I thought I would show you what how it turned out to wet your appetite, cause I’m going to do a little tutorial on how to make a set for YOUR friends soon!

We increased our group by 50% (as in, one new person), in the form of Kim from Petit Pas, and we made pretty plush birdies using a Nancy Halvorsen christmas pattern (from her Tidings book).

I lead the girls in making the birds. I wasn’t particularly prepared, and had just quickly whipped that blueish bird up earlier in the day. Don’t tell anyone, but I hadn’t ACTUALLY made one of these birds before that day. Next month Kim is showing us how to make some pretty pillow case dresses for a really good cause. If you’re on the Sunshine Coast we’d love for you to come along to our next meetup on the 2nd of July.

The masters I’m studying is in Cross-Disciplinary Art & Design, and so our major project is our own cross-discplinary project. It sounds complicated, but I always explain it to people like this- it’s getting together art and design disciplines (as well as other disciplines) that aren’t usually used together to create awesome new stuff that breaks everyone’s ideas.

The project I’ve decided on deals with how the internet affects culture. For my final piece of Semester 1 (due last night) I did this video explaining an overview of the project. I’d love for you to watch it. There are going to be exciting opportunities for people to be involved later in the year, and next year, with the actual construction of the patchwork piece, so stay tuned!

X-Disc Final Project from Talia Carbis on Vimeo.

While Luke and I are taking in the glorious sights of Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road, and Adelaide, Kim from Petit Pas has come over to share an awesome tutorial with you! Please make her feel welcome by leaving her lovely comments, and then going over to check out the beautiful blog she shares with her husband, Morgan.

-T

As things are starting to cool down for all of us in the Southern Hemisphere, my sister asked me to
make her a scarf. I bought one made from curled jersey fabric last year off etsy, so decided I wanted
to give it a go and make one myself and share how to make it with you while Talia’s away…

Materials.
All you need to make this scarf is an old t-shirt with no side seams, some scissors, a measuring tape,
some chalk and a sowing machine (you could hand sow it too if you don’t have a machine).

Step 1: First you need to cut off the waist band/hem at the bottom of the t-shirt and cut off
the top half where the sleeves start.

Step 2: Next you want to cut strips out of the shirt width ways in 1.5 inch intervals.
Measure and mark 1.5 inch down both sides to help with the cutting.

Step 3: Once you have cut all the strips you need to stretch the strips out. This will create
the curling effect and will also finish the edges so they don’t frey.

Step 4: Finally, collect all the strands together and sow them down. Now you have a
pretty new scarf to keep you warm. Depending the width of you shirt, you should be able to wrap it
around a few times and try many different things.

enjoy.
- kim

Well, as I mentioned yesterday, May seems to be THE month of embroidery hoop wall art, and things are no different here at LVJ. As with every month in the 12 Months of Christmas ebook accomaniment, you can download the ebook here, and upload you photos of the projects you’ve compeleted to the flickr group here.

Put without further ago, here’s the tutorial video!

12 Months of Christmas- May from Talia Carbis on Vimeo.

What we’ve made:

Last night we got the video camera out, and made a video about this Christmas crazy patch wall art! I should be able to show you the video tomorrow, assuming all goes well with the upload (which sadly, is never guaranteed!). Here’s a little sneak peak…

If you don’t know about Brown Owls, then I suggest you pop over to the blog and read up on this lovely initiative by Pip.

I’ll let you know a little secret, I was pretty sick with worry when starting this thing. I mean, I was sitting in the park by myself waiting for people to turn up. I didn’t know what anyone who was comming looked like, and as far as I knew, they didn’t really know what I looked like. So I got stuck into my embroidery, looking up occasionally to see if anyone was wondering around aimlessly looking for a group.

Melissa and Steve turned up, and we chatted and crafted. It was a lovely afternoon, and next month we’re going to have it at their house, so we can use some sewing machine and make some pretty birds! If you’re on the Sunshine Coast we’d love for you to come along next month!

A beautiful embroidery for a beautiful woman.

The pattern is from a Homespun magazine, and I used the following stitches:
Back stitch
Stem  stitch
French knot
Lazy daisy

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Funny things with learning those stitches, I first leant ABOUT stem stitch here, but when I went back to watch the video today I realised that I actually do it nothing like that. I’m not sure if I do stem stitch in the ‘traditional’ way, or if I am actually doing another stitch, but either way, I like the result (my stem stitch is used on the words).

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If you want a copy of the pattern, let me know and I’ll find out which magazine it was from.

Craft group on Tuesday was quite fortuitous. You see, a while ago I had taken Nanna to The Patchwork Angel, where we saw people making the French Roses quilt out the back. We thought it was quite splendid and so Nanna bought the pattern. Everyone at craft was pretty keen to have a go at making a square (no one needed an entire bed quilt), but when we got there Nanna suggested we make a table runner out of them!

I’d been dreaming of what sort of table runner I wanted for a few weeks now, and it was going to be my next personal project, so for her to suggest we make one at craft was perfect timing, hence the fortuitous craft day!

You can see below my colour combinations, but make sure you click through on the links at the very bottom to see some other colour variations!

Other colour combos:

Pastel Colours, Bright pinks and oranges, dark vintage colours, bright colours (I LOVE the quilting on the first border in this one)!

You see, in February I participated in a little thing called “Pay It Forward” via Morgan & Kim’s blog, and this was the day I got my little handmade gift! I ripped it open (is there anyone who doesn’t frantically open parcels to see what’s inside?!) and I found a beautiful camera embroidered by the very talented Morgan, and a beautiful little letter typed on their typewritter. I was so excited I rushed down into the house, grabbed a hanger and nail and went straight to work making a place for it to hang. I think it’s meant to sit here, because this hole just happens to fit it perfectly!

What do you think, isn’t it beautiful!? I feel very lucky to have amazing friends like Morgan and Kim. They are an incredibly inspirational pair!

Don’t mind the cobwebs… must clean those soon!!

Everyone, it’s not too late to get something handmade by me! Just read the rules over on the original post, and either leave a comment or send me an email!

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