My studio 001

My studio 001
Originally uploaded by Crazydolldresser.

Well, this would have to be the best thing that has happened to me in a lifetime! Eddie and I paid a deposit on a studio for me to be built in the back yard. It will measure 5 metres across by 4 metres deep and will be insulated on the walls and ceiling because of our high summer temperatures. A split-system air conditioner and heater will be on one wall and a large window in the other. This is the corner of the garden which will have to go, as you can see, not much there anyway.......shame about the lemon tree! Eddie has decided to clear the fences of creepers and paint them all green with terracotta capping before the studio goes in. The front of it will line up with the brick paving of the patio in the foreground, the brick paving where the garden lounge is will go, the back of the studio will be the back fence and it will go about as far again to the left of the photo. I am a very happy little Vegemite at the moment!

op shop finds 001

op shop finds 001
Originally uploaded by Crazydolldresser.

It was a beautiful autumn day, so my husband Eddie and I both took the day off work and drove to a country town east of Perth called Toodyay. We wandered around the main street, had a lovely meal in one of the local pubs and I went shopping in St Vincent de Paul's charity shop. These were the best op shop finds I have discovered in a long time. I paid just $10 for both tops, the red one has swirls of red pearls in three sizes with other swirls of red glass beads and the yellow linen blouse has rayon lace around the sleeves and collar, a different wider rayon lace around the top of the sleeves at the shoulders and four rayon lace rose motifs on the fronts. I think the blouse must have been made up white and then dyed because everything is exactly the same shade of yellow.

cq storage 003

cq storage 003
Originally uploaded by Crazydolldresser.

On one of the crazy quilting on-line groups I am in, we were discussing storage systems for our crazy quilting fabrics. Here's my method - simple clear plastic containers holding 6 inch squares of fabric sorted by colour. My beads are are in clear containers with divided sections - also sorted by colour. I find it helpful to always cut my material up into 6 inch squares straight away so I don't finish up with a pile of second hand clothes, yardage fabrics and odd shaped pieces.

SRE flowers 001

SRE flowers 001
Originally uploaded by Crazydolldresser.

Dianne gave me some left-over coppery coloured knitting yarn so I thought I would include it on her bag somewhere. It was a coarse, scratchy metallic braid and I tried just stitching it along a seam which didn't work so I worked some basic silk ribbon embroidered flowers along a seam. To my surprise it worked really well and apart from having to use a needle with a very large eye and having to really tug it through the seam, it wasn't hard to sew. The end result is some very satisfactory daisies which added sparkle and glitz to the crazy quilting.

Back of Dianne's bag

Back of Dianne's bag
Originally uploaded by Crazydolldresser.

This is the other side of Dianne's bag. I added buttons and needle-turned and slip-stitched a vintage applique along the long seam near the top. The bag was lined with a dull orange self-patterned cotton quilting fabric.

Front of Dianne's bag

Front of Dianne's bag
Originally uploaded by Crazydolldresser.

The barter system is alive and well at my place! A work colleague, Dianne, knitted me a winter scarf and hat, a summer weight dressy scarf and finished off a woollen cardigan I started knitting in 1995 and never finished. In return, I made her this cq bag. The photo makes it look uneven, but believe me, it was perfectly balanced in real life! Dianne wears a lot of browns and autumn colours so it seemed a good choice of colour for her bag as well....and because some of the variegated velvet had a bit of dull turquoisey blue in it, I was able to add the very vintage velvet flowers and leaves at the top. This is the first side I did, although the bag doesn't really have a front or a back.

Maureen Bonds Christmas tree 003

Maureen Bonds Christmas tree 003
Originally uploaded by Crazydolldresser.

Solvy DYB RR. Maureen Bond made a large picture for us all to embellish. It was a room with walls, floor, fireplace and of course, a Christmas tree. I chose to make a wreath for the wall which was a green pipe cleaner wrapped in funky fibre and a sort of green holographic tinsel with red beads sewn on. The clock was a piece of dark brown fabric appliqued onto the mantlepiece with a button clock face. Mary Lewis had already added the candles around the Christmas tree and Anne had put the star of the top and the button stockings on a gold cord. I hope Anne doesn't mind but I put her stocking buttons on the fire place and decorated the tree with gold cord and lots of tiny charms and bead ornaments. This was great fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

margaret's block

margaret's block
Originally uploaded by Crazydolldresser.

Firstly, the Solvy DBY RR. After I finished Mary Lewis's cream on cream block, I received this bright orange, yellow and green block from Margaret Price. Wow, this block was so challenging because these are not the sort of colours that I normally work with, however I really enjoyed myself experimenting with 3D flowers and charms. The appliqued butterfly introduced brown colour to the block so I was able to balance it up with the dyed lace and the stitchery along the sides of the sheer braid with vinyl orange flowers. The flowers around the little gold "My Garden" charm were single tatted flowers which I worked in white thread and then dyed orange and yellow.

I'm back blogging

It's been nearly three months since I actually sat down and blogged. Life and work have taken up so much of my time and inclination that I have ignored my blog to the point that many of my friends are asking me when I'm going to add something. I'd feel guilty leaving it any longer. Obviously they've taken a look and found nothing new.......sorry everyone, I'll try not to leave it so long again. Anyway, I'll try and work out what's been happening since March and include as much as I can think of.

Complete Solvy DYB block

Complete Solvy DYB block
Originally uploaded by Crazydolldresser.

This photo is of the complete cream-on-cream block for Mary Lewis. Apart from the fan, linen circle with tatting and the sea-horse, there are some tiny flat copper rings covered in buttonhole stitch, embroidered lace, vintage pearl buttons and more.

Seahorse corner

Seahorse under the sea corner
Originally uploaded by Crazydolldresser.

This little cream lace seahorse just cried out for a sea bed to sit on. I stitched various types of seaweed in different types and textures of thread and added the tiny gold shell and starfish charms. There are a lot of irridescent bead "bubbles" rising in lines to the surface of the ocean but unfortunatly they haven't shown up in the photo.

Close-up of tatting and hem-stitched linen

Close-up of tatting and hem-stitched linen
Originally uploaded by Crazydolldresser.

I bought several sheets of these little hem-stitched shapes on eBay a couple of years ago. The circles measure 1 3/4 inches across and are meant to be used as centres of crocheted motifs. They date from around 1900. I slip-stitched some vintage tatted edging around the edge of the circle and added ribbon roses and rayon thread bullion leaves plus the little gold blue bird charm.

Method of making Solvy Fan

Method of making Solvy Fan
Originally uploaded by Crazydolldresser.

Here is a practice piece I did on some scrap material first. I wanted the fan to be controlled rather than just a pile of clipped thread pieces trapped between the two layers of solvy. I sewed the outline shape then filled it in with a rough grid of straight sewing lines. After a few experimental machine embroidery stitches, I finished up deciding on the top embroidery stitch which is a double zig-zag stitch, then machine stitched back and forth across the fan following the curves and making sure that each row went over the edge of the previous row. Once the fan shape was covered, I sewed an edging around all sides of the fan with the same stitch.

Solvy Fan

Solvy Fan
Originally uploaded by Crazydolldresser.

This is the fan I made for Mary's DYB block using solvy. I appliqued the fan shape onto the background over the top of a tiny organza frill then added silk embroidered bullion roses, ribbon, wrapped thread spokes and a satin stitched bow.

Tartan ATC size purse or jewellery pouch

I have just finished my third UFO for 2006. I'm doing well, only 37 more to go!! This one is a little ATC size tartan purse or pouch for a Scottish friend, Lorraine. I sewed lots of little scraps of different tartan fabrics to a foundation then embellished them with stitching on the seams, embroidered thistles, White heather and bluebells, using tiny bluebell shaped beads. Because the tartan itself was so busy I only added three charms - all Scottish, then added a black suede backing piece and lined it in tartan taffeta. I bound it in tartan bias-binding and added gold herringbone stitching and a black beaded fringe.

Crazy Christmas Stocking

I have been working on a crazy quilted Christmas stocking for a special friend. When I started it, I had no idea that I would be starting a new full-time job, consequently I have just finished it - never mind, it will keep for next Christmas. I scanned the stocking into the computer so have had to do it in two halves. The red frill at the top is rayon ribbon loopy fringe from the on-line Flights of Fancy Boutique topped by a matching red braid from the same place. I have no affiliations to FoF but I love their gorgeous trims and braids. Here's a link to their store. http://www.flightsoffancyboutique.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi

All that Jazz block

All that Jazz block
Originally uploaded by Crazydolldresser.

I'll have another go at posting a photo of my finished block for the "All That Jazz" fundraiser quilt for victims of the Katrina hurricane. Thanks to Maureen Grantham, I may be able to do it this time. Here goes anyway......

Finished Katrina Block

I have finally finished my block for the Hurricane Katrina fundraising quilt - I hope. I can't see any spots that need a quick fix at the moment anyway. Also there is a close-up of the silk ribbon embroidered Wisteria and Magnolias with the little Humming Bird charm which I loved and was waiting for a perfect opportunity to use. I think this is the right time. I have really enjoyed working on this block, not just a good cause but a wonderful challenge. Thankyou Sharon, for the invitation to participate in the project.

Unfortunately, I have installed Firefox due to being caught out by the Spy Sheriff spyware and viruses and this stops me be able to post photos directly to my blog. I will ask my resident computer doctor to fix this problem but in the meantime, here are links to my flickr photostream.

More Katrina Hurricane Relief cq block notebook pages.

This page from my notebook contains simple sketches of ideas for stitching seams and patches on the block. On the left is my original idea for the dancing music and on the right are several sketches showing a Victorian hand charm scattering stars over the block below, which got changed to the hand scattering Purple, Green and gold beads to represent the colours of the Mardi Gras; a suggestion for random smocking and a seam embellishment idea.



The second page shows my "textures" page with sequins, glitter, beads, sparkly threads - all sorts of textures and glitz which represent the carnival type atmosphere of the Mardi Gras and New Orleans Jazz Festival.

Block for Katrina Hurricane relief.

It is so good to be blogging again after so long away handling real-life situations. I have to thank Sharon Boggon from inaminuteago for inviting me to be a participant in the Crazy Quilt to raise money for the American Red Cross so they can help victims of hurricane Katrina. Now I'm revisiting my much neglected blog as I use it to record my progress on my block.

I couldn't wait to get cracking on the block so immediately created a little notebook so I can record my ideas and draw my various stitch combinations before I jump in with needle and thread and find out that it doesn't work! My photos show my notebook open at the "colours" page where I glued pictures cut from the internet, from clip art, magazine cuttings and pieces of fabric.


Then I took a good hard look at the pages noting that I had quite a lot of turquoise, not much yellow, a small area of orange, a bit more hot pink etc and I tried to keep the colour combination on the block to the same proportion.


This photo is of my first completed patch - my Jazz piece! It is simply five lines of black stem stitch with a row of musical charms dancing along them. I think the charms were meant for scrap-booking but they were perfect for my block.