Happy Birthday Baby

It was baby's first birthday today, my dear friend was in town, en route to the south and a vacation. It's really 7 years since I saw her in N.Y. - and was good to catch up, she got to meet the kids, I got to see her youngest, who isn't so young.
On our way home we tried to go to our favourite kebab place - Haji Bey , where they do the most delicious veggie kebabs too - alas it was closed, so we went to their home town rival Garag Kebab - it was interesting to try, but I prefer HB.
There was no party today, just a few happy birthdays. Birthday party to come later. We did however introduce her to Kemal Pasa Tatlisi, with Kaymak (clotted cream) it was good.

Bottle Cap Pincushions

I got all of these back, I'm only sure where one comes from.
#
This one is so funky, it looks like a 'Walnut Whip' - are they still made? or a Turban on an Ottoman headstone.

This one looks like it's got a palm tree growing out of the top, but they are just little flowers and leaves.

This was my all time favourite of the group. I know this came from Heather in Scotland - we have a mutual friend. It's done on her embellisher then all the beads etc by hand, it's like a fake cake - it does have a red heart on the base, very cute...
I heard from a quilting friend that I've not seen for 9 years - I hope to meet her tomorrow - so maybe no blogging.... maybe some interesting photos - 3 littles can do quite a bit of 'damage' to a 5* hotel lobby, plus it's baby's first birthday - party will happen later.

BQL Bag Challenge - August finished

Finished - such a quick bag, and once I read the instructions properly it's SO easy. Not reading the instructions properly meant that there is a small amount of the lining showing on the inside - looks quite good, though isn't strictly the pattern - sorry Kandy. Looks big enough for the keys, camera and phone for The Wedding too - yeah!

BQL Bag Challenge - August

Queen of the last minute, I keep on planning to start the next bag as soon as I get the pattern - maybe it'll happen in September...... I pulled some silks out and went for these. It may go with the dress for 'The Wedding' - it might not be big enough. Will see. The tab has mirrored blanket stitch rows (3) though they are hidden by the grain of the silk. Not sure yet if it will be light inside or outside. Tomorrow I'll get it done, it's really a quick bag, I can't believe I've not got my finger out by now and got it done.

Wordless Wednesday

Haberdashery

I had to go to Nisantasi today, which is next to the textile area - Osmanbey. I only needed 2 pale pink zips, but couldn't find them near home - so off to my favourite haberdashers it was. This is a sliver of a shop, it must be a maximum of 3 meters wide, it's long and tall ceilings - it's stuffed with stuff, stuff and more stuff. The 3 guys at the end of the shop were making a huge quantity of covered buttons with a 'machine'.


The shop spills outside and there are 2 adjoining shops in a covered passage - they all sell slightly different things, along the street are a lot of very similar but slightly different shops. I once had the chance to go into the 'store' for this shop, it was totally amazing, yes they did have the pink fur trim, but SO much more. All the small boxes have beads and sequins in - they have nearly everything - as long as you can explain it, gesture it or draw it, they'll try their best to find it.
Failing that they'll send you to another shop that they think does have what you need, they are truly fabulous. I wish they were closer, it takes about an hour to get there.

Bottle Cap Pincushions

These were made back in December 07



These 3 were made in March 08.

I joined a couple of trades for bottle cap pincushions way back when, I used Coke bottle tops - they are really quite easy to make, and oh so cute. Pictures tomorrow of some of the ones I got back. It's been humid and heavy all day. I pulled out some silk to make the BQL August bag, measured how big a zip I need from the big haberdashers in Osmanbey tomorrow - putzed around, done very little apart from the necessary - just too un comfy. Where is that rain - the grey thick clouds are hanging over us, it was dark at 7.45 tonight, we need rain.

BQL Bag Challenge - Febuary

This is the February BQL challenge bag - I altered the handle so that I could clip it over the back of the rear headrests and the contents would stay upright - alas the headrests have had to come off with the 2-3 stage booster seats - good idea for a couple of months anyway. It is of course in the same fabric as the flags, but the bag came first.
Today was not so hot, 32-34 degrees, but SO humid. No sewing - not nice, lets hope for either a good wind to blow the humidity away or a rainstorm to clear the air - or is this not how to get rid of humidity?

Blue Dots

I've not seen this before, though then again I'm a Coke drinker, a special shrink wrapped design for the 'Doors' restaurant group - neat eh? love the blue circles, but then again I'm in a bit of a dot/spot/circle phase. The food was good too.

Incoming mail

This wee wonderful found it's way into the letterbox today - it's black and silver metallic stitching shows up dull grey - the red metallic looks like regular red and the metallic paint looks flat - There seem to be 2 eroded layers over the base of light blue. It's a sparkly card, but ohhh so interesting, (why is it SO hard to photograph metallics?)
I think it's done with a soldering iron, before stitching but perhaps using a less melt-able base? This technique isn't in my artistic vocabulary.... I'm interested to find out if it's low-tech enough for me to do, and the inside scoop. It winged it's way from Australia, made by Llynn for the PAW40 trade, her word was checks.

Incoming mail

from Amanda B Art2Mail G48

From Michele F Art2Mail G48
These cards arrived today, good as I felt so crummy all day, perhaps a mild dose of what ever caused baby to be violently ill yesterday. Fortunately I'm feeling better now, but I burned my precious Thursday where I get 4 hours of clear time to do my own stuff.

Wordless Wednesday

Sunspot - first batch

The first 4 sunspot cards are done and 3 will go to the AWM Wholecloth group - I kept the one with the unfuzzy edging - I might pick this off - I might not! I slightly over trimmed them, hence the strip of sheer on the edge, though it does work. 4 down 18 to go. They went straight to the local PO and got sent out with a whole lot of other cards. I am finally up to date with all my trades, I can breathe out and create without a deadline, the other 18 will be kept for a rainy day.
I also remembered my camera, the streets around the PO have some interesting, traditional buildings, though taking the pictures, without people, proved difficult. I guess I need to go early in the morning while it is quiet.

Sunspot - in progress

I played with a couple of different threads - I want the bottom thread to sit on the surface peppering the top thread. Usually I play with the tension to avoid this at all costs, this time it isn't playing ball.

Both of the fabrics are shot, though it's not too obvious in the picture and there is vilene on the back of the base fabric for stability. It's hot today and the card's name is somewhat ironic. I managed to get about 10 inches done, just another 30 to go - they may not be the same by the end of the width. T1 and T2 still very much under the weather, baby still fine - fingers crossed.

Sunspot postcards

My Wholecloth cards are well overdue and although the 12 by 12 square is getting finished, it some how has lost something, I will finish it in the future. In the mean time the group will get the sunspot cards, I hope.
I saw a great image in a book of a starfish with the fish outlined in intentionally, badly tensioned FME, and got all excited. These are 2 Kaffe Fassett fabrics from his shot solids range 4 or 5 years ago. I'm going to try and get a similar effect. Though have the full width to play with by 13 inches, so will get plenty of cards how ever the FME develops.
T1 and T2 were worse and the same, so off we trotted to see the Dr this afternoon - 2 cases of tonsillitis, antibiotics, painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs all got prescribed. Fortunately there is a 24/7 pharmacy close by.

Bamboo?

It's hot and humid here, so we went to the beach. I walked along the beach and found this tangled mess of roots. I thought it was some kind of decomposing animal from a distance. It was about 1m (3 feet) long. Further along the shore were sections that had been broken off and washed up. The tangle lolled in the breaking surf and slowly moved along the beach.
The beach was lovely - we swam, dug holes, made sandcastles and watched the other folks on the beach. Fun.

Festival of Quilts

The Festival of Quilts is happening in Birmingham, U.K. at the moment.
This quilt I entered back in 2005, all hand pieced and hand quilted.
It's crib-ish size. Navy with some small dots and white.
No sewing here today after the extended events of last night - T1 and T2 both down with a virus and making the most of it..... baby is fine.

Birthday flags

I finished off the last of the flag postcards, I made these earlier but only edged one till tonight. Though I could have done more if I hadn't had to deal with a puke fest....

I also found the other samples to work on - and took them out with me today since I knew I had to wait 45 mins with 'nothing to do', though the trip to Ulus turned into a disaster. It normally takes 35 -45 minutes, I leave a bit of time for the littles stroppiness (none today) and getting petrol, today it took just over 1.5 hours, nutso - apparently the president of Iran was visiting. The trip home took the regular time.
T1 has some sort of virus, yukk.

Wordless Wednesday

BQL Bag Challenge

Here's one I prepared earlier. This is the March Bag for the BQL challenge, before my blog started. I got the fabric from Paula, I have the rest of jelly roll to play with and some of the lining, though I can't figure out what I want to do with it.

SO....

I put it in a nice neat pile and it will go into the cupboard to wait another day. This is the most used bag so far. I would like to make another though this time with some stiffener in the top part. Today was burned by taking my car to service then on to Ortakoy. Sadly I forgot to take my camera, there is one of the most beautiful mosques down there. While driving along the coast I hatched a plan to walk the coast in weekly installments with baby over the late summer/autumn - once T1 and T2 are in 'school' - we'll see if this happens!

Incoming mail and blue circles

I got these lovely houses from Linda P for A2M G48 on Friday - along with the latest Quilting Arts magazine, I will sit and read it cover to cover very soon. I've also been mulling over the fabric choices for my ALQS partner, I know what I am going to make - but the colour choice has floored me some what - there also needs to be a strong accent with this quiltlet, I'm not sure if to go with bright or subdued, I'm going to read my partners blog some more and hopefully make something she will love. Kate has chosen me a partner that has a lot in common with me..... very exciting.

These were sample pieces for another postcard - but failed for various reasons. I have a whole pile of 'rejects' - rejected because they didn't fit, not that they were crummy. I want to try and finish some of these off.

BQL Bag Challenge - July

This July's BQL bag got finished at the end of July.

This was a quick one - really just a few hours...... destined for yellow boy, T2 - for his tools and bits of wood - gasp horror.

I need to shorten the handles as the bag is too tall for him, This month the bag is a very snazzy little evening bag - ironically something that I need, the one I have is just a bit too small.

Spot Postcards

These are the finished cards, there was a centre section that was washed out, so I cut in from the edges and it worked out perfectly, giving me 7 cards, 4 went to my PAW Group 40 (Thursday afternoon's PO run) One will go out to the A2M G48. I edged these with a open zig-zag and some variegated knitting cotton. This has to be my favourite 'quick' method, it makes a great 'frame' to the card.

Green Postcards

So these are the finished panels - I had hoped to get 6 cards out of each one, alas, there was shrinkage due to the dense stitching, so I got 5 and a bit out of each. I edged them with cotton knitting yarn, I get no satisfaction trying to get perfect satin stitch - so have developed other edging techniques that I use when I can.

These cards were the 4 inch strip at the side, a couple are joined hence squeezing an additional card out of the series.

I'll keep this one. Some have gone to the AITM Rainbow 2 group (those without the black spotted fabric that I put in my mistake!) the rest have gone to the A2M G48 group. I slipped down to the PO yesterday afternoon so they should be in their new homes next week. Now I need to find a new hand project for sitting in waiting rooms. Perhaps I can scour the reject card box and pull something from there.

Incoming mail

From Ann - Magic

From Joan - Monkey
These are pick a word trades, Cake has already arrived, checks is due, Spots are my word.

Wordless Wednesday

Incoming mail

I've held these 2 out and put them up 'large' they are so exuberant, this is Avril's 'monster mess' the original attempt was to make paper-fabric, or is it fabric-paper, layers of tissue on top of muslin with a coating of PVA glue. She did it slightly differently and was despondent about the 'mess' but it dried up well and she embellished it with ribbons and stamps and chopped it up. The quilting is more like perforating as it's almost 'crispy', but some how flexible. These are the original directions that Avril credits, though the top layer has been omitted. This is for the A2M G48.

This again is A2M G48from Marg in Australia, it's a small 4 by 6 card but it's thick and so tactile. There is a small flap of sheer and swirls of thread are underneeth it. I am not a felter - unless it's a baby cashmere hat or cardigan - done both of these, unintentionally - I don't 'get' the process here - I'm not sure if it's an embelisher or a sushi mat or some other way as there are sheers incorprated with the felt. It's luxurious and overflowing the space. mmmmm