Ispirato

I enjoyed a weekend class at the Embroiderers Guild of Victoria led by local textile artist, Freya McKee. At left is my finished mini quilt. It is about 24cm square (9.5 inches).

We started by experimenting with some mixed media techniques: transfer paper dyeing, machine embroidered lace, painting and heating Tyvek, painting crochet or lace motifs and silk flowers with Lumiere paints. Then we layered bits and pieces on a background fabric and stitched them down - mostly with free machine embroidery. Finally we hand stitched on sequins and beads.

There’s a gold bumble bee charm stitched to my central flower.  The sequin fringe is something I picked up really cheaply years ago. I know the photo isn’t clear. This piece does look better in real life.
Freya was a very generous teacher and had a lovely manner. The method in which we constructed our pieces was “freeing” and very right-brained. I didn’t get bogged down in the design stage. Mine came together pretty quickly.

Freya had some beautiful samples she’d done in this nine-square layout (three rows of three). Hers were monochromatic - one was done in shades of red, one in green, and one in blue. I’d like to do another mini collage quilt in a monochromatic theme.

I just wanted to share another miniature UFO (un-finished object) that I finally got around to completing. Well, almost. I still need to make a sign for the top of the stand. And a couple of cardboard boxes. Oh, and some “lolly bags” for the bottom shelf.

This little 1/12th scale (1 inch equals 12 “real world” inches) stand and the sweet treats filling it were made in a class with Andrea Currie here in Melbourne a year or two ago. All I really needed to do was fill a few more jars then wax or glue everything into position on the stand.

Most of the candy, the donuts, candy apples and the gingerbread men were made from  polymer clay and perhaps the addition of a little paint. The cotton candy (fairy floss) is made from colored cotton balls. Andrea had a small bag sealer which we used in class to make clear bags for our goodies. She gave every student a page of printed labels and wrappers.

Candies (or, as we say in Australia, ‘lollies’) include gummy snakes and pythons, candy sticks, caramels, humbugs, licorice allsorts, jelly beans, jaw breakers, coconut ice, peppermints and bagged marshmallows. It was such a fun workshop and now at last the project is nearly finished and on display.

A firm creative force took hold of me a few days after Christmas and I pulled out a box of craft ufo’s to work on (ufo = “un-finished object”) … specifically these were 1/12th scale dollhouse miniature scenes. First up, which I will show you today: the old laundry house. A few members of the Victorian Association of Miniature Enthusiasts (a club I belong to) designed a few projects around this theme awhile back … 2008 or 2007, my memory is a blur. Anyway, we made up kits they provided at our club meetings in Mt Waverley (Melbourne, Australia) that were pretty neat:

• an old “copper” wash tub (my husband remembers his parents had one in their laundry before they bought their first modern machine)
• the old double concrete sink
• the wringer perched on the sink
• the wash board (my favorite)
• iron, carved from balsa
• tin wash tub, on the floor
• cardboard packs of starch and laundry detergent

For a few bucks I bought a room box kit - just four pieces of MDF board cut to size. With that glued together and painted, I could really get stuck into decorating my vignette. Other members of the club had finished theirs and shown them off so I had lots of ideas to borrow from them. Some bits and pieces were purchased - the baskets and chair, for instance. The tiny clothes pegs are ends of fancy toothpicks, whittled by my friend Andrea Currie. I made the table top and box of kindling from scratch. The bar of soap is actually a real soap sliver. I am embarassed to say I contemplated making it from polymer clay before it occurred to me I could just start with a piece of the real thing.

I love crafting minis, partly because you draw on so many different skills and work with a bunch of different materials.

Now, pardon me for bragging, but I just want to report that my Christmas decorations were all pulled down, packed up and stored away on January 3rd. I am sure this is the earliest I have ever managed the task. My husband assisted in the process - that kept me motivated. Apart from the mini ufo’s still spread out on the kitchen table, my house is neat and tidy. This is a great way to start the New Year.

I’ll show you my miniature Kandy Kiosk in a few days …