Tuesday, December 31, 2013

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
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
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 ....

Monday, December 30, 2013

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
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 ....
https://www.baptistworldaid.org.au/get-involved/be-fair/

Sunday, December 29, 2013

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
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

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

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 ....

Thursday, November 14, 2013

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!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

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