Matching Pegs

My very clever eldest daughter, Amelia, has made her very own Buttercup bag (with a little help from her Mum).

When we were going through the plastic crate of goodness that is my stash, Amelia kept returning to the purple section.  Her bag just had to be made out of a purple fabric.  The other prerequisite was that there had to be some paisley – it seems some tastes are hereditary.  So the lining is a very pale paisley, (too pale to be the feature fabric) and the outside is paisleyesque.  Once it was completed, we decided that it needed a little more purple, so we made a felty flower brooch (which can be removed and worn separately).

We took our photos this afternoon in my Mum and Dad’s lovely garden, and it seemed that everywhere there was pink shouting out for attention.

Rory helped Mum water the plants with her grey water.

Then he accidentally watered Michaela and Lotta right after his shot was taken.

Luckily I had a jacket to swap for the wet shirt for Michaela – no clothing to offer Lotta though!

So this was day four of our school holiday break wrapped up, purple and pink.

I have actually started and completed 2 small projects this week.

We seem to be in the middle of a baby boom amongst friends and colleagues at the moment.  These two tees are small presents for two new babies (from two families, not twins).  Both feature the envelope necks that are so handy when dressing a tiny babe.  I just added circles of favourite fabrics using the basic needle turn method.  In fact those circles are just traced from the bottom of our drinking glasses.  The froggy fabric is from Purl Patchwork in NYC from my visit in 2007.  As it is actually Japanese fabric, and the top is made in China, it is really an international piece of couture!   The blossom fabric on the right is fabric inspired by Japanese design, but it is actually from the extremely exotic Spotlight store (he he he).

The last few days have been full of rain.  Mostly light rain, but blessed rain none the less.  A few days back there was a window of opportunity to prewash some of my hand dyed fabric, (purchased that way – not dyed by me).  I must admit that I don’t prewash my fabric unless it is going to be put through a lot of washing, (say in an apron) or I am really concerned about the colour (say a dark red used next to a white).  This dyed fabric did not loose much colour when it was washed, only the darkest few lost a little, which was good.

If you are wondering what you are actually looking at, it is not a line full of scraps of fabric blowing in the breeze, but a sunset.  Oh, and the sun.  Can you see it?

Do you prewash?

Meet a Love Chicken.  This cute and cleverly made little birdie was presented to me at a blog dinner, held to celebrate Tracey’s visit to Melbourne.  Tracey gave everyone that attended one of these little cuties, to thank them for coming – no need to thank me Tracey, it was definitely my pleasure.

Tracey was down from Queensland with her hubby Pete to check out the Australasian Quilt Convention, among other things.  I found her in the crush of people when I went for the day with Debbie, my sewing cohort.

In theory, Debbie and I were going to talk each other out of spending too much money on fabric – good theory.  Actually I didn’t spend anything until I came across the $3.50 fat quarters, and then it was all on for young and old.

These beauties are almost all from the Sonnet Collection by April Cornell for Moda.  They are joining the queue to become a quilt – in this case a fat quarter quilt, a la Material Obsession.  You just square up the fat quarters and add sashing, and you get one simple quilt, great for showing off large prints.

These three fat quarters were just a little pricier at $5, but I think you will agree they were so worth it!  They are eventually going to be made up as a  fat quarter bag (by Melly and Me).  The two main fabric probably need no introduction – Amy Butler fabric of course.  The lovely orange hounds tooth is from the Summer in the City range by Urban Chicks for Moda, and they will be handles.

I have decided to use a button for a closure – even though it doesn’t usually need one, just because I found this little beauty.  It is a button made out of resin with kimono fabric inside it, from B B Beads.

I took lots of photos of Quilts but was too silly to record all the details, so it is probably not fair to post the photos – my photography was not that good anyway, as the Convention was pretty crowded, so I could not take  my time with the snapping.

Tracey must have brought the rain down from Queensland, we finally had some rain last night, and some more today.  Not as much as we need, but a welcome relief after 2 months with almost no rain (just the occasional droplet).

Oh, and by the way Tracey, here is where the little love chicken has taken up residence – on Michaela’s door handle, she is very taken with it.