Saturday 8 June 2019

Visible Mending Workshop

This morning our Simple Living Toowoomba group held a 'Visible Mending: Boro and Sashiko Inspired ' workshop which was presented by our co-ordinator, Margy.



So we all brought along our jeans etc. and after Margy explained to us how she had embroidered her jeans which are pictured above, we all started out to produce our own work of art. Unfortunately, the creative ideas weren't coming through in abundance this morning as far as I was concerned so after a tentative start on my jeans, I wandered around to take some photos of how the other ladies were going with theirs.



 Of course this is a process which will take some time so I have no doubt that once everyone gets home and has time to work on their fabric we will be receiving inspirational photos of the finished product.


Not everyone had learned how to sew at school or at home so Margy was a great help....

 

 ...as was Margaret who brought along her pot holder which she had made a while back showing some of the Sashiko stitches. The binding on her potholder is actually red so I am not sure what is going on with my old camera. Perhaps it is time to use the new one I bought some time ago but I hate change unfortunately and like to work with what I know how to use.


Firstly Margy glues on her scraps of fabric with fabric glue and then starts the stitching. There is a lot of information on the internet about how to do Sashiko stitching and one of our ladies brought along her new book....


 ...Mending Matters which I am pleased to say she has asked our local library to purchase. It is a fantastic book and full of good ideas. Another book I can recommend is the 'Alabama Stitch Book' by Natalie Chanin. I was very blessed to be given this book by an old friend. If you have a fantastic library like we do, you can ask them to purchase books that you recommend.

At our May workshop Margy brought along her Date and Banana Slice which was meant to be cooked as muffins but she just cooked it in a slice tray instead and it was very much appreciated. Lots of ladies wanted the recipe.  She has sent the recipe to all those who are on the group's mailing list but it hasn't gone up on the Simple Living Toowoomba blog as yet so I will add it here as I am sure Margy won't mind.

Date and Banana Slice

Ingredients
 
Wet Mix
 
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon honey
1 egg
1 1/2 cups of mashed bananas (3-4 med bananas)

Dry Mix
 
1 3/4 cups GF Self Raising Flour (can be normal flour)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup walnuts chopped 
1/2 cup dates chopped   

Method
 
Preheat oven 180 degrees.  Blend together the butter and honey and then mix in egg and banana.  Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  Place in a lined slice tin and bake for approx 20-25 mins.



The topic at our next workshop on the 13th July will be about mosiacs, leadlighting and copper foil. Jo will be presenting this workshop and I am certainly looking forward to the mosiac tips as I have lots of leftover tiles from our kitchen and bathroom renovations although some of them are going to be used when the builders come back to do the laundry I believe. I really hate the waste that happens during renovations and rescued some of the tiles from the rubbish pile.

I am writing this blog post on the old laptop so hopefully it will publish.  The new PC is sitting in a box beside me waiting to be set up. You can tell how excited I am about having to learn to use Windows 10 :-(


 Have a great weekend everyone!







14 comments:

  1. Chel, I really like this sashiko mending idea and will try to obtain these books. It could also be a great idea to cover up unremovable stains from some items of clothing. The recipe also looks delicious. I love a good slice, as you know. It is so nice to recieve your post as I haven't recieved any since November 2018, I thought you had gone into retirement. I wonder what has happened. I have some catching up to do. Cheers, Pauline

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    1. Nanna Chel11:09 pm, June 09, 2019
      Pauline, I wonder if it is a Blogger issue as a couple of times I have received a few month's worth of blog posts from a couple of bloggers all at the same time. It is quite odd and I didn't realise that was hapoening with my blog too. Thanks for letting me know. The comments have been a bit light on lately so I had to check the Stats to see if anyone was reading my blog and nothing seems to have changed there. I guess everyone is busy.

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  2. Oh Chel, your post reminded me that if I buy a new laptop it will come with Windows 10. Yikes!

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  3. Wow that puts a whole new perspective on mending! It is very creative and something I will keep in mind.

    Wish I lived closer, I would enjoy doing the things you show us here. And mosaics is something I want to learn too.

    xTania

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    1. Tania, I have been meaning to do some mosiac work on stepping stones for a few years now. I need something to get me motivated to actually do it.

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  4. Hi Chel, the pic of my "potholder" is quite true to colour on my tablet screen, so all good.
    I was planning to help out as usual, with the learner stitchers as needed but time just flew😊

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    1. Margaret, the binding looked orange on the old laptop screen but I was surprised when I looked on my iPad and the colour was red. The new PC is at least out of the box so I hope my son sets it up soon. He can have that joy. LOL! You were very busy yesterday doing other things :-)

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  5. Love all the patchy, stitchy mending, that would've been a great workshop to attend. My library just got Mending Matters in and I was first to read it......although I was naughty and spilt tea on it...... I'd seen it mentioned somewhere online and when I checked the library to see if they had it to my surprise they had it on order. It's a good read.

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    1. Nanette, I think I am fourth in line for the book at the library. I will try not to spill any tea on it when it is my turn ;-)

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  6. I love the mending. The trouble I have is that I am inspired but never capable of the arty results I see other people do of anything requiring creativity.

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    1. I can copy but don't really have too many original creative ideas. LOL!

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  7. This is one workshop, I wanted to attend. But didn't fancy the rest of the participants, would appreciate me sharing cold/flu germs, lol. I'll keep them at home! But as always, it was great to read about the workshop. Love Margy's and Margaret's work.

    Your Windows woes, is why I'm glad I made the shift to Linux, seven years ago. It's free software, but requires a patient learning curve. I understand it's not for everybody, but was surprised how intuitive it actually is. Making the shift, meant I wasn't stuck with expensive Macs, or monopolising Windows. I'm glad for that.

    If you have a laptop, that's dying, you could always experiment with installing Ubuntu on it - once you get your other PC, up and running. Ubuntu, is the Linux operating system, I use. If your laptop is for the e-waste bin anyway, you won't feel bad if you muck it up. Which can be solved with a reinstall anyway. But I completely understand if you'd much rather do crafts, than mess about with computers. I always believe in doing what you love, or inspires your curiosity. Life is too short for anything else.

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    1. Glad you are feeling better, Chris. Yes, I have heard of Linux and I think that is what my brother has. It is a bit too technical for my brain though but thanks for the info. I will just be happy to get everything set up and readable on my PC as I mainly use it for my blog. My iPad is used much more as it is so portable.

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