Matching Pegs

We are in the midst of Birthday season, here in the Matching Pegs household, with 3 of our birthdays within 12 days.  Yesterday we celebrated Rory’s special day, with Michaela taking a couple of hours off, to help her friend Jaide celebrate her birthday.  Pictured above is the top I embellished for Jaide, with a simple needle turn applique.  Rory’s new mini-figures are checking it out.

Rory turned 9, and his cake was fantastic!

It was several days in the making – if you include the practice characters that the kids (and Luke) made with plasticine.

For those of you familiar with the game, it is easy to see that the cake featured “Angry Birds“, complete with evil green pigs (and boss pig with his moustache).

The birds and pigs were made with solid icing, and it is safe to say that the experience of planning and making them was as important as the outcome – the look of the finished cake.

I was so impressed with the figures that the kids made, and the cake architecture that supported them, (constructed by Luke).  Oh and the cake was deee-lish!

Are you addicted to Angry Birds?

I recently made another Apron, which I have since sent North to Canberra, to our friend Madi.  As I am keen to release this as an individual pattern, (It was published in Homespun Vol.11 Number 10) I took some photos of Michaela for a possible pattern cover.

Gah!  What a frustrating time we both had.  I love our current home, especially it’s setting in amongst the gum trees, but at this time of year, it makes it really hard to get enough light to take a decent photo.

I got lots of cute photos, but struggled to get one that shows off the aprons features, nicely enough to grace a pattern cover.  The light in our old house was excellent, as you can see from this equally cute photo of Michaela 2 years ago…

This was the prototype Apron, (made for our friend Kaitlin) and Michaela was only Three in this shot.

This photo was taken a year ago, right before I posted the Apron to Sydney, for the Homespun photography.  Perhaps I need to take a leaf out of their book magazine and find someone who is happy to volunteer the use of their light and bright kitchen.

I already know that I need to find another little boy to model Rory’s apron – he has been very clear that he does not want to appear in it.  He is, however, very happy to wear his apron and hat to cook.  This is a photo I took to show Homespun the project, 2 years ago, with limited co-operation (and a pinned on pocket).  He said I could take the photo, if he didn’t have to smile – a stance he maintains to this day.

Strangely enough, I would like a happy child to model my work.

Do your children willingly model your creations for the camera?  What’s your secret?

of the arm-warmers I knitted them.

Both Amelia and Rory chose the same yarn – an 100% wool, which was lovely to knit.

This has set up the perfect conditions to incite bickering over “just whose pair of arm-warmers these are on the bench”.  I am going to have to thread some other wool through the inside of one pair to differentiate.

Frankly, I’m impressed with myself that I completed 4 pairs of arm-warmers within just over a month, and in the appropriate season.  I suspect that I would not have, had I not been recovering from that ruptured appendix.

Have you made anything lately, for your kids to bicker over?

This is the fabric design that I entered into Project Selvage.  Entry details called for a fabric designed for baby boys, which had to be “in repeat”.  To give you some idea of scale, in my design, each Koala is about 2″ high.  When I last looked, a couple of days ago, there were over 600 entries.  I am not sure how many entries, in total, were received before the competition closed on Friday (my time).

Once you had submitted your design, you could browse through the other submissions, and while there was a lot of stuff I would not pick, amongst the huge number of entries, there were plenty of really talented designers, with very strong contenders.  Most of the entries would be suitable for boys, but I think quite a few would not be suitable for baby boys – I think the second is harder to achieve than the first.

Somehow, this week, the judges will have to narrow it down to 75 semi-finalists which is going to be tricky.  I think it will be quite an achievement to still be in the competition next week.  I am crossing my fingers that I get chosen, but realistically I know the odds are not fantastic.  If I make it thorough, you can be sure that I will be calling on you all to vote!

Did you enter Project Selvage?  Would my fabric be something you would be likely to buy for a baby boy project?

Tomorrow we are going to farewell my husband’s little sister, Jacinta, who is traveling to Europe for several weeks holiday, and hoping to settle in England to work for a couple of years (sniff).

I wanted to give Cint something to take with her, but knowing she is traveling light, I wanted to give her something useful.  These days there is not much point purchasing gadgets like travel clocks, or torches – her iphone will take care of all that.  Instead I thought I would make her a bag for her laundry, to keep her clean and dirty clothes separate as she travels.  I thought the large peg on the outside of the bag would be a fair hint as to the bag’s purpose, (and to customs officials everywhere).

I impressed myself, by finishing the bag with french seams (very suitable for cosmopolitan travel) as this means there are no raw edges inside the bag to fray.  I made up my own proportions, but used this tutorial for guidance.

We will all miss you “Aunty Cint”.  Travel safe, and if you fall in love with someone over there, like your brother Tim did, make sure they are willing to end up back here, in Australia, eventually!

PS. no dirty clothes were used in the taking of this photograph (but several clean towels were).

Have you heard about Project Selvage yet?  It has got me very excited.

Spoonflower and Michael Miller Fabrics have joined together to hold a competition to become Michael Millers next designer with their own fabric range.  To enter you need to design a fabric suitable for a baby boy.  I have spent all week working on my design, which you can see a tiny part of up there.

The very first thing I did was come up with a palette of colours that felt comfortable and promising.  Next I started thinking about nocturnal creatures and the night sky (after deciding that I was not feeling inspired by monsters – sorry facebook friends).  I did quite a bit of work with moths, which looked great, but not baby-boyish.  Finally I hit on an idea I liked – a nocturnal critter that is really working with the colours and the baby-boy theme.  I spent several days fiddling with the repeat, tweaking the colours of each element and adjusting the line thicknesses, and now I think I am happy.  Hopefully I will get chosen to be one of the semifinalists and then I can tell you where to vote!

This critter is not nocturnal, and has been in a bit of trouble lately.

Here she is looking wet and bedraggled after she escaped and joined us, unexpectedly, on our walk to school the other morning.  Clearly, she felt that we should not go for any walks without her.  I only left her home because she is not allowed on school grounds, and I knew I needed to go in and chat to the teacher that morning.  Lotta and I have been having plenty of walks during school hours, because I have been trying to get more exercise, so it was not like she was missing out on all the action.

While we were walking (very fast) on another day, we startled a brown snake on the path, who in turn startled both of us.  Luckily it was in a hurry to leave, (they are very venomous) but I had horrible visions all the way home, of what it would be like if Lotta had been bitten – I don’t think a tiny dog like her would survive the experience, even if I got her straight to the vet for anti-venom.

It is just as well that she is strong enough to withstand bees though – she was stung yesterday on the paw, and was quite miserable for about an hour.  She has been snapping at bees near a particular bush for months, I am only surprised that it has taken this long for her to reap the consequences.   I am hoping she has learned her lesson – I hate seeing her miserable and in pain.

Anyway, I will show you more of my nocturnal fabric critters when the competition entries close, and the top 75 semifinalists are anounced for voting, at the end of March.  Cross your fingers for me please .

I seem to have a lot on the go at the moment, lots of pots simmering, but nothing ready cooked.

I am quilting another Fairy Tale Star Quilt, this time made by my Mother.  When I finished the first one, I still had lots of fabric left, so I passed them, and my hastily-scribbled-up pattern on to Mum, who has remade it with a few more fabrics, and an extra border.

Together we are making this for my cousin’s new baby girl in the USA.  I am really happy with the curly-scroll quilting around the edges of the pieced stars.

I have also been making another “Teacher Thank You”, prepping it for stitching.  I know it is a funny time to start one of these, being the very start of the academic year, but this time I am making it up again to write up the pattern.  Each time I have made it, I have tweaked it further, and this time I am writing down all the colours I am using, both for the pencils and for the embroidery floss.  This time I hope to make it with plenty of time to photograph it for a pattern cover!

Monster Chef is another project on the boil.  I have written a first draft of the pattern, and have purchased some more fabrics to make up some more monster friends.  I still have to draw up some diagrams, and I will make copious notes on the draft as I make more of these guys, but I hope to have the pattern ready for some volunteer testers soon.

Speaking of making creatures – check out the fabulous “Elements of Soft Toy Design” over at While She Naps.  Number 13 in the series has blown my mind!

What have you got simmering along?

The school my kids attend have uniform schoolbags, so the teachers encourage the kids to hang something distinctive from their bags so they can identify them easily.

I whipped up the little butterfly for Michaela by fusing the fabric straight onto batting, and quilting it in place, like a tiny, raw-edge strange-shaped quilt.

Rory’s Footballer had a long needed repair – he has been out with an injury for some time.

School is taking it’s toll on Michaela, she is getting very tired.  This is where I found her the other afternoon, in a little, colour-coordinated nest.

I felt like I needed a little nest yesterday, after a late night on Monday.  Luke and I (and some good friends) went along to the taping of Adam Hills’ new chat show “In Gordon Street Tonight” which screens tonight.  It was a lot of fun, but a very lengthy process.  We had to arrive at the studio at 5:45pm, and left about 5 hours later.

Adam’s guests included the distinctive Tim Minchin and model Megan Gale, which turned out to be an amusing combination (to me anyway) when Megan gifted Adam with some crystals, and mentioned Reiki.  Tim Minchin, (who is a musical comedian) is quite ‘on the record’ about thinking New Age beliefs are a load of bull.  His “Nine Minute Beat Poem – Storm” is about just that.

It amused me no end to watch him, while Adam and Megan discussed the crystals.  I think Tim Minchin is an amazing talent, even his tinkering on the piano as he warmed up was a pleasure.  He played a Crowded House piece on the show, so ‘straight music’ rather than comedy, which is when I find him the most moving.  Here is a beautiful piece I found, that reminds me of my brother who used to play the Notting Hillbillies version.  This one is for you Julian.  Just a warning -it made me cry…

The “American Dude” that wrote “Feel Like Going Home” is Charlie Rich.

The episode we saw taped is screening tonight, on Channel 2 at 8:30pm.

For the past two months I have been doing quite a lot of quilting.  First it was the Fairy Tale Star Quilt, and then I pulled out the rather large “New House” String Quilt that I started in August 2009, when we bought our house.  I think I pin basted it about a year ago, but have not been confident enough to start quilting it.

The loan of my Mother’s sewing machine has made all the difference to my confidence.  It is a Janome, Memory Craft 6600, which has a lovely large throat and a huge extension table, a home quilters dream.

It has a built in dual feed foot, which is swung up out of the way when it is not in use, (such as when you are quilting with a free motion foot).  Unfortunately, even thought it was “out of the way”, yesterday I managed to catch the dual feed foot on a safety pin, and I have somehow jiggered up the lever that lifts the foot up and down.  There will be no quilting until it has been repaired.

Luckily my Mother loves me.

Ever broken anything you have been borrowing?

Welcome 2011.

Dorothea Mackellar knew what she was writing about when she described Australia as a land of Droughts and Flooding Rains.  After experiencing more than a decade of drought, I never thought I would be hoping that the rain would be finished for a while.

As the world surely knows, Australia is in the grip of a La Nina Weather Pattern, which has lead to huge amounts of rain being dumped right along the east coast of Australia.  Our fellow Aussies in Queensland, far to our North, are living in the most amazing flood zone – I have read several times, that an area bigger than Germany and France combined is underwater.   The death toll stands at 15 so far, but “more than 15,000 residential and commercial properties have been affected by significant flooding”.  Many thousands of people are displaced, and it will be months before many families can move back into their homes.  There have been incredible acts of bravery, like the one that cost this 13 year old his life.  If you want to donate money to the Premier’s Disaster relief appeal (administered by the Queensland Government) you can do so here.

It seems trivial to talk about what I have been making, while all this is going on.  Ironically, I recently finished my first quilt of the year, and posted it to our niece in Brisbane.  Who knows when, (or even if) it will get there.

I will return again another day, with creative news to share.  I hope everyone you love is safe – I am extremely grateful that all of the people we love, are.