Fabric Bowl

Bowl Base with flash, bowl sides without flash!

Well, Christmas and New Year are over for another year. Bah Humbug.

This bowl was inspired by a blogsite I came across while following other links (as you do!).

I couldn't find instructions anywhere for making a round bowl, only square ones, so basically guessed. The templates were a small bowl and large dinner plate. I did find that once you start creating multiple layers, I had to trim the inside edge of the bowl sides, and the bowl bottom back by about 5cm in total. The inside fabric is a blue batik with gold "lightning" bolts, shading from light blue to purple. I put two layers of my heaviest fusible interfacing on the back, as I can't source the "Timtex" suggested on various sites (well, not at Spotlight, anyway!)

I then embellished with rust-dyed cotton, machine embroidery thread (two spools thru 1 needle); layered fibres, feathers, and bits and bobs under solvy, then free-motioned embroidered. The solvy came off pretty easily, so my "glue-pot" of solvy is filling fast. I've ordered some "Thermogauze", which hopefully will come soon, and see if that would work better.

I put another two layers of heavy fusible interfacing on the underside fabric, then put low loft batting and another couple of layers of newly purchased heavier interfacing. I then sewed the bowl into a circle with satin stitch - 2 shades of variegated blue inside, and red outside, then sewed branching lines from the outside to inside edge to stiffen it. Then hand-sewed the bottom to the inside, hand-sewed the bottom, interfacing and batting to the bottom, and satin-stitched the bottom of the bowl in.

The underside of the bowl is a totally insipid pale blue, I tried layering pieces of waste sari-silk and free-motion embroidery, but it's still yucky. Today I hope to attack it with dry-brush paint and change the colour to a darker blue, and try some stencilling on it - it's gotta be better than it is now.

FABRIC ART WORKBOOK: I'm going to start an online course working thru this book by Susan Stein in January, so have been making up a shopping list of required goodies - it would be nice if I could actually afford all the things I need, let alone want.

STOATS: Went up into the Waitakere's this morning and checked my stoatline. The Dam is overflowing with water - there was very heavy rain again last night for about 5 hours. 1 horribly dead squashed rat, and replaced 15 rotten eggs. Normally the smell of dead things doesn't bother me, but these eggs nearly made me loose it! At least 24deg up there, before midday.

Stained Glass Poppies

I made a decision a couple of weeks ago to stop reading quilt/art books, watching Simply Quilts (so far I've watched every one from episode 1 to episode 757), and surfing the web, and start making things that have piqued my interest from what I've seen/read.

So, not counting my rust-dyed Ghost Gums and small landscape, I've decided to start creating a series of small works, around A4 size (11 1/2" x 8"), to try interesting techniques.

Here's the first one - Stained Glass Poppies. The pattern came from a "free" website. Originally I was going to do the leaves all in a dark green batik, but they didn't have enough light shining thru, so I've used a little of the dark green, lime green "snail trail", a lovely orange batik, and a piece of rust-dyed fabric for the background. The leading is done using Clover 4mm fusible bias tape, and the border is some hand-dyed cotton.

Most of the sewing is done using clear monofilament thread - I still don't really like this stuff, but I think I've bought cheap and nasty (Birch!), and on a bulk cone, so I found it works better to transfer some to a smaller spool - and what a pain that is! I used a blind-hem stitch on the bias, and a straight stitch to outline the outside area. It's backed with a low-loft polyester batting, adhered with bits of visoflix.

I'm quite pleased with the result, and like the orange of the poppies and the rust-dyed fabric best.

Where Did December go?

Saturday 29 November
"Shore Thing" Stitchers Exhibition, Devonport, Auckland.
Dropped Becca off at Drama class, and David and I went to have a look at this exhibition. Lots of lovely works. They've been going about 12 years, and do a lot of fibre art work, and "fun" quilts.
Then played hookey - collected Becca from Drama class and went to a friends' for a BBQ dinner - much more fun than going home to #1 son.

Monday 1-Tuesday 2 December
Flew to Sydney to meet the President/CEO of the company I work for, was totally blown away when I was given an award; "Hidden Treasures", which included a coin, a certificate, and MONEY to spend on craft stuff (oh GOODY!) - for being a good girl and making things happen! Flew home again.

Friday 5-Sunday 7 December
Got my eyebrows & eyelashes done, flew to Sydney, explored Darling Harbour - pretty lights! Darn, where was the camera? Oh, that's right, we wouldn't be out long! Saturday morning we walked up to Hyde Park, said hi to all the Ibis's, (who were trying to get a burger out of a paper bag), walked down to the Opera House, caught a bus back up to the top of the hill, talked to the security guard outside a Synagogue (finding out later that the Karaoke bar next door had been firebombed the previous night). Walked down to the Queen Victoria Building - beautiful, Titanic-like architecture and decoration - then back to the hotel. Got mini-bused to Rosehill Racecourse at Parramatta for Races and yummy food, then back to Sydney to Helm Bar for more yummy food and alcohol, finally stumbling back to the hotel around 2230 - getting old!

Took 2 hours to get thru check-in at Sydney airport due to lack of staff - arrived 0930 for an 1130 flight, thru the gate at 1115! And then of course the plane was delayed 30 minutes.

Friday 12-Saturday 13 December
"non" Dress rehearsal, and then the real thing for Becca's drama production - she's only been going to class for the last school term. We thought her group's performance of "The Beast" was pretty adventurous, and certainly enjoyable. And yes, I'm her parent, so I'm certainly biased, but it was still pretty good!

"Ghost Story" by Becca

The oaken door slowly opened, and as he cautiously stepped forward the old floor creaked. Justin almost screamed, quickly looked around and shuddered. He was a slim, pale-skinned boy with blue eyes and light brown hair. He was easily scared, especially in the old castle where he lived.

It was a very old building, with maze-like hallways and forgotten, dark rooms. He was in one of them now, trying to make a map of these old and rotting rooms. Justin hated it, but his rich parents had ordered him to, so he had to do it. He flicked on his bright torch and looked around the room. This place was the creepiest room yet! It had an old-fashioned bed with a blood-red canopy, an old wardrobe that looked like it was going to collapse any minute, and a mirror.

The mirror was the scariest thing in the room. It had a dark, rough-edged frame around it that had a little carved bat at the top. He shuddered again. The bat’s eyes were red, as if they were on fire. The surprising thing about this room was that it had a window. That meant he was on one of the outer walls already, and he had only been to about twenty of these rooms so far.

He cautiously went over to the window, the floor creaking with his every step. When he finally reached the stone window frame, he found that it had torn, fire-red curtains, which were blowing into the room. Justin slowly opened the curtains, to look out at the view below. There was now a roaring thunderstorm outside, with lightning ripping apart the sky and thunder crashing through the air. There was also a howling wind, and as Justin looked down he saw he was in a tower three stories up. He quickly looked away, not wanting to look at the terrifying drop below. He backed away from the window. He could now see, in the light from the open window, the amazing tapestries hanging from the walls. He added the creepy room to his map. Then, he bolted out of that terrifying room, and forcefully slammed the oaken door behind him.

As he was walking towards the next door, he thought he heard whispering voices behind him, in the now pitch-black hallway, back by the creepy room with the oaken door. Justin spun around, his bright torch cutting through the darkness.

There was nothing behind him.

He continued to the next door, this one older-looking and made of a strong type of wood. He forced the door aside, and continued into the room. He thought he heard the voices again, and spun around to face the hallway. Once again, there was absolutely nothing there. He shuddered, and turned back into the room. This one looked like a dungeon! There were bare stone walls, not a window in sight, and the only piece of furniture in there was a lump of straw, which may have been used for a bed. It did not look like a very good place to sleep, as the floor was covered in dead moss and other dead weeds. There must have been a window here once, he thought.

He added this room to his map, turned to the door and… stopped. The door was closed. Oh, come on you big scairdy cat! He thought to himself; it must just be a self-closing door! He reached for the iron handle. The door was locked! Justin tried not to scream. He started beating on the door with his fists, crying “help! Help! I’m locked in! HELP!!!!” but it didn’t work. The thick wood of the door absorbed his voice. Besides, there was no one out there to hear him. His parents didn’t come into these forgotten rooms; they had no need to. It looked like he was spending the rest of the night in this dungeon of a room.

He slowly walked over to the straw bed, sat down, and started to cry silently. He must have somehow fallen asleep, because he eventually woke up. He stood up and started to walk to the heavy door to check if it was unlocked, but he clumsily fell over. He slowly got up and dusted himself off. He looked behind him and saw a heavy metal ball attached to his ankle by a chain. Someone must have put it on him during the night. Justin tugged, pulled and heaved at the metal ball, but it wouldn’t budge.

He looked around the room for something that could help get this thing off him, but the room was bare, just the same as last night. Except, just within his reach, was a tray of food. He pulled the tray closer and ate hungrily. The food wasn’t exactly delicious, just some bread and water.

Then he realised he might be a prisoner in this place. He remembered something his dad had told him, when he was younger: “Remember, son, if you are ever trapped in one of these rooms, then you are a prisoner of the ghosts that have haunted this castle since medieval times; they will let you go eventually, but just play along and stay calm until they do.”

So that was what was happening. The ghosts had trapped him in this dungeon, and he was perfectly safe. He slowly fell asleep, knowing he was fine.

The next morning when he woke up, the metal ball was nowhere in sight and the door was wide open. He ran out of the creepy dungeon in that dark hallway in this forgotten part of the old castle, to his nice, warm bed, where he lay down, pulled the covers over his head and tried NOT to think about ghosts.

Becca's Adjectives Story

This story was written by my 9 1/2 year old daughter, for a homework assignment. The ending is brilliant, but totally gutting!

Sam solidly stood at the muddy waters edge eagerly looking out over the calm water. He was about to swiftly run in when he saw a huge figure suddenly rise out of the now roiling water. He couldn’t quite make the figure out because thick mist was coming in from the forest-covered hills.

The figure was covered in dripping lake water. The figure was now slowly looking around. Then he saw it surprisingly go onto all fours, and happily spread out a pair of spine-tipped wings.

He had to have a closer look at this strange creature. He stealthily snuck closer through the thick mist. He eventually got to a place where he could see it, but it couldn’t see him.

He peered over the broad-leafed bush he was cleverly hiding behind and let out a gasp. “Oh my gosh, what is that?” he silently whispered to himself. The creature just across the murky stream from him was amazing! It had glistening grass-green scales, sharp-looking bony horns on top of its head, wicked-looking sharp claws, and two leathery dark green wings. It looked like… no, it couldn’t be, or could it be… a dragon?

And then - this was even more impossible to believe-the supposed dragon actually talked! It said: “ Great, where in the world am I? One minute I’m…” the rest was grumpily mumbled, so Sam couldn’t hear it.

Sam carefully took a step back, ready to quickly run out of there, when he clumsily stepped on a thin twig, which frustratingly snapped. “Uh oh…” Sam said, as the dragon looked around and saw him.

Sam took off from the dirty leaf litter, the dragon closely following behind him. Sam didn’t look back, waiting every second for the fiery breath that was surely going to hit his back sometime. Surprisingly not feeling it, he quickly ran behind a gnarled tree to catch his breath.

After he had, he cautiously looked around the gnarled tree to see if the terrifying dragon was still following him. He heard a growling voice behind him: “hey kid, could I just talk to you for a second?” Sam turned around quickly, replying eagerly, “Ok, what is it you want to… know?” There, behind him, was the dragon!

Sam screamed ear-piercingly and quickly ran away. While he was running, he looked behind him to see if the dragon was following him. Surprisingly, he saw it standing behind the gnarled tree, looking sadly at him. He skidded to a bone-jarring halt. The dragon was slowly turning around and dejectedly staggering away. Sam thought to himself; would he just let the dragon, probably the last one on earth, walk away like that? Of course he would. He should call the council. It was none of his business.

Recent Work

Rust-dyed trees - not finished, but I haven't decided what to do next. Added a bit of nylon stitching for texture.

Kaleidoscope "tablecloth": used a border fabric, following Jinny Beyer's template technique. Purchased the red fabric separately, as the border fabric had only the flowers and light blue stripe. This will be a gift for the Newson's Xmas party.

Heritage Cushion: using the overlocker to sew the ribbons, the frill etc. Like it much better now it's been rusted.

Suddenly it's mid-November. Barack Obama is President Elect of the USofA. The New Zealand elections are nearly over - looking like a National party victory already, and the polls only closed an hour ago.
Don't seem to have done much sewing recently, let alone anything I could call art. I've finished my "heritage cushion", and rust-dyed it. Nearly finished my "tablecloth" for the Newson's christmas swap next weekend.
Kama is cowering on the couch as the last of the Guy Fawkes fireworks go off. Last weekend we went to see a fireworks and laser light show at Waitakere Stadium - very cool.
Joined a Play By Email Mongoose Traveller roleplaying game. My character is a Field Researcher named Shira Akenike - anytime now we're going to find out what the adventure is.