Frieda has left us

Frieda passed away on 29 June 2009. She was 92. She will be missed. I'll be working on a book of her work and stories - this was her wish. Waste Not, Want Not.

Greetings from Mum Down Under

Things are slowing down a bit in Sydney, but Mum is still crocheting. She is now going to a home where she'll be cared for round the clock and where she can participate in a craft group. She thanks you all for having followed here work and assures you that one day she will do her book on Waste Not, Want Not. Until then, keep creating!

Mum's latest creations from Sydney

Mum's been working hard and sent me some pix for the blog. These are the squares she'd been crocheting which are now assembled into a warm rug for the winter.

And here is the perfect garment for going to check the letterbox.

Patchwork silk

Years ago when Mum used to do dressmaking she'd make lots of wedding and evening dresses out of the finest of silks in all different colours. Even then she'd keep all the scraps. She's been going through some works in progress we'll finish one day - patchwork silk recto verso. They will make fine bedspreads like some she's already made and given away.

Keeping her feet warm

It's been a while since I've posted, but just to let you all know that Mum's keeping busy with material for the book. She's also keeping her feet warm with some non-handmade slippers that she might adapt.

Serendipity blanket

The serendipity blanket is halfway there, and Mum has done lots of new pieces for another in wool, which will be in darker tones.

Mum's WIP and two finished pieces

After Mum recovered from all the spinning, she went back to her work in progress. More crochet, but using all the odds and ends of wool she could find.



And here are two pieces that she finished in the meantime. We just have to cut off the superfluous threads for her. I tell her to slow down, but she just smiles and says that I'll need it all for her book.

Spinning with Arabella

Arabella came round this morning to watch Mum spin, so Mum got out some Alpaca fleece she'd brought from the farm on a visit to Tasmania last year. The first spinning wheel didn't want to play, so Mum had to get out her trusty Swiss spinning wheel. Arabella was very patient and then had a go herself. All went well even if the feet were forgotten between attempts at getting the bobbin working. But Arabella said she'd like to come back for another lesson.

Serendipity patchwork

You may have been wondering what happened to the box of crochet squares. Well, we tried to do something like a Babette blanket and the talented people in the Babette blanket group at Flickr gave us some wonderful tips. But Mum just had to do her own thing and so her blanket turned out not Babette, but serendipity patchwork. We've been assembling it, but it's not quite finished yet. It still needs a couple of crochet rows to contain it and slip stitch embroidery on all the seams. I get to do the fiddly bits, so wish me luck.

And best wishes for 2008!

Frieda's shop at Made It with Love

Mum has taken the plunge and is now selling some of her items at MadeIt. Here's her wool and silk scarf at Frieda's Craft. And here's a Flickr pic of the scarf with the tools she used. Gradually she'll be making a few more items available. One of them will be the crochet throw she finished on New Year's Day. Here it is.

Mum's dream

About 20 years ago, Mum published her first craft book which is now out of print. Her dream was to do another book, but she lost her sight six months ago. I set up this blog for her and she is amazed at the reception of it and thanks you all for having come by and for your good words in response to the blog and her pix at Flickr. But she still regrets not being able to do a book, something she can hold in her hands and give to her Pink Ladies.

So I contacted a couple of publishers in Australia, and although they said that her work was unique and that the concept was interesting, they were unable to follow up. One problem, I think, is the pic intensivity of her book, and the other is probably that she is unknown.

So I've been thinking about collating these blog entries and adding more material, including material from her first book, and exploring the self-publishing area to showcase a wonderful life of craft, and to make Mum's dream come true.

So this is the long term project we have in mind. If anyone has any tips and advice, or any comments at all on this, we'd appreciate it. It will show us how to go forward.
Onwards!

Pouf in progress

Here's something else Mum is working on. She's using strips of plastic bags and yarn. It will be a pouf, open at one end and then tied with a cord so I can store the duvet in summer. I'll just have to turn it over and sit on the flat bit which is starting to grow.

New squares on the old

Before Mum lost her sight she was working on a lovely crochet rug, but it wasn't quite finished and needed more squares.

She's been crocheting a fair bit over the last months and has made a lot of new squares which will be added to the rug so that it looks like this and more.

Pastel crochet blanket

But that's not all. She was doing this on the side and is finalising it today.

A cardboard box full

I'm just back in Sydney with Mum and asked her what she'd been doing. "Look," she said and emptied a cardboard box onto the table. "Now you have to help me sew it all together, Babette-ish."

A shoebox full of squares and the bottle bag subverted

Mum tells me she already has a shoebox full of squares of all sizes and it's overflowing. Onwards! We'll be putting them together to make a blanket in December.

And the bottle bag has found a home in Vienna and now holds the knives and spatulas of an artist friend, Sharon Ratheiser.

Babette blanket project

Mum has started work on the Babette blanket project. (I have yet to find out who Babette is/was.) She's sorted her yarn into acrylics and wool. Most of the acrylics were in pastels so that's what she's trying first as it's easier for her to crochet. She's also using a sort of granny square stitch because it's easier for her to feel her way around the holes. As she can't see the colours, I'll help her assemble the blanket when she has enough squares. She's really grateful to the people in the Babette blanket group at Flickr for their inspiration and advice.

Indoor roofing or it's all in the genes

Last night Mum was telling me about how her mother used to make cord working trousers for the men in the family. She had the first pair made by a tailor and then copied the pattern to make the rest. When the trousers began to wear out after all the work in the fields she'd cut them up into tile-shaped pieces and sew them together. Mum's brother used to say she was making the indoor roofing again as the pattern looked like the tiles on the roof of the house. She used her "indoor roofing" as a protection for the top and the back of the couch and sofa. Just another "waste not, want not" story, Mum calls it.

Knitting muscles

Things have been going a bit slowly for Mum lately, but she has been trying out new things. One is a knitting machine that makes tubes and flat pieces. We're only at the tube stage at the moment. It's a bit tricky casting on, but once that's done you just have to turn the handle. So Mum's collected all her bits of wool that have the same thickness and off she's gone. She can't do it too long, though, as the constant turning of the handle makes your arm tired and the biceps hurt a bit. It's a sort of knitting "body building" machine even though it is all in plastic. The idea she's got is to make long sausages that can be stuffed with leftovers and used as cushions to put in the small of your back. You can also make scarves. Sometimes the machine drops stitches, but you can usually catch them. Here's a pic of the magic machine and some work in progress. Reviews of the knitting machine are mixed, but it's fun and makes for a bit of a change.

Mum's magic teas

When friends come by to spin with Mum or just to see how she's doing, she often pops off into the back garden and comes back with a handful of different leaves and sprigs: rosemary, bay leaf, mint and sage. She'll chop everything up into small pieces, put it into a teapot and pour on boiling water. The she'll leave it to draw for several minutes and then serve au natural. Sometimes she'll grate some fresh ginger into her magic brew.

Another tea she serves is a mixture of lemon balm and freshly grated ginger.