Australian Homespun — February 2018

Butterfly

22

Backstitch the antennae with

two strands of Ultra Dark

Beaver Grey (844).

23

On the upper wings, backstitch

veins in Light Seagreen (964).

24

The circles on each wing

tip are satin stitched: the

centre one is worked in Pale Yellow

(744) and the ones on the left and

right in Ultra Very Light Dusty

Rose (963).

25

Lightly dab the block with a

clean damp cloth to remove

the lines you drew in Step 18. Put

the block face down on a clean towel

and press it from the back to avoid

flattening the stitches.

Step photos courtesy of the Roxburghs.

SARAH

ROXBURGH

THE HISTORY

OF MY CRAFTING

I think I’ve always enjoyed doing

something creative. My favourite

subjects at school from a very young

age were art and sport. Rachel and

I were surrounded by creative people

from both sides of our family. On Mum’s

side, our grandfather was an amazing

painter; our grandmother could knit

and sew; and our mother did pottery,

weaving and quilting when we were

young. On Dad’s side, our aunty is

unbelievably creative – she can do

anything and has been such a source

of inspiration. I have very early

memories of a cupboard where my

grandmother had her creative supplies.

I loved going in there to find fabric,

wool, threads and my favourite – her

button tin. It was like a candy store

of goodies. The first thing that I

remember her making for Rachel and

me was a yellow hexagon quilt for each

of our beds. I loved them and wish that

we still had them. When I was young,

I remember that Mum enrolled me in

some creative classes in the holidays.

I made Christmas decorations and a

quilted vest. I loved wearing that vest,

and it was probably the first time that

I learnt how to use a sewing machine.

Like Rachel, I also made a few cross-

stitches when we were young, but she

was much better than me at that. Mum

is super creative. She has always had a

million things going at once. We are very

similar to her in the sense that we have

tried a lot of diff erent crafts and don’t

stick to any one thing. She is a very

good embroiderer and is very inspired

by vintage and Japanese textiles, which

has rubbed off on Rachel and myself.

At school, I loved Home Economics (as it

was called back then). I remember doing

the same as Rachel and making a pair

of boxer shorts. I wanted to continue on

with this subject into Year 9 but spaces

were limited and I didn’t get picked.

I think that I would have loved to do it

for the HSC, but it wasn’t to be. I did

continue with Visual Arts and ended up

doing 3-Unit Art, completing two major

works for the HSC.

| I dabbled in creative things

constantly from my youth. I learnt to

sew at a young age.

| When my nephews were born, it gave

me a reason to make things with and

for them. One summer, they wanted to

learn how to use the sewing machine,

so we made fabric fish with button eyes.

We took the boys to a fabric shop and

let them pick out some fabrics. I drew

up a simple pattern, and we ended up

making dozens of fish, hanging on

strings, as if they were freshly caught.

| We always made creative things for

the holidays, like Easter bonnets and

Christmas decorations.

| I have painted placemats for the kids

and painted a table and chairs for my

son when he was a baby. It was covered

in robots, and he loved it.

| We have done ceramic painting

classes and tile painting classes, and

I have several wall plaques that are

painted tiles.

| Once my son and Rachel’s daughter

were born, we really got into crafting

for the kids. Even both our kids are

really creative. I made Rachel’s daughter

a Christmas stocking that was very

wonky, but she still uses it today.

| When Rachel moved to Italy, we used

to send each other emails with pictures

of things we’d made. We discovered the

wonderful world of blogs and, in 2008,

I set up a blog so we could share our

pictures instead of emailing. That’s

how Roxy Creations first came about.

A tip from me:

Use snap-lock bags to contain

your pattern pieces. Name each

bag with the block number. This

will keep you organised, with

everything in order.

Another tip from

me: Keep essential supplies

(fabric scissors, embroidery

scissors, un-picker, threads, pins,

needles, fabric markers, etc) in a

readily accessible container within

arm’s reach at all times.

BLOCK

OF THE

MONTH

34 Homespun

HSP1902_p026-034 BOM My Butterfly Patch PART1 PROJECT.indd 34 12/12/2017 11:41:11 AM