Matching Pegs

I am thrilled to have accomplished this during the school holidays.  Quite a bit of it was done last Sunday, while Luke took the kids to the park, and I finished it last night.

I love this fabric (Chez Moi - Charisma), and the layer cake made this so quick to cut up, so that I could get to the fun part - the arranging.  Here is a close up of some of the squares.

This quilt is to go on my lounge room chair - a tub chair that I bought second hand, which has less than attractive upholstery.  I need it to be slightly larger than it is, but was aiming for the look you get when you just finish off with binding.  I think I will give this a thin outer border and then bind it in the same fabric.

First I have to shop for just the right red fabric, or perhaps a green - but I will not be doing this with 3 little people in tow - I will wait until “normal programming resumes” next week, when the older two are back at school.

Sometimes the weeks are so full, that if you take the time to post, you will have nothing to show.  In no particular order, here are some of the things keeping me off the computer……

On Thursday I finally had 3 hours of delicious “alone time” and spent it with my felt, a hot cuppa, and the CD of Les Misérables.  It has been years since I listened to it, and I loved it all over again.  This time I made one of my flowers a little larger and turned it into a brooch.  I also made a couple more of the hair clips, all in my cherry blossom design.

The Chocolate brown one may even have to be for me.

While I was looking up some felt things on the great and mighty inter-web last week, I found this amazing array of work that defies description.  Take a look, if you have a few minutes, it is quite inspiring.

Thursday was a whole lot better than Wednesday, when I had yet another of my children sick on the couch all day.  Luckily Michaela improved by the next day after a bit of TLC, and was not as sick as Rory had been.

Thursday night I went along with my friend Debbie to North Of The Yarra Quilters Guild for the first time.  It was fun, and I sure need a regular night out midweek.

This is a Wooden “A” that Amelia was given for her birthday, along with some lovely scrap-booking paper and cut-out flowers. Today we mixed up some paint to paint the edges and the flowers.  Tomorrow we are going to cover the front and back face with the paper.  Such a lovely creative gift, (thank-you Kyra).

Yesterday was the last day of term, and the kids finished an hour early.  Instead of 3 kids, I brought home 5 for the afternoon.  The kids played really well together, and all four of the older kids allowed Michaela to join in, rather than complaining to me about her pestering, so there were happy people all round.  Let’s hope the next two weeks of school holidays continue on in the same vein.

Finally here is a Baby sized T-Shirt for a yet to be born baby on the other side of the world.  This is the Aussie native that I managed to sketch and stitch - hopefully tasteful rather than kitch.

What’s keeping you busy at the moment?

This, my friends, is a Blushing Bride (Serruria florida).  It was a purely sentimental purchase of mine at the plant nursery a couple of months ago, and this is the first of the blooms to open.

Almost a year ago I had one of these in my hair, and my friend Suzie had several, as we walked through the gardens on the way to meet her groom, for their second wedding ceremony in 2 weeks, but their first on Aussie soil.  It was a magical day, and I felt honoured to be part of it (I had never been in a bridal party other than mine) so I just had to buy one when I saw it.

This flower is a native of South Africa, and has the beautiful form that other Proteas have.  I would love to create a complex form like this out of felt, but that may just be beyond my capabilities or available time, so instead today I made this little bloom.

A friend of mine recently asked me if I might make these for sale, which I have not done before.  I don’t really know how to put a price on one of these.  I use mostly hand dyed, pure wool felt, which is a lovely material, but the main cost to me is time.  They take about 30-40 minutes to make (the cutting out is very fiddly).  The flower is just under 6 cm’s (2 3/8″) in diameter.  It is such a hard thing to do, put a price on your work.  Anyone out there want to suggest what they think is a fair price, or what they would be prepared to pay.  I’ll consider it market research, and it may help me with an awkward conversation ;-).

Here is something else from my garden, a lovely Aussie native this time.

I have been taking lots of photos of flowers and birds lately.  I have been thinking of stitching a simple Aussie native animal or bird, if I can manage to draw one that doesn’t look too kitch.

I have also always dreamed about designing a few modern Australian Motifs that could be used as a range of patchwork fabrics, because I strongly dislike the very kitch range that is available in stores currently.  That one will perhaps remain a dream for a few years more, unless someone gifts me with more hours in the day.  There are a few people on the case though (or improving Australian themed stuff that is available). I find lots of the hand screen printed fabric that is being produced by the Aussie Fabric Mafia very exciting, and particularly love this new one of Lara’s.

Today I almost finished my beautiful “Mexican Ladies” apron.  If I finish it in time in the morning, I will have to take it along to Playgroup to get another adult that can take a picture of me in it, during the daylight hours.  This apron really needs a photo on a body, as it is really flattering.

Stay tuned.

Yesterday morning the girls said good bye to our old car before school, there were even kisses bestowed.

Rory was on the couch, where he has been since Monday with a sore tummy and intermittent fevers.  Every time I thought he was improving, he took a turn again.  Yesterday morning he seemed to be a fair bit better, so I gave him the choice between him going to Grandma’s house or Grandma coming to stay with him.  I was crossing town with Michaela to pick up our new car (and leave the old one behind).  Rory decided a change of scenery was the way to go, so I dropped him off at Grandma’s house on the way.

By the time we returned to pick him up, Rory was a lot worse.  I packed him up in the new car, and brought him home.  As we pulled into the driveway, Rory threw up.

Luckily, he managed to aim it all in the sickie bag that I had transferred from one glove box to the other.  I was so impressed.

As he seemed to be getting worse over the course of the week, it was straight off to the doctors that evening.  The GP was concerned at his localised pain, so we were redirected to the Hospital, with appendicitis on the cards.  From the GP we went to the train station to pick up Luke, and after a quick change of clothes and a hurried sandwich, Luke went off to the Childrens’ Hospital with Rory in the new car.  I was more than a little concerned about Rory, but some of my worry was also for Luke, who was trying out our new car, in the dark, with a sick little boy moaning in pain in the back seat.

Rory was clearly quite sick, but as he was able to climb up onto the bed, handled driving over speed humps on the way in, and seemed to improve a little as the evening wore on, it was looking like his appendix could remain inside his body.  Of course, it took several hours to reach this decision, and Rory was not able to eat, drink or have pain relief during this wait, so the evening took it’s toll on both of them.  The pain may possibly have been caused by the lymph nodes surrounding his appendix, being inflamed by his illness and causing the localised pain.

In the wee hours of the morning, Luke was advised that the could either take Rory home, or they would find him a bed for the night.  Luke choose the former.  Today Rory was still pretty sick, but not in the same pain, and starting to improve.

On Monday, Rory and I did a little drawing to pass the time.  I taught Rory the magical rule about drawing eyes, which I always wish I had known earlier on (I think I was in my teens when I learnt this).  Eyes should be drawn in the middle of the face, not towards the top.  We drew a page of oval faces, each one quartered to show us the middle.  Here are two drawings from that page.  The one on the left is Rory’s Yoda, and the one on the right is a little baby I drew, when I was playing with head shapes, and proportion.  He does look at little blocky though.

This baby led to a whole new page of babies (and no, I am not clucky, but an idea for a little cloth baby is brewing).

Rory loved the slightly angry/spooky looking baby in the top row, second from the left.

Perhaps Rory and I will do some more drawing tomorrow, and I may even answer some emails, and reply to some comments.  Tonight I am off to bed, for hopefully a less eventful night.

This beautiful Helleborus, or Winter Rose (also known as Christmas Rose in the other hemisphere ;-)) has been growing in the garden for quite some time.  Today I decided that it was OK to cut some blooms to bring inside, as with the warmth of spring, I am not sure how much longer it will be in bloom.

I have also finished my scarf, just in time for the warmer days, isn’t it always the way.

It is a much larger version of Michaela’s scarf, it took 4 balls of Bamboozle yarn (70% Bamboo 30% Cotton) to make it up.  This is the 5th scarf I have made, using a 2×2 rib, following my beginners book.  This is the first time I have “cast off in rib”, my beginners book only showed me one way to cast off.  I had no idea there were others, and this way works so much better (as you cast off you just follow the pattern of knit two, purl two).

Rory took the photo above, (under direction). I think he did a fantastic job.  He is home today with an upset tummy following a very big weekend.  We packed in Swimming Lessons, a Spring Fair (I was a face painter extraordinaire), Fathers’ Day and the purchase of a new(er) car (4 years rather than 13).  It looks a little like this………

On Wednesday, I have to trek back to the complete other side of town to pick it up, and bring it home, probably by driving on the notorious Punt Rd/Hoddle Street - one of the busiest roads in all of Melbourne.  While it will definitely be worth it, I am a little nervous.  Anyway, this little beauty (A Toyota, Avensis Verso) has 2 extra seats tucked away in the back section of the hatch.  They fold completely flat, leaving a boot capacity similar to the one we have in the old Liberty.  This will enable us to transport other additional people occasionally when we go out (when the kids want to bring a friend) which I am sure will come in handy.  We will still be a one car family, but have a little more flexibility.

In the next few days, I will have to post some pictures of some painted faces, but it has taken me ages to write this short post, so I will save it for another day.  Why is it that having two kids at home today makes me feel like I am moving through quicksand.  I don’t seem to get anything done.  As much as I love my kids, I am craving a little alone time, and that little glow of satisfaction that comes with finishing a project of two.

Health Update: Amelia and Rory - Good as New.  Luke - Has dodged the virus completely.  Claire and Michaela - On the mend, but still a bit droopy.  Life is starting to return to normal.  I still owe a lot of people an email, and the house looks like a bomb has hit it though.

Here is a look at the logos that I made for the kinder to consider, but firstly a look at the current logo…..

It took me a year or two to diplomatically find out that this was designed by someone long gone from the Preschool.  I really hate it.  A teacher from long ago drew the stick-figures, and the play equipment they are on, not to mention the lovely hand drawn wording.  The burgundy is such a lovely, youthful touch don’t you think?

 I presented all the logos in Black and White, because the place that they are most visible, is on the kid’s T-shirts and Windcheaters.  On these, they are printed in one colour to keep costs down for families.  So here is the first one of mine - a very straight logo.  The Preschool has a very large tree in the playground, and the kids all like to collect the leaves, which look like this…

The next two are based on children’s drawings, which is what most Preschools tend to do.  I used drawings that I had from when the older two were at Preschool.  They needed a little bit of modification - they have to be legible when they are very small on letterhead, as well as large, on the Preschool building.

I call this the Jumping Man Logo, and the one below is known as the Spotty Creature Logo.

Finally I presented a logo that represented growing, singing and playing.  I presented this one both in B&W as well as colour, to give the committee an idea of how I might use colour, once they chose one of the options.  Here is the Birdie logo, in colour, but not necessarily the colour it would end up as.

So I will find out in a month which one they like best.  I am not a graphic designer, I sure a professional could do better, but I did it for free, and I had fun, so hopefully it is a win-win situation.  Anything has to be better than what the preschool currently has!  Which one do you like?

Last night the finishing touches were added to the farewell present for “Ms Superteacher*”.

I dressed the little dolly, and added her hair.  Amelia did a fair bit of the Thank-you embroidery on the apron.  We are both pretty pleased with how she turned out.  Her dress is made of the same fabric as Amelia’s reader bag that she uses daily at school, so hopefully she will remind Ms Superteacher* of Amelia.

Yesterday morning, after returning from the school drop off, I heard a knock at the door.  A package! I won a giveaway from the lovely Lily at “Block A Day“.  Here is a look at the contents.

This fabric was a special find of Lily’s, in a funny little shop, and she calls the print “Our Lady of the Many Talents” because of what the Lovely Mexican “Our Ladys” are doing.  On the selvage it is called Tree of Life by Kathy Hall, (Museum of new Mexico, Museum of International Folk Art, under licence to Andover Fabrics).  It is amazing fabric and Lily has very generously sent me a whole metre of it.  Also in the package was a few photo/cards of Lily’s work, if you have not seen her site “Block a Day” then you really must.

Not only is Lily super talented, but she is extremely prolific, her sewing output is amazing.  She is also so warm and positive, and when we discovered each others sites, I quickly found I had made a new friend, (of course I suspect Lily has that talent of making everyone she corresponds with online feel like they are her instant friend - pretty tricky to accomplish when you have not met in “Real Life”).  As Amelia put it yesterday afternoon, “If you comment on her blog, and she comments on yours, she is like a pen-friend Mum”.   Anyhow, my favourite of the little cards is her Easter Table Runner, which Amelia loved as well, “Look Mum, Yo-Yo’s!”.   Michaela loves them all, and they keep disappearing with her.

So back to the Tree of Life Fabric.  Because Lily has been so generous, I think I have enough to make a new apron.  I’m a one apron kind of gal, I always wear the same one, unless it is in the wash.  My current apron is a canvas one with botanical illustrations on it, that I gave my Grandmother.  I was given it back when she passed away.  Because I wear an apron every time I cook the evening meal, it is getting grubby and worn in an unwashable type of way.  I think it is time for a new one.  Now all I have to do is find a co-ordinating fabric or two, and this project can join the queue :-).

What is in your project queue?

*not her real name

Our weekend has been very much an “at-home” one.  Since midweek, Rory has had the flu, with all it’s fevers and aches (there have been between 8 and 10 kids away in his class all week).  On Friday he developed a double ear infection, loads of fun.  Thankfully he is well and truly on the mend, and has been well enough to play with his sisters and eat a proper dinner.

Here is a cushion that I made yesterday afternoon (once Rory was starting to feel better).  I made it with Lara’s lovely houses fabric.  I was in love with this fabric back when it was just a sketch, and have had a bundle of co-ordinating fabrics put together for weeks.  It looks almost as good as I imagined, that is, except for the binding.

Now that it is finished, Luke and I both think it would have looked better with dark brown binding, with just that little pop of colour on the front.  Can I be bothered unpicking all the binding to change it?  Perhaps I will wait and see if it grows on me.  The rest of it is exactly as I imagined.

Here is a piccy of one of the Currawongs currently frequenting our backyard.  Perhaps it is even the culprit who targeted my peg basket.

I think I have established that I am a little funny and a little precious about my pegs.  Not only do I like them to match when I am hanging out the washing, but I also house them in style (see banner picture) and I never leave them out in the weather.  Once I have pegged out the washing, I bring the basket of remaining pegs back into the house, so neither the pegs, nor the basket fade (or get wet) anymore than they will through use.  Not yesterday. 

I have a sick little boy at home at the moment, and he called out to me while I was hanging out the washing so I abandoned the peg basket to it’s fate (after all people are more important than pegs you know).  Later I discovered that a large bird (Probably a Pied Currawong - there are lots about at the moment) had been using my basket for target practice.

The mess the bird left may be more than a wash in the machine can fix, as the bird had clearly been enjoying the berries you see at the top of this post.  Redecoration may be in order.

That little guy you see in the picture is a little brass Wombat, who is actually a sprinkler.  I have never used him (we are not allowed to use sprinklers, unless they are watering with tank water) but he makes a nice ornament if you ignore the nozzle fitting coming out his left side.

On Monday, Amelia found out that her class teacher will be taking a position at an exclusive Catholic boys school, and will be finishing up next Friday, on Amelia’s birthday.  We are all very sad about this as she is an excellent teacher and a lovely person.  To show our gratitude for the time she has spent as Amelia’s teacher, the two of us have embarked on a project together.  Here is our WIP.

Amelia is going to embroider “Thank You Ms Superteacher*” on the little apron.  I just have to assemble this little lady, and add some hair.  This is a pattern I have making up for years, either as Christmas Angels, or cloth dolls.  I usually make Christmas Angels for the classroom teachers, as the school year in Australia finishes at Christmas time.

So what do you all make for Teacher presents?

* not her real name, but Amelia will be embroidering her real name. 

While I had my folder of patterns out, I found another that I thought I would show you for The Friday Archive.  These are more Christmas ornaments, in the shape of stars.  One for each member of the family.  We have five, that feature our First and Middle names on one side, and our birth dates on the other. 

Several years ago I made 12 for my Mother-in-Law, one for each of her Grandchildren.  I have since added 2 more, and will need to make another this November.  That page on the right hand side is a page of swatches of fabrics that I have used, so that I can choose fabric for new stars, that fit in with the others.

After a few weekends off due to bad weather, construction resumed this weekend on our fort/cubby/space station (Rory is absolutely Lego-Star-Wars Mad, and has decided that we have a space station in our backyard).  First the frame for the roof was completed.

And then, an exciting trip to the hardware store to select a roofing material.  Luke settled on wide fence palings, as the cheapest, aesthetically pleasing option.  He put these up in spite of a rain shower that sent the kids inside.

We plan to paint the whole structure when the weather improves.  Meanwhile inside I made yet another Log Cabin cushion - the final one.  Here is the before shot.

and here is the after…

And for those that are interested, here is a view of the backs of the cushions, which are all made from fabrics that I purchased at Purl Patchwork in NYC.

The Matroyshka fabric backed cushion was the first one I made, and I put the zip where I usually do.  Once I started making the others, I made the decision to use two different fabrics on the back, and because I bought such small amounts in NYC, I had to place the zips lower down, so the backs are all different.

The fabric makes me happy every time I look at it.

Finally here is a link to a site that made me more than happy.  It made me laugh so hard that, (like every cliche), tears streamed down my cheeks, and my stomach was sore.  It is a site about Cake Wrecks, cakes that are just wrong, and it was the post titled “Get Me Holly Hobbie’s Head on a Platter” that really had me in hysterics.

I found this site via a link on, Emmzeegee’s website.  Emmzeegee was a friend that I worked with back when I was childless (and so was she) and I have only reconnected with her recently.  She has triplets who are now 7 years old, who I last saw when they were about 6 months old.  Two of the triplets share first names in common with my twin brother and I, which is kind of cool (but a complete coincidence).  Anyway, check out the cakes, they are great for a laugh!