Roseville album block finished and more houses.

This week I finished my 5th Roseville Album block

and eight more little houses to add to the collection.

During the week I found an article in our local daily newspaper (The Age) about a cape made from spider web silk. I found the topic absolutely fascinating! The cape is currently on display and the V and A in London. To see some photos of the cape go here.  (this isn't the original article I saw. I search the net for something without pictures of spiders....just the cape!!!) More cape photos here (and no spiders!!!)
Each thread in the cape is made up of 96 strands of spider silk and yet the cape weighs only 1.5 kilograms. (about 3.3 lbs)  It took eight years to create the cape and a shawl. The golden hue of the thread is its natural colour.
There is also a story and a link to a video here of the spider silk shawl (warning ...spiders in video)

The cape itself almost glows and the hand embroidery that covers the whole surface is very intricate. The amount of time, effort and dedication to create this piece is astounding! It is extraordinary!

Variety is the Spice of Life!!

So far this year I have managed to do quite a bit of sewing on a few quite different projects.

First hand piecing....

Seven more little houses to add to my collection. I have decided to not stress about trying to keep up with making one a day. I will make as many as I can and keep enjoying the process.

Some machine piecing....

Four more blocks for my Civil War quilt. Only 3 more to finish now!!!

I have decided I will put a log cabin border around each block to get them all an even size. (Some of mine didn't quite make it to 8 1/2 " !) I am still deciding how I will join all the blocks, but I am thinking about making 2 or 3 smaller quilts instead of one huge quilt.


Hand applique....

Here is the start of my next Roseville Album block. Still lots of stitching to do on this one. Looking forward to doing some reverse applique with the vase and the large flowers.

I haven't forgotten about Friends of Baltimore!! More on it in my next post.  (click on the link and scroll down to a photo of Sue Garman's completed  quilt in her November 6th post)

Some preparation for a new quilt...

Yesterday I cut out the background and sashing and prepared some stems for Trailing Vines. Can't wait to start stitching on this one!!
When I went searching for the fabric for this quilt I fell in love with a couple of the fabrics and bought "the rest" in the shop. Consequently, I don't have quite the amount specified in the instructions, so my quilt will end up being slightly smaller. 

A little dress making...

I had a wedding to go to last Saturday and nothing fitted in my wardrobe. I went shopping but couldn't find anything suitable, so (on Thursday) my DD suggested....why don't you make something!!!! There was a race around fabric shops on Thursday afternoon with the rest of the day (and half the night!!) taken up making a toile. I spent all day Friday (and half the night again!!) sewing the dress. Saturday morning found me stitching the hem and sewing a few beads on the lace.

 

 

Next time I won't leave it so late to make something! Lol

Even more hand applique.....

...this time on a wedding dress. My DD made the wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses for a very good friend of hers. I helped by hand appliqueing the lace around the hem of the wedding dress. The lace motifs were cut from the original fabric and rearranged on the organza of the skirt. A band of satin was sewn to the hem.

There were 24 motifs around the hem and each one took about an hour to stitch (I am slow!!!). I looooove hand sewing, so I stitched on the wedding dress while my DD made the bridesmaid dresses on her machine. Plus, I got to spend time with my DD! :)

The bride looked stunning on her wedding day!

The Australian Open is on here in Melbourne at the moment. I am looking forward to a few hours in front of the TV with plenty of stitching to keep me occupied.

More houses and some catching up

I have managed to keep up with making a little house every day of the year...so far. Here are my next 4 houses.

Rouenneries House.

Westminster House. (Kaffe and Brandon fabrics, mostly)

I don't have many of these fabrics with small prints so this house was a bit of am experiment. I want to make a few  houses with just one or 2 pieces of bright fabrics included.

Another mostly red house.

The last one just had to have some green!

Each of the house blocks is hand pieced.

My sewing machine also got used this week.

I finally caught up with my Bloggers Block of the Month block. These blocks were designed by Pat Sloan.
Below are my 2 blocks.

Pat had a great, simple way of piecing those 16 patch sections.

Here are all 4 blocks in each fabric combination.

I also finished 3 more Civil War Quilt Blocks.

Only 7 more blocks to go now.

Thankfully, the weather here has cooled off significantly. :)

What have you been sewing this week?

2012, A year of building houses.

Happy New Year!!!

I have begun making my little houses. First a red and white one:

Since today is the second day of the year, here is my second house.

Charlevoix House.

These little houses finish at 3 inches, so take hardly any fabric to make. Like Jeanneke,  I am hand stitching mine. If you would like to join in there is a house button on my sidebar that will take you to the Building Houses From Scraps blog. All the instructions are there. These little houses are very addictive!!
I may not make all 366 houses, but it will be fun!

On the subject of building houses we got some good news last week. After 8 months my DD and DSIL finally got approval for their planning permit for their new home from their local council. There are a couple more hoops for them to jump through, but they should be able to start building in 2 or 3 weeks. :)

I did a little more sewing today and made a simple cover for my new ereader.

I had plans to make something far more complicated, but my brain refused to function in today's heat. It was well over 40 C (about 104 F) here today and it is still about 36 C (97 F) at 8:15 pm. We have had a cool start to summer, so this sudden heat has been difficult.

This year I am looking forward to continuing with the several projects I have already started and perhaps beginning something new. (After I have finished something, of course!! Lol)

I hope 2012 is a happy, prosperous and, most importantly, healthy year for everyone.

One more block finished

First of all Merry Christmas to everyone.

Just before Christmas I finished my next Roseville Album block.

Here are my 4 finished blocks together.

I hope everyone's 2012 is full of good health, love, peace, joy, creativity and plenty of stitching time.

How can it be...

...more than a month since I posted any sewing on my blog???

I have been sewing, just not very much. Firstly, trying to catch up with BOMs.

This week I made my next 2 blocks for Blogger's Block of the Month.

Split Star is Stephanie's block. It was a quick block to make and Stephanie's clear instructions made it easy to sew together.

Next on the agenda will be catching up with the Civil War blocks.


My next Friends of Baltimore block is coming along slowly.

It certainly looks better now the lyre is completed. Still lots of flowers to add and complete.

I have also been stitching on my next Roseville Album block. No photo today, but it is close to being finished.

Some time ago I mentioned a new fabric line from Andover. Last week I found the fabrics here.

Winterthur John Hewson  – by Winterthur Museum.

Only 4 fabrics here, but I have more coming. :)  The border fabric at the bottom of the photo is beautiful.



This week I discovered a fun new project for 2012. Jeanneke and lots of other bloggers worldwide are going to make lots of lots of tiny houses.One house for each day of the year!! It will be a great way to use all those tiny scraps.  Jeanneke publishes her posts in Dutch and English, so it is easy to follow along. (there is also a translate button on the left) Have you joined yet? All you need to do is send Jeanneke an email and she will add you to her growing list. The first instructions with the pattern will be sent out on the 15th December.

Happy sewing!! :)

Inspiration from Malaysia.

During our 2 week stay in Penang and Kuala Lumpur I took lots of photos of things I thought might lead to quilting inspiration in the future.

This embroidery was framed behind glass and hanging in our hotel in Penang.

Closer

Moorish style architecture at Kuala Lumpur Sentral Station. (1910)

 

Tiles in Kuala Lumpur  Central Market.

 

Tiles on the outside of buildings.

After 2 posts with mostly architecture my next post will be back to sewing.

Lots of catching up to do!

I've been on holiday...

..traveling in Malaysia.  My DH and I celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary this month, so we decided to travel overseas.


This photo shows much of the skyline of high rise buildings in central Kuala Lumpur. The towers just to the left of the centre are the Patronas Towers. (once the tallest building in the world) To the right of the photo is the Kuala Lumpur Tower.

Lots of photos ahead.

We spent a few days in Georgetown, Penang.

 

Next a few days in Kuala Lumpur.

 

 More photos in my next post.

The Winner is...

I asked my son to choose a number between  one and 22. He choose 3.

Comment number 3 was  *karendianne.    who said...


"Gosh Miriam, this is absolutely beautiful. Simply simply 100% stunning. And your wreath work is really fun to look at - in progress. Thanks for sharing that."

Congratulations Karendianne!!

If you please let me know your postal details I will have the fabric in the mail to you.

Thank you to everyone who entered. :)

"No Reply" comments and giveaways.

I have noticed that there have been a couple of "no reply" comments on my giveaway.

If you are "no reply" and have no email listed in your blogger profile I cannot contact you if you win.

To change from "no reply" please go here for very clear instructions. (Chookyblue is my blogging guru!)

Thank you to everyone who has left a comment for an entry so far. Good Luck!



No sewing photos today. Here are a couple taken in my garden a few minutes ago.