Morning every one NO Beach to day we went down on Monday morning instead; but we have a lovely sunny day after an amazing full moon the last week, it is so nice to have the sun back again after months of rain. My photo’s say 2006???? it needs resetting yet again for some reason it keeps jumping back to 2006 !!!!
Some times we acquire things we had no intention of collecting, like these thimbles of mine. When my second DS was 10 we visited the Tower in Sydney and he spent a good deal of his pocket money on some thing he thought I would like a souvenir thimble, of course it was precious to me as he had spent
Hubby brought home this old Gnome aircraft holder it was used to place turbine blades in and asked could you use this ???? I thought it would makes a perfect holder for thimbles from one that was given to me 30 years ago I now have over 60 and NONE i have collected LOL.
a lot of his money on it instead of some thing for himself so it was all ways on my display area. Now 30 years late this is part of a collection that I DON”T collect LOL.
Gnome thimble holder now on the wall and I have two more small holders waiting to join this one LOL
Last Friday I attended a Bernina sewing course
I choose a red and white stripped fabric and black thread as I could visualise the end result in my mind and I wanted a strong contrast, I choose a very light weight as I wanted to really see what the starch and interfacing would do.
on using the 83 attachment as I thought it might work for quilting by machine as I’m hopeless at machine quilting,
This is one of my class with her almost completed block, the starch and interfacing made this project a dream to sew, but will it work on a quilt block I have yet to find out LOL.
more frightened I think even after watching endless DVD’s I have brought of friends given me to help LOL.
Thank you Wendy for allowing me to take photos.
As this was a sample and I was meant to be learning i kept on adding to the circles to see what would happen LOL.
One of the other girls was making her block for her son and did not want a flower so did her circles randomly with out a pattern
One thing I learnt was my table was far far to high and my chair also, now my feet sit flat on the ground and my sewing table is 4″ to 5 ” lower and not causing a great deal of my back pain after 2 hrs sewing!!!!!!!
No beach to day as it is school holidays and Grandies came over this morning to help me out ????? they can make pocket money this way LOL . DGD is water blasting the pavers for me a very very boring slow job.
How lucky am I to have this job under way while I write my blog ??????
DGS asked if I had any jobs for him, so another problem solved for me, he replaced the old lining cardboard on the bottom two shelves under my sink, I can not get down there any more to do it LOL>
My DGS buried under the kitchen sink LOL
Sadly my quilt I was about to start machine quilting is back on the table and I’m going to have to pin baste it as well as tag it, my machine does not like the old antique silk under the quilt I have used, and it pulled all the tags out instead of feeding the silk through. I will have to leave this project for a month now as I’m going away next Tuesday for 2 weeks.
My quilt I was hoping to have finished before i leave on Tuesday buried under other projects I'm working on now LOL.
My DDINL's bag I have been repairing, the bottom of the bag pulled away it is fine chiffon, I ironed on some fussing to give it strength so I can sew it back in to the black satin bias binding. I also needed to add strong support where the tie handles joined the top of the bag she loves it and used it constantly so now needs this TLC. LOL. Handles have been strengthened where the mens ties join the bag???
Back of bag where I have used Japanese kimono silk obi fabric
Last week I saw a pinky mauve silk Kimono
A very sad looking kimono, silk lining has shrunk when it was washed causing the outer fabric to distort, but it can be restored back to it's original beautiful glory. Now I need to continue unpicking it; this takes several hours depending on the hand sewer who made it, they are all hand sewn and some seamstresses are very very good and take no short cuts these are the ones who back stitch every few inches so you can not pull the threads in these long seams. LOL. Kimono's were traditionally unpicked then the fabric was washed and stretch to set the fabric while it dried then was sewn together again a very costly clean, so one was very very careful when wearing them not to eat any food so when you took it off it did not need to be cleaned and could be packed away till it was worn again.
for sale on eBay when searching for some plain fabrics, it had no bids on it as the Kimono looked rather sad, but I recognised the fabric and took a gamble that I could restore it, it arrived yesterday and I was right some one had washed it and the fabric had dried distorted. I unpicked part of it yesterday and soaked it in hot water for 20 mins as fabric has a memory and then towel dried it iron pressed it dry and it has come up Beautifully and it now measures the correct measurements and is square, I’m now thinking of using this for my back ground fabric instead of the pale green silk. Time will tell when I see the the final pattern. I can not believe the fabrics I have pulled are so close to Esther’s beautiful pencil drawing on her blog this morning, my heart is racing thinking about it.
This is the piece of kimono I have soaked and reset it has a soft design on it but I'm looking at using the reverse side so it is all neutral but the weaving pattern will show still with out the painted Crane birds.
Reverse side of the silk panel which is 14 1/2 : wide All kimono fabric use to be 14 " or 14 1/2 " wide depending on the weave.
I have been slowly working on my wool Kimono fabric cathedral windows this week and now I need to make another pile of pockets so I can make more windows, I can see the end coming finally as I found the red wool kimono fabric I was looking for to add a wee splash here and there?????.
I finally found my red wool Kimono fabric I have been searching for to add a touch of red to my black cathedral windows I'm making so now I'm a lot happier I can see this quilt been completed now.
Yesterday I have Finally finished repairing the lining on this 1960's sheep skin coat for my DDIL who has moved from the tropics to a cold climate and is constantly cold when she goes out side so I hope this helps to keep warm ???????
Help need please?????
My next big project of restoring is this lovely old 2ply afghan I need scraps of 2ply wool only wool to replace many damaged squares.
Help needed if possible If any one has some scraps of 2 ply wool and would like to swap them for some silk fabrics please please contact me. You can see some of the tiny wee squares that need help. each square is around 2" !!!!!!! I live in the tropics so I have NO wool in my cupboards LOL.
Happy stitching every one; I’m now off to link up with Esther’s WOW CHeers Glenda
You are the Recycle Queen for sure. You always give me a smile when I come to visit.
Hope your vacation is wonderful. Enjoy every minute.
Hugs Bunny
Hi Glenda, just had to drop by your blog, wow your a busy lady! And with your moderating job time flies by. I know, I’m a co-listowner of a Dutch quiltinggroup, but we’re not as big nor as busy as Ester’s group., I don’t mind. The too on your Bernina looks great, nice for making circles with decorative stitches, but I don’t think it’s easy for quilting on a big quilt, as it must turn around and around, don’t think the pin will hold the weight. Love the silk kimono, you’re lucky it came out nice, and it’ll work great in a quilt I think. I’m off to bed, couldn’t sleep because of the high temperature and humidity, put on the airco half an hour ago, so it will have cooled down by now. Bye and thanks for the work you do for us ladies on the group!
My thoughts exactly – Recycling Queen. So enjoyed your post – you must save it up for a week! Maybe I’ll do that from now on.