Matching Pegs

I have been seeing a lot of single letters used in decorating lately, (check out this amazing wall on the House on Hill Road Blog I saw, via Apartment Therapy) and thought I would jump on the bandwagon with an offering in fabric.

A photo tutorial that Kathy Mack put on her blog Pink Chalk Studio got me thinking about a way that I could do the inside “holes” in the letter. Kathy’s tutorial is for covering switch-plates, (the cover around the light switch). Decorative switch-plates is not something that you see much of in Australia, although my Brother-in-law and Sister-in-Law just bought a house with ceramic, hand-painted, floral switch-plates. Perhaps it is a trend that is yet to come?

Anyhoo here is the lovely practice letter….

The centres worked out just as I thought they should, and I was quite pleased with the effect, all except for one thing….it’s backwards! That’s why this poor little letter has not even been pressed.

At one vital point, I failed to place the front “right sides together”, because with the facing for the holes already attached, the front looked rough and I thought of it as the back.

I even took a picture before proceeding, without twigging that I was mucking it up, (see below).

So even though the back of it shows the letter the right way around, because of the method I chose, the back does not end up looking very nice.

Luckily, I have not really wasted any vital resources, as this was a test letter. The fabric I used was an off-cut from sheeting fabric I purchased over 10 years ago at the Queen Victoria Market, which I had made up into our first doona (duvet or continental quilt) cover when we got married. It was a piece that had irregular dying problems at the edge, which is why it was being sold at the market. I still love the colour - that almost-red orange. I remember being told by the stall holder that it was a “second” from the “Art Park” range, a home-wares range that had bold colours which I loved. Cath Derksema of Art Park went on to get together with Kirsten Junor to form Prints Charming, a beautifully bold fabric design studio. Their initial ranges were all hand printed, but they now have their work released internationally by Marcus and Free Spirit Fabrics.

So the fabric that I used for this poor backwards letter g was taken from the irregular dye lot stuff at the edge. It was never going to look that great, and now it looks a bit crumpled and confused.

Such is crafting, I will get it right the next time.

By the Way, did many of you turn your light out last night at 8pm for “Earth Hour“? We had a lovely little dinner party with friends, Peter and Lai Meng (hi guys). We sat in the cosy candlelight, after putting the kids to bed just in time for lights off.

Fairy plans are gathering momentum here at the house of matching pegs. The dolly is going to be a fairy to hang on a bag, like Davo - Amelia’s request.

We have a busy day of appointments (and are in the thick of the school holidays) so I have no time for more details, but I can share a sketch, (this is for you Brittany).

This morning Rory managed to have a trampoline accident without even being on it - he ran into it, chipping his two front teeth on the metal surrounds.

They don’t look as bad in this photo, I did not want to torment him getting a better shot.

His top-right big tooth has also descended a bit and is quite loose. The dentist was not sure if he would loose it as a result. If he is anything like his older sister, he is not due to loose it for another two years, so I am hoping it will hang in there.

Thank goodness they were not adult teeth!

The whole thing was quite scary and dramatic - lots of blood, but the outcome is much better than it first appeared. When I ran out, to the sound of his screams, and saw him lying on the ground with blood coming out of his mouth, I wasn’t sure if I would need to call an ambulance, and sent Amelia straight in to get the phone.

On a lighter note, Rory has been invited to two birthday parties at the end of the school holidays, and I am wondering about gifts. I have often made aprons as presents for children. I have enquired, and at least one of the boys in questioned does not like to cook, so I need a new idea.

Last night Luke made fresh pasta with the kids.

The girls let me take a photo of them in their aprons, but this one of Rory was taken about 7 months ago. I have made about 20 of these all up, and each one is different.

My fallback present will be a book.

What would you give to a 6 year old boy?

The Matching Pegs family spent the Easter Break with the extended family, up in Luke’s small hometown in the vicinity of Bendigo. For Easter Lunch there were 12 adults and 9 kids, and lots of good food and chocolate (Many thanks to Luke’s Mum and Dad for hosting us all). It was a lovely way to spend Easter; watching all of our children run around together, playing backyard cricket and playing in the dirt/dust. It is a very dry part of the world at the moment, but oh the serenity! These photos were taken on the front lawn one evening while the sun was setting.

We spent Easter Monday watching the Bendigo Easter Festival Gala Parade which is now in it’s 138th year. Bendigo is a gold mining town, with a rich cultural heritage, particularly from the Chinese immigrants during it’s gold rush. The Parade first featured a Chinese section in 1893, and has ever since.

It features the worlds longest imperial dragon, Sun Loong, (clearly I could not fit him into even two photos) who was made in to replace the old dragon, Loong. Loong, (the oldest imperial dragon in the world) got too old and frail to be used, but remains in the collection of the Golden Dragon Museum in Bendigo.

During the 1880’s as a result of the Gold Rush, Bendigo was considered the wealthiest city in the world, and the evidence of this is still there to see, in the grand nature of the historical buildings. It is a magnificent city to visit, and I have links there through my Grandmother (whose father was the Mayor) as well as my husband.

Anyway, enough history, here are some more parade photos….

These ladies were Amelia’s favorite part of the parade, while Rory loved Sun Loong and Michaela loved “The Daddy Dragon”. This is one final sunset photo, because I couldn’t resist.

What did you do for Easter?

Finally the temperature in Melbourne has dropped, sweet relief.

Due to the heat and several other situations, an old injury in my wrist, fingers and forearm of my left hand has flared up. My problem was diagnosed by a GP 8 years ago as Carpal tunnel syndrome, but the symptoms never quite fitted. After a date with Google the other morning, when my symptoms were driving me crazy, I have found the culprit, which fits the symptoms a whole lot better - Cubital Tunnel Syndrome. This is similar to Carpel Tunnel, but has slightly different triggers, and one of the articles suggested it has an association with Guitarists (in their hand that plays the frets, usually left). Bending the elbow and wrist at the same time is a big problem, so there will be no hand sewing for me for a while. I am right handed, but hold my sewing in my left hand, exactly as I should not while this is going on. At least I now know what to avoid, and know that ice at the elbow helps when I am in pain.

Fortunately, drawing with my right hand is no problem at all.

Yesterday Michaela asked me to draw us and cut us out. She played with the Paper Mummy and Paper Michaela all afternoon, hence the crumpled appearance. Amelia has put in an order for a Paper Amelia, Daddy and Rory, and has declared that after school she will make them a house. These took about 5 minutes to produce, but as they say “provided hours of fun for the whole family”. They are not exactly the pinnacle of drawing, and proportionally not good, but it was fun; especially drawing us in what we were wearing at the time.

Drawing family members is probably the most common subject matter of kids drawings I would guess. Here is a couple of beauties from Amelia.

Here is “The Matching Pegs Famaly (sic) Rock” which is our family as a rock band. I love our hair styles (or in the case of Luke, his absence of hair).

This one is “The Matching Pegs Kingdom”. Regal aren’t we.

She has also drawn us as Trees (I was a magnolia, my favourite) and as Monsters. These pictures adorn our kitchen door, and whenever I stop to look at them, I smile at Amelia’s wonderful imagination.

This is the lovely bouquet that I carried on Saturday. I am amazed that it is still alive after the temperatures that we have been experiencing (considering it is officially Autumn). This morning it is already 33 degrees C ( 91.4 degrees F) with a forecast of 39 C (102.2 F), much like yesterday and quite a bit of last week. Adelaide has experienced a record number of days above 35 degrees C (95 F), and Melbourne, while not quite as bad, is feeling it as well (for readers elsewhere, it is dry heat, not humid).

On Saturday, it was 35 degrees C during the wedding, but the church was surely hotter, (no air-con) and we spent a few hours out in the heat having photos. The bouquet doesn’t even have any brown petals and it was out of water all day.

Anyway, enough boring facts…

This is Alison returning from the hairdressers on Saturday morning with her flowers and veil in place. I did her make-up, and all she was missing at this point was the lipstick and matching dress! I think she looks amazing in both her before and after (yesterday’s post).

Michaela was adorable, and this shot is in the church just after the ceremony, can you tell that she is hot?

Just indulge me a little now, this last photo is of my Hollywood hair (big) after I took out the very large handfull of hairpins (my hair was up in a low curly sort of bun, each curl individually pinned in place). It is as close as I ever get to curly hair (apart from a perm back at the start of the 90’s which we won’t go into).

Alison and Scott have had their big day. This is Alison with Hailey (Scott’s niece), Michaela and Amelia before the ceremony.

Here I am with the girls who had just been given a teddy bear each as a thank-you from the bride and groom.

This is my only shot of Rory, who was busy being a photographer on the day. The following shots were taken by him (with his unique perspective and composition).

The Happy couple after the service, joined by the brides attendants, Eng Seng, Manelle, the girls and I, (sorry Eng Seng, a tree got in the way).

Colin, Father of the Bride (and of course my father).

Unfortunately, as I was not in charge of the camera, and Luke had his hands full with the kids, I do not have any photos of the rest of the family or the rest of the bridal party (sorry Mum, you looked amazing). However, thanks to Rory, I do have this lovely shot of my wonderful husband, who posed for the same photos, in the same spot with me, almost 10 years ago. I love you Luke.

These are the beautiful plates that Amelia and Rory made at Preschool over several years. There is one for each member of the family.

Amelia’s first one was made when she was not quite 4. 2 years later she made a family one for me (the blue one) when we got a free plate, (I organised the fundraiser) but we only had one special marker left. I like the monochrome effect. I love the fact that each family member is on there (I am the enormous one) even though she made it a month or so before Michaela was born. Unfortunately Rory’s from that year broke.

The following year Rory made another one for himself and the red and orange one for his father, also with each family member. Amelia made one for Michaela who was too young to participate at the time.

We use them almost every day. I feel the need to record the plates for posterity in case one breaks again.

In case you are wondering about the artful smudges on them, they were not produced by the kids, but I smudged out our surname and location. No offence blogosphere, but I would like to preserve some privacy for the Matching pegs household.

Another butterfly just fluttered into the Matching Pegs Household.

This is one more test butterfly adapted from my drawings for Brooke’s library bag and Michaela’s Doona cover, using some scraps that I had handy. I am rather pleased with this one, even if it is slightly wonky.

I produced it using needle turn applique, which I have been doing for some time now, but have by no means mastered. Until now I have only done needle turn without freezer paper. What I like about this method is the speed of it, with no templates to cut out first. It does take some practice to begin with though.

This time I tried using some freezer paper to see if it would improve my needle turn accuracy. It is neither the “Freezer Paper down” or the “Freezer paper Up*” method (both of these methods involve sewing the freezer paper between the applique piece and the background and removing the paper just before you finish sewing the piece on, or through a slit in the background at the end), but another method, (I’m not sure what it is called).

In this method you cut out the freezer paper shape exactly on the outline and iron it onto the TOP of the fabric (no need to mark the lines), and you turn the seam allowance under so that the fabric is almost out of sight under the FP. In other words, the FP is just a guide which can be peeled off the top of the project when the piece is on. It also leaves you with no marking lines to have to get rid of.

It wasn’t bad, but the paper does start to come off as you work. Next I am going to try using the Freezer Paper Down method on the letters from Corey’s name for his Shark library bag. I am hoping that this will stop the letters from warping slightly as I work.

*”Freezer Paper up” is where you glue the dull side of the freezer paper to the back of the fabric and iron the seam allowance on to the other, shiny side. I could not find a good description on the web but have a good one in my “The Quilters Ultimate Visual Guide” book which is a great resource.

Well I actually managed to get some hand sewing done last night.

I was watching “The Day After Tomorrow” while I finished off the teeth and light grey surrounds. It was a suitably scary movie to watch while sewing up this scary beast.

While many would argue about the reality or otherwise of this movie (where another Ice Age is triggered by polar melting due to Global Warming), I like the fact that it really give you pause for thought. I often think about what our children will be dealing with as a result of climate change. I also wonder how well I would survive in a post apocalyptic world. I daydream about how well I would handle living with more primitive living conditions, we are so soft living here in the first world in the 21st century. For this reason I also enjoy the living history shows where people live as previous generations did to see what it was like.

Anyway, this was my type of action movie, lots of action, not too much shoot em up.