I managed to snag a pair of jeans on something and rip a small hole, so last night I ironed on a patch and fired up my #sewing machine to darn over it. “Hang on,” I thought. “Doesn’t this fancy machine have some darning function?” IT DOES. It uses the automatic buttonhole foot (?!) and sews a custom length back-and-forth dense grid of stitches. You’re meant to then sew another at right angles. I didn’t get them perfectly placed, but it’s fine for a first attempt. This function will definitely be used again! #mending
I’m in a book! I was delighted to get a package at work today – 20 copies of my colleagues’ (Nahia and Slavik) new book about the future of the Solutions Architect role in the age of generative AI. I’ve been having a lot of fun playing Santa Claus, handing them out to my Amazonian colleagues in the Sydney office. There’s an interview with me in there too. 😁 The book is available on Amazon in many markets, and I believe you can get it for Kindle as well if you’re interested.
My sister Amy Carbo told me that my 15yo niece Indie was embroidering her own sneakers. “Cool,” I said, remembering how I used to doodle on mine. Then they sent me the photos. 🤯 They are STUNNING. Look at that. A TEENAGER DID THAT. 😍🐝🌸
Dinner tonight: @seriouseats Halal Cart-Style Chicken and Rice. Well worth setting off all the smoke alarms!
My sister told me that my 15yo niece Indie was embroidering her own sneakers. “Cool,” I said, remembering how I used to doodle on mine. Then they sent me the photos. 🤯 They are STUNNING. Look at that. A TEENAGER DID THAT. 😍🐝🌸 #embroidery #embroidered #converse
I finally blogged about the quilt I made for Josh and Jamie’s son Taos last year. This was definitely one of the projects that brought the most joy. It was fun; I did a good job; and I love the end result. I hope baby Taos does too! ❤️
Starting 2024 with traditional good luck dish of homemade black-eyed peas and cornbread. 🍀
Several years ago, I was taking out the rubbish and noticed that a short branch of my neighbour’s frangipani was lying on the footpath. (I think someone may have broken it off.) When I told Rodd about it, he said that we could plant it and it would grow a new tree. That stub has been in a pot in our garden ever since, and this year is the first time I’ve ever seen it bloom. 😍🌸
Several years ago, I was taking out the rubbish and noticed that a short branch of my neighbour’s frangipani was lying on the footpath. (I think someone may have broken it off.) When I told Rodd about it, he said that we could plant it and it would grow a new tree. That stub has been in a pot in our garden ever since, and this year is the first time I’ve ever seen it bloom. 😍🌸
I’ve had some fun combining LEDs with textiles before, most notably with my Canva Three Commas Cushion and my light-up CampJS beanie. Both of them required laborious hand-sewing though, so I was very excited to see Steph’s newest project – GlowStitch LEDs. These use conductive tape rather than thread, and can therefore be machine sewn. AMAZING! I’ve backed the crowdfunding campaign, and I can’t wait to get them and have a play. I especially liked Steph’s project log where she talks about all the decisions along the way, the mistakes she made, and the lessons she’s learned. Very cool…
My dear friends Josh and Jamie welcomed their new baby son Taos this year, and I decided that I wanted to make him a little quilt. I’ve had this Moda Fabrics “Mixed Bag” Brushed Cotton charm pack in my stash for a long time, and I realised it would be perfect for a little one. (A charm pack is a set of precut 5”x5” fabric squares, all from the same fabric line so they coordinate.) I started googling to get inspiration and spotted this Building Blocks pattern. I realised that I didn’t even need the pattern; I could just design my own using the same idea.
I settled on a design of 4 columns of 10 blocks each against a white background. I played with a few different layouts on my dining room table and got Rodd to give his opinion. I decided to go with the one on the left here, which was organised vertically by colour.
Piecing the quilt top was very quick! I used a plain white cotton for the background, which contrasted nicely with the brushed texture of the blocks. I sewed it together in horizontal rows, making sure each alternating row was offset by using a half block at the beginning or end.
Once I had all the rows done, I simply joined them all together. Charm packs certainly made the process go faster. I had the whole thing put together in less than a day!
The back side of the quilt was more challenging. I thought it would be fun to use another fabric from the line, but it’s so old that I could find very little of it available online. I finally found one of the zigzag prints at the Remnant Warehouse; it’s not brushed but it’s fine. I still had 2 squares left over from the charm pack so I decided to break it up. I inserted a row of white along with the two squares and a plain one with some embroidery. This meant I got to do some playing around with the fancy computerised features of my machine…
It was a lot of fun, even if the final version still came out a little crooked. I figure that gives it charm. 🙂
For the quilting, I sandwiched the front and back with a thin cotton wadding. (It’s too warm in Sydney for anything else.) I decided on long vertical lines but I deliberately made them a bit wonky and wandering. I thought that tied in nicely to the “wobbly blocks” theme I had going on. Then I used more of the backing fabric for the binding around the edge. I had fun doing the final slip-stitching by hand up at the Snook homestead in front of the fire.
Here’s the final quilt front:
And the back (I put a little “handmade” label on as well):
We met up with Josh and Taos in November and I got to give them the quilt. I told Josh my Mom’s standard Quilt Gift Rule: it comes with lifetime repairs, but only if you actually use it! Josh later sent me a photo showing baby Taos having a play on his new blanket. ❤️
I’ve had some fun combining LEDs with textiles before, most notably with my 
Woot, my knee-jerk don’t-overthink-it pub-quiz answer was Iran which seems to be [✓]. I ‘knew’ it was more populous than…