Washi Tape Project

Our local Primary School, where my girls attend, ask for ten inexpensive Mothers' Day gifts from each family for their stall so that all the children have the opportunity of a bit of shopping spree for their Mums to the tune of 50c to $2.00.  First item on my list was some glass candle holders.

Next, some washi tape.  I had to give my washi tape collection a minor boost, which was a hoot of fun choosing different colours and patterns.  I purchased mine from the Japanese Etsy store Uguisu but there are hundreds of places to choose from.  Goodness you can even purchase a washi tape organiser and dispenser, but mine are quite happy to just sit on the shelf!! 

Armed with my candle holders and washi tape, all I then needed was some scissors.  Can you see where I'm going with this?  This is one very quick and easy craft project.

Simply wrap the tape around the glass candle holder.  At this point in the proceedings you do need a bit of perseverance in getting the tape straight and without air pockets, but washi tape is brilliant in that it can be taken off again easily and re-applied.

Once I realised that three rounds of the tape was the best fit for the size of the candle holder, the best fun was choosing the colours that might go well together.  Then I popped in a tea light as I thought this would give a better light through the washi tape than the candles and hey presto, they're done!!

Anyone have any other ideas for washi tape?

Have a super weekend.
Trudy

ANZAC Day

Yesterday the rain was unlenting, but today we had brilliant blue skies during our town's ANZAC Day service.

This is the day we remember all Australians who served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.

We listened to the bugle player, we watched as the Cubs and the schools laid wreaths, and we remembered.

Trudy

Dear Jane Quilt

Choosing next month's project to finish has been a bit tricky as I'm running out of those that were almost complete and just needed a couple of hours left to work on.  Already I'm looking at a couple of things thinking "Gosh, can I complete that before the end of May?"

But the one that I have decided will get all my attention over the next few weeks, and will hopefully be completed and signed off, will be my Dear Jane [dolly-sized] quilt.  I learned an invaluable lesson a number of years ago that life is too short to waste reading a dull book.  I would persevere with it, hoping against hope that it would become something it never did, so now I put the book aside and choose again, and so to quilts ... 

I had such good intentions of making this stunning quilt when I started it in 2008.  It was made by Jane Stickle in 1863 and consists of 169 blocks plus the intricate border of triangles.  It is a mammoth task to say the least!!

When I reached 11 completed blocks I felt that I had bitten off more than I was keen to chew and so it has sat, neglected for all this time, and when I look at it I feel that I have failed.  So rather than perservering with a project that has sadly lost my interest I have decided to turn those 11 lovely, but lonely blocks into a dolly sized quilt.  Brilliant decision!!

For my little Dear Jane dolly sized quilt I will need a total of 16 blocks.  Feels better already.  Not 158 blocks to complete, but only 5.  This is achievable!!  Of those five blocks I have already started two of them, chosen the remaining three from the book, by Brenda Papadakis, and chosen the fabrics, so really this is almost done!!

I'm already picturing a lovely tatty, old, little suitcase filled with dolly quilts.
What do you do with projects that have lost your interest?

Have a fabulous day,
Trudy

In the words of Miss Peg

Hello Peeps!  I've just flown over from the south east coast of England to live with my new friends here in Australia.  Truth be known I was given away (and Ms Playing in the Attic was very happy to have won me in the Crafte Nook giveaway!) but still my feelings were a little crushed when I realised I was leaving town, even though it was getting awfully cramped in that little fisherman's cottage of Pixies.

Pixie has a fabulous blog, do go and have a peek, and an Etsy store too where she sells gorgeous handmade dolls and flipperty flopperty flower brooches.  I'm allowed to pop on the computer here and look at Pixie's blog whenever I get a little homesick, but at the moment it's brilliant blue sky days here and lots of new adventures to have!!

Peg

Bushwalking

At the very end of our street, up a steep, steep hill that has you puffing and panting at the top, is a lovely nature reserve which is well deserving of a good explore on a sunny, autumn day at the end of the school holidays.

Moments into our walk we discovered a native resident across our path.  We literally stopped in our tracks and held our breaths until further investigation when we noticed our friend had legs ... not a snakey-snakey, phew.

On we trekked through the bush, sometimes staying on the tracks, sometimes going deep into the bush climbing over fallen trees or under scrub, this was not a relaxing, easy walk, this was a serious bush expedition.  We found lots of red mushrooms, a new water hole we'd never come across before and beautiful bottle brush.

Now it's ready, steady, go back to all the routines that a school term brings.

Hope you've had a lovely holiday, break, weekend!

See you soon,

Trudy

Finished Project for April

There was a little sneak peak a while back of this project.  And now I can say it's finished!   The pattern for this woollen pincushion came from The Quilted Crow in Hobart, Tasmania, titled "Little House on the Prairie", but I gave it a bit of a tweak when I started as I'd just attended a Sue Spargo workshop and was enjoying her style and colours, so it's more like "Villa Amongst the Fruit Trees".  Original pattern below.

This is quite a large pincushion, almost 8" across, so not one to travel around with you, but perhaps best sitting beside you on the couch as you stitch.

There was a moment when Girl 1 thought it would be fun to take it outside for a bit of a kick around the backyard, as she said it looks somewhat like a footy, but that was not going to happen, not on my watch!!

Loved working with these colours, and the wool fabric.  Have you worked with wool?

Enjoy your day.

Trudy

Country Mice

The girls and I had a couple of days in Melbourne last week.  We Country Mice need to play at being City Mice every so often.  We went to see the Giant Theremin along the Yarra River.  If you are like me and have no idea of what I'm talking about, a Giant Theremin is a musical instrument controlled by movement.  For two young girls it was near-impossible to resist dancing, twirling, jumping and running past it to activate the movement symphony.  I liked it just because of it's gorgeous, rusty colour.

Sticky Institute is a favourite place of mine located in the Degraves Subway, also known as the Campbell Arcade, under Flinders Street.  Lined in pale pink 1950's tiles and iron signs, the Degraves Subway is now home to fringe artists and a jumbled collection of small businesses.  I love to walk down the stairs entering a world so different from the bustle of the train commuters up on Flinders Street Station.  Nothing seems to have changed in the last sixty years.

Back to the Sticky Institue, this is an artist-run initiative promoting the creation of handmade publications, or zines.  You can sit in the store to make your zine if you wish, there are old typewriters for use, or browse the hundreds of zines for purchase hanging in the window and on shelves along the walls. 

There was snacking in groovy cafes, hanging out in Smiggle for what seemed like forever, seeing the kids movie "Mirror Mirror", wandering through bookstores and climbing over all the pieces of sculpture dotted around the City, oh and noticing the reflection of St. Pauls Cathedral in a building along Swanston Street.

Apart from the disastrous moment when I realised my car keys weren't in my handbag when we were laden down with luggage at the car and ready to leave, it was a fabulous couple of days.

Hope you're all enjoying the holiday break.
And yes I found the keys, they had fallen into my crochet bag which was in the suitcase ...?!

Cheers, Trudy

Bunny Decorating

It's that time of year when the shiny, orange box comes down from the high cupboard and the bunnies get woken from their slumber and hop out to help decorate the house.

A particular favourite of mine is the little miss knitting herself a scarf.  Isn't she adorable?  Of course all she wants to do is to knit and knit and knit, and I know how she feels because sometimes I'm exactly the same.  I think I have that same look of concentration on my face too!  No dropped stitches allowed.

This cheeky mister has 'mischevious' written all over him, but thinks he'll get away with anything because he's sporting such a jaunty, divine hat, but I'm not fooled and if anything at all untoward happens in this house over the next couple of weeks I'll be looking his way to see how he charms his way out of it.

The girls and I went for a walk into the bush to find a branch that we could decorate.  This has become an annual Easter tradition.  We scour the bush for the perfect branch, which can see us with some pretty silly suggestions, home to paint it (this involves painting the branch, our hands, face, clothes, yes hair sometimes too ... getting the idea?) then we put all the decorations on the "tree".  This year Girl 1 wanted her own, separate tree and has come up with quite an individual idea using chickens practising their acrobatic skills and chocolate eggs tied on with rubber bands!!

The other tree, the main tree, the grown-up equivalent of the chicken tree is looking far more refined, but maybe a little less playful in another room.

Another wonderful Easter tradition in our house is the annual gifting of a beautiful hand-painted, wooden Easter egg from my hubby to me.  Lucky me!!  Each one is quite different, in size and pattern and colour.  This will be our fifteenth Easter together.  And I know there is a new egg waiting for me because hubby isn't very good at keeping secrets (and the bag with the egg in it is on his desk, but I haven't peeked, honest, I've been very good!!)

Wishing you all a wonderful tradition-filled Easter, complete with guilt-free chocolate.
Trudy

Angie Lewin

Angie Lewin is a British printmaker who works in linocut, wood engraving, lithography and screen printing, and she is inspiring the next corner of my dolly quilt.  She has a fabulous book entitled "Plants and Places", which is lovely to look through as it is filled with gorgeous eye-candy.

Love her use of colour, and bold dramatic designs.

And here is my Angie Lewin-inspired applique square, simply stitched without too much regard for perfect lines ... I could almost say it was the look I was after!!

Really enjoying the designing aspect of this mini quilt, and watching it emerge.  Tweaking bits as I go along, still working on other parts of it that I don't feel are working yet, and enjoying the colour choices.

Two weeks of school holidays spread blissfully ahead so hopefully I'll have a chance to do some stitching on this project. Today though I had other priorities with the painting of small fingernails, snuggling up on the couch reading out loud the brilliant "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick and attempting, without any success at all, hand-stands against the fence ... big sigh ...

Enjoy the hols!

Trudy