It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Oh wait that was last weekend, now it is feeling a lot more like new year.

This year Christmas day was really hot in the mid 30s °C. Not the sort of weather for roast turkey and all the trimmings. Instead we had a lovely baked salmon a much appreciated Christmas present from a fisherman friend. For the first time in ages we had Christmas pudding served with fancy custard (creme anglais).

Anyhow here are a few bits and bobs of Christmas nonsense. Or keeping in the spirit of song titles - a long and winding road to nowhere.

Christmas Chocolate Sock 2017

For 2017 it was a hexagonal Christmas bauble - this wasn't my original plan but I needed something quick.  I felt that production was way down on last year with only 114 baubles and ten snowmen made. (The snowmen were already half done - drawn on the fabric last year just never sewn together.) But when I checked the numbers are about the same with 130 snowmen made in 2016.

The production run was smooth and easy but did involve cutting out 228 hexagons from the outer Christmas fabrics and the same number from the lining fabric, together with 114 little rectangles of grey felt for the bauble hanger and 114 pieces of ribbon so they can be hung on the tree. Then they were chain pieced along the opening edge - one outer fabric matched to one lining fabric.  Half of them had the grey felt and ribbon inserted along this seam. Next the two hexagons are opened out and a pair with the grey felt and ribbon are matched to a pair without, right sides together. The two sets of hexagons are then sewn together with a 1/4" seam  - leaving a small opening in the lining.  Lastly (for the hexagon part) they are turned right side out through the small gap left in the lining fabric all ready to have the chocolates added.

The other part of production is to machine embroider everyone's name onto felt, cut it out using pinking shears and sew it to the bauble.

As I spend most of my week in Wellington these days and driving around Christchurch city centre is an exercise in raised blood pressure, due to the continuing post earthquake reconstruction, the chocolates this year came from Schoc.  These chocolates not only taste good but look amazing. The staff at Shoc in central Wellington made up my little cellophane bags of chocolates during their quieter moments.

Chain piecing Christmas baubles in the hotel room

Christmas baubles ready to start their overseas journey

Snowmen adorning a friend's Christmas tree - can you spot all four?

Bath robe alterations

The offcuts

Wouldn't it be nice to have a new bath robe for Christmas given the one currently used has been in existence for our entire relationship (26 years). It took ages to find a towelling one in an inoffensive colour. Grey is too drab and none of the fancy modern fabrics used for bath robes are acceptable - this was discovered as a result of extensive research earlier in the year. Anyway mission accomplished only it is too long and the sleeves are too wide - sigh. Post Christmas alterations: to remove 7" from the bottom and top stitch every 3/8 inch to get the same looking hem as the original; narrow the sleeves by 2" at the cuff and blend back in to the original at the underarm. The sleeves are also a little bit too long but because of the top stitched cuff I would have to remove the length at the armhole edge - not going to happen. Well not unless he complains very long and loudly, after the trauma of new clothes has worn off.  And I bought a bath robe when I can sew because?!

Oh and just in case I get bored there are three pairs of trousers to shorten and maybe taper the leg.  Will have to wait and see how wide they look when they are the right length.

Car cover undone

In a Christmas fit of sew-it-yourself enthusiasm I decided to make a car cover for my beloved's toy car.  So called because it spends most of its life in the garage being tinkered with. It is not a big car so how hard could it be - well after measuring the car roughly (5.5 metres long x 3.7 metres wide allowing a metre drop on both sides) it is a lot bigger than I thought. Which has meant that instead of it being a surprise present I am awaiting the convenience of my beloved to help me make the car cover pattern. He is much better at measurements and dimensional things than I am.  But I have bought the fabric, all 21 metres of it, plus a feature fabric to create a racing stripe down the middle!  Think I will need 17 metres but decided to buy the whole roll to allow a bit of room for error.

Christmas Advent calendar...the beginning

There is something about the Christmas holidays that gets me working on projects for Christmas future. This year I purchased a whisky advent calendar (24 x 30ml bottles of Scotch) and we have kept the bottles.  This encouraged me to think about actually making the advent stockings which have been carefully maturing in the stash for a couple of years.

Stocking outer front and back, plus lining waiting to be sewn

I even found a pattern for an advent Christmas tree by Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched.  Mine will be a lot more Scandinavian than country Christmas - starting by replacing the round baubles with my advent stockings...and it will be finished in time for next Christmas. Hmm wonder if that will in fact be true.

Machine embroidery for Lee Magentic Needle Box

The original much loved magnetic needle box 

My friend Cath many years ago gave me a magnetic needle box and it is a wonderful thing.  It has journeyed many miles around the world and is starting to resemble a life well lived. It has also started leaving tiny bits of red pleather on the clothes in my overnight bag. So I have been thinking about making myself a new one. I just wasn't sure how I was going to replicate the magnetic lid and base.

A magazine article fortuitously brought to my attention the leather magnetic needle box by Lee, which Father Christmas kindly left under the tree for me. It has a small hole in the lid for personalisation, with the insertion of a 3" round piece of needlepoint. I decided to do a machine embroidered initial on green mulberry paper vliesofixed to cotton duck for extra strength.

This picture is the truest colour representation

My new needle box is slightly larger than the old so should be very useful and we will hopefully travel many miles together.  I have to confess Cath that I have now thrown away the red one you gave me.  I nearly kept it for sentimental reasons but don't want to become one of those hoarders featured on television!!

I have read a review for the Lee Magnetic Needle Box and it was pretty ho hum about the product, with the reviewer feeling the finished item would be of limited use but good for decorative purposes.  She also found it difficult to insert her needlepoint.  Now I have to confess that I didn't remove the paper covering the sticky circle so my initial does move slightly in the lid and my insert is probably not as thick as a piece of needlepoint but I had no trouble inserting my initial (and taking it out again when I realised it was upside down).  I am still debating putting a circle of fusible quilt batting on the back to raise the embroidery slightly.

If I ever finish my tiny houses hussif it will match the colours of my new needle box perfectly. These paper pieced tiny houses will be appliqued onto a piece of linen, and combined somehow with two fabrics from the Road 15 range by Sweetwater Fabrics for Moda.

Tiny houses in progress (since 2014)

Road 15 by Sweetwater Fabrics for Moda c.2013

And rather aptly there endeth the long and winding road to nowhere. And lucky me these two songs are now running around in my head having supplanted the beginning Christmas tune.

Creative Construction Quilt Symposium 2017: The Exhibitions Part 2

As promised here is part two of the Creative Construction Quilt Symposium 2017 exhibitions with those quilts at St Andrew's College that particularly caught my eye.

It took me a while to sort out the artist statements and their associated pieces, random photography can be quick at the time but problematic later on.  Not to mention the fact that all of my photographs seem to have a definite lean to them - seemed straight at the time - wonder if I stand lopsided? Hopefully the quilts speak for themselves and my hopeless photography doesn't detract too much.

St Andrew's College was the venue for a number of different exhibitions: Tutors Exhibition; Hoffman Challenge 2017; Aotearoa Quilters; Orange Challenge.

Aotearoa Quilters "Fragile"

Golden Years by Sonya Prchal

This tiny elderly lady seemed frail with her stooped posture and oversized coat. I repeated her image, fading each time to represent her increasing fragility.

Unknown Future by Kat Martin

As fragile as life itself, as fragile as a newborn and as fragile as our endangered species - this baby gorilla represents all of these.

Fragility of our Land by Donna Cumming

I wanted to show something that was thought provoking, heart touching, as well as allowing us to come to realisation that we are only visitors here.  Black is our national colour.

Broken but Beautiful by Julia Arden

The Japanese art of kintsukuroi, "repair with gold" gives broken porcelain new life.  The golden cracks become an integral part of its new beauty.

"I wish for..." by Lynda Thrower

In my childhood my sisters and I would blow on dandelion purrs and make a wish.  The slightest breath would blow them away.

Blowing in the Wind by Gloria Scanlen

We have dandelions on the lawn and I often watch the delicate seed heads floating off into the air.

Gertrude by Sonya Prchal

One of the quilts in the silent auction (and the only one I photographed)

The Hoffman Challenge 2017

Regal Cat by Clare Dixon

The Regal Cat is inspired by my Burmese Cat and artist Andrew Gonzalez's pre-Raphaelite cat.  The beading has turned out very sculptural on this fabric design.  The background quilting has been kept very simple to highlight the Regal Cat motif.

It's a bit lonely at the Top by Annie White

I cut up the challenge fabric in an attempt to remove all the background colour creating in the process a fragile lacy effect.  Perched aloft is a preening bird looking for a bit of company - he needs only to glance in the reverse to find his mate!

Best Overall: By the light of the Silvery Moon by Hayley Scott

An owl, flying through the night, by the light of the silvery moon.

Boat Sheds by Beverly Howe

The challenge fabric immediately reminded me of boat sheds when I saw the surfboards.  Living by the Pauatahanui inlet and Porirua harbour I regularly see groups of boat sheds in their many colours. My design is loosely based on these.

Orange Challenge

Waitarere Sunset by Barbara Freeman

My inspiration comes from watching, while sitting on the beach at Waitarere, the bright orange orb of the sun sinking towards the horizon.

Tour de Reve by Kathy Grimson

Orange is the perfect back drop for an old fashioned bicycle and map of Paris.  The perfect "dream ride" or "tour de reve". 

Exploring with Sir Edmund Hillary by Melanie Martin

A combination of two challenges using the word "explore" and colour orange. Thank you to the Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation for giving me permission to use his image.

Venetian Evening by Sonya Prchal

Created as a reminder of some wonderful evenings spent in Venice.  I had fun stitching the picture first, then painting it. Enjoyable technique to explore further.

Tutors' Exhibition

Tranquillity by Sue Wademan, New Zealand

Tranquillity is a textile piece from my Soulscapes series in which I try to capture the feeling of the landscape rather than the exact details.

This piece is a winter piece where the colours and simple format create a sense of quiet and calm that comes after the snow has fallen.

Many of my artworks like this have won awards over the last 20-years and are held in collections around the world.

This is the form of fabric collage I am teaching in my class at the NZ National Quilting Symposium in Christchurch in 2017.

Style: Fabric collage, framed behind museum glass that is reflection free.

Remains of the Day by Lyric Kinard, USA

In the end, what is left?

Time has fled.

The work is finished

Memory of light

The stillness of the dark.

Style: art quilt

Wheat Field by Melissa Burden, New Zealand

This piece represents to me the warmth of the sibling bond. Style: Pictorial Quilt.

I have seen (and photographed) this quilt before - displayed in Houston in 2016 - and this time I got to see it closer to home.

My Wabi Sabi by Julie Haddrick, Australia

A Japanese aesthetic that embraces transience, imperfections and the impermanent. Greatness is in the overlooked details and in the art of ageing graciously, of beauty in decline. My Wabi Sabi is outdoors in quiet, insignificant and inwardly orientated places. My treasure is in the discarded, a feather, a stick, a shard of china. This is what I value. This is who I am.

This self-portrait was created for a juried exhibition of the same title. Wanting to express my irreverent, non-traditional approach to quilt making and art textiles, I had painted the portrait fabric, splattering it with colour that seeped and ran down the face. Referencing a cheeky, freckled face that had enjoyed a life lived to the fullest. I added a textured feather to morph into my hair. This sari fabric, embellished with beads and screen printed fabrics not only added an applique, textural element, but illustrated one of my favourite collected items and personal symbols, the feather. The discarded, the insignificant, used and weathered. Beauty in decline. My wabi sabi.

Style: Wholecloth, hand painted fabrics using Kraftkolor fabric paints, Fabrico fabric pens on new and recycled materials, including cotton, silk, rayon and organza. Machine and hand-stitched / quilted, beaded and embellished.

Sarah and Getty by Debbie Williams, New Zealand

Sarah and Getty were fashioned from the Hoffman 2016 challenge fabric.  The fabric featured the Eiffel Tower above apartment buildings with pastel striped skies. The towers reminded me of giraffes, tall and slender above the vegetation, which inspired this creation.

Bitter Sweet by Clare Smith, New Zealand

In some textile manufacturing countries, water treatment is expensive and rivers often run blue or pink or turquoise with waste-water run off from the textile industry. The dyes are so strong that it is possible to predict fashionable colours for the season ahead by looking at rivers on Google Earth. That river water is then used for drinking, cooking and to irrigate crops.

Materials: Cotton fabric and thread, fabric dye
Style: Contemporary quilt based on traditional Korean Pojagi

Really Truly Blue by Jan Clark, Australia

What could be bluer or more Australian than fairy wrens? The little Superb Fairy Wren is well known in urban gardens of Eastern Australia, but the bluer wrens found in Inland areas are less familiar.

The birds represented here are (left to right): Variegated Fairy Wren, found coast to coast and central Australia; Superb Fairy Wren, from Eastern Australia; Splendid Fairy Wren, from central and Western Australia; White Winged Fairy Wren from central and Western Australia; Lovely Fairy Wren from the tip of Cape York.

This quilt is built in many layers, seen and unseen.

The background is dye painted in swirls.  The next layer is the nest mono printed with print paste and grasses. The swirl is further embellished with overlays of dyed organza and laces.

The little birds are thread drawn onto lace and sewn down to the surface with tiny dots.

Style: Art quilt

Structure #16 by Jane Dunnewold, USA

This quilt continues my exploration and use of old, unfinished quilt blocks and designs. I purchase blocks created by another maker, and complete the story by assembling the blocks on my own terms. No longer soft and pliable. Comforting from a new perspective? Quilt / Not Quilt? I welcome the viewer's opinion!

Style: Mixed media quilt

Fragility: Kina on Rangiputa by Mathea Daunheimer, New Zealand

This quilt is inspired by walking on the beautiful beaches in the Far North of New Zealand.  It is a real privilege to be able to experience the beauty of the environment here. And it is a reminder of how fragile our environment is, just like the kina shell. Resilient but fragile.

This quilt is created from coffee and tea dyed white cotton, painted with Derwent Inktense pencils, and densely quilted on my domestic machine.

Style: Art quilt

Life Cycle - Albatross by Charlotte Yde, Denmark

This quilt about the albatross is one out of my series about nature, passage of time and seasons used as a metaphor for life and death.

This quilt not only depicts the life cycle of the albatross but also addresses the issue of endangered species.

A lot of albatrosses are found dead because they have swallowed huge quantities of plastic floating around on the open sea, we ought to do something about all our waste.

Cotton and silk organza, deconstructed screen printing, oil paint sticks, digitally programmed stitched drawings, reflective thread, machine quilted.

Style: Modern quilt

Licorice Allsorts by Chris Kenna, New Zealand

"Licorice Allsorts" is a quilt that grew organically as a result of having a lot of fun with a box of striped fabrics.  The only thing that stopped me was running out of some of the striped fabric.  It's named Licorice Allsorts because that's all I could think about when I made the quilt!

Style: Art Quilt

Pink Bird by Judy Coates Perez, USA

I like painting images inspired by nature often using photos of real plants and animals as references for the pose, then changing them by simplifying details, altering the colours, and patterns to create unique stylised birds and plants.

This is a whole cloth quilt.  The background is painted with acrylic inks on cotton fabric and the imagery is painted with textile paints. It is free motion quilted on a domestic sewing machine.

Style: Art Quilt


For these quilts my photographs of the artist statement were so bad (mainly out of focus) that I couldn't actually read them.  I haven't included those quilts were I couldn't read (or remember) the tutor's name.

ViVid by Helen Godden, Australia

Ode to New York by Hazel Foot, New Zealand

Inspired by art deco relief  on the Chanin Building in New York, the glass designs of Frank Lloyd Wright and the green, open spaces of New York.

Daisy Paths Again by Deborah Louie, Australia

My Tangled Garden by Jenny Bowker, Australia

And finally in putting this post together I have realised that I have a bit of a thing for Sonya Prchal. Of the quilts included in this post three are by Sonya.

Mousse on the Move.....getting into the festive spirit

The festive celebration at work is always a do-it-yourself affair from a sausage sizzle in the park to fancy dress to creating themed festive rooms in our basement car park.  They are generally fun (apart from the fancy dress) with varying numbers of us involved and in the party spirit.

The 2015 theme was a Masterchef type competition to provide dessert.  Having just delivered a major project we were feeling relaxed and creative enough to enter a team, called Mousse on the Move.  This was a play on our mousse dessert and the name of the organisation's transformation (restructure) project. We were obviously feeling very creative because our dessert name was Take a Shot.

The week before the party we stopped being relaxed and got competitive.  We had to have a team identity and fabulous table decorations.  I was given the role of creative director so of course sewing had to be involved somewhere.

Plain cheap red aprons were purchased for the five of us and I embroidered them with our logo (the reindeer from the Embroidery Online machine embroidery collection called Elegance Entwined), our names, team name and date. This was a relatively easy sew because the machine embroidery unit takes over once I have designed the layout in the embroidery software and I limited the design to two colours for speed. The embroidery was also carefully sized so that it fit into my Bernina 830 jumbo hoop (400 x 260 mm).  I didn't hoop the apron but used sticky back stabiliser which was hooped then the apron was carefully laid on top so that the centre of the design was positioned where I had marked the design centre on the apron (above the pocket).  It was still relatively stressful because I had to get all five embroideries finished on Sunday before I flew back to work on Monday.

The aprons were a big hit and we looked like the winning team!! Here we are at the awards ceremony with our box of Roses chocolates (we got one each!).  Heads chopped off to protect the innocent.

Now about those table decorations we decided they had to be edible (we did have some glass berries scattered amongst the goodies but we had to remove them as people kept trying to eat them).

The mousse (our official dessert) carefully portioned in a disposable shot cup was delicious and easy to make using the Annabel Langbein Three-ingredient Chocolate Mousse recipe.  The hardest part was chopping the marshmallows which stick to the knife. Melting the chocolate and folding in the cream was child's play. The mousse was made the night before so all we had to do on the day was add a dob of cream on the top with a raspberry.

Then we had the Strawberry Santas, made on the day, we didn't use the icing sugar just the whipped cream, strawberries and chocolate chips.

Chocolate dipped candy cane Reindeer (obviously Rudolf with the red nose), made the night before, involved more Whittakers Dark Ghana chocolate, white Jelly Beans and Jaffas. A black icing pen provided the pupils for all of our reindeer eyes and melted chocolate was used as the glue.

The chocolate reindeer biscuits, also made the night before, used chocolate Florentines as the base with white Jelly Bean eyes, a Jaffa nose and pretzels for the antler. You could use Mallowpuffs or Choco-ade biscuits for the base or try this recipe (a bit more involved than ours). I couldn't find the actual recipe we used which involved mini Reese peanut butter cups for the nose with a Jaffa on top. The peanut butter cups ran out before the Florentines so we just stuck the Jaffa directly onto the remaining biscuits.

Everything we made was pretty easy and would suit cooking with kids. There was no real cooking as we used the catering kitchen at work which is geared more towards serving and tidying up than preparing an actual meal.

Once we started looking for simple to do festive treats it was amazing just how many ideas there were from a quick internet search.

If you think the quality of these photographs is higher than the normal blog standard that is because most of them are the official photographs used for our intranet.  It was quite difficult to get photographs because the masses were eating our desserts before the starting gun had fired.