Holidays

Tomorrow Phoebe and I are flying up to Parabadoo to be picked up by Pete and the boys and head to Karijini National Park where they have set up camp today. The bags are packed and we are excited to be seeing them tomorrow.








My bedtime reading of late has been this book. It was a gift from Debbie, the new owner of Calico and Ivy and I've loved reading it - every bit. The photography is beautiful, organic, inspiring. Amy's home is amazing. It was nice to take a look inside her home and see some of the sources of her inspiration.

We will be back in Perth in about 2 weeks and whilst it's normally hard to return after a holiday, I know I will be excited to return and start my new job here - yay!

Camping Projects

I have been admiring this embroidery work in one of my Marie Claire Idees magazines for a long time. Hopefully I might pull some inspiration from it when we are camping. I'm packing some threads and some fabric and I'd like to embroider to my hearts content.

I'm also taking these to play around with. Maybe I might work with a bit of the new Amy Butler range and maybe some old ones too.

S.W.A.T

This month's copy of InsideOut Magazine included a string bag. Oliver had grand ideas for this bag!

Well, the boys headed off this morning - after some heavy duty packing. I retreated to the kitchen to make Choc Banana Bread and tasty rolls for their lunch (probably didn't even make itto the edge of Perth). It's very quiet. Very quiet. And today I like it.

Heading North

The house is a flurry of organisation ( and a bit of quilting as I watch) as the boys prepare for their departure tomorrow morning on a 2 and a half week camping expedition. The boys are doing the driving bit right up to Karijini National Park - 1600kms from Perth. The girls (Phoebe and me) opted for the flight up. We will join them on Thursday in Tom Price. We will spend a couple of nights at Karijini and then we will trek across to Coral Bay, just south of Exmouth on the Ningaloo Reef. Thankfully I have the most organised husband I know and he does everything he can to ensure a 5 star camping experience (this boy did work for the Ritz Carlton hotel group for many years after all)!

Phoebe and I have 3 whole days of quietness - no rumbling, no hungry boys being bored, no playstation. My, what are we going to do? A whole lot of cleaning and quilting and preparing things to sew on a 2 week camping trip. Of course, we will miss our boisterous boys, lots!

Pink won as the background for the string pieced stars quilt and I am happily quilting it today. Hopefully to be finished and bound tonight. The other stars there are a quilt I started for Phoebe just after she was born. It will take me a long time as I usually only do this when there is no sewing machine around i.e. camping once a year. It is lots of 1930's prints and feedsacks. They are a whole lot of happiness and will have those duck egg blue hexagons between each star when it all happens.

Gorgeous

This is currently on my wish list. It's a Iittala Mariskooli. They come in many colours - and the prices vary greatly depending on your colour choice. Love it - do you? So many colours to choose from.

It's My Birthday Today

.....I'm older than yesterday. All my friends are coming over to play and we'll all sing happy birthday, today!

Here is some happy snaps of our little Phoebe's 2nd birthday. She had two lots of cupcakes and was a little more animated second time around! That photos in the middle is average of the boys - with mouthfuls of lollies, but check out that cheeky girl in her new dress from her Aunty. The last one is a quick happy birthday. Whilst we were having a special birthday dinner for our girl, she requested her dummy and bear ( read, I'm ready for bed everyone). So we quickly did the "cake" and whisked the little 2 year old off to bed. Tired. I think she's had a good day. The boys admitted at dinner tonight that they ate half the smarties off the cupcakes before they went out, I've just checked the photo - I did decorate half with smarties, and yes some are gone........monkeys!

Birthday Present

It's Phoebe's birthday on Thursday and I wanted to make her something especially from Mummy (that's me)! So of course, me being Mrs lastminute.com I decided to start something today. It's going to be a dolly quilt for the new dolly.

I've wanted to do some string pieced stars for some time now and after today, I'm hooked. Foundation piecing is gooood. Try it with your scraps. My big decision now is pink or white? Seems to look better in pink here, but on the wall, the white is my pick.

This is the view through my block viewer. If only you could capture this on paper, what amazing quilts you could have.

Candy Shop Continued

Here is a little sneak peak of Scout's quilt in progress. I love this part of the quilt process. Actually doing this today made me think about the whole process of making a quilt. I love, love, love buying the fabric - who doesn't! If by chance you don't, send me your money and I'll do it for you! I often toss and turn over what design I want - rarely would I make the same quilt twice - unlike a very good friend of mine who likes to make the same quilt in all sizes! I don't mind cutting. This quilt has lots of little cutting involved as those triangles started off as 3.5 inch squares, and the cutting bit did get to me a little, actually I think I'll be cutting some more as I see more need for some colours and I've cut so much pink. The sewing bit is fun at first as you see the new project emerge, but then usually the monotony sets in and I need to set myself targets to get to the end. Finding a backing is usually something I think about as I sew. I have a bit of a stash of backing fabrics, usually ones I've found on sale. I have this thing about backing, you've got to love it, no regrets, you've put in so much effort to not love it. Basting quilts is the reaching the top of the second last mountain in my view. It's an energy consuming little process - all that rolling around on the ground, sore fingers, I need to psyche myself up, but I find it so rewarding to finally pull that tape off the ground and have your quilt ready for the quilting stage.
Then there is the hand quilting. I've only hand quilted my quilts because I was taught to quilt by a quilting purist - and I'm thankful to her for that. Not that there is anything wrong with machine quilting, I just don't know how to do it. I have to say I do find hand quilting a little tedious, especially on a large project. From time to time I do quilt in perle No.8. These girls are the Queens of perle quilting - even did a great DVD with Australian Quilters Companion, with some great tips, if you can get your hands on it. I have to say that I've just never really felt the calming effects that some speak of when hand quilting. So, why do I do it? Because it looks so good! Lastly is the binding, just like reading the final pages of a book, sometimes it's a little sad to be finishing a project. Mostly it's a really satisfying feeling, finish one, start the next. Usually the next one has already been started!

I popped this on the wall this afternoon, just to get an idea of where I was going. I got my inspiration for this one from an vintage quilt on ebay. I loved it and printed it out and filed it. It says that the quilt was from the 30's or 40's and was actually mad with full squares folded in half so the front and the back are identical. Now, my brain doesn't quite grasp that. Where do those seams go? Anyway, I'll save my brain strain and not worry, as that is not how I've made this.

This is my work in progress table. Triangles waiting to be paired up and sewn together.

"The secret is to save everything"

Mmmm....this quote is right up my alley! It from Sharon Storrier Lyneham former editor of Vogue Entertaining and Vogue Living. She has a new shop, a joint venture with Belinda Seper of Belinda fame, it's called Edit. She features in the latest Inside Out Magazine - and it looks great!

Check that chair out - how amazing is that! This stuff makes my head spin, my heart beats faster, I love it. It is the magic of creativity. Hope you are neck deep into something you love today!

Mummy Dilemma

Next week is Phoebe's 2nd Birthday - yay! Today I took her to the toyshop to get some presents for the big day. I came away very confused. This toyshop is big, but despite this, she made her way to the dolly section found a nice sized dolly and a capsule and carried her around and around the shop. Clearly this girl wants a dolly and a capsule. But I would prefer her to have wooden cradle not plastic pink capsules! Conflict of interests here. Maybe I'm being over the top.

I am, however, in love with Corolle dolls. They are french designed and just delightful. They even have sweet little eyes that blink. I'm thinking of the one that can go in the bath and air drys in 5 minutes. She also can put her finger in her mouth.

Now, before I lose you completely, below is a Corelle Les Dollies Doll and she is tres cute. Perhaps not this year for Phoebe, maybe next. They are marketed as stylish dolls that are hip and fashionable - a perfect alternative to today's sexed up dolls. At first I was a little freaked out by that hair, but now I find it quite charming. She has little freckles and she smells really good......she's vanilla.

Luxe

During my recent trip to Sydney, I went to my very talented brother in law's factory. He is a very talented upholsterer who always has a factory full of gorgeous sofas, dining chairs, armchairs, ottomans and the like. He also has great remnants and I annoy him greatly by scrouging through these whenever I visit! After a tip off from my sister, I found this gorgeous Designers Guild fabric that I have coveted forever. He made it into some great cushions for me - thanks Ad!

Busytown

Richard Scarry's books are just delightful for children. My Henry would study the minute details of the Best Word Book Ever, on a daily basis. He especially loved the Richard Scarry book that was his Daddy's when he was a boy. Whenever I'm out thrifting around and I see a Richard Scarry book, I always pick it up to add to our collection. Recently on my trip to Sydney, my sister Anna and I took a quick trip to the Southern Highlands. We covered a few patchwork shops and some antique shops too. Imagine the delight when we found this Richard Scarry fabric. It's a 1930's reproduction and I love it. It has some of the Rabbit, Pig and Cat Families featured, I can't see Lowly though! I look forward to the treasure that this will be someday for somewhere. Not sure what just yet, but one day I'll make something special.

Candy Shop

My latest project makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop. It's all 1930's fabric - they are sweet and whimsical and make great scrappy quilts. Here is a small pile, but I can't reveal too much as it's a special present for my youngest sweet, sweet niece. There's some ballerinas, mice, apples, dogs and many more prints that should delight and entertain a little girl for many years to come.