Something other than Quilting...

Yesterday I got online to find a new crafty tutorial on one of my favourite blogs:
Epbot.com

Jen from Epbot is my hero. She is one of my go-to inspirations for Steampunk craft ideas and I had a major fan-girl moment when she posted a picture of the Steamy quilt I made for my Enabler on her blog.

Basically, it is a tutorial on how to make things looks like they are made of metal plates (using Aluminium tape and some random other bits for texture. Steampunk up your gear!

Looking around I realised I had nearly everything I needed, and I knew where to get the last things I need.

My Enabler is not just into Steampunk, but he has dreams of one day making his own exo-skeleton suit from scratch. For Christmas I gave him a pouch made of robot fabric to keep his doodle/sketch books and pencils safe and together.

Ha.

Project, plus recipient acquired! When he gets home tonight I'll surprise him with his new artist's sketch book:

Plain page sketch book with a new cover

Detail shot

I'm not claiming that is project was easy or fun, but this is what my 9yo short critic came up with and did himself:

All his own work.

Someone come confiscate my tape before the coffee table gets a work over too!

Cheerio

Kelly

Goals for the New Year

2014! Welcome, I'm glad you are finally here...

I plan to meet you with gusto. It's an exhibition year for Wellington Quilter's Guild and I intend to get the challenge done as well as at least one entry. Big news in this house is short critic #1 wants to enter too!

So a round up of what I'm working on right now, and what I want to get done before Exhibition:

Going Dotty classes:

I have been booked in to run two classes for this quilt. The first one starts in February and runs for four weeks at QuiltWorks in Lower Hutt. This course costs $60 per person, plus your fabrics etc.

I will also be teaching this as a single all-day class through the Guild at the end of March (not sure what the cost for that one is yet).

Kiwi Christmas:

I have finished the whizzery-pokery on mark II and just in the process of binding it and adding the extras. I will get on to writing the pattern for this next month. Then I will need to order enough parts for kits!

Shine Bright, Sleep Tight:

Now that short critic #2 is sleeping in her big girl bed, she needs her own big girl quilt. I have been playing with the technique for Going Dotty and have nearly finished it. Picture and pattern to follow (again the pattern will have to wait until Feb). It will have lots of modern girly polka dots.

Puppy Love:

This is the quilt short critic #1 is making for the exhibition. It will be a doll quilt for short critic #2 (love my kids!)

Zee Family Tree:

Can't show any photos of this one yet as it is a special tree quilt for a little lad who has just lost someone close to him. So instead have a pic of Helper #1 assisting with Kiwi Christmas II.

And then I have to work out what I am doing for the Exhibition! Man alive I am going to be busy this year...

Cheerio

Kelly

Big Congratulations for New Year honours!

I was stoked to read this morning that two ladies I have a huge amount of respect for have been awarded the Queen's Service Medal in this year's honours list for "services to prisoner rehabilitation programmes"

Janet and June run the Shut-in Stitchers programmes at Arohata prison teaching ladies how to quilt. They do fantastic work, giving women a creative outlet, a new skill, a new way of networking with other women when they get out of prison. They help strengthen bonds between mothers and the children they are apart from as these women are able to make something tangible to send home to their loved ones.

I am in awe of the time that they have dedicated to such a fantastic cause (over 20 years now), and have had the privilege of being involved with the program myself this last year working with them and several other talented selfless ladies do this important work.

It takes a special type of person to be able to go into a prison environment week after week and foster an environment in these classes that is free of judgement and mistrust and is a positive encouraging space to be.

The full honours list can be found here.

The happiest/busiest time of the year

So how did everyone's Christmas go? Was it relaxed? Madness? Still rolling along in eggnog fueled bliss?

As you can probably tell from the lack of posting lately, I've not had a heck of a lot of time to myself. I need to get more organised again. I started off so well this year, but I've let it slip and now I have so many projects on the WIP and To Do lists that I'm starting to loose track of them.

So a quick update on what has been happening.

I have been getting photos back from some of the lovely ladies from the Going Dotty quilt I have been teaching. The first was from just before the course I took at QuiltWorks in Lower Hutt.

Student #1 used all bright novelty prints and played with the layout

 Next is the first of my QuiltWorks ladies to finish. H was a heck of a lot of fun to teach!

Student #2 used her stash of gorgeous butterfly prints

I am confirmed to rerun this course at Quiltworks in February - the start of the new school term. If you are interested, it will run on Monday nights for 4 weeks (7pm - 9pm). For more details, contact the lovely ladies in store.

In other news, I will also be teaching this quilt as a single all day class through the Wellington Quilters Guild in March. That one will be a MUCH bigger class - woohoo!

The shortest critic is now getting to an age where I can play dress-ups now. Busy little bee walking and running around, but still young enough that she will usually put up with what I put her in. She is already showing preferences though. Thankfully for me, she is drawn to bright colours not just girly pink. So it was well past time to make her a party dress. Well done Kelly. First item of clothing you choose to make in years and you pick something that has toddler sized armbands and 19 individual pieces!

Hand artfully covering Mummy's booboo

Have you seen the lovely modern Christmas tree wall hangings? The ones that have a highly stylised tree made of dots or swirls on a plain pale background? I love them. I wanted one, but I wanted one with a bit of a Kiwi flavour. So I made my own.

Kiwi Christmas #1

This one is my first attempt. And yes, I am a geek. I finally found an excuse to play with electrically conductive thread! I took it with me to the December guild meeting and it caused a wee bit of a reaction during show and tell. It was reasonably well appreciated when it was held up for show and tell. I think that my modern without being stark style is quite liked by a number of the ladies. 

I had someone at the back turn the hall lights down for me to show this quilt's secret. Under one of those presents is a little switch that turns the Christmas lights on:

Kiwi Christmas 1 - lights on

The 2nd version of this is almost finished now (I'll take it along to the January meeting). It has twice as many LEDs hidden inside the quilt and a pre-programed chip that makes groups of the LEDs randomly turn on and off so they look more like twinkle lights.

The pattern for that one is going to be fun to write! I'll also have to import more parts in bulk so I can make some kits up. That one is a project for the new year though. 

I have two important projects on the machine at the moment that I can't go into just yet that have to be finished first.

That's me for now, catch you soon

Kelly

What a busy month!

Hi everyone.

I know I have been quite on here lately, but I have definitely been busy behind the scenes. 

The best news for me is I completed my class out at Quiltworks in Lower Hutt.  I ended up with Two lovely ladies L & H in my class who were both real characters.

They haven't quite finished their quilts but are both nearly there and have promised to send me photos to post up here when they are done

I've been looking at the pattern I have been teaching them and have been tossing around ideas using the same technique but for a completely different pattern. One that is completely mine.  No pictures yet but I'm looking at stars!

What I do have pictures for is this:

My new little Christmas wall hanging. That hides a little surprise. Under one of those presents is a teeny little switch. That turns on all the little LED Christmas lights that are hidden inside the quilt.

I'll get a night time photo with all the lights on later tonight and get that posted too.

Post again soon!

Last night...

Last night I fulfilled a long-held dream of becoming a professional (i.e. paid) quilting teacher.

I have a small class running at QuiltWorks (Their facebook page) in Lower Hutt. It is a small group in a small space, but they are lovely ladies and all left smiling, pleased with themselves having already made great progress on their Going Dotty quilt.

Now I have to kick myself into gear to get the three new patterns I've been working on finished and onto Etsy.

No more excuses!

What do you do when it is all packed?

I feel all out of sorts at the moment. All of my sewing and quilting gear is packed away in boxes in preparation for our move. So not only do I not have the results of my creative energy in piles around me, but what do I do in the evenings now until the weekend?

I know it is for the best, and in the new place I will have a DEDICATED SEWING SPACE {swoon} but in the meantime... Giving me free time can be dangerous... But before I packed everything away I took a couple of happy snaps:

 

Table dreaming finished, and ready to quilt

Home is where the heart is - wall hanging, currently being quilted

New idea - RAWRRR!