Howdy there

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Kaleidostars_almost there

So, apart from my little QuiltCon announcement, it’s been more than three months since I’ve been in this little space of mine. Not that I’ve not been crafting mind! Probably because I’ve been doing lots of crafting, not photographing it or writing about it.

I have:

** Made quilts. Four in the past three months just by me (which seems like a whole lot but is not as many as I’d like to have achieved).

** Quilted three quilts for a client:

Custom_6

** Taught a friend to let go of the rules and make a quilt that she will love. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It does have to be. And, then quilted that quilt for said friend as a farewell gift (she and her family are moving to France on a posting!):

Janet_quilting

** Enjoyed spending time helping another friend towards a finish.

** Taken on the role of co-ordinating book reviews for this ace website while my friend and her family travel around Australia for a whole year (no, not jealous, not. at. all!!).

** Learnt to crochet and made countless washcloths as Christmas gifts for family and friends.

** Watched my (not so much anymore) baby girl learn to walk and climb:

Climbing

** Celebrated Birthdays, Christmas and the New Year with family and friends.

Birthday Picnic

** Welcomed some new family members:

New Girls

** Enjoyed the company of my children and their friends during these summer holidays. I’ve also enjoyed how slow we can be without having to rush out the door to school each weekday:

IMG_3115

How have the past few months been for you? More on those quilts I’ve made soon, but for now, back to the summer holidays.

Jules xx

That little event…

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I am sitting here tonight thinking about so very many things but it all keeps coming back to one HUGE event for me! I can’t focus on any of my actual work as I just realised that in just 36 days time, I am heading to Austin for QuiltCon, the inaugural Modern Quilt Guild conference and show.

Needless to say, I am completely thrilled at the opportunity and also at the prospect of seeing Austin for the first time – I have travelled to Europe and Canada, but I’ve never been to the USA.

I’m starting to plan my packing so am in need of a few tips… We are in the middle of an extremely hot summer and with most of the past two weeks hitting around 38 degrees Celsius (100F), it’s tricky to get my head into packing for winter mode.

So, anyone been to Austin in Winter? What do I need to take? Where can I shop when I get there for a great coat? Any thoughts about travelling solo? Are you going to be there too? Do come play with me, it’ll be amaze balls, I guarantee it!!!

Jules xx

Weaving a basket…

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…I imagine, must take a whole lot of time. And patience. Neither of which I have in great abundance. However, I recently had cause and inspiration to weave a basket of the quilty kind.

With the middle small by my side snipping the threads between the chain piecing, and by roping in anyone who happened to call by the house, this quilt came together in a flurry of activity and with very little thought or effort in a relatively short amount of time. I did modify the pattern from the book and in my typical fashion, I messed up the measurements for my version. With a little help from a maths minded friend, I was able to improvise my way out of what could have been an enormous waste of fabric!

As the quilt was destined to be a family picnic rug, I used repurposed fabrics including scraps leftover from previous projects and some pieces from my growing stash of second hand fabrics found on trips to op shops {thrift stores}. This project contains an assortment of remnants of seersucker tablecloths, silk taffeta, linen from a skirt, a bag and my maternity pants (won’t be needing those ever again!), cotton drill kitchen curtains and a wild 1970′s paisley poly/cotton blend which was used as the backing. It was great fun to throw together an odd bunch of texture, quality and colour and come out with something fun and practical.

My favourite part of making a quilt, always, is seeing it put to use. I am not precious about the quilts I make for home. We have picnicked, slept and snuggled on and under this and I love that my family can wrap themselves in Mumma love and comfort on a chilly afternoon.

NOTE: This quilt came to be as occasionally I am privileged to be able to review books for Whip up. My most recent review was of Denyse Schmidt: Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration. When I opened the pages and saw the Basketweave quilt, I quietly desired immediately HAD to have a version of it.

A pretty frock…

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WOW!!! My first ever commissioned piece!!! Recently I was asked if I could recommend a dressmaker to make a frock for a flower girl. I offered to do it and here is the result – a pretty little dress worn by a gorgeous girl to her Aunt’s wedding in Switzerland.

When discussing fabrics options with Miss O’s Mumma, I immediately thought of quilting cottons (naturally) and for a small child, what could be softer and feel nicer than Art Gallery Fabrics. The wedding invite was provided with the colour scheme – navy and teal. This Pat Bravo Modernolgy was the perfect match to the invite colours, it also matched the theme – both the invite and the fabric have two little birds looking at each other on them! To make the sash, I used an Art Gallery Pure Elements solid. I have a growing collection of these solids and I absolutely love sewing with them – they feel so luxurious in my hands. I must admit, I loved Art Gallery fabrics before they were a popular choice. I bought some many, many moons ago in a clearance bin and I’ve sought them out ever since.

It took me a while to work out how to make the dress. So many “flower girl” frocks are too frilly and too long for a 15 month old and/or they use satin and tulle and other non-breathing scratchy fabrics which I wanted to avoid. In the end, I used the bodice from the Pretty as Picture dress in Anna Maria Horner’s book Handmade Beginnings (I’ve made this dress before for my smallest and it’s super easy to sew up as well as to get on and off). Given the occasion, I felt that the skirt needed to be longer and more full than this pattern provided for so I improvised a bit and played around and after a bit of tinkering, I ended up cutting two large rectangles (one each for the front and back), stitched them together, gathered them and joined them to the bodice.  I added the sash and made a little fabric flower for a bit of extra detail – it was a dress for a flower girl after all!

So, here is my first ever “I got paid to sew” piece! Eep!!! Still can’t believe someone paid me to stitch for them :)

Jx

**The photo at the top of this post was not taken by me. Credit to RB.

Procrasticraft…

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Welcome to Procrasticraft and my little corner of the blogiverse. I have been contemplating this space for some time now. While I am not new to blogging, I am embarking on a new journey, taking a new road with my creative life and trying to channel my creative energies into a career path. These past few months I have spent much time soul searching, thinking about what it is that I can do professionally that will nurture my creativity and have as little impact on my family as possible. Something that will allow me to follow my passions as well as be around for my smalls. So, here is my new space, my fresh start, my place to share my life as a maker, in my new journey to crafting as a business. You’ll also get glimpses into my world as a grower, baker and Mumma of three.

Who knows where this road may lead… All I know for sure is that I hope to have your company along the way. Please, put the kettle on and join the conversation.

Jx