A weft yarn

Cleopatra costume

Date: Halloween, 31st October 2012

Tess has friends in Grade 5 who really enjoy Halloween for all its dress-up potential. Not to mention themed party food and fun wandering around with your friends collecting chocolates and lollies. We're quite partial to making the children costumes for book parade, dress up parties, and now in late primary - Halloween.

This year, we went down to the Mall and managed to find an adult sized cleopatra costume in one of the one dollar stores. Tess immediately loved it and I thought 'I can do something with that'. 

I decided that rather than hem it I could just make her a wide belt or sash that would allow her to hitch up the dress and add some flair at the same time.

We bought some golden satin at Lincraft and I made a belt which was a bit like a Japanese Obi sash, which we are quite familiar with from our Japanese studies at school (and primary school Japanese dress up days)

I then made a wrap out of a diaphanous aqua fabric which I attached with snaps to the back of her dress and then made some wrist holds as well. It stayed out of her way while she walked around but it gave the whole outfit a bit of a dressier look.

She had a lot of fun modelling Cleopatra before we went to the party but she wasn't so distracted that she couldn't stop and give Sala a bit of attention.

He of course milked it for everything it was worth. Warm spring day, hanging out on the verandah, getting a nice pat - cat heaven.

All ready to go!

Hexaflexagons

  Date: October 2012

What are Hexaflexagons?

 

Hexaflexagons are really cool, particularly when you have a great maths teacher who loves to get you playing with geometry and tricky little mathematical puzzles. Tess came home from school and immediately wowed us with her Grade 5 maths teacher's stories of hexaflexagons. We had to check them out and then more importantly we felt obliged to give it a go with fabric. We decided to give the simpler, tri-hexaflexagon a go. And you'll note below we have a purple side, pink side and a floral yellow side.

 

We cut out the fabrics using our quilting rulers and following the template that our Maths teacher had provided.

Then we sewed them together and in seeming magic, as you turn the two-sided object inside out, it becomes a three-sided object.

We took it to school and had lots of fun in class and then on the way home, left it on the school bus and because there was sadness at its loss, and because it was so much fun, we made another one.

Paper structures - geometric sphere

This geometric sphere made out of cardboard was a kit that Santa left under the Christmas tree a few years ago. It didn't get much loving until just recently in the school holidays.

We were looking for one of those rainy gloomy day, stuck in the house, activities and managed to find it in a box in the study. It had actually been started a few years back but then abandonded.

So we dusted it off. Found the glue sticks and the clothes pegs for holding the glued structures in place and made progress.

About half way through it had some appeal as decorative ware for the head and it was kind of funny how perfectly it fitted a 10-year-old head.

The other interesting little thing we learned was that a few years' back, the younger, less structured version of the 10-year-old, had not been interested in following the colour instructions for construction. We made a note on the instructions that we did not care to put all the greens together, all the reds together as instructed but instead we wanted a random effect. Fast foward to a school holiday paper construction day in 2012 and the 10-year-old expressed some frustration with it not being matchy matchy. Interesting.

 

I love it. It is quite sturdy and very colourful and I like that it isn't smooth and systematic in its colour combinations. She got over the frustration pretty quickly too and enjoyed the products of a few hours of cutting and gluing.

Our new weaving loom

Not exactly sure why I'm saying "our" except that I love my daughter's new weaving loom. It arrived under the tree at Christmas time and we do love it. It is an Ashford Knitter's loom ,which though made in NZ can be purchased locally, and it is particularly designed to take some of the new knitting yarns. It has a wide eye reed that makes it possible to use the bobbly and funky and furry new yarns. Tess and I had gone to the Spinners and Weavers exhibit at CSIRO last year in April 2010 and really enjoyed it. The ladies were very patient and spent quite a bit of time with Tess talking about weaving and spinning. We both came home and thought we'd like to try that.My mother-in-law has since visited and delivered her old spinning wheel to us. We aren't quite ready to try spinning. We'll start with the weaving and see how we get on.

Aside from the loom, we also got a book specific to this loom with patterns in it, and one of these super lovely 4 season yarn and sack clubs, and on Christmas day Dad was pressed into service and set up the loom. On our first run through we used some old wool that was hanging around the house. She's pretty diligent my daughter and that first scarf came off the loom within a few days - even with all the Christmas stuff going on.

Then she got Dad to set it up again and this time we used the beautiful blue wool that came in our sack club. Unfortunately, we had some company from the kitten. I mean wool, moving wool, bits going back and forth - excitement, tantalising excitement for a kitten. Still, he had to be moved and he thought about it for a millisecond and then tried to get back in by climbing up the screen. Hmm.

 

No - stay out. So here's one happy girl about half way through the setting up process. While the weaving is really straightforward, the setting up is a bit technical (sheepish - hence the Dad).

Sorry this photo is a bit blurry but this is the small person pretending to be an annoying kitten but it does give you some sense of the process. The loom can be folded up and stored in a tote bag when its not being used. But it is dead simple to use in front of the television and quite a bit of progress has been made on this blue scarf. As mentioned in previous posts, Tess is the kind of crafter who just gets going. She's not fussy and fiddly, like I am. I'm like my Dad and she's like my Mum. Funny isn't it, how genes express themselves. It's good we work together. I add a bit of methodical steadiness and she adds the flair.

 

 

Knitting a salsa jacket

In the spirit of catching up with projects long since completed, I offer up a knitting project from 2009. If it's any consolation it is still being worn (not so much in the heat of summer day obviously, but still when needed of an evening you'll find her putting it on).

It is a Knitting at Knoon Design which I ordered from the Wool Shack. I bought the washable merino on Ebay and it has been washed many times. I use the handwash setting on my machine and then dry it on a towel on a drying rack and it has survived that treatment. It was dead simple to knit and ties with a little I-cord.

The photos are taken in very bright sun. The colours are very close to this.

 

 

 

Easter bunnies 2010

Another catch up post....Last year we had small cousins of the 2 year old and 4 year old variety staying in Canberra through the Easter break and so I decided that the Easter felt toys would need to be fairly simple as I needed to make multiples. In previous years I made these, and the year before I made two felt bunnies from kits purchased at Hobbysew. In 2010, for simplicity sake, I used the bunny pattern from  The Last Minute Fabric Gifts to Sew.   It was very easy and I made about 8 of them. Lent starts soon so I should probably be thinking of what this year's project will be.

Sewing Lucky Owls

We picked up this Lucky Owls pattern at the Canberra Craft fair, which is held in August, a couple of years ago. It is really easy for a young person to make with a little bit of pattern tracing, a little bit of cutting, a couple of simple seams on the sewing machine and not much hand sewing (cause you can leave that to Mum). Then to top it off, you just glue on the eyes and beak. Reading those instructions kind of put me off and at first I was all for over engineering it and adding in lots of hand sewing but really...it wasn't in the spirit of working with a small person who is addicted to completing things. She likes to have something at the end of a project. A couple of sessions is OK but not lots and lots of patient hand sewing.

So, first you trace the patterns onto baking paper....

We are making Olive.

Then you sew up the side seams on the machine and then, strange but true, you use dental floss around the base. The dental floss is really strong and as you have to pull together some reasonably thick Japanese cotton fabric and its a shape with stuffing and pellets, its just as well that the "thread" is strong.

We then stuffed Olive with stuffing and a small amount of yellow split peas to give her a solid enough, weighted base. Then glued on our eyes and beak. I did add a small touch of hand sewing around Olive's pupils. The position of the eyes was not as stated on the pattern but as stated by the 9 year old owner.

When my daughter's best friend came over for a sleep over we made another two - a large one and teeny tiny one. Very cute.

Sock owls

I began 2010 with plans to organise my sewing, which I did do. Then throughout 2010 we had many fun crafting adventures (quilts, Easter bunnies, sock owls, tapestry, knitting, embroidery, Brown Owls) but what I didn't do was blog about any of this. I had such an overwhelming work year with 23 interstate trips, recruiting 12 staff for the project and conducting a completely new collection that somehow the fun of writing up our life and recording it just slipped away. This was also true for the garden blog I write. I'm really hoping that now that the work pressure is beginning to even out, that I'll enjoy again the pleasures of writing and photographing and reflecting on life.

We made this little project in February 2010. My daughter was given the kit for her January birthday. It is a Craft Schmaft kit. Unfortunately she got stuck into it before I was able to help her and, not quite understanding the instructions, she cut up the kit sock into a shape that wouldn't work. So, we headed down to the Mall and bought a set of three pairs of socks that had likely looking colours and the benefit of this was that we could make multiple owls! We made three in the end.

It also gave us an opportunity to select co-ordinating fabrics from my stash (yay - using up stuff - always a win).

It is a really cute kit. I think this owl is going to take off.

After the first day of sewing, we were joined by my son, who soon caught up and added his own interpretations.

In this photo, you can just see all three little bodies awaiting completion.

A paper doll house - More summer holiday activities

My youngest has taken to trawling through the children's craft collective, Crafty crow, to find activities that she'd like to do. Somehow she stumbled upon a paper doll house. At first she downloaded some freebies, printed them out, made them, had a ball and then told me about it. No need to involve me. It seems we're completely computer literate. A couple of days later she dragged me in to the computer room and asked could she purchase this thing? And did she have enough money in her bank account if she counted her pocket money and leftover Christmas money?

She had arrived at Etsy and found the complete version of a paper doll house, dolls, furniture, landscaping trees and garden bits and pieces. Wow. I checked her bank balances and "yes" she could afford it, so I did the financial thing for her and minutes later we had this all printed out on nice white card.


It took two days to complete, in between swimming lessons at dickson pool, visiting friends, making morning teas, playing with our ducklings, guinea pigs and cat.

I was impressed with her stick-to-it-ness and the fact that she did 90% by herself. She only asked for help when she was getting confused or frustrated or it was very, very fine cutting. She's the kind of crafter who doesn't fuss. She just gets on with it. She works quickly. The taking two days thing is really just 'cause there's lots to do in summer.

And here it is.

And here is the top bedroom, complete with rugs, record player, teddy bear on the bed. On the plans, the room next to the bedroom is labelled a "craft room". The house has four rooms: kitchen, lounge, bedroom, and a craft room. Perfect!

And ignoring the fact that these are grouped in front of the kitchen, see what you get in your craft room?
 
Oh and there's pie in the oven! My daughter and her best friend sat in front of this little house and played with the dolls for quite awhile. She's never shown an interest in doll's houses before. I think it was the making it that created all the magic. Perhaps I should make something this summer!

Summer holidays 2010

This summer I've had the special privilege of having only one child home with me for two weeks. My son was away with the scout jamboree having an adventurous time and while we collectively missed him, it was lovely to have some special mother/daughter time. In particular, we had fabulous morning teas, mostly driven by the youngest member who made menus, helped with the shopping, made the morning tea, and set the table. The least I could do was record one of these events (and we had quite a few!).

Table set:



Menu: celery-peanut-butter-carrot cars, chocolate dipped bananas with sprinkles, summer berries and grapes, ice tea, and chilled water....it was a very hot week.


Waiting for mum. Beautiful. Can summer last forever?