RETREAT TIME FOR 2015

If you have ever joined us for one of our Sew-along retreats you'll know that they are a real 'treat'. One long weekend of uninterrupted sewing in amongst the beautiful tranquil setting of Toodyay WA with a group of great, great women. Jemima (of Tied with a Ribbon fame) and I have been working on next years retreats and booking will open shortly for 2015.

All the booking information can be found on Jemima's website at tiedwitharibbon.com as well as on my Sew-Along page.

. . . just a taste of what we have got up to at the last Retreat

x x Happy stitching

Exhibition over & a new bus

Its been a few weeks since the Salvedge/Selvedge exhibition finished. There were some truly inspiring pieces of work there & all in all I think everyone was impressed with the event. I know that the organising committee worked tirelessly at the event over two weeks spending time chit-chatting with the visitors and working hard to boost the auction price of each quilt.

The event raised more then enough money to buy the School of St Yared in Ethiopia a new bus which was the aim & I'm sure there is plenty of money left over to fund other well needed projects within the school.

. . . thought you might like to have a good look at some of my favourite quilts from the show.

The quilt hanging at the top was made by myself & three of my favourite people Jan, Rosie & Elaine. We have all been sewing together for years & it was nice to come together & make a quilt as a group. We called the quilt Martini Teahouse - if you follow my facebook you'll recognise that this is the quilt that taught me all about vintage fabrics, chalk & the chemical reaction between the two!

This was my absolute favourite of the show made by Lisa Repsevicius. It was a mix of wools, cord, silks & cotton fabrics - just wished i could have bid for it at the auction but no doubt it has found a happy home.

me and my big girl standing next to my horizontal stripey quilt which was the raffle prize.

A new journey

It has been a very VERY long time since my last post. This is not because I have not been sewing but I have just taken a bit of a breather, taken some time to regroup, started a few new ventures & certainly been on a bit of a sewing learning journey. Sometimes we can get stuck in a rut & need to branch out to re-engage with our mojo and this is exactly what I have been doing.

Midway through last year I joined an inspiring group of quilters called Selvedge/Salvedge headed up by the inspiring Jan Mullens. The groups is based in Fremantle WA and when I joined they had just started on a new project making quilts to be auctioned. All the profits will be going to the School of St Yared in Ethiopia, the school gives children a solid education, a safe and loving home, and a future instead of a ‘reprieve’, certainly a worthy cause which you can read all about HERE. 

The Selvedge/Salvedge project consisted of making quilts based on three different themes entirely from donated fabrics & materials. The fabrics donated were an amazing array of kimonos, kimono silk, upholstery fabrics, suiting fabric . . . basically anything that wasn't conventional quilters cotton. 

I have made three quilts for the projects, two on my own & one with a group of friends. I absolutely love all three quilts and it has been hard to part with them. Each quilt has taught me new skills & opened my eyes to working with different fabrics & textures. I have also been challenged to work well outside my comfort zone thanks to the guidance of Jan Mullens. Working amongst such a creative group of women who all made me feel so welcome has been such a bonus.

Next month over 80 quilts made by the entire Salvage/Selvedge group will go on display at the  Moore’s Building Contemporary Art Gallery in Fremantle. The exhibition will be over two weeks from 16 May to 1 June 2014.

It is hoped that visitors to the exhibition will bid big bucks at the silent auction and will be welcome to attend the live auction night on Friday 23 May. 

The first quilt I made for the group (pictured above) has been selected as the raffle quilt for the event which is such a honour. The project has run two raffles already over the last few months to cover costs of wadding, backing & thread as it aims that the money raised at the auction is all profit for the school so it is really important that my quilt raises lots of money over the two weeks.

The quilt started off as a kimono lining that I was given to unpick on my first evening with the group. (Did you know that traditional kimonos were hand sewn then unpicked to be washed then sewn backed together again - just a little snippet i learnt!) The blue in the kimono is a soft indigo blue that I became a bit attached too . . . so Jan suggested I cut it up & turn it in to a horizontal strippy quilt for their first round of quilts!! 

So I did . . . .

Then I teamed it up with an array of silks from kimonos & scarves, gorgeous satins that came with a truck load of sewing issues & few other Japanese fabrics. The panels went up on the design wall, were viewed by everyone at the group, everyone chipped in with their opinions, the panels all got cut up a bit more, the balance of the blue & the coloured flashes were played with, we looked at it through a viewer, took photos of it on the Ipad, moved it around a bit more, cut it up a bit more, then finally sewed it together in the perfect balance. It was a journey, a challenge & a joy!

. . . and the best bit, the quilt could be yours if you get yourself down to the Moores building in May & buy yourself a raffle ticket. 

The work that the group has done is nothing short of extraordinary, they have put together a truly beautiful & magnificent collection of art quilts that I am in total awe of & I  feel very privileged to have been a small part of it.

If you are in Western Australia, please make the time to visit, take your wallet along as this is a very rare opportunity to own a gorgeous work of art. . . . and please bring all your friends!

x x Claire

p.s. I'll be posting pictures of my other quilts in the next week so please check back

Moore’s Building Contemporary Art Gallery 46 Henry Street, Fremantle WA

Galleries open 10am-4pm, seven days Moore & Moore Cafe open 8am-4pm, seven days

New designs for Christmas

I was feeling a bit bad about even mentioning Christmas but I walked through Myers yesterday & all the decorations are out so I think I can safely mention it without you all yelling at me!

Sew-Along classes are all about Christmas next term so Jemima & I have been busy putting a few projects together. Last week I was busy in my sewing room & thought you might like a look at what we have coming up for next terms classes. The patterns will be available in our Etsy shop later next term.

We are still working on samples so they will appear on our facebook page in the coming weeks but if you want to find out more about the classes it is all up on our Sew-Along blog.

SEW-ALONG CLASS INFORMATION CLICK HERE

CHRISTMAS TREE SKIRT FOR SEW-ALONG

ADVENT BUNTING

EACH FLAG IS A LITTLE POCKET TO POP SOME GOODIES & TREATS INTO!

CLAIRE TURPIN DESIGN CHRISTMAS THEMED CUSHIONS

Party Time

It seams lately that I have had an urge to completely overload my plate & I stupidly told my youngest daughter that this year she could have a party!!

Thankfully she has a friend Charlie whos' birthday is the day after Heidis' & double thankfully, Charlies mum is 'super-woman'!

So 'super-woman' & I set about creating a circus themed birthday party for 30 kids. It became a full time job for about a week . . . maybe more (its all a blurr). Pintrest was a great source of inspiration  & quite frankly, I don't know how any of us survived life before we downloaded it to our Ipads!!

Anyhoo . . . here's a bit of what we got up to . . . 

CLOWN NOSES, PARTY HATS, PARTY ANIMALS & ELEPHANTS NUTS!

FOOD, GOLDFISH IN JELLY, WATER BOTTLES WITH HANDMADE LABELS, CONES DIPPED IN CHOCOLATE & SPRINKLES WHICH WERE USED FOR POPCORN, A LOADED PLATE OF PARTY FOOD, TOFFEE APPLES (COURTESY OF 'SUPER-MUM)

I stitched up a couple of matching T-shirts for the girls to wear that proudly told everyone just how old they were & cut & tied a zillion strips of coloured netting to elastic to make some cute circus skirts . . . thankfully they were a hit!

I would like to take credit for the amazing cake but I can't - that was down to 'super-mum'. The top layer was a 'grown-up' layer laced with a bottle - oops - a dash of khalua & yes it did taste heavenly.

All my big kids were roped in to play party games but my camera failed me there so there aren't many photos. We made each kid a goodie bag that came with a roll of tickets that they could trade for a game & then when they played a game they got a lolly to put in to their goodie bag - I wasn't sure how that was going to go but the kids really embraced it & had great fun

All in all, it was a great day, made all the better by having 'super-mum' to share it with.

x Claire

GETTING THE KIDS INVOLVED

This months Australian Homespun has an interesting article about getting the kids involved in sewing. I was asked to participate & being involved really got me thinking about where my sewing journey began.

I don't really have any strong memories of my mum teaching me to sew, but she did sew & the sewing machine being on the table was not a rare sight. I started sewing like most people at school with the obligatory introduction to different stitches on Aida cloth with a nice big fat needle. Then came a dreadful mop cap (why???) then the gingham apron. I must have only been about 8 but I can still remember the teacher who taught me, the smell of the class room & the feel of the fabric - looking back it was obviously the path I was meant to follow.

 

My girls have grown up with me drowning in fabric, mountains of on-the-go projects & the sewing machine constantly migrating from the sewing room to the dining room table so that I can sew & still have them around me. My youngest daughter spent the first 3 years of her life in my fabric shop. She used to sleep in the portacot just outside the back door, then when awake,  there were always plenty of willing customers hands to take her on while I cut up their fabric order. She learnt to walk in the shop & she would desperately try help with the bolts of fabric as they arrived. She has literally been immersed in colour, fabric and quilts all her life so it will be facinating to see if she follows a similar path to me.

HEIDI SITTING IN THE FABRIC SCRAP BUCKET & TRYING OUT THE MACHINE!

My other two girls have also had their own sewing triumphs, they can sew beautifully, they are great with colour but now they are older it has become a bit of 'well, thats mums thing'! I do have a pile of really gastly Wizard of Oz fabric sitting in my stash that we are promising will be our next family quilt project so hopefully next school holiday I can get them involved . . . fingers crossed!

 LUCY WITH HER FIRST QUILT TOP

To see what Isabelle made as her first sewing project as well as other fabulous designers & their kids, check out the August Australian homespun magazine.

Happy stitching!

Claire x

I'm getting a Facelift!

Bare with me for a while . . . . my blog & shop are getting a bit of a facelift!

. . . . up and rolling soon