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!!

'Tis good....this thing they call life!

I am continually amazed where the yellow brick road of my life leads me. If someone was to tell me five years ago; when my husband, daughter and I packed up all our worldly goods, and took possession of a strange li'l olde abode in the far rural outposts of northern Tassie; that I would stroll along my sunny, botanical-inspired hallway to my 'office' each morning and design and play with a plethora of pretties, stitch to my li'l ole heart's content; and teach little earthlings the art of stitching every weekday afternoon......I would've thought that they were stark raving mad!

 

It seems that one's life journey is always preparing one for the curious twists and bends; to the next signpost of the road. For the previous 8 years I was employed at a before and after school workplace, where each morning I would drag myself out of bed in a semi-comatose state and lug myself off to school (at the most ungodly hour of the morning) put on my happy face (I H A T E mornings) and greet the wee folk each morning, prepare their breakfast and chit chat with them as if they were the most important people in my life!!!!! Oh....and they were most important......you see, I was quite the professional!!

Oh, how I miss those benumbed mornings.....NOT!!!! At the time of accepting my child care position, I was also offered a position in a legal office as a legal secretary but I chose the child care route.......a job, it seems, unbeknowns to me, was preparing me further along my bendy road. 'Tis the funny thing about this thing they call life.....every experience no matter how small or trivial, every person one meets along the road is significant and meaningful. 'Tis what makes life an adventure!

This country life is so, so different from my previous city life. Here, it seems that everyone knows me and everything about me......and what they don't know they just make up anyway!! This country life, in this little rural town, is rather akin to a Hollywood stage production, where all the players are waiting in the wings, ready to walk onto the stage, ready for their moment of fame.....or perhaps infamy! Sometimes I feel as if I have been plonked right smack in the middle of the Twilight Zone!! At times, living in this far rural outpost can be so very, very hysterical!! There is  bounteous amounts of fodder for page after page of a very funny memoir. Of course, one would have to change names and places or one could be burnt at the stake! 

 

Not before too long there were whispers that the quirky lady who lives in the purpley, bluey, grey house with the bright pink door, that sits atop a hill; could sew!! Glory be.....imagine that...wonders will never cease!!! All manner of people with varying stitching requests come aknocking on my front door. Sometimes there are those that stay for a chat and after leaving one feels as if  a new friend has entered one's life; indeed might I say, a kindred spirit.

One such gorgeous lady, Vanessa, came avisiting a couple of weeks ago on the proviso to order a bouquet of fabric flowers for her gran's 80th birthday. Instead of giving her gran a bunch of flowers that within a week would metamorphose into a pongy mass of organic matter, Vanessa wanted to give her an everlasting bouquet of bright and witty flowers that would bring a smile to her gran's dial forevermore. We chatted and chatted and enjoyed a cuppa and throughout the course of our chat Vanessa found out that I taught children to sew at the 'Kim Sharman School of Stitching Excellence'.........(well it is....of course my tongue is quite firmly stuck in my cheek)!!! Vanessa asked if I could teach her how to stitch.....and of course I answered with a resounding, YES!

 

When Vanessa visited for her first lesson, she brought along a glorious hexie that her nan had begun to stitch years ago, before her death; but hadn't finished. Be still my beating heart!!! Now those one or two of you who read my drivel of a blog, know that I have a penchant for hexagon quilts. You know that I drift into a state of apoplexy when my li'l beady eyes catch a glimpse of a hexie quilt.....even more so with one that has so many familial memories and love, stitched into every hexie! So you can just well imagine my state of mind when I saw this treasure!

 

Vanessa said that as a little girl she would sit with her nan and cut out all the hexie shapes out of old calendars, paper and whatever else was at hand.  There was no slipping out to your favourite fabric shop and purchasing a packet of paper hexagons ready for EPP. Vanessa could tell me the provenance of every itty bitty scrap of fabric. Her aunt's ball dress, another aunt's debutante dress, her sister's track suit, her nan's first dance dress, dresses that she wore as a little girl. So, so many wonderful memories it seemed, of every fabric that  represented  an article of clothing that had at different stages of life been worn by members of Vanessa's family. This quilt is a precious time capsule of fabrics that were in vogue in different eras.

 

In the bag were hundreds of hexagons ready to be used. The paper is still inside tacked to the fabric. There are even hexagons pinned to the sorted fabrics, where the pins have rusted! Just a little aside..... whilst having a 'bo peep' at the assortment of hexagons, I found a hexagon piece of calendar with the date '7th November, 1994' which just happens to be my much-loved nan's birthday (whose name Elizabeth 'Lizzie' is the name of my blog....the other name, Sarah, being my other nan). Oh, and another aside.....it was Melbourne Cup day that Tuesday in 1994.....the annual horse race here in Australia that stops the nation!! (I just know that you were hanging on the end of your seat to glean that tidbit of information, weren't you??)

 

 

 

There are indeed many, many hexagons that need to be carefully cut out and replaced with new ones. I predict many an enjoyable hour enjoying a cuppa, listening to Vanessa's stories of her family  whilst I teach her the art of stitching and as she gains confidence in her new skill, blossom into a competent gal who happily stitches.....(afterall, those who attend The Kim Sharman School of Stitching Excellence graduate with honours)!!

 

Yes indeedy, I am fascinated by this thing they call life! I am fascinated where life leads me, the gorgeous people that I meet along the way and share my path for a little of the journey. Yes indeedy, I am blessed living in this far rural outpost of Tassie where everyday brings a new experience and a new story for that memoir! Aaaaah....yes.....'tis good, this thing they call life!

 

Oh......the treasures that can be found in a thrift shop!!

As I have alluded to before I love to fossick for 'finds' in thrift shops. The beauty of thrift shops is that you never quite know what you will discover when you step over the threshold. Sometimes there is not a single 'pretty' that tickles your fancy and then there are those times when a 'find' jumps out from it's hiding place, trips you up and finds itself in your bag ready to begin another life in another home!

Not so long ago I was looking in the childrens' dress up section of our local thrift shop (why I have no idea as my girls are grown up) and found a man's wool brown suit. The trick with thrift shops is to look in every nook and cranny.....more often than not there are treasures in the most unlikely of places.

"So".....I hear you say. "Surely there is nothing spine-tingling about a man's brown suit????" Ordinarily no.....but at a glance I could see the wonderful cut and the tailoring that one usually finds in a man's jacket. Now, I'm not a gal that wears a lot of brown, nor am I a gal that normally wears men's clothing; so to notice this poor old, may I say, vintage, piece of men's apparel was a peculiar thing for me to get excited about! "BUT.....a man's jacket; you've got to be kidding!" Yes...a man's jacket. I liked what I saw from a glance and had an inkling that perhaps, just perhaps, I could transform it into something half-way acceptable for li'l ole me to wear about town. I know, I know (yes I can read your thoughts)......but the buttons and button holes are on the opposite side to that of a lady's jacket!! I concede that point, BUT button holes can always be covered by a smidgen of lace, a trailing ribbon or some other embellishment. Actually there are so many things that lace, ribbon, buttons etc etc can cover....but I digress.

Besides, I am always on the lookout for jackets that I can tart up.  It's what one can do to tart up these pre-loved jackets which is the adventurous part. Indeed I have 'tarted-up' numerous articles of clothing in my life.....'tis such fun!

So, once home with my new acquisition to my wardrobe, I set to work gathering up an assortment of different laces, a doily or two (of course!), ribbons, a vintage brooch and a gorgeous vintage buckle, which was a present from my husband many moons ago;  and started to design and play and stitch. There was a notion formulating in my rather fuzzy head that if I added a dash of lace with hints of the colour blue, and a brown and blue length of ribbon, maybe, just maybe I could fashion something quite unique; which funnily enough, when out and about my 'one of a kind' jacket  receives so many favourable comments from people.

First things first, I snipped off the buttons and cut a doily in half and began to stitch each half of the doily along the lapels of the jacket with tiny, almost invisible stitches.

 

 

On the inside of the jacket I carefully snipped around the doily, stitching it onto the lining on the inside of the lapel, with just a hint of the edge of the doily peeping out in the front.

 

I covered the buttonholes with a gorgeous blue vintage buckle (which I love, love, LOVE)...that my husband bought me as a present and a trailing length of blue/brown ribbon stitching it in a visually pleasing effect down the length of one side of the jacket.

 

 

 

Once the doilies were stitched in place I then proceeded to stitch smidgens of lace over the doilies, following the line of the lapels, stopping at the neckline.

I then stitched another length of ribbon at the top of the lapel, trailing it around the back of the neck and bringing it round to the other side.

 

 

 

I then covered the end of the ribbon with a beautiful, vintage (of course) brooch.

 

 

  

So there you have it.....what was once a rather drab man's jacket, is now revamped into a 'new' fashion statement! I might add that my 'one of a kind Sarah Lizzie's original' is hanging on a vintage mannequin (another 'cheap as chips' thrift shop find), posing in front of curtains fashioned out of vintage Italian coverlets with a vintage hat case sitting nearby! Aaaah....yes, there is many a thrift shop, vintage find in my humble abode!

 

  

Mmmmm.....looking at this photo, my poor old vintage, stained mannequin could do with a little 'tarting up' with a dash of lace.......must see what I can do!!

 

 ........just stepping out in my 'tarted up' jacket!!

 

 

Linking up to Karen at Quilty Creations where for the month of July she is holding a Something Old Something New challenge? Thank you Karen, it has been fun being part of this linky party.....I could write a tome on the subject 'Something Old Something New'....just because of my propensity of bringing many a vintage find home to live with me!!

 

Something Vintage.....Something Blue

Oh I do love to sit my gluteous maximus on an old comfy chair. Which is just as well as our li'l ole humble abode is filled with many a vintage chair. Some that have been recovered by moi (many a bona fide upholsterer would raise their eyebrows heavenwards as to the manner in which I have recovered my chairs); and some rather woebegone 'upholsterer's delights' that are sitting waiting rather patiently to be transformed into a new object on which one can lounge, in a rather relaxed manner.

We are in the middle of a very frosty and chilly winter, where I am greeted every morning with a new day of shivers. Old Man Winter has slowly crept up our country road and covered everything and everyone in his path with deep frosts, biting winds and at times horizontal rains. Indeed, there are days when I rather feel like the legendary Snow Queen sitting in her icy castle where stalactitic and stalagmitic encrustations abound!

The upside of this wintertide is that our home has several fireplaces that are ablazing with wonderful heat 24/7 to melt away all signs of Old Man Winter. Open fires are truly one of the magical things of Winter. They invite you to sit in a comfy chair with a cuppa, to stare into the hypnotising dancing flames and flickering embers, slowly being warmed from the tip of one's toes slowing travelling upwards until one is warm and cosy. The downside is that sometimes these fires spit out hot embers  that unfortunately, on one occasion, found it's target on one of my favourite vintage rocking chairs and left a very noticeable black hole in the upholstery. (I am afraid that I don't have any photographic evidence of this mishap.....this tragic event happened before I started my recent journey into blogland.

Oh no........what to do.............??

My 'dowry of cloth', (of which I have waxed lyrical in an earlier post)...those piles of glorious hand embroidered doilies that I have collected for years, have come to the rescue.....yet again. I covered the seat of my chair with a selection of embroidered pretties and an assortment of blue fabrics from my stash, hand stitching them carefully in a visually pleasing arrangement.

 

And.....I must admit I love my old and  "oh so comfy" chair even more.

 

Now........in my 'parlour' where an assemblage of  vintage chairs sit each day, there happens to be a chair, which I have christened 'The Throne'. This beautiful artefact of bygone times was on display in my favourite vintage shop in Sydney, 'Frou Frou Old and New'. As I looked in the window it beckoned me, enticing me to take it home with me. Of course it was not as it appears below, it was covered in olive green upholstery and the wood frame was ostentatious gold!

 

Me being me, saw beyond its tacky exterior and carted my treasure home. With my trusty staple gun and paint brush in hand I immedialely set about to transform my 'throne''. I covered the beautifully carved wood in white paint quickly wiping it off  before it dried, to give a limed effect with just a hint of gold peeping through. I then covered the less than desireable olive green upholstery with part of a vintage Italian coverlet, also a find from the lovely Parisa, from Frou Frou Old and New. The coverlet is a lovely white damask with lovely raised cartouches and touches of lemon, apricot, blue and pink flowers. Of course every chair needs a cushion, so I stitched a cushion, using the same vintage coverlet and fashioning a garland of ribbon flowers weaving in and out of a bowed ribbon.

 

So these days as I sit in my  parlour, enjoying the ambience and warmth of a fire, I have a choice on where to place my gluteous maximus. Will it be the 'queen-like'  throne, the new doily-covered rocking chair or.... perhaps my chaise lounge which is next in line for my amateur upholsterer treatment!

 

 

Linking up to Karen at  Quilty Creations  where for the month of July she is holding a Something Old Something New challenge? Have a 'bo peep', it's all about turning something pre-loved, something which has seen better days, or in my case something vintage, into something new, into an object which will give many more years of pleasure.