Just a taste

28 Sep 2011 1 Comment

by fabricfan in Uncategorized Tags: ,

I am home from a trip to Istanbul and the Ukraine. We had booked the trip over a year ago and were taken with the idea of a River boat cruise. We booked with our regular travelling friends.

We were disappointed with missing a day in Istanbul as our plane was delayed over 30 hours. What we saw there is a bit of a blur, as we arrived at 5am and we did managed 3 hours sleep before the tour. We bought a carpet, still to arrive, for the living room. We saw the Blue Mosque and the Haghia  Sofia and a 10 minute look into the bazaar, too tired to do more. We had a dinner, after a nap, at the roof top resturant at hotel over looking the Bosphorus.

Some photos of our short stay.

 

 

Overlooking the Bosphorus.

A glass of tea at the end of the day.

2nd coat of the year.

10 Sep 2011 1 Comment

by fabricfan in Uncategorized Tags: ,

I just finished a new parka. It’s not lined so I intend to pack it with me when I travel and then I can layer warm clothes underneath. It is a Calvin Klien fabric, nylon, navy with a goldenrod grid,  from Fabricmart. I think I bought the fabric before I saw the pattern in the Burda magazine 04/2011, #137. There was a tremendous amount of ease, so I cut a smaller size than normal.

It was a real chore to find all the bits and notions. Navy stoppers for the cord, took 3 stores, the grommets  and snaps didn’t match but I figured that I had spent enough time looking and after all that the snaps were hidden inside the flap over the zipper.

It has been a long time since I have attempted anything this difficult, lots of pieces and construction order was different as well, ie the zipper was attached to the facing first and then the facing and interior hood was joined to the coat. The snaps went inside the flap, etc. The welt pockets and the other pockets with flaps were nearly the end of me. I was continually going back to the pattern instructions, which I had enlarged to see it better. I also went back and forth to the tracing sheet, to see what I had missed,  which was quite a bit.  I even did a muslin for general size and fit.

Is it perfect-no. Do I love it–YES.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

La La La

01 Sep 2011 1 Comment

by fabricfan in Uncategorized Tags: ,

I love this fun name for an onlne class.  The link gives more details.  This is the 3rd Suzi Blu class that I have taken.The   other courses, required drawing which was great but this time templates are provided. You get to play with all the art materials you have ever bought. I have a lot but needed to buy one or two more things. For example, I needed coloured encaustic wax but I have had the little craft iron for several years, which had never been used.  Ironing wax is way more fun than clothes.

I was  on the boat, so I took a rubbermaid container with paint brushes, acrylic paint, matte medium, glue stick, pencil crayons, pieces of wood to work on, canvases, encaustic wax, a little iron, coloured scrap book paper, sequins, rhinestones and some paper doily tape.  The templates, scissors, instructions and I thought my usb key with the videos.  Didn’t seem to have that when I needed it. So from there I just winged it.

So for a few nights, I spent an hour, playing with art supplies. . The time just flew and I missed it when I didn’t have a chance to work on another “art Piece” I am currently working on a couple of little boy dolls, one with a boat and the other with a sword and shield.

I found one art store in Sydney and bought a couple of missing pencil crayons, a kneadble eraser and some Grafix Rub-onz, to make my own rub=on transfers. You make them with a laser or ink jet printer. So in a couple of months hope to give that a try.

Here is a picture of the little girls I did, don’t think it is finished yet.