beating flies with your fabric stash

Sometimes others who share the same house as you have to admit that a stash of fabric can be very handy!


And much prettier than your average fly screen.

[Posted with iBlogger from my husbands ipod ssssh!]

hello spring

I know I promised hexagon's but I haven't managed any photo's yet, as once again I have succumbed to another infection - throat this time - no talking?  lucky I can still type!! so here is a little bit of the activity spring has brought.

A finished tote and crochet holdall for the back to school swap.  The swap also included a journal and photo album.  Once again I used my version of the tote from the simple gifts to stitch book - and I lined it. - so much better.

The crochet holdall was  based on an idea from this book.  

ISBN 978-4+415-30004-7

(Ok, a few more japanese craft books seem to have snuck into the house...)

I also added lining to the aunty cookie tote's.

 

doesn't that look better?! the one on the left is now on its way to a new home.

Miss L had a friend over to play so I fashioned the trampoline into a cubby.  This kept them out of my hair amused for hours.  Which meant I could get busy on my quilt for the Four Seasons Swap.  Here is a sneak peak at the fabric's I'm using.  

This is a very new colour way for me, and I'm quite enjoying it.

Meanwhile, I'll still be hexagoning, chevroning, sewing, dreaming, reading, oh wait it's school holidays - there goes all my free time - hmph!

Sorry this post is so short, but if you leave a comment you'll go into the draw for this month's giveaway - the prize will be announced with the winner. (mysterious!!) You have until Monday.

a pattern review of sorts

I have a back log of posts to share, so instead of swamping you with information I have resolved to keep it to single bite-sized reading. I'm nice like that :)

I recently purchased 'simple gifts to stitch by Jocelyn Worrall'. I had seen it reviewed somewhere but for the life of me can't remember which blog it was (if I find it, I'll let you know). You may remember that I used this book recently to make my own version of the Accordion Wallet. I was impressed with how easy this came to gather, so decided to try another pattern. Next up the Tri Pocket Ticking Tote, which is featured on the front cover. As I'm trying to be a little more efficient in my craftiness I cut out two bags - one in oil cloth and one in some cool fabric from aunty cookie and that nifty measuring tape fabric. Once again the instructions were extremely easy to follow, and the bag itself was whipped up in a 1/2 hour.
Ta da, Miss L's new ballet bag.

This oilcloth was much easier to sew with than the version I used for the accordion wallet. I bought it ages ago at one of those craft fairs, and I haven't been able to find it any where else. The only issue I had with the finished bag, is it is quite deep which I didn't think would be ideal for a knitting bag. Thinking cap on (doesn't happen often) I decided that instead I would cut each of my pre-cut fabrics for the second bag in half (even the handles) and make two from one. Thrifty!!

So, here is the Aunty Cookie knitting bag, which got some very positive feed back at the market. It is a great size for carrying around a project or two and some bits and bobs.

The down side - I don't like the unfinished look inside - so I have decided to line the inside of both knitting bags. It doesn't bother me so much with the oilcloth version (?!) but it really bugs me every time I open it and see all those nasty seams.

Final results - a biga - two from two for this book.
Details
Pattern: Tri Pocket Ticking Tote
Bag One Fabric: Polka dot oilcloth
Bag Two Fabric: Aunty Cookie Knit One(now available) and American Jane Building Blocks Measure Dark (available here)


P.s. Reprodepot have the book on sale.

and, and, and, and...

and then we....and also.... this is what this post is going to be like, rambly, shambly, all over the place. bit like myself at the moment! So, I warn you now there will be no linking of one random piece to another, because really I have several things to show and tell and no intelligent or witty way to present them, so you are stuck with this! (It is also because I have started this a few times and had no luck so now you just get the quick and dirty version).

My new dish cloth (starting with the elegant!). Purchased from my favourite soap shop, which is very frenchesque.
The artist is swedish illustrator Lotta Glave Why aren't more dish cloth's this pretty? Has my brain ticking over about the possibilities of printing designs on to the wettex, but not sure how to get them waterproof - any suggestions? And you should see some of the other beautiful things Lotta has designed - I would like one of these please. (my birthday is only a few weeks away - hint, hint!)

Anyway, next I found this fantastic photo taken by Miss L, when I was downloading the latest photo's.

It is of our grape vine which covers the next door neighbour's wall, and presents a stunning wall of green in summer and spring, beautiful reds and yellows in autumn, and bareness in winter. But this photo has made me look at it differently, for its own beauty.

And, I think I mentioned Mum being here, finishing wip's for me (three cheers for Mum). So, Miss L, myself and Mum headed up to Wangaratta during the week to check out the Stitched Up Festival. It's about a 3 hour drive from Melbourne, so we decided to stay a couple of nights, so we could also check out the surrounding area. Although the festival itself was small and quaint, it was nice to visit. I would however, recommend visiting the Bendigo Sheep and Wool show rather than trouping up to Wangaratta - but that is just my opinion. We browsed for a while, then sat by the fire and added a few rows to their scarf knitting challenge. I would love to show you pictures, but photos were not allowed. Shame. If you do find yourself in this part of Victoria though, there were also a couple of good fabric/yarn shops which helped to add some new goodies to my stash.
Also, at the festival Miss L and I paid $2 each for a lucky dip. I got a little paper bag of brightly coloured fabric, and Miss L scored a little bag of green hued wool. She was so excited about all the knitting she could now do, now she had her own wool, that I was coerced into buying some children's knitting needles. Below is a photo of her progress. Not bad for a 5 year old.
She has since pronounced that "now I can knit" and has shown no further interest in adding any more stitches. oh well! As it is still school holidays I guess there are just far too many other things to be doing.

And school holidays is still my excuse for not finishing much lately, but starting several new things, running out of time on some due dates like the Doll Quilt and really just enjoying the complete haphazardness of our days. I have managed to add a few new scrap bundles to the shop - vintage japanese silk and some hand dyed yarn from Marta's, but everything else is on a FWE timeline (finish when ever!). I have'nt forgotten about this month's giveaway either, and am currently assessing my craft books - the give away pile isn't nearly as high as I had hoped! Oh well.

Show and Tell = Giveaways

Friday turned into the mother of all spring cleans for my crafting stuff. At 3am I finally called it a night to get up Saturday and continue on the rest of the house. The car boot is now full of packages for the local op shop, fabrics and papers but aside for friends and best of all three yes 3 bundles of fabric to giveaway. Well now that I have your interest I must warn you that this post will contain gratuitous photo's before you get to the how to win some fabric part. Of course you could cheat and just skip to the end, but then you will miss out on all the stuff my spring cleaning turned up for Show and Tell! And you wouldn't want to miss that - would you?!

Firstly a selection of just some of the fabrics that have come through my door of late.

-The gorgeous green japanesy print I bought from pyglet and she threw in the other green fabric and patch. Spoilt.
-The scraps are all from Patchwork on Central for only 50c each! I so love a scrap box. Why don't more fabric shops have these? Edited: Sorry should have been clear that I got the scraps from the store- not from the website - sorry.
- A selection of fabrics i just had to have from Cia's Palette. (please excuse the bad spelling above.)
- And finally an even larger selection of things, including some great oilcloth from Sew Mama Sew.
There was also a small parcel from purl with some of this and one of these - but shh it was only small!!


I have also had some wonderful finds while thrifting lately.

-Gorgeous old children's patterns, including little ballerina outfits - I am moving that one up the to do list as we speak.
-A pattern making book complete with stencils for drawing pattern curves - for all that pattern making I do - NOT!
-A vintage Rowan knitting pattern book, and a lovely little book of crazy knitting projects.
-But finally my new pride and joy, is this beautiful vintage, electric sewing machine that I bought for only $20. It is in perfect working order, came with its original toolkit and instruction booklet, and carry case. It is perfect for Miss L to use as it only sews straight stitch (backwards and forwards), and is so heavy it won't move from under her. Even R admitted it was quite lovely to look at. I am a very, very happy camper!!


And despite all the fabric buying and op shop hunting that has been going on, I have managed a few crafting bits and pieces.

-Bibs for some newborn babies that have just joined us.
-A ballet bag for a friend of Miss L
-More doll quilts coming along....

But finally, we come to the part that will really interest you....

I have three bundles of fabric (and a few little surprises) to give away. I have bundled them into this month's Project Spectrum colours (more on that in another post) Yellow, Green and Pink. All you need to do is leave a comment saying hello, and telling me which colour bundle you would prefer. For all those shyer readers, now is the time to dip your toe and leave a comment. Family members are allowed to enter but will not receive any preference - ha! And I will post to anywhere - so get commenting.

I will draw the three winners sometime on Wednesday night, so stay tuned to see if you won.

sensory delights

The last few days have been full of pleasures for both Miss L and myself. On Thursday Miss I from Miss L's class came to play and we made cupcakes - well I baked them and the girls had a wonderful time eating the icing decorating them!

On Friday I spent the morning visiting some of my favourite shops -
Artisan books to pick up some copies of Selvedge they were holding for me, Porter's Paints to get some sample pots to paint Miss L's bed (I think weshe has decided on Loralie in Duchess Satin), then, Aesop where the lovely Joshua massaged my hands and customised my beauty routine for me (bliss!), onto,
Zakkaya where I picked up some cute cards, a little bird and some lovely trim then a visit to
Kimono House (thanks to Bianca) where I signed up for the fabric club and also purchased some thread and a handbag kit. Phew! what a morning - so full of things I love. I also spotted the Mag Nation store but ran out of time (probably a good thing for the bank balance) but-must-go-back! All this shopping has meant that projects are dawdling along, and in fact the bathmat took a dive when Wally the dog knocked red wine all over it - grrr! All those hours of hand stitching. And why hand stitched? I'm not sure, I know it would be much quicker on the machine but I love the calming effect hand sewing has. Which I guess means it will be years before that bath mat ever gets finished. Oh well!

I did however, finish a little Cinderella for Miss E which I based on Claire Garland's vintage lady pattern from embroidered treasures (I didn't enlarge the pattern so Cinderalla will fit in a pocket).

And finally a wip for Master H which was 6 months over due got finished and delivered. Master H drew a picture of a squid which I turned into a softie for him. I think it was a success!

With all this activity I'm slightly extremely behind with housework so today is washing day - blah! But that too has hit a snag as I was folding some washing and realised what I need is a peg bag, so I'm just off to find the pattern....

embracing

I found this quote a while okay, but it occured to me yesterday that it fits right in with my word for this year - embrace. And I've been trying to do this every day. (not just with my book reading bonanza!) So, my word helped me to brave my nervousness about meeting 15 other bloggers last weekend. It is quite overwhelming to meet so many new people at once, especially when they all seem such capable, confident women - suddenly it's like I'm 13 again and having to meet my peers. Justine did such a wonderful job bringing us all together, and she was such a warm, welcoming face. I took a few pics, which you can see here. Admire that lovely, yummy spread, including champagne bubbles of course.

We recieved a hoard of lovely gifts, and you can see them all on Justine's site. Of course, being held in a fabric shop meant there also had to be some purchasing.

Really, as Leisl said to me, it is just all a bit overwhelming there is so much choice. She made the beautiful purse that I'm in love with, but so far can't use because I just like staring at it! And here are the other girls I met, Suse, Nichola, Bianca of yummy relish fame, Di, Alison, Nicole, KittyB, Sooz, Susannah, Jo, Kylie, and of course Shannon. I feel very lucky to have been included, and keep looking at all my gifts in awe - much better than Christmas!

So, with the blog meet over it was time to find something else to do while watching desperate housewives, brothers & sisters and dancing with the stars! not that i'm a tv addict or anything.
I started these patchwork stips last night, part of my embracing new things this year, but I'm not going to share just what the project is just yet. Maybe you can guess?