I’ve been around the rug once again, and then some, with a new colour.  I really wanted something darker, and am pleased with the navy.  Jodie, who is hosting the Rug-Along, sent me a lovely prize, for getting straight into the Rag-Rug-Along, which was lovely.  I feel that the reward of turning old clothes into new items is reward enough, but Amelia has already jumped on the prize, “Three Little Maids” and matching fabric – hoping to make them up herself, so I’m not sending them back!

The navy fabric comes from a pair of size 5 pants that are covered with paint, but the beauty of this stuff is that the fabric rolls up on itself, and you can only see the surface that was once on the inside of the pants – with no paint spots.  This fabric is quite a bit thicker than tee-shirt fabric, so I am cutting a thinner strip of it.  It also looses lots more fluff as I work, so I will have to vacuum a bit more often until I am done, or make it out on the deck.

I also added a large “lazy daisy” in the centre of the rug, with a remaining scrap of purple toddler pants.  I’m pretty happy with it, but can always pull it off if I change my mind.  Here is my post about making a toothbrush rug, if you are interested.  What do you turn your old clothes into?

I have spent the last week with a boring cold/sinus infection which has really slowed down my crafting (and everything else).  Right before I got carried away with Jodie’s Rag-Rug-Along, I started making these blocks for a new quilt, using the Koala fabric that I designed and had printed by Spoonflower.  The co-ordinates are all out of my stash – I am really enjoying this colour combination!

Gosh, I even think the scraps look pretty, very restful.

This quilt is actually a commission of sorts – I am making it for my sister’s nephew, for his 1st birthday.  He lives in the country, and is from my brother-in-law’s side of the family, I have never met him.  I feel pretty safe putting progress shots here, because I doubt his family read my blog, my sister and brother-in-law do though, (I hope you like it Al and Scott).

This quilt is going to be the same design as my Fairy Tale Star Quilt, with almost all of the stars either blue or brown, with the blue koala fabric as the centre of the star.

Just one of the stars has a different coloured centre – another colour-way of my koala fabric.

And here it is, surrounded by yellow.

Hopefully I will get a bit more done now that I am feeling better, but who knows – it’s the school holidays after all.

This toothbrush rug has grown really quickly, it is now 12 1/2″ wide. Best of all, it is made of stuff that was destined to become laundry rags.  So far, the rung contains one PJ leg (the centre), and the bottom few inches of two coral coloured tees of mine.  The blue used to be a tiny t-shirt (size 2) , and the lovely purple fabric was the waist-to-crotch section of some holey, old, toddler pants that both of my girls wore all the time.

I imagine my rug is slightly more irregular than the ones that get made of sheets, or new fabric, because of the side seams on the clothing, but I don’t care.

The main limiting factor is going to be availability of old clothes to make it with.  I would like to add some darker colours to the mix, but don’t have any in my rag basket.  I don’t want to buy any clothes, (even at the op-shop) because I only want to use stuff that is no longer wearable.  I think I will start raiding other people’s rag bags, like my Mum’s.  Mum, you have been warned.

Last night, at a reasonable hour, I finished the third and final of the gifts for the teachers.  Today, all three are getting a personalised copy of this embroidery.

Yesterday afternoon I took a number of shots of one of them, in the hopes of getting a good photo for a pattern cover.

I started the one for Amelia’s teacher quite early in the year.  Amelia has done some of it herself, so as a result, all the lines on the design are embroidered.

As I stitched the other two on my own, I chose to leave some details un-stitched, because I think the brown pigma pen looks fine (and time was of the essence).  I’m currently writing the pattern, and have indicated on it that you can stitch as little or as much as you like.  In fact, the first year I designed it, I framed it as just a drawing on cloth.

This is the third year it has made an appearance, and it has changed every year, but I am really happy with this year’s iteration, so I don’t plan on tweaking it any more.

These really are a labour of love, but they are worth it.  Not only do I believe that teachers are really important, but my kids love the idea that their teacher is getting something that will help them remember teaching one of the “Matching Pegs*” kids.

Have you got a favourite gift to give the teacher?

*Not our real name

This week I have been playing with these very bright diamonds, working out a pattern for the next ring on my Wheel of Fortune Quilt.  I have just completed a ring of purple squares, like the background in this photo.  In real life the pinks are possibly brighter than they appear on your screen.

If Mainland Australia represented the colours that I am most comfortable with, then these bright babies would be Tasmania, just a little beyond my usual palette and comfort zone.  I like it.

I have assembled the colour for the next couple of rings as well.  Soft peachy colours for the next ring of squares, and cocoa-powder browns for the following ring of diamonds.  These are softer than the chocolate brown of a recent ring, and more like the diamonds in the centre of the quilt.

I fell in love with the very bright pinks of the pink, peach, purple and green of this grape fabric by Martha Negley.  I have used it in two projects on the go, with fairly similar colour schemes – this is my quilt in progress, which features large “bubbles” of fabric on it.

I am gradually hand stitching down the bubbles, which are mostly just basted in place.

So lately it has all been about handwork, with very little sewing machine action.  I think I will probably be revving it up for Christmas though.

How about you – handwork or machine work lately?

As I mentioned in my last post, the guild that I belong to held our biennial quilt show this weekend.  Part of the show was a “mystery challenge” which members entered anonymously, and this year the theme was “pincushions”.  This was my entry, a little house pincushion.

I was inspired by the wonderful teacup pincushions made by Mimi Kirchner, a fibre artist with a blog called “doll”.   She calls her pincushions “Tiny Worlds”.  Her little houses look like storybook cottages, with high peaked roofs, (as well as the occasional lighthouse) but I wanted mine to look more like a typically Australian house.  This tiny house is based on our first home, a very suburban, triple-fronted brick-veneer.  Australian suburbs are full of them.  I added some eucalypts (which surround our current home) made with needle trunks.

This is a photo of our first home which was used on the sales brochure when we sold it (the real-estate agent added the photoshopped blue sky).

The hill of the pincushion is made of an upturned peanut butter jar-lid, covered in felt and stuffed with poly-fill.  The rest is made of felt, and embroidery thread.  The trees and bushes are simply shapes cut out of thick felt, with old needles through the middle, as trunks to fix them in place.  All the felt is 100% wool from Winterwood.

I am looking forward to using this as my pincushion, until now it has been a secret project, hidden away.  Some of the other entries in the challenge were fruits, a sewing machine, a hamburger, a turtle, an elephant and various patch-worked shapes.  The winner was a wonderful witch, stirring a cauldron, with pins stuck in her ample backside.  Do you have any elaborate pincushions?

Spring seems to be arriving here at the house of Matching Pegs.  It is too nice to stay inside and blog.

Instead, I’m creating something tiny, while I sit outside in the sunshine.

Here is a quick top I whipped up (appliqued onto) for our little friend Jake, for his birthday.  We gifted it along with a game, Rush Hour – a fantastic puzzle game for one.

A garment that is personalised for a child never fails to impress, (said child) something my Mother certainly knew.  She made my brother Julian a “Super-J” top (in the style of Superman) when we were children that he wore everywhere.

Do you personalise gifts?  I love to.

Taking advantage of the appearance of the sun this weekend, I took these photos of the quilt I have made for my brother’s partner, Liz.  Because we live amongst the gum trees, the light is a little dappled, but you can get the general idea.  In fact, this shot does not quite depict the true colours of the quilt, but seeing Lotta peek out from under the quilt makes me smile, so I though I would lead with it.

This one represents the colours a little better.  I called it the Ruby, Coral and Chocolate Quilt – These things are all precious materials, as far as I am concerned, and I would definitely give Liz my very last piece of chocolate*, which shows the height of my esteem for her.  You can read some of the quilt details here.

I am really pleased with the pieced back, and am proud to say that I quilted the whole thing myself.  No mean feat, as it fits on a queen-sized bed.

The blue is a lovely reproduction fabric, a soft colour that plays nicely with the other colours, and reminds me of Liz.  The brown paisley is one of my all-time-favourite fabrics, a “Three Sisters” fabric by Moda, which I have been hoarding since my trip to the USA in 2007.

I am extremely pleased to have made this (very large) quilt all by myself, including the quilting.  Special mention goes to my very kind friends at NOTYQ who helped me pin baste it on the very large table in our meeting room.

Have you completed any large projects recently?

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*but only if she asked me for it, I’m not entirely altruistic.

Over the last few days I have completed a quilt top, and co-ordinated backing for a very special person, my twin-brother’s partner, Liz.  Liz had a milestone birthday, earlier in the year, and although this is much belated, this quilt is to mark that milestone.  Actually, it is much more than that.  This quilt is to show her how much I love her, and value her place in our family.

The photos of the quilt top and backing were taken in pretty dodgy light, and so are not true representations, but they are the best I can achieve in the middle of winter.  The predominant colours of the quilt are ruby, coral and chocolate, with the addition on the back of some dusty blue.  Both ruby red, and dusty blue are colours I associate with Liz.

Quilt Particulars – The quilt is another “Disappearing-Nine-Patch” made with 108 x 8 1/2″ squares.  The finished quilt top is approximately 94″ x 71″.

It is a pretty big quilt, but I am going to attempt to quilt it myself, and have purchased some Ruby Red thread to do so.  Now I just have to baste it!  Are you wrangling any large quilts at the moment, or are some hiding in your cupboard because they are so large?