Do you love to wander through charity shops?

 I love to explore charity shops wherever I am around Australia. Over the years I’ve found so many craft treasures like embroidery cottons, patterns, materials etc languishing on selves unwanted, unloved and I wonder about the story of how they got here. Bought and used? Bought as a new hobby and boredom set in? No time? Departed? Memories unwanted? I mostly use the material found and give the end result to friends. But for the past year or so, I started to give the end result..the finished item made from the finds, back to a charity shop for them to sell and raise funds for their charity. For me this is the perfect circle of giving. This is one of them: every item in this embroidered Peace sign including the hoop came from charity shops.

Japanese Sashiko Sampler: ‘Ori Zuru’ (Folded Crane) on Indigo linen

Japanese Sampler: 'Cumulus Clouds'

Amazing Op Shop (Charity Shop) find! Cottons still in its package, a birds nest mess of similar cotton and a 1/4 completed sampler ‘Cumulus Clouds’. I finished the sampler as best I could rather than the tedious process of unpicking. I think I’ll use make a cushion cover from it and re-gift it (donate it ) to the charity shop I bought ut from! The ultimate up cycling for a good cause!

Tea Tray Mat: Japanese Embroidery Sashiko Style: Snow Crystal Pattern

 'Snow Crystal' pattern on very fine 100% Lightweight cotton

Crocheted Scarves for the Homeless

I confess that I am not good at crocheting...only simple stitches and patterns! But I'm adding to my pile of scarves that will go to the homeless next winter! It's hard to think of a bad winter in Australia particularly now we are having some +40c days and bushfires again. But last winter we had some very cold nights & mornings...so these may help somebody keep a little bit warm!

Japanese Sashiko Dragon Cushion Cover for my husbands 70th birthday! He loves dragons!

 

Japanese Sashiko Embroidered Cushion Cover in grateful recognition for a friends assistance!

 

Sashiko Cushion Cover...for a little girls room!

 Japanese Sashiko Embroidered Cushion Cover

Panel for a Japanese Style Bed Cover Using Boro & Sashiko sewing techniques

This is the 2nd panel in an eight panel Boro style bed cover with Sashiko highlights. The bed cover is for a king size bed. Each Panel Size: 50cm x 150cm (20 in x 1.6 yards) Panel backing material: Medium weight linen. Materials Used: Scraps from my scrap box, Japanese materials from a lovely Japanese- Aussie lady who has a stall at most of the local markets around the far south coast of New South Wales, Australia, from my travels overseas, vintage kimono fabric pieces from Japanese retail outlets in Australia and Spotlight Australia for the linen and plain cotton pieces. Thread: All Japanese brands: Olympus & Daruma. Sampler Centrepiece: ‘Temari’.

Modern Hand Sewing: Wall Hanging Inspired by Klee

Heavily inspired by the Expressionist artist Paul Klee’s modern masterpiece ‘In the Desert’ and the Japanese sewing art of Sashiko and Boro, I’ve used scraps of fabric from my off-cuts box and mixture of Japanese threads and balls of colourful cotton I recently found in a local charity shop for this art piece. It can either be a wall hanging or table centre piece. I will sew in a discrete Velcro rod pocket at the back so it can be hung and taken off when used as a table centrepiece. Klee was inspired by his travels in Egypt and if you can imagine his view from on high down to segmented farmland made up of fields of produce in the sun.