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  

This and That

It is not that I am running out of things to blog. At the moment I am running out of time to blog. My day is packed from morning to late at night and I still have a lot of things left that I can't get done! I started piecing bojagi cloth a couple of weeks ago after seeing what Jean and Blandina had made. Bojagi is a Korean wrapping cloth. It is the same as furoshiki, the Japanese wrapping cloth. The only difference is that bojagi is pieced from many small pieces of fabric and furoshiki is one whole piece of cloth. I like bojagi because you can made it from scraps or leftover fabric from other projects.

For my first bojagi I decided to use blue, white, grey and indigo. I even found a home for my hand dyed moon cloth at the corner. Bojagi cloth doesn't need backing, but the raw edges have to be hidden inside the seams. You have to use a double seam for this. I love the process of hand piecing. There is something therapeutic about hand stitching! 

This is how far I got with the piece. I asked Jean who made a few of them how big is a bojagi cloth. She said I can make it as big as I wish, so I will add a few more to make it about 80cm square for this piece. 

Last week DS and his family visited. We always love to have them over to stay. My dear grand daughter is almost three. The best imaginable age for a little girl. And you know where I took them? I took DIL and DGD to Ziguzagu! I took them there when she was younger, and she remembers it well. She said that it is a good place for dressing up! Haru who works there kindly let her dress in a baby kimono. Don't you think she looks so very cute?

Can you see the lady bug? I was sitting under the light to do embroidery one night when it landed right on the piece of green velvet. It was very active, but I managed to take this shot. 

This spring we are blessed with many wonderful flowers and plants in the botanical garden at my work. I am a walker. I walk whenever I can, sometimes twice a day. I take different routes to make my walk more interesting. It's a large university so there are always lot of students and staff walking around wherever you go. I love it there, thank you universe for letting me work in such a wonderful place. 

Don't forget there are still places left in the Japanese Textile Study Tour; if you are interested please contact me. I hope you are all keeping well. Sorry if I have not been visiting regularly lately. I will try to drop by more often en sha la...!

Enjoy

Nat

Fibre Fun Day

My friend Ayako, Lynda and I were at Geelong Fibre Forum yesterday. It was an open day at the end of a week long fibre forum. It was an exhibition day where you could see what everyone was making in their workshops during the week. I have been there before and still enjoy it every time I visit. A few workshops impressed me including the Ikat weaving by Monique van Nieuwland and Wild knitting - The Tea Cosy by Loani Proir. The trader hall is always interesting. Each year the vendors are from different fibre suppliers. Today I met  David Doyle with his indigo fabric, batik and hemp from North of Thailand and a lady trading in Indian embroidery on used saris. I bought small pieces from each of these vendors. 

You can also find interesting installations around the venue where the Forum is taking place. This all crocheted bicycle was park in front of the trader's hall. I would love to see DD Kit riding it for her video... 

Another installation found in the garden were these two random-weave pears by Basketmakers of Victoria which I am a member of.

The button lady was there as well. She always has amazing buttons. I particularly love these giant wooden buttons. They are great adding to any basket creations. The button lady is also at Camberwell market, Melbourne every Sunday.

These scarves were the result of the Ikat weaving workshop. This is something I'm looking forward to learning on the Japanese Textile Study Tour in April 2012.

Meeting up with Loani was the highlight of my visit today. Loani and I have been blogger friends for quite sometime now. Here is Loani and Ayako posing for me with her tea cosies. For a beginner knitter Ayako did a great job and Loani gave her approval today. 

Beautiful spot for a picnic after the Forum, if only it was a lovely day, but today it was cold, windy and  not to mention that it rained while we were there too. Thanks to a hot cup of tea that kept Lynda and Ayako's hands warm. 

This is the courtyard of Geelong Boy Grammar where the forum took place. A lovely school right on the bay. It was the school that Prince Charles studied in when he was young. He must have been a naughty boy for his parents to send him down under to Australia like they did to the convicts many years ago...!

I'm afraid there is no stitching to show you this week. I actually started on a new project, something blue ha, surprise surprise! Hopefully I might make enough of it to show you next week. Have a great week everyone and thanks again for visiting. 

Enjoy

Nat

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.

Little This and That

The weekend of catching up for blogging. I have told some of you lately what I have been doing and this weekend I thought I would show the results here. The weather here in Melbourne has not been very sunny this week and when it was sunny I happened to be at work, so some photos are not as I would like them to be. It is hard taking photos indoor.

The miniature Teddy Bear I was making at the Sewing Basket of Victoria meeting last Sunday is finally finished. She is only 2.5" tall. She looks even smaller standing against the bear tin and miniature teddy bear book that one of my children gave me years ago. When I put the pieces together I used double buttonhold stitches and did not turn the seams over so you can still see the seams on the outside. To me the stitches look decorative on the outside. I really enjoyed making her, and I can see that I will be making more of them for gifts.

Here is my new secondhand computer I got from my work. My old computer was stressed to the limit. With me taking an online digital collage course it could not handle that well, so it was time for a more powerful machine. I was lucky that my employer was selling some ex-students' computers, and the one I bought is quite powerful enough for my use. DH gave me a new monitor to go with it. It is so pleasant working with a flat screen monitor.

And this is a left over I O Lyn from the Polka dot Swap. The piece needed a lot of stitching all over it and I could not finish in time to post it with the other gifts, so here it is Lyn, better late than never. I love making these little name plate pieces and stitched all over with only felted wool as a backing. I hope you can use it for something Lyn.

Last but not least. My new pair of boots. I have not bought any boots in the last five years and because it is cold and wet this year I thought I would need new boots. That was my excuse and I would stick with it. It took me months to find ones I liked. Have any of you tried to take a photo of your boots while you are wearing them? It is not easy, and because the colour is mostly black it is hard to get the details. Taking the photo from a standing up position the colour turned out gray from the reflection. Anyway, they are Italian made and all leather inside and out. Beautiful to wear, and I just love them...!

Gifts

Finally I have a chance to post and thank everyone for the beautiful gifts I recieved including those for my grand daughter. Sorry for the late acknowledgement. Time is just running away with me this weekend. I was just busy having fun with other stuff. Will tell you about that later.

These pair of booties were hand crocheted by my friend Jeannette in NSW. The wool was hand dyed and hand spun by her. Jeannette used real sheep skin for the soles. It is so nice and soft, my grand daughter will have a good use out of them now that the winter is approaching (winter here in Australia). Thank you very much Jeannette I love them. I wished they fitted me!

The table runner was a prize from Lurline given away in celebration on her birthday. I have chosen this table runner because I like the quilting lines and pretty points on the border.
Thanks Lurline. It's really a cute little runner.

And now last but not least. The blue prints fat quarter was from Dzintra Ingrid given to me when we met in Braidwood at Easter. I make a lot of scrap quilts so this will go well with all my stash. Thanks Dzintra. I will always remember our time together. The motive/coaster was a PIF gift from Micki. I took part in the pass-it-forward activities and promised to post it on my blog later on. Micki was quick off the mark and gave me the gift before I even had time to think about it. I will post it here soon Micki.

Please note that I have added NOTJUSTNAT in every photo because I have read somewhere that photos from blogs are being used elsewhere without permission. I would not mind if I was asked. It is a little more work editing the photos but I have learned how to do that extra step using Adobe Photoshop Elements®.

Enjoy

Bloggers Come Together

We left at 3:00 PM on Thursday for the Easter holiday. We arrived in Canberra after midnight. We did good time and only stopped twice in 9 hours for coffee breaks. Listen to a talking book is always a good companion for long distance diving. We listened to Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on this trip. It was a very moving story of lives in Nigeria and a fantastic narrator by Lisette Lecat. I highly recommend this one. We enjoyed visiting our son and his family. We left Canberra early Sunday morning heading to the South Coast driving through Braidwood where I had arranged to meet up with a blogger friend Dzintra from Queen of the Armchair

Braidwood is where the Airing of Quilts Event happens in November of each year. Dzintra and I arranged to meet for morning tea at Cafe Altenburg on main street. When we got there Dzintra and her family were already there. It had been 5 years since we last met. We have not changed one bit!!! Good thing we had seen each other on our blogs lately so that we recognised each other straight away. It was good to see you again Dzintra. Also it was good for DHs to finally met.

Cafe Altenburg is set back from the main street. The entrance took us to the back where we sat under the canopy of an ornamental grape vine with its leaves now starting to turn from yellow to gold and red. It was a very pleasant spot.

Dzintra and I are toasting our cups for our dear friend Micki in Ireland. Here is one for you Micki, wish you were here with us. Perhaps next time you can be here too.
Enjoy

Postcards from faraway lands

I received a postcard from Georgina in Paris a few days ago. Georgina and her husband spent 4 days in Paris and had a lovely time. After that they took a cruise boat someway up North, but she said that because the river levels were so high the boat was unable to go under some bridges so they spent a few more days waiting around for water levels to drop. I hope they got away okay otherwise they might have missed their next connection. I love Paris, we had a week there a few years ago now. The French mussel is yummy!!!


These two postcards are from Lynda. Lynda first went to Kuala Lumpur and then to Penang, followed by Bangkok and Singapore. I hope you are having a great time Lynda. Enjoy shopping in Bangkok. I wish I was there with you!
Enjoy

More from girlie pearlie afternoon

That's me in action pouring tea from my new tea pot. It poures like butter, not a drop leaks from its spout...! Hope you notice my pearls?

Lynette and Lynda all dressed up for the party. It surprised us that our dresses still fit.

Little gift box with string of Dubai pearls.


Enjoy

Girlie Pearlie Afternoon

Hoping for some rain to dampen the garden, it's finally came for an hour today. What's a bless for my Girlie Pearlie tea party. The party came about when I acquired my new tea set Rose Chintz at the after Christmas Sale. Anything for a party and pressies. Lynda mentioned about wearing her peals to the party. I told her let's have a pearl theme!!! We all dressed up in our fancy old clothes and dug deep for the long forgotten pearls. The table was set in red and pink including the cup cake with the pink frosting. Little gifts were wrapped with string of fresh water pearls draped over it. I bought the pearls from Dubai, UAE when I lived there. The string of pearls also has pink tints on them. The girls loved their little pressies.

Lynette brought in show and tell of her crazy quilt purse she started last year in our sewing basket of Victoria sewing group. She finally finished it and it turns out lovely with Lynette's style of Earthy touch. In this purse she added hand felted wool and Shisha Mirror embroidery on it.

Closed up of Lynette's crazy quilt purse. This is Lynette's first crazy quilt project with my help it turned out very nicely. Good teacher makes good student...!

Here is the Rose Chintz tea set being used for the first time. Tea tastes much nicer in a nice tea set!

Enjoy

Blogger on the prowl

It is O week at my work this week. Trying to get through zillions of new students is fun, but it takes a while. Among them is my dear friend Jane happily strolling ahead. There were lot of freebies up for grabs; unfortunately we didn't look the part so, we didn't get anything!

Sitting out in the garden for lunch, it was lovely and cool today. Mel and Jane were posing for my blog. They know my obsession about the blog and they are happy for me to post their photos on here. Notice the sculpture behind them?

And this is where I spend every morning tea with my colleagues and friends, and where we exchange information on all topics. We could call it Coffee therapy.