Matching Pegs

…there has been too much going on, including this – Rory bringing home the 4 x 100m relay in 1st place.

Rory was one of only a few 9-year-old kids, from the school, to qualify for the district athletics.  His relay team will now be going on to compete for the school in the “Zone”.

He was pretty impressive in the 100m sprint

He makes it look pretty effortless, and he loves it.  Running is his idea of fun.

I couldn’t get a shot of the finish, but he almost caught that boy in front – it was very close.  He came in second.

Apart from Athletics, I have been to a 20 year school reunion, and there have been several concerts to attend, including Amelia performing with a mass choir at Federation Square, which was fantastic.

The concerts have also kept me busy on the computer.  I have created tickets and programmes for 3 separate school concerts – not amazing graphic design, but time consuming none-the-less.  If only I could remember to bring my camera to the concerts, to capture my offspring performing.

On a creative front, I have not had time for much, except putting aside small piles of fabric for later.  Here is some of my Koala fabric, (that my sister purchased from Spoonflower) with a pile of coordinates we picked out.  At some point I will turn them into a quilt.  Now I just have to find somewhere to store them in the meantime…

Have you got lots of little piles of fabric waiting for you?  What do you store them in?

On Thursday Michaela turned 6, and yesterday we had a party to celebrate.  This is the amazing cake that Luke made with the kids on Saturday.  There are the equivalent of 4 cakes in the castle, with additional jam rolls for the towers.  It is hard to see, but Michaela placed 3 little fairy figurines on the cake, along with some ducklings.  All I did was a tiny bit of the icing.

It feels like yesterday that Michaela was this big.  Her personality has always been pretty sunny – she is the family charmer, a real delight.  It is clear from all the friends she has made in her first year of school that she is a lot of fun to be around (although I will admit that I am biased, because I love her to bits). She loves to draw, and dance around to music, and is really enjoying learning how to read, making great leaps forward due to her persistence.

Poor Michaela ended up with an upset tummy on Thursday, so missed out on any cake on her actual birthday.  Here she is feeling poorly, but appreciating her new beanbag that Grandma made for her, and wearing her new clothes from Nanna and Poppa.  Mum has made all three kids a beanbag this year, and they love reading in them in the evenings before bed.

Mum has done well to make them to coordinate with their bedrooms, and their taste and personalities.  It might be hard to make out, but Rory’s beanbag is covered in spiders.  Every evening he sits in his beanbag with his “Spacewalk” quilt over his knees and reads his Harry Potter books.  He started it all off by asking for a beanbag to read in.

While the other two have beanbags covered in Polar fleece, Mum made Amelia’s out of patchwork fabrics that coordinate perfectly with her Doona cover and feature Polka dots and Scissors.

Mum was so pleased to make a handmade gift for each of them that was so eagerly anticipated, excitedly received and happily enjoyed.  She was also pretty grateful to have a daughter that was prepared to stand in the bath and help wrangle the polystyrene beads into the bags!

Do you, or your kids have a special spot where you/they like to read?

Spring seems to be arriving here at the house of Matching Pegs.  It is too nice to stay inside and blog.

Instead, I’m creating something tiny, while I sit outside in the sunshine.

Today Amelia turned 11.  Wow.  We have been parents for 11 years, I can’t believe it.  Amelia, who was our tiny, little, first baby, is a happy, healthy, talented, caring, imaginative big girl.

Sometimes I look at my family and I feel like I have won the lottery.  We are so lucky that this ordinary life is ours.  It is everything we ever wanted.

In so many ways, Amelia is a chip off the old block, but with plenty of her own quirks thrown in for variety’s sake.  She crafts the most detailed little drawings, loves eating raw pasta, spends many happy hours playing with my button collection, hates to get her fingers dirty, (unless she is cooking) and quite unlike her parents – has amazing will power to save her sweets until later!  She was pretty excited about the bike we had waiting downstairs for her this morning, which she had to wait until after school to try out.

Here is Amelia in the beanbag her Grandma made her, for her birthday.  Amelia was pretty impressed with Mum’s fabric selection, in her favorite shades of aqua, to co-ordinate perfectly with her bedroom.  Mum presented it wrapped in an old sheet, which was a trip down memory lane – a sheet from my childhood bed.

Here is another trip down memory lane – Amelia, right before she became a big-sister (21 months old).  Happy Birthday Amelia!

Considering that it is hand piecing, I have been whipping through this “Wheel Of Fortune” Quilt.  I completed the purple and orange rings while I was on Sewing Camp, last weekend.  Since then I have done a little more each evening, and have made it just past half way, with the brown ring.

A really interesting pattern emerges from ring 4 (orange) to ring 5 (brown).  Unlike the previous progression, where each pair of squares leads to three diamonds, (yellow to purple) some pairs of orange squares lead to three diamonds, and some lead to two diamonds.  I decided that each pair of diamonds should be made of the same fabric, to highlight this pattern of 3, 2, 3 on the brown ring.

Once I have completed the 5th (brown) ring, I am going to make the next ring, of squares, with the dusty pink fabrics you see being auditioned here.  The ring of diamonds that follows will most likely be green, but I reserve my right to change my mind – after all, that’s part of the fun.  Usually I design things on paper and tend to stick to my plan, but not this time.  I am not even sure how big I will make it.

Do you tend to change you mind as you make things, or are you one to stick to a plan?

After lots of planning on the computer (in Illustrator), I whipped up this little quilt top.

I wanted a fairly restful (but hopefully not boring) background to add some simple applique to.  The applique is going to be some bright, fairly large circles, I like to think of them as “bubbles”.

As usual, Lotta tried to steal the show….

She was actually playing her favourite game – soccer!  This is an old ball, from a game that Rory had, that was similar to Totem tennis, but with a Soccer ball.  You can see the little tag where the elastic string used to attach.  That is where Lotta can pick up the ball (which is obviously far too big to fit in her mouth).  If you kick the ball for Lotta, she will chase it around for ages, pushing it with her head, until she can find the “tag” to pick it up.  She loves it.  When I was taking photos, Lotta saw me nudge the ball out of my way, and came bounding up to have a game.

Here you can see me preparing some “bubbles” to applique onto the quilt.  I am using a method that I have used before, which involves sewing them (right-sides together) with some very light, fusible interfacing – which is NOT ironed onto the applique fabrics.  Once you cut a slit in the interfacing, and turn them out the right way, you can iron them onto the quilt.  This means that the edges are all evenly turned under, and can be hand appliqued down to sit quite flat.

The interfacing I am using is called “Floriani Wet and Gone“, which after (vigorous) washing, completely disappears.  I am planning on hand sewing these circles down, while I am away on retreat.

I love working with circles, but lots of people seem a little scared of them.  Are you?

Here is my brand new project, with a new-to-me technique, hand-piecing.

I am lucky enough to be heading off to “sewing camp” as Michaela calls it, next weekend, (also know as the annual retreat for our quilting guild).  Due to space restrictions, I thought this year I should concentrate on hand work, and let others have more space for their sewing machines.  I do plan to take my machine, to hopefully fit in sewing a skirt, but I will probably use one of the dining tables, and clear away at meal times.

The quilt I am making will be a “Wheel of Fortune Quilt” (from one of Kaffe Fasset’s books) which Cathy (Cabbage Quilting) has made twice, and single-handedly inspired me to give it a crack.  The quilt is made with alternating rings of diamonds and squares, each ring being made in a different colour.  That pile of fabric you can see (above) is made up of the fabrics I plan to use, but as the larger rings need up to 88 diamonds (if my maths in correct – I don’t have a book to follow) I may have to change my plans.  I may not have enough of the required fabrics per colour, but because I am winging it, I will only find out as I go.

Here are my homemade templates.  You may be able to see the little tag “handles” that I made for them, by sticking on a bit of sticky-tape, with the centre stuck to itself, (clear as mud huh?).  My accuracy is a bit iffy, because I was aiming to make the templates with 3″ long sides, but they are a fraction longer.  It will be okay though, because the sides on the squares and diamonds match each other.

I have been using the heat-erasable “frixion pen”, I mentioned in my previous post, to mark the sewing lines.  This means I am avoiding pressing the piecing that I have already done, as it will make the lines disappear.  I am a bit nervous about how I will eventually go pressing this quilt, because of all the tricky intersections, particularly the one in the centre.

I have one other new project to hand-sew on retreat, but I will show you that another day.

Have you been hand-piecing recently?

Last weekend Amelia’s best friend, Olivia, came over so that the girls could do some more sewing.  They were working on the slightly larger version of my apron pattern that I had just drafted, (so really these are prototypes).  The girls chose their favourite motif from a whole range of food-themed appliques that I designed ages ago, and slightly different applique fabrics from my stash.

Apart from sewing the appliques on, using the dangerous rotary blade, and a tricky bit of top-stitching to attach the pockets, the girls did the lot.  We had a really fun time and they are very proud of their aprons.  I found having one sewing machine (set to very slow) and a space to pin and measure was perfect.  There was barely any standing around waiting for a turn.

When it was time to sew around the circumference of the apron (including the two curved sections that go under the arms) with a 1/2″ seam allowance, I decided to use a trick – to draw the stitching line on.  Until then, the girls had been sewing using the 1/4″ foot to align against.  I gave each of the girls, a ruler and one of my new “frixion”pens, which are erasable pens.  The ink is designed to erase when you “rub it out” using the rubber tip, but the tip is not really an eraser, it is actually heat, that the friction or rubbing creates, that makes the ink disappear.  This means the ink disappears when you iron over it!  This made the going much easier for the girls, because they just had to follow the line they had marked, with the needle.  I know they could have marked a line with chalk, or washout pen, but these lines are really crisp and stand out.

Since the weekend I have been really busy.  On Monday I went with the preps on an excursion to the Zoo.  Big groups of 5 and 6 year olds are exhausting, (but so enthusiastic).  We had a lovely time, and the fact that there was a gentle rain all day meant that the school groups pretty much had the Zoo to themselves.

On Tuesday the kids had no school, so were home with me all day.

Yesterday I drove out to Healesville with my Mother and her friend, to see the portraits created by the Archibald Prize Finalists  for 2011, at TarraWarra Museum of Art.  It was wonderful, I am so glad I went.  I enjoyed all the different styles of portraits, but this one was my favorite.

Finally, I will leave you with this lovely clip, celebrating the Sydney Opera House.  You can read more about it here.

Here is a quick top I whipped up (appliqued onto) for our little friend Jake, for his birthday.  We gifted it along with a game, Rush Hour – a fantastic puzzle game for one.

A garment that is personalised for a child never fails to impress, (said child) something my Mother certainly knew.  She made my brother Julian a “Super-J” top (in the style of Superman) when we were children that he wore everywhere.

Do you personalise gifts?  I love to.

Taking advantage of the appearance of the sun this weekend, I took these photos of the quilt I have made for my brother’s partner, Liz.  Because we live amongst the gum trees, the light is a little dappled, but you can get the general idea.  In fact, this shot does not quite depict the true colours of the quilt, but seeing Lotta peek out from under the quilt makes me smile, so I though I would lead with it.

This one represents the colours a little better.  I called it the Ruby, Coral and Chocolate Quilt – These things are all precious materials, as far as I am concerned, and I would definitely give Liz my very last piece of chocolate*, which shows the height of my esteem for her.  You can read some of the quilt details here.

I am really pleased with the pieced back, and am proud to say that I quilted the whole thing myself.  No mean feat, as it fits on a queen-sized bed.

The blue is a lovely reproduction fabric, a soft colour that plays nicely with the other colours, and reminds me of Liz.  The brown paisley is one of my all-time-favourite fabrics, a “Three Sisters” fabric by Moda, which I have been hoarding since my trip to the USA in 2007.

I am extremely pleased to have made this (very large) quilt all by myself, including the quilting.  Special mention goes to my very kind friends at NOTYQ who helped me pin baste it on the very large table in our meeting room.

Have you completed any large projects recently?

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*but only if she asked me for it, I’m not entirely altruistic.