Darling Harbour Pop Up Classes

Jane Davila will be attending the Darling Harbour Craft and Quilt Fair as my guest artist.  She will have a lovely little Guest Artist space at the front near the entry and will be running some classes.  I will also have Jocelyne Leath and me running classes.

The Darling Harbour Craft Fair Friend is not up yet, but I can share the most important bit – my pages!

Click on the link below to download the details of what we are all teaching and please join me.  It will be fun!  You can book now at http://tinyurl.com/cqtaf2y

Darling Harbour Pop Up Classes Unique Stitching

 

A Patchwork Economy should be a strength, not a weakness

Those of you who follow my Unique Stitching Facebook page will have seen that I took exception to the continued reference by members of our Government to patchwork as a negative and problematic part of our economy, our health and education systems and the delivery of disability care and so on.  That comment and this post does not reflect a position on the Government, positive or negative.  I don’t agree that ‘patchwork’ is the term to be used to describe difference, diversity, inconsistency or the requirement to make do.  Yet then again that is exactly what it is.

The Oxford University Press defines patchwork as:

noun [mass noun]

• needlework in which small pieces of cloth in different designs, colours, or textures are sewn together:a piece of patchwork [as  modifier]:a patchwork bedspread

• [count noun] a thing composed of many different elements so as to appear variegated:a patchwork of stone walls and green fields

Your Dictionary dot com defines it as:

noun

1. anything formed of irregular, incongruous, odd, or miscellaneous parts; jumble
2. a quilt or other covering made of patches of cloth, etc. sewn together at their edges
3. any design or surface like this

Interesting that both dictionaries state it is a noun, yet our Government uses it as an adjective.

My view is that being patchwork, whether a noun or an adjective should be something seen as a positive.  If we go back to the very reasons behind patchwork, it was about making do with what was available.  Fabrics were recycled and sewn together to make utilitarian, functional items.  At the same time, fabric was put together in patterns so that the utilitarian items also were visually pleasing and beautiful as well as functional.  In times of poverty, such as the great depression, patchwork became both popular and essential.  Patchwork was about saving money and reuse of what we had. Doesn’t that sound like something to be venerated, not condemned, particularly in the wake of the Global Economic Crisis?

To illustrate what I am talking about, I went to the scrappiest quilt I have ever made.  I like scrap quilts because they have this order out of chaos thing going on.  I like that.  In this case, I used a pack of 50 six inch floral charm squares.  This pack was one of those what on earth was I thinking packs.  There were, in my mind, some truely hideous fabrics in that pack.  My challenge was to make it work, so I divided the pack into value - light and dark – completely ignoring colour or pattern.  It got a bit dodgy around the middle and calls had to be made on just how dark the mediums could be and still be classified as lights.  Compromise had to be made and the groupings worked because when viewing the quilt, the pattern dominates the individual parts.  The process of making the patchwork caught up the weaker areas and bought it together in harmony.

Although I hate half the fabrics in here, I love the quilt.  It works because of the compromise and the integration and the harmony that is then created.

In some cases, the pattern over rode fabrics that were just not nice:

Or just did not belong:

But overall the sense of balance and coherency wins.

So, with some reflection and thought, I think it is good that we have a patchwork economy and health system etc.  It is the very diversity of all the disparite parts that make us strong.  We just have to find the unifying pattern.

Patterns for this and seven other scrap quilts can be found in my Stashbuster Book:  http://www.uniquestitching.com.au/p/1025033/stashbuster-quilts-by-cecile-whatman.html

A Quilting Arts Gift Challenge – Make a Tag

Quilting Arts Gift are running a challenge.  You need to make a gift tag.

Here is the link:  http://www.quiltingdaily.com/media/p/45043.aspx

Or you can download a pdf of all the details here:  QAGifts_GiftTagChallenge2013

 

I love trees

Trees are one of my all time favourite things. I take photos of them for a vast range of reasons, but often just because I like them. I love the enormous range of shapes, colours and most importantly textures you get from trees. While I was in Melbourne for AQC, I visited a few places sight seeing with my overseas guest/s. Here are some of my favourite photos.

This last photo was taken at the McClelland Sculpture Garden at Langwarrin.  The trees frame a sculpture by Christopher Langton called Away with the Fairies

2013 Show Schedule – Get out your Calendar!

Unique Stitching 2013 Show Schedule

See us at the following Craft Shows

Palmerston Nth NZ Craft and Quilt Fair – February 14 to 17 – Arena Manawatu Palmerston Nth NZ

Rosehill NSW Stitches and Craft Show – March 7 to 10 – Rosehill Racecourse, Rosehill NSW

Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show – March 21 to 24 – Brisbane Exhibition Centre Southbank QLD

Australasian Quilt Convention – April 18 to 21 – Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton Gardens VIC

Perth Quilt and Craft Fair – May 22 to 26 – Perth Convention Exhibition Centre, Perth WA

Sydney Quilt and Craft Fair – June 12 to 16 – Sydney Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour NSW

Melbourne Quilt and Craft Fair – July 25 to 28 – Melbourne Exhibition Centre, Southbank VIC

Newcastle Stitches and Craft Show – August 15 to 18 – Newcastle Entertainment Centre, Broadmeadow, NSW

Hamilton NZ Quilt and Craft Fair – September 5 to 8 – Claudlands Conference and Exhibition Centre, Hamilton NZ

Townsville Stitches and Craft Show – October 3 to 6 – Entertainment and Convention Centre Townsville, QLD

Brisbane Quilt and Craft Fair – October 16 to 20 – Brisbane Exhibition Centre, Southbank QLD

Adelaide Quilt and Craft Fair – November 7 to 10 – Adelaide Showground, Wayville SA

December Newsletter – It is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

December already!  Amazing.  Where has the year gone? And why do we think this at this time every year?

I am running my Facebook 12 Days of Christmas Specials on the Unique Stitching Facebook page as well as the Santa please bring me…. promotion.  See below for more detail about both of those.

It has been a very full and exciting year at Unique Stitching.  We have continued to expand our product ranges, returned to many shows after a few years absence, run classes off the stand at all of the craft shows and had the opportunity to spend time with an amazing number of you.  I was able to go to Chicago to attend the Summer Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show and Glenn and I went to Houston for both Quilt Market and Festival.  The absolute highlight of the year was returning to New Zealand in September to attend the Hamilton Craft and Quilt Fair and then have a holiday afterwards.  It was the first holiday Glenn and I had, ever, without children.

Next year we will be trading at 12 Craft shows – two in New Zealand and ten in Australia.  It is going to be a big year.  The first show is the new Palmerston North Craft and Quilt Fair and I have finalised my studio teaching schedule over the last few days.  I am looking forward to running some new, fresh hands on workshops at this and future shows.  I will be loading the Palmerston North classes onto the website for pre-booking shortly.

Many of you are aware of the decline and the demise of the Stitches and Craft Shows.  They were run down and damaged as a brand by the time the third or fourth set of owners closed them down.  The Brand name has now been brought by Expertise Events, the company that brings you the Craft and Quilt Fairs and you can expect to see “Stitches” back, better than ever before.  I am currently developing the workshops for the Rosehill Show (7 to 10 March) and the Brisbane Show (21 to 24 March). Let me know if there is anything you would particularly like me to include and I will see what I can do.

And the final show I am currently preparing for is the Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne in April.  So much for December being down time, right?  I am bringing Judy Coates Perez to Australia for this show.  I am sponsor for the Friday night lecture, that Judy will be delivering.  This lecture will be very entertaining.  I can promise you that.  Judy is so much fun.  I am also supporting the new beginner patchwork and quilting classes, supplying cutting mats, rulers and rotary cutters for each student to use in class.  These are such a large outlay for someone who is not sure whether patchwork is for them and I thought that if I provided the tools, it might be an easier decision to give it a go.  Chris Timmins is running the classes so hopefully the classes will fill and everyone will be bitten by the bug.  If you know of someone who could benefit from these classes, please pass on the details and encourage them to take the plunge.  You can find out more details about AQC at www.aqc.com.au.  Judy’s classes are fully booked, but there are a lot of other options available.  AQC is an event that should be on everyones list as it is truely an event in every sense of the word.

I will be taking a table at the Gala Dinner again next year and will be looking for six or seven people to join Judy Coates Perez and I for dinner.  Stay tuned for how you could get a seat.

So Santa is clearly receiving your instructions from the Santa please bring me specials based on the orders streaming through.  I lost internet access for a few days this week and although I was able to read and process orders on my IPad, I was not able to update them.  If you have placed an order and not received a Shipping notification, it is not because the order has not shipped.  I am pretty much up to date, I just have not updated the computer.

If you want details of the Santa promotion, you can get it from: http://uniquestitching.wordpress.com/2012/11/08/santa-please-bring-me-2/

We are now on Day 2 of the 12 Days of Christmas specials.  This link will take you there:  http://a.pgtb.me/ZXp or you can go onto www.facebook.com/uniquestitching and select the 12 Days Tab.  Each special offer is available for up to two days and the savings are significant.  Over the twelve day period I am taking between 15 to 20% off most items and will be featuring books, online class, wild drum carders, foils, Ice Resin and accessories, some of the paint ranges, fabric flowers and so much more.  Please join me and share with your friends.

Facebook remains my most common way to contact people as it is quick, timely, social and chatty.  So I do encourage you to like and engage with the Unique Stitching page.  I have a large number of new products coming in from Houston and as they arrive, I will load them on the website, but I will announce them through Facebook.  So please consider joining me and the almost 3500 others on there if you have not done so already.

Well, this has been a long newsletter.  Please stay safe over the silly season and I hope you get time to relax and spend time with your family.  I will certainly be aiming to do a little of that.

Until the new year, take care.
Cecile

Felted Flower

Creating one off, exotic flowers out of felt is both quick and easy.  Here is how.

You need some offcuts of prefelts, some wool fibre or top, scraps of scrim, lace and interesting yarns.  Choose some that have some contrast in colour and texture.

 

 

 

 

The next few photos show the layers.

Make a circle with the scrim or fabric.

Build your layers, adding wool as you go.

Once you have made all of your layers, mix some soap (I use dishwashing liquid) in hot tap water.  Wet the layers through with the hot, soapy water.

Place between two layers of bubble wrap and rub together between your hands.  Keep rubbing and agitating the layers until they start to bond together.  Re wet the felt as you need to and rub areas over the areas that are slower to felt together.  Keep rubbing until the layers are bonded together and the prefelt and wool are firm.

Once you are happy with it, rinse the felt in warm water to remove the soap.  Let it dry.  This is what mine looks like once dry.

Scrunch the back of the ‘flower’ gathering the centre together.  Try different layouts to see which way you like it to sit.  Stitch the back together to hold the shape.

Add some embroidery or beading to the centre of you flower.

You can now stitch this onto a bag, garment, quilt or jewelry finding.

Now you will need to make more.