Matching Pegs

The Internet and blogging are such a double edged sword.  I love the inspiration and connection of blogging and reading blogs, but they can be an amazing time devourer as well as a purchase inducer.

Lately I have been loosing the battle, spending more time reading than making – I think because I am tired and the weather has been cold and dreary.  Admittedly, some of my reading matter is from the library, and not online, but I think it is time for spring weather to get me more motivated.

Here is a purchase that I made for no good reason at all, except that I thought it looked fabulous.  Meet my Happle.  I really have to blame this purchase on Design*Sponge, because if I had not seen it on their site, I would never had “the wanties” for it.

Without bloggy sharing I would never have tried making my own Chai Tea mix either – thanks Suse for the recipe, it is yummy – pop on over to see how to make it, just don’t expect it to last long – it does contain Sweetened Condensed Milk, after all.

These last little acquisitions have nothing to do with the Internet, and everything to do with the generosity of like minded people.  My lovely friend Barbie, from my quilting guild, gave me these pegs last night.

Why?

Just because they are “the best pegs ever, and they are all one colour, so they will all match”.

Thank you Barbie – I have tried them and they are pretty snappy

oh, and the bright orange goes really well with denim……

I have been busy today with the fusible web, whipping up a quick Library Bag for Michaela.  If I had more time I would have needle-turned the flowers, but we were only given a weeks notice that we needed one for Kindergarten.  I am planning on raw edge appliqueing, on the machine, around all the shapes.

These pictures don’t really do the fabrics justice – it is awfully grey around here.  Playing with different fabric combinations for each flower was lots of fun, and although I am not really a big fan of fusible applique, it can’t be beaten for speed.

In other news around here, Rory has just received his first pair of glasses.

This means four out of five of us in the Matching Pegs family now wear glasses.  I think they really suit him, and at least poor vision is a relatively easy thing to correct.  There are much worse things to pass onto your kids.

It is hard to see in this photo (thanks again to the winter light), but the outsides of the glasses frames are bright blue and the insides are bright green (like a light-sabre), so we have both of Rory’s favorite colours covered.

Last Thursday I met this lovely lady at “Patchwork on Central Park” for a little shopping, tea, chat and political discussion.  I am sure that many of you will know that this is Patch Andi, (on the right, that’s me on the left) and I was recently lucky enough to win her giveaway.  Rather than mail my winnings, (see below) I suggested that we meet for a cuppa.  When Andi suggested meeting near Patchwork on Central Park, I certainly didn’t need my arm twisted.  I used to pass this shop twice daily, back when I lived nearby and was working in the neighbourhood, but I had never crossed the threshold!

As I drove over to meet Andi, there was the successful leadership challenge in parliament, resulting in our first female Prime Minister.  I was glued to the radio.  Political talk was everywhere that morning, including at our table.  Andi is really easy to talk to, I fear I talked her to death.

I was excited that the book I won was signed by the author, Kathreen.  I have followed Whip Up from the very start, (and had two tutorials on the site).  The book is full of loveliness.  The Anna Maria Horner fabric is already spoken for, Mum loved it, so it is to be a scarf for her birthday, with the left over going to both of my girls for mini scarves.

While we were at Patchwork on Central Park, I fell head over heels.

How had I never seen this Gypsy Caravan Amy Butler Fabric before?  I quickly put together this little pile to compliment the divine fabric (on the right) which I believe was from Amy’s first fabric line for Free Spirit in 2003*.  I have decided that this is a birthday present for me.  I have made a much larger pile or co-ordinating fabric from my stash, and have spent hours and hours planning a quilt with graph paper and Illustrator.  It will have an applique medallion centre which I have already designed and stitched up – Tea in the Garden.  I will make it again in this colourway.  I have added 5 borders which include pieced stars, and a little more applique.  I can’t wait to get started, but the 2 weeks of school holidays will slow me down somewhat.

I finished off the day at the regular Thursday night “sit and sew” with the ladies from the Guild, where I received more birthday presents (my birthday was the previous Friday).  The pressies including some very special handmade ones – check them out here and here.  I am off this weekend with some of the NOTYQ Guild ladies to the Daylesford Craft Experience, which I am sure is going to be lots of fun, and brighten up the darkness of winter.  When the sun eventually shines I may even get a chance to photograph the fabric postcard I have made for the official swap – It took me 4 days before I got enough light to catch the fabric pile above.

Thank-you Andi and the NOTYQ ladies, for a day that was like another birthday.

* I have since called the shop to buy a little more Gypsy Caravan- my quilt design got quite big.  Have you even needed a fabric that much?

We have three birthdays in our house, within 12 days in June.  Mr Matching Pegs (Luke), Rory and finally my birthday (which technically I share).  That’s why things have been a little bit quiet on the blog front.

There was a certain amount of switching celebrations around, to fit in around the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.  This meant that Rory celebrated his birthday yesterday, with 6 of his friends over for a “Masterchef” birthday party.

The boys made 2 mini pizzas each (with dough prepared beforehand).  They shaped their bases, and topped them with their favorite toppings.  After pizza, they moved onto decorating biscuits as footballs, and then in their football team colours.  There was probably too much colouring involved – 8 year old boys do not need extra hyping up – but they had a great time.

Luke outdid himself, making “The Ghostly Galleon” from the much loved “Women’s Weekly Kids’ Birthday Cakes” cookbook for the party.  We put the candles in, on an angle, in order to keep the flames away from the paper sails, but we thought they also looked like cannons.

On Rory’s actual birthday, Luke made “Zappo the Alien” from the same book, which the kids decorated themselves.

The most meaningful cake experience for me involved a very humble, store bought cake, last Friday.

I was able to blow out the candles with my twin brother Julian, who has spent exactly a year in hospital, and has just been discharged.  The last year has been very, very, hard.  My family is feeling like we are emerging, tentatively, from the depths of a very dark tunnel.  We are all very changed by the experience, but so amazingly grateful that we are coming out the other side.  It was really the best birthday present possible, to be able to share it with Julian, (which is as it should be, when you are a twin).  The photo of us is less than flattering, being an action shot of us blowing out the candles, but it amuses me that Lotta, who is on Julian’s lap, looks like she is blowing out the candles too.  Oh, and you can see my new red glasses!

My birthday present from Luke arrived this morning, some Lilac Ugg Boots to warm up my tootsie this winter.  As you can see out the window, it is cold and grey, and foggy.  They match the cake at the start of the post, which is a little something I am working on for someone else’s birthday.

So, have you made any amazing cakes lately?

Anyone that has even a passing knowledge of my wardrobe knows that this colour is one of my wardrobe staples.  I suspect even the crossing man at school (the friendly Ken) could tell you that this colour pops up in my personal palette all the time.

Long time readers will know that we had a soft, apple-green feature wall in our old house that was a backdrop to many a photo – I still miss it.

When I saw this bag out of the corner of my eye the other day, my feet changed direction to check it out before the thought had even formed.  The sign that said “50% off already reduced price” sealed the deal.  I didn’t even check out the dimensions and make-up of the internal pockets.

It was almost the same story when I spied this necklace on Janelle Wind’s blog the other day.  It had my name all over it.  She too was extolling the virtues of Apple Green.  Before I knew it I had clicked the link (to Fresh Metal) and purchased my own little piece of accessory happiness.  There is another beautiful aqua one there now,  don’t you just love etsy!

Clearly I needed a stylist when this photo was taken.  Mr Matching Pegs (behind the camera) sure didn’t notice that the ribbon was twisted.  I think I know how it happened though.

I was heading out for the evening, and Miss Michaela was less than happy.  So this photo was taken to cheer her up.

It worked!  I also took the opportunity to catch Rory with his much more normal haircut, looking like himself again.

So, I’m interested, what colour is your wardrobe riddled with (and you can’t say black, or white, it has to be a colour )?

Before

After.

My friend Debby and I went to IKEA yesterday, I tagged along rather than doing all the boring errands I had on my list.  I picked up a few little things, including the handles above, which are slightly less orangy-red than they appear in the photo.  I have been eying them off for quite some time.

IKEA in Richmond seemed to have way more fabric this visit, and I could finally see what all the fuss was about.  I bought some linen/cotton and some thick cotton in a natural linen colour, with red and pink stripes.

Regarding the sneaky peek – I will reveal all, once I have finished writing the tutorial.

I am sitting here bubbling with excitement, listening to Ben Lee sing “Catch My Disease” and today my disease is pure fabric-love.  I have finished putting together the string quilt top, “New House Quilt” that I started at the quilt retreat back in August, when we had just signed the paperwork on our new house.  I am extremely happy with how it looks.

I was trying to capture the full width of it, and so I laid it on the lounge room floor.  Sadly the light is a little grey today, so it is a pretty ordinary photo, but it did make me stop and think – what an awesome rug this would make!

I changed the planned format a little, it is 10 blocks by 6 blocks, (instead of the planned 8 x 8 ) because I am going to hang it on this wall.

Early this morning (7:30am – which is early, because it is still the school holidays) there was a ring on the door bell.  It was delivery of a lovely box of fabric happiness, which was ordered weeks ago from the States.

Initially I was just going to order these Kona Cotton packs, ( 44  x 2 1/2″ strips in the Dusty colour-way, and 21 fat quarters in the Greener Pastures colour-way) but then I found some more delights to tempt me – it was all 35% off.

Some Kaffe – Roman Glass in Leafy, Pastel, Gold and Jewel (actually my first purchase of Kaffe fabric).

and finally, some beautiful “Wildwood”by Erin McMorris – Sophie’s Garden in orange, Forest in lime, Pressed Leaves in fuchsia and Forest in green.  Don’t they all look wonderful together.

Looking at them I realised that the Wildwood and my previously purchased Far Far Away and Meadowsweet were going to play really nicely together (they look more harmonious in better light – it is very overcast today).

I think I have bought enough fabric to last me all year.  What prompted it all was Elizabeth of Oh Fransson!’s “Paintbox Quilt Along” ( for which I bought the Kona Cotton Roll Up) which I plan to get to eventually – go and check it out, it looks fantastic.

So, have you caught my fabric-love “disease”?

Once I saw it on sale I just had to get some of the beautiful “Far Far Away fabric” by the ultra talented Heather Ross.

She had me at Unicorn.

I bought half meters from online stores Earthgirl Fabrics ($9.95 AUD per half metre) and Modern Retro Textiles ($12.60 AUD per half metre) which both have free shipping here in Australia.

I bought some of the “frog prince”, “Snails”, “Wildflower” in Magenta and Gold, “Princess and the Pea” and “Unicorns in Blush and Magenta.

I bought 3 Sandi Henderson fabrics from her new line “Meadow sweet” to co-ordinate (also from Modern Retro Textiles at $11 AUD per half metre).

Eventually this will become a quilt, but I am not exactly sure what form it will take, of when I will get to it.

In the meantime I have to get back to work.  We are hosting a belated Christmas BBQ tomorrow for 27 – almost all of Luke’s family are going to come, and it is the first time we are hosting “the Christmas-do”.  That’s why there are still Christmas decorations up in our house (see the first photo).  Have a lovely weekend.  Oh, and perhaps you can tell me what you have bought that you couldn’t resist…

Lately, my family of origin has been having a pretty terrible time.  There has been very serious health problems and lots of very hard news.  Yesterday was a low point, leaving me (and all the other members of my family) feeling extremely fragile.  Today my Mother, Michaela and I took ourselves off to a beautiful nursery/cafe to sit in the sun, and be fed lunch.  It is amazing how restorative such simple pleasures can be.  Therapy ended up encompassing a purchase of these shoes.

How could I leave them behind – they had all my favourite colours, and were predominantly red.

There was one arguement for leaving them behind – my friend Debbie (who is in another state at the moment) bought a pair of these when she was down the coast about a month ago.  Will you forgive me Debbie – even thinking of your pair, I still could not fight “the wanties”?

Spring is well and truly in the air here in Melbourne.  Being the changeable city it is (four seasons in one day) there has been some back and forth with cooler weather, but I can feel the overall change on the wind.

These beautiful flowers were put together by “Aunty” Libby, (a much loved almost-family-member) at our Church’s “Spring Fair” on the weekend – she knows me well -she said “These are just your colours”.

I spent the afternoon painting children’s faces – mostly butterflies, and the occasional spider or pirate. When I get the photos from my Mum’s camera, I will have to show your my kid’s faces – Amelia had the most unusual “face” there – she is so imaginative.

My kids had a lovely time, there were pony rides, a handball competition, biscuit decorating and plaster painting.  Michaela even had a chick on her head in the farm area!  There were loads of volunteers, and all proceeds went to charities (not our Church).  Some of the money will be going all the way to an Orphanage in Uganda that the church has been raising funds for, for years.

Like Lotta, who has had her winter coat removed, I am well and truly wanting to leave Winter behind.  August was the sickest month in our house that I can remember – there was less than a handful of days when there was not a sick member of the family on the couch – we were at the doctors 7 times in about 5 weeks.  Nothing serious for my household though – the usual winter ills.

Winter has also been dark emotionally, as my brother has been in hospital for the entire season – hopefully he is getting closer to being well enough to go home in the near future.  My sister had lots of difficult health news too – so we are all wanting Spring to roll on in and bring a fresh new start.

This photo was taken in one of my favourite places – a very large park near home, with hours worth of walking track.  My Mum, Michaela and I visited it last week, on one of the first warmer days.  I am going to make an effort to get outside as often as I can, it really lifts the spirit.

What place really lifts your spirits?