Matching Pegs

After a 6 week absence, I finally sat behind the sewing machine, and made something!

This is my new wrap skirt – made using the “Make it Perfect” pattern – “The Versatile Wrap”.  I love the fabric, but I have to say honestly that the pattern is a great disappointment.  It is very basic and shapeless – something that would not bother me much if it were a free tutorial, but bothers me a lot when I paid $16 for it.  I suspect that all the bloggers who wrote about this being a “great pattern” had not made clothing before.  Having grown up with a prolific sewer for a Mother makes me quite aware of what should be expected of even a basic garment pattern.

Forgive me for this low light photo -it has been very grey here, so this is the best “self-photo” I could accomplish.

I made several modifications to the instructions, to try and give the skirt more shape and to finish it more neatly.  I added 2 darts to the back panel (4″ long 1″ wide) and 2 darts to each of the overlapping front panels (3″ long 1/2″ wide).  I also sandwiched the raw edges of both the top and bottom of the skirt, inside the waistband, and hem trim.

I probably would not have made this up at all, once I had a look at the pattern itself, had I not already purchased exactly the required amounts of fabric.

I am going to have to get a copy of Nikki’s book, next time I want to make a wrap skirt, I know that that girl can write a great pattern.

I thought I would share with you the little collection of characters that are behind me on the window-sill in the self portrait, (beside our front door).  The kids and I have been collecting the occasional Lego Mini-figures.  These little folks come in opaque packs, and it is luck that determines who you find inside.

One of my favorites is the Vampire.  The kids have arranged them in order of which series they came from – series 4 is the series in Australian stores at the moment.

Kimono girl is another favorite – there was much squeezing of packs, trying to work out which one contained her solid-block “legs”.

We are a Lego-loving family, and currently have 9 mini-figures in our collection: Zombie, Demolition Dummy, Deep Sea Diver, Vampire, Race Car Driver, Samurai Warrior, Kimono Girl, Sailor and Artist.

Do you have any at your place?

On the weekend, the Mr. and I celebrated 12 years of marriage.

I use the term celebrate lightly, because we didn’t actually go out for dinner or anything, but the whole family had a special meal together at home – Thai Chicken with Cashews, yum!  This special meal was cooked by the man himself, my one and only.

I love you Mr., more and more with every year that passes, and every drama we face together.  Goodness, we look younger and younger in this photo as each year goes by.

On another topic, here is a tantalizing glimpse of what I have been working on.

But because it is a present, I can’t show you yet.

I have really enjoyed working with this calm palette.

I promise to show you the finished present as soon as it is gifted.

What colours calm you?

When Amelia was born (over nine years ago) I planted this beautiful rose to commemorate the occasion.  When later we moved (twice in 9 months) the rose came with us in a large tub.  This time we are leaving it behind, as it will be a little complicated to extricate, and there is no obvious place, in the sun, to plant it at the new house.

Today I cut these, the first roses of the season, to enjoy them in our last days in our little house.  Their scent is divine.  If I end up finding a suitable spot at the new house, I will track down an Oklahoma (A rich, dark, red, hybrid tea) rose to plant again.

If not, I will still be able to enjoy them, we will pass the house daily on school days, I just won’t be able to pick them.

We move in 8 days – I am not sure when I will post again – this moving business is hard!  Perhaps when I next post it will be from our new house.

Well we have done it – and it was relatively painless (which is to say, it was pretty stressful and exhausting, but could have been much worse) and we got what we wanted for the place we have called home for 7 1/2 years.  While we polished our home until it shone, I felt quite sentimental and bittersweet.

Our home is clearly too small for us, and the new house is going to be fantastic, but there is so much of our personality stamped on this little house.  We have put lots of love into it, and the garden, and I will be very sad to leave.  I am sure I will find it hard to go past every day on the way to school with the kids – I hope the new owner takes care of the garden.  A man in his late 50′s, or perhaps early 60′s, has bought it.  He wants to live in it, (thank goodness – I know I would have been really sad if it was turned into a rental) but his children are all grown, so the house will be positively large for someone on their own.

Now that it is all sparkly, (the real estate copy said “A Sparkling Family Home”) would you care for a tour?

I know you have seen it before, but this shot of our bedroom shows the bedside tables that we borrowed from my Mum and Dad, which happen to actually match the bed, unlike the ones we own.  They also make the room look larger as they are much smaller.  How sad is it that we both need a clock radio – I recently bought mine because at night, with my glasses off, I can’t read the one on Luke’s side of the bed.

This is Michaela’s room.  It usually has a different set of drawers in it, but these match so nicely.  The chest of drawers is mine, and was inherited from my Grandmother – sadly it does not match our bed either.  There is so much more storage in the cupboards in the new house, that I think this will go in our lounge room, and store table linen, place mats and good cutlery – that way everyone will get to enjoy this treasured piece of furniture.

This is our bathroom, which sits between the second and third bedrooms.

It was really hard to shoot the kid’s room – it was such a grey old day, but here you can see where Rory and Amelia sleep.  They are both very excited that they will be getting a room of their own.  The beds they sleep on have actually served three generation of my family.  They belonged to my uncles, and then my twin brother and I.  Mine was painted bright apple green by my father when I first went into it.  I repainted it yellow when I was about 19, and I painted my bedroom in the same colour.  Rory’s bed is still the enamel red that my brother Julian had.

You have all seen this shot before….

…but never the other view – the shelves have been too messy.

It is amazing what removing 1 1/2 shelves worth of stuff and rearranging can do.

The lounge leads through to our lovely sunny meals area and kitchen, scene of many a blog photo, and containing the ubiquitous blogging poster.  Usually this area is filled with a much-too-large table that actually accommodates all 5 members of the family.  Currently it is in the garage, and the equally lovely table from the early days is in it’s place.  Both tables were in the family, and were lovingly refinished by Luke and I.  This little round table will probably be going in my sewing area – what a thrill it is to say that!

Here you can see the kitchen and laundry beyond – that door at the end is the only toilet in the place.  I am really going to enjoy sending guests to a toilet that actually has an adjoining bathroom, so that you don’t have to wash your hands in the laundry trough – and did I mention that after the move there will be 2 toilets – we will have an en-suite!!!!!  I really loved this kitchen – I can see almost the whole backyard from the window above the sink, which is perfect when you have small children.  We hid sundry items like the toaster, kettle, laundry baskets etc every time someone came through.

So this is also where the magic happens!  That second shelf, with all the red boxes, is actually my current “sewing room” and you can see where my sewing machine has always lived.  Thankfully it has a hard cover – the kids often sit on it to eat a snack, while watching telly – they are not allowed in the lounge with food.  So where do I keep my stash?  back in the lounge at the bottom of the shelves.

These clear boxes are what I like to think of as my “active” stash (the blue box is full of kid’s puzzles).  My stash is fairly diverse, but mainly made up of fat quarters or smaller pieces, due to the limited space.  There are two of the smaller boxes at the top of the bedroom cupboard which contain fabric for a couple of projects that I am not ready to start – mainly fabric I purchased in the USA in 2007, as well as some upholstery weight pieces.  I don’t dip into these fabrics so they are in a pretty inaccessible place.

Lastly on our tour – the deck and backyard – scene of many a happy barbie.

Thanks for indulging me on a nostalgic tour of our home – I can’t wait to show you the new one after we move!

Way back in January 2008, when I started this blog, one of my first posts was about this handbag that belonged to my Great Aunt Rita.  It is one of my most treasured possessions, and I always wished that I knew more about it.

Thanks to a recent episode of Collectors, I now know that it is a Lucite Handbag, probably from the 50′s.  “Lucite is a type of plastic which was used in aeroplane manufacturing during the World War II. After the war, it was allowed for use in the production of luxury goods including Lucite handbags.  These glamorous bags were made in America and almost entirely in New York”.

There are no trademarks on the bag so I am not sure which manufacturer made it, but it sounds like it is highly collect-able.   As mine is in very good condition, it could be worth a bit, but of course it is worth far more than money to me.

On another note, here is a really interesting (long) article about measuring childrens’ ability to delay gratification, and what that indicates about their ability to achieve in life.  It starts off describing “The marshmallow experiment” from the 1960′s where pre-school kids were given a marshmallow, and told they could eat it, but if they could wait until the researcher returned, without eating it, they could have two, instead of just one.  Only about 30% of kids could wait, and some kids ate the first one almost immediately.  The article is about the ability to master self control, and I found it via Unclutterer, another interesting website about taking control of the stuff in your life.  The people at Unclutterer mention the article in the context of training yourself into “having routines in place that keep the clutter out of your home and office and the self control and diligence to systematically complete the routines that keep your life in order.  Doing these not-so-fun tasks everyday ultimately pay off because you have more time and less stress in your life overall”.

It all sounds so good – I read Unclutterer because I wish I was a little better at dealing with all the “stuff” in my life (school notices, bills especially) but it all makes me wonder – as a 4 year old, would I have eaten that Marshmallow – would my kids?

What about you?  mmmmmm, marshmallow………

This is my cooking man.

For the first 26 years of my life he lived in my Grandma’s kitchen.

Since she passed away he has lived in mine.

Since Sunday he has been without his hat – he will never wear it again.

We woke up Sunday morning with Ants all over the kitchen – there was no food left out, they were searching for water, thanks to the big dry.  In cleaning up, his hat fell off, and shattered into hundreds of pieces.

I sobbed for about 10 minutes.

Let me just state for the record, that there are probably only 3 or 4 things in my house that would actually illicit such a response from me.  Even as I sobbed I was thinking of the people who have lost their whole homes full of precious things in the bush fires – feeling kind of guilty that I was taking it so hard.  As I cried I was thinking, how lucky am I that this is all I have lost.  It didn’t make the loss any smaller though.  Thankfully it was me that was carrying him, I would hate anyone else to see me cry like a baby and feel responsible.

Amelia, my wonderfully creative daughter has made a new hat.  Five minutes with the paper, scissors and sticky tape, and he is a new man.  Now I have two people to associate with my cooking man.

Today I came home with these beautiful gelati coloured mugs (Confetti Latte Mugs from Maxwell & Williams).  Not only do they come in a whole rainbow of colours, of which these are only 5, but the matt texture on the outside of them is just divine.  Michaela is completely enamoured with the tiny pink espresso mug, and has been sipping water from it all afternoon.

I didn’t need them, they were an extremely indulgent purchase, but as I unpacked them the penny dropped.  They were kitchen specific retail therapy.

These frames were another purchase – an amazing bargain.  Every second one cost$1.91, the other ones were $3.83.  Target were doing a 50% off the second frame, and these just happened to be heavily reduced.  But that’s not all.  Each one is really a two for one.  Here are the other sides…

Now I just have to stay away from the shops for a while – I should only be buying stuff I really need.

Made any entirely emotional purchases lately?

I have not been doing any sewing or crafting.  Latest news confirms that 1831 homes have been lost.  The death toll stands at 181, but is expected to top 300 as there are many more homes to be searched and many people still missing.  31 fires are still burning across the state, and Melbourne sits under a cloud of haze.  The fire season is expected to last for at least another two weeks. With so much tragedy so close to home it feels wrong to loose myself in creating, and I am not inspired at all.  Here are some photos for posts that were going to happen before the fires started burning up our state.

This Divine handbag was made by my fellow quilter Debbie, out of fabric I chose on our trip and “Quilt-shop-a-thon” down to Loch.  The pattern is The Sherbet Bag by Melly and Me.

The paisley and the pale purple fabric on the sides is from the Sanctuary range from 3 Sisters for Moda, which was released years ago, so I was lucky to stumble across some in Attic Quilts in Berwick. Over on the left are Julie and Debbie holding Molly (our Quilting Guild’s Mascot) outside Attic Quilts, which was only the second quilt shop we visited.

Here are some of my other purchases…..

This pile of fabric is all for the one project.  The little rolls are delicious, hand-dyed fat eights.  Most of these were purchased at the first shop, Craft Haven of Berwick.  The itty-bitty tube you can see is full of lovely Straw needles for needle turn applique, and they were recommended by Kellie of Don’t Look Now – she was right, they are lovely.  Debbie and I were lucky enough to have lunch the other day with Kellie – later in the year she is going to come and talk to our Quilters Guild.

The bag on the left is full of fabric from The Quilters Barn in Loch, and the overflowing bag on the right is from Candleberry Country in Yarragon, which was so full to the brim with beautiful fabric.

Molly was making friends at all the shops on our tour.  Here is Julie Wallace of The Quilters Barn holding Molly, despite the overwhelming bustle happening in her shop.  During our visit in there, the power went out and they could not even open the till.  We managed to make our purchases none the less.

While we were in Loch, a cool change swept through the place, which was so refreshing after a week of intense heat.  Unfortunately it meant that the quilts that were hanging everywhere were flapping in the very strong breeze – it was very hard to take a photo in focus.  Before we had seen them all, the quilts were being taken down to avoid damage in the weather.  Here are some photos I managed to take, however the photo quality is not good, my apologies.

This lovely wedding ring quilt is to inspire my friend Christine who is making one at the moment in 30′s fabrics.

Simone, this one is for you – it was a similar scale to the basket wall hanging you made Debbie – tiny.

This last quilt was beautiful, and massive.  It must have been a years worth of work, if not more.  I wish I had details of the makers, but I didn’t manage to grab a typed list.

Below is a picture of Debbie’s stash from the weekend.   From memory, pictured are fabrics for a skirt, two quilts, two bags and parts of several other projects.

On our tour I bought a couple of books, and these two fat quarters – actually the only pieces of fabric that I bought without particular projects in mind – they were just pretty.

Both the books were ultra pretty as well, and I actually have a signature in one of them.  Rosalie Quinlan who wrote “Gift”, the book on the left, was set up in the hall in Loch with her similarly creative sister Melly (Of Melly and Me – link in post above).  Debbie and I chatted to them for ages – afterwards we decided that they must have thought we were their craft groupies, as we were probably gushing with enthusiasm.

Rosie and Melly (pictured here with Molly) are currently running a silent Auction, selling some of their Softies – the money is for the bushfire appeal.  The auction runs until tomorrow morning, so go and take a look here.

I will post soon on some more things I have made recently, I may even start sewing again in an effort to buck up and be a little more positive.

Here are two pieces of work that are inspiring me at the moment.  I have put them back into circulation and they are above the dresser at the foot of our bed.

The Door Into The Garden – Grace Cossington Smith 1892-1984.

I just love the use of colour in this one, in fact it is full of colours that I love to use throughout my house. Grace Cossington Smith was instrumental in introducing postmodernism to Australia.  Probably her most widely recognised piece of work is of the Sydney Harbour Bridge under construction, called “The Bridge in Curve”.

Girl With Cigarette – Agnes Goodsir 1865–1939

Not much is know about Agnes Goodsir, but I did manage to find this little profile on the web.  I just love this portrait, (even though I wish cigarettes were not involved).  Unfortunately, you can’t really see the colours correctly in this shot – have a peek here for a more accurate depiction, thanks to the Bendigo Art Gallery.

Both are prints which I fell in love with, and purchased from the Bendigo Art Gallery years ago.  Because I did not have enough money to have them framed, I had them laminated at the University print shop – a move that allowed me to decorate our rental on the cheap, all those years ago.

Here is a little more decorating on the cheap.  That sad looking picture above the bed is what is going to be replaced by my new painting, when it is completed.  The roses are actually 5 pages from an old calendar, attached to a large piece of cardboard (Which came off some Billy shelves from IKEA) with spray adhesive.

Actually, using prints from calendars is a really good way to get a collection of matching prints you can frame for not much money.  Michaela’s room has three framed prints from a calendar based on the illustrations from The Illustrated “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe“.  The illustrations are by Christian Birmingham, who does lovely work.  If she was not tucked up in bed asleep, then I would take a photo for you, but you will have to follow the links instead.

What are your cheap decorating tricks?

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.

When I wanted to teach the kids how to sew, I decided to start with back stitch. I figured that it was the easiest stitch to follow along a line. One of the main things I learnt was to give them shapes to stitch that didn’t require any backtracking, (ie. letters s or o or l are good but t or a or x are tricky, as you need to stop and start again in different places). The above Heart and Teddy shapes are both simple outlines made by single lines that begin and end in the same place. I borrowed them from the design of this quilt. The kids did all the hand stitching except for the faces, and I did the machine sewing.

Amelia stitched this in two days when she was five and a half. Rory wanted to join in too, but found it a little harder at three and a half (which was no surprise to me, but he loved to do whatever Amelia was doing).

Rory picked it up again over a year later and finished it, and only now have I taken the time to put borders on it and bind it (the pins are still in binding at the back, which is why it looks a little wonky. I am going to hang it under Amelia’s one, but can no longer get the dear little hangers, (unless anyone out there can point me in the right direction) so I will have to think of something else.

I have been turning the kids’ drawings into stitcheries on things for years. Here are two of my favourites, taken from drawings that Amelia did when she was younger that I have stitched onto clothing. The first was done when she was about five, and is on a windcheater.

This second one is a portrait of her father that she drew when she was four and a half. I put it on a top for Luke for that Christmas. I recreated Amelia’s lines exactly, but just changed the colour of her black lines to white. I love the big eyelashes.

Both of these required quite a complicated method to mark them out, as even a light box was not going to work. I used coloured pencils, unwaxed baking paper, ordinary sewing thread and finally the stranded embroidery thread that you see here now. One of these days I will have to make a tutorial, as it takes quite a few steps to mark out this way. How do you mark out designs on black or very thick fabric?