wooden tiny spools & an idea

Today we went for a drive to the Tyabb Packing House Antique Centre, lots & lots of nice things to look at - most things we loved were a little pricy. I did spy these wooden cotton spools which I love, 9 for $20.

Not too much has been happening on the sewing front, still hand quilting the scrappy quilt but I have had an idea for my next quilt. I'm going to venture away from the safe world of squares & rectangles and give hexagons a go. I'm thinking of liberty flowers surrounded by the old faithful cotton/linen blend - I think the hexagons will be around 2" wide

Here's my current Liberty stash, I think it needs to be bigger......... yes, most definitely!

Thank you to three buttons

I just wanted to say a big thank you to Angela of three buttons, she was very kind & generous to send me a mr electron kit to make for Filip after seeing 'space flight' in my blog back in april. I thought Angela was going to send me a pattern, but today the postman delivered a complete kit - WOW! what a lovely surprise. If any of you haven't been by three buttons I suggest you do for some great inspiration. Thank you - thank you - thank you Angela x.

I also wanted to share the birthday card I made (with the help of hubby) for Flip, Flip loved it he said it's "Flippy the astronaut" with much glee. I found a retro picture on the web, hubby photoshopped flip in and I just added some text - and there you have it, a homemade birthday card.

happy birthday bunting

It will be flip's birthday next Saturday, he'll be 6 - time goes by so quickly. I've been meaning to make some birthday bunting for a while now, something to replace the cheap looking foil/plastic crinkled up bought one. This is unisex so we can use it for everyone. I used some denim that I've had for ages - the reverse side and fabrics from my stash/scraps for the letters.

I hand sewed on each letter using blanket stitch or just a round & round (don't know if that has a technical term...) stitch. A half inch strip was sewn on the bottom and I frayed the bottom edges of each letter. Strung them on some cotton rope and there you have it!

Here's a little more detail on each letter, a great little week-end project.

a holiday & a thank you gift

We are going on a holiday next week for about a week (and I can't wait) so I thought I'd make a bag as a thank you gift (along with a bottle or 2 of wine). It's a relatives' house and they didn't want any cash for our stay. The bag is a cotton/linen blend with leather handles lined with a cotton print, a good size for the milk, bread & paper - or whatever you like.

Popped in to Mum & Dad's on the weekend and offered to help Mum out with her quilt, this is her first (after a little convincing) and she chose one that involved 60 degree angles & jelly rolls. So I've cut out 2 rolls and she seems to have come to a bit of a stand still, after several months. Mum has sewn together quite a few rows which look great, but of late - not so much. The excuses range from emailing, being on skype, watching tv and on it goes... (you know it's true Mum, love you!) I've put a couple of rows together in between my quilt, it's quite nice to do something different and I don't mind. After all, I feel a little guilty having talked her into making a quilt...

This is just a snippet of the on-going quilting. I imagine it's going to take another month or so until the quilting is finished. What to do next.....?

it's cold and knitted items are required

It's a slow process, but every night I do a little more. I'm loving the linen thread, the randomness of the quilting and the warmth on my lap - this is such a cosy quilt. It has been rather chilly of late, not surprising since we're in winter.

Went to a Wondoflex last week, what a wool treat that was wow! wow! wow! so many beautiful wools. It makes a nice change when you have to decide on which beautiful wool to use rather than which one out of this mound of crap will I relunctantly choose. The wools chosen below are both from Italy, wools you just wouldn't find in those gigantic barns. The red scarf is complete as well as a beanie, now the order is in for 2 more beanies. Just when I thought I had fulfilled the knitting orders... They are quick knits so it's not too bad I guess, I am not however putting my hand up to make any jumpers.

all together

I’d been eyeing off this linen thread the last few times I visited Amitie and on Friday I bought it (only $7.00), I’m going to do the quilting with it since there is quite a bit of linen in this quilt – it should go nicely.

It's all together, basted and ready for quilting. The top is about 58" square, I'm not going to do a border on this one.

100% wool batting was my choice for this quilt, it's sooooooo soft & cosy warm with a nice loft. Previously I've used 100% cotton or a cotton mix batting, I don't know if I'll be able to go back to it - maybe the cost will decide.... I would like to try bamboo batting though, I've read that it is supposed to be super soft. That may have to be ordered online as my local doesn't currently stock that one, that's going to take preparation...

For the backing I chose a nice flannel which was 50% off (this made the decision even easier). It could have been made into a nice pair of pj pants - oh well...

The binding fabric was also purchased on friday, I love it and can't wait to get to that stage. It's a medium weight cotton (I think) with a linen sort of look.

skirt & scarf

Yesterday I made this skirt for bells from a free pattern, the oliver + s lazy days skirt, very simple and very quick.

Test run today out and about in the wilderness, I also made the scarf last night, another very quick little project, bells chose the wool - a nice purple merino. That's one scarf down, one to go for flip - the order is for a red one.

Bamboo needles again...