What a week....

This is going to be a big fat random post...but I have a moment while Emma is tending the wet kitten (poor thing got a quick bath this morning-no soap, just warm water) and the boys are playing out in the back yard in the rain. Gosh I love the rain.

I have gotten barely any sewing done this week, which makes me kinda feel like something is missing. This is one of the bags I made (the other is a backpack for my youngest son Sam to carry to preschool...it dawned on me that he didn't have a bag at about 2200 the night before school started.) I really love these little date night clutches so much. I think they have so much personality. I am still working on A's Stu and Molly.

My sewing room is a mess because I think I have a moment and dash in to work on something, then look at the clock and have to go pick up a kid from school. So then I have to abandon my little project.

I did finish these blocks for my 8 to 8 quilt group from Flickr. I decided to do a "male" block and a "female" block. I am still in the planning stage of my Project Improv block...basically I have it finished in my mind, but I have only gotten so far as to pull the fabric and scraps I will be using. They are plopped on my Ironing board in a pile.

It was a very big week for the kiddos. the Middle Man started "Transition" which is basically Kinder garden or the grade before first grade. I am so confused when I try to figure out which grade my monkeys will be in when we return to civilization. He was so excited about going to school that he slept with me so he would know as soon as I woke up. He jumped out of bed, got dressed and assumed his position in the truck. This all before 0630. School does not start until 0820. I had to keep going out to the truck and lure him back in with food. It made me very happy how excited he was. He has a great teacher this year, I adore her. Her name is Bronwyn...I love that name. If some miracle happened and Stu's Vas Deferens grew back together and we had another baby girl I would name her Matilda Bronwyn Curtis. I bet you would not like that name would you, mom?

Anyway, the other 2 monkeys started school too. Sam the squirt is going to Preschool and Emma is staying with me and we are doing home school. Homeschooling is going pretty well. So far it is very time consuming. I am happy I have not taken any more bag orders. I will of course be finishing up the ones I have, but that will probably be it until we move and get settled where ever we are going from here.

So here they are...all ready for school. Ready to learn!

xo,

Tia

PS...I don't really know how to address this other than just say it. I don't give out my patterns for my bags. Please don't ask. I doubt you would send Ralph Lauren an email asking him to just "give" you a pattern. Come on ladies...these bags are how I afford my rather horrible fabric addiction. They are also how I can afford to make Hero Bags and Hero quilts. If you are gagging to make bags out of uniforms I am sure if you really try you will do just fine coming up with something on your own.

creepy greasy face print

Are you sure this wasn't you, Stu? Maybe after you cut the grass? Just to freak me out? Well I found it yesterday morning right after my first sip of coffee. If it wasn't you it must have happened Friday night. I had the gate closed...but it is all locked up now as are the side gates. Not that is takes a SEAL to break in, but I feel a bit better. Or do I? What if I have him locked in the house? I figure I would smell him...but could I get the gates unlocked quickly enough to hustle the kids out safely? I am assuming it is an Aborigine...but it could be Carmelo, huh? Wouldn't that be a toot! Oh well I guess it will keep my imagination busy for a bit. It was the bird man this time last year....it is always something, huh?

Quilty Saturday

So....what do you get when you add up
1 greasy Mystery Face print on the front window +
2 moms +
6 kiddos +
about 12 hours +
115F +
a bunch of fruit +
and heaps of fabric =
A wonderful Quilty Saturday.


My friend Erica wanted to come over Saturday and work on a baby quilt for her brother's soon to arrive twins. I have been wanting to try a zig zag quilt for some time, and I have 2 babies to make quilts for in my world too. My husband is away for a bit, so what the heck? Come on over!

We used this tutorial from "A quilt is nice" (she said I could link to it...I was good and asked first). She even has kits in her etsy shop for a zig zag quilt and I was tempted to buy one when I bought a bunch of hair clips for crazy Emma and her mad growing out bangs, but I have tons of fabric so I made the command decision to just have Erica and I use what I have available.

Now, you will find that the tutorial requires 5" squares. I just cut 2 x 5" strips from each piece of fabric I wanted to use (selvage to selvage) and then cut the strips again into 5" squares. I found that this used too much fabric. If you do it this way you will have enough for 2 baby quilts.

I think you will find that the cutting and pressing ( and doing the mom thing with 6 kiddos) take up the most time with this quilt. It actually goes together quite quick. Oh also, if you can, use a walking foot for the piecing. Since there are so many seams a walking foot helps them all feed through your sewing machine evenly.

Here is the aftermath. Not a bad day at all!

xo,

Tia

PS... Thanks for all the good wishes with my peepers. I went to another opthomologist and he also thinks it is optic migraines...but combined with some hypertension. I am supposed to be taking a break from sewing and see if that rests my eyes....but what would I do if I didn't sew? And it is not like I am sewing by candlelight....I am sewing by the intense central Australian Sun. Can't get more bright unless I was sitting on the surface of the sun. But then I would be melted, so that would be crazy. I am cutting back! I swear I am.

PPS... Who left the gross greasy face print on my front window? That is just creepy, don't do it again.

Another one down!

I love this set. I love it for several reasons, the main reason is because the lady I made it for seems to be a pretty fantastic human being. I don't sew for dorks as you all know, but this lady is quite a swell lady. She read one of my blogs complaining about not having anything to read, so you know what? She sent me some books along with her husbands uniform top! How awesome is that? I have read them all. Thank you so much! I made her a little wallet for a thank you. I would have made her a quilty hug...but I just don't have the time.



I want you all to have quilty hugs! I have several here at the house so I guess I should do a class. hummmmmm....How should I do this? Maybe a quilt along? I have in mind a very strippy shrug quilt. Like a shawl. I have to finish up my bags first, but then get ready ladies we are going to sew! I am going to kick it off here in Alice with a little class for the ladies in town. After we all work out the kinks I will post it here on the blog. Let me know if you want to play along here at the house (I supply the fabric...you supply the food) we will make it a party.



Next issue is vision. Who among you has vision problems? I want to know about those of you with reduced peripheral vision. I swear lately it looks like I am looking down a foggy tunnel. My central vision is clear as a bell but my peripheral vision SUCKS. I have been to the site DR several times with this issue and I am waiting for an appt with the "real" eye DR here in town. He left for the holidays, so hopefully he will return soon. My vision tests perfect 20/20 and all that, but my peripheral vision is driving me nuts.



For those of you who are new to the blog, we are stationed in a "remote duty station" basically it means that the medical care available here in town is similar to that available in the early 1960s. If you want anything more than a CT scan you have to take a 4 hour flight to Adelaide. I am not complaining...maybe this is just God telling me it is time to go back to reality. I don't know.



Oh on another note...I saw the Inaugural Speech on Yahoo. I did not vote for Obama, but that man is a fine speaker. My prayers are with him and all that he wants to accomplish. I pray for wisdom for him and the people he appoints to advise him. They will all need it. What a kettle of fish!

It feels great to be sewing again!

HI! SO this week should be a good sewing week...I can just feel it! I finished this quilt for my husband this weekend between trips to the doctor, eye doctor and vet. As well as a trip to a nearby water hole.

At first glance this is just a squarish quilt...but look closer and you will see wonky log cabin blocks with lots of improv piecing. Most of the colored fabric is from Cherrywood Fabrics. I bought a scrap bag and I just loved it! I am hooked on it's hand dyed goodness. The Marbles are from an Aboriginal community not far from here. The background fabric, or cream colored fabric is my favorite 200 thread count muslin from moda. You can get yours at Hancock's of Paducah. It is heavier than the average muslin, but really makes a great finished quilt. Stu tossed it on the bed as soon as he heard the dryer finish and it really was nice to sleep under it. I think he is planning on taking it on his next venture to reality (TDY). Whatever...as long as he seems happy with it, which he really does. I guess I should sew for my husband more.


I quilted this quilt up different too. I decided to get out of my quilting box and just quilt with lines. I love how it turned out and it didn't take that long either since I used my darning foot instead of the walking foot for going around the blocks. I wanted it to look freehand...like I took a ball point pen and drew lines all over it. Then I hand stitched the binding on with thick cotton Perle embroidery floss.


Since I am so pleased with how this quilt turned out I will probably be doing Sam's quilt with lines too. But I am not going to go anywhere near quilting that guy until most of those bags over there are finished.


I worked one Stu's quilt because I was stuck on this back pack.

See...it is out of a flight suit and I had to re-think my design of the Sam Back Pack. Which in and of itself is no big thing...but the slippery flight suit fabric needed some more "umpf". In the end I just quilted the whole thing. I like how it turned out, especially that big flower on the front!

Here is the Moree set all together ready to go to it's new home.

Big week of sewing ahead!

xo,

Tia

Me on one side a flight suit on the other

I have been working on this Moree order for a while now...(thank you so much for your patience!)...I love a flight suit, great color, zillions of pockets and flame retardant. While there are a ton of pockets, none of them are in the "regular" spots....so that means I have to modify my little patterns.

This Stu tote is not that modified...the inside pocket is really cool. I decided to pull the zipper pull through the button hole to secure the bag, but I can still add a button, no big deal.

Now, the Molly purse is where I had to get creative. Since the leg pockets are on such a dramatic slant I just decided to piece some of the fabric M selected for the inside to the outside...I love how it breaks up the olive green.

Since there was not a "normal" cargo pocket on the leg I used on of the 5 available pockets.

What I am stumped on right now is what SHOULD be the most simple bag of the order! The Sam backpack is kicking my butt. The slinky fabric keeps slithering around, there is no adjustable waistband, so I am rethinking that and I really want to give it magnetic snaps inside... It is going to be awesome when it is finished and truly one of a kind...I think I am going to have to quilt the whole thing (I normally do not quilt the Sam Backpack since usually they are made from fabric that is durable enough to low crawl through the great out doors) to make it sturdy enough. I want is functional as well as beautiful. Hummmmm I was hoping that switching gears (by blogging) in my brain would solve the stump. Maybe it has?

OK, other business...I have all the rest of the bags over there cut and most are in various stages of readiness, some just need to be assembled some I have questions on so I have set them aside. I still don't have the uniforms for Hires, Malloy, Cvek or Garey (Garey- I think you have recently mailed yours?) the mail has not come in for a couple days so maybe they are all waiting in Sydney for the next flight this way...who knows. I am going to have a ton of sewing time for the rest of the week and then into early February since my mate will be too busy to hang out with. Emma and I will be starting our little home school venture when the boys go back to school on the 28th.

OK, I think I have the backpack issue worked out! I better hustle before it slips out of my mind!

XO,

Tia

Trephina Gorge & Compromised Email

HI Y'all,

I couldn't stand being in town another second, so we drove about an hour East to Trephina Gorge. I am all for wild life, but I swear the bugs in Australia really make adventure a pain in the heat of summer. If it wasn't rogue swarms of flies trying to explore my sinuses it was grass hoppers leaping in the windows of the truck and going up my skirt or down my shirt or where ever their creepy log legs would thrust them! I pulled a 6 inch grass hopper out of my bra (screaming all the while, I am pretty sure) in a moving truck (down a 4WD kangaroo track into the middle of the bush with grass about as tall as the truck on each side). I am pretty sure my husband was laughing at me, but he did so quietly, with his head turned away. The kids thought it was funny as hell too. In hindsight I should have rolled my window up sooner...but oh well, live and learn!

here is the road to the gorge. See how green everything is? This is due to all the rain we had last month. Yes that really is green...normally it is red.

This is a shot from the inside of the Ross River Resort. I am only calling it a resort because that is what the place is named...I wouldn't stay there unless my life depended on it, or I was being chased my more giant grass hoppers. That light at the end of the hall is sunlight coming in through the chimney. Pretty cool, hey? But we couldn't explore it that closely due to the brown snakes that live there (one of the most poisonous snakes in the country).

There is my little family walking down into the gorge.

There we are at the water hole. Then we came home...but first we tried to get out to John Hays rock hole, but too many grass hoppers leaping in the truck made it too horrible an experience.

OK, on a different note. My Email address has been compromised. I DO NOT know the secret of making you come every time, (well I do, but I would never send that out as a giant SPAM email to virtual strangers!) nor do I know how to make you score on every blind date. If you get an email from me saying I do know those secrets, they are SPAM....and I am sorry you are getting them! I mistakenly opened one from a friend and I guess it was then sent to all my address book.

OK, I am off to eat left overs, I will talk to you later!

And here I thought the holidays were over...

Hey Y'all,

Are the holidays lingering for you? Maybe it is just me down here in the desert? As most of you know it is Summer vacation here in Australia...will be until late January. So I have all 3 kiddos doing their best to practice their magic tricks of messing up everything I JUST Cleaned! They are Terrorists sometimes. But that is just my season of life right now, I guess...the Maid. But...that is not really the point of this post. I was going to announce that I was moving out on my bag production and ready to ship a ton of them. In fact Monday I even moved all my bag stuff back to the dining room table! I was ready to go! But....that sure didn't last long. Our Brigade Chaplain came to visit. What a great man, so much wisdom, and Presbyterian! Yay! I am Presbyterian too, so it is great to talk with one of MY chaplains. But when visitors come to town, my little life gets to change gears a bit and that means I get to put on my party hat, and the kids party hats and we get to clean the house and go out to dinner and go to parties...Anyway I think all total this week I have had about 3 hours of sewing time. Needless to say not much has gotten done. I am exhausted, but maybe next week I will make better progress.


I just want you to know that I haven't forgotten about you and your wonderful bags...I just need about 6 additional hours in the day!

xo,
Tia

PS: Who sent me Glamor Magazine for Christmas? This is really becoming a big mystery. Is someone out there trying to tell me I need more glamor in my life? I would like to send you a thank you note...but I don't know who you are.

Sewing Room Essentials - a few of my favorite things

HI! I have gotten several questions by email about what things I love to use with my sewing and quilting, so I decided to go ahead and do a blog post about what I have found that works well for my purposes. Now...I am not a "Professional" quilter...I have not been to art school (I took art in school, if that counts for anything) I am mostly self taught, especially since moving to the desert. These are the things that I like and the advice that I have for new quilters. I am not much of a "Seamstress" so I won't give any advice on that front. I make Bags (zillions of bags), quilts, pillows and hats. For the most part they are ALL quilted, so I am going to call myself a quilter.

Tools...You need a good cutting mat, rotary cutter, scissors, big plastic ruler and measuring tape. Spider man helps out too...I guess that is Ethan's addition to the photo shoot. I should have taken a picture of my rubbish bin. Quilting is messy. I slice off lots of unusable bits of fabric and thread and my house is carpeted. So the thread gets all stuck in the carpet...unless I toss it immediately in the bin. SO I do try to keep tidy. You should too ;o)


You need GOOD scissors. I finally bought a pair of Ginghers and I just love them. The kids know to keep their grubby little paws off! They are completely off limits for anything except cutting fabric. I have about 4 other pairs of Fikers around the house that are used for all the other cutting needs that I have during the day. You need a good rotary cutter. I didn't know that they made bad ones until I taught a class and one of the ladies was using this tool that was masquerading as a rotary cutter, but I think it was really just a...well I don't know what it was, it was crap. And there are few things more dangerous than a dull blade. Keep your blades sharp. All my rotary cutter accidents (there have been quite a few) have taken place with dull blades.


You will need a good ruler. I love the Omnigrid rulers. They are clearly marked and come in a wonderful variety of sizes. My most used size is the 24" x 6". If you were only going to buy one ruler that is the one to buy. I have a 12" x 1" that I really like too, but I couldn't find it for the picture. I have a hunch that Emma has it in her room. She thinks it is cute too.


You will need a good Cutting Mat. I like the OFLA cutting mats. The first one I bought back about 11 years ago was 24" x 18". That was a good size for the amount of sewing I was doing then, but when we moved down here I upgraded and got a bigger one that is 36" x 24" I love it. I love how big it is. I can pile all my stuff on it and tote it out to the dining room table and when it is dinner time I pile everything back up and we can use the table again.

You are going to need an iron. Fabric is the only thing I iron. I hate ironing clothes, but I love pressing my fabric. I also have that closet covered with a big piece of cotton batting and I use it to but various quilt blocks up on to remind me of some of my other little projects. It is sorta an inspiration board...but not really. Also I have a big fat roll of glorious Quilters Dream Cotton batting. I buy it by the roll because I use it all the time. I love it. Buy good batting ladies. don't put crap between you quilt just because no one will see it. Polyester is basically plastic, and who in their right mind wants to sleep/sweat under a plastic quilt? Gross.

OK....this is going to be a long one. You might want to go to my Flickr picture for this one since it will be all labeled up. You will want a good sewing machine. I had an elcheapo Singer (I bought it at the PX) first and completely destroyed it with the first needle change. Don't ask me how...it was very horrible. The I bought my first Bernina. I love a bernina...they really make sewing pleasant. I financed it, but I bought my second outright with the money I made from the things I made with the first one. See it is and investment that just gives back to you! Well not really...I do have one hell of a fabric addiction. But I won't open that box or worms yet.

I have lots of sewing machine feet. I like to change them out frequently. On one bag I may use 6 different machine feet. I don't know how wild you are going to get, so the basics are a regular foot, 1/4" foot, walking foot and a darning foot (that is what I use to do my quilting with. I have a BSR, but I swear it hates me, so I avoid it. I don't feel it is worth the $$$$$, just my opinion, mind you. There may be something wrong with mine, but as I have the only one in the Northern Territory, no one can help me out with it.) boo hoo.

You need too straight pins...and a pretty pin cushion. I recommend you make your own. Very liberating. Nice thread snips or embroidery scissors by your machine so you can clip threads.

Thread. I like cotton thread. I use mostly King Tut long staple cotton thread. It costs lots, but I love the subtle glow it gives my finished products. I buy the big spools so I had to buy that stand the yellow thread is on to make it feed into the machine properly. Very good purchase. You will need a seam ripper, and I love canned air. It is very fun to blow all the lint out of the bobbin case area of the machine. I oil my machine regularly too. Make sure you use the right oil, not WD40 or I heard some poor soul oiled her machine with olive oil...yeah...don't do that. It will seize things up. Oh, good light. I like to sew by an window. I think this room gets so much light here in the outback I could probably sew in the middle of the night (the moon is crazy bright here with no ozone and little light pollution).

Lastly...books. I LOVE books. I have quite a quilting library in my little sewing room. I have had to buy lots since the library here is not well stocked. Now if you live near a good library you a soooo lucky. I love the inspiration I get from books. I am NOT a pattern follower or copy cat. I like to get kinda an idea for a quilt....then take it from there. One reason I LOVE Gwen Marston so much is that she just kinda gives her approach to how she made a block and you can do whatever you want with it from there. I love that. I have been influenced by her quite a bit lately. I can't recommend her books highly enough. Very nice introduction to everything. Check one out from the library and get ready for the inspiration to flow. I really like Gees Bend quilts too...lots of great movement and spirit in those pieces.

OK...I have been at this long enough. The kids are going crazy and I need to go see what the heck is going on

I wish you all so much luck and joy in your quilting journey...have fun with it. Find your own style and let your spirit have a little free reign. Feel free to ask questions...I will try to answer them in the comment section. I am going to try harder at that.

ox,

Tia

Quilting Style

"He who sleeps under a quilt, rests under a blanket of Love." Who said that? I can't remember, but I love that quote. It is so true...quilts are made by hand and they are pack jammed with love and dreams. Dreams? Really? Yes, indeed! That actually came to me this morning in the shower as I was preparing for my next blog post about essentials for your sewing room. So you are going to get 2 blog posts today. Go grab your tea and I will be here when you get back.

OK, are you all set? Good! Now let me open up with this picture. It is an older picture that I took back in Texas (Ft Hood, in my front yard). Becky Smith (she now has a website where she makes bags like mine http://www.petalsisters.com/ )and I had been working like crazy women to get ready for a Christmas bizarre, and we thought baby quilts would sell well.

OK, so now back to dreams...the quilting part of making a quilt is my favorite part. I like it because I have already planned out in my mind how I am going to do it and am able to let my mind wonder...my mind wonders towards my dreams. My dreams are not really specific, filled with love and my children and family and friends and goals for the future and places to visit and emotions that I save tucked away for later. I have wonderful conversations with my mom and sisters....I plan my next quilt...I revisit the beach in Hawaii or Palm Cove and catch the rays of sun again on my face...no telling where I go when I quilt or who I will be talking with. Now that I read back over that that sounds a little crazy...but it is all talking in my mind, I am not chattering away in my sewing room to myself! That would be crazy, huh?

My dreams can't be to different from yours...don't we all daydream about peace and happiness? Now on a regular basis I am too busy to daydream much. I am go go go from when I get up early in the morning until I can finally close my eyes at night...but quilting, that is MY time to daydream. So each thing I quilt is infused with my (your?) dreams and hopes. If I am working on a bag or quilt for a military member I pray while I quilt. I pray for the angels to surround the soldier and his troops, I pray for wisdom and blessings for his family.

OK...maybe that got a little deep. Anyway I like to do the quilting of my quilts in a nutshell. For those of you starting out with your quilting journey, don't be afraid of this step. Find some scraps and practice letting your mind wonder and approach the quilting as a relaxing point of view.

ox,

Tia

**just so you know, Becky Smith were friends and neighbors when I lived at FT Hood. I was making the bags before Becky and some of the bags we kinda came up with together. She is not a big fat copy cat of my bags and I am not copying her either. I am digging some of her new designs though. She is a very good seamstress, I can vouch for Becky, but I don't know the other lady she is working with...I am sure she is just fine too. Now that I have posted the link to her site I see that she is closed for new orders just like me...I am sure some one some where is open and taking orders for bags!

Some of my stuff from 2008

So...I have been seeing lots of these mosaics all over Flickr and my favorite blogs and I wanted to do one too...but my Internet is so slow I figured it would take forever (I was right, by the way). The oldest picture is from July and I made so many bags and quilts in 2008, this barely covers a tiny fraction of them, but here is some of my stuff.

I look back over all the things I made over the year and I just can't believe it was all made by ME! Pretty shocking really. Well, I think it is anyway. I know you ladies have to wait so long for your bags and the process takes so long, but I just can't believe how many ladies I have met through my little bag gig. Here in a link to just the Camp Follower Bags I have made. That is alot of stuff.

I want to thank you all for trusting me with your loved ones' uniforms and paying me your hard earned money to do something I absolutely LOVE. Thank you for all the wonderful support...you are all such wonderful ladies!

Now that it is the 2nd of January (for me) it looks like it is about time to get back into the swing of things and finish up my last group of bags. LAST GROUP OF BAGS! Can you believe that? Part of me wants to go ahead and take a bunch of orders...my closets have never been so barren. But I really need to hold off until we get settled at the next duty station. Last move I had ladies uniforms in my carry on on the flight to Australia. How crazy is that?

OK, also typicla for these New Year posts is what the blogger intends to do with the new year...the clean slate as it is.

-I am going to start the day with a excercise. Now that I am a bit older, I am getting kinda soft. I have always had good muscle tone in the past, but I jiggle in places I have never jiggled before. That needs to be taken care of.

-I am going to be home schooling Emma (most of you know that)

-I need to really put some serious thought into what I want my bag gig to be. DO I want to continue doing it? Yes, I do. But there must be a better way not to get completly swamped with orders. I need to find a happy balance between my art and my family.

-I am going to be working on a book. Some patterns I think so you can make your own things from "up cycled" uniforms. It is really not the most brilliant thing in the world, but I love it, and you seem to like what I make. I will be happy to show you how to do it yourself.

- I am also going to be doing a couple classes here in town before I leave. Crafty Coffees.

- I need to make myself another big bag since one of my favorites got stolen the other day along with my husbands bike (there is a house of delinquent Aboriginal kids down the street and they have been breaking in the fence lines in the area lately.) Since they are Aboriginal there is not much the local police can do. I am mad because my bag had mostly my favorite lip balms in it, my big water bottle and one of my notepads. I have to write things down or I don't remember. We want to set a trap...but we can't since that is "Entrapment" Right, Sharlene? And what are we going to do with a stinky drunk Aborigine?

-I need to do an Aboriginal post. I will dress like a German (I would say Japanese, but I look more German, despite my Japanese sun hats) tourist and take lots of pictures around town. Just so you can get a feel for how the kids and I and everyone else in town live. I had no idea what it was like before I moved here. It would make an interesting Sociology paper I am sure.

OK...I am off to do my thing. Some of the shops are open again, and I think we need to venture forth and find fruit and veg.

Cheers!

Tia

PS, thanks so much for the feline advice. This is such a great kitty. Herman is sleeping in my lap right now. He loves having his paws rubbed and I think he is going to forget how to walk with how much the kids carry him around. We are working on the fetch bit, but he seems up for it. I am all for cats! Why did we wait so long to get one. Mom and Dad you need one too.