Random.

I love the word. I love what it means, and I love how we use it in everyday language.

I like to think that my life is a mix of random and planned acts. That I have some semblance of control but that I am also at the mercy of whim and fate, destiny and luck.

I have a few friends who bounce through life happy to go along for the ride. They have plans for their lives – but they are vague notions for the future. Personally, I think that was okay 5-7 years ago but as we are all heading towards our late 20s and the big 3-0 maybe some plans would be a good idea.

I plan. A lot. I write frantic lists of things to do everyday because I am always forgetting things. Even if it’s a little thing like my phone or my camera charger. I’m good on big things but it’s the little things that make life easier that I forget on a regular basis. I am getting better at remembering mainly because I am more organised and much more disciplined than I was as a teenager.

Hence why I plan quilts, but also allow the randomness to play its part.

I don’t like to force a design. For me that means following someone’s rules (fabric choice or patterns), but at the same time I like to be guided by something (fabric choice or pattern). My custom quilts are that wire balancing act between me as a designer and what the customer wants.

When you come in to talk to me about a custom quilt there are a few things I need to know –

a) colour – much easier if you have a sample of what you want rather than try to describe it to me

b) size – this means I can work backwards from the finished quilt size and tailor my design into the measurements.

c) the no’s – this is anything you don’t want in the quilt – be it a particular colour or shape, something that may have certain bad memories, that kind of thing

d) budget – there is no point in me designing a specific quilt for you if you can’t afford it.

e) timeframe – this gives me a deadline, whether it be the birth of a baby, a change in season or the arrival of a long lost friend from overseas. I need to know dates. I have to juggle the design time, sourcing materials, cutting, piecing, quilting, basting etc and make sure it is possible. If you can give me 6-8 weeks that is preferable. I add two weeks to the birth of a baby as they have a bad habit of arriving early so 10 weeks prior to the due date (unless its a small quilt less than lap quilt size then the normal time is fine). 🙂

If you are interested in purchasing a custom made quilt I am opening up the ordering time from now until mid-April. I wish to have all orders finished by the first week in May with anything ordered by the end of March finished by the end of May. No custom orders will be taken and done in the months of May and June – unless they aren’t needed until the end of August onwards.

Each order is different – there are no standard prices as it does depend on the fabrics chosen.

Roughly prices for the quilt tops, backing wadding, thread and my time are:

Cot quilts – $100 – $150

Play mats – $150 – $200

Lap quilts – $200 – $280

Single – $250 -$300

Double – $300 -$400

No Queen or King size made at this stage.

Quilting –

Cot $35

Playmat $65

Lap $85

Single $105

Double $135

Queen $165

If you supply some of the fabric this will lessen the cost – but all fabric must be washed, ironed and 100%cotton.

I know this sounds like a lot of rules to make something but believe me it makes the whole process run more smoothly. And more enjoyable for us both. 🙂

For any custom orders please ring (02) 4325 2638, email frankensteinsfabrics@hotmail.com or come and visit me in store.

Night.

Marni

I’ve been reading a lot of blogs and following many people on Facebook who have been participating in challenges of various kinds.

There is the photo a day for a month, weekly themed blog posts and postal challenges run by bloggers from all over the world.

This challenge movement is fascinating to watch. The volume of participants, the interpretations of the themes and the consistency that people accomplish.

Most of us wouldn’t stick out something that went for a month – for example exercise. I for one am readily willing to admit I cannot stick to exercise or diets. I hate the rules of both. They feel restrictive and claustrophobic. But for some reason these ‘creative’ challenges are appealing to the masses and we all follow suit – and stick to it.

The photograph a day is an interesting one – people get a list of the month’s themes and each day take a photo of that theme and upload it to Facebook or Tumblr or wherever they are displaying their images. I am fascinated by the concept of the photo challenge as it appeals to the instantaneous nature of the world we love in. Everything is quick, we want it now and we tell everyone about it as soon as it happens via our choice of social media. Watching a couple of FB friends in this challenge I am struck by the differences in their interpretations of the daily themes. All at various stages in their lives, all creative women in their own right.

Today’s theme was red. A dramatic, strong, rich colour. I waited to see what these ladies took photos of. A stunning array of red glass, the last flowers on a bottlebrush.

I think if this photo challenge continues I will take it up next month. I find photography a very truthful medium. Capturing things you don’t see with your eyes or your heart.

But in the meantime I think I will set a challenge myself. I was thinking of things that would give a set – like numbers 1-10 or the alphabet. I wanted it to be creative – so was thinking of a challenge where we had to make things. Something small that had the numbers in it – like a necklace with one really amazing focal bead, and matching pair of earrings for two etc… A small quilt with four pieces. A bag with three pockets.

I need to nut it out a bit more but if anyone would like to join me just send me an email.

I’m off to be early tonight (first night this week!) as I am off to the show in the morning. I have a 2 hour train ride from Gosford to Rosehill and need to get up early…. 🙁 not exactly a morning person….

Marni

So here we are at the end (almost) of February. Has 2012 been what you expected thus far?

Mine has and hasn’t, if you know what I mean.

I have been much busier than I was predicting but not in the way I thought I would be busy if I was busy…. (you might have to read that sentence twice, my brain had to think it thrice)

I went into the shop with the aim of selling quilting supplies to quilters. Fairly straightforward, you might say. But since the store opened over 4 months ago it has been mixed custom. I have the quilters coming in and buying supplies, or buying fabrics to do other crafts/hobbies but I have also had custom quilt orders.

Not exactly something I expected. I thought about it and hoped that if an order did come along I’d be in a position to fill said order. But I hadn’t counted on exactly how many orders….

Since we opened there has been 3 custom quilts, 1 custom kit, 2 off the rack quilt purchases, 2 UFO orders from before the shop (that have been WIPs as they were somewhat more technical than the others), plus roughly a dozen commissions from the magazines for various things (toys, quilts, cushions, jewellery, runners, fascinators etc)

Everyone says to me – ‘it’s good to be busy right?’ and you know what? It is! It’s the best thing EVER. Because not only am I getting to do the one thing I love day in, day out but because people are ordering custom made quilts from me I can do all the designs that have been percolating in my head for years. I hate to be idle. It drives me MENTAL. Even when I’m sick I’m doing something. Anything to not be languishing.

I was reading a book the other day called Necroscope by Brian Lumley (WARNING: The covers of the books are not pretty). It’s a horror/sci-fi/mystery intrigue kind of book. The protagonist, Harry Keogh is the necroscope – this means he can talk to the dead. Not talk as in ‘feel’ their presence or receive messages from the other side but talk to them as if they were sitting across the table from him… Anyways… the thing that struck me about this story was where Harry is explaining the dead to someone saying “what they did in life they continue to do in death”. In my head I went wow – I can keep quilting when I’m gone, ghostly sewing machine and rotary cutter….but then that part of my brain that tells me when I’m being dumb piped up and went ‘pffft as if’.

Maybe I’ll just haunt a patchwork shop when I’m gone… 🙂

So back to the custom orders…

Below is the custom order that was picked up last weekend. It is a single bed quilt for a 4 year old girl. It’s stipple quilted in baby pink and is backed in pink with white spots. The binding is a multi-coloured stripe. (Apologies for the dodgy photo – I was in a hurry and dad isn’t tall enough, hence the missing top border LOL)

And here it is all wrapped up with the matching pillowcase made from the leftover fabrics…

Anyhoo…

I’m off to go through my notes for tomorrow’s appliqué class.

Marni

Ok. I know. I have been terribly slack this month and not written many posts.

But in my defense I have been distracted by something very cool. (and also by something very boring but I won’t talk about grown-up paperwork, curse you BAS!)

This is what I’ve been mesmerised by ….

See what I mean? 🙂

So far I have quilted (since Tuesday morning)

– 1 x customer order (single bed size) and put the binding on.

– 2 x flannel play mats for the market on Sunday. Click here for market details.

– 1 x table runner (a UFO that has sat in a box for 4 years!)

– 1 x pastel baby cot quilt (will be for sale at market if I get the binding on in time)

And in between all of this quilting I have served customers, answered the phone, Facebooked (that’s a thing right?) pieced more customer orders and tried unsuccessfully to do paperwork (yuck).

As soon as I’ve had plenty more practice I will be offering a quilting service – I need to nut out the details but it will be fairly straightforward.

So… it’s now Friday night and I’m knackered but still have a busy few days ahead of me. But as tiring as this all sounds I am excited and can’t stop!

The Handmade Craft Market is finally at it’s new home on Sunday – I cannot wait to see all the new stallholders, catch up with the regulars and see what exciting hints we’ve all been doing since the last market (November last year – seems like years ago). I am also very very eager to see what our stallholder challenge has produced. There were 14 or 15 of us (I’ve lost count) and we each had a bundle of fabric from Frankenstein’s to use to make an item(s) to be donated to a charity raffle for Walk for Zoe. Some of you may remember that terrible news story in 2009 when Brodie Donegan was hit by a car driven by a drug affected driver on Christmas day. Brodie was 32 weeks pregnant with daughter Zoe. Zoe didn’t survive the accident but her mother’s determination that no other parent should go through anything like this has become the driving force behind her fundraising efforts for Miracle Babies.

After the market on Sunday I don my other hat and get the next beading magazine ready for design. This issue has a line up of amazing projects (I am biased though – I am the Editor :)). A lot of people ask me how I run a full-time business and contract for a magazine – well the mag is not a full-time job, so it’s not a case of juggling two full-time jobs. As the editor I source projects, organise paperwork, sort out what needs photography, more paperwork, editing of instructions and writing articles. I find the work I do for beading to be my unwind time from my unwinding sewing time. (I’m so unwound right now…) I have always liked writing so now I get a balance of writing and sewing.

Part of the reason why I made the move from the magazines to my dream of the shop was because I wanted to change my life around. Things didn’t feel quite right, don’t get me wrong things were good, but I had a niggle in the back of my mind that something needed to change. One day driving around with dad, he went to see his friend Chappy at the scrap metal yard and we went to the back gate of the scrap yard driving past a row of industrial warehouse units. The second one had a FOR LEASE sign on it. While dad was talking to Chappy I went and had a sticky beak… as I peered inside my brain immediately went off like New Year’s fireworks and everything fell into place. So I investigated what I had to do, who I had to speak to and what papers I had to sign and the rest is history.

So now 4 months down the track I run the shop, edit the magazine, attend local markets and sew to my heart’s content.

Also next week heralds the start of classes – I am teaching a basic appliqué class on Saturday the 25th of February. There are still spaces left in the class if you would like to book in. $30 for the class, it includes a kit (apron, vliesofix, stitch-n-tear). All you need to bring is – your machine, pencil, paper, scraps of fabric and threads to match. Any questions or to make a booking ring (02) 4325 2638.

I’ll have more classes up shortly so keep an eye on the tab. I’ll be adding some dates to previous classes as well.

I can’t promise I’ll be more dutiful with these posts – February seems to be getting away from me…

Night.

Marni

Today has been an interesting one.

Firstly I had an exciting little chat with Melissa from Handmade Craft Market. We are planning something for the February market. Keep your eyes peeled for more details. I would reveal it now but it would spoil the surprise – but I can assure you it is going to be fabulous and crafty of course. 🙂

We then had an unexpected visit from Doug who is a rep for XLN fabrics – and I tell you he had some beautiful fabric samples. Most won’t be available for a while as they are just new to him and XLN but when they are ready… I nearly fell off my chair I was so excited and my poor brain went into overdrive with designs and ideas. Even dad was looking at some fabrics for some upholstery jobs.

Then Hans from Nolting popped in for a visit. I’ve known Hans for a few years now – he really knows his products and is always happy to help by sharing his experience. We had a good long chat and let’s just say there are some shiny things heading Frankenstein’s way…soon. 😀

It was a bit quiet this afternoon so dad measured up the classroom cupboards so he can put all the doors on (to hide all my messy storage!) and I designed a couple of cushion/toys for Patchwork & Stitching Magazine.

Tomorrow is a new day with more stitching!

I have been a busy little sew and sew today.

Stitching the quilt for the kits that are coming. Sneak peek below.

Isobel’s quilt is finished.

I’ve been cutting out a quilt for another customer order.

I’ve also been making a … strange cushion. It was a request for electric orange and gold. So I’ve gone a little art deco for this one. It’s not quite ready to be seen so I won’t put any photos up just yet. 🙂

I am also in the process of making a single bed quilt for a little girl. It is a fresh and bright quilt with owls and little umbrellas. Pictures to come.

The shop is picking up quite nicely. I am talking to more teachers to get different types of classes up and running so keep an eye on the Classes tab for updates. If anyone is looking for one-on-one classes please don’t hesitate to ask. I am happy to teach you in this way if it makes you more comfortable. Classes are available for children as well (all students must be 15 years or older, no exceptions).

If anyone is interested in some quick jewellery making lessons – I am taking names and numbers. If there are any other types of classes that you are interested in please let me know – I have ‘interest’ forms for classes – scrapbooking, embroidery, basic sewing, dressmaking etc

Anyways,

Am off to do more paperwork!

Marni