Author: Raelene A

Raelene is co-Head Honcha of this page. She's the hands-on creative partner and also doesn't add sugar to her cuppa tea. She's slightly less sweet but just as quirky and snarky as her co-conspirator. She's been sewing since her grandmother taught her when she was around 4 years old. Sewing on grandmother's treadle up until her parents and grandparent's gifted her a sewing machine at aged 12. The rest is history.
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She Came in Like a Wrecking Ball…..

2020 saw it’s fair share of challenges, something we thought we would and could handle, and for the most part Australia was no different. We began with a great deal of our country suffering crippling drought and monster wildfires which devastated homes and wildlife habitats, including the wildlife themselves. From there we had been exposed to the Pandemic – taking hold of the population by fear, and losing some of our most vulnerable members of our society. Tragedy followed, and so far 2021 hasn’t been much different. While some places are still in drought, we also had some massive floods and now a large rural disaster is unfolding in the shape of a mouse plague. Life here, whilst hard, breeds tough, resilient and tenacious people.

Aussies pick themselves up, dust off the dirt, put our big girl undies on, and deal with whatever life throws our way, so when others are finding it tough, we always get stuck in and help out, give as much of ourselves as we can, even if it’s our very last resources.

As Covid-19 ravages the world over, wiping the earth with an insidiousness, Aussies stopped. We lost a lot of jobs, but faith in ourselves and our abilities grew as we paused. We worked to help keep ourselves and others the world over safer.

While my job was considered “essential”, I remained working as well as making masks for my fellow workmates, and a beautiful nurse friend of mine in the USA, where they were only allowed ONE paper mask per week! To fight off a pandemic, only having access to LIMITED PPE to help keep THEM safe, was just absolutely plain LUDICROUS! Whilst my country paused, theirs continued to forge ahead, not worrying about the devastating loss it would encounter along the way. So, I got stuck in here, and belted out 55 masks in a weekend and posted those off to my friend for herself and her work mates – and then followed again with another 26. By this time, she was set, and so was her family and all her co-workers. Then Imade them for myself and my family and all those I held dear, and then for MY work colleagues and their families. A few of us at work were making them.

With all these masks, came a ton of tiny scraps. So.. what to do with those? Well, into a ziplock bag they went because most were approx 2” wide. Scrappy for sure, but what do you do with those?

On my stash busting mission, I decided to use an old register receipt roll I was given, and began sewing all those little scraps to it – making one V E R Y long strip. I cut 1 metre strips of paper and then sewed all the scraps together. After almost emptying the bag of scraps, I then cut another strip of white to add to the cross section edge of my paper strip, leaving the paper intact so as to keep the fabric from stretching out of place. Now comes the fun bit. 🙂

Paper piano keys sewn to white homespun strips, paper removed afterward.

Once the strip was joined, I began pulling out the papers. Laying this flat on my cutting board, I took my 60° ruler and began cutting wedge shaped pieces. I was going to create a hexagon of colour with either a white centre, or with a small coloured hexagon, and a lot of white surrounding it.

Measuring wedge shapes with a 60° ruler.
Wedge shapes cut from assembled strips of white and coloured piano key paper strips.

Having the pieces cut, I continued until I had enough for my quilt top. I then began to assemble the “wedge” pieces to make half a hexie shape. These later on, will be put together with some single white wedge shaped pieces of fabric.

One fun thing I had to keep in my mind a LOT when I began sewing was to be very careful NOT to stretch the fabric. Being cut on a bias made that naughty stretch entirely possible, even though I didn’t want it to happen. However, I managed it quite well – so far so good. 🙂

Half Hexie with coloured outside
Half Hexie with white outside, and small coloured inner hexagon.

Sewing these together in a strip with a white triangle, made for the easiest assemblage of the pieces. And so, I repeated this and added my borders and voila.. a finished quilt top. I love this top so much, and have called it “Group Hugs in Isolation”. It was a reminder of all those people that I have helped to keep safe, some I knew, others I didn’t.

Strip piecing.
Strip pieces joined.

The charity of helping others is what we should strive for in our daily doings and beings. It’s a “pay it forward” opportunity, or a feel good moment. Like carrying someone’s groceries to their car when they’re struggling or checking on elderly neighbours. All the things you can help with during a pandemic that make life tolerable. That small amount of human touch to one another without actually coming into close contact. Sending messages and pictures of love and hope to another who is far away, or just smiling at someone walking towards you. Gifting without rewards, donating to charities that help others and getting the vaccination against Covid to protect yourself AND your communities.

Almost finished, just needs borders.


So, 2020 AND 2021 came in like a wrecking ball, but we don’t have to allow it to destroy our sense of belonging or closeness. We just have to be mindful, thoughtful, and build our relationships on totally new levels.

~ Rails.

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Ebb and Flow

The past few weeks, have been completely crazy. With the lead up to Christmas being generally chaotic in retail, my personal life has been equally filled with pressing engagements – Christmas shopping, projects to finish, and a surprise family visit.

My brother, in between mining jobs, went traveling. He works, then travels, then comes home and works again. Only this time, he got caught overseas, and couldn’t find his way home due to locked borders, and no flights and an invisible foe! This foe, (aka Covid~19) has turned the whole world upon its head, and made life crazy for a lot of people. For us in Australia, it has been testing, but nowhere near as hard as some others have had it. (My sincere condolences for those of you who have lost loved ones, my strength to all of you, to keep carrying on in spite of the virus). But, returning to my brother, he was stuck landlocked, in a small country between Vietnam and Thailand. Laos was to become his new home for 7 months.

Prior to his journey, I gave him a few of my creations to photograph in different places around Australia, not knowing he was going to jump on a jet, and head OS! But off he went – flung through the air in a tin can! The first I knew he was overseas, is when he sent me a pic of the two Faeries I sent on adventures!

Fern
Jasper

After 7 months abroad, he came home, Faeries in tow, and I met up with him again this week, gladdened by his being home, and being safe.

We toured the local National Park and had a walk along the beaches and rocks, and it gave me another idea, as often creative people get inspirations from the environment around them.

With a rostered day off, I decided to get making a Christmas card photograph, and began by crafting a tiny driftwood Christmas tree. Inspiration from the waves, I added a few tiny seashells I had, as decorations on my little tree. All set, I grabbed my big camera, my Faerie Mermaid, and the tiny tree. Donning my Akubra Hat (Aussie brand of fine pelt iconic hats) I made my way to the beach!

I hopped out of the car to note it was rather windy, and I stood assessing the beach, and all its occupants, and the place I wanted to photograph – out of the wind – was occupied by several families. Opting for the windier unoccupied end of the beach, I watched the waves come up the sand and where they finished, and where the best place to set up my scene for my photograph happened to be. Decisions made, I made my way onto the beach, as a gust of wind flipped my hat off my head, which tumbled its way along the sand, flipping this way and that, as I giggled madly chasing it.

A thought occurred to me, that it might just be too windy, but being the persistent type, I grabbed the hat, stuffed it under my arm, and began setting up my scenery. Poking wires down into the sand to anchor my lightweight props, my scene set, I laid out a towel to prevent the sand from entering my camera. Here is where the fun began, the setting of a perfect scene, the photographs that would eventually become my cards for friends and family. I was in my element..

I lay down on my stomach, set up the shot and set the macro lens to automatic. As it focused on the Mermaid, I was just about to complete the shot, when the camera refocused.. this time, on the approaching wave! Yes, I had a split second to raise the camera and my body up, just in time to get drenched by the incoming wave! Floundering about like a sea lion in the ocean, I saved that camera from the Ebb of the Ocean! Mother Nature was trying to tell me with the prior flipping of my hat, that today was probably NOT a good day for playing with her!

Looking about, I noticed my Mermaid had returned unceremoniously to the waves, and my tree had completely disappeared! I couldn’t find it anywhere! The towel I was lying on was a balled up mess of sand and fabric, and I was becoming more a part of the beach with every movement, collecting sand like jewels both all over my clothes and within them. I was beginning to feel like a bad sandpaper commercial, with the abrasive grit between my skin and my clothes!

Bedecked in silicon glitter, I pulled myself up, checked the camera over to make sure it survived, and began looking in the returning waves for my Mermaid. Plucking her sand covered body from the water, I gave her a quick rinse. BUGGER! Her hair saturated, her soft skin drenched and dark, I flicked her about to rid her of the sand and almost called defeat. Picking up the drowned rag I found a tiny darkened Xmas tree, missing a few ‘decorations’ that the ocean claimed back, I thought.. no.. I shall not give up!

Resetting my scene a little further towards the plant matter and not the wet stuff, I started all over again. I was already drenched and covered in sand, I again lay face down and repositioned the camera and cracked off a few photographs. Watching carefully, making sure I was indeed, out of reach of the Oceans cold, watery fingertips.

As I sit here and giggle about it now, as I did on the day, wondering if anyone had witnessed the spectacle of the beached sea lion floundering about in the persistent waves, it brings me to think about the year that was 2020. The hardships, the unseen foes, the enduring spirit we all have inside us, and the golden glittery opportunities we all have, if only we choose to see them. The humility we feel at something more powerful than ourselves.. LIFE! The ever present force that keeps us moving forward, in the face of great adversity. The positivity, creativity, and above all, LOVE! The love we share with ourselves, others, and for the memories, the places we go, and the world around us. No matter where you all are, if you read to the end of this paragraph or not, I wish for you all, to find peace, happiness, and love at the close of a difficult and tumultuous year. ‘ Merry’ Christmas to you all! ~ Rails.

Merry Mermaid

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It’s beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!

You either love it or loathe it. Some people go all out in joyous celebration and others focus inwardly on the year that was, and on family and faith. For me, it usually is a time of increased stress, wanting to please everyone and having a difficult time not getting disappointed. I never felt at ease with Christmas as an adult, until I was a single parent, and while I am no longer single, I find myself once again with feelings of dread as the holiday season approaches. Will I miss someone? Will I not have enough time between working to finish the projects for the day, and then – there’s the dreaded spending of approximately 6 hours traveling to various family gatherings. Leaving home as most people are sitting down to open gifts and eating breakfast, and not returning again until well after the sun has set. By then, most people are settling in for the evening and relaxing, but for me it’s a full 1.5 hour journey back home, unpacking the car, and meandering inside to greet the dog, and feed her and make sure she’s all sorted before falling into bed and then using Boxing Day (ed: for non-europeans/British, Boxing day is the day after Christmas) to recover. THEN it’s back to work the following day! It’s definitely stressful, and I’m sure I wouldn’t be alone in the shared stress of the day. However, the pre-holiday crafting is the fun part for me.

My son recently visited his grandparents and came home with a boot full of loot! Treasure that us crafty people appreciate the most! Things that my Mum, in the winter years of her life, no longer wanted, and passed them along to me. Part of this heart warming treasure, were some Nancy Halvorsen’s Art to Heart books.

As I perused the pages, flipped through instructions, and devoured the beautiful photographs, my little mind went for a stroll by itself and came up with what else I could do with one of her designs. I wanted to showcase my hand dyed fabrics! A little spark ignited to a bush fire of epic proportions within my mind. I was GOING to make a small Christmas wall hanging! Never have I done something like it before, so – here we go!

Choosing the Snowman from Nancy Halvorsen’s ‘The Night Before Christmas’ book, I set about constructing him onto Teflon type cooking paper, so I could line him up perfectly, before adding him to the backing fabric. Once this was done, I put him in place and ironed him down, and stitched him on by hand. Small stitches in blending colours using embroidery cottons was the way to go. There really is something soothing about stabbing fabric over and over, and making something of beauty at the end.

After completion of the snowman, I freehand drew a whimsical tree, made it into a pattern and then set about dyeing the fabric needed. I wanted the rolling, soft shapes that I can achieve with ice, and so I went to work, using various shades of greens, and made sure I left a few places without colour, to create the negative spaces, which became my ‘snow’ on my tree.

Once again, I used my Teflon baking paper, assembled the pattern pieces cut from my fabric and made the tree, offering the compositional piece movement, as we know that snowmen don’t move… not while you look at them anyway. ;). Having hand stitched this down, it came time to sandwich it together. I used the outline of my tree and the snowman to cut the shapes out of batting, and used spray adhesive to attach them to the reverse side, allowing it to line up inside the stitching on the back, then cut a larger piece of batting and spray basted the whole front to this and applied to the back fabric. My piece was ready to quilt!

I basted the outside edges together to prevent the sides from separating, and then simply stitched using machine, around both the tree, and the snowman. Having the extra batting behind both images made them ‘pop’ up from the fabric, giving them a little bit of life and movement. I criss-crossed along the bottom of the quilt with wavy lines and created the ‘ground’, and then came the idea to create swirling snow. I have never, in my 50+ years of life, seen snow fall!!! So I began by using a blue water soluble marker, drew lines of slow long scrolls. Julie was very encouraging that I COULD hand quilt, as it’s something I’ve never done before, and well, quite frankly was terrified of! But.. grabbing the cotton reel by the short and curlies, I got to threading that tiny needle, watched a YouTube tutorial, and began! Quite frankly.. after I had finished them all, I was HOOKED! (I even added another swirl just because!) And then I was finished! Binding completed, I then stood back and looked at what needed to be done.

Life is not complete without some form of Bling! And there is no better bling than Swarovski! I love it, and so for every curling swirl, I added a bead for the snowflake. Glass beads for the berries of the holly, and a wooden snowflake with Swarovski for the top of the tree, but it definitely still didn’t look ‘grounded’. I had a bit of loosely woven craft silk, so I pulled and shredded this, and lay a small piece of tulle across it, and laid it on the ground beneath the snowman and the tree.

So now he’s done and I will have to find another project to work on. Luckily I never run out of ideas. However, it would help if I could just shut the gate on my wondering mind for a moment, while I pinned one down! What holiday projects are you working on? Are you running out of time? It’s beginning to look a lot like…. Christmas!

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Dyeing is a Slow Process

“Morning has spoken…”

It’s 6:00am, and the birds outside are singing in a new day. Clouds from the drizzly day of yesterday are clearing, allowing slivers of the sun to peek through. Although Aussie seasons are mild here on the east coast, it’s still cool in the morning The chilly winds, they never stop me from dreaming of ice – lots of it – not snow, as it doesn’t snow this close to the coastline, but ICE! Big chunks like you’d float in a glass in the heat of summer.

Most of my life I have dabbled in art, having received my very first set of oil paints from my grandparents as a very young girl. I love nature, and in another life, am a fully qualified florist. I have a natural ability to ‘wing it’ and come out with great ideas and compositions. So when I look at nature, I see that there are no two colours the same. Mother Nature, with all her fury, also gently surprises us at every turn with colour combinations fit to burst the soul with delight and the heart with joy! With gay abandon she paints the air, the sea, and the lands with all the spectrum of light refracted and then blows us away with hues, tints, tones, shapes and textures. From a subtle leaf blowing in the breeze, jittering at the end of a knobby branch, to the delicate capillaries within the petals of your favourite flowers. Nature really is a miraculous source of inspiration.

Disclosure, I am relatively new to the quilting world, but my Mother and my dear friend Julie introduced me to this craft, and have encouraged me to expand my creativity and get on board. Knowing the amount of fabric I have collected over the years, I seem to have accepted the challenge of ‘Those with the most fabrics upon death, wins!’ I’m trying.. really I am! But I’ve always been horrified at the idea of cutting into beautiful fabric for making quilts, and yet, never had the same aversion when I made clothes from equally lovely fabric for my children and myself, and now, my granddaughter.

So, as I stumbled through the idea of paying large sums for a small piece of fabric, I have discovered that ice and dyes are another art form that allows me to create. It keeps my artistic side happy, and allows fellow quilters access to unique, one of a kind pieces that they can cut up… and I won’t have to apply scissors to beauty (*editor: yes she will, I’m going to challenge her with a purchased panel and her one-of-a-kind fabrics)!

Ice atop a piece of damp fabric, and delicately sprinkled with dyes, makes for a wonderfully serendipitous outcome but it can also go horribly wrong when colours you hope will look sensational together, in fact, split into their base compositions, mingle together and look downright awful. But, these fabrics also have a place, and nothing really is bin-worthy. It just requires a fresh set of eyes and an art quilt instead!

Ice, Ice Baby!

Some of the fabric pieces I have created have been just for fun and experimentation, and others have been a deliberate manipulation of colours, blending and fracturing the pigments using the ice dye method. I have seen first hand that dyeing with snow and larger chunks of ice, makes no real noticeable difference in the end product. What Variations occur, comes down to type of fabrics, and the actual dyes themselves. But either way, I’m in love with the journey my Mum and beloved friend Julie, have led me down. I like this garden path, and I think I would like to stay here on it, treading softly over the cracks of chartreuse weeds poking up in between, and the edges of sweet peas, daffodils, and bluebells.. and of sweet William of my grandmothers day. Dyeing of fabrics lends to wonderful shapes, textures, and hues, tints and tones! All the things Mother Nature is showing us, every day. And if the result isn’t what I like.. I can over dye, or paint, or apply textures, or cut it into shapes for a part of an art quilt. So.. dyeing is not final.. it’s just the very beginning!
~ Rails

* (editor of this piece is Julie)