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Category Archives: Jewellery

Rose Coloured

A little inspiration

Having a break from my research for a future blog post which has proven both time consuming and informative.

My copy of Kaffe Fassett’s Quilt Romance came from Amazon.com today. Kathy devoted a blog post to the book here. ….her post has photos of the projects too! I adore this book because it is photographed in Portmerion....where my favourite china originated. It is a village in Wales where quaint cottages and buildings are painted in the most glorious colours.

a little break

I popped out for a while to get fresh veggies for dinner and on the way popped into Vinnies where I found the cute sewing basket. While it is a tad small for my sewing needs its perfect for my evening beading. It will be perfect for my pliers and findings and wire etc. I also found the as new skirt which was exquisitely hand tailored…you know with the seams sewn with a top stitch not a zig zag. Pity to cut it up…but don’t worry I won’t lose any sleep over it…it will be perfect for my LibertyV Quilt. I need masses of blues for that and also it will be good for the mosaic one below….still looking out for Liberty fabrics for that one!

half hex coming together

Okay off to watch television for a while..then more research!

Kotomi and Project Revamp

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Kotomigd Yamamura makes gorgeous jewellery.

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My favourite piece [above] for Winter 09. Her work is exquisite and original.

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A lot of her pieces are made using pieces rescued from old and rare jewellery pieces from the past…..

the one above was sold in a cancer charity shop in London.

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One of my favourites…I adore her crosses. Kotomi is involved with Project Revamp which upcycles old clothing and jewellery donated to charity shops etc and turns them into wonderful new artisan made works…fit for a queen or…..you and I!

I am so excited because The Ted Noff’s Foundation ..the wonderful youth empowerment charity here in Sydney is starting something very similar for young designers. So far it is for clothing but I imagine it could extend to jewellery if there are enough talented young jewellers and artisans out there. BTW I did send this information to the relevant person at St Vincent De Paul some time last year but as usual they did not even acknowledge the email or anything to do with it…very close minded I thought…and rude…wonder what manners were taught in the homes of these top sales executives? Or maybe they just decided they were above answering pesky emails from staff members wives..who knows? Their loss!

Kotomi’s work can be found here on flickr and here on etsy and here is her website. Thankyou Kotomi for your committment to upcycling and to saving the wonderful jewellery of the past…something that is very close to my heart.

On October 24 and 25th Kotomi’s work will be on display at St Joseph’s Pastoral Centre, New Molden, Surrey. In aid of La Quila Earrthquake appeal.

21st and 22nd November there will be an exhibiltion and sales event at Visage 56, Surbiton.

Purple Shopping Spree!

shopping spree!

This week at Spotlight I found some gorgeous fabric plus some co ordinating fat quarters

shopping spree!

…some jewellery findings

shopping spree!

and gorgeous tree decorations ….I know its only October but they are purple!

Am thinking half hexi quilt for the fat quarters….skirt with butterfly border for the fabric…leaving enough to border and bind the quilt of course…must get one’s priorities right!

Hope you are having a safe peaceful weekend….its freezing here in Sydney…well at 17 degrees celcius it is a change from the near 30 celcius we have had lately. A good temperature to start on quilts for the many affected by the disasters in our region this week.

This was brought home to me while I was in Spotlight on Thursday. A lady in her thirties was weeping silently as she spoke into her cellphone in a corner of the store. She had obviously tried for the quietest place in the shop…or maybe the place with the most compassionate shoppers…who knows …but as she huddled in the quilting nook she wept… her desperation at not being able to get through to any of her family in Samoa so palpable…it took my breath away.

I turned away to allow her some privacy and when I returned there a few moments later she was gone. We can donate money at present and donate our time to making quilts which can provisde a warm hug.

When words are never enough, or too much, a quilt is a wonderfully therapeutic thing to have. But I would ask everyone to consider what they make…I like to make beautiful quilts and I see no reason why disaster quilts should be any different…lets not swamp these colourful communities with drab quilts which we have salvaged together from our rejects or leftovers. It is not that hard to get a scrap quilt going in a colour scheme which will actually enrich people’s lives…not just keep them warm and alive…. by celebrating the power of colour and art to heal. And all those prayers and positive thoughts stitched into the quilts help too, even if it is only we ourselves who benefit at the time.

Cherri of Cherry House Quilts is hosting a fabulous giveaway of Amy Shimler fabrics for Robert Kaufman which would be wonderful for this purpose…can you imagine the joy a child in those colourful communities would get from that fabric…and the family of that child?

The giveaway finishes on October 7th, Cherri and my birthday. Good luck!

Oh and its a challenge giveaway…I love those!

Japanese Tartan

Vintage shopping gods have again been good for me this week with some wonderful pure wool skirts from the seventies. I finally found the tartan skirt which I needed

thrift post for blog
for my upcycled handbag..the one in the Japanese craft magazine you may remember I found in Kinokiniya a few months ago?

Well now I am going to make it into a tote bag after I found the gorgeous suede handbag above this week. Can you believe it is also Japanese? It is by Tokio Yoshikawa. I can’t find out much about the brand but some of the bags are going on ebay for between ninety and four hundred dollars. The inside of this bag is delightful, its pure cotton and a little like a William Morris print in dark patterned beige/gold.

Earlier this week I found another stunning skirt

thrift find

which should also work well in a tote bag. The necklace set I bought [from a trader who was going out of business] for an unbelievable five dollars…could not make it for that price!

So this week I have really had a lot of fun vintage shopping and was able to donate a few large bags of clothes which are too big for me now so it was all good..as they say!

The  tartan skirt was eight dollars

The handbag was also eight dollars

The turquoise tweed skirt was five dollars!!

Nine Easy Pieces

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Had a lot of success with thrift shopping recently. I think I have enough now of the basics for my summer 2009 wardrobe. Here are my nine easy pieces, turquoise version, all thrifted!  Starting with Jendi handbag BNWOT which looks great with the Mysize skirt in linen with tulle and lace edging and the Basler Jacket from my suit…see below.

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This skirt by Elizabeth is silk and simply adorable …it also works with the Basler jacket

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here is the skirt without the jacket, am going to make some silk camis to wear with it.

linen for summer

Wonderful Marina Rinaldi knee length linen jacket and pants

Basler of Germany

the rest of my Basler of Germany silk and linen mix suit and lastly an artisan glass choker, simply gorgeous.

Can’t wait for summer!

Choker

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