Crafty Stuff

Bill mentioned the other day that he thought it was time to come home from Australia and I suppose he's right, I can't blog about it forever and we have been home now for over a month.

On the other hand, this seems the best time to show you the card I made Ruby.


(Oh, gosh, I wonder if I gave it to her without clipping apart 'a very'... oh well, too late now).

As Ruby and Jane have the same birth date and we were obviously going to be out of town on that day, I gave this to Dorothy the day before we left to deliver for me. This means I was working on Jane's card along side of Ruby's.

I really dragged my feet making Jane's card, and I don't really know why except that I didn't figure it would be good enough. However, as Bill had asked me to make one, I thought I ought to at least give it a try; he doesn't often ask me to do things for him. I usually wake up about 4 am for the first few days we're in Australia, so I was thinking I'd be able to work on it then! I ended up getting up in the wee hours when we were at Avoca, since I wasn't sleeping anyhow, and that is when I finally finished it.


As usual, I didn't quite manage the outcome I wanted, but I was pleased with the fabrics and the colours.

I think Jane appreciated the effort that went into it, in spite of its imperfections. I couldn't for the life of me get decent photos of it.

I expect I will be making this type of card for a few more months -- the sewing ladies have all come to expect these, I think, but then I'm going to work on some other ideas for a less demanding way of making cards with fabric.

While I'm on the subject of crafting, I need to show you the hanger that Sharon made for me! Knowing I have this thing about hangers, she got a crochet pattern to do this black swan, which is the bird of Western Australia. I was really impressed that she took the trouble to make this. She also gave us books about Australia and Australian poetry and a cute apron with a black swan on it.



Sorry about the lousy photos -- that's what happens when you don't use natural lighting, and there just wasn't any sunshine to be had that day.


Finally, one of the days we were in Sydney, Jane took me down to her sewing room in the downstairs (formerly Tim's bedroom) and we pored over her stacks and stacks of fabric samples. Daughter Jenni works in an interior decorating shop that used to throw away the sample books when a line of fabrics was being discontinued. This seemed to her to be a shameful waste (which I whole-heartedly second) and so she began bringing them to Jane. As other shops have heard Jenni's mom does charity projects with these, Jenni seems to get more and more fabric. Jane sent me home with 2 shopping bags full -- all that the spare suitcase would hold -- and they are so lush I can't wait to do something with them, but it has to be something good.



We made notes of her most common sizes of samples in inches:

16.5 x 18
11.5 square
26 square
26 x 24
23 x 17
24 x 17.5

Jane has made quite a number of simple but very effective quilts with some of the heavier velour squares and copied a doorstop she saw in a posh shop here in Newcastle. However, she's always on the look out for other crafty ideas, I think preferably ones that aren't too fiddly. She hasn't actually got a huge amount of spare time after her volunteer work and running two households.

I did a bit of internet research and found these websites:

http://www.freepatterns.com/content/content.html?content_id=604

http://www.amazon.com/Shirley-Botsfords-Decorating-Fabric-Crafts/dp/0873416775

http://www.outsapop.com/2008/12/trashion-crafts-resource-fabric-and.html

http://coolkidscrafting.blogspot.com/search/label/Find%20A%20Use%20For%20Fabric

http://www.ehow.com/how_5363153_recycle-wallpaper-sample-books.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_4507023_make-wallpaper-covered-frames.html

http://www.craftstylish.com/item/47783/make-a-quilted-bag-and-tote-your-laptop-in-style

http://www.craftstylish.com/item/48756/upcycled-custom-drapery-panelgo-green

Some are specific ideas, others just general and some talk about using wallpaper samples, not fabric. I Googled using terms like "fabric sample books" and at some point hope to try searching on the specific size dimensions.

Anyhow, I thought I'd put this out there in case anyone has other ideas for Jane (and me).