Matching Pegs

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 am thrilled to have accomplished this during the school holidays.  Quite a bit of it was done last Sunday, while Luke took the kids to the park, and I finished it last night.

I love this fabric (Chez Moi - Charisma), and the layer cake made this so quick to cut up, so that I could get to the fun part - the arranging.  Here is a close up of some of the squares.

This quilt is to go on my lounge room chair - a tub chair that I bought second hand, which has less than attractive upholstery.  I need it to be slightly larger than it is, but was aiming for the look you get when you just finish off with binding.  I think I will give this a thin outer border and then bind it in the same fabric.

First I have to shop for just the right red fabric, or perhaps a green - but I will not be doing this with 3 little people in tow - I will wait until “normal programming resumes” next week, when the older two are back at school.

Amelia’s Capital A is finished!  We both had a lot of fun making this, and I think it is a really great birthday present.  I had a look around and you can buy them here.

Amelia did get her ears pierced the other day, and she was so brave, not a tear.  I was so impressed.

Doesn’t she look grown up.

Today I mocked up the bottom half of my mug bag design with a scrap of calico that I had lying around.  It already had some pellon ironed on to it, and I wanted to test out how large I needed to make the size of the base area.

I also wanted to test out how appliqueing onto a backing, with batting adhered to it already, would look.  This little flower was just the quickest thing I could whip up, because of course, there will be a teapot.   I am still thinking through the design, but I know that the base I planned with take a range of mug sizes.

We are going into the second week of the school holidays, so I am not sure how much crafting will be going on, but there will definitely be lots of park visiting and drawing and lego and trampolining.

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.

Sometimes the weeks are so full, that if you take the time to post, you will have nothing to show.  In no particular order, here are some of the things keeping me off the computer……

On Thursday I finally had 3 hours of delicious “alone time” and spent it with my felt, a hot cuppa, and the CD of Les Misérables.  It has been years since I listened to it, and I loved it all over again.  This time I made one of my flowers a little larger and turned it into a brooch.  I also made a couple more of the hair clips, all in my cherry blossom design.

The Chocolate brown one may even have to be for me.

While I was looking up some felt things on the great and mighty inter-web last week, I found this amazing array of work that defies description.  Take a look, if you have a few minutes, it is quite inspiring.

Thursday was a whole lot better than Wednesday, when I had yet another of my children sick on the couch all day.  Luckily Michaela improved by the next day after a bit of TLC, and was not as sick as Rory had been.

Thursday night I went along with my friend Debbie to North Of The Yarra Quilters Guild for the first time.  It was fun, and I sure need a regular night out midweek.

This is a Wooden “A” that Amelia was given for her birthday, along with some lovely scrap-booking paper and cut-out flowers. Today we mixed up some paint to paint the edges and the flowers.  Tomorrow we are going to cover the front and back face with the paper.  Such a lovely creative gift, (thank-you Kyra).

Yesterday was the last day of term, and the kids finished an hour early.  Instead of 3 kids, I brought home 5 for the afternoon.  The kids played really well together, and all four of the older kids allowed Michaela to join in, rather than complaining to me about her pestering, so there were happy people all round.  Let’s hope the next two weeks of school holidays continue on in the same vein.

Finally here is a Baby sized T-Shirt for a yet to be born baby on the other side of the world.  This is the Aussie native that I managed to sketch and stitch - hopefully tasteful rather than kitch.

What’s keeping you busy at the moment?

Health Update: Amelia and Rory - Good as New.  Luke - Has dodged the virus completely.  Claire and Michaela - On the mend, but still a bit droopy.  Life is starting to return to normal.  I still owe a lot of people an email, and the house looks like a bomb has hit it though.

Here is a look at the logos that I made for the kinder to consider, but firstly a look at the current logo…..

It took me a year or two to diplomatically find out that this was designed by someone long gone from the Preschool.  I really hate it.  A teacher from long ago drew the stick-figures, and the play equipment they are on, not to mention the lovely hand drawn wording.  The burgundy is such a lovely, youthful touch don’t you think?

 I presented all the logos in Black and White, because the place that they are most visible, is on the kid’s T-shirts and Windcheaters.  On these, they are printed in one colour to keep costs down for families.  So here is the first one of mine - a very straight logo.  The Preschool has a very large tree in the playground, and the kids all like to collect the leaves, which look like this…

The next two are based on children’s drawings, which is what most Preschools tend to do.  I used drawings that I had from when the older two were at Preschool.  They needed a little bit of modification - they have to be legible when they are very small on letterhead, as well as large, on the Preschool building.

I call this the Jumping Man Logo, and the one below is known as the Spotty Creature Logo.

Finally I presented a logo that represented growing, singing and playing.  I presented this one both in B&W as well as colour, to give the committee an idea of how I might use colour, once they chose one of the options.  Here is the Birdie logo, in colour, but not necessarily the colour it would end up as.

So I will find out in a month which one they like best.  I am not a graphic designer, I sure a professional could do better, but I did it for free, and I had fun, so hopefully it is a win-win situation.  Anything has to be better than what the preschool currently has!  Which one do you like?

I guess it was inevitable. Michaela and I have succumbed to the dreaded virus.

This weekend was full of family related birthday activities for Amelia’s birthday (Going out to a Chinese lunch being one of them), which I managed to make it through, but completely crashed on Sunday.  Here is a shot of Amelia with her candles, wearing the scarf I secretly made her about a month ago.

The cake is a pretty run of the mill (but yummy) chocolate cake.  Amelia has put in an order for a castle for next weekend’s birthday party with her friends.  At this stage I am not sure if I am up for it.

Mickey Moo and I were packed off to bed on Sunday afternoon, and apart from sleeping for a couple of hours, I also made a little start on this.

One silver lining, from Rory’s horrible ear infection (a secondary infection from the virus I now have) is the little bottle from his medicine.  The glass bottle with the childproof lid was perfect to keep tiny buttons in, that I purchased for this project.  Now a certain little person can look safely.

Tonight I am going to stagger off to a Preschool Committee meeting, to present 4 alternatives to the current (appalling) logo.  I will give you all a peek when I am well enough to think straight again.  I will leave you with a look at the last candle standing, I am quite pleased with the photo.

Last night the finishing touches were added to the farewell present for “Ms Superteacher*”.

I dressed the little dolly, and added her hair.  Amelia did a fair bit of the Thank-you embroidery on the apron.  We are both pretty pleased with how she turned out.  Her dress is made of the same fabric as Amelia’s reader bag that she uses daily at school, so hopefully she will remind Ms Superteacher* of Amelia.

Yesterday morning, after returning from the school drop off, I heard a knock at the door.  A package! I won a giveaway from the lovely Lily at “Block A Day“.  Here is a look at the contents.

This fabric was a special find of Lily’s, in a funny little shop, and she calls the print “Our Lady of the Many Talents” because of what the Lovely Mexican “Our Ladys” are doing.  On the selvage it is called Tree of Life by Kathy Hall, (Museum of new Mexico, Museum of International Folk Art, under licence to Andover Fabrics).  It is amazing fabric and Lily has very generously sent me a whole metre of it.  Also in the package was a few photo/cards of Lily’s work, if you have not seen her site “Block a Day” then you really must.

Not only is Lily super talented, but she is extremely prolific, her sewing output is amazing.  She is also so warm and positive, and when we discovered each others sites, I quickly found I had made a new friend, (of course I suspect Lily has that talent of making everyone she corresponds with online feel like they are her instant friend - pretty tricky to accomplish when you have not met in “Real Life”).  As Amelia put it yesterday afternoon, “If you comment on her blog, and she comments on yours, she is like a pen-friend Mum”.   Anyhow, my favourite of the little cards is her Easter Table Runner, which Amelia loved as well, “Look Mum, Yo-Yo’s!”.   Michaela loves them all, and they keep disappearing with her.

So back to the Tree of Life Fabric.  Because Lily has been so generous, I think I have enough to make a new apron.  I’m a one apron kind of gal, I always wear the same one, unless it is in the wash.  My current apron is a canvas one with botanical illustrations on it, that I gave my Grandmother.  I was given it back when she passed away.  Because I wear an apron every time I cook the evening meal, it is getting grubby and worn in an unwashable type of way.  I think it is time for a new one.  Now all I have to do is find a co-ordinating fabric or two, and this project can join the queue :-).

What is in your project queue?

*not her real name

I think I have established that I am a little funny and a little precious about my pegs.  Not only do I like them to match when I am hanging out the washing, but I also house them in style (see banner picture) and I never leave them out in the weather.  Once I have pegged out the washing, I bring the basket of remaining pegs back into the house, so neither the pegs, nor the basket fade (or get wet) anymore than they will through use.  Not yesterday. 

I have a sick little boy at home at the moment, and he called out to me while I was hanging out the washing so I abandoned the peg basket to it’s fate (after all people are more important than pegs you know).  Later I discovered that a large bird (Probably a Pied Currawong - there are lots about at the moment) had been using my basket for target practice.

The mess the bird left may be more than a wash in the machine can fix, as the bird had clearly been enjoying the berries you see at the top of this post.  Redecoration may be in order.

That little guy you see in the picture is a little brass Wombat, who is actually a sprinkler.  I have never used him (we are not allowed to use sprinklers, unless they are watering with tank water) but he makes a nice ornament if you ignore the nozzle fitting coming out his left side.

On Monday, Amelia found out that her class teacher will be taking a position at an exclusive Catholic boys school, and will be finishing up next Friday, on Amelia’s birthday.  We are all very sad about this as she is an excellent teacher and a lovely person.  To show our gratitude for the time she has spent as Amelia’s teacher, the two of us have embarked on a project together.  Here is our WIP.

Amelia is going to embroider “Thank You Ms Superteacher*” on the little apron.  I just have to assemble this little lady, and add some hair.  This is a pattern I have making up for years, either as Christmas Angels, or cloth dolls.  I usually make Christmas Angels for the classroom teachers, as the school year in Australia finishes at Christmas time.

So what do you all make for Teacher presents?

* not her real name, but Amelia will be embroidering her real name. 

While I had my folder of patterns out, I found another that I thought I would show you for The Friday Archive.  These are more Christmas ornaments, in the shape of stars.  One for each member of the family.  We have five, that feature our First and Middle names on one side, and our birth dates on the other. 

Several years ago I made 12 for my Mother-in-Law, one for each of her Grandchildren.  I have since added 2 more, and will need to make another this November.  That page on the right hand side is a page of swatches of fabrics that I have used, so that I can choose fabric for new stars, that fit in with the others.