Good to Go

I spent yesterday slowly getting everything ready for today's market.

I'm particularly pleased with how the CD Drop Spindle kits turned out. So much so that I aim to have a shot at the Rose Brooch kits soon. I think I've worked out a way to package them up neatly and still have the special yarn on display.

I've got my collection of drop spindles packed. I expect to be spinning for a fair bit of the day and I'll burn through the wool too quickly if I do it all on the CD spindle, since that's not designed for a fine yarn. In fact I'd better head out to the studio and pick out some extra wool tops before I go.

Here It Is

I'm very happy about how the Quilt Launch went yesterday.

Here is the quilt: It was a typical Neighbourhood House day. The playgroup which uses the room every Monday morning ran overtime and had to do an extra quick pack of their floor cushions, crafts and food. Just as the last pram was wheeling out--ten minutes before the advertised start time--one of the guests of honour arrived. He's a new Member of Parliament and was representing the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. As soon as the introductions were over I asked him and his Electoral Officer to be "family". We put them to work moving tables and chairs to get the room ready. Meanwhile the kitchen was a-buzz with women putting the finishing touches to the spectacular food they had prepared.

The formal part of the day went smoothly. I was especially glad when M, one of the women in the group, spoke about her experience of immigration and the significance of the quilt. Then it was time to eat--and eat--and eat. Our guests went home with piles of food for their collegues who had to stay back minding the office. There were photos galore. I have one of the entire group with the quilt, but I'm not too sure about protocol for putting it up on my blog, so I guess I'll keep it for personal enjoyment. As a final bit of excitement, a representative from National Multicultural Radio came and interviewed the women. That will be aired in a couple of weeks. Let me know if you understand Arabic and I'll send you the details. We've been promised a link to the website and photo, so there's something there for the rest of us too.

When the guests had gone, the food was cleared and the kitchen tidied I expected it to be time to go home. Wrong! Up went the music which had been playing in the background; back went the chairs and it was time for dancing and clapping and generally celebrating some more. I was sorry I had to leave for an afternoon appointment.

Happily I've been asked to teach a sewing class at the Neighbourhood House on a Monday lunchtime, so I'll be crossing paths with the women regularly.

Sold

I'll have to admit I wasn't too sure about yesterday's market. I was sure of my participation. It's my local Neighbourhood House and I love what happens there. So a chance to support that work, while offering my creations for sale was a definite "yes". But after a week of fairly intense making, I had my doubts about whether I had my focus right. Add to that the perennial dilemmas of pricing and the chores of labeling and packing and you'll see there were some doubts in my mind.

That was yesterday. Today I'm tired, but sure it was a good thing. I sold stuff! To be exact I sold 9 greeting cards, 9 brooches, 2 necklaces and 2 bookmarks. Selling things I've made makes me happy. This is A, one of the Art teachers at the Neighbourhood House. She bought one of my necklaces. She had to go home at lunch time to arrange some household stuff. When she came back, she'd tied up her hair and was wearing it. All afternoon I could see how good it looked on her. And she took a photo of a brooch I'd made to show a friend who likes that sort of thing too.

As well as selling stuff, there was lots of interaction and a chance to talk about what the Neighbourhood House does. And I had my spinning wheel, so at least 50 grams of what would otherwise be boring plain white spinning got done while I was watching people and talking with people and generally having a good time. That's me happy. The next House market is in September, but before I went to bed I looked up some other market opportunities which had been on my "maybe" list for a while. They won't be quite as neighbourly as this one and they'll definitely be more expensive to participate in, but I'd like a chance to build on yesterday's success pretty soon.

Community Flavours

I spent yesterday morning at the Newlands Neighbourhood House with the Arabic Speaking Women's group. It was their first big get together after a break for Ramadan, so we enjoyed a bit of a feast. The main dishes were fresh falafel; tabouleh and a mixture of cracked wheat, lentils and onion--I asked for the name, but don't feel confident that I can remember it accurately, let alone transliterate it. The Community Garden Group just happened to be meeting at the same time. They're working on a concept plan which includes a wood-fired oven, picnic tables and a herb garden. There was some great interaction between the groups, and after sitting down to a meal together, the gardeners decided that Monday is a great day for them to be at the Community Centre! There was a natural interplay between enjoying the food, identifying the flavours and naming herbs which might grow in the garden. I'm going to have to do some home-work to get some pictures and names for the gardeners. As a bonus, we might be able to incorporate pictures of some of the herbs into the quilt we're working on for the Neighbourhood House.

Here's some sage that's sitting in my window-sill. Sage didn't figure in yesterday's conversation, but I've been promising myself to take this picture. My friend A brought me the sage from her garden . . . roast pumpkin and sage risotto is on my menu for this week.

Going Home

These bulky creations are going home today. The biggest item is the engagement gift blanket. I started it just under a year ago and it's been nearly finished for ages. A couple of weeks ago I took it to the Neighbourhood House to tie off the fringes. Yesterday I was back there to start the quilting on the Raffle Quilt. J and I had arranged to meet to get that job done together. We took turns quilting and resting. That way we were forced to take suitable breaks--quilting can be tough on the shoulders and hands and I for one find it hard to stop once I've started. I'm pretty much incapable of sitting still, so I packed a couple of items to keep me occupied when it was my turn to rest. I wove in the last few loose ends on the blanket. There werent' many because I designed it in stripes with the ends forming the fringes. The other task I brought, you can just see peeping out from the black plastic bag on the right. It's the new back for the doona cover which came to grief with the family dog. It needed to be ironed. It's huge! I'm struggling for workspace at home. In the big North Studio at the Neighbourhood House ironing it was a manageable task. J even took a turn when it was my turn to get back to the quilting. H just laughed at me when I suggested she do the same while I dealt with an enquiry for her in the office. Oh well, it's done!I'll be glad to send these items off. Lately they've been just sitting around getting in the way and adding to the clutter at my place. That was never the idea. Now I can bundle them up with all the love that was intended and send them to their new home. There are a few other bits and pieces I've been saving to go in the same parcel: a couple of scarves and a hat or two or three. They'll arrive in Brisbane just in time for August, which is usually their coldest month. Great! Now to walk away from the computer and complete the task before I do anything else, come on now . . . .

OK, to complete the task I need to get a big cardboard box out of the car. I got one at the hardware store in anticipation of this occasion and it's been rattling around in there for weeks. A bit of clever construction work with some packing tape and scissors and I'm off to the Post Office.

Glass Challenge

I've been doing a bit more with beading lately. Currently I have some chokers, bracelets and earings on display at the Neighbourhood House to promote an upcoming beginners class. Enter Liz. Liz is a glass artist: would I like to have a go at making some jewellery with the glass beads she makes? Last night I went over for a visit. I got to see her set up and started to wrap my head around some of the ways glass is crafted. It was intriguing to see the differences and similarities to the way I work with my dyes and fibres. I brought home a few of her lovely beads to work with. The challenge is for me to work with a particular bead that already has something to say in its own right. I want to respect and enjoy that in the setting I find for it. Also the beads are all one-offs. I'm used to having as many of the same sort of bead as I like to use. At the bead shop I can buy anything from one to one hundred of the same bead. I'm looking for ways of combining several unique beads without detracting from their individuality. I also have the opportunity to suggest styles or colours of beads I'd like to work with. It's all quite exciting. Meanwhile these beads are sitting on my table so I can get to know them better. Oh, and don't imagine that there's nothing else on that table! I haven't quite finished with my procion dyes and then there's my labelling kit for my Folio samples, plus various other sundry items.

Promotion

I'm branching out a bit with my craft teaching lately. To add to the quilting classes at the local Neighbourhood House, I've been planning some basic jewellery-making classes there and at another nearby Community Centre. So far it's been rather a tentative start. What to do? Try more publicity.

I made these chokers a few weeks ago and photographed them individually. Yesterday I was looking for a more promotional shot: I'm pretty pleased with how they look laid out on my timber table. This is my second attempt at this particular view. The first was in crisp focus--complete with a large dog hair highlighted just at the front of the pic. I gave the table a wipe down and tried again. It's amazing how starkly obvious just one little hair can be when it's been picked up by a macro lens! Oh well, I did consider registering the name "Hair of the Dog" for my textile art, but I decided it would be open to too much interpretation.

Gizmo Gift

There's a new member in my gizmo collection. It's a home-made swift or skein holder. I received it at the Neighbourhood House yesterday, as a bit of a surprise. I was there to borrow L's car and sort out keys for my evening quilting class. One of the key members of the craft group happened in. When she saw me she couldn't quite remember my name, but she excitedly started to describe something she had for me at home. It too was nameless at this stage. I gathered it had to do with winding wool--whether it was a warping board or a skein holder or something entirely different wasn't clear. The only way to solve the mystery was to see it. She was enthusiastic enough to drive home for it and bring it back for me. Here it is: Just the right size for my 2 metre skeins, low profile so it doesn't want to tip over and with fixed arms, so they don't want to collapse in. Having said all that, the skein I tried it on wasn't in the best shape to start with and I did have a few tangles to sort out. Overall: I love the home-made ingenuity of it and I'll happily give it another go. Better yet, the generous unexpectedness of the whole episode makes me smile.

Planning

I'm planning a new quilt for the Neighbourhood House. This one will be a raffle quilt--so a fundraiser as well as a chance to promote quilting within our community. This interlocking stars pattern was suggested:It's based on a Friendship Star, but instead of just one set of stars there are two. A pattern of interacting Friendship Stars sounds like a great metaphor for a Neighbourhood House. Plus it's a simple enough design that relatively new quilters could be involved.

My first dilemma: the most efficient way to piece this design would be to work in rows: each row alternates a plain square unit and a unit made up of two triangles. On the other hand, Neighbourhood House is all about participation. Piecing the quilt in blocks--each made up of one Friendship Star--would be more inclusive and would give more people a sense of ownership of the project. Since the stars interlock, though, there'll be an odd row between each clear star block and only half the stars can be pieced as blocks. Oh well, I think it's still worth going with participation and ownership over efficiency.

You can see that my drafting is still done with paper and pencil. I've played with the idea of getting one of the software packages, but I haven't bitten that particular bullet yet. Sketching designs out by hand is time consuming, but it's a way of getting familiar with the pattern and anticipating the piecing process. I find it relaxing and absorbing. I don't know if that would be the case working on my computer--then again, I'm enjoying blogging well enough.

Harmony Brightness

Yesterday was Harmony Day--the international day for racial tolerance. Orange is the colour of Harmony Day--don't ask me why, but Orange it is. The Neighbourhood House has been celebrating all week with orange banners, clothing and food. I have one orange scarf in my wardrobe--bought last year for just this occasion. Yesterday was a hot day, and I didn't want to wear my scarf again. I picked out these cute little earings from a shop in Carlton:
They are light and bright and fun to wear. Now I have two items of orange for Harmony. Wearing orange earings is a tiny stretch for me. I hope it will remind me to notice and overcome some of the little--and not so little--prejudices I have.

My Patchwork Life

Tonight is the first Patchwork by Machine class at the Neighbourhood House. I taught this course for the first time last year, and the class is encouragingly full. Most of the students are new to the Neighbourhood House, so as well as teaching them a new skill, I'm looking forward to making them welcome and aware of the community around them. I spent a bit of time yesterday preparing fabric for them to practise with in the first lesson. Making a new quilt as we go along with the class seems to be a good way of demonstrating the steps. Then I have a variety of examples to show future students and use for promotion. Yesterday I had a few hours of panic when I couldn't find the two demonstration quilts I made last year. They finally turned up in a box under my big desk. A couple of files of paperwork had been stowed on top of them . . . I have no-one to blame but myself I'm afraid.

I also spent some time verifying that my camera is working just fine. That involved a visit with my friends V & G, their four friendly dogs and a tour of a fantastic vegie garden. I couldn't face another session with the Help! desk though, so that's a task for another day.

My table is still covered with wool in various stages of preparation. I have a fine merino sample on my needles as well as the Feather and Fan project just about finished. My life feels a bit like a patchwork quilt--crazy patchwork I guess, with lots of different colours and textures in unexpected places. I just need to make sure the stitching is secure . . .

Word Challenge

What's a collective noun for "blogs"? I seem to have a proliferation of them!

I've just set up blogs for

• Northcote Makers' Market--that's the name we agreed on at the Artisans' Market last weekend

and

• Quilters at Sussex--since the Patchwork by Machine course added to the existing Quilters' Circle and the planned Hand Dyeing workshop are all causing a bit of a splash at the Neighbourhood House

There aren't any posts in either of these yet, and I surely won't be the only contributor, but I do feel the need for a collective noun. Suggestions please . . .

Thank You Lynley

This lovely thing is a tea set made by Lynley Northcott:

It surprised me with it's loveliness when I was at the Neighbourhood House yesterday. I was there to do some preparation for Neighbourhood House week . . . "and while you're here, could you take some photos of this" Lynley is the pottery teacher at the House. She has donated this tea set to be raffled. Now I'm not really into raffles, I'm not really into pink and white and I'm not really into tea sets. But, ooooooh . . . what can I say . . . this makes me smile and reach out!

Harmony Day

I spent the morning at Sussex Neighbourhood House, putting up decorations to promote Harmony Day. I even went so far as to paint my fingernails orange in celebration of tolerance and diversity:

. . . don't ask me why orange is the colour for harmony day!

Here's how the front of the House looks now that we're done:

We copied the different people from the Harmony Day poster and made them BIG on the photocopier, then we stuck the paper to the back of different colours of poster board. There's been a bunch of volunteers cutting out figures for the past few weeks. The House looked so good that I picked up the phone and rang the local paper. They're coming with a photographer later this afternoon. So, Happy Harmony Day to you! Oh, by the way, I know its Monday March 23, and the poster says March 21, but the House is open Monday to Friday, so we're spreading the celebration out a bit.