Rhonda Bracey: At Random

I saw this plea to find a stolen quilt in the CraftLovers.com newsletter. It seems the quilt was stolen from an exhibition in St Helens, Tasmania. Details below of who to contact etc. if you see it anywhere.

An Etsy user, kaleidoscopekcloset, made a really colourful Treasury that features a set of my pepper coasters. As usual, Treasuries only last a few days, so I grabbed a screen shot of it:

One of my grape leaf mats was featured in an Etsy Treasury of wine-related things — picture below:

A fellow West Australian Etsy crafter just featured one of my red watermelon luggage tags in her Australian Red Treasury (http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=107927), just in time for Australia Day (which is tomorrow, January 26). Update: Then I was featured in another one a few hours later (http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=107908).

Because Treasuries disappear after only a few days, here are the pictures:

My friend Michelle, officially opened her new quilt store in Midland, Western Australia yesterday! The store is called ‘Handcrafters House’ and it’s just down from the Centrepoint Shopping Centre and the railway station, almost opposite the Junction Ice Creamery (everyone knows where that is!!).

She had the store in another part of Midland, but it was not easy to find and was pretty cramped inside. Her new store is about three times bigger, and has two workshop spaces for classes.

I was lucky enough to visit the day before she officially opened, and the store is amazing. Everything is so well laid out, and there’s no more bumping past people as you negotiate the aisles.

Congratulations Michelle. You and your team have done a magnificent job. May every success come your way!

Part of Handcrafter's House -- Michelle's new shop

I can never remember which sewing machine needle size I need for which task. So I decided to find out and publish it here so that I always have it!

I found this nugget of information amongst lots of information about sewing machine needles and how they work  here: http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/3751/machine-needle-know-how

Here’s what Lydia Morgan, the author of the article, has to say:

When selecting a needle for regular sewing, start with needle size. European needles range in size from 60 to 120, which refers to the diameter taken on the shaft right above the eye. American needles are sized from 8 to 19 in an arbitrary numbering system, and paired with corresponding European sizes: for example, 60/8 or 70/10; the larger the number, the larger the needle.

Determine needle size by fabric weight. Choose a size 60/8 needle for lightweight fabrics similar to georgette or organdy; a 70/10 or 80/12 needle for medium-weight jersey, Lycra, linen, or calf leather; a 90/14 and 100/16 for heavy fabrics like jeans, vinyl, upholstery or canvas; and 110/18 or 120/19 for very heavy fabrics. After choosing needle size, match the needle point to your fabric. The needle type and name is usually determined by the characteristics of the needle’s point.

Now it makes sense! Especially that 90/14 stuff.

See also:

• http://sewing.about.com/od/sewingmachineindex/ig/Sewing-Machine-Needles/Needle-Sizes.–94.htm
• http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/finding_the_right_needle_size_in_the_haystack_pt1/
• http://www.quiltbus.com/machine-needle.htm

(from Threads Magazine; click to go to article)

This time, the Treasury focus is on our red hot Western Australian Christmas, and some of the many West Australians on Etsy. My Solid Rock in Springtime fabric art piece is featured:

I found some GORGEOUS fabrics at The Apple Patch in Donnybrook the other day, and just had to make some of them up into goodies for my Etsy store.

The William Morris fabric was a single fat quarter and it all got used in a journal cover — there’s only a tiny bit left, so I might make a bookmark or luggage tag out of it. I also purchased half a metre of the Australiana fabric, which made 4 journal covers, 4 bookmarks and 4 luggage tags with just a scrap left over. And I already had some of the blue Aboriginal-style fabric, so as I was on a roll, I made a couple of journal covers and a luggage tag with it.

Here are the latest goodies:

I made quite a few things prior to last weekend’s craft show, none of which I put into my Etsy store — there was no point paying Etsy’s listing fee and taking photos, writing descriptions etc. if the item sold at the craft fair!

It’s been pretty hot outside today, so I took the opportunity to stay indoors, take and upload photos, write up descriptions, etc. for all those extra goodies I made over the past few weeks.

Here are the journal covers and plate mats (large coasters for the table) I added today. I really enjoyed creating the ‘Channelling Piet Mondrian‘ journal cover and love how it turned out, but it took FOREVER! It had been in the making in my head for a while, but the actual execution took about 8 hours…)

(Regular and perceptive readers of this blog may recognise a few of those ‘plate mats’ — they were left over leaves from my dragonfly quilt and left over blocks from my South of the Border quilt! I fused them to the stiff interfacing I use, then free motion stitched them with various threads, fused fabric to the back and finished them off with a tight satin stitch around the edge.)