Happy Holidays 2016

However you celebrate this time of year, I wish you lots of joy and special time with the people you love.

My girl and I have been over-indulging in Christmas movies and looking at houses with lots of twinkly lights.  We've enjoyed hearing carols and ... well, SHE enjoyed the buzz in the city centre (I wanted to run, screaming towards the train home)... She particularly liked that I let her have chocolate pancakes for lunch at The Pancake Parlour (highlight of the year!).  And since we set up our portable swimming pool, we've had an endless stream of friends for play-dates and outdoor dinners. 

Basically, we've been hanging out, enjoying the Summer holidays and the magic that Christmas inspires in a sweet 10-year-old's imagination. 

I have been feeling grateful for a year that has brought lots of opportunities and (for the first time in ages) no major upheaval.  I have been grateful for health and a roof over my head, and for the peace that we enjoy in this country.  I have been grateful for good friends, family and being able to make a living from the work I love doing.

I have been grateful for cheap Korean restaurants on end-of-year school nights when I can't be bothered cooking dinner (we did this twice).

We are very lucky people, indeed.

Teacher gifts were no surprise, really... The latest inkjet printed pencil case design is very Manga-inspired.  (The two in the background are my own pencil cases, made using her 3 and 4 year old drawings. They make me smile every day.)

Holiday activities have also included the transfer of a board game she drew in pencil into a fully packaged, laser-printed affair. I'm very impressed with the clear instructions and the level of complexity she developed in the game.  All done without a scrap of help from me.

You might have noticed that I've dropped the diminutive "een" from the end of my "girl".  In the last wee while, she appears to have grown nearly as tall as I am (which isn't actually that tall) and on that  train trip to the city the other day, I realised that her (kids size) boots are the same size as (adult size) mine.

And so, the summer holidays stretch before us.  I will have a kid-free week in which to catch up on some book-writing, and then it'll be back to juggling work around holiday fun.  

We will probably have more dinners on the trampoline.

Wishing you all the best for the happiest of days over the holiday period and a wonderful 2016.

Back to it

Ahhh... back to the school routine.  School holidays are over. 

 

I know that many parents find that a bit sad, but as a small-business-running single parent with a few very pressing deadlines, I must admit to doing a little happy dance (and having a swim) after school drop-off this morning.

 

In preparation for the new school year, one of the holiday projects the girl and I made was a new lunch bag (based on the project in One Yard Wonders... tweaked slightly).

As is our new way of doing things, it was a joint effort (and I was allowed to advise). 

 

The smallest of us did the quilting...

And the largest did the very fiddly bits. 

 

The smallest was so excited as we packed her lunch this morning (I only hope it encourages her to actually eat her lunches, this year...).

 

To get into the study mood, she began a 'research' (or "reserch") book.  I love her synthesis of the books she's reading (and her little back-to-front Fs). 

We also had some lovely mail over the holidays....

These beauties from Lara's new shop....

And almost-edible fabric (and postcard) from Yardage...

 

..and ..ahem...a bit more from Yardage... 

I also finally got around to picking up this book for my little resource library. 

And in between times, I've used evey spare minute (and a few too many graveyard-shifts) working on the new book.

 

I'm looking forward to being able to work in normal daytime hours now, and the girleen is very happy to be back with her friends, and the non-stop stimulation and structure that school provides for her over-active mind.

Back to it, then....

The Thick Of It

I still haven't tidied the studio. I sweep occasionally and load the dishwasher.

 

The rubbish bin is full of interfacing trimmings and Mini Magnum wrappers. 

 

And now, on top of the fabric, foamcore board and general clutter, there are samples, toiles and finished designs.  And there are more to come.  My head is full of them.

I've just passed the halfway mark in developing designs (and writing instructions, shooting how-to photos and drawing diagrams) for the new book. When I'm not feeling worn out and overwhelmed, I'm feeling inspired and capable and full of hope. 

 

This new book-writing biz has been a see-sawing, hot-cold, drought-flood sort of affair, so far, but all the time I've had to work through it. The deadline is pressing, and I still have to organise getting myself to Grampians Texture, various teaching gigs around the country and I have to get to Quilt Market in the USA.

 

And all the time, I'm loving beautiful fabrics by Saffron Craig, CurlyPops, Ink&Spindle and Kristen Doran.

 

I'm also in the throes of overhauling lots of pattern covers with new samples, in fresh new fabrics. These are all from Riley Blake "Flutter" and "Hello Sunshine" ranges.  Don't they just SING?

For the first time since the girleen was 2, I've had to delegate the sewing of samples. I've realised the limits of my time.... which is a shame, because I'd love to be playing with these.

 

And as any Australian parent-of-school-age-kids knows, it's the loooooooooong school holidays right now.

 

I've seen 3am more times lately than I dare to think about it.

 

Speaking of school holidays, there have been other bag designs emerging from studio You SEW Girl.

 

 

Of course, I opened it.

 

 (I helped to make it, so there were no surprises). The pocket was especially designed as a "book pocket".  That's my girl.

Busy times.

Throw in a few miniature and major dramas, a whole bag of grief, a bunch of uncertainty, a little bit of optimism, some good times with good friends, some disillusionment with others, some wonderful big blue Melbourne skies, a few marvellously meditative swims, the appreciation of good air-conditioning during a heatwave and the realisation that Mini Magnums really need to start getting bigger (or that I have to admit to some sort of addiction), and you pretty much have my "summer break".

We'll be back to normal business hours next week.  Hope to catch you somewhere in 2013. 
xxx

 

 

 

 

Quite a bit of sewing-related activity...

The second week of school holidays saw us up and about, still coughing but at least able to move... and sew.  Even the play-date visitors got roped into sewing.

There was embroidery followed by machine stitching.  The girls made their embroidery into little cushions (which I forgot to photograph). 

Once again, my heart was warmed to the cockles as I listened in to the instruction going on at the sewing machine.  My little sewing teacher turned the speed right down on the machine and was gently encouraging her friend (who'd never used a machine before) and praising even the smallest of achievements.  The novice was very nervous, so they eventually worked out a "you do the pedal and I'll steer" arrangement. Teamwork.

Then my girl pumped up the speed and confidently sewed flat-chat around the edge of her cushion.  I'm beginning to think that it might be time to upgrade the Mini Elna already.

Yesterday, we had an outing to Ballarat via Bacchus Marsh.  I had to do a bit of a pattern-stockist road trip, so we decided to make a day of it.

At Eureka Patchwork, I did a fair bit of fabric-fondling, especially in the "special" room where all the best fabrics are.  I loved these textured Japanese cottons.  Almost edible.

The wee girl spent about an hour, sifting through the button box at the end of the half-bolt aisle.

She filled a bag of buttons for her and one for me.  Can you guess which one is hers (below)?

We met up with Annie and her beautiful selvedge quilt there.

It was a bit exciting to see so many of the selvedges that I'd sent to Annie, put to use in such a beautiful quilt.

We had a lovely afternoon, hanging out with Annie and her family - the small girl playing with the cats and drawing pictures, me chatting with Annie and playing with her sewing machine - and then we came home via a visit with my parents. 

I appear to have come home with a goodly portion of the $15 bargain room at Eureka Patchwork.

Did you know that Eureka Patchwork stock the full range of my patterns and hardware?   Hopefully soon, they'll be online as well as in the bricks-and-mortar shop.

Another bit of holiday fun for me, was to see this 60% scale of my Draped T-dress made by Anna, who was pattern-testing the shopping bag pattern for me.   When she mentioned that she'd like to make one for her 5-year-old, I got a bit excited and printed out the scaled-down pattern for her.  Isn't it cute?!



To finish off our sewing-week, there was a bit of collaborative book-writing....

After the smallest collaborator wrote the table of contents, she thought it best if I do the writing and she illustrate (and dictate). 

It was all about speed and efficiency. She's definitely a creative director and not a technical grafter, my girl.

And when I finished writing, she tactfully asked, "Do you think anyone will be able to read your writing?"

Gotta love her.

Next week, I hope to have my work brain back on.  The combination of flu and lots of work-day parenting has meant that there has been a lot of fuzz and frazzle and very little straight-thinking for the last few weeks.  Back to normal programming soon.

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.