Rosy Lady

More handmade love

I grew up in a family of talented crafters, sewers and artists, and wanted to show you some more of the handmade things that I photographed when I went to visit my parents in South Africa.

I have the best oldest sister and her makes the most beautiful scrapbooking and greeting cards.  She has made me a wonderful scrapbook about my parents, which I will show you at some point.  She also made this framed picture for my parents of their four children.  Yes, I am the chubby blond and the youngest.

My Mum is very good at sewing, knitting and doing tapestries.  I have fond memories of how we used to visit our local fabric shop on Saturdays and then sneak the bags and bags of fabric into the house like two naughty children.  Not that my Dad mind our shopping, it was just so exciting to make our own clothes like summer dresses etc.  Here is one of my Mum's tapestries that she did when I was little.  I love the 70's vibe.

 

My aunt has done many crafts through the years but her most memorable work are her ribbon embroidered pictures.

     

What crafts do you remember from your family?

xx

Handmade with love - a trip down memory lane

I grew up in a family with very talented people where handmade items were treasured and admired. My Nan used to make me smocked dresses with fine embroidered flowers and roses.  I loved wearing these dresses, they were great for twirling and I loved admiring the embroidery work up close.  When I recently visited my parents in South Africa, I asked my mum to get some of these dresses out for me.

This turquoise dress with the red roses was my favourite:

My favourite flower, roses..

Then there was this one:

And this one:

When my Nan was too old to sew, embroider, knit or crochet, she one day handed me a paper bag full of all her embroidery patterns.  That was so special to me and I continue to keep them safe, maybe one day I'll think of the perfect project to use them.

xx      

Hello doilie

I was looking through some of my photos and thought I'd share some of the photos that I've taken of doilies.  When I started this post, I suddenly wondered whether doily or doilie was the correct name as this is what we used to call it in South Africa.  Wikipedia describes it as follows:

A doily (or doilie) is an ornamental mat, originally the name of a fabric, from Doiley, a 17th century London draper.^[1] They are usually made of cotton or linen thread, often crocheted but may also be knitted. Openwork allows the underlying surface to show through. In addition to their decorative function, doilies have the utilitarian role of protecting fine-wood furniture from the scratches caused by crockery or decorative objects.

These photos were taken at the same place as the heirloom textiles, which I shared here.I don't feel that these are the best examples of doilies though.  I remember my mum had some doilies that my grandmothers made which had three-dimentional flowers crocheted in different colours on them.  I will have to photograph those when I go to South Africa in December.

xx

Festival of Quilts 2009 - Part 3

I thought I would share a few more of the lovely quilts that were on display at the Festival of Quilts.

I wanted to finish with this quilt because I think that every artist can relate to these words at one time or another in your life:

Festival of Quilts 2009 - Part 2

As promised, here are some more photos of some of the quilts that were on display at the Festival of Quilts:

 Hope you're enjoying these as much as I am.  More photos to follow tomorrow.

xx

Festival of Quilts 2009 - Part 1

I've had a really good time at the Festival of Quilts.  There were so many beautiful quilts to see and I took plenty of photos, which I would like to share with you over the next few days.  I also met Amy Butler at one of the stalls.  At first, I felt a bit star-struck, hovered and then went over to introduce myself and ask for advice about submitting my textile designs.  She was very friendly and helpful.

I the evening, I also attended the event, 'An Evening with Amy Butler'.  She spoke about recent trips to Bali and India and showed some of her photos and shared the inspiration behind her next fabric line, which is called 'Love'.  

She also shared some of her future projects, which include handmade rugs, luggage and another book.

I met so many wonderful people from all over the world - kindred spirits - and it was great to talk to everyone about their interests and to share mine.  There were young and older people and the quilts ranged from traditional to contemporary with something for every taste.  It also struck me that despite the big crowd, people were polite and considerate, no rudeness, pushing or elbowing. So, without further ado, I would like to share some photos of some of the quilts that I saw.  I will not be able to give credit to any of the artists as there were just too many to remember.

Hope you've enjoyed these with me.  More photos to follow tomorrow.  Hope you have a good day.

xx

iphone spruce-up

I've been contemplating for a while now to do something with my iphone to personalize it a bit more. Although I have been looking at different covers, I have not really seen anything that I like.  So, today I decided to do a quick make-over with some stickers that I got from Accessorize a while ago and here is the result:

 

Have a lovely weekend!

xx

Heirloom textiles

I returned to work (my day job) on Thursday after I had two weeks off with the flu.  Although it is great to feel better, it means that I now have to use evenings and weekends again for my designing time.  I am currently working on my first fabric line to put forward to companies out there but as I can't show you any of those designs, I thought I would show you some photos of vintage textile patterns.  I took these when we were in the Cape, South-Africa, in February this year.  We stayed in an old house on the side of a mountain, amongst the vineyards and just outside Stellenbosch.  The house was packed with antiques and family heirlooms.  I could not resist the opportunity to take photos of some of the vintage textiles that was in the house.

I like the colors in this one:

I love this potholder: 

I've always loved vintage hand embroidered pieces so, I thought that I would include these too:

There are still loads but I think these will do.  Looking at pieces like these, it always makes me wonder about the people who made it.  Maybe a young bride sewed those pot holders to use in her kitchen?  Maybe it was lovingly made by a creative grandmother?  Handmade pieces are so special and become heirlooms and handed down from generation to generation.  How special to think that the sewing/quilting/embroidering that we do today, may be loved by generations to come?

I hope you have enjoyed this nostalgic journey with me?  Next weekend I am off to Birmingham for the Festival of Quilts.  I should have plenty of photos from that to share with you.  I am also hoping that someone there will sell me a rotary cutter so that I can crack on with that free pattern which I promised in my last post.

Hope you've had a great weekend!

xx

UK Handmade

I wanted to let you know about a social networking website for artists, designers, makers and crafters in the UK, which is well worth a visit.  I have been on UKhandmade for a while now and have met lots of people with similar interests and it is a great place to find out about art and craft fairs or markets or to link up with people either in your area or all over the country.

I have also started a group on the site for anybody who love and use textiles so, whether you sew, collect fabric, design textiles, quilt, do patchwork etc. I would love for you to join my group.  The group is called Textile Tinkerers and can be found under the group section in the left sidebar of the UKhandmade site.

So, go on over and take a look...

You spin me right round, baby right round, like a record baby, right round.

I'm up bright and early today, eager to (finally) start my textile design portfolio.  I have done various designs up to now but none specifically in the context of a fabric line and that is what I want to do now.  I am just bursting with ideas that seem to be all I can think about.  I once heard someone say that a woman's thoughts were like a washing machine, always going round-and-round, thinking about different things, like the different items in the washing machine, all at the same time.  When we went to Keukenhof in the Netherlands earlier this year, there was this beautiful statue that symbolizes my thought patterns so well today...

Each little ring representing a different thought on designs, patterns, colours, sewing, big dreams and the excitement about all the people who have been viewing my blog within the last few days.  It is so nice to have you here, I hope that you will keep coming back to share in my journey and feel free to leave a comment, I'd love to meet you all!  

I also have some ideas for a free sewing pattern.  I'm hoping to work on that when I need a break from my computer screen.  So, be sure to pop back for that.

I thought the words from the song by this group as seen in one of my favourite films, was quite appropriate for this post.

Have a good weekend everyone!

xx