Matching Pegs

What is that thing?  Lovely fabric, but I can’t see what it is….

Do you know?  All will be revealed in due time…..

I had the privilege of being a pattern tester for one of Nikki’s new patterns last week, which is soon to be released.  This is her lovely, little girls Tulip dress (in sizes 2 to 8 ) modeled by Michaela.  Nikki’s pattern was very detailed, and full of tips and photos, which I really needed, as a garment-sewing beginner.  I made the sleeveless version of the dress, but the pattern also has sleeves (that’s a white tee you can see up there).  Below is a shot of the dress on it’s own.

Michaela was pretty excited by the whole experience.

Here she is hamming it up for the camera when I tried the bodice on her, as I was making it.

I have some fabric to make another for Amelia, who has put in her order for one, and I am sure I will be quicker the second time, but not as quick as the girls would like – as soon as they see the fabric, they want it whipped up in a snap.

Make sure you keep an eye on Nikki’s blog, or her online shop, Nicole Mallalieu Design, where this pattern will soon be released.  While you are there, browse through the vast array of hat and bag patterns and related hardware.  If you sew at all, you are sure to find something you like.

You can see two other versions of the dress over at Lara’s blog.

Way back in August, I went on our guild’s sewing retreat for the weekend.  We were given lots of little freebies, including a tiny little pattern for foundation piecing this tulip, and the bits to turn it into a badge.  Some guild members sewed them up and started wearing them straight away, indeed several of them were made using some of my little scraps.

Unpacking from the move, I rediscovered the pattern.  As I had never tried this kind of foundation piecing (only the string quilt kind for my New House Quilt) I thought I would give it a go.  I thought it was kind of sweet.

Theoretically, it is 2.5″ square, but as you can see, mine is not very square, and the binding (and everything else) is very sloppy.  Regardless, it was fun trying a new skill – I can see while some people are drawn to the accuracy of foundation piecing.

Have you tried your hand at a new skill lately?

I continue having intermittent problems with uploading images, which is why this post is several days later than I planned – Damm that error 404!

Now I can show you a quilt that is finally close to being finished – one that I started a whole 5 years ago.

This quilt itself is pretty traditional, but I like to think that the colours I have chosen are a little bit different to the usual choices that people make for little girl’s quilts.  If the colours do not show up accurately on your monitor, they are….. buttery yellow, aqua and pale aqua, dusky mauves and purples, dusky salmon pinks and dusky red.

I used a pattern from Rosalie Quinlan to make this quilt – the pattern is called “Rebekah Amy’s Quilt” and according to the pattern it is named after Rosalie’s eldest daughter.

This particular quilt was made for Amelia’s bed, and has been sitting in a cupboard as a lonely quilt top, (aka flimsy) waiting to be quilted.  After making a new friend at NOTY Quilters Guild, who happens to be a long arm quilter, I decided it was time to finish that quilt.  Anita (Hillside Quilting in Warrandyte) quilted a beautiful all over pattern on the quilt in a softly coloured variegated thread.

I am super happy with the result and have just finished the binding.  All that is left is to make a nice label, and it is done.

How many flimsys are in your cupboard?

*One of the catch phrases from Kath and Kim, the original Aussie version of course.

Way back when I made a couple of aprons.  Recent events bumped their blog debut.  The first was purpose made for sewing – you heard it, a sewing apron.

Debbie has been wanting one to wear to the guild sewing retreat (not until August – catches all the threads) so I made her one for her significant birthday back in January.

It is of course the lovely Emmeline Apron pattern by Sew Liberated.  I was really pleased with the fabric I found for the front and back (this lovely is reversable).  Debbie and I share a love of paisley (the front) and the back features sewing themed fabric and a little applique heart.  Doesn’t Debbie look lovely in it.

The second apron was for a lovely little three year old called Elena, made with one of my favourite cherry blossom fabrics.

Have you made any aprons lately?

I found this lovely eucalyptus leaf on the path, on the way home from school, and it was so beautiful that I just had to bring it with me.  It was not unique, there were quite a few of the same colour there on the ground, but this one just jumped into my field of view.  A lovely little piece of happiness.

Another lovely piece of happiness that came my way this week was being awarded my first blog award.  Rachel from Contented (over in the UK) awarded me with The “Proximidade” or “Friendship around the World” award.  What a surprise, thank-you so much Rachel. The award is for blogs that are special in some way and extend the hand of friendship around the world.  I have to pass this on to eight of my favourite blogs, and ask that they do the same.

I found 8 blogs a little hard.  So many of my favourite blogs are much awarded, (because they have so many readers), and it feels like guilding the lily to award them some more.  I have picked just 4 of the blogs that I read almost daily…….Block a Day, emzeegee and the hungry three, Peppermint Patcher and Whippet Good.  Thank you to each of you for helping to feed my blog habit – inspiring, amusing and connecting with me.

Today I managed to hang my recently finished quilt (are you sick of it yet) and here is a little before and after to show you.

If only I could “before and after” the ugly, dark brown air conditioning unit you can see peeking in on the left of shot.  Getting through summer would be pretty hard without it though.

I found two forgotten pieces of happiness yesterday as I was attempting to declutter, (watching a show about hoarders will do that to you) and I put them out into the sunlight today to show you.

Two mini quilts that I was making for the kids (to match their teddies) 18 months ago (there was to be 3 – I also have one in pieces for Michaela).

The kids helped me choose the fabric.  They are yet to be quilted; perhaps I will practice free motion quilting on them.

I started this quilt 31 months ago in March 2006.  It has been quite a labour of love, and it is very close to completion, as I am now working on the binding.  I hand quilted around these words a few days ago – it could have been the motto for the whole quilt, and, it seems, the entire week.

In the past 24 hours the Matching Pegs household has been hit by a tedious irritating problem that we have all had to deal with, (a member of the family asked me not to be specific).  The problem is not serious, but not dealing with it promptly would make our problem multiply, if you catch my drift.  So I have been practicing my deep breathing and remembering to be patient.

When I was shopping last week for the binding for this quilt, I also picked up some binding and backing for my Chez Moi – Charisma quilt.

The red fabric (which is for the binding) is a perfect colour match, because it is another Chez Moi fabric, but this time it is from the Posh range.  The green fabric is a plain green homespun – it doesn’t match quite as well, but it will be used only for the backing, and it goes well with the binding.  I am toying with the idea of marking a design on the backing, and free motion quilting the quilt from the back, but I am not sure if my skills are up to it.  It might be a good way to learn.

Today Michaela and I were enjoying the afternoon spring sunshine, and blowing bubbles, as well as our cares away.  A little wander around the garden turned up a surprise, a ranunculi from a few years ago, growing where I thought they had been finished.  I thought I would share it with you.  I hope your week is full of happy surprises, but if it is not, I wish you patience.

I have a small collection of teapots on my kitchen windowsill.  There are 3 (I said it was small).  I have been drawing them for my mug-bag design, and now I am drawing them up neatly in Illustrator, so much fun, (the pencil part more than the computer part).

The design is most likely to feature this bamboo handled one, as well as one of my butterflies and a cherry blossom.  I think I will start cutting out paper copies of these drawings at different scales to work out where I am going with this.  I just wish I had a super-teacher to teach me how to use the parts of Illustrator that I need to use.  I keep thinking in a tech drawing, auto cad kind of way when I am using it, and it is the wrong way to approach it.

Here are adorable photos of two of my kids.  It’s my blog, and I like to admire my handiwork – I just gave them both a haircut.

Michaela is going through a skirts and dresses phase, hense the skirt and pants look.  I cut her hair to angle in at the back.

I am no hairdresser, but I think I did OK.

Rory told me a minute before I took that shot that he would only pose if he didn’t have to smile.

I love my son so much that I took both he and Amelia to see Star Wars, The Clone Wars this afternoon.  I almost fell asleep.  Next week we are going to see Wall-E, which I am really looking forward to.  Tomorrow I am taking Amelia to have her ears pierced – so I will probably be posting her new look tomorrow.

Yesterday Luke came home with a fantastic surprise, the first DVD of Season Two of “Rome“, from the video shop.  Woo Hoo, get the kids to bed and break out the Maya Gold Chocolate (Fairtrade, so guilt free)!

We both love this show.  The first season screened quite some time ago on free to air TV (very late at night), but the second season was picked up by a cable channel here, so we have not been able to watch it until it hit the DVD store.

Luke has quite an interest in Rome and read his way through the Masters of Rome Series by Colleen Mc Cullough.  One of my favourite reading pleasures is re-reading The Sarantine Mosaic by Guy Gavriel Kay (also a favourite author).  Although this is based on the Byzantine Empire and set in a much later period, much of the culture is the same, I don’t know how many times I have read it.

Last night’s two episodes didn’t disappoint.  I was even glad to see the Roguish Titus Pullo, despite what he did at the end of last season – strangely charming and thuggish all at the same time.

So enough links, and enough about Rome.  Here is a photo of the next little project to join the list.  A mug bag to take my new mug to sewing each week.

I’m not sure exactly how I will make this, but I think there will be a teapot motif involved .

This is the other side of the Mexican Ladies Apron. Thanks Debbie for reminding me to take a shot of it.

While the sun was shining, Luke and the kids cleaned out the car.  With the back seats down, the kids discovered that there was even room to lie down.  Of course they didn’t want to get out for ages.

Tomorrow we are going to hop in our nice clean car, and drive into one of the busiest suburbs in Melbourne to see Luke and his new office.  I’m a bit nervous about the parking, I have never been there before, but we have a plan for day one of the school holidays.  After that, I am making the plan up as I go along.

Finished!  The Emmeline Apron Pattern is lovely, and the Mexican Ladies so bright and cheerful (thanks for your generosity Lily).  I am really happy with the result.

I probably should have worn a few less layers to model it – it looks less shapely than it should, but it was cold and windy here in Melbourne today.

I will definitely be wearing this a lot, and I will be sure to make this apron up again.