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Posted by Q in Cheese with my Whine, Generic Ramblings on  December 21, 2011, at 8:49 am
 What I was doing at the Beginning of 2011 - It is still waiting to be Quilted, but the Piecing is Completed! Hi All,
I have been away for a while, have done some stitching here and there, but mostly life has been in disarray. I had to move house, and did on the weekend, and my internet connection won’t be set up at my new place until the 3rd January, so I may not be able to post again until then.
I may be able to beg some portable wireless time from the boy, but that also means unpacking everything related to sewing and blogging too, so unsure if that will happen before or after the end of the year.
Happy Holidays to all of you and your loved ones!
Good Night Stitchers Wherever you are!
Posted by Q in Cheese with my Whine, Craftie Craft, Generic Ramblings on November 2, 2011, at 11:40 am
The Adelaide Quilting and Craft Fair Starts Tomorrow! Usually this involves me taking at least one day off work and spending 2 or more days (the entire day!) at the fair. The fair does a tour around Australia during the year, and Adelaide is the last stop for 2011. I have attended the last 5 years, the first time I wondered around looked at stuff and left in a few hours, then I was inducted into “how to do the fair” by a well meaning stitcher who explained about all the workshops and seminars and craft circles and demonstrations that are available on the different days. By last year, 2 whole days was not even enough for me to see and do everything I wanted to and just look at the quilts in the exhibition! – I was quite sad and emotional that I didn’t have time to see the quilts.
 - Adelaide Craft and Quilt Fair 2011
Only this year I can’t go 
Unfortunately I can’t get any time off work and the boy and I are heading off to Kangaroo Island at 6am on Saturday and won’t be home again until late on Sunday night for a trip I have to review. So my annual Craft and Quilt Fair Tradition is broken
Two of my favourite local quilt shops will be there:
I’m sure loads of friends I have met in blog land, at Inspired Stitches and in quilting classes will be there and I hope to hear all about it from them.
My free motion quilting teacher Rachel Denneny has her award winning quilt in the exhibition.
And they have these adorable aprons on sale as souvenirs.
 - Keep Calm and Keep Creating Aprons
If you are one of the lucky ones that gets to go, please say hi to the Craft and Quilt Fair from me, tell her, I’m sorry I’m missing her and let her know, I’ll see her next year.
Good Night Stitchers, Wherever you are!
Posted by Q in Dolls, Pullips on October 28, 2011, at 3:52 pm
I’m now a new mum to two more Pullips!
Pullip EOS – is a limited edition Steampunk doll and has a mechanical wing, goggles and a light beam gun (what all self respecting steampunk girls should have) she has white hair and smokey eye make up. I got very lucky and got her at a great price! She has a slight flaw on her cheek but has all of her bits and pieces and looks great in the photos.
 Pullip EOS - Photo from Pullip Style Pullip Xiao Fan, has purple hair and is wears Chinese Clothes, she was very cheap too (for a Pullip).
 Pullip Xiao Fan, Photo from Pullip Style
Good Night, Wherever you are!
Posted by Q in Dolls, Knitting, Pullips on October 27, 2011, at 6:24 pm
Bet you thought, I forgot about my dolly hey?
Oh no I have not!
So far my highly distracted self has only managed to finish some knitting projects for her and to do some shopping. No new dollies yet, but I do have my eye on some auctions! And I have decided that my first “project” (I think I mean something that is not knitting or sewing related) for Lucrezia will be to make her a chesterfield chair.
 1 Seater Chesterfield Arm Chair I saved this picture (and I forgot from where, so if you know, please tell me so I can give proper credit!) because it shows the studding detail on the front of the arms and has a good view of the diamond tufting on the back, arms and the kick board – I don’t think that is what it’s called but I don’t know the real term so deal with it.
So stay tuned because I will go into detail (I think about how I am going to (try) to make it!)
So I’m not a very good knitter – I’ll elaborate so you understand – I can knit, I can purl and I can follow instructions, but I like to allow my mind to drift, so if I am not able to get into a rhythm and let said mind drift it will drift and I will end up with crasy pieces of knitted mayhem that are quite unidentifiable from their intended shapes or sizes. I demonstrated this to myself over and over again when I got all excited about Charlotte being incubated in her mum’s tummy and started knitting baby stuff.
I have never knit in the round before, and didn’t realise that one of the patterns that I wanted to attempt was meant to be knit in the round, and I cockily assumed the pattern was in error, mistaking stocking stitch for garter stitch…. but now I know when you knit in the round you don’t need to purl… how cool is that? I still haven’t achieved this fate though, my first hurdle was only getting one circular needle set and not realising that if you are knitting a really tiny circle (aka Pullip body circumference!) then if the metal bits of your needle are too long, you won’t actually be able to achieve this. I have been told it’s not that difficult but the idea of 4 pointed needles really scared me, so I chose to attempt the 2 circular needles method. I did this for a few rows but my joined bit was really loose. I will try again!
So this is from the pattern designed by Em from Knit North available for free! (that is not in error, only I was!) and is meant to be knit in the round. My version was not knit in the round but did follow the basic pattern. Using leftover white baby 4 ply (see my knitting efforts mentioned above), and 3 pink wooden beads from my stash joined in a circle for buttons on the shoulder.
 Molly Dress designed by Em of Knit North for Blythe - slightly longer version for Pullip Pictured Don’t laugh at my photos… I haven’t quite figured them out yet 
This is a little jumper (as we say here in Australia for a knitted top) or jersey (as we said in South Africa). What do you call them?
Pattern is also available for free from Throwing Kittens.
 Top Down Raglan Jumper from Throwing Kittens The following pattern I purchased from a lovely seller on etsy but you can also purchase her pattern from ravelry or from her website pollymakes.
I made one in the white baby yarn and one in the same coral that I used for the top above, which is Milford mercerised crochet cotton.
 Lacey Tunic Knitted in Coral Crocheted Cotton pattern by Jane Pierrepont  Lacey Tunic Knitted in White pattern by Jane Pierrepont I also finished another one of Jane’s patterns in white (the puffy sleeve dress), but haven’t taken a photo yet.
Good Night All, Wherever you are!
Posted by Q in Craftie Craft, Sewing on October 26, 2011, at 8:11 am
so pins and needles while stitching… yes…. it was a little frightening but I am hoping that it is just something situational (as suggested by the boy the way I was sitting at the time) and not something permanent that I need to worry about. But while I was stitching away at blocks 5 and 9 (of Vignette in Stitches), chaining the ‘dreaded’ hill. Well, it’s not really dreaded because we know I dread the shoo-flys and when I get to the hill (which I do before the butterflies even though the instructions say do the butterflies first) I feel kind of triumphant because it feels nearly done. So while I was stitching the hill (yes in tiny chain stitches), my right hand was getting all pins and needley and going numb. Did I stop? nope… The hill is all done now, but I have not done much on the butterfly side just yet so I have not tested if this is a temporary issue or if it’s something scary like rsi that needs attention. [actually I wrote this last week and lost some of the post in the ether, so am re-posting and...] Block 5 and 9 stitching is all completed.
 Vignette Block 5 and 9 - I didn't take new photos so here is one from before, at least it's relevant I have moved on to Block 4′s Stitching and have started on the birdie (I still haven’t taken another photo of the 5&9 stitching, but here is where the birdie is at. I did get a bit more pins and needles, but not as bad as when stitching the hill.
 Vignette Block 4 Birdie Stitchery Progress So… the other part of my post was about my sewing debacle, whilst stitching a top from pretty printed chiffon. I have heard from various people about how stitching with chiffon is quite tough, but i thought hey, I can stitch a bit, I can do this right? I was invited to a 1970s How to Host A Murder Dinner party (that took place on Saturday just gone) and found this really retro (literally from the 70s) pattern on ebay, that was already cut but in my size (yay!)
 Vintage 1970s Butterick Pattern I started off on Monday night, thought I was going fine and then went ahead again on Thursday night (with plenty of time right to get the top done by Saturday). I had interfaced the front, joined the front to the back at the shoulders and was busy adding the collar, when my bobbin started to slow down and I thought, yep, I can stitch through this, it’s all fine. Nuh uh… the bobbin literally shot out of the bobbin holder, the bobbin cover flew off into the air (I have found it now, but it was missing for a few days!) and this is what I ended up with….Here’s what ended up on my Sewing Table after all the Troubles…
 Here's what ended up on my Sewing Table after all the Troubles... Note to self: Sewing with Chiffon is really difficult! I ended up buying a costume…
 Where are you Bobbin Cover? Where are you....
Good Night Stitchers, Whereever you are!
What have I been up to lately, well the title of this post is a big hintie Mc-hint I’m getting all excited about doing loads of things my mind is going wild with ideas but all I do is ooh and aah online and I don’t actually do anything about it… All a bit sad really.
As a consequence it’s been a fortnight or so since I posted and I have a lot of things to tell you about (despite all the procrastination!).
I did a little bit of photo practise with Lucrezia, but haven’t improved much. My camera (as I have mentioned before is a bit strange lately) and I have had it for years (My phone now has more resolution on it’s camera than the camera has). Here is one though that I liked and allows you another opportunity to see how gorgeous she is. Except of course if your name is LeeAnn (who read my post and promptly started her own doll collecting!) she needs no additional encouragement, tee hee
 Practising Taking Dolly Shots - another pic of Lucrezia If you didn’t know, these dolls have buttons under their hair that allow you to turn their eyes in different directions and also to blink or wink. Adorable!
Vignette Progress
I did have a rush of inspiration when the gorgeous Issue 4 of Vignette came out and started on Block 4, 5 and 9 of the Quilt. As per my usual avoidance mechanism, I have not yet touched the shoo-fly blocks. I have been quite curious since starting this quilt in fact about how that block got it’s name and thought I would be clever and share that with you now, but once I google it, it looks quite involved, so will leave you to do it yourself (sorry!) and I will do it myself again later.
 Vignette Block 5 and 9 Laid Out Busy Being Pieced If you’re playing along with Vignette, you will be pleased to know that most of your bits have already been cut and put away (from previous blocks cutting instructions) so piecing is quite quick. And you can get straight to tracing out stitchery pieces soon after. Unlike me though, please play close attention to the orientation of your tracing unless you want to end up like me with this little gem…
 Vignette Block 4 Oopsie Funnily enough I did a similar error (but stitching related) with block 1 which is kind of a mirror image to this block. Because I have used pen that disappears on ironing and re-appears when you stick your block in the freezer (Pilot Frixion), I could either wash the block or unpick it. As it is not done being pieced yet, I will unpick. It’s on the procrastinator’s to do list!
I have however, whilst procrastinating, been working along on the hand stitching on Block 5 and 9 whilst having telly time so am actually progressing with that.
 Vignette Block 5 and 9 Progress Port Lincoln
I mentioned in my last post that I was going to be swimming with tuna and sea lions on my weekend away a couple of weeks ago. I will be writing a blog entry for the live every last minute blog, so won’t go into too much detail here, but I do want to show you some pics.
On Day 1 I went on a tour of Coffin Bay, where we got to sample fresh farmed oysters (so yummy!) and see some pretty cool locals.
 NZ Cape Fur Seals sunning themselves on a local island near Coffin Bay This is from the same island, I was quite impressed with the rock erosion on this island, it really looks cool.
 Birds taking flight as we cruise on passed, Coffin Bay SA I wasn’t very lucky with the sea lion swim but hope I get to do it again some time! I loved the Tuna swim though, (even though I got bitten!). They are incredibly fast and so very difficult to take photos of unfortunately for me I did get a few tails and swooshes…
 "It's Not a Tuna!" oh but it is... Blue Fin actually, the fins are only yellow as a juvenile
September Block Swap Adventure
My September Block Swap Adventure Partner (Michelle from WA) requested the Road to California Block in scrappy civil war fabrics. I knew right away, I don’t have any of those he he he. I had to talk to my mum and google a bit to find out what fitted into civil war era fabrics and then I borrowed a bit from some of mum’s Moda charm packs, I used two different ranges Civil War Crossing by Barbara Bradford and one of the Collections for a Cause ranges (I don’t remember which one.) by Howard Marcus.
 Block Swap Adventure September - A Road to California Block for Melissa in WA - Layout I got most of the lights from the Barbara Blackman Range and most of the darks from the Howard Marcus one. Thanks to my mum, for allowing me to plunder her stash and to Melissa for getting me to work outside of my comfort zone!
 Block Swap Adventure September - A Road to California Block for Melissa in WA - Layout The Rest of the Procrastinating Post
Most of my procrastinating is dolly related. Miniatures (well not too small, the 1:12 traditional ones, won’t be suitable for Lucrezia!), Doll Clothes, Knitting Doll Clothes, doll blah blah…
I have been popping into thrift stores lately inspired in part by Janelle Wind and got some trims recently for 50c each then yesterday I got to add to it, with a whole bag full of lace trim for $5! I was so excited….
 I could make so many frilly Lolita style dresses for Lucrezia from this couldn't I? I bought myself some additional tools to fuel this new obsession. 2mm knitting needles (the first pair I bought was plastic and I didn’t realise how wobbly it would be when that thin, I found it annoying to knit with, so bought aluminium ones today and also got my very first pair of circular needles (eek!) a few of the dolly patterns seem to be knitting in the round, which I have never done!, so I took the plunge. Speaking of plunging, when someone says plunging do you ever think of a router? I never used to but since procrastinating about doll furniture and doll houses (for Lucrezia and future friends of course) I do… a plunge router that is, I know I need an additional attachment for turning my latest purchase into one, but I can also do all sorts of other things with this….
 My first power tool! A High Speed Rotary machine for small-ish jobs, yes like a Dremel only not so painful on the budget I got the last one at the second Bunnings store I visited today and am very excited about my purchase, but still… procrastinating about it’s use
ha ha!
Good Night Stitchers wherever you are!
Posted by Q in Craftie Craft, Dolls, Generic Ramblings, Pullips, Quilting, Sewing on September 23, 2011, at 2:19 pm
Just a quick update to let you know I will be away for a few days… Most of my weekend will be related to boat charters, swimming with the natives
 Swimming with Sea Lions with Adventure Bay Charters and eating copious amounts (well maybe not so copious – am currently progressing weight loss with weight watchers) of local seafood. [Hopefully the ones I swim with are not too offended!]. My free time will involve hand stitching on my Vignette Blocks 5 and 9 and also popping in to the LQS The Patchwork Pear.
I attempted more dolly sewing (not that proud of my doll photography skills just yet, but I am learning!) Here is a dress I made for Lucrezia from this free pattern on xoxoBlythe.
 Lucrezia's new Dress from All Spruced Up Pattern by xoxoBlythe See you on the flip side,
Good Night Stitchers Wherever you are!
Posted by Q in Dolls, Pullips on September 14, 2011, at 6:55 pm
The Neo Noir I purchased from Pullip Style (just as an aside, I was very happy with the price, the super quick postage and the excellent packaging and will *hopefully* purchase more from them in the future!) arrived on Monday, I was going to open my new sewing machine that night, but well, there was a new dolly!
Opening up the wonderfully well packaged and undoing every little protection in the box so that I could get my hands on and set up my new doll was awesome. My first plays with closing her eyes and turning them to look different ways and actually seeing her in person still makes me grin like an idiot.
I named her Lucrezia (I know some say Lucretia… but I liked the way they say her name in the Borgias (recent tv series)) pronounced Lucretsia with the t in there ok?! ok. I thought the name had the olde (sic) world thing happening and it suits her stock outfit and her. So here she is…
 Lucrezia's First Photo Shoot - My Pullip Neo Noir 2009  Lucrezia's First Photo Shoot - My Pullip Neo Noir 2009 - Slinky Silhouette?!  Lucrezia's First Photo Shoot - My Pullip Neo Noir 2009 - Wearing her Cape  Lucrezia's First Photo Shoot - My Pullip Neo Noir 2009 - Cape Close Up  Lucrezia's First Photo Shoot - My Pullip Neo Noir 2009 Stay tuned for stitching and dressing up!
Posted by Q in Craftie Craft, Quilting on September 14, 2011, at 6:31 pm
So nearly a week after receiving my machine and bringing it home, I finally opened the box and unpacked it!
It’s as new and shiny and lights up as expected. What was not expected is that it makes me feel like a better stitcher? Can you believe that? I’m not a better stitcher (obviously) but it’s wonderful that this machine I had on lay-by for 2 months makes me feel improved somewhat.
Other than a couple of rows of stitches on some scraps, this is my first sewing on the machine which I (and hopefully Bren too!) am happy with. They are two blocks for my August block swap partner, who has very kindly let me get away with being almost 3 weeks late in making and sending my block! I hope you don’t mind (if you read this) that your surprise may be ruined a little as you can see the entire block, but maybe you can take some sort of warm and fuzzy from being my first stitching adventure on my shiny new machine!
Bren requested pinwheels in happy colours.
 These are the fabrics I selected from Anthology Fabrics Range Mod Charm and Coordinates I love sewing with the machine so much, the difference (with aplogies to my old machine) feels like driving with and without shock absorbtion. One is clunky and difficult too control and the other is smooth and so lovely to drive.
This is block 1
 Block 1 for Bren in Tennessee my August Block Swap Partner and this is block 2
 Block 2 for Bren in Tennessee my August Block Swap Partner I also received my block from Bren last night when I got home from work and was very happy with the great fabric selections and my two star blocks all the way from Tennessee!
 August Block 1 Received from Bren in TN I love the soft pinks in this one!
 August Block 2 Received from Bren in TN And the more I look at this one the more I like it, they also both look fantastic with the other blocks I have received so far.
Good Night Stitchers, Wherever you are!
So, last time I told you about my new machine, well I picked it up on Thursday night and it’s now Monday and I still haven’t opened the box. Life has distracted me a little lately, but not only life, I think I have added a new hobby obsession to my repetoire. At this point I don’t think it will mean that my stitching falls into a heap, but there will be an additional focus to it.
I’ll start with something amusing. My site name (Qspace duh?!) is because I am called Q and this is my space (not in any way related to myspace as I am pretty sure it didn’t exist when I initially registered this domain). Recently, while shopping at Spotlight and (because I was carrying rolls of fabric and a reasonable good mood) rendered totally defenseless, I accepted a dress up photo-op suggested by the boy. He grabbed a space helmet from the costume section, shoved it on my head and proceeded to take pics. So here is the new “official” Qspace photo.
 The Real Qspace (photo by Al) I have been stitching but most of my more recent projects are lying half completed begging to please get done. I still have a bag, purse, journal cover, scarf and little table top quilt to finish from A Day of Inspired Stitches. I did not get around to anything new on the Sheep Quilt and even though Blocks 4,5 and 9 in Vignette need considerably less piecing time (due to less cutting requirements), I haven’t even prepped them! I have added several new flower hexagon blocks, but no more than about 5. I’m behind on my block swap for August, but intend fixing that tonight, along with my swap for September.
The life distractions, were not pleasant ones, so we won’t dwell on them.
So my new obsession? It’s dolls, pretty specific dolls actually, but I am sure that you will start to hear all about them as I delve deeper and deeper into the hobby over the coming months, so I won’t totally inundate you with it just now. Someone I work with (who will remain un-named) mentioned her doll obsession and I started goggling about them and then ogling them to a point where I stopped checking blog updates and reading blogs because it was taking time away from being able to look at more pretty pictures. The dolls themselves are divided into 2 mini-obsessions the first of them are called Pullips (a similar size to a Barbie Doll, with a bigger head [24cm circumference]), she is ball jointed and released in different versions throughout each year. The second are ball jointed dolls (asian or modern to be precise), the Pullip is kind of a cheaper cousin to these and so it will be a while before I can get my first one. I have however, bought a Pullip, the “version” is called Neo Noir and she was released in 2009. She has cleared Australian customs and will be with me in a few days, so no doubt I will be posting photos when she arrives.
 Pullip Neo Noir 2009 I will go into more details about her, when I do the photo shoot.
So because of the new dolly thing and the colleague who introduced me to it, I started sewing and knitting dolly sized things too. Before I started, I was busy working on the bag from Natalie Ross‘s Spring Market pattern (the pattern has a bag, purse and sunglasses case, I already posted about the sunglass case), I ended up making a bit of a boo boo and cut the stitchery piece too small, and added bits to the side of the panel to compensate, I am sure it will be fine once the bag has been completed. This pattern is great by the way, if you are looking for something small to make, go and check it out!
 Bag Front Work in Progress from Pattern Spring Market by Natalie Ross (fabric Range is Central Park by Moda) Anyway, so knitting and sewing small things…. The first thing I attempted was a little dress for a yo-sd sized ball jointed dolly. My work colleague has one and I was interested in making her a little dress. I was given her measurements and found a free pattern for an American Girl 18inch Doll online (I am not really a fan of these dollies – sorry ) but I adapted that pattern so that it would fit the 27cm yo-sd (nearly 11inches) and this is how it turned out.
 Work in Progress on Yo-SD sized dolly dressAnd here is it nearly finished - I also added 3 tiny heart buttons to the centre front of the bodice and 2 to the straps.Completed Yo-SD Sized Dolly Dress It fits Haru (the little dolly) perfectly and I was quite happy with it. (I did make a hand sewn mock up first for dolly to try on for size) but this is the machine stitched ‘neater’ version.
 Completed Yo-SD Sized Dolly Dress Then I tried teeny knitting over the last few days. This is the second attempt at a little top (that will fit the Pullip doll). The first was not a total disaster but this one is better. I also tried a dress, but the first 2 tries were unsuccesful, so will try that again soon. This was knitted on 2mm needles using crochet cotton.
 - Pullip Sized Knitted Top
The “holes” are raglan increases so deliberate but not quite as tiny as maybe they could be?
Good Night Stitchers Whereever you are!
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Blurbie Thing Hi, I'm Quanita, Q for short and this is my space... Qspace
30-something - IT Geek - totally neurotic - In an exciting new relationship - Aunty to Charlotte Rose - introverted extrovert - Gen X - Arty Crafty
Welcome and enjoy your stay!
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