Display Ideas...perhaps

These were prepared for a talk I did last year at University of 3rd Age

I had forgotten about the tree I made up with a canvas board, bakers twine, scalloped paper, load of santa buttons & double sided tape 

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 The canvas painting boards as you can see

I get rather attached to them!

They are terrific if I have to travel & set up in an unknown space as well as in limited time... also when I pull down a display it all comes as it began.

prepared before setting off.

Because buttons & small stuff take forever to attach

 In this display

The advent calendar is made from another canvas board... kraft paper tags.. bakers twine ..number stamps...my buttons all in off white

and double sided tape !

Also I see the house stitched on the journal cover..bon bon with button.

Actually I have been meaning to tell you I found some fat sort of bon bon cardboard a few weeks ago & the closet I have got to experimenting with that is line fabric tied to the bob bon...but I gaze at it a lot & it would hold some of the small stithery designs in

the little booklet...just in case you are pondering where to put yet another santa face stitchery.

Pop your own little thing inside or a lovely few words on a strip of paper...

 

I am going to look at a  Market in the Square at Townhall Bendigo..

it is on today & tomorrow

AND I HAVE ALL BUT CAUGHT UP WITH MY ORDERS

Another decorating moment !

  The only moments are some fun to admire often as I pass this small table by...

I thought the donkey would enjoy it being here 

where I could admire it ..

The little trees were in a kitchen shop window for an excellent price..

They do look prettier in the real life..

I will use them in styling photos..& if I happen to do any displays out next year..

SIMPLY VINTAGE MAGAZINE ARRIVED

SIMPLY VINTAGE Volume 9

arrived in the post yesterday



Marg Low using my button designs

look really gorgeous.

So thrilled... to be again in Simply Vintage

 

The magazine has many gorgeous projects

& as I said in a recent post

it is also now published in English.

 

Order on line...

I have yet to see this part of the Quiltmania magazines on sale in newsstands in Australia

Maybe it will be now it has an English  version.

It's the magazine with a very happy cover !

When A Bird Sings

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Copyright Barbara Smith

The booklet reprint has arrived 

from the printers

and 

the last of the pre order booklets are being posted today !

The new cover colour I like in a muted grey.

The collage are some of the samples Jenny made up from the stitchery designs in the booklet.

There are more than just Christmas in the booklet..

birds...bunnies..cats of course.

Home sweet home..flowers & things.

Over my Christmas break I so want to work on the next little booklet & finalise Millie's stitcheries to go to booklet form.

***

I love it when I have space to create & play again...

Things sit in the holding pattern for a while at times..

I have some birds & leaves...santas...& ???

They are on sheets of paper ready to clean them for the machinist...

I do them when I wait for appointments or when I meet friends for a lunch somewhere..

It's my "free time"

I need to return to the paintbox now...my break is over......ohhhhh

  

Cats

I needed to remake this design pattern of 2004 last night

A project that had come to my attention..

So these puss cats came in linen & linen/cotton mix

 They were not keen to be left lolling about... so I leaned them against the now barren Christmas tree

 Just another style of fabric for one of these..

The smaller size was sewn inside the tracing line with about 1/4' seam allowance.

My habit was to design to sew on the tracing line..

So here we have some slim & some plumber cats

 These were  after their second release as French cats

The overlay pair went to the last quilt show I did in Melbourne and trunk shows around...& were in a couple of classes oh yes and a Gathering where these & a few birds were in the same pattern. Could say been around a bit & seems it is now spreading itself around... trip to the vet is needed..unneutered it would seem.  

 These are ones that Jenny in NZ did...when she was not stitching samples for me.

www.theodoracleave.com  copyright 2004

Big ANGELS !!!!

Angels have now been made into 12 cm decorations

like the big santa & snowmen ...

They do look rather stunning on a white tree branch..

 

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copyright Barbara Smith

 

I was in Melbourne for the weekend..

I needed to leave my work for one entire weekend

Lovely to catch up with friends.

&

Sunday I popped into the Quilt Trade Fair.

It is a small but lovely affair..

I was pleased to have that bear hug from Pete, Anni's husband.

Anni & Pete Downs are favourite people ..

for a few years we were neighbours at these shows..

Anni's new fabric is divine...

her new quilt is beautiful....

she was cutting that fine ..as I was reading her blog how she was stitching it together

and

There it was on the wall just in time..

It will be in the stores soon.

I wasn't there to buy as such but maybe ...

I love to watch the display of creativeness

See what fabrics are coming

See even there these days if I found a room FULL of linens ...I'd be hard pushed to pass that up or even leave the room.

but I observe

I love to see the Australians who have had their own fabric printed & made differently

A dress designer from Brisbane was also an interest..

Love that surprise find.

*****

Bit weary today...but I am sure myself & I will meet the paint brush shortly.

This picture below the small wood tree is rather sweet...not sure it is for decorating but a decoration in itself..no not my idea ( pity )

But I do love it's simplicity.

****

One more thing...

I hope the printer's have the booklet ready today..

It was being printed on Friday, however it needs cutting & stapling & folding of course they said today !!!

I have sold over half the run in pre orders..

so I need to bag for posting time !!!!!!!!      

as I wait for the paint to dry

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As I wait for the paint to dry & the post to arrive with my raw stock

&

wondering

how I will

paint all I have here...

 

It is so so lovely to hear positive praise ..

Well who isn't up for that ?

The words that follow just lit me up

 

 

 

One of my lovely customers sent me these gorgeous words in her email where lucky her is still holidaying in France.

 

"Dear Barb,

When we got back to Paris

 I was in time to go to their version of the Stitches and craft show

and

saw a beautiful display of your buttons

 and Marg Low's designs

on the Quiltmania stand.

How proud I was on your behalf.

You do Australia proud. "

*****

Marg & I are in Issue 9

of

 SIMPLY VINTAGE magazine...

by

 www.Quiltmania.com

the link is & on the left hand side is a tiny picture

the first words under that will take you to order..

20.80 Euro's to Australia

http://www.quiltmania.com/simply-vintage-magazine.html

 

On the front cover ( see top left in picture ) & the back cover

&

some pages in between.

There are my painted wood designs

in

Marg Low's Christmas designs !!!

 

 

Simply Vintage makes it's debut into English  translation as well as it's native French.

 

You will need to buy the magazine online as it isn't usually here in the newsagents ...

Get your shop to stock some...always a wonderful magazine

full of inspiring projects. 

and from another customer  a day or so ago

 

"There is no one else out there doing anything like you!!!!!!! And that's a pretty amazing thing to say. Your work is truly your own, and they are 'one of  a kind' designs."

 

I set out 18 years ago with a mission statement & some sort of ? belief

to have my designs ( then it was cloth dolls & later stitcheries)

to be known in their own identity.

It was easy to be influenced by much of the American designs we all adored & I still see most of my favourite people are around...

I still cringe when I think of my first catalogue in black & white hand drawings..

on the cover.

It was all I had and was affordable

But over & over I have been grateful not to ever try & be someone else in my work.

It is me...

So it's been a long enjoyable journey thus far..

always I risk...I land something at your feet...like a cat with some prize it has found..

how will I know anyone but me will love it ?  I don't I have something within that picks up a pencil & draws....

I talk most with my hands...

if someone is discussing a problem they have

I grab pencil & paper & draw it out in bubbles & words.

I used to do that when I was in internal auditor

I thought it was just from that job I was doing..

But it's part of the way I "listen"

Enjoy the celebration...

I must begin work

Bonjour.

Barb

 

 

Big Decorations

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copyright belongs to Barbara Smith 2013

Yesterday I finished painting a load of the BIG Christmas decorations for a quilt shop..

Thought I'll try them on a tree before I send them out !!!

So I did!

This tree I had recently purchased at Bed & Bath & it is a rather good tree for hand crafted wares.

These decorations are 12cm round...

I tried them on a white twig thing a recent purchase just for this sort of display.

&

My sparkly vintage tree got the treatment too

All looked terrific.

Yesterday I posted out a NEWSLETTER to all my folk on the list 

so they could see all the versions.

Back to painting some santas now

Stories are told in Linen mix cloth

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copyright belongs to Barbara Smith

Julie has finished stitching the little wreath button story 

which I think I will sew into a mini pillow.

The little stocking will be just that.

These 2 were stitched on a linen/cotton mix cream & look gorgeous.

The cats... they began life as here as felt cats...decorated in the country style as the Woodcutter's Daughter designs were about..

They were remade with spotty happy fabrics as French Cats..& I have spotted them strayed way off course at a show in another country..

 some old santas..that went in an ad in Homespun I think a long while ago

And 

I did have a bundle of big ornaments ..

but it didn't come over to the collage place...

So back to painting when the sun shifts a fraction..so bright i cannot see!

J

Santas

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copyright Barbara Smith

I am well into Christmas mode....

These are my santa designs I made into patterns from 1996..

5th one in top row right to left and 4th one in bottom row right to left

were 2 of my very first designs

The bottom one was the first to be published  after a quilt  & craft show in Sydney

All these were pre 2000 designs...

Maybe I'll do another santa pattern ????

When A Bird Sings

www.theodoracleave.com

The little stitchery booklet is at the printers

having a reprint run this week !!!

The cover this time will be a soft grey

It is an A6 size of little stitchery designs to place on whatever...

a purse..needlecases... some Christmas things..

You could use the stitchery drawings for a quilt...

PREORDER SPeCIAL ON NOW UNTIL 21 NOV 2013

FOR $10 + POSTAGE...

( Australia $1.50 & International $2.50 & internationals less GST of $1.00  )

You will find the booklet on the website

www.theodoracleave.com under Things to Stitches

A Little Dash of Christmas Spirit

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A dash of Christmas Spirit..

some things now

some things past

copyright Barbara Smith

The Lights are Switched on

 

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The lights on the little tree are switched on..
Very sparkly in the real..
Decorating is a thing...
I just do bits at a time...

CHRISTMAS PLAYTIME

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copyright Barbara Smith 2013

When I took a break yesterday...

those white noodle boxes needed to be moved 

off the table..

I grabbed the twine 

& 

made them look like christmas had begun.

Santa from my 2001 ??/ Christmas book came out as well..

The berries I collect like a blackbird .. I bring them home to my nest

I unpack the wonderful strand of lights... that was successful..

Usually I wind stuff into a knot when I do the "unravelling"

The Berry strand with rusty bells & rusty stars too me back to my country decorating days..

and

my time spent working at Cinnamon Country in Melbourne

Berries & rusty stuff were the most brilliant decor items & still are & they fit with white..glitter..whatever..

The candle is my bit of bling..

The sparkles have slowly worked their way into my world ..

Even to the point of the larger Christmas Santa has had an experiment which I like..

I'll show him off soon !

My tree....

The round metal one is one of the few that travelled with me this time as does Rick's Christmas tree from USA...I need more of them..but they are so rare now.in Australia.  I think it is to do with quarantine laws.

This season the berry strand, the little lights & my bling candle comes from 

MON COEUR in Bendigo..

It is a fabulous time to visit the shop..

as the Christmas decos are up & are exotic as well as some more rustic things..

Maldon has a market & i am taking a good part of the day off to explore it is a home grown & hand made market... the type I began this journey in 1990 

So happy to see these markets come back...I love them !

Then I think Daylesford calls me ..

& maybe I should then meander back via Trentham & Kyneton... 

 look at the land the Cleave's first lived & farmed on in Australia...it calls me...that is my excuse for roaming about gathering inspiration & things for display

New Stories

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Copyright 2013 Barbara Smith

Some New BUTTON STORIES

are now on the web......these were completed yesterday..so fresh as....

This is a little snippet of them

 

The French rabbit in his small variety is in 2...

snowmen..deers and a little sampler...

YESTERDAY...

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Nicole my French friend surprised me with gifts that were lovingly made by her...

I have a divine Millie tag & key ring...

she was that sweet..Miss Millie

And.... look at the purse /bag...

exquisite linens..

my initials cross stitched..

Belle !!!

I was touched by France yesterday !

I felt very special to have these in my mail box.

 

My day with buying a hose did not happen...

I looked & looked & wished I had bought down the adapter thing..for the tap

As one thing you learn living in different states & towns...

all the taps have a personality of their own !

I did not buy anything..

to return home & find I needed to go find some adapter..

It would have disappointed me yesterday.

...these days this is harder to deal with

The rest of that story is for my book ( I have the paper, dividers... & am ready !) 

 

 I did not come home empty handed

I bought a lettuce garden !!!

 

The man who came to construct my new super desk & couple of shelf things

arrived promptly.

and

NOW

this room is transformed...

I have not had a proper desk since I my stuff was on the way to the beach & lots of things that were old broke in the truck crash..

&

I learnt to live without things...

I am still living without a chest of drawers.!

This room is no longer a cluttered look..

But needs working

which will happen after I finish painting buttons & decorations.

When I work I have to decide what has to wait for another moment..

I have learnt to not be able to do things..right now.

I cannot rush the painting..it is steady as I go...

I was thinking of that as I waited for these last pics to load and nipped off to clean my teeth..

It is part of my nature....I appear at times not to see what is going on around me..

but

I am acutely aware as I learnt to read a situation fairly quickly at an early age..

 I am watchful, analytical, & appear calm & ignorant on the surface..

all part of my heritage of an angry man..

But it is useful & it is somewhat hard wired..it is the way I approach the world...

So at times now I use that must do to think some more on what comes next as I paint with a that steady hand & keen eye !

So some time to consider what will fill the shelves I now have !!! will be good.

 Things to fill up !!!

 

A Few adjustments to Christmas

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copyright Barbara Smith  of Theodora Cleave 2013

 

 

When my work is busy busy & I am tied to the table for long long hours ...

My mind wanders & I wonder....

How can I make things as beautiful but simpler..

or

maybe I think I'll do this when it is quite...

And so I did both this time...

Asked for some modifications to the

EVERYDAY ANGEL 7cm Decoration

I had the froth & fluff design removed from the outer frame & now slim line like the latest designs..

I do like her in this way...

For the Deer Friends it has no trees ( maybe I'll add some or do a new design later )

and

The Big deer button has been sized into a frame...

Why didn't I think of this earlier ??????

I did some painting on them yesterday & have hung them out on a small tree

this morning.

I like the way they hang on the trees ...

They will go on the web later

( I have had a call & well friends do need to catch up..sometimes before breakfast..)

Because I was mucking around with decorations LOL

So I have shortened my day a bit...

Posting soon & then a man arrives to construct some flat pak furniture for my office this arvo...... so excited..!

I also have French Rabbit button...he is busy bouncing about in a button story scene with snowmen....he will be out later today or tonight...

and the resized shop thread keeper has been done ...

along with a big home sweet home with threads in mind.  I am going to send those to the suggestion maker for her input.

Totally lost track of it all here... so best go do these chores

&

buy a new hose... I sit in the bush... & grass is very tall right at the back fence

& as it is crown land no one is responsible..NO ONE it seems.

 

Scissor tree sample on red...

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 copyright Barbara Smith of Theodora Cleave 2013

 

Julie has done a wonderful stitched version of the Scissor Tree Button Story

on the Red French General fabric 

Update ... The French Rabbit has arrived.....he'll be on the web soon. 

Also a big deer in a fine frame circle as is the everyday angel and deer friends..

.....just playing with colours ....

Oh yes there are some very sweet small button stories added last night to the web....

 

Pear tree Sample in flet

I was waiting for my physio today & managed to finish of the felt sample

of the

Pear Tree Button Story

 (I added an extra button because it was in the bag of stuff I took with me)

 

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reading from THEODORA'S BUTTON STORIES

www.theodoracleave.com   copyright B Smith do not copy thank you

 

A small peak...of what is on the www.theodoracleave.com in button stories

or

about to go on the web....

Some will be just bags of buttons to do the most simplest of layouts...

or

to swap about with the trees & buttons...

but

only some buttons fit or look nice..

I have done the trials.... 

So gather a button story from the web...

and the buttons that will go with this..

Take out your linen or linen mix fabric..calico...a mild print...( so you can see the stitching.. felt & dyed wool ...

make simple projects...

like gift bags, stockings, needleholders..adhere to mache boxes.. frame.

 

****

I have a frame I found last week at Daylesford for a really great price under $20

and it has a blue distressed frame.

I think the pear tree with the tweeny blue bird will fit perfectly into this frame

I want to try this sample in a linen style fabric...

I have pulled out a muddy brown with gorgeous weave ...

just the green shade of thread for the stem will be the challenge...

then

I also want to use some blue wool felt

I found when I visited Mrs Martin's Quilt shop recently

That will I think look  stunning with the tree & pears & tweeny blue bird..

 

****

The scissor tree...

I think a linen..

or

maybe the red I found at Lil Blokes yesterday from the French general range..

.plain & thicker cotton but soft...

Maybe do the tree story ..then take out those new found scallop scissor for a trim around

before placing it onto a bag...

A gift for sewing friend.?

 

&&&&&&&&

 

The stocking....

ummm what fabric ????

Oh maybe just the creamy white  linen/cotton mix

Add some red & green threads to the design...

sew on the bright buttons...

stitch up the stocking ..maybe use those scallop scissors & leave edges showing

Perhaps fossick in the huge jar of ric rac & ribbons...

to add to the top...

Then stitch...you could do this by hand in red thread & back stitch or running stitch..

or be quick & machine ..red cotton perhaps ?

These are simple & the layout for the stocking is in the packaging..

So make more !!!

Add different buttons...

Do a couple of mini scissors ..

&

a sewing machine..

 write an appropriate word..

****

there is one more new story on the web

that is a wreath

with the new robin button & the dinky star.

But I have run out of time....

maybe I will continue this later...in the next post

if it is not too boring for you all????

Barb xx

 

NEW BUTTON STORIES

www.theodoracleave.com

I have gathered the fabric, threads & some buttons & some hand dyed wool

ready for my sample stitcher

to

do the NEW Button stories.

These are on the web under button stories...

4..

2 trees

one with pears & a tweeny blue bird 

another with mini French scissors & heart..

These can also be interchanged...with tweeny buttons and the dinky stars fit as well.

There is a wreath with the latest robin bird & a dinky star

and

there is a gorgeous stocking with stitched wreath..holly & 2 red tweeny birds

These designs can also use other buttons in my collection

So use one design but have different button features & change colour of threads & fabrics & also think of felt or dyed wool..

possibilities

go to www.theodoracleave.com