeting is because I started a handmade book group and Jocelyn was also in the group so we now only meet to make handmade books with some stitching thrown in. In our Bag Lady sessions I made a few crazy quilt style bags. Quite a few of them were giveaways as presents and some I keep for myself.

This bag brought back a lot of memories. I found the handle at a market in Queensway city hall in London. DH and I lived in London in the 80s BC (before children). We used to love going to antique markets and jumble sales at church halls or city halls. When I saw this handle I fell in love with it and thought one day I would make a bag to go with it. Twenty years later I made this bag to attached to the handle.

I am so happy that I finally made the bag using the handle. Sometimes I can't believe that I actually made this bag. It looks like an antique bag from the Victorian era...!

Another crazy quilt bag with long strap that I can wear across my shoulder. I like wearing my bag that way to free both of my hands when I travels. This bag is an ideal bag for a party or an evening bag where I only need my mobile phone and keys. I made a few of these bags and taught a few of my friends to make them as well.

This is what it looks like under the flap. It's a very simple bag to make. Once I finished with the crazy quilt part of the bag the rest was easy. I really enjoy using this bag and I get a lot of compliments every time I use it.

Another bag that holds a lot of memories for me. This bag is made from a pair of shorts which were DD's when she was about eight. I kept them knowing that I will make it into a bag one day. The belt was also hers and it was one of those Eastern European hand embroidery strips on felt. We found it at one of the jumble sales. I couldn't bring myself to throw it away thinking that someone had lovingly embroidered it by hand.

I am glad I kept it because it goes perfectly with this bag. I don't know if you can tell that the crazy quilt represents under water treasures. I get a lot compliments with this bag too. A group of ladies borrowed it for a while to copy it, but I don't know if they actually made any.

Scrap Christmas Quilt Part 2

The quilt top was finally finished last Saturday. I have been too busy to get the post together. So much is happening this last week. My DGD is with us at the moment. My DDIL and DGD arrived last Saturday evening and I have been enjoying their visit ever since.

Back to the tutorial: In Part 1 of the tutorial where I only finished the centre and the first border. The next step I joined more strips of Christmas fabrics randomly and cut them into five lengths the same size as the long side of the first border . Join up the five strips, you need two of these. Attach them on to both sides of the centre section. Now do the same for the top and bottom of the centre section. Check the photos for more details.

The above photo showing the first and second borders. I cut the second border 5.5" wide because I have more of this fabric. Unfortunately the first and second border are not the same fabrics, but as I said. The idea of this quilt is to use up my Christmas stash! Now join the second border and repeat the same procedure for the outer part of the quilt.

The outer part of this quilt is left without border. As far as I can see in the original quilt. The binding is attached directly onto the body of the quilt which I thought it was rather nice.

It's not easy to photograph a quilt lying on the floor. I hope you can make it out. I have not quilted it yet and my machine quilter Donna Ward told me she is swamped at the moment and cannot quilt for me in time for Christmas. I was a little disappointed not to get it done by this Christmas!

Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap 2009

I gave in and joined the handmade Christmas Ornament Swap hosted by Daisy Quilt and Clare's Craftroom. I requested if I could swap with someone locally and my wish was granted. My swap partner is Sue from Canberra Australia. We got connected and have exchanged a few emails. I am so pleased to meet another blogger from Australia. I hope that I will get to meet her in person on one of my visits to see DS in Canberra one day.

I know that the swap sign-up date is now closed and I only have until the end of November to mail my swap to Sue. I have 17 more days to make, pack and mail the swap to you Sue. I will get it done. I work well under pressure LOL!

Here is my swap partner Sue of Suedio. Sue is quite new to blogging so please join me in welcoming Sue to this wonderful Blogland by visiting Sue's blog and leaving her a comment.

Anything Goes Wednesday: My Environment

My work environment is not too bad to spend 5 days a week at. It is not just a place to work, but it is a place where I can meet my really good friends either for morning coffee or for lunch.

Once a week I meet with my book group to create our beautiful handmade art books. On most day we take a walk around the campus and enjoy the environment around us. There are many nice gardens that we can visit with lot of seasonal flowers and plants. There is also a weekly market where we can get cut flowers, handmade gifts and unique items from around the world .

On my walk around the campus I have taken some photos of interesting artworks and natures things to share with you in between crafts and quilting posts.

This is an wall mural on the outside of a 3-storied building at the centre of the campus. I was told by my colleague that, this is a sundial, but I don't know how it works. At first I thought it was something to do with sewing (I have sewing in my brain!), but when I saw all the numbers above each of the loops I thought maybe it is some kind of scientific drawing. A sundial, yes that makes sense.

A giant leadlight window on the wall of the campus auditorium. This is what thousands of students use for the backdrop to take photos on their graduation day. The patterns on the window replicate patchwork blocks in someways.

These are typical Aussie gum trees. They look good growing in groups. These ones are right in the middle of Performing Arts Faculty and I walk past them each days. I appreciate them more now that I look at photos of them. The red colored building makes it a dramatic backdrop.

These love notes created by art students were formed as a wall plaque on the outside wall of the Art faculty building. I walk past it everyday and noticed that the ivy is starting to take over it slowly. I wander if I will still be working here when the whole plaque gets swallow up by the ivy!

Last I cannot pass this opportunity to share these cute little ducklings that seem to be coming to play in Spring (Australian Spring) by the pond outside the library where I work. Each year there would be emails going around the place to let everyone knows that the little ducklings are here again and the conversation would be around the ducklings topic for days! This year there were nine of them, but unfortunately I only captured six of them on the photo.

Scrap Christmas Quilt: with a little help from my friend

The quilt in photo # 1 is not mine. When Jocelyn from Happy Cottage Quilter went on her quilt shop hop, she spotted this quilt at a quilt shop called 'Rainbow's End' in Dunedin, Florida. She took the photo and posted it on her blog. I like it a lot and thought it would be great quilt to make using my Christmas fabric from my stash. I mentioned that to Jocelyn and she told me she would like to make one too if I could figure it out from the photo. Figured it out I did (my way) and with Jocelyn's permission I am posting it as a tutorial: This is my first tutorial on the blog. I have made many quilting instructions on paper, but on the blog is another thing all together. Hope it makes sense to you...!

I guest that this is a wall size quilt. Our dinning table is narrow and long and I am making this quilt for it. I sometimes use my quilt as table cloth so, it is handy to have a Christmas one too.

Last Christmas I made a simple log-cabin quilt and I had some leftover strips 2" wide. So I decided to use 2" strips as a guide. I cut a lot more 2" strips using varieties of fabric. From the strips I cut them into 8, 10, 12" lengths. Then I rejoined them randomly into a very long strips. I mixed all the colors together so that I didn't join the same colors next to each other. I hope you get what I mean. After I joined them all up into a long long ribbon, I cut a 31" length for the centre section. I need 7 x 31".

The next step is joining the 7 strips together for the centre section. I trimmed the centre block to 30.5". Now for the first border. I decided that my first border could only be 4" wide because I didn't have enough light Christmas fabric for a bigger border. The idea of this quilt is to use up my stash. I simply don't want to buy any more fabric! So I cut 4.5" wide of light color fabric and joined the two long sides of the centre section and then the top and bottom (see above).

That's all I have done so far. I have cut more strips for the outer section and I am in the process of joining them. It's looking good don't you think? At this rate I might have a new quilt for THIS Christmas WooHoo!!!

Watch this space for the next installment of the tutorial.

Wedding Bells are about to ring!

I think I would like to call for a toast! The wedding bells are about to ring. After weeks of on and off stitching the groom block is finally finished. I must say it was an unknown quantity with this block not having a picture or idea of how it would turn out. I had to just keep going and not be worried about it until the end. I only changed my mind once while stitching. I was going to use green for an apple, but the block called for more red to brighten it up a bit so I ended up using red for an apple like the previous blocks. I think I am happy with how it turned out. Thanks everyone for your input on his facial features on my last post. I still haven't decided if I will give him a face. I hope he will talk to me.

Here comes the groom armed with flowers and fruit for his beautiful bride. He has a pet bird to whisper to his ear what to do when he finally meets his bride. I would like to mention that the pink fabric for the butterfly came from my friend Serena's fabric collection. She sent me a box of 60-70s fabric and this piece was one of them. Thanks Serena you are now part of my quilt.

Four blocks completed in total. Not too bad for me. I didn't have a lot of time to work on this block, but I really enjoyed stitching it. I have been admiring all the blocks that people in the Civil War Bride blog have produced. I think my next block will be the table block. I would like to get this wedding all prepared. The table is very important to bear all the wedding gifts.

Melbourne Cup Racing Canival

Melbourne Cup is a racing carnival that stops the Nation. In Victoria it is a public holiday on Melbourne Cup day. Unfortunately my university has its own agenda, and we have to work that day and get an extra day at Christmas instead. A couple of Sundays ago was our monthly meeting for SBOV, and this month's theme was Spring Carnival so we were all wearing our hats. I was so thrilled because I have a prize winning hat I made years ago for this occasion and it won the first prize on Melbourne Cup day.

When we worked in Abu Dhabi, we had lots of giveaways and caps were abundant. I decided to decorate one of them to wear on cup day. I didn't know that there were prizes until I got a tap on the shoulder and was told that my hat won the first prize! I am so glad I can blog about it now because at the time I could only happily tell friends and family the good news. Now I can tell the world about it...!

Here is my prize winning hat. It is made up of a plain cap decorated with handmade felted flowers and buttons. The long trails were silk flowers. I got them from the local $2 shop. This hat was totally my original design.

This is us, the three musketeers. Lynda on the left was wearing her brother's hat and came dressed up as a Scottish lady. Lynette with her handmade hat and decorated with purple flowers and me with my prize winning hat...!

Exhibition is Opened

WE DID IT!!! We had the opening this afternoon and it went very well. It has been a hectic few days getting ready for the opening. I had to make sure that I remembered to take everything for setting up on Firday, but when I actually got there the plan had to be altered slightly. I had to quickly put on my thinking hat while I was cleaning the cabinets, but in the end I came up with the solution. Two of my students Ayako and Dennis came to help set up. I found that the process of setting up was fun and creative. I did need someone else to bounce my ideas off for it to work.

Finally the time had come. Tom and I set off a bit early to make sure that all the arrangements with the gallery were allright. When we arrived, Dennis was already there. It wasn't long before people were arriving. We had enough finger food and drinks for everyone. The MGA had generously provided us with wine and champagne. The speaker, Dr. Raphael Zimmerman and my dear friend Jane arrived and the rest of the event went very smoothly. We had about sixty guests in total. I took quite a few photos and here are some of them.

Dr. Raphael Zimmerman our guest speaker is a Visual Arts graduate from Monash University majoring in print making. He is a practicing artist and is focused on his current painting. In Dr. Zimmerman's speech he mentioned that art and craft are now merging into one. He praised our work as crossing over from one to the other. Dr. Zimmerman attracted a lot of attention from the listeners.

This is Ayako standing in front of the gallery. Ayako could not be here today. She is on her way to Japan for her sister's wedding. I know she will be checking this blog so I just want to let you know Ayako that we did it, and it went very well. Thanks for your help.

A visit from Cathrine Harboe-Ree, the University Librarian. It was a pleasant surprise to see her there. From left, Cathryn Harbo-Ree, Natima Palaskas, Kumi Suzuki, Dennis Kishere, Jane Hammond and Jane Rumbold.

Kumi, Dennis and myself were ready to received our guests. Our display cabinet were behind us. It was a nice day for photos shoot.

My dearest friends Wan, Nan and Jane were all here to give a moral support. Thanks ladies. Having you all here meant a lot to me...!

Jane Rumbold and I posing for photo. It was quite a warm day, but luckily the building is air-conditioned to keep us all cool.

The two docs, Dr. Tom Palaskas and Dr. Raphael Zimmerman. I didn't mention that Raphael is my dear friend Jane's husband.

The guests listening to Dr. Zimmerman's speech.

Forever supporters Lynda and Lynette. It was so nice to see familiar faces there.

I think everyone enjoyed our work and on more than one occasion people came and asked if they could join the group. Unfortunately I had to say no due to time constrains. To think that we only meet once a week for one hour, we did well to have two exhibitions in one year. I think I need a holiday after this. The exhibition is on for the whole month of November so please drop by to MGA for a visit.

Then and Now

Frankie magazine is a magazine for Art, Fashion, Music, Craft and Life. Apart from that it is a nice looking magazine and it has interesting articles like The parent trap: why mums and dads don't belong on facebook! And Green renters: how to have an eco home when your name's only on the lease! But that wasn't the reason I got it, I got it because DD Kit was modeling fashionable sun glasses in this issue. After graduating in Fine Arts from ANU Kit went to live in Sydney and now has a life of a young and active girl. Apart from her work she is involved in lots of interesting stuff like modeling, crafting and blogging.

This is the current issue of Frankie. Issue 32.

On the left is Kit on her graduation day three years ago now. How fast time flies. It seems like yesterday when she was my first baby. Look at her then and now all grown up and beautiful. The top right picture is Kit today.

And this is how she looks with her hair down. It's amazing how a hair style can make her look totally different. If you have a chance to visit Kit's blog Three Point Turnz try the great collection of Hot Halloween Jam she has chosen for you. You will love them. I know I do, as I enjoy listening to them while blogging.

Handmade Books Exhibition

You might have read in the past few posts that I have been busy working on the handmade books exhibition "Rags to Riches II" I am pleased to say that the catalog is now finished!

It's exactly a week tomorrow before the opening day, Saturday Oct. 31 at 3:00 PM. I only have to make name badges for the exhibitors and myself as a curator, and hopefully my job is done here on the computer. I have posted the completed catalog on Rags to Riches Blog if you care to have a look.

This is the front page of the catalog. The picture on the cover is a very first book I made. It was a book using one A4 sheet of paper and the covers. For the covers I used discarded dust jacket with Williams Morris design on it. A handy little book to have in a handbag.