Mega Churn Dash–almost there

I’m not quite finished, but several steps closer to the finish line with my mega churn dash duvet cover.  So that’s exciting.  Today I’ve added facings for the closure.  And – first time with this machine, (how many years have I owned it?)  worked out how to make button holes.  And here I am, stitching away merrily on the button band.

Yes, I can stitch buttonholes!

Mind you, this all came about after I carefully  read the instruction book, found the buttonhole sliding foot, and pressed the correct button on the machine.  I then carefully did a practise one on similar fabric to make sure I knew what I was doing!  And then, concentrating very hard while the machine cleverly sewed down one side and back the other, the button holes were born.  Phew!  Don’t know if my efforts would get a pass mark from the judges on The Great British Sewing Bee, but they are good enough for me!

How to stitch button holes

With that behind me, I then spent a very pleasant time sitting at the dining table with sunshine streaming in, sewing buttons on the button band.  I found just what I needed in the big jar of buttons.  Most of them coming from mother-in-law’s collection which I acquired after she had passed away.

Plenty of buttons here

That’s all I’m doing today, I’ve decided.  Tomorrow I’m going to add fabric panels to the sides and base of the duvet cover.  I think I know how to go about it.  As I’ve said before -  I’m making this up as I go along.

Buttons and buttonholes added, nearly there now

Art Deco Buttons

With just a week or so  to go till the exhibition ended, I finally made it down to the Hutt Valley to the Dowse Art Museum to view the Art Deco Button Exhibition.   Drawn from Ruth Meier’s  fabulous collection, this exhibition show cases some of her special Art Deco beauties.  Art Deco began in the Roaring Twenties,  through to the share market crash of 1929 and the financial depression of the 1930s.

The rather subdued lighting made it essential to get up close the the wall cabinets at see what was on show.  I preferred the floor cabinets with their different categories well set out.

English Glass buttons

French buttons

For dog lovers

Cheeky Silk Garter buttons

I have heard Ruth speak about her button collection previously, and she always happy for crafters to look through the cards and cards of buttons she brought along to illustrate her talk.  Most of the buttons were bought one at a time, painstakingly building up the collection over 40 years. However once she acquired 700 kilos of buttons in a single purchase, requiring Ruth and her husband to hire a truck and drive through Switzerland in a snowstorm to retrieve hundreds of buttons stored in old tea chests. Her collection started when she purchased a small Oxo tin filled with buttons at an antiques fair in Manchester. They intrigued her and from that moment, as she describes, “it was like a love affair and I couldn’t stop”.

Mother-in-Law's Button Bag

My MIL passed away late last year and the family have had several working bees in clearing out the house.  Once the furniture had gone to new owners, we had to deal with cupboards and wardrobes full of bits and pieces collected over the years.  Robin’s sister does not sew, and neither do the other daughter-in-laws, so I claimed the big black button bag.  How exciting – not only does it contain heaps of interesting buttons, but also lots of buckles too.  In fact, I’m wondering if it may have belonged to Robin’s granny at some stage, and maybe she passed it on to MIL.

Family button bag

The weather is certainly getting colder so I can’t help myself -  I’ve been cooking up more soup.   Today I made broccoli and cheese soup for lunch.  This is made in the microwave and whizzed up in the food processor.  Yummy, I love home made soup.

Broccoli and cheese soup for lunch

Spinning at Hunterville

Now that’s a sight you don’t see very often – a couple of ladies sitting at their spinning wheels on the footpath outside the shops.  They were spinning in the sunshine, chatting away together, while keeping an eye out for any customers who may want to purchase something from their respective shops.  And quite happy to chat to me, and let me take a photo or two.  Spinning always looks a very restful occupation, I think, although I have never given it a try.

Spinning in Hunterville

I had a look through the cooperative craft shop, full of lovely things, from quilts, to knitting and crotchet.  I was certainly impressed with this lovely quilt covered in old doilies, what a great way to display your family treasures.

Cushion with lots of lovely buttons

We made a couple of purchases, some local honey for the honey lover in the household, and I found some knitting cotton going at a bargain price.  Guess I’ll be knitting another cotton duster or two.  We tend to whizz by these small towns but they are always worth a stop to explore what is on offer, I feel, if we are not in too much of a hurry.  But I plan to stop and check this shop out again, next time we are in the area.

Purchases at the co-op craft shop

Button Lady at Pinestream Quilters Club Night

It was good to be back at my patchwork club’s monthly meeting, after travelling around the South Island for the last three months.  The hall was abuzz, as it usually is, with groups of members chatting, catching up with friends, checking out the club library, while waiting for the meeting to get underway. 

Our speaker for the evening was Ruth Meier, known as “The Button Lady”, who calls herself a passionate collector of buttons.  So passionate, in fact, that she admitted to buying a collection of 700kg of buttons while she was living in Zurich some years ago.  She related how she and her husband hired a truck and drove through a snow storm to load up the tea chests chock full of all those glorious buttons.  Ruth told of the history of buttons and had many interesting historical treasures to show, from portraits painted on ivory buttons, to the home industry of Dorset buttons made by winding thread around rings, to examples of shell, metal and glass buttons.  Victorian black glass mourning buttons were popular after the death of Prince Albert, and she showed us a selection of these.  There were both loose buttons and mixed bags for sale, and these seemed very popular with the ladies.

Buttons galore

Show and Tell is always a special part of the meeting, and as usual, there was a good variety of quilts on show. Sandy is very prolific and can be relied on to bring a finished quilt (or sometimes two) along to most meetings.  She related how she received a bag of donated hexagons, and completed this quilt which will be donated to the City Mission.

Hexagon quilt made by Sandy

This is a very special birthday quilt made by Faye in the Turning Twenty pattern for her husband’s birthday.  Her hubby is skilled at making violins, and Faye sourced many violin and musical fabrics for this quilt.

Musical themed birthday quilt

Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get the maker’s name for this quilt, but it was made for a friend coping with a health issue, we were told.

 A special quilt for a friend 

It wasn’t all quilts on show, and I was rather taken with the little knitted dolly that Maria brought along to show us.  I’ve heard several others say they want to make one too.

Cute knitted dolly

After the formal part of the evening, we had supper, (loved that apricot slice) and the opportunity to get a close look at the quilts on display.  It was a very enjoyable evening, and nice to catch up with others after so long away.  

Fabulous Fabrications

What is Fabrications?  Fabrications is Wellington's first event focussed on textile arts of every kind, a day event for everyone who loves to play with textiles.  The idea came from a group of ladies from Capital Quilters, Lower Hutt, who realised that quilters are interested in all sorts of textiles and techniques.  So the idea of Fabrications came about, a fun day of 30 vendors, raffles, a quilt display, and a cafe.  I went along to see what it was all about.  This big event needed a lot of space, and covered both the Horticultural Hall and Town Hall.  (These halls were very much part of my social calendar in my teenage years.  During my High School years I attended the local Youth Club on Sunday afternoons, rock’n’rolling the afternoon away in my full skirted dresses held out with my stiff petticoats.  And when I started work I enjoyed many Saturday night dances here.  Those were the days!)  I arrived early, paid my $5 entry fee, and bought some raffle tickets.  How great it would be to win one of these big baskets full of goodies.

   Raffle baskets

The hall was buzzing with vendors selling all sorts of things, fabric, wool, books, buttons and beads.  Several quilt shops had stalls with their own unique style of fabric and notions.  Here’s Yvonne from one of my local shops Sawmillers Quiltery, giving me a cheery smile.

Yvonne from Sawmillers Quiltery

The Wellington Quilters Guild had a stand and I stopped to talk to Sharon who was busy with some of her friends stitching small blocks.  The aim was to sew enough blocks to make up into a charity quilt.  What a good idea, and it shows non quilters just what is involved in cutting and stitching a quilt block.

Happy in their work

The Wellington Embroiders Guild had a stand close by and I came across Kim working on a lovely piece of silk ribbon embroidery stitched on teal blue fabric.  The ladies on this stand told me that their group make and donate Christmas Stockings to the Neonatal Unit in Wellington Hospital each year for all the little babies.  They also make quite a range of items for the hospital shop to sell to raise funds.

Kim and her silk ribbon embroidery

Hand made lace speaks to me of the timelessness of an age old craft, and the romance and beauty of this most wonderful of trims.  I love the look of lace and spent some time watching the Faultline Lacemakers working their magic. One lady was working on Milanese lace, and another on Tonder lace.  It’s quite easy they assured me, you just follow the pattern, as they deftly moved their lace bobbins around.

   Making Tonder (Danish) lace

Hand made lace pieces on display

Crafters love buttons, and Ruth Meier, known as the Button Lady, had lots of old and interesting buttons on display.  Ruth has worked selling buttons all her life, and is extremely knowledgeable about this simple little item.   I noticed military buttons on sale, plastic, bone, and all the colours and styles imaginable, and nice little mixed bags on offer at a very reasonable price.  Definitely something for everyone. 

Buttons galore

After looking at all the stalls, and admiring the quilts on display (photos of these next time), it was time to rest my weary feet and relax in the cafe corner.  I joined my fellow Pinestream Quilter members Joyce and Gaye at a table and contentedly consumed my coffee and cake in good company.  Thanks to Jane from the Kapiti Coast Quilt Guild for happily agreeing to take our photo.

Enjoying morning tea with Faye and Joyce

I had a lovely time at Fabrications and have my fingers crossed to win one of those wonderful raffle baskets.  The organisers did a great job and are to be congratulated.  Here’s hoping this turns out to be a regular event.

Barbara’s Button Collection

I knew Barbara loves buttons, but didn’t realise she had such a wonderful collection.  Her buttons are artistically displayed on the dresser in interesting shaped glass containers, all nicely arranged in their colour groups.   Green ones, red and pink, black and blue, there must have been thousands of them.  Button lovers would be green with envy with this collection.

Barbara’s button collection

I loved the little glass car filled with large coloured buttons.  What a wonderful idea.

Cute little button filled car

Barbara has also used buttons very effectively on her hand knitted cushion covers.  Don’t they look great!

Button decorated cushions

Her interest doesn’t stop at buttons, Barbara has a wonderful collection of fancy handbags too.  (I could have easily taken home a couple of the navy beaded bags while she wasn’t looking).  Green is her favourite colour and she showed off this amazing bag.  Yes, that is a heel you can see on the edge.  So……..is it a hand-bag or a shoe-bag, I wonder?

How about this for a bag?