June 20, 2013

This and That

My dearest colleague Yoga who reads my blog regularly asked me one day why I haven't written any blog post lately? I thought, although I'm busy I have nothing I can show or write about! I take many photos everyday, but they are mainly photos of things I see around my daily life that inspire me. I post them up on Instagram. Some of these are photos of silly stuff I see on TV. Yes I take snap shots from TV sometimes too. Some photos are from my daily walk. Anyway, today I will show you just this and that I have been busy doing. 


Another coil basket using left over scraps from the quilt "Star Fish" I recently completed. Someone asked me if it's part of the exhibition I'm having in November. So I got an idea, yes it can go in the exhibition as well! 


One of the silly photos I took. I couldn't let this cool couch pass by without taking the photo of it! It's a couch I found in a shoe Department at David Jones in Chadstone Mall. It was quite worn from a lot of use when people try on shoes. I wish it was for sale. I would be happy to have it in my house!


While I was at Chadstone Mall I treated myself to this indigo jacket I really love. I saw it earlier in the season, but it was really really expensive for me! I was hoping the price would drop! But by the time this happened they might not have my size, so I got it anyway. It must have been my lucky day when I tried it the stitching on one of the press studs came loose! Of course I can easily stitch it back on, but to pay that kind of money for it! I showed it to the  shopkeeper and got 10% off for it!  


I got home and sewed the press stud securely back on! Of course I had to re sew all of them because I decided to use red thread instead of the original dark blue thread it came with!


With the 10% discount from the jacket I bought this cute hand dyed indigo T-shirt that was there. I had never seen it there before and I really love it. It was too plain, what to do? I can fix that by adding a few pieces of Japanese vintage fabric left over from the quilt top. It looks a lot better right? 


As I said, dyeing is always going on at my house in-spite of the cold weather. I thought I could do some cool water dye indoors using black beans. I did some searching and came across this blog and this blog and got enough information to start a batch. In the above photo I soak the beans in rain water. It takes 48 hours of soaking. Make sure to visit the blogs I mentioned to get proper instructions from them if you want to try dyeing with black beans. 


After 24 hours of soaking, the water colour turns dark purple. I got really excited to see the change. I needed to wait for another 24 hours before I could add the yarns. I got some hand spun white yarns I spun a few weeks ago so fingers crossed that I will get a gorgeous colour from the black beans. 


It was time to add the yarns and a skein of cotton threads. Of course you have to remove the beans before adding the yarns. After a few hours the cotton threads turned slightly purple, but the wool hand spun yarn didn't do much. I need to keep them in the dye bath for 48 hours in total. Will keep you posted on the results. 


I'm so excited to see my daughter Kitiya Palaskas featured in the current issue of FRANKIE magazine. Kitiya combines her love of cycling and crafts on the back of her bike. She runs her crafts workshop from the back of her bike. It reminds me of the post ladies (that is what they were called then) back in the olden days when they loaded their vans with goodies and supplies and delivered them into the remote villages and towns of the Australian outback. I even heard of some quilters taking their supplies and quilts in their cars to teach in outback country towns.

We are off to New Zealand for a couple of weeks next week. The trip is mainly to visit Mr Notjustnat's family, and he will present a paper at a conference in Auckland. As for me, I managed to get the quilt top ready to take for machine quilting. The highlight of the trip for me will be a drive South to Tauranga and Rotoroa districts and on the way back to pick up my quilt from Donna Ward in Hamilton. I have been to NZ many times. I used to live there for a few years as well. It's always nice to go back to such a beautiful country, the birth place of both my children and where DH is originally from. 

Until next time
Nat  





18 comments:

deanna7trees said...

always love seeing what you are up to. that couch you show seems to be a popular style these days. they had something similar in Hobby Lobby last week. i did admire it but have no place for it in my home. i keep saying i will do the black bean dyeing but haven't yet gotten there. enjoy New Zealand.

Kitiya Palaskas said...

Aw thanks Mum, I love you xo

Els said...

Hi Nat, we all know that, athough you don't post for some time, you are a very busy bee ;-)
The basket is lovely (good use for the leftovers)
That jacket will look good on you and the red thread for the press studs looks even better than the original : they should hire you to do some lovely improvements (and give you a percentage off of their stuff ha, ha !)
I'm interested in the black beans dyeing !!!!

Lis Harwood said...

Great to catch up with you and what you've been doing. The additions to that T-shirt look like a wonderful necklace. Enjoy NZ.

Queen Of The Armchair aka Dzintra Stitcheries said...

Great post Nat...congratulations to Kitiya...what an achievement! Have fun in NZ...woo hoo xo

Terry said...

Hooray for Kit. Always love the coiled baskets and this one is no exception. The GC's are taking their parents to Hamilton for school hols as well. NZ is a beautiful place. Good for DH as well. Have fun

Needled Mom said...

How fun to see your daughter in the magazine!!!

I love the coiled basket and that couch is amazing. Wouldn't that be fun to have?

I'm glad you got your indigo jacket - and at a discount, no less. Yeah!!

The black bean dying sounds like fun. I can't wait to see what color the yarn comes out of the bath.

Have a wonderful trip. We'll look forward to pictures when you return.

Nat Palaskas said...

Needled Mom has left a new comment on your post "This and That":

How fun to see your daughter in the magazine!!!

I love the coiled basket and that couch is amazing. Wouldn't that be fun to have?

Mary from Needled Mom's comment:

I'm glad you got your indigo jacket - and at a discount, no less. Yeah!!

The black bean dying sounds like fun. I can't wait to see what color the yarn comes out of the bath.

Have a wonderful trip. We'll look forward to pictures when you return.

judib said...

Enjoy your holiday. Sounds like you need a bit of a break. Always busy, busy.

apiecefullife said...

So much stuff in this post!
Love the basket. I want to do that one day.
Do the Gorman people read blogs? Nice jacket. Nice tshirt.
Have a great holiday!

Tracy said...

VERY inspiring, that patchwork, sofa! And the indigo jacket is so you, Nat. ;O) LOVE how you embellished the T-shirt. Did you use a stabiliser under the fabric patches & stitching? FUN seeing your daughter in Frankie--WOW! Wishing you safe & very happy travels. ((HUGS))

Kim said...

Wow you have been busy :0)
The t-shirt is so much cuter, how did you do it?

Safe travels and congrats to your daughter :0)

Anonymous said...

Wow Natima I love the seat, I've had an ottoman footstool on my to do list, this one inspired me.

Anonymous said...

HIiNat, I enjoy your blog and see you are coming to Hamilton. I am a friend of Donna's and do natural dyeing. See www.marionmanson.wordpress.com
Give me a call if you have time for a coffee or have a chance to see my exhibition 'Colour from Nature'.
Cheers
Marion Manson

MulticoloredPieces said...

Hi, Nat. Delightful post. And you may say you haven't been doing anything, but your nothing is someone else's work for 3 months! Enjoyed seeing that gorgeous star quilt in the previous post, too--marvelous fabrics in it. And Bon Voyage!
best, nadia

Peggy said...

Nat, as always, I loved this. The jacket with its new red stitching on the snaps and the embellishment on the t-shirt -- oh my! And the basket! Yes, I'd like that bench from the shoe department in my house, too. That's so cool about your daughter, she must really take after mama. Have a great time there in NZ! xo

Unknown said...

it looks like you are up to a lot! I love the couch. I want to recover a chair with a quilt top. I haven't done it yet but I hope to soon.

Unknown said...

The design is beautiful and looks very good. กำถั่วออนไลน์

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