back to it

such a great weekend spent in lancefield with an amazing group of ultra talented and brilliant ladies. as usual there was way too much good food, great conversation, fun tunes and more inspiration than i can even process (this acquired desire for a knitting machine? it must go away). i got quite a bit done but nothing actually finished - everything needs buttons or snaps or hemming or elastic or, in the case of the new quilt block above, piecing, basting, quilting and binding. i'll post pics as i get things done, i am pretty in love with this quilt i am working on, let me tell you.

and thanks for the shop sale love! everything should have been emailed and i sent the last of the packages out today. and tomorrow is june 1st so time for new goods to be added...



three quilts ready to go to new homes, hitting the shop at 8pm tomorrow, melbourne time, long may they keep their new owners cozy and warm.

::surprise sale::

completely unrelated photo of mae in her "scary" kitty mask.

projects are packed, new tunes have been prepared for the car trip, a stunningly good potato, zucchini + cheese soup has been made to fortify my little family in my absence and i am officially off to craft camp! to celebrate my ridiculous excitement, i've decided to have a wee sale in my shop this weekend - simply enter the code "craftcamp10" at checkout to receive 10% off everything. discount doesn't include shipping costs, sale ends at some random time on sunday (i'll give a heads up on facebook about an hour before) and all patterns ordered over the weekend will be sent out sunday night. thanks and have a great weekend!!

thursday

visiting a good friend with a brand new baby boy and leaving a soft, red patchwork blanket to wrap him up in...


starting to pack up my projects for craft camp this weekend...


folding up a pleasing array of grey cotton and linen from a dye session yesterday (dylon antique grey)... 


and, best of all, hanging out with this little munchkin.

tuesday + no.036

just some small peeks at the quilt i finished late last night, it is too windy and sunny to get nice full shots on the line today. i'm pretty much in love with this quilt, as i should be, i guess, since it began as one to keep. this is the quilt i started making to go on the floor of sophie's playpen just after christmas. i chose the fabrics and began piecing it and then my husband brought home a suitable piece of leftover (new) carpet from work for the playpen floor. the quilt top lay unfinished and without a purpose until i picked it up again a couple of months ago. now it's all organically quilted and full of two layers of batting and just perfect for future couch time in someone else's house, it will be part of the june 1 shop update with the other two.

it's tuesday and mae is at her half day of childcare and little soph is sleeping soundly. usually i am straight into the sewing room at this time but i'm feeling pretty lazy this afternoon. the sun is streaming in our back windows and i'm finding it hard to move off the couch. to make it feel like i'm actually achieving something, i've got a dye pot with chamomile tea bags simmering away on the stove and i'm idly playing with my box of naturally dyed fabric. ideas, ideas.




(click through to see dyeing details)

paint

a little afternoon paint session for maesey and i. sweet potato and carrot prints on linen for me and crazy watercolour action on her side : )

no.035

thankfully, my thirty fifth quilt is complete with no further injuries. i started work on this one at the same time as no.034, working with leftover pieces of red and pink patchwork from a previous quilt, but instead of slicing the blocks in half, this time i left them whole. i forgot to mention it when i wrote about no.034 but i used two layers of batting in both these quilts and i absolutely love the loft and absolute squishiness it gives them. the organic cotton batting i use is quite thin and i really would prefer something thicker but with a half a (giant) bolt left, i think i'll be using two layers until i can find something that is just right. it's an extra layer to baste and makes the quilting a tiny bit more challenging but worth it in the end.







i've decided both of these cushy quilts will be available in my shop update on june 1 since i have very little else to show for the month of may. they are baby/toddler sized and i think would be so lovely as an heirloom gift. would like to write more but i have a three year old perched on the arm of my chair, putting her blanket on my head and giving me silly kisses, time to go!

random carrots

oh man, i am tired. tired, tired, tired. mae has been getting up around 6am the last five or six days and today it was 5:18am when i heard the "MOM" call. that is just too early. waaaaaaaaay too early. evidence of my exhaustion is mounting, including sewing through my pinky finger last night in my attempts to finish quilt no.035 and breaking my very last in a set of cute vintage pyrex dishes this morning. boo. i've never done the "sew through the finger" thing before and have actually vocalised my bewilderment that it can be done. now i know it is actually quite easy: simply haul a quilt through your walking foot with both hands on one side and let that little pinky stray just a bit too close*. next thing you know, your husband is pulling half a broken sewing needle out of your finger and you're feel all fainty.

anyway, the random carrots are a heirloom variety i picked up at footscray market and chucked into a dye pot with some salt as a mordant (just a guess). the carrots let out an amazing amount of colour so i'm a bit disappointed that the fabric came out so light after a good 24 hour soak and a bit of simmering. something else to be played with further, methinks.

okay, now off to finish the quilt that was abandoned last night and then i will collapse into bed. wish me intact fingers, please.



*ahem. there also may have been two glasses of red wine consumed prior to the incident. but i'm still blaming the kid and her early rising.

leaf printing

a trip to the park yesterday afternoon inspired some leaf printing last night, the first i've done in years! it was just as fun as i remember and i love the results. try it for yourself folks, about a million years ago i wrote a tutorial showing you how it's done...





the polka dots were done with a cut carrot, a bit of a variation on potato printing. can never have too many dots, in my opinion.

to do

i'm actually feeling sort of on top of my to do list lately, for possibly the first time in... well, it's been a really long while, anyway. everything is ticking away nicely for me these days, and it's easy not to get too stressed about the crafty wants with two, yes TWO, craft weekends ahead of me before i jet off with the kids in august. still, i have plenty that i want/need to sew up and, totally copying nichola, suzie and ms jorth, i present my "to do" list:

• jacket for me (pattern traced, fabric chosen)
• size 4 jacket for mae (cut and ready to sew)
• jacket for soph (waffling on pattern and fabric)
• pants for soph (cut and ready to sew)
• romper for soph (pattern traced, fabric chosen)
• placemats for mae

• beanbag game/pattern (testing pattern)
• oobee blankee pattern (make samples)
• special edition oobees (cut out, faces half done)
• red patchwork baby blanket (ready to baste and final sew)

• red + linen quilt (basted, ready to quilt and bind)
• turquoise mostly solids quilt (ready to baste)
• blue fields solid quilt (tiny bit more patchwork for the top, need backing)
• mae's quilt (need to piece back and baste)


see? it's not so bad : )

updated to add: hmm, i may have been just a bit cocky with this post. two days later, rifling through my stash of books and fabric and i have about 4 or 5 things to add... another pair of pants for soph, two dresses for me, a shirt for mae and a lighter version of the jacket i'm making for myself so i can test the pattern before cutting into some lovely green canadian wool that i've been hanging on to for 6 or 7 years... oh and two summer shirts for mae that i found half finished and would like her to wear in canada in august... more hours in the day, please.

mother's day

every year we find a nice park* and take a mother's day portrait (you can see 2010 here and 2009 here - god, how much has mae changed??? and baxy! awwww, baxy). it's extra special to me as i have so few photos of myself with the girls, i am always behind the camera. the situation wasn't ideal: it was spitting with rain and increasing into a downpour by the moment and mae wanted to help her daddy take the photos so needed a lot of cajoling to get her to join soph and i. by the time mae was convinced to join us, i was a bit panicked to get the shot so excuse my weird squinty face in the otherwise lovely final pic : )

there is so much i could say about being a mother, it's something that i think about almost constantly. how my perception of so, so, SO many things has changed and shifted over these last three years. how i have become somehow more myself and a completely different person all at the same time. how my daughters are amazing and funny and clever and (mostly) kind and deserve so much more written about them than i have the time, energy or ability to put into words - another thing that is often on my mind, how much i will regret not writing more down about these years. my only consolation is that i have photos, so many photos, and hopefully these will guide me into remembering.

happy mother's day to all you amazing women out there.


*oh, and note to self for next year, don't pick a tree that has a plastic possum shield on it, no matter how lovely the autumn leaves are.

smiles all 'round

wow, thanks so much for the super warm welcome back into the world of quilting, folks! i've had so many amazingly kind comments on no. 034 here and on flickr, where it actually made it to the explore page which kind of blows my mind because have you seen the photos that make it to the explore page?! they are awesome. and i got a few comments about what a great capture it is which sort of made me puzzled because really, the photo itself is pretty crappy and i had pondered trying to take the pics again before posting them because the way the light is showing through the quilt at the top was bugging me to no end. but whatevs.

plus grande old no. 034 was featured today on the very cool modern day quilts and i got an email asking for permission to show the quilt on another high profile blog (that i won't link to since it won't be up for awhile yet)! all in all, a very nice reception, indeed. i appreciate it all so, so much
: )

no. 034

introducing the first quilt i have completed in well over a year...



this quilt got it's humble beginnings as leftover blocks from two previous quilts, including the one i made for sophie before she was born. i framed the pretty blocks, containing dusty purples, pinks and greys, with scraps of linen and then chopped them (all but one) exactly in half and pieced them together as the frame for the intact center block. the quilting i left really simple: just lines, not straight, not crazy, just pulling the quilt through the walking foot and letting them stray where they may. and then it came time to put a tag on and i decided to tackle yet another project that has been on my mind for ages - quilt labels. i wanted something different than my standard woven onegirl tags - although they add a really professional look, i've long wanted something a bit more personal. so i came up with these...



they are inkjet printed on natural linen, with the fiber content listed plus space to number the quilt and write the date on which it was completed. the edges are designed to fray, specifically why i chose to use linen (although it turns out it is bloody hard to write on neatly) and should stand up to repeated washings. my printer ink is resin based and water resistant and i've found with a good long heat set from my iron, they hold up really well. mae's fleur has been washed countless times and it's label still looks good as new. i'd actually love to hear from anyone who has one of my toys that has been well loved (christine?) and find out how their labels are looking. i could always use inkjet fabric iron-on sheets to create these labels, too although i don't really like the print quality they give...



here's my first quilt label in action. it was hard to write on. after two big fails on the slippery linen, i ended up using masking tape to tape it down to my table and i'm still not super happy with the final writing but i'm sure it's one of those things that will get better with practice. and yes, i've decided to start numbering my quilts, which meant i had to go back through my photos and try to figure out how many quilts i have finished. apparently, thirty three! now thirty four. that seems like such a high number to me, i somehow don't remember making that many quilts. probably because they are just too darn fun.

edited to add: i just had a quick look back and realised my very first quilt was made almost exactly three years ago, on may 2, 2008 - what a strange coincidence!

winners are grinners

and the winners of a baby oobee sleepy set pattern are.... nancy (sew nancy), bianca (hollabee), and bek (red chocolate)! now some of you might remember that nancy actually won my last giveaway as well (she is one lucky lady) but number 23 was the first number to come up (number 23 was in my facebook draw as well - weird, right?) and i don't argue with the random number generator. but to make it extra fair, i drew one more name to share the love around and the bonus winner is julie (forest poppy)!

 

i found these gorgeous, leather, vintage baby shoes in immaculate condition for 50¢ at one of my local op shops yesterday and so i am a winner, too : )

early

both kids were thrashing about at 6am but i somehow managed to lure them back into dreamland. i crawled back into bed myself but i knew they would be up by 7am and so thought i'd get up and have a quiet coffee to start the day. and it is so very nice and peaceful, just my fingers typing and the small breaths of babies puffing gently through the monitor. later i will make breakfasts and bottles, lunches, dinners and snacks. later i will go to the supermarket, to the park, to the playground, to the post office to send off parcels. later i will start some dye pots with rosemary and tend the eucaplytus pots from last week. later i will trim and bind and admire the baby quilt i have been working on. later i will draw names of people to email my new pattern to and hope it makes their day. this quiet hour is certainly making mine : )

new! new! new! + giveaway

well, i have spent 8+ hours on the laptop today, box of tissues and cup o' tea by my side to combat a nasty headcold but... drumroll, please........

my new shop is now open for business! and, among other sweet goodies it contains.... another drumroll, please, maestro.......



my new baby oobee sleepy set pattern! both this new shop and the writing of this pattern have been on my mind for such a long time, i can't quite wrap my codral addled brain around the fact that it's finally happened. done. oh sure, i'll still fiddle around with the layout and design of my shop and there are always going to be more patterns waiting to be written up (i have three in mind already...) but it's a start in the right direction and feels GREAT.

i have added a couple of other new things to the shop, including an option to buy both my fleur playmat + pillow pattern and the baby oobee sleepy set pattern together at a reduced price.





another something new is a handy pack of specialty fabrics (organic hemp/cotton fleece, wool felt and quilter's flannel) to make the baby oobee sleepy set with, simply add your own pretty cotton prints. as a little bonus, if you order a baby oobee pattern (or pattern set) plus one of my handmade toys or blankets, i will pop a fabric pack in with your order, free of charge : )

and as another little bonus, i have three copies of my baby oobee sleepy set pattern to give away to you nice folk who visit me here. simply leave a comment and i will randomly draw three winners on wednesday, may 4th. for even more chances to win, go on and like me on facebook, i'm giving three patterns away to those cool kids, too.

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updated to add: natasha asked in the comments why i moved from etsy so i thought i'd answer that here: i totally love etsy (and shop on etsy all the time) but it is such a vast marketplace that the benefits of the community are lost unless you have really specific things to sell. try looking up "soft toy" and "handmade" and you will see what i mean - results are shown by the latest listed and i just can't be adding things to my shop every day to show up on the first couple of pages of the search listings. the fees on etsy are actually pretty high and 80% of my sales are from repeat buyers (which is SUCH a great feeling!!) and almost all are coming from my blog so bigcartel just makes sense for me. plus when i do local markets i always feel bad directing people to an online shop that they have to sign up to buy from, you know? we'll see though, maybe people are more comfortable with etsy... i'm certainly not seeing the sales jump that i usually have in the hours after listing things in the shop. i may just be back on etsy by christmas ; )