Tuesday Archives

It is such a good idea to go back and look at old posts you have written. I have the link to my cockatoo tea mat in my side bar but I haven't read that post since I wrote it. I have been reminded that I wanted to do some flannel flower projects and the Andy Warhol mat just got put aside. I will be getting that design out again now.
I was thinking of doing something like this but with a cockatoo silhouette. I love the colour blocks.

source: http://galleryhip.com/pop-art-andy-warhol.html

I will be linking my cockatoo post onto Tuesday Archives over at Val's Quilting Studio on Tuesday.

If you liked the little wool bag I made here it is an easy pattern. There is a great tutorial here.

Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

Crazy About Wool

I am so enjoying visiting all the crazy wool people on this blog hop. I love to knit and crochet but I also love to make things with wool fabric and wool felt. I fell in love with crazy wool pincushions when I joined in a round robin sewalong a while back. It is still my favourite working pincushion.

Then I made a whole one myself.

The pattern is here.

For today I made an Aussie Christmas decoration to share. Summer is marked by noisy cockatoos flying over our house so it only seems right to have one on the Christmas tree with the robins and cardinals.

Here he is hung on the mango tree out back. And it just happens that the real cockatoo called in the other day too.

I scanned in the pattern. I am not sure if it will come out exactly the right size but close.
You can download it as a PDF.

I free motioned around the pieces in matching thread.
I trimmed the red square next to the bottom edges of the cockatoo piece first, then the top next to his crest, then the back to make it square.
I sewed the red square to a green square.
To give it a good swing as it hangs I added two washers from the tool box to a second green square and sealed them in with some iron on vilene.
I folded a piece of ribbon in half and tied the ends in a knot. I then sewed on the second green square sandwiching the ribbon.
To get the pieces to stay in place while I sewed them I used my trusty spray baste. I quick squirt on the back of each piece with an A4 piece of paper as a drop sheet.

I really wanted to get my knitted dolly finished for today but she is not quite done and she will have to make her debut another day.

Make sure you visit the other blogs in this Crazy About Wool blog hop. Today's list is below and you can see each day's schedule at Pieced Brain. Thanks to Denise for hosting this fun hop.

Tuesday, September 24

Quiltscapes

Marla's Crafts

Secretly Stitching

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Sew Many Yarns

Val Spiers Sews

Quilted Crow Girls Design

Happy Quilting,
Val

Cockatoos and Christmas

Edit 2014 - Still planning :D

I have been busy designing some Australian summer Christmas decorations. I love the designing part but I don't really enjoy the sample making. At least I will have several cockatoos to hang on my Christmas tree as I refine the design. I am planning to try and sell them as PDF patterns on Etsy.

The sulphur crested cockatoo is a common sight around my place in the summer. There are tall tree all around my property and a flock of about 25 fly past regularly and take some time to perch and screech in the trees looking for food. They are quite a large majestic bird with a touch of the jester about them. Christmas in Australia is summer time and lots of birds are around.

I was having my breakfast tea when I spotted this one out my back door. He seems to have found a feast of seed pods in the grass.

Another of my favourites in the spangled drongo. It is a glossy speckled black bird with a deep notch in its tail. It is a migrant and turns up here in summer after spending winter up around Cairns. Several of them sit in the tree above our swimming pool and take turns diving and swooping in the water. They have an odd call a bit like a turkey gobble but not quite. It is maybe not the best choice for Christmas but certainly a good replacement for the crow or blackbird.

I think maybe a kingfisher or blue wren or a fig bird are next on my list for Christmas birds. Let me know if you have a favourite that turns up at your place in the summer. If you live in another country let me know if you have a favourite Australian animal or bird. I want to make a bit of a collection of designs for a variety of projects. But for now I have to get a couple of Christmas things finished to put in my shop before Christmas comes and goes.

A Cockatoo and a Cup or Two

I have searched around on the internet a bit and there are just too many owls and kitties or pumpkins and crows or red cardinals and snowmen. I am going to make a bit of a statement about Australian themes regarding cute or seasonal or holidays by creating a variety of designs.

I have started on the flannel flowers but they are quite elegant and dignified so I have to work a bit harder on projects to go with the designs. I thought the cockatoo would lend itself to some more casual projects so to start with I have designed and made a cockatoo mug rug or teapot mat. I have the Andy Warhol inspired pot holder in the works too.

Download the pattern from google docs.

Also rather than fill the page with instructions I have made a flickr set here.

I thought he would feel at home with my cute teapot for one.

My morning was taken up testing the 6 sided pear pin cushion pattern. It looked tricky but was really quite easy so now I am ready to add the sweet flannel flower stitchery or applique to the pattern.

I put a big washer in the base to give it weight. I bought these at the hardware for this purpose.

 

Practicing foundation piecing

From Quilt a Koala: Australian Animals and Birds in Patchwork by Margaret Rolfe

, a photo by valspiers on Flickr.

I have decided to improve on at least one skill a week or try something new. Time seems to just fly by and a week goes by and I have only done more of the same. Working on the cat appliqué quilt is achieving but still more of the same.
This is only the second time I have done foundation piecing. The first time taught me that I need to work with big pieces. This time I learnt that when one uses interfacing as a foundation you should not write the numbers on in dark pen.
I made it into a counter mat for my kitchen with wadding to hide the pattern on the kitchen towel I used as backing. I retire the hand towels a couple of times a year so I always have spare ones around. They give kitchen counter mats a nice firm feel and are good and absorbent .
The new things I tried this week were some low sugar biscuit and muffin recipes. I love eating something with body like cake or biscuits rather than chocolate or dried fruit so I modified a few recipes. The biscuit recipe is definitely worth repeating. The muffin was a bit boring.
Date Dainties
12 dates chopped
12 pecan halves chopped
1 cup flour
1 egg
2 tbls honey
1/3 cup marg or butter

Cream butter and honey. Add egg and dates and nuts then flour. Makes 12 biscuits. Cook at 160 C for 20 mins.
700 kJ per biscuit

The other new thing was getting into Pinterest.

Happy Quilting,
Val