Rome wasn't built in a day.......

....or so the old adage says. Neither, it seems will my little town, my little streetscape where quaint Victorian houses, wrought iron fences, happy children, very chic ladies, the odd beetle car or two, et cetera, are slowly appearing on the horizon.  No, I am afraid that my little town is certainly not going to be 'built' in a day, or even a week, nor perhaps even a month!! Inch by inch, or in the lingo of us Aussies, centimetre by centimetre, my little town is slowly being built, thread by thread.

It seems that there is a covenant put in place designed to protect the character of my little town!! Yes indeedy, a covenant that strictly stipulates and demands wonky buildings......walls that are a tad crooked, cute, cute Victorian-ish houses oozing charm, with pretty facades and gabled roofs, slate tiles, fretwork....the list goes on; all combining to create a happy little community!! It seems that the town planner responsible for the planning of this li'l town has watched far too many movies from "The Golden Years of Hollywood".

So with the plans having been drawn up and after much deliberation, approval given; the building has begun. 

  

Thread by thread the houses are slowly being built, transforming a blank canvas into a charming streetscape.The builders have been working overtime, indeed burning the night oil, building quaint Victorian houses and terraces.

The interior designer has been whipping up a creative storm, stitching pretty lace curtains for all the windows and doors, hanging the odd candelabra to be seen from picture windows and placing pretty window boxes at the windows, filled with pretty flowers spilling out in a profuse fashion.
 

The landscaper is working her magic, creating gardens, building intricate wrought iron fences and gates and arches; laying cobblestone footpaths, creating a water feature or two, planting an abundance of flowers and trees that children can climb and hide in until their mothers call them in for dinner.
 

 Children flying their kites high in the sky.

 

 A little girl swinging ever so high in the sky....mmmm...hope that bough of the tree is mighty strong!

 

An oh so chic lady sitting under the shade of an old tree, on a wrought iron bench seat (mmmm...don't know how comfortable it is) stealing an hour or two from everyday life with her pert little nose in a book.

 

 

 

A couple of oh so chic ladies taking their cute li'l puppy dogs for a walk.

 

 

 

 A sporty miss enjoying the sights on her bicycle.

 

Oh, and the odd beetle car and an oh so cool vintage sports car. Obviously a couple of car enthusiasts checking out this new town.

 

  

 

 AND.....the piece-de-resistance.......a bona fide, horse frolicking carousel........(mmmmm...hang on.... is that the honeyed, mellifluous voice of Gordon McRae, singing "My Boy Bill", that I can hear wafting off in the distance.....surely not)!! I told you that the town planner has watched a few too many Hollywood musicals!!

 

 

All in all, these 'drawings' have taken oodles and oodles of time to stitch. Although the stitching of these whimsical scenes was not without its frustrations it was mostly fun and enjoyable. I had a general idea of how I wanted my little streetscape to look, but I must admit that I kept thinking of new things to add as my little town started to take shape, thus resulting in a densely stitched piece of fabric which is approx. 2 metres x  30cms (80" x 12").

 

Though I am reasonably  happy with my streetscape, I can hear my Year 10 art teacher in my ear, taking me to task about several elements that 'blind Freddy' could see are not quite right! "Perspective Kim.....perspective.....dimension Kim....dimension....blah, blah, blah......", I can hear him say! Oh well....I guess my little town's imperfections (of which there are many) will just have to do. After all, I did want whimsy (the fabric that inspired this stitching is rather whimsical).....not an exact representation as seen by a 'perspective enlightened' trained eye.......(something I remember vaguely from my art classes of old). Obviously my eye is a little dim these days!!

So that's enough doodling with machine and thread for now. The town planner/architect/landscaper/ builder/designer, is going to have a little holiday, a little R&R, away from the frenetic activity of the little town; leaving the stitched panel on the shelf for a li'l while; before the humming and whirring of construction starts again.

Afterall this gal (who seems to wear many hats) has to put on her teaching hat and prepare a plethora of sewing fun for her little kiddos who, without fail, keep appearing on her door step......oh....and start stitching some other fun projects that are forming in her brainpan!!

I might even view a few "golden oldies"  where inspiration for Victorian maisons abounds.....now let me see.....perhaps..... "By the Light of the Silvery Moon".....or even....."On Moonlight Bay"....where Gordon McRae and Doris Day's  declare their undying love for each other through melodic song!!!

Here's to all kinds of pleasant "golden oldies"  viewing and fun stitching!!

Just sketching with machine and thread

To draw or in my case, doodle with machine and thread is the best fun. It really is playing in the best sense! 

After having just finished stitching a hexagon quilt with thousands of tiny little stitches stitched entirely by hand, I decided that a quickie quilt was to be the order of my day. This fun fabric jumped out at me a couple of weeks ago and I decided that it would be the impetus to make a table top quilt, incorporating oodles of 'drawing with machine and thread'.

 I love the scene on this fabric, the houses, the trees, the wrought iron fences, the street lamps and the trees. I envisage 'drawing' an abundance of quaint houses, children playing in the street, perhaps a stylish and chic lady or two, puppy dogs, children climbing  trees, children flying kites....and whatever else is required to make a happy streetscape. Goodness gracious golly gee whizz me.....did I say that this was going to be a 'quickie' quilt........mmmmmm....perhaps I exaggerate...just a little......oh alright then....a lot!!

Have you ever drawn with your sewing machine? 'Tis a bit nerve-wracking at first but once you get into the groove of doodling with your machine, it is so liberating. It really is just like drawing, only with the sewing machine; and the messier and scribblier the better. Hang on.....did I really say "the messier the better"??? Goodness me, what is to become of me, quite a deviation from my usual persnickety self! I am a gal that is ever so finicky with whatever I create! Believe you me, it took a while to espouse this new attitude of unshackling the chains of fussiness and just freely scribble over fabric to my little ole heart's content! But now, that 'sewing within the lines' mindset is but a fading memory in the deep recesses of my rather foggy cerebrum!

  

'Tis good to practice this technique a little on a scrap of fabric until you are feeling confident, but in no time at all you will be feeling rather like an artiste. It is also beneficial to practise a little, giving you an opportunity to adjust the tension if need be. 

  

 I always go over the stitching several times to give a delineated, scribbled appearance.

When freehand stitching on your machine, you will need to drop the feed dogs on your machine. This enables you to move the fabric under the needle in any direction, as fast or as slow as you want. You will need a free-motion embroidery foot, also called a darning foot. This stops the fabric from lifting as you sew. It is helpful to put your fabric in an embroidery hoop whilst you sew, keeping the fabric flat and taut preventing any puckering. You can purchase special hoops for machine embroidery, or you can also use  the traditional embroidery ones.....both work well.

I draw my pictures on to the fabric with a disappearing ink quilting pen......though I must admit, more often than not, I 'draw' freehand with my machine and thread, straight onto the fabric. It just depends what it is that I am making and of course how intricate the design is. If it is a naive picture that I am 'drawing', then I usually go with the flow and make it up as I go.

Set the stitch length on the machine to zero and 'draw' away. Start slowly to get the feel of the stitching. The fabric is the paper and the needle is the pencil. Switch your brain in to reverse gear.......you are moving the fabric to stitch your design.

My thinking at this stage is to use the metre length fabric as the central piece with a border of chevron and stripe and then a wide cream border of freehand machine drawing around the perimeter. Of course this could change as I am just making this quilt up as I go.

I have gathered a few resource books to have a bo peep, to attain some ideas on the look of my urban streetscape.

Here are some of my sketches (and a few traceries) that I have drawn that I might add to my streetscape.

Of course these are just a few ideas running around and colliding in my brainpan!! This is definitely a 'making it up as I go' quilt and let's see what eventuates.

Anyway.......enough of this doodling with paper and pencil and rubbing boo-boos out with my faithful rubber! I'm off to jump from the secure stitchery precipice, hurtling down, down, down, into the valley of free-hand machine stitching, where there is no safety net of rubbers, nor where my trusty unpicker is of any use (it takes an eternity to unpick free-hand stitching....oh believe me...I have tried)!

It’s fabric, thread and machine doodling................that awaits me!!