quilt tops

kinda joining in the top 5 lists

.... so going with the no rules thing

 here's my top 5 handmade tops .... plus a favourite parrot

..... & a short reflection

in vague calendar order

top left :: swing it sister

top right :: bamboo wonderland

middle left :: scrappy wip

middle right :: one a penny two a penny

bottom left :: party like a parrot

bottom right :: acid spotty coin stack

its been a big year of plenty of creativity

in the planning & execution

just not a mountain of quilting going on

lucky me acquired both an overlocker & steam iron

this year so this has spurred a re-newed passion 

to make clothing for me!

we traveled os & this always does something weird to my sewing focus

oh & if you missed it .... i started up a new business

so yeah .... not so much patchworking going on

but as always there are things happening in the background
i've noticed in going through my blog posts
& looking through images that i
have a true colour story going on
i did know this but its taken me a little by surprise :: nice to look at it all side by side
i'm very heavily biased to 'winging it' my way ... aren't i?
funny ... when you're in the midst of things sometimes you don't see it!?
(not intended as a bad pun but i don't mind a duality! he heee!)

oh & technically the one-a-penny ..... is not a quilt top
but i'd like to make one that way sometime ...

so wishing you all a happy and blessed

2014 ....  enJOY your journey

a year slips by

happy new year

 literally just whipped this dress up

feeling quite pleased with my efforts

its a Style Arc Slip-on Suzie Dress

is 'actually' the second time i've made this dress

first effort was in a plain brown jersey

which i really really disliked at first

in fact it hung in my wardrobe for a few months before 

i even entertained the idea of wearing it!

no pic of that one

made up in the plain brown the under layer of the 

crossover neckline along the waist can be seen  ... 

its a vwl  ..... heheee!

so i had thought .... a patterned version might work better

love this slinky knit with modern pixelated enlarged roses

thought it might have looked like a house dress

but i'm good i like it

all about the styling sometimes hey!

i "need" some hot pink shoes i think!!

jump starting my #YOEF :: 1

stacked acid that will never lose its spots

way back one evening when i was both bored

& probably procrastinating

i sewed a spotty acid quilt top

then the next day another

designed to be a double-sided top

with no 'backing' as such

 i love working in this way

& that magic pudding of scraps has grown of late

so guess what

there are more of these in store

since they are bound for our new bunk room

at our cabin on 'our riBer' ....

so that means there are 3 more to make

x2 tops per quilt .... 

yep ... lets keep tally shall we?

oh & it was one of my colour examples
used in my chat at crafty hijinks

so a start & finish for the year

it was very nearly complete about a month ago

 ..... only had 20cm of binding to stitch down

done now .... love a bit of acid yellow or green ....

little smARTy's studio

total immersion in colour & creative minds

it has been a wonderful begining

my cup runneth over

a year of ethical fashion

so i spotted pip encouraging people to

join her in pledging to a

Year of Ethical Fashion 2014

#YOEF

now this is my kind of thing

i have for most of my adult life bought

second hand or upcycled clothing

i love buying from a maker when i can

i own plenty of clothes to meet my needs

& i'd like to join in a swap thing somewhere, sometime

oh & now i have been back sewing

clothes for me ......

these are small grass roots ideas that are not new

all of history has determined that our textile industry

requires of us to have these attitudes to sustain our resources

sub or lack of standard conditions for workers are not new either

what is new is that our world wide economy of scale

has escalated over the last generation+

we are not satisfied with what we need

our desires to have more

accesibilty to more economic clothing

& the hype of fashion that creates 

some kind of 'socially approving' desire

to want to have to use up & to discard

we have created an impossible whirlwind that our planet can not sustain

and

then there is the issue or what is 

fair????

fair conditions & fair payment

from the very production of textile fibers

to the actual garments

there are more and more companies

are joining in with supporting 'fair' & 'ethical'

Oxfam Australia regularly posts on their face book page

join in over there too ....

so in 2014 ..... i 'pledge' to be always mindful in 

shopping/sourcing for

clothing to wear for both myself & my family .....

that it be ....

:: bought from ethical makers 

= fair trade or handmade sellers

:: bought second hand

:: made by myself

:: be it already in our wardrobes

:: swapped or borrowed or gifted items

essentially i have what i 'need'

but in finding 'my-style' which is a

'first-world' fashion esthetic ..... 

i would of course like to have 'new-to-me' items

since May '13 i've made myself lots of new items

they are unique, fitted to me & my taste

& i can only hope that the people involved

in the production of the fibers were treated 'fairly'

who knows ..... probably not!?

but at least i'm half way to helping getting this 'right'

join in ....

enJOYing our journey

 a few pics that tell some of our

journey of late

the blue & pink fairies at our Playful Market

mother's group friends

family holiday escapes

 a plane does a fly-by over the sheep gathered in 'the stable'

pattern wrapped parcels

love my pink christmas tree

 precious little baby Amy May

hand on my hand

 some summer time beach sunshine & reading

lost teeth

enJOY your journey

xo

the case of the missing mojo

 yeah .... i've had a couple of 'blocks'

with my sewing of late

& that has translated into few blog posts!

the "post-os-trip-block" ....

this has happened to me before

the whole travel adventure switches my thinking

& then i find it tricky to switch back for a while

but this has been a long while

as our amazing northern sojourn was way back then

&

the other ...... "i-started-a-new-buisness-block"

and i have been completely focused on creating something wonderful

little smARTy's studio is a dream come true

one term in & i love it

of course i've started a blog for little smARTy's as well

yeah .... on & then there's been plenty happening in life

which is the way i like it

days for girls, full circle, the playful market

riBer trips, family times, a sewjourn, some hijinks, gallery visits,

milestone finishes, lost baby teeth, & teaching .... loving it

so last week, just in time for some handmade gift making

the sewing mojo just 'had' to be found

thankfully is was

 it wasn't like i stopped dreaming up new ideas

they were flowing .... it was the application

sew .... i made a whole heap of

pillow cases

gifted to various friends & family

i'm quite pleased with them actually!

there were co-ordinating colour matches to consider

fun fabrics for kids thinking of personalities

& some 'top shelf' choices

my lovely overlocker made these a fast, neat finish

of course ..... just need to make some for our bed

 the count is at 22 .... not all pictured!

so yeah .... i'm back blogging
but you can also now find me
with a new passion over on IG
as littlesmartysstudio

heART a craft :: simple

"heART a craft"

a collection of favourite images & ideas

collection no.8

(i know i'm blogging ... don't fall over!)

 

 these are quilts saved in my littlesmARTys

pinterest folder :: textiles

selected a few to show
how beauty in simplicity
is stunning

ok yes the very top one is not actually
'simple' but its structure is ....

 there is quite amount of plain colour
in 3 of these & i do love using blocks of colour
am going to try to bring myself back to using & playing with
blocks of colour some more

 so just finding some inspiration
in works by others
love that you can see the hand stitching in some of these
this one of these simple crosses
immediately reminds me that
i have enough whirly gigs in
red & aqua to make 2 large single quilts
yep ... need to finish some ufo's

i'd even planned on 'framing' them with a warm neutral
alike this .... but i'm thinking still as i really like
the affect of them stacked on top of each other
like this larger block version made
by awesome friend Sam ....

heide grey scale

a grey day at heide

with pops of colour

....chase you round the rabbit hole?

see art works just simply can't be

just .... black & white

its a sliding grey scale isn't it?

 and can you make yourself tall

like this lady?

... have always loved the amazing architecture

that is heide

for its story, is interior and exterior spaces

... sculpture below is titled : "Seed"

it did plant a seed a long time back for me

can a visit & a 'play' in the sculpture gardens

plant a new seed in young minds?

maybe?

 oh & i have always adored those cows

.... quick noted lesson on perspective!

spring sewjourn

 seriously love going to sewjourn

besides is being a sweet australian cottage

& the wonderful light filled space that is the studio work room

its about people & making together

started out way back going along with a couple of real life friends

but now i feel like i know everyone somewhat

you know its that time forged thing that carves out friendships

Lara has summed it all up perfectly

all part of my village now

 go on wear a chunky belt & some acid yellow beads with that

show your curves

 some garments were made

yay .... tops & dress finishes ... 

& a new quick and simple 3 piece top pattern that i adore

 so i sewed up x10 smocks ... about 2/3 the way

a black & white stripey quilt binding

half square triangle quilt was worked on .... wip

that means i've started on the 544 hst's that i have

that is going to be a marathon as every single

mini hst block needs to be carefully pinned so the corners line up

but you know ... i live for the journey!

 another chunky oversized scrappy stacked coin strip

ready for another double sided quilt top

and

some free form blocks for shannon

because if i lost my home & the things in it

that are special to me i'd love a quilt too

enjoyed making these alongside annie