Sylv needs your help!!

This is my mother's latest quilt.

As always stunning and, despite what she would have you believe, beautifully crafted.

While my initial response was 'What an ace quilt for a little girl' and 'Ooo! I recognise that fabric!!This one is actually going to her god-daughter, a woman older even than I.

The problem is the binding.

She can't decide whether to go with the olive green or a slightly more lively (and seemingly patterned) orange. What so you think?

Hmmmm?

Answers on a virtual postcard please.

Have nearly finished the top for a Christmas quilt for a special girl in the lives of those

Chez Trash Towers. I bought the coloured star fabrics at lubbard Spotlight near Sylv's house and married it to some bright white cotton curtain lining from the old-fashioned haberdasher's around the corner.I love the bright colours against the white and I really love them both made up as wonky stars. My problem is with layout.

You see, I bought seven colours which is all well and good but my quilt is five blocks by three. My basic maths confirms that this would equal 15 squares. Unfortunately this is a problem in that my basic maths also confirms seven colours doubled up only equals 14 blocks. So we came up with a plan. And this is where you all come in.

I made a rainbow wonky star and have tried it in two different spots in the quilt. What I would like would be for you all to pitch in and tell me which you prefer.

This one in the bottom row?

Or this one smack bang in the middle?

I have to confess I am currently of a mind to do a third purple one (Treeclimber's favourite colour) and place it in the middle and then use the rainbow wonky star as an add-in on the backing.

OK non-believers, hold on to your hats!

This is said quilt in its finished and drapey state. Pretty, non?
Filled with lovely colours Emma Scrapbag put together, interesting texture in the chenille.
A mix of both my worlds with the inner fabric a blog friend gift and the outer a mix of shirts
(one of which I actually loved and wore - don't tell my mother about the other) and a dress belongum Princess C-W.

And then we have the binding.
Gorgeous girlie, frilly pretty binding a gift from a friend.
Binding that was machine-stitched on both sides.
Oh Patch Andi, you clever, clever girl to make me feel brave enough to try this.

And then we have several reasons why it took so long to actually finish completely and 100%.

I think I have issues with perfection.

OK those of you who have met me or possibly even those who have been reading this blog for more than three minutes need to stop laughing now.

I rooly trooly do think perfection and my expectations of attainment affect the crafting I do (not even going to look at wider aspects in my life).
I see the finished products I make and most of the time they bear little resemblance to the initial idea of what it will look like. Sometimes this is ok because different is not necessarily bad but usually it results in a big ugly mess that I can't fix and yet am unable to throw into the bin (viz Mrs Onion, her shopping bag and the London red bus cushion cover).

Poppy Treffry and those following her style in a flattering manner (sounds better than copiers right?) have aided me in seeing past the strictures of neat edges, french seams and straight lines laid down by Mrs Robinson and Mrs Heighway so many years ago but still I struggle. I know my limitations; I will never get sharp pointy triangles when sewing. Frankly I still get quite joyous when corners meet in an appropriate fashion!

This recent work with zips and bobbles has been useful in meeting my perfection expectation. While not quite professional or shop standard it all looks fairly good and so I went in to creating the pieces for the Snailblazer's Sample Swap (taking place here) on a high. So far so good but have still to attach the base into both the body and the lining. Let me just say though - zips! In circles!

I have been following 'Whip up's Month of mini-quilts' and am loving the designers being highlighted. These fabulously talented women could split wide the cracks laid by all these years hanging around the crafty blogoverse.

We set extremely low ambitions for these holidays ....

.... unfortunately we fell short of achieving them.

These past two weeks have been among the most slothful I can remember spending. Ever.

Grandad's Christmas present after my assistant's exploration.

I was more energetic in the weeks after birthin' babies than I have been over this Christmas.

our seasonal lttle village

I have discovered a new skill or two in this time, been delighted with thoughtful gifts from family new friends and old.

tablerunner I am in love with and adore

sweet Christmas star from Casey Random

But now the decorations are packed away, the last of the holiday fare has been consumed and it is time to return to a more normal operating schedule.

Wish us luck!

Day 21 Blogtoberfest

Like oil on water, feeling a little disturbed and uneven (not necessarily globular).

Tried and true methods of destressing have been less than successful.

Wishing my crafting mojo would return.

A quilt, a boy and the Vicar's glasses

Saturday was spent getting ready for the main event on my social calendar for this year. Being an organised and excellent time manager I was sewing on the binding of Will's quilt all day Friday, finally putting in the last stitches at 2 a.m. before stuffing it into the washing machine then crawling into bed. But I think it was all worth it because after a spin around the dryer and with all the thread tails clipped it looked like this.

There was insufficient time factored into my 'detailed schedule' so the label can go on later. I thought I might paraphrase my hopes for the quilt written here .

Being a godparent meant I sat up the front with all the important people therefore it probably would have been unpolitic for me to take pictures throughout the ceremony. Accordingly I handballed my camera across to Princess Curly-Wurly.

Most of the pics are quite blurry but this is a corker. My godboy was wandering around in front of the font shifting furniture and we had a small, silent battle of wills about actually taking it into the greater body of the church.

Both his sisters contributed to the event. The older one did a reading and the younger one sang a couple of nursery rhymes. With assistance from the vicar this was 'Twinkle, twinkle'.

Whilst these gifts were being bestowed Will focussed his energies on forcing Rolly into the font-water flagon.

And before she dunked him there were words to be said and glasses to be reached for.

Once Anne had dunked him he really was decidedly unhappy about the whole thing.

Then afterwards it was back to his house for coffee and cake all around.

While she was out playing with the other children I was struck by how groovey and grown-up my girl looked.

Ever fallen in love, in love with someone ever fallen

How do you like my new avatar? A self-portraitDonkey!

But that is not where the love is, oh no. There is more.

Do you remember last year my friend had a wee, early baby, Baby Will? He was not very well at all but she breeds them tough and now he has even started walking :-) A couple of weeks ago she rang and asked me if I would be his godmother! So in all godmotherly haste I considered just what would be a suitable Champagne and Races Godmother gift.

Way back at Christmastime I bought a selection of prints to do a quilt for my oldestfriendintheworld's new baby boy but I am slack and crubbish and suffer very badly from 'finishitis' and thus it never happened however I still loved the fabrics very much so I pulled them out from the many hidey-holes around Trash Towers. This was when I discovered several other fabrics purchased in the intervening months that toned in fantastically so they got thrown into the mix too. One six inch square template, one large cutting mat courtesy of Sylv's horror at my weeny one, a new blade on the cutter and a vague idea of what I was doing resulted in this.

Last night I laid it all out and pinned it and now have to think of how to quilt it. I am guessing probably 'in the ditch' because that is a really good idiot-proof method. The backing is the Ikea hippo fabric in green and I shall bind it in the dots.

It is not perfect. The lines are not 100% matched. The cutting errs towards the wonky side of things and dare I suggest some fabric is cut across or against the grain but I am truly and deeply in love. I love the colours. I love the dots. I love the different textures but most of all I think I love the turtles bestest.

It is a quilt for snuggling under, for making dens, for dragging into the garden and pulling up into trees. It is for feeling sick under and getting better under. It is for storytelling and playacting. It is for hide&seek and for quiet times.. These were my half-formed thoughts while I was making it and I know that Will's parents will understand this and appreciate the handmade aspect of it. It is a joy to give to people who 'get' that homemade is handmade, it is not cheap in terms of labour or effort, it takes time in both planning and execution but that all of this is done freely with joy and love.

I hope Will spends many hours under his quilt laughing, reading, chatting and playing.

Have you met my assistant?

Fortunately the weather was so hideous on the weekend that our planned picnic with my god daughter and family was moved indoors. Fortunately? Yes I say 'Fortunately' for, because of despite the help of my daytime assistant, my picnic blanket was only half finished.

You can see here she is measuring out the backing fabric.

Pondering the best angles to make the most of the fabric.

.
Sometimes stepping back gives a different perspective.

Finally adding one's indiviual touch to make the project stand out just that little bit more!

Anyone want to buy a small black puppy?????

Oh.

three weeks ago I ordered online LOADS of fabulous Amy Butler fabric (and a few others;-) with which to finish my Fortnums quilt.

AB-Midwest-Modern-Happy-Dots-Ice - 1 yard
Amy Butler-Daisy Chain-8 FQ Fat Quarter Collection
Amy Butler-Ohio Sky Fat Quarter Collection - 20 Fat Quarters
Heather Bailey-Pop Garden Turquoise Fat Quarter
KF Prints Collection Floating Flowers Green GP56 -1 yard
KF Roman-Glass Pastel - 1FQ
MM Ginger Blossom Blossom Buds Breeze - 1 yard

28 FQs of Amy Butler!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh I was getting quite excited at the thought but by last week it hadn't turned up. I emailed chasing the order and didn't hear back. So I rang them and left a message asking for an email response - nothing. I just went to ring again having first checked the time difference (6 hours behind the UK in case you were wondering) and on the website is a note saying 'they have gone out of business and all orders numbered up to 20 before mine will be shipped after that - nothing.' So tough. You are out of luck. Dream on baby because it isn't happening here. So long and thanks for all the fish.

So shall have to replan the fabric choices for my Fortnums quilt. Anyone know of a good deal on Amy Butler blue fat quarters? Anyone?

Okay, so I have made it this far...

.... and I am pretty happy so far with how it looks (except for how I hadn't mixed up the repeat of the nice retro small children playing- but that has all been fixed now).

But it is a very wide thing and not especially long so I thought I would do something like this.

Now though I think the nice small retro children playing are a bit overshadowed. Suggestions?


Thank you all for your birthday wishes, the terences are slightly put out that they are on a losing team. I say they should be used to it after I thrashed everyone at bowling yesterday ;-)

Also we have a (working) short list of names for Princess C-W's puppy - Midnight, Isabel, Lyra, Grace, ummm..... I like Daphne but no-one else is voting for it at my house. Although it is all in the hands of a 10 y.o. girl so anything could happen!

OH! MY! STARS!

I can't believe how many people turned up to Ballarat Patchwork on Saturday!

And while I don't fool myself for a second it was to see me it was rather thrilling to be in the company of so many talented and clever and crafty (in a nice way) blogging women.

Huge thanks to Ric-Rac for being head honcho organiser person and chief salad thrower-arounder. Emma for being hostess for the first part of the event and graceful giver-awayer of such fabulous door prizes (Oh! And guess who is taking one home??? Heeee). Annie FlowerGarden for being such a kind hostess and opening her home in the evening to a loud and hungry rabble and finally to Silly Gilly (oo lala!) for being my companion in staying on.

I had a great time and when (IF!!) I ever get home I shall post pictures.

Evil sister-in-law comes good.

I was a good mother this week past. He needed a new bag for his football kit he told me, what with the new term and getting shin pads and gloves for his birthday and all. So after school last Thursday we raided the airing cupboard to find something suitable.






And you won't believe what I found!


This is an old duvet my evil s-i-l got Sylv to cut down from double to single some many lots of years ago. I have been carting it around the world with me all that time because I loved the material, both the fabric and the pattern.



This evil s-i-l has always only 'bought the best' but (and obviously this will probably only make sense to Australians sorry) .....







what proves just how old this is?







They haven't been in Collingwood for years!



After unearthing the duvet offcut I kept digging and OH! MY! STARS! I found my first ever quilt.



(You get an idea of scale from Pr. C-W and DestructoBoy on either side.)



Well, the top and the back of it but they are sadly unlinked. I think I may go to my local group of quilty old ladies.







Yes those are badgers on the back. There is a reason, I won't bore you with why.




The front is a 5x5 nine square patch and the fabrics scream 'Trash Can circa 1990'. Quite honestly I wouldn't choose them now but I know I loved that green back them. And the blue floral too. One of the reasons it was so long being finished (the top was completed in 1993) was tracking down that blue. Not a place in Melbourne could furnish me with any. I ended up tracking some down in Glenrowan or somewhere up there when CK was over for his first Aus trip.




Something else to add to my 'must finish one day' list.

So much lovely post.

Poor old Smiley Carol, our cheery postie, has had to be terribly brave over these past few weeks. I have been on the receiving end of some rather fabulous post. Why was she brave? Well, my wicked Blackdog lies in wait for the postie to deliver. To the point The Royal Mail flatly refuse to deliver through the door. Consequently we now have a mail box by the front gate and the Blackdog lurks beneath the box hoping Smiley Carol won't actually notice him until he launches himself at her. (Obviously only in a sweet and loving kind of way.)


I do love a good swap, as may be obvious from my sidebar, and this week has seen the arrival of one rather fabulous swappie love. The rather divine QuiltyGal was my secret squirrel swapper for the pincushion swap organised by All Stitched Up .

With great delight and excitement I opened up the parcel and oh! oH! OH!

Obvioulsy I dropped straight to my knees in genuine awe at the amazing skill and ability of that talented Quiltygal. Would you like to see? Okay, let me set the scene ......... we had to make a pincushion. That was it, just a pincushion. Let me tell you - this is not JUST a pincushion, this is a six sided work of art.

Side A

Side B

Side C

Side D

And Sides E&F

(Note the pins? I had already started using it when I took the picture.)


But that is not all, oh no that is not all (*I love that book*) . There were more presents in the parcel! Wanna see them too?

Look at all the work that has gone into that case! Just imagining piecing all those squares nearly sent me blind. And that stitching? QuiltyGal you are one very talented person.


And then I opened it up!




Hee Hee! Pink scissors! And perhaps the finest needles ever in the history of the world - my magnifying glass asked for a magnifying glass when I was trying to thread one. Being the kind and generous soul she is QuiltyGal also included a parcel each for Princess Curly-Wurly and Babyman (they want to blog these themselves) but let me just say they were so excited Babyman took his to bed that night and Pr.C-W and took hers to school the next day.

But that is not all. Oh no! That is not all (I really love that book!) because I got my parcel from Nuno this week as well. Look at that Japanese loveliness, admittedly the cakes and the trees are upside down but you get the idea. Trouble is now that I have them I'm not entirely certain what I am going to do with them, perhaps the trees could turn into a bib for Will?

However it didn't stop there. With the thought of that wicked Blackdog stalking her having shredded Smiley Carol's last nerve we got a new temporary postie, he wasn't expecting the fury of the hounds of hell to descend on him so from his quivering fingers I pulled this triffic parcel - Missus Locket's mini-quilt extravaganza. Talk about talented, people!



That Missus Locket she really is amazingly clever, once again this week I had to bow down in the presence of fabulousness.

And the colours are so magnificent. Thank you Locket. I love love lovetty love it!

And then to cap things off Sylv sent through the long awaited and much desired 'Apple Quilt' - wanna see?

Oops! Ol' Dopey Me forgot to photograph the back but trust me it is beeyooteefull and I will put up pics when I can take some - translates as when it stops raining!