Something old....

Most stitchers (and quilters, and crafty people in general) I know have what we fondly refer to as WIPs, or works-in-progress.

It seems to come with the territory. We get all inspired, and start some new and exciting project, and somewhere between that glorious start and an even more glorious finish, our interest wanes. Or we get sidetracked with life. Or (shock horror) some even newer and more exciting project comes along and we abandon the original project....cough cough.

I may have talked about this before? LOL...I am somewhat of an expert on the subject, actually ;)

I've recently rediscovered a WIP that has me...well...motivated!  It dates back to when I was a young Mum, all excited to stitch her precious first born baby his very own wool-embroidered blanket.

And excited I was. The minute I spied the photo in my hot-off-the-press copy of Inspirations magazine (Issue Number 18) I mail ordered the kit...long before the days of computers and online shopping!

 When it arrived, I stitched a little bit of the design, and that's about where it ended. I hated the way the ends of the stitching shadowed through the doctors flannel. I didn't like the wool that came with the kit, and even went so far as to source some different wool.  Life got busy, and the kit got placed firmly in my too hard...ooops, I mean WIP... basket. Until recently...when I started to feel like stitching something a bit more challenging than the backstitch/blanket stitch that I've been doing such a lot of lately.

 So I pulled it out, unpulled all the stitches, backed the doctors flannel with some fusible web, and started stitching once more....until I ran out of wool.

Funnily enough, the wool I had substituted had been discontinued several years ago, but an extensive online search had me on the trail!

As of today, I am back in business, and happy to be making lots more of those yummy colonial knots...woohoooooo! The dye lot is a bit different to my original wool, but I figure that sheep are usually a bit multi-coloured anyway  :)

And that precious first born baby?

Well, the blanket may just cover up to his knees on a chilly Winters night! And his face in the photo is, coincidentally, an accurate portrayal of his face when I told him I was embroidering a Woolly Sheep blanket for him...LOL!

Happy Friday!

TTFN xxx

Farmers Wife - The Hovering Edition

Did you notice something a little different about the title of my Farmers Wife post today?

That's right...it's no longer Farmers Wife Friday :(  

Unfortunately, I now have to go to work on Fridays...bleh...so rather than ditch Farmers Wife altogether, I've decided to make it on Tuesdays, without the catchy post title. Does that work for you?

The "hovering" bit refers to the name of the blocks I've made today...Number 51, Hovering Birds...

...which ended up with no floral in it whatsover! I started out thinking that I would make single polkadot print blocks today, but decided to add a little Rose Parade as I went along (following my own rules, of course LOL), even if it is the stripes. Funnily enough, I really really like this block :)

The next one is Number 52 Hovering Hawks...

...same general idea, with a little bit of Rose Parade but mostly polkadots and white. This is probably how my blocks are going to have to be from here on in...fabric is reaching very low levels, and I'm trying to avoid buying more Rose Parade...wonder if I can resist?

Pinning on my Some Kind Of Wonderful quilt went very well yesterday...

...and it's now ready to quilt! I'd love to be doing that right now, but my cake tins are empty and the children will be home from school soon. I'd better get baking!

Hope you're having an awesome day, and thanks for popping in ;)

TTFN xxx

Role Reversal

I don't know about you, but I hate ironing  ;)

It's one of those boring, mind-numbing jobs, and it's not unusual for me to be distracted away from the ironing board, mid-basket...usually in the direction of my craft room when crafty inspiration hits me (or I come up with some other excuse!)

Interestingly, this weekend, quite the opposite happened.

I was busily pottering around in my craft room, when I was inspired to play with my ironing board. True story! I have this very cute mini ironing board which I use for pressing patchwork blocks and such. It's one of the most useful crafty tools I have ever owned...but also among the ugliest ;(

The ironing board definitely needed a makeover, and when I discovered the leftover squares from my Gypsy Girl sewing machine cover that I made a while ago, I knew what had to be done....

...a matching cover had to be made! Now I realise that buttons on a regular ironing board cover are not at all practical, but on my mini board? Well why not? I only use a very small area of the surface for ironing anyway ;)  So I sewed up  a panel similar to my sewing machine cover (which I constucted using a pattern by Bloom designer, Ros Mirrington) and cut it to size by tracing around my ironing board...too easy ;)

I allowed a little extra fabric on the edges (of course)  and added a binding made with the original  teal polkadot fabric. When it was all sewn on, I threaded some elastic through the binding, pulled it tight and neatened it all up.

 I assure you, I didn't go and buy a pink iron to match my ironing board cover...LOL...but it all looks rather cute and matchy-matchy, don't you think?

Enough distractions. I really had better get back to the task at hand, which is pinning and quilting my Some Kind of Wonderful quilt....blah blah blah. Pinning and quilting are NOT my favourites!

TTFN xxx

Project Life 2012 - Week 37

Hellp Project Life Week 37...a week which ended up in an expolsion of colour and polkadots! That happens a bit around here ;)

 This week I used a paper collection from My Little Shoebox called Notebook, and teamed it with a polkadot paper from the Olivia collection from Basic Grey...mixing the old with the new.

I bought a sheet of journal cards from Notebook, and they fit into the PL pockets perfectly...love it when that happens ;)

Week 37 was all about playdates (for the girls AND for me!), netball wind-ups, takeaway chips on a Friday night, and new overpriced shoes.

On Tracey and Linda's insistence, I also included my new frilly, sequinned Peter Alexander pyjama shorts (top right hand corner)...are they not the cutest things you have ever seen? LOL

Thank you all so very very much for all your encouraging comments on my Ruby Banners quilt.... I really appreciate you taking the time to leave me such lovely words xxx

Here's to a crafty weekend...and maybe the pinning of another quilt? Hope you have a great one :)

TTFN xxx

My new favourite.

Prepare yourself for exciting quilty news..and lots of photos ;)

There has been a finish at my house today...and not just any finish...

...but the finish of my new favourite quilt, Ruby Banners. Not only are the colours my favourite ( really, what's not to love about red, green, turquoise, and apple green...we have discussed this numerous times LOL) ...

 ...but the fabric is Ruby by Bonnie and Camille, my favourite designers. And there are banners!

Lots and lots of banners, all carefully blanket-stitched in place using one single strand of embroidery thread. Divine.

The binding is the most beautiful shade of turquoise I have ever seen...truly, it is delicious ;)

And it went on like a dream ...which is good, because I have been known to get  right up to the binding, and discard the project altogether because it wasn't going on right!

 I machine-quilted the whole thing with straight lines, criss-crossing across the pieced fabrics on the front. Simple, and  it looks super-cute on the back!

It's not terribly big...just the perfect size to lay over the back of your lounge chair, ready to snuggle if the night turns a bit chilly :)

It's already been tested for snuggliness...and given the Merryn tick-of-approval :) She seems to think that it might be just the perfect size for her...

She could be right...but that doesn't mean I can bare to part with it!

So there you have it....my new favourite quilt.

Until I finish the next one, anyway :)

TTFN xxx

Project Life 2012 - Week 36

Hello Project Life Week 36...hot on the heels of Week 35 ;)

 I've come to realise that I should never boast about being up-to-date with Project Life...because that status seems to change very quickly! Is it any wonder though? The weeks are flying by, and my daughter reminds me each day how many days until Christmas! Today, there are 99 days until December 25. Does that scare you as much as it scares me?

Anyhoo...here are the close-ups of Week 36...

 ...a week where we took advantage of the new WA Sunday trading laws and did our grocery shopping on a Sunday...love that :) A week of big changes at my work, catchups with friends, sports carnivals and netball windups. And new polkadot slippers ;)

Everyday life sure is busy! I've used papers by lilybee designs and Echo Park, with some embellishments by Kaisercraft and October Afternoon...a real mixture this week :) I also pulled out some stamps to decorate some of the PL kit journaling cards...yes, really. I did.

Hope your Monday was awesome ;)

TTFN xxx

Project Life 2012 - Week 35

Hello Week 35...a very colourful week with lots of ouch :)

 The left side I devoted totally to Riley's 15th birthday party. The photos were very very turquoise, so I chose a turquoise polkadot washi tape to tie that colour into the right side as well. The days-of-the-week words and the stripes were cut from a piece of paper from Bella Blvd called Petite Pieces, and were perfect for adding journaling :)

The right side is all about ouch...LOL. Merryn had to have some baby teeth removed in the dentist chair, our car decided to cost us a small fortune in repairs (The Silver Brumby in the photo is a loan car which we've borrowed a few times...enough times that Rob has given it a nickname!) and my right foot had some major issues, resulting in lots of pain and the week off work.

I've also included an iPhone screenshot of my Instagram profile...love love love Instagram...and a few other bits and pieces from the week.

I've used some journal cards and even a title card from my Project Life kit on this layout...GO ME! I have my eye on the new kits for 2013, and know I can't possibly buy one if I haven't used most of this years....nothing like a bit of motivation, huh?

Happy Sunday...hope you're finding some crafting time just for you :)

TTFN xxx

Spring sorting.

There is a definite feel of Spring in the air today. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, my nose is twitching, and there's that renewed sense of optimism and change that a new season brings.

Spring always gives me the urge to clean, tidy and purge too. ...to finish up projects, make room in my craft space, move on to new things.

Time to pull out Farmers Wife and see where I'm at...

There are 63 blocks in total....quite a nice little stash :)

I'm swaying between finishing it up at a perfect 8 block square, or continuing until I run out of Rose Parade fabrics. There are arguments for both sides....which will probably occupy my thoughts for the next couple of hours while I add white to some  no-white squares :)

To finish? Or not to finish? That is the question.

TTFN xxx

It's been a busy weekend...

Full of sharing...

...full of running...

...full of very proud moments...

                                                      
                                                              ...full of yummy food...

....full of good friends, and sunshine, and crafty talk, and calories, and laughter :) Not a lot of actual crafting happening, but I intend to fix that tomorrow!

TTFN xxx

The Perfect Project

Of all the projects I have in progress at the moment (and believe me when I say there are quite a few!) this Mystery Block of the Month quilt is amongst my favourites.

It's the perfect project to play with when there's not a lot of time...but you really feel like making something.  The fabrics all come together, they match beautifully, the pattern is easy to follow, and once you've pieced the block, you can sit back, relax, and wait for the next block to arrive.

Sometimes, the less thinking required, the better :)

Hope you had an awesome weekend

TTFN xxx