fiveandtwo

Letter Spacings Are Wrong.

I started making my market stall sign. I thought I had the spaces between the letters right. Sigh...not so.

The f and the i need to be moved closer, when the black paint's dry I'll block it out with a couple of coats of white. Note stickybeak Micky-cat, on the corner of the table there is his "box". Micky loves to curl up and relax in that cardboard box.

I've joined the East Gippsland Makery, after thinking about it for six months, ahem. At a venue called The Stables the Makery has an area for members to display their work (cost $10 per week & 10% commission). A monthly market, the Artisan's Bazzar, is held at The Stables. So, I had a market stall today but made little more than the stall cost, now crossing that off my list of markets.  However, I've sold some things from the Makery. Yay! Interestingly, this morning I sold more stuff through the Makery than from my stall.

This is all part of the "I'm not going to get a paid work job any time soon so must ramp up the craft" scenario. Gosh, though, full-on sewing in all windows of spare time means all else slides. The garden is completely feral, for example, and that jacket I wanted to wear this winter is unmade.

Onwards.

 

That Stuff I Made.

Little fella owls. About 10cm tall.

Rabbits! A new toy (after much prototyping). That dark brown one is The Velveteen Rabbit, made from a repurposed plush cotton velvet jumper. A very soft bunny that one.

A two piece pattern, modelled on a photo of Peter, Clare's rabbit that absconded.

A satchel bag. Lots more are cut out, including patched wool ones.

These two from some time ago. A storage suitcase tagged "wool bags to be sewn". I'm trying to do something with these relics. These were before I started making facings for bags and I think they're less "professional" looking without a facing.

An assortment of scarves.

I want to write some stuff about making etc, but others want to use the computer. Another time perhaps.

Big Ears

I've been dealing with the old knitting patterns I have. Since I am a non-knitter there's no point in keeping them once I've scanned the pictures. The pattern photos are what I enjoy, the more weird and unusual the better.

I've collected some boy knitting patterns. Is it me, is it the short-back-and-sides haircut or did boys have bigger ears forty or so years ago?

Behold:

Look at Mister Sneery on the left!

The ears are big? Yes? It's not just me? Splendid-looking boys, however.

 

More Stuff I Made

Remember I do paid work one day a week. Okay?  Remember I am a solitary and essentially antisocial person. Okay?

The big owls have had babies.

That's a new biggie, and some hybrid offspring.

More little ones. I put exactly two in my etsy shop today.

I made some new larger owls.

 
 
 
 
Not sure about the patterned fabric on the tummies, I don't think it works as well as plain, or my combinations lack inspiration.

I am working on the Christmas thing. Everyone has a gift but I think I need to even up the spend with the kids. Father Christmas comes but none of the offspring believe so it's just a bit extra really. A bikini for Leah, boardies and thongs for Giles, a request from Linsey and some surprise stuff for Clare and Al (usually clothes and books, this year also a new drink bottle and some fruity T2 tea). I bought my Mum a magnifying glass with a light since her existing one had died, when we were up north and declared it her Christmas present but she's forgotten. So I'm making, as she's requested, pillowslips for her odd-shaped pillows (one for her neck, another for her knee), sheepskin covers for the handlebars of her walker because she doesn't hold them in her hands but rests her forearms on them and needs something soft. Also altering two fleecy jumpers for her and later I will make a dressing gown.

It's all go here at the fiveandtwo house.

Good Fun Marketing

It was good fun, the Maker's Market.

There's my stall, with my splendid offsiders. Without them I wouldn't be able to go to the toilet or get coffee (I brought sandwiches). Well worth the money given for sausage-in-bread and sweet treats from the "cafe", things like tiny caramel tarts, bite-sized meringues, cupcakes...etc. Ally had her felt "mascots" and little packages of Christmas decorations of her own design. She sold about half. Clare had framed drawings. A series of Alice in Wonderland and some Manga drawings. She sold none (but people looked, and were interested). Still, it stung that, "Ally sold stuff and I didn't".  One of the senior art teachers at the local secondary college said the drawing was very good, so that kind of made up for lack of sales. This lady is a dear friend but I know she doesn't make these comments lightly.

It was a good day for me too, sold some stuff, caught up with people I know and sort-of know and other stallholders. A good social workout for me who usually avoids it if possible.

I need to make more: owls, reversible pinnies, mice, purses, birds and dogs.. It was a good day for sure.

Contagion

We've had a "gastric 'flu" making its way through the family. Called so because you have the horrible aches and incapacitation of the 'flu in combination with vomiting and diarrhoea...fortunately it lasts about 24 hours, followed by a further 12 hours of "what the hell was that" and not being game to eat anything, followed by that splendid sort of euphoria that comes with being sick in bed and now being well - "I'm not sick, I can do anything".  It's fleeting but it's wonderful. I think that must be particularly heartbreaking with chronic illness and pain, no "getting better", initially at least. I am fortunate to only imagine it to be like this. 

This lurgy struck Giles last week, Clare and Ally both in the wee hours of last Saturday morning. Clare I got to before...Ally came to me, "Mum, I vomited" . As I was swabbing up the far-travelling splat she said excitedly, "I vomited on my feet!", like it was some sort of special trick. 

I was struck, later, much later than 3am, how much I'll miss these kind of declarations when my 11 year old "babies" get older, like next year probably. All of the kids have made such remarks, it's just that Clare and Al are the youngest.

So, I got the dreaded lurgy next, hence my intimate knowledge of its symptoms and the aftermath description is what I felt.

Maker's Market tomorrow! Aren't those octopi (?) something? I've made a green octopus/whale/starfish as well and they're packaged, in green/yellow/red  as a Trio Of Sea Creatures. I will not make any more unless I can charge $50 for one octopus. Much as I love to hand sew, all those legs - cutting out as well as sewing - was the finish of me!

Wish me luck for good sales tomorrow!

 

Mat For A Cat

I felt sorry for Pip, sitting on that broken china hearth. Being a cat, he selected the warmest place in the house to relax. I used broken bowls, cups and plates for the hearth so it's far from smooth and level.

So I made him a quilt-mat.

 
He likes it.

No close-up pictures will be available. It has to be the most bodgy thing I've ever made. Going reasonably well until I did the binding (with some pink velvet strips I had kicking around). Looks ok from the front, except for the corners. Rather wonky on the back. Rather wonky? Hideously wonky. Glad I did this before attempting to bind the Wagga.

Speaking of the Wagga, I'm endeavouring to hand quilt it. It's pinned in each square, however when I started stitching it looked good on the front, but the stitching on the back is all over the place, so I gather it's not sandwiched together well enough. Do I need to baste it with stitching as well? Is quilt basting spray any use? Does the basting spray allow for many months of on again - off again stitching? Does the spray cause the quilt to deteriorate before its time? I've chosen to hand quilt because the wagga sanwich is quite bulky and I don't think I can roll it all up for machine quilting when I get towards the sides.

Your hot tips welcomed.

Forgotten About Quilt Top

I entertained thoughts about using this as the backing for the wagga...but it would be too busy. Too much happening. I looked in my repository of cream blankets, a suitcase on top of Leah's cupboards (she hates that I have put my stuff in her room) and found not one, but two large blankets, so now I think I'll make it into a quilt after all.

 
I made it about five or six years ago and then didn't like it, put it away and forgot about it. In some ways I'm still not sure...It's made from all sorts of fabrics: placemats, pillowslips, curtains, aprons, sheets, table cloths and actual fabric that wasn't made into something beforehand (now there's a novelty). It's big too, queen sized. Interesting that I managed to line up the rectangles on this, unlike the wagga.

Here's the very last cherry tomato. I put the cherry tom in a pot on the deck this year. It liked that spot and was very productive, but not too productive. I guess I could have taken excess to Street Harvest but with limited space one cherry is good and then I can grow other veg.

 

I'm still not used to all this rain. Clare and Ally have never had a pair of gumboots (born at the start of the drought) but now they actually need them, I have resurrected my ancient pair. Especially for going into the chook pen. It badly needs mucking out but it's much easier to do after a long dry spell. It's weird to have mud in our small yard. Where we walk out the back and at the front gate.

 
The Autumn vine is hops (deciduous). To the left is the feijoa which has monster fruit this year. The rain, again. A bit of achillea (also known as Yarrow) and a convulvulus which I don't know the name of but is a splendid ground cover.

Wagga Quilt Top

Quilters who like all their squares perfectly aligned should avert their eyes.

 
All those squares I cut out and assembled last year have been sewn together! I didn't have any particular size in mind, it just sort of grew to this roughly double bed size.

I pinned the whole thing together on the kitchen table before losing interest until now. I think I'll use one of those old cream blankets for batting because it's in keeping with all the recycled wool pieces I used. All from the oppy - I buy pieces no matter how small. There is a dark olive green that's left over from a jacket I made and a dark grey from a pair of pants. I'm wearing them now, in fact (just thought you'd like to know...).

Not sure what to back it with. A purple chenille bedspread? A green, thick cotton sheet? A vintage floral sheet? Or one with large green hearts on a white background? Red lozenge shapes on a white background? Blue chambray? I'll have to dig out all my large pieces of fabric & vintage sheets.

You Sew, Girl! (The Book)

I ordered this book on Sunday night and it arrived on Tuesday (fast delivery, or what).

 
I ordered it from Nicole's website after seeing snippets of it around the traps. It's signed and all.

I'm particularly excited by the section on Pattern Free Sewing, something I've only really done with toys, bags and the like - this is clothes sewing. Look at these pages from the book. Doesn't it whet your appetite for stitching?

 
 
 
 
This is the child's Panel Skirt (there're instructions for a lovely, twirly circle skirt too). The Panel Skirt instructions apply to adults, as well.

 

I rather fancy a new glasses case too.

 
So much better than my own version.

Instructions are clear and easy to follow, but, being me, I'll have to fiddle and work it out as I go. I'll have a go at the Pattern-Free Cowl Top just as soon as I've finished The Dress ("only" the hem to go) and the sewing-bits-of-wool-fabric-together obsession has run its course. Must photograph the sewn together top of the wagga! Now brooding about whether to add batting of some kind, I have thoughts of using one of those old cream-coloured blankets (saw a couple in Vinnies today), and what I'll use for the back. I will pick your brains when you've "seen" it.