Think Music

Over the last week, whenever I've reached the end of my ability to think about class notes, submissions (for yet-to-be-revealed projects), website tweakings or pattern instuctions, I've tinkered with a little idea I've had for a long time.

This has been in my head since pushing a pram around the northern suburbs with a nine-month-old* who wouldn't nap during the day (or night, for that matter) and dreaming up bag designs was the closest I got to a sewing machine.

(*That baby is now nearly three years older. For those of you who ask how I work around a small child: the answer is.... S - L - O - W - L - Y!!).

Patternmaking is like a puzzle that grips me until it's solved. I started the pattern after midnight last Sunday morning. It was lucky I didn't have a sewing machine at home or I'd have been up all night!

I once knew a writer who said he wrote "to get it out of my head". Patternmaking is a bit like that for me. It's compelling. Addictive. The next stage is nutting out the right materials and processes for the job, and that's just as absorbing.

It's been my think music all week. Whenever I reached a block point with whatever I was writing (or was simply too tired to think in words) - or whenever I felt overwhelmed by it all - I'd tweak the pattern again. Make a toile. Tweak again. Today I worked only on this (and trying to keep a sugar-fuelled kinder-holidaying child busy). By this evening I was happy with the shape, at last.

There are still minor technical glitches to be ironed out before it's a kit, but I'm hoping to have it finished in time for the Sydney Stitches and Craft Show.

I have a lot to write between now and then, so I anticipate a bit of 'think music' will be needed in between. Watch this space...

Not the blog post I planned...

I documented today's work with the idea of blogging it. Instead I'm playing around with family photos. Remembering snapshots of childhood. Noticing resemblances in our children to ourselves at the same age....

Shedding bucket-loads of tears.

I'm making something to celebrate my mother and the family she made. I hope it turns out ok and I hope to have it finished by Sunday.

If it works, I'll show you.

Laptop Bag Pictures

Here's one I prepared earlier...You can see a bit of bias tape action around the edges of the flap, and on the internal divider pocket, too!!
Can you see how I've managed to complicate/prolong the instuction-writing process...?
I'm also experimenting with different interfacings and stabilisers to get it JUST RIGHT to carry a computer safely and snugly.

Good things come to those who wait.... and this is going to be VERY GOOD. But you're going to have to wait a little bit longer.... sorry (insert apologetic, kind-of wincing smile here).

On My Desk.... Wednesday

Clutter. Lots of Clutter. In fact, I have SEVERAL tables and a sewing machine bench full of works in progress, offcuts, tools and various materials queued for new projects.I have so much to do at the moment... patterns to finish, Sydney show organisation, classes to prepare.... it goes on. Today was my one child-free day in the week, and I tried to do EVERYTHING.... SIMULTANEOUSLY, it seems!! Everything was half-done and nothing was tidied up, so the place looks like a small hurricane has passed through.

There are a few desks in the studio NOT pictured here that also saw a bit of action today... just a bit of computery stuff - not too messy. They made for boring photos.

Despite chaotic appearances, I actually did get quite a bit done today (or at least organised IN MY HEAD) and I can always clean up tomorrow.

More On My Desk over at Kirsty's....

My Tuesday....

What a day....! Well, actually most of it was rather uneventful. I saw a lot of this computer and did toddler-related stuff.

I'm INCREDIBLY CLOSE TO FINISHING the instructions for this....

Somewhere in the middle of the day, I had to go out in the car.... and someone drove into the back of me!!! (For those of you who missed my drama in the summer, this is the SECOND time our poor little car has been rear-ended in about six months..... I wasn't driving it last time, by the way). HOW TEDIOUS... and now my back hurts.

Back to craftiness.... I haven't been able to get near the sewing machine since last Wednesday, so nothing much to show... except the Small Tote bag I finished off last Wednesday. Just a simple little one with flat o-rings in the straps. It has light fusible wadding and medium-light interfacing to give it a bit of gentle structure.

It matches the hat (...yes, yes - hat patterns will be out ASAP!! I'm working towards my hat-making workshops in September. Oh - that's not far off, is it?). Colours are a bit washed out here for some reason. The fabric is much prettier in real life. You can also see the hat I made in that print in the background.

In the late afternoon my little Petal drew a picture. She proudly announced "THAT'S ME!" (the two bits at the top are her pigtails, she tells me).

We photocopied the original, laminated it, punched holes in it and got to work with some wool and a plastic needle..... VOILA! A self-portrait "embroidery". She was very proud. I was beaming. I took photos and took the embroidery home to show her Daddy. He was proud, too.

So the day ended beautifully.

On My Desk

Today felt like a bit of a write-off. It was one of those days when I started a lot of things, but didn't achieve anything that I wanted to get done. It's left me feeling a bit deflated.

I spent yesterday botching the embroidery on this purse (placement issues.. adding bits to balance the design... "ooh it's too much".... chopping bits off... patching bits on.... it went on and on like that for most of the day).

Today I started on a strap idea for it that I didn't have the materials to finish, so went to Spotlight to buy the bits I needed. I ended up spending ages in there, NOT finding what I was looking for... and leaving with this little lot.

The seed beads were $1 a tube (and very useful for curved frame purses!!!). Fabric was $2 per metre - and will be great bag lining one day. The large beads were purchased just in case they worked instead of the beads that Spotlight DIDN'T have (they didn't work, and are now in my little gal's bead stash).

Then the battery on my camera went flat, so I couldn't finish the purse I was making SO THAT I COULD TAKE PHOTOS for the instructions. The instructions reached a standstill, too.

I had to get SOMETHING finished for the day, so finished off one of the "Here's one I prepared earlier" half-made bags from my demos at the Stitches and Craft Show in MARCH! I have a class at Kimono House on Saturday, so I'll take it there to make me feel like it was a worthwhile effort.

Perhaps I should have called it a day at lunchtime and gone swimming instead...?

On My Desk is hosted by Kirsty.

There seems to be a THEME emerging...

Or perhaps I just bought too much of THIS FABRIC...?!!

I'm a bit fond of this print - from the Utopia range by Free Spirit. I went a bit silly last Christmas when Z and S Fabrics were having a big clearance sale....went into stash-building overdrive!! I seem to have liked this print enough to buy it in THREE colourways. So, in the spirit of the Von Trapp Family, I'm USING that fabric... on EVERYTHING!!!

I even "borrowed" the motif to use as an applique design (to reflect the design on the lining).

This Small Tote is made as a satchel in cotton drill, with binding around the edges of the feature print. Inside it has lining in the same print (!!) in a beige and plum colourway.




The Laptop Bag is made in red duckcloth with pvc covering the print. Inside it is a laptop sleeve made in (you guessed it) the same print.


There are no photographs yet, but I've also made a hat, using the blue colourway for the outside and the beige for the lining.

So... what's inside the new red bag?

...SPOTS!!