Surprise

 

I always check out the sewing machines in 2nd hand shops.  Mostly they are pretty ordinary, and I leave them where I found them. 

I had a look at this one because it has the same case as the Singer that my grandmother gave us many years ago.  A good solid machine from the 1960’s.  So despite the football stickers that have been applied to the case, I was expecting the same machine that I learnt to sew on. 

(Obligatory cat photo – all new items are thoroughly investigated and inspected for lounging possibilities).

I lifted the cover off to find this – a hand crank Singer in beautiful condition.  Obviously not in it’s original case.  It sews perfectly, and will give me a well toned right arm as well. 

Now when I see sewing cabinets that have had the machine removed, I will pay a bit more attention because I think I can lift this machine out of this case and put it in a cabinet.  Now that I want one, I’ll probably never find one again.

Cake = Fail

I’m going to be making a giant cupcake wedding cake in a few weeks.  I’m a big believer in making practice cakes, just to make sure that the recipe works and there are no problems.

I’m not off to a good start. 

The Giant Cupcake tin has it’s own issues – the top pointy bit of the cupcake tin is a lot smaller than the base part, which means they take different amounts of time to cook.  The base takes about an hour, the top only needs 45 minutes so if you cook them at the same time either the top is overcooked and dry or the base is not cooked properly.  I’ve dealt with this by cooking the 2 bits separately, which takes longer but is safer in the long run.

I made the base section on Sunday – not great, a bit dark looking, but looked OK and most likely edible.  So tonight I thought I would make the top section so I could take it to work tomorrow for afternoon tea.  It looked good until I tried to turn it out of the tin, and it didn’t fall out of the tin straight away like it is supposed to:

The uncooked bit is from the bottom of the tin.  The top was cooked properly, and the edges were pulling in from the sides of the tin.  It must be the white chocolate chips I added.  They seem to have fallen to the bottom of the mixture and then not cooked properly while the outside went very brown.  Argh!

 

This is why I make practice cakes.  Although I am annoyed now, imagine how stressed I would be if this happened the day before the wedding and I had to start again from scratch.  Luckily I still have a few more weeks to go.

progress…

More work on the cats and ponies quilt:

32 blocks, all different but from cream/brown/aqua/red combination.  These are foundation pieced on Ricky Tims Stable Stuff, which can be left in and kind of dissolves when it gets wet. (apparently, haven’t tested it out yet)

I’ve had a migraine/nausea most of the weekend for some reason, so I thought these blocks would take ages to do.  But once I set up a production line and precut all the pieces, it went surprisingly fast.  I did have to sew and iron in fits and starts

Still deciding how to applique the little cats on these – I hate doing hand blanket stitch applique, so I am leaning towards invisible machine applique and then add hand embroidered details like the tails and whiskers.  Same for all the ponies. 

Still need to do more little squares for the outside of these blocks, which I can manage too do in little bits of time before and after work.  I’ve been getting up earlier (on work days, not on the weekends) and spending 20-30 minutes sewing before I leave in the morning.  These little bits of sewing really add up and by the end of the week I have heaps finished.  Feels like I am achieving  something instead of just plodding along with this one.

all sorted

After a quilting marathon that lasted a week, it's done.   Binding on, cat hair (mostly) removed and handed over to it's new owner.   It's a group project made to celebrate a "zero" birthday. 

Next on the craft agenda is one of these:

 
A wedding bouquet made out of buttons for my friend Shanon.  This one is listed on Etsy, but there is a 36 week waiting period for orders.  As she is getting hitched in 6 weeks, we decided to have a go and make one ourselves.

We have been acquiring buttons, searching for shiny things and trying to work out to assemble it.  We've managed to locate the silk flowers and ribbon flowers and found some old jewellery at the op shop that can be included.

We had a craft day yesterday to shop for the last bits and pieces needed, and came home to assemble button flowers until our fingers start bleeding.  6 hours later we had this:

I just need to finish the ribbon handle and add a diamante buckle and it’s done.

Apparently sitting in my lounge room is like being in the middle of Wild Kingdom, with wild beasts just waiting for the opportunity to pounce on unsuspecting visitors.  I have 2 cats and a lorikeet.   One cat is friendly and likes to be petted by visitors.  The other will remain hidden behind the lounge chair for hours at a time.  The lorikeet is in a cage (I’ll admit he’s a bit noisy).  Hardly Wild Kingdom.

Shanon doesn’t care for cats, so every time Fifi glanced at her or walked past her she would jump up in a panic.  Eventually things settled down and Fifi  decided to roost in the shoebox that Shanon had been collecting her buttons in.  It was a tight squeeze, but she managed to get in there.  Shanon doesn’t want her box back anymore.

 

Clearing the decks

A little while ago I saw the Fabric of Society exhibit.  Some amazing quilts with their history documented by Annette Gero.  I bought the book, too.  The most expensive book (that is not a textbook) that I’ve ever bought.  I’ve implemented a no eating rule for looking at this book, and considered a white glove rule as well but I didn’t have a pair so that fell by the wayside.  But definitely no food near the book.  

Victorian Quilters are having a contest for quilts made based on quilts in the book – there are 30 or so patterns included.  I like a contest – apparently I have a competitive streak – so thought I might have a go at making a different (for me) sort of quilt.  The one that intrigued me most is this one – Mrs Keens’s Quilt.  The quilt wasn’t travelling with the exhibit, it’s kept at the Queenscliffe Historical Society.  It has cats and ponies on it – it’s completely bizarre.

 

This one didn’t have a pattern in the book, so I am trying to recreate it from the pictures and draft it myself in EQ5.  The original is hand pieced over papers, but I am going to use modern methods.  I think I’ll use foundation piecing for most of it, plus the little bits of applique.  After a couple of false starts I’ve managed to do these:

 

The block is supposed to be 10 inches, but it’s a fraction under that, probably because of the number of seams involved (14 X 14 squares that should be 3/4 inch each).  Just as well I measured the finished blocks, because I can adjust the  rest of the quilt easier that I can fix the sizing on these ones.

I just need to get a few other projects out of the way so I can get stuck into this.  I want to start embroidering the ponies.  And cats! lots  and lots of cats!

Almost a winner

3rd prize at the Ekka!  Free tickets!  And a big fancy rosette!

I was a bit annoyed with the quilt show when I went to see it – they weren’t selling catalogues, so I couldn’t identify quiltmakers  names or who else had won in the category I had entered. 

My favourite part is always visiting the fine arts section, even though the standard of entries isn’t as high in some categories as it used to be.  But the cakes never disappoint.  They had a handbag category this year.

But I think this one was my favourite – Raggedy Anne:

I really want to learn these sort of things – they used to have cake decorating classes at TAFE, but I haven’t seen one listed for a while. 

almost Taco Tuesday

Taco Tuesday is celebrated each week by a workmate of mine.  It is much anticipated every Tuesday, and there is great disappointment if the Tacos are not made on Tuesday.  We have great discussions of all things Mexican – margaritas, flamenco, castanets and sombreros.   I saw this sombrero dip platter at Vinnies last week, had a giggle to myself about it (it looks a bit like an egg cup in the picture, but it’s really the size of a dinner plate) and thought no more about it.  I mentioned it to my friend, who was immediately smitten with the idea and I offered to go back and see if it was still on the shelf. 

1 week later, I returned to Vinnies to see if the sombrero was still there.  It was.  (Obviously not a big market for Sombrero novelty serving ware).  The lady at the counter looked at it, and said I “must like quirky things”.  I do, but this is a a stretch even for me.  Off to its new home later in the week.

 

Quilt in progress – cat magnet du jour.  I didn’t make the quilt top, I’m just doing the quilting for a friend.  Madam Crankypants has an uncanny ability to settle herself on whatever I am in the middle of working on, and make me feel guilty for shoo-ing her off things.