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I have just networked this blog with Facebook, so I will keep it updated as much as possible. I will try to fix the cat photograph so that it is not so big! In the next few days I will post some pictures of my latest makings and go from there. Thanks for following me.

Updates

Wow, almost a year since I was here. Alot has happened since then, but the main news is that the studio will be opening in about two weeks. We have done so much to it to make it ready. There are still bits and pieces still to be done - it will probably be an ongoing project for quite a while.

I have been doing some art, but at the moment I have been dedicating much time to scanning and cataloguing some very old photographs from my family. Some of these are over 150 years old and there is even an old tin type print which is, to me, most valuable of all.

The garden has been neglected almost to the point of non existence, but that is being recified over the next few days. It should be quite pretty if you come to visit.

I have joined the ranks of Stampin'Up demonstrators, but mostly as a hobbyist as I like to use other stamps and inks in my work. However, should you find yourself needing any Stampin'Up products feel free to PM me through my e-mail in my profile. I will put up photos very soon and update this blog as frequently as I can. So hope to see you soon ...

Sharing ...

I have been thinking for a while that I would like to share the links of some of my RSS feed for crafts. These are the ones I like best, besides Sharonb's which I have already listed.

The first is for Annette Husband a gifted artist who lives at Humpty Doo in the Northern Territory. I have admired her work ever since I saw an article on her in Rubber Gazette, a now not published publication that I really loved. I met her through the After Midnight Stampers on yahoo groups. Her work is really amazing and she is so smart, too. She has some good video demonstrations on her blog.

The next one is another After Midnighter, Jen Lowe. She has a delightful blog. She is such a happy person, and shares her art with her mother who is in a nursing home. Just go and be made happy by this lovely lady.

Finally, Michelle Zindorf's blog is page after page of tutorials for stamping, mostly cards. The pictures she creates are just amazing and so simple to do. She is very thorough with her techniques and pictures are clear. Her instructions are so simple, even children can do them.

Later I will add some more URL's that you will enjoy.

bye for now ...

Cathederal Window Quilt

FOUNDATION PANEL


Well, as I promised, here is my version of a Cathederal Window Quilt tutorial. This is the first of two parts. It is very picture heavy so it may take a while to load. My photos are the best my cheap little camera would allow me, but I think with the text below each photograph, you should be able to get the general drift.

1) I began with about a metre of heavy sheeting. It had been sitting around in my stash for several years, and I had used bits and pieces of it over the years for various things. Unbleached calico (muslin), that has been washed of all sizing is just as good, or any other medium weight cotton fabric. I have also ironed this piece so that it is as square as I can make it.

2) The sheeting had no selvedge, so I had to find a straight edge by removing threads and going from there. Along the straight edge I found, I made four 23cm (about 9 inch) cuts, and then tore the fabric into four even lengths.

3) Removing the threads that came out, brought the width to 22.5cm and along one edge, I again made four nine inch cuts and tore through, yielding sixteen squares of 22.5cm (this is just under the 9 inches) each.

4) Each square is folded in halves and the two short edges are then sewn together. I did a few reverse stitches at the beginning and end to make sure the stitching stayed in place.

5) Snip off the corners.

6) Take the squares to the ironing board and press the seams open. Here you can see I have used a sleeve board and my dear little clover iron. Let me assure you, you do not necessarily need a dear little clover iron, but it sure does make it easier. If you are using a full iron, just use the very point to open as much of the seam as possible. You will see why in the next picture.

7) Pin the two raw edges together making sure to keep the pressed open seams flat and matched as exactly as possible. Pin one end flat and use another pin about 4-5cms (1 1/2 to 2 ins) from the other end. This end is going to be left open, for turning. The pin is just a marker.

8) Again I reverse stitched both ends of the stitching to reinforce the stitching. This will be very necessary to keep the stitches from coming out when turning.

9) You should now have a square that looks much like this.

10) Cut off the corner of the closed end of the seam.

11) Finger press open, and then iron the whole thing flat. It is really imporant that these seams are very flat, as when you turn them, they need to remain flat inside the square.

12) Fiddle inside with a finger and outside with your thumb until you have the diagonally opposite corner to the opening. Push the corner through the opening and carefully pull through.

13) Again fiddle with a finger inside the opening to ensure the seams are sitting flatly and again iron the entire square.

14) Now fold each of the corners in to the centre and pin. These are the basis of the frames that are the hallmark of the Cathederal Windows.

15) Use a straight stitch and sew first down the entire centre of the square one way, turn it 90 degrees and sew the other centre, to form a cross.

16) A group of four completed squares. You can see how they will go together to form the frames.

17) Using a zigzag stitch, join the two squares together through a frame. If you find sewing like this awkward, you might like to tack them onto a piece of non iron, non woven interfacing. This will help stabilize the sewing. You can either leave it on afterwards or snip it off.

18) The four strips of four squares awaiting final joining.

19) In the end, I decided against zigzaging the panels together and used hand stitch, in this case I used ladder stitch. It is a bit labour intensive, but I like the result it yielded. It really doesn't matter as in the end you can't really see any of the stitching. So use whatever is easiest for you.


20) A closeup of the final panel. YOu can see the frames all ready to receive the pieces.

21) I am using two panels for a frame to demonstrate how the fabric squares are sewn to the

frame.

22) Measure the outside of the frame (in this case it was 7 x 7 cms) and cut the square about 0.5cm less. (i.e. 6.5 x 6.5 cms).

23) Pin the frame around the patch of fabric, as shown.

24) I use blind hem stitch, which is a little like ladder stitch to hook the patch to the frame.

25) And here is the finished patch.

You can see that it is really quite simple to do, and using a sewing machine for much of the foundation work means that you can get through it faster than by hand. For the slow cloth purist you can sew it all by hand. I did when I first started making these. However, for making a full size quilt, when all of the patches must be done by hand, making the foundation by machine helps speed things along, and it is neat and tidy.

Hope you have enjoyed this, my first tutorial. Some parts were delayed because of my being sick. Later when I have finished the panel, I will photograph it and put it onto the blog.

cheers.

Towards a brighter tomorrow ..

Well, the weekend, anyhow. I have been busy making a Cathedral Window Quilt and have documented it in the form of a tutorial. I shall edit the photographs, work on the text part and post it for you to see on the weekend. I would do it sooner, but I have to earn a living three days a week. Also, I have not looked at the photographs on a computer yet to see if they are going to be suitable and may have to go back over some areas if they are not clear.

I hope it will give you all something to look forward to, and enjoy, as much as I have enjoyed doing it.

Till then ...

To be. Or. Not...

Okay, so Paula Hewitt at The Beauty of Life wrote about her thoughts on the debate between "craft" and "art". Sharonb (see sidebar) also weighed in with her comment. So here is what I think.

People who call their work "art" often think they are different because they went to "Art School" or something and studied some sort of Art. Technically, for this to be so, their work should be peer reviewed - which mostly it is not. Their "Art" is not different to those of us who "craft".

"Craft" too, used to be what more skilled workers did, and belonged to guilds and had apprentices. Such as masons, carpenters and such. Nowadays these people are referred to as "blue collar workers" and frowned down upon by the "white collar workers". "Art" was usually limited to "painting", and included Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Renoir and Monet.

But now, anything goes, and craft and art are much the same thing. Often it is producing something to justify the huge expense of buying all those "artistic" goodies and stash. So unless you are going to differentiate with guilds and apprentices, you really are just another person with alot of expensive "artistic" goodies and a stash you have to reduce.

Unless you are peer reviewed, you artistic status is much the same as mine, and mine is that of a learner, or maybe "journeyman".

Galleries that wish to differentiate are also going to find themselves going out of business. So much is available on line and so much of it commented on by the "hoi poloi" that trying to have a gallery that is not commented on somewhere in the blogsphere is just not possible. People need to be able to interact with art, whether it is on gallery walls, on their own private walls or on the internet. If they cannot interact with art they are going to let you know about it in no uncertain terms.

It is not much different to the debate going on in the world of music these days. With so much music available on line, many music houses either have to adapt or fail. There are those who are trying to hold out for "the noble cause" but cannot understand why people are not flocking to them and their coffers are empty.

Art and music have become "common". They are not there just for the elite select few, they are there for everyone. The "hoi poloi" understand art just as well as the elite, select few. Just because they are not "megarich" and overeducated, does not mean they do not have an opinion, nor are they incapable of "truly appreciating" the subtleties of nuances within art or music.

Thus saith the hoi poloi ...

A bit of catching up ...

Because of my big cleanup, I have not been making things. I have not go anything to show you. But I have joined a social network for Stitchers, called Stitchin fingers. It is run by Sharonb, who I have talked about in earlier posts. I was going to do her Take it Further Challenge. These people are way too advanced for me. But in the group there are a cross section of stitchers, from beginners through to advanced. It is a lovely hub, and I hope to learn more, and contribute a little.

So when I have finished my cleaning up, hopefully today, I have some work to do. I am hoping that today will be the day I can take my machine to the shop for servicing, or if it is tomorrow, I can give it to DD for her to give to them.

Now that I have some really good storage for my crafts, and will get one for my sewing as well this week, I think I can be a bit more organised. Hopefully this will produce Art. The storage is really large boxes that slide into metal shelves, so most of it would be okay to just tape up for travel. A few things I would like to store more securely for travel, like my laminator, my clover iron, heat embosser and melt pot. They have electrical parts and I don't want to risk them breaking by being thrown around by careless removalists. Nothing like some tension sheet. (You know, bubble sheet that you get at the post office - on Red Dwarf it is called Tension Sheet - lol).

Then maybe I can vamp up and ramp up this blog to be something.

... never know your luck in a big city, as the X used to say ...