Gathering in some time...

I've been thinking about my fabrics, threads and sewing notions lately. More precisely, do I need to take them all with me when we move? 

(no, we haven't found a house yet but we're confident the right one is out there somewhere just waiting for us)

A fresh culling is something I do every six months or so because as the years go by I've come to realise my desire for more fabrics has diminished drastically so keeping only what I really like and intend to use is the yardstick for choosing what stays and what goes. 

So there I was on Friday night, browsing the fabric shelves of my lovely sewing room bookcase when I spied a remaining scrap of beautiful Lecien floral linen which I've loved for so long and avoided using because the thought of not having it anymore saddened my heart as it can never be replaced.

From memory I think it was a special linen run of Old New 30's from 2013.

Removing it from the shelf I decided to use the colours within as inspiration in choosing embroidery threads for a pastel version of the monogram I stitched on Blossom's birthday cardie, but I needed to be patient as we had another big weekend ahead of us.

However, hubby and I were feeling overly exhausted yesterday from our eighth weekend of house hunting and so deciding to set that pursuit aside after just two hours of viewings we chose to return home in order to unwind - which gave opportunity for me to stitch my project after all!

Tracing the monogram onto some lemon tonal fabric I gathered the previously chosen threads, a fresh needle and my sewing pillow while Mr E chose a movie for us to watch. With fresh cuppas made, thick slices of pineapple fruit cake piled onto a plate between us, we settled down for the afternoon and I stitched this...

It occurred to me that the pretty R monogram would be lovely made into a hexie shape so this morning I brought out my stash of hexie papers to find the right size, hoping the idea would work, and it did!

Bravely cutting borders from my lovely floral linen I sewed them above and below a piece of blue gingham. The idea to create a zippered pouch for displaying the monogram was becoming clearer...

At first I quilted diagonal lines across the front and back of the pouch...

...but when I lay down the stitched hexie monogram to position it before hand stitching in place I thought the overall effect looked a bit unbalanced so added more diagonal quilting from the opposite direction to make a cross hatch pattern instead. 

Much better!

To be honest, I think I was being lazy when I just did the single direction quilting...you know, want to get a project finished quickly!? Ha ha!

But I'm really glad I took the time to quilt the cross hatch because it's much nicer and I think the pouch will be lovely when it's finished.

Having barely any time lately to spend a few hours here and there at the sewing machine (for pleasure) has not been good for my mental health, or my creativity. Plus, with the Jeep off the road again and not having my own car to get out and about (hubby needs it for work right now) the only time I leave the house is to go look at houses on the weekend, so I guess there's a number of things that have been at work to stifle my creative time.

It's too easy to cram life with the have-to's, which for me at the moment are staying on top of the housework, two days a week out house hunting, menu planning/groceries, cooking and catching up with my business whilst also creating and stitching new designs. All of these are non-negotiable and when right in the thick of things it seems there's no spare moments just to play, have fun or relax.

But the moments really can be made if you see them as a priority.

Yesterday when we opted to come home early and spend the rest of the day relaxing, we reacquainted ourselves with 'time out', and as the afternoon hours passed and sunset fell upon the horizon our hearts were clearly lighter for it had been a good day, and now we were both physically and mentally refreshed.

I made Mr E's favourite meal for dinner, rissoles and mashed potatoes, and we had more fruit cake for dessert before putting up our feet and watching a second movie. Honest, I don't remember the last time we did that, but now we know how needful those hours or days of rest are because both of us slept better last night than we have in months.

It's the winter school holiday break soon and my beloved teacher husband will be home for two weeks, but we shall not be spending all that time juggling house hunting and my work...no, we shall spend some restful days doing nothing in particular, and maybe take a couple of day trips into the rainforest with packed lunches, a thermos of coffee and our cameras. 

Learning to balance work and rest in every season of life must be given a priority. Even an hour doing nothing but sipping a cool drink and watching the birds flit here and there in the trees with your favourite music playing in the background is worth planning for. Another lesson I'm learning.

Bless you heaps this week as you go forth, whether that be to follow a dream and strike a new path, to plan peaceful moments of refreshment, or to catch up with the washing and ironing. Whatever you do, stop every once in a while to consider the time you're giving out and whether you need to slow down a while and gather some in instead. 

Big hugs,

PS: I am including the monogram design with full alphabet in the July issue of The Stitchery Club (over here).

PPS: Blogger still haven't fixed their glitch with forwarding comments to my email...but all in good time. I am reading them here and will reply her as well if needed. xx

Five fabrics, five threads...

Shopping for fabric and thread is serious business.

So serious in fact that I think long and hard about what I'm buying, and most especially about why I'm buying it in the first place. 

Most hand embroiderers and quilters are becoming increasingly mindful of their stash purchases these days and I am one of them, which is why I thought you may like to know the guidelines I follow when visiting a quilt shop.

In the photo above you can see five fabrics and five skeins of embroidery thread which were purchased last week.

The fabrics are a cream cotton/linen blend (perfect for embroidery), two Tilda prints, and two Tilda basics in spot and check. The threads were purchased to blend with all five fabrics...

As simple as it sounds, this is my criteria for a shopping trip to the quilt store...

* Can the fabrics be used together in multiple settings?

* Can I mix and match the threads with the fabrics?

* Exactly what projects will I make from these items?

* How much do I need of each fabric? 

* Are any of the fabrics likely to be out of stock soon - if it's possible I may need more later should I buy an extra 1/4 metre now?

* Am I sure there's not a similar print sitting in my stash at home? If there could be, how needful am I of the fabric in my hand? 

* Are any of these purchases an impulse buy? If so, what will I make with it? Only buy if I have a clear purpose in mind.

* Can I afford the items?

Note: If buying fabrics for a quilt or a large project you may ask yourself different questions, and hopefully you would have a detailed list of what you need to avoid being tempted with things you don't need.

 Now I'm not perfect, and the odd 'impulse' fat quarter will occasionally travel home with me, but not very often. There were too many impulse fabrics left holidaying on my shelves in the past and I no longer desire their company nor enjoy adding to their numbers, so I've become rather 'Scrooge-y' and fussy about fabric acquisition.

The five fabrics and five threads I purchased last week all mix and match to my requirements...

 

 I can use the linen, pink spot, or blue check as backgrounds for my stitchery designs....

 ...or I can blend the check and spot with the two florals for a patchwork design.

Each of the threads will sit beautifully on, or surrounded by, the fabrics I chose, plus in my home thread drawer are more colours which will marry with these new skeins (such as a deeper pink, mid-range green, and a cream)...

Back home unpacking the bag after my little shopping trip, I was excited about these carefully considered purchases; not guilty nor regretful, just very content knowing I would use them all.

If you're wondering how much I bought of each fabric -

1 metre cream cotton/linen blend

1/2 metre blue/pink/green floral

1/2 metre blue/cream floral

1/4 metre pink spot

1/4 metre blue check

Do you have a list of questions you ask yourself before you buy fabric?

 hugs

The two tone decision...

After chatting about my desire to make a two-tone quilt earlier this week, I've done a wee bit more pondering about colour choice and whether I should spend precious $ on more fabric or shop from what is already on my shelves. 

I should mention that I don't own a big fabric stash, mostly because I'm a stitchery designer who only makes a handful of quilts each year, but also because in the past I bought on impulse and ended up with fabrics that languished in my craft room for years without ever finding their way into a project.

I eventually sold a little, gave a lot away, and only kept what I truly loved and could envision being used in my future.  

I do still purchase fabrics from time to time, choosing carefully and making sure I have a clear and valid idea already formed in my mind (or on my sketch pad) as to how I will make use of them - but I'm not perfect and every so often a few Tilda fat quarters make their way home from the quilt shop 'just because'. And I think those very occasional treats are just dandy. 

 Something quite profound occurred to me a while ago with regards to long term fabric ownership. As I was sorting through which pieces to keep and which to give away or sell, I noticed there had been a very obvious yet subtle change in my style and preference over the course of just a few years.

I wasn't quite as enamoured with those gushingly 'romantic' prints as I'd once been and my foray into deeper, darker tones had also dissipated. The longer I examined each piece of fabric the higher my pile of 'discards' grew! 

There was a big lightbulb moment for me standing in front of those two stacks of fabric when I'd completed my sorting.

I had no regrets about giving away, nor temptation to keep, the large stack of 'discards' - just relief, like a burden had been lifted.

But looking over the second stack, examining the fabrics I'd decided to keep, I saw "me" and "my style".

All was clear and I felt such excitement about immersing myself in what I knew would be a true reflection of me.

So, let me ask you a question.

When you stand before your wall of fabric do you see yourself, your personal style?

Or do you feel confusion?

I think it's a good exercise for all of us to do once a year, just so we can take stock of what we have, what we love, and what we will honestly use. 

Back to my two tone quilt plan.

I pulled all the green and pink prints from my stash that were big enough to cut 5" squares.

Pink & Green.

That's going to be my two tones.

Did you decide on yours?

hugs

 

Blending with an old favourite...

A few years back I purchased two yards of this beautiful print because it had an 'olde world' feel about it and I knew that one day it would feature in something special...

(Sophie by Chez Moi for Moda)

In fact, I loved it so much that while waiting for inspiration to strike it would often be found gracing our home disguised as a tablecloth! The two raw edges were hemmed, and wash after wash it's colours remained vibrant and homely - I wished I'd bought more of it. 

Last month when stitching the Dove Garden design for this month's Stitchery Club I purposely chose my thread colours to compliment this fabric because in my mind a plan was forming for a bag...

I knew I'd need a blender fabric to bring the bag to life, so wasn't it a blessing when some Origami squares arrived in the mail from Lecien fabrics with the perfect fabric in the perfect colour and print? 

In fact there were a number of fabrics which would have blended beautifully...

...but in the end I settled on this.

Saturday afternoon I pieced the outer bag, backed it with an off-cut of cotton quilt wadding, and began hand quilting.

The red blender added just the right amount of colour beside the floral...

I'm hand quilting with Perle #12 threads in red and olive, both colours to compliment the fabric...

Up till now my fabric stash hasn't included many blender prints, but I can see just how important they are so shall invest in more for future projects.

Later this week I'll show you the finished bag, but for now there's a little more hand quilting needed before I assemble it. Fun.

May your week contain many blessings!

Fabric, sweet fabric...

Only on the rarest of occasions has fabric 'called my name'.

Last month, my rare occasion arrived....

I've been rather self controlled this past year or two, using a lot of what was already in my stash for various designs and gifts.

I even had a large de-stash a while back and donated a lot of fabrics that have been sitting 'round a little too long and needed to be used instead of retiring early to a plastic tub out of sight.

I've also noticed the style of fabric that catches my eye these days is changing, so I'm embracing the change.

Some of these reminded me of Nana's washing line hung low with 1960's sheets, and that just oozes 'warm and fuzzies' inside my heart...

...whilst others took my mind back to when my daughters were little, and all the pretty summer frocks I would make for them. I always felt as though I were dressing dolls, so cute they looked...

I'm hugging all these new pieces close to my heart at the moment. I bought them as a gift to myself, a pretend that they were sent from Nana...missing her very much at the moment. How did 30 years pass and yet still feel like she was hugging me tight only yesterday?

Kezzie and I had a long phone chat today...I'm missing her too. The other end of the country is so far away. Thank you, Lord, for telephones.

Yes, these fabrics called my name, and when I opened the package today they spoke to me of family, memories, and love.

If you're interested in these pretties, I bought them from the lovely Kerri at Sew Deerly Loved on Etsy. My favourite place to indulge.

Mr E and I are both hypothyroid, though his is Hashimoto's Disease.

I was diagnosed in 1996, and he in 2009.

It's easy to get complacent and just pop your pill each day, but we've both been on a downward spiral the last year or so, which was all the incentive I needed to study up on it again. I was up to date with current treatments and discoveries when he was diagnosed, but life has gotten so busy that I'd let it slide.

I like a holistic approach to health, and so does he, so I learned a great deal from Dr Sandra Cabot today, and have begun a kick start for our livers.

If you are also a hypothyroid sufferer, I encourage you to watch this video. The explanations are simple, brilliant, and probably life changing.

I'm off to read, and then play with some very special 'memory lane' fabrics.

Have a day you will treasure,

Jenny
 xx