Project Management (and the slippery slide to the dark side...)

School holidays have seen me, once again, giving up almost all hope of getting any actual work done at work. I'm just in the studio to pay bills, order stock, answer questions and organise projects to keep a 5-year-old engaged in creative activity.
We decided to turn her accumulating cat-fabric stash into a quilt (with the help of some pre-cut fabric squares from Lincraft). The girleen was actively engaged and creative with the planning stage (including the rule: "Don't cut the cat fabric any smaller!!"). And she was dead-keen about pressing seam allowances....for a while, at least.My no-brainer set-up with the seam guide and quarter-inch foot on the machine failed to entice her to sew. I think she guessed how long it would take.

She preferred to loll about on wheely swivel chairs and give directions....

And play games on the computer I was supposed to be working on.Meanwhile, the quilt top was sewn together in an ad-hoc manner. A bit higgledy-piggledy and a riot of colour (with a few - ie. black - bits that don't quite go...), it suits my mis-matched-riot-of-colour, non-conformist, cat-mad kid to a T.

Now we just have to finish it. And NOW.... where is this going? Not sure.

But I happened to buy Kathreen Ricketson's fab new book* on a whim the other day, and I keep looking through it.... I reckon the pre-cut fabric thing is the hook......

I can't see myself becoming an obsessed quilty type, but am a bit intrigued by the notion of making a quilt that uses some sort of planned cleverness. I can see myself buying a jelly roll or layer cake or two, although I've no idea when I'll find the time to sew it.

*And I finally got around to buying the Perfect Fit, simply as a resource in the (ever-expanding) library.

A complete by-the by....
I've been thinking, that my plan to will my craft book library to the wee girl is a complete waste of a good craft book library. She's a manager, not a grafter. An ideas-girl, not a technician....

She'll go far in her adult life... and will probably delegate her commuter-crochet to any poor unsuspecting passenger who happens to sit next to her on the train.

Little things

The fancy-schmantzy sewing machine came home with me this weekend, and on Sunday, I finished some teeny-tiny dresses and bloomers on the kitchen table.And I finished the Ruby Slippers...
...while juggling school holidays and family dramas and big scary leaps into the unknown.

Right now, I'm happy to look at the cute, little stuff.

So you want to design handbags...?

This stencil illustration was made by my dearest, dearest friend Super-Duper-Tracy . It expresses that joy and pride I see in other people when they realise just how clever and creative they can be, and how that makes me feel....(...and I love how my teeth look so pearly-white...!)

I love seeing bags or purses in boutiques, online, at markets or on the arms of people in the street, when I know that I helped the creators to learn how to pattern-make or sew. It's nice to have played a small part. It's warm and fuzzy stuff, you know...?Right now, we have a couple of gals who are dead-keen to learn patternmaking for bags, so we've scheduled a class especially for them. There's still space in the class for three more people, if you're at all interested in joining us. DETAILS AND BOOKINGS HERE.

Before anyone asks...I'm afraid this course wouldn't work in a weekend format. You really need a week between classes to digest and practise and experiment with what you've learned. I also don't have time right now to develop it into any other format (online, correspondence etc). I'm afraid that this format - the weeknight class - is all there is for now.

GO on.... make my teeth shine pearly-white... You know you want to....

A little bit of what I fancy....

I'll have to live to 187 to fit in all the things I want to learn, read, see and do.
Lately, I'm working 6 days a week and spending the other day doing family stuff (mostly family LAUNDRY and family CLEANING.... occasionally visiting elderly parents or attending a children's party or two).

I decided that the answer was to capture more leisure time in the little bits of in-between.....
I've been itching to make itty-bitty ruby slippers since buying this book early in the year. In between errands in the city this week, I found myself back at Morris and Sons, and bought this DIVINE "Paddington" 6-ply 80%bamboo - 20% merino.

Last night, in between episodes of productive instruction-writing and complete brain-fry, I squeezed in a spot of slipper-knitting with it. I'm onto the other slipper now (in between page loads).

At work yesterday, in the few minutes between my brain blowing a CAD-diagram-drawing fuse and home-time, I cut up cute kiddie fabric.
Tonight before I left work, I made those scraps into bias binding and sewed a few garment seams.

I'll finish these few little baby outfits tomorrow, in between the end of the Bag In A Day class and a semi-reasonable time to go home ...and hopefully in time to give to some tiny new people on Sunday.
In between an appointment time and the actual time of said appointment this week, I learned to knit socks 2-at-a-time. I used scrap acrylic yarn, and had every intention of making the full practise-socks..... but I wanted to play with nice yarn, so ripped these off the needles.
It's all about the yarn, isn't it?
The one-at-a-time socks were finished in Post Office queues and during swimming lessons, hairdresser visits and various waiting-for-kid times. (If you ask the wee girl, "They took THREE gymnastics to make!")
In between getting the girl and bloke out the door to school/work and getting myself dressed for work, I'm fitting in a swim every second day. Yep, I'm feeling SO MUCH BETTER for the exercise, the breathing space and the think time.... and feeling a bit more like the me of old.
I've even managed to squeeze in a few early nights and a bit of reading. Love a good cracking-read potted history, me.... And I think I may have mentioned my love of costume-dramas, before...
My Sunday night viewing of late is as many episodes of Downton Abbey as my eyes can take. My head is positively swimming with Edwardian collar and pocket details.

It's amazing how many little in-between times there are, and how much can be fitted in, when it's the stuff that I love to do. Not surprisingly, in making these things a priority, I haven't spent as much time online. I think that's a good thing. I feel like I'm DOING stuff.

I'm reminded of a story a friend told me,
about a friend of hers who met an old man in Ireland
who had hand-built an extraordinarily beautiful boat.
When asked how long it took to make,
the old man said casually "Nine years"...
The friend was astounded.
The old man said, matter of factly,
"Sure, it would have taken just as long
NOT to build it."

Now....If only I could fit in the finishing of umpteen half-developed Nicole Mallalieu Design patterns, a re-working of the wholesale pricelist and a website update....

You learn something new every day.....

It's been a week of working through tedious technical stuff. Instructions. Ho hum.
With a materials list that included lots of Vilene S320 (and none of it's heavier cousin Vilene S520), I had to think outside the square (so to speak) when it came to protecting the fabric from the back of the magnetic catch. As I usually do these days, I used a 2.5cm (1") square of Peltex between the fabric and the back plate of the magnetic snap. But this time, I fused a few 5cm (2") squares of Vilene S320 over the back (instead of Vilene S520). It worked a treat!

Although not as cardboard-flat as S520, the layers can be fused on one-at-a-time with much lower heat and with less steam, and it sticks super-well to hold the snap and all the fabric surrounding it.

It doesn't actually need the reinforcement of the stitching around the Peltex square (because the Peltex and Vilene S320 are fused fast) but I still like the look if it. Ok - enough from me.... Back to the secret-squirrel cave....

Socka to me....

I love this yarn - wool, cotton and a little hint of poly-something-in-Italian (nylon?). Warm, soft and (I assume) hard-wearing, it knits just as if I'd thought about the striped pattern it makes all by itself.
I'm really enjoying my adventures in The Land of Sock-Knitting. I'm a long way from flawless double-moss stitch and perfect tension ....and we won't mention my kitchener stitch.... but I love working within a new form, learning new things. I love that I can feel my brain sparking up new connections as my knitting repertoire expands. But mostly, I think I'm in love with making fabric from yarn.... and I love that sock fabric takes shape pretty quickly, especially when the socks are for a small girl. Of course, I should be doing something about meeting a looming magazine deadline, but after a couple of frustrating sewing days, I'm in need of a bit of stitch-by-stitch meditation and therapy.

The satisfaction of seeing something coming together (instead of seeing something being unpicked more than it's sewed and having to photograph every step 65 times from each angle...and then having to unpick again.... and re-shoot....) is where's it's at, man.

(Just sayin'....)

What's it all about, Alfie?

Sometimes, when the fun of nutting out a new design or pattern has well and truly worn off and I'm bogged down in the nitty-gritties of instruction-writing, when I just seem to be doing nothing but paying bills, or when I think about how I don't get home until late most nights and work most weekends, I wonder why I do what I do. And then I take a look in the Flickr group to see what you've been doing with my patterns and my book.... and I'm reminded that the rewards are in seeing what happens when my work is out there in the world, in your hands....And sometimes, you send me photos of things that you've made - and I love that, too.

Tracy came to my Wrap Skirt class last Saturday. She decided that she was more in need of a summer brunch coat (summer dressing gown) than another skirt, so she merged the wrap skirt with a basic (New Look pattern) bodice and came up with this elegant little number... She sent me a photo of it, all finished.

Even better than that, she discovered the joys of the bias tape maker!!!!

So thanks guys. Thank you for sharing. You make my day more often than you could possibly know.

***
PS. Did you see the new linky widget thing I have on my sidebar? If you don't have my book already, you can have a browse through a bit of it online. Apparently it's still a month or two away from being offered to overseas sales. I'm not sure what that means re:when it will hit the non-Australian online shops, but I'll keep you posted.

Around the edges

So, another week has passed....
Last week, some recreational sewing and knitting was fitted in around the edges of contracted work. I've been stock-piling cutesy baby fabriics for a while. Friends and family members keep expecting babies and I'm always looking for excuses to buy cute fabric.

I thought that this duck fabric was pretty unisex.... and then, when I made it up, a few second thoughts crept in. People are particular about how they dress boys, and I've only got girl-baby experience. I don't know....

I tried dark green binding. I'm still not sure....
Other cute fabric (from Kimono House) was made into a shell purse (my demonstration-model for the Shell Purse workshop). In between times, last week, I finished sewing the red beads around the edges of the frame and I'm a bit in love with it.

This book arrived last week, too.... not looking very sharp around the edges. It wasn't damaged in transit - it was PACKED with those great big dents along the side! (Thankfully, Amazon refunded me when I complained).

Apart from the dents, the book is pretty impressive.

I don't know how it rates (re: instructions) from a user's point of view, but the designs are good and the samples are well-made, which isn't always the case with bag-making books. I'm looking forward to looking through it more thoroughly.

On Saturday, we had a fun, chatty, Pattern-free Wrap Skirt class. Cathie took to the industrial iron like the proverbial duck to water and double-turned edges like nobody's business. KA-shhhhhhhhhhh!

Other achievements, fitted in around the edges of last week....
I enlisted the help of my SUPER SISTER to help me turn the bomb-site upstairs sewing room at work into functional teaching space. We now have a HUGE cutting space and a few extra surfaces and sewing machines. Hooray.

Gymnastics and swimming lesson enrolments were made for the wee girl and we somehow even made it to the try-out classes (it's only taken me 9 months to get around to organising this).

I undid nearly 10 years of recovery from sports-injured knees with a few short runs to and from the swimming pool. Back to twanging, aching knees. Oh joy.

Bought a pull bouy, so I can refine my swimming stroke (and... ahem...still swim with dodgey knees).

Box Instructions...

The wee girl told me her favourite thing at school yesterday was "box instructions". After a slightly confusing conversation, I worked out that she meant "box construction". For this particular kidlet, the subject really ought to be re-named "cardboard cat-making". We're being over-run by these cute little critters (...and we're expected to remember their names).

This one (I believe her name is Jasmine) came with her own carry-case and "medical bag" (a la Octonauts).
The scale just cracks me up (if you'll pardon the eggy pun).

Calling all yarny types.....

If you're into supporting things that are good for us all, and have room in your stash for some premium-quality yarn, I suggest you go here and read this...

...and perhaps pledge some support.

Photos, as promised....

Somewhere amid the 300-odd (no exaggeration) step-by-step photos for my current secret-squirrel project, I ponced about briefly in front of the camera to show you the finished Crochet Lace Tank.If you look closely enough, you'll see the dodgey missed row.... so please don't look very closely.
As the crochet softens up and drops, I'm starting to think that I should have made a size Small rather than a Medium. (Or perhaps with all this swimming I'm doing lately, my shoulders will bulk up enough to keep the straps up...?). The back neckline is getting lower and lower as the straps drop....This top took less than a skein, came together quickly and feels fab (if a little big) to wear. I'm totally in love with the colour (called "Black Walnut").

Having a cuppa and a look through Ravelry with crochet-queen Lara today, has me thinking about what to do with the left over skein-and-a-bit of the gorgeous Claudia Handpainted (linen) Yarn that I have. So many options..... (And I'm trying not to think of the option of tracking down Prudence Mapstone and buying a few more skeins of this yarn. I love it).

Hmm... busy week...

Not much time for online socialising or bloggy action, it seems.... Lots of secret-squirrel design work, quite a few visitors and a swim EVERY MORNING* from Tuesday-Friday.

*Nobody is more surprised than I am! Saturday was the Shell Purse Class... ...a lovely day of stitching and chatting with 6 lovely ladies, finishing up with 6 lovely new purses.

Somewhere between a post office queue and a page-load on the computer, I finished my linen crochet lace top (photos forthcoming...). I've now started on my very first practise sock. I'm using this book, some yarn from Auntie Wilma's stash and my fancy-schmantzy new circular needles, working slowly through my first practise mini-sock. I have some lovely new yarn to use when I get the hang of it.

Sunday... a day of...

.....laundry, vacuuming, bathroom-cleaning and Father's Day cake making. (The cake was decorated by the sweetest tooth in the house, for the bloke who thinks there's no finer snack than a lump of feta cheese and bread...). ...and more vistors (she says, looking out the window to see the extended family of in-laws arriving....).

Can I have a weekend soon...?