Back in the Saddle Again

It often happens that I don't feel like crafting, or don't have the energy, or am overwhelmed by other things I need to do, or any number of other reasons and I really shouldn't fret, but I do feel a bit lost when my hands aren't busy doing something. 

I've been waiting to get all excited again by a particular project or other.  Well, here I am, back in the saddle again!  I decided to ignore all those pesky unfinished projects and embark on something brand, spanking new.  Oh yes I did!!  Just something small to get me started again.  Something fun and colourful.

This is a gorgeous stitching kit by UK designer Nancy Nicholson which I simply Could Not Resist.  I needed to have a  bit of that beautiful design in my life and in our home. 

This afternoon, after starting my day with a piano lesson and then sharing lunch with a dear friend who has a new house that needed exploring, there was a lovely half hour sitting outside in the most glorious warm sun, stitching while I waited for my girls to come home.  This is what I have been missing, the gentle art of stitching, the slowing down of time, the concentration needed to put needle into fabric and pull thread through.

When I'm done stitching I think I'll make this into a cushion, with the bird as the central piece.  I've already been flinging out pieces of fabric to find the perfect one to go with it, but of course I never seem to have just the right thing.  More digging needed.

And I love the fabric panel that came with the kit, detailing each stitch, that can be made into a little book.  What a cute idea.

Hope you find time for a little stitching in the sun.
I'm off to catch up on some favourite blogs!

Trudy

On the Craft Front

It's a lazy, sunny Saturday afternoon here.  Girl 1 is out working, Girl 2 has headphones on listening to her music, hubby is tackling a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of a town in Europe and I've been doing a little bit of crochet in the front garden.

Thought it was time we had an update on the craft front.  Mixed stitch stripey blanket coming along swimmingly.  Next stitch up is a repeat of the Chevron Stripe (the zig-zaggy one) which I'm going to do in mustard and deep teal.

One photo just doesn't seem enough, does it?!  Here's a couple more.  I'm thinking I'm about a quarter of the way through this blanket now.

And on the hexagon-front?  Another one finished, so now only 17 to go, and I've chosen the fabric for the next one and it's all cut out ready for the papery bit, so onwards and upwards.  Roses from the garden.  They're bloomin' gorgeous at the moment.

Wishing you a happy weekend.
Trudy

Finished Project for October

Be stunned and amazed.  A finished project for October, finished in October, blogged about in October ... whatever it takes to have a post for Blogtoberfest!!

This is another 'cheaty' finished project.  It's a cheat because it hasn't finished up being what it was supposed to be!  Sometimes I find it's the best way to finish a project that's been hanging about for years, and this one has.  I took it away with me when hubby and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary (almost 4 years ago!!)

And it was supposed to be this, which is really pretty and sweet, but it wasn't getting done.  This was a project started at a lovely crafting day out with friends, designed by the gorgeous Rosalie Quinlan.  For me those craft days are almost too exciting to sit down and stitch, there's so much buzzing around me.

So rather than leaving the project discarded, I thought of a way to finish it to become something completely different.  I have framed it in a hoop and it's ready to hang.  With my girls soon going into their own rooms, I thought this may look sweet on one of their walls, and Girl 2 has claimed it as her own.

 

 

How many more itsy-bitsy projects have I got socked away, before I have to get finishing on the big ones, my quilts ... eek, not many!!  I'm off to cross this one off the list.

 

Have a happy Sunday.

Trudy

A Crafty Post

As promised, because deep down I think you like the crafty posts the best.  On my craft table at the moment there are three projects (I've hidden all the others, out of sight, out of mind ... it doesn't take much!!) so I can give these my focussed attention, and there has been a little bit of progress on each of them.  Not much, but a bit!

Firstly, here is a sneak peak at this month's project that I'd aiming to finish.  I don't want to give too much away, not just yet, but it's hand stitching which I love to do.  It's nice to be able to transport a project easily and sit quietly wherever you are, adding to it, tiny stitch by tiny stitch.

A bit of progress on hubby's scarf.  Hard to get too excited about this as we're into Spring and it's getting warmer every day.  I know it won't get used until next Winter now, so that's probably when it will get finished, hopefully just prior to the cold weather setting in.

And the reason the knitting is not progressing speedily is that I've been weilding the crochet hook.  Again two steps forward, one step back, and that's because I leap ahead thinking I know what I'm doing only to find that I actually don't.  It was starting to get that unwanted wavy look again.  Of course, I kept going because I thought it would all be okay, but then I thought I should do a stitch count (what a good idea, Trudy!) and found I had so many more stitches than I should have ... yikes!!  I then see my problem back four rows (oh yes, I'm always slow to pick up a mistake!!)  Instead of crocheting two stitches together, I did two stitches ... bloomin' well side by side.  What a ninny!!!!!

Anyway, I'm back on track with it and stop myself every time I daydream about this project becoming a scarf rather than a blanket.  But it would make a very snuggly scarf, don't you think?  And right now it's the perfect width.  Better get going on the next rows before I start wrapping it around my neck and heading out the door!

Rather like the look of a re-wound ball of wool.  Good really, because I'm seeing a few of those at the moment!

Seeya tomorrow in Blogtoberfest-land!
Enjoy your day, Trudy

Finished Project for August

Just a few day's late ... I've been a bit distracted, but here is my finished project for August.  It's a funny little house pincushion, designed by Sue Spargo, but with a lot of tweaking by me.  I was going for a bit of a Dutch Colonial look as in the picture below ...

... but something happened along the way and I ended up with this!!

Not one of those projects that at the end gives you a moment's smugness at one's personal achievement, oh deary no!  This was more like "grrr, wonky stitches, mumble, mumble, seams don't match, mumble, mumble, I could have done that differently, better, etc. etc. ..."

But my list of unfinished projects is one project lighter, so onwards and upwards.

Wishing all the wonky stitches away.
Trudy

Teacup Maker

Wife, mother, daughter, friend, teacup maker.  Teacup maker, you ask?  I know.  Who would have thought?

Enter stage left Vintage Ric Rac pattern called Fabric Tea Set.  Enter stage right young girl about to turn 10, having a Mad Hatter's Tea Party this weekend.  Collide in the middle, eyes sparkling, Girl 2 asks "please Mummy could you make one for all the girls coming to my party?"

A gazillion stitching hours later, 15 different fabrics per cup, 4 per saucer, which multiplied by 11 teacups means 209 itsy bitsy pieces of fabric chosen, ironed, cut and stitched later, we have a set of very sassy teacups ready for a party.

This project has required a lot of patience and many promises that "Yes, they will be finished on time, even if I have to sit up all night and stitch them." (and I almost had to!)

The cups are filled with elephants and butterflies and girls with green hair, bees and flowers and spots and there is even a very friendly looking shark!!  I think the perfect kick-start to a Mad Hatter's Tea Party, don't you?

Will re-surface after the weekend.
Hope you have a happy weekend, with a little bit of madness about it and definitely lots of cups of tea.

Trudy

Moments

Moments.

A week made up of moments.

Special moments, in amongst all the other moments.

Being inspired by Japanese illustrator, Ryoko Ishii.

Watching my daughter hanging upside-down on the Queen's Birthday Holiday.

Snuggling under blankets watching old episodes of "I Dream of Jeannie".

Feeling the warmth of the sun.

Feeling so cold that a wheat pack is offered.

Summonsing my inner-hairdresser for Girl 1 to turn into Princess Leia at her band concert.

Whisking hubby away from work for a cuppa in the cafe.

Playing with wool and wishing this basketful was mine, not Rowan's.

Playing with fabric.

An extended family meal and the telling of well-known stories.

Sneaking off to the movies in the daytime with a friend.

Catching up on some missed "Offspring" episodes on the computer.

Taking delivery of a New Couch, still in its plastic even now.

It was a week made up of special moments.
What's your favourite moment from your week?
Trudy

The Diamond Tiara

We started the week with a birthday!  After school, we had a little tea party with the special china cups, and meringues with lashings of cream.  We have a tradition amongst the girls in our family that on the day of your birthday you wear The Diamond Tiara .. and you're treated like a Princess!!

There has also been some swift calculating of days to work out whether or not my finished project would feature this month, and have decided to change direction and attempt to finish something completely different, because the Dear Jane dolly quilt is not quite ready for your viewing pleasure!!  Here's a sneak peak of what will be May's finished project.  Yes, it's woolly ...

... and it involves flowers.  More soon.

Apart from the woolly, flowery crochet this week, and the birthday celebrations and the sunny days and the freeeeezing cold ones, there has been some progress on the bullseye afghan.  The circles are turning into squares, but the only colour I'm using is grey, grey, grey so it's becoming a little less fun on this part of the journey of the blanket.  Mind you, it would be very handy to have this blanket finished right now, tonight, it's so cold here! 

And I'm working on the third square of my hand-stitched quilt (still unnamed, so still Project X).  I am loving the colours in this square, especially that aqua and yellow rose fabric.

If anyone would like to join in my give-away just scroll down to my post of 16 May as I will be pulling a name out of a hat on Sunday, or who knows, I may just pull out a rabbit!!

Enjoy your weekend.
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

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