Welcome! I'm so thrilled you're here! I'm Helene, and this blog is about my sewing, dressmaking, quilting, knitting, and sometimes other craft exploits.

I hope you enjoy reading it.

And if you're interested in where my passion for sewing comes from, you might like to read my About Me page. I have a fantastic old photo of my great grandfather's factory in Europe.





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Stitch 56



I miss my machine

It’s been weeks it seems, since I did any of what I call, “proper” sewing. Wanna know why? Well, yes, the baby. He’s adorable. But I’m not over at my daughter’s house 24-7, so I ought to have had a bit of time to sew. Unfortunately, I really haven’t.

mum's car

not me, this is my mum's car

On Sunday 15th, my Mum had a shocking accident. Yes, recognise the date? This was around 1:15pm on the day Austin was born, about nine hours later. Mum apparently blacked out, and most likely drove into the curb before her car rolled over on its side, slid along the road a little, and smashed into the parked red car you can see in the picture.

mum's car - smashed driver's window

smashed driver's window

Her seat belt was on, thank god! but on impact, it left her with a fractured sternum. Other than that, the angels must have been on guard, because she doesn’t have anything else wrong with her. Well, apart from suffering from shock, and a bruised brain. So, after a ride to the Alfred, she was admitted, and spent the rest of the week there, undergoing all manner of tests. I took her home last Friday, and have spent virtually every night sleeping at her house – that is after my brother and sister-in-law finally got to go on their holiday. And she spends every day with me too. The medics don’t want her on her own just yet, and I wouldn’t actually leave her on her own, because as you can imagine, apart from the physical healing she needs, she’s also lost a fair bit of confidence, and is experiencing some anxiety, and being really unsettled.

Today, Australia Day, I’m home. Not working, Moshe’s gone on a bike ride, Mum’s in the other room reading, resting. And I’m in my sewing room, thinking about what I could possibly do in a really short time. A couple of weeks ago, I bought some wool felt from Amitié, and cut out the templates to make a spectacles pouch from my You Sew, Girl! book.

ysg-sp-grey-01

I'm using the dark red for the front, and grey felt for the back

I even began to embellish the front, but I’m just not sure I like it.

ysg-sp-grey-02

Perle8 for the embroidery - click to enlarge image

You know when you love what someone else has done – in this case, Nikki’s versions in the book – and yet you don’t want to copy that, you want to give it you own imprint. I looked through a couple of books on my shelf, Scandinavian Stitches, and Quilts, BABY! as well as scouring the internet, and my hard drive for ideas, and finally came up with the above little number. It’s not bad, it’s just not really doing it for me. You know what I mean?

What do you think? Any suggestions of where I can find either some great appliqué ideas, or embroidery designs will be truly greatly appreciated!

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OMG!!! Just this second I had the BEST idea! I’ve been wanting to make another little earphones pod, and I just now thought, what about felt??? Perfect! OK, there’s today’s little project. I’ll post as soon as it’s done, assuming I actually do get to sit at the machine for a minute or ten!

New books! Love bookdepository.com!

In today’s mail…

colette-and-liberty

meringue skirt and liberty gorgeousness

Have you discovered The Book Depository yet? Amazing service, fast and free international shipping, cheap prices, gotta love ‘em! Here’s my latest indulgence. They’re on my bedside table, can’t wait to hop into bed and read them! Oh, and Moshe and I caught and episode of Jamie Oliver’s Great Britain show on telly over the holidays, and of course I had to get the book! Love him!

jamie's-great-britain

just wish his show came with the book. it's so much better watching him than reading him

Brilliant reading time ahead! Can’t wait. Might have to hop into bed earlier than usual tonight.

OK, here’s the BEST news… I’m a grandmother!

At 10:15pm on Sunday night, after quite a long labour, my eldest daughter Devorah gave birth to the most beautiful little boy! We went straight into the hospital as soon as we received her call – she’s in really great shape! Here are some photos we took when little Austin was only about an hour old.

austin-01

the first moment I saw him, I fell in love

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when i held him for the first time, I could have sworn his bright little eyes were looking straight at me

austin-03

the proud father

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me, a grandmother! can you believe it!

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grandfather Moshe

austin-05

auntie Gita

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auntie Sarah

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proud mum, my beautiful daughter Devorah

I’ll write more later, gotta go, just had to share!

And in other news: a “Pay It Forward” gift arrived for me!

Remember the “Pay It Forward” post? Well, this week, my surprise gift arrived in the mail. Sally, I adore my little elephant! He arrived yesterday, but I didn’t have time to post to thank you. Why? You’ll have to wait for the next news item – yep, it’ll be the best one. Not to say my little elephant isn’t extra special. It’s just that, well… you’ll see.

little-elephant-from-sally-02

little-elephant-from-sally-02

Isn’t he precious!!! Thank you so much Sally, he’s sitting on my sewing table, giving me good sewing vibes :)

Much news to tell, part one: my sewing room (no, not the best of the news)

You may have wondered why I haven’t posted for awhile. A whole month in fact. A lot has been happening. First, my middle daughter, Gita, moved back home a couple months ago. She wants to save some money to go travelling. But that meant that we had her whole household to fit into our whole household, which you can imagine, didn’t really fit. So we had a massive garage sale, and spent the past many weeks clearing out and cleaning out every room in the house to make it workable. We moved our living room into the dining room, and moved the piano there as well, and… well, I don’t need to go into the details, you get the picture, yes? One major benefit has been that I cleared and cleaned out my sewing room. It looks fantastic now, and is so manageable, and everything is neat, ordered, and reachable. I love it.

sewing-room-01

first, the hall cupboard - fabrics all sorted

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entering the room, looking to the left of the doorway

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right-side cupboard - pretty much all sewing things

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I cut my Ikea computer desk in half, to half or completely eliminate the clutter opportunities

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shrank my sewing table down by folding in the extension leaves

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the shelves my Dad built for me, now all nice and organized again. notice the shelf with nappies and other baby things?

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my big rulers and french curve now have a spot of their own

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as do my quilting hoops - finally!

sewing-room-09

and to finish it all off, ta-dah! the hole in my window has been repaired!

Gita says it’s now no longer an office. It’s definitely a craft room now. Yay! That’s exactly what I’ve wanted it to be.

OK, now wait for the next post. The best bit of news is still to come!