Late afternoon

Since going back to full-time work, I only ever get to spend sewing time on weekends while the kiddo is napping and into the late, late afternoon.


Every now and then, I get a guilty niggle when I'm sewing away and the geezer is waking her up from her nap in the next room. Should I be doing that? Of course, the niggle is forgotten after a moment 'cos I'm in the happy zone again. They didn't need me. All is well.

The blocks for another quilt are all sewed up and squared, waiting for me to lay it out.....next weekend. I love my weekends!

Hope yours was good, too!

Cheerio!

Pinafore or dress

Whatever you call this linen pretty, I reckon it'll work either way. It fits the kiddo now so I'll garb her in it with a skivvy or a long sleeve top underneath.


I love this fabric....again another purchase from Leslie's now closed up shop. The pattern is from this craft book. Yes, I'm hopeless. My addiction to japanese craft pattern books isn't waning. I seem to obsess about them more now that I've less time.


And what's this we see??? Button holes? Ack! Let's take a closer look.


Yes, yes! Perfect cute tiny buttonholes.


'Cos I brought home the ultimate swag from that most recent Sydney craft show last week. I took the plunge and upscaled my sewing toy to this grown-up piece....and I'm in love. It's so smooth, so quiet and so easy to learn. The pinafore is actually the second project I've sewn on the newbie. I cracked my learner plates on a new tea towel (already in use and grotty), an easy project to warm up a new sewing machine to.


And as if that wasn't enough, I also dived off the deep end and cast on this little cardigan. The kiddo's new apricot scarf (the blocking does wonders, I'm now a believer, Claudine!) was a hit.


You can't see it, but I just spotted a dropped stitch already. Do I care? Nope.


So was that a catch-up or what?! I'm switching comments back on, 'cos I wanna hear what you all have been up to. And by the way, any takers for this pile of fabric? I've just done another clean out and I've decided these are just too subdued for me colour-wise.


Okey dokey! Back to the real world.

Cheerio!

Long weekend

It would seem like I'm forever playing catch-up on this blog nowadays. But since I still love writing the blog posts, catch-up it'll have to be.

Two weekends ago was the Queen's Birthday long weekend. Us being in a commonwealth country and all, we get the benefit of the additional public holiday for a well-earned getaway to cold and windy Canberra.

The kid loved looking at the little miniature English village. But the oohing was reserved for the teeny tiny castles. I actually remembered to bring the camera this time around. So I was snapping away at every opportunity........posing in front of castles.


Waiting on orange benches with trusty new friends.


And just being a plain ole goof. (Belinda, the kiddo loves the skirt! And so do I.)


Notice all the handmade in each pic?

Ahem, someone else made the castle, but it was definitely made by hand.

Cheerio!

Laundry, what laundry?

While I'm in a blogging groove here, I thought to play catch-up with my posting....since it's been a wee while. Doh! Too much busy-ness.


Anyhow, that fairytale quilt has been long-armed, bound and slept under for a while now. Here 'tis with the kiddo's bed friends.


Some progress has been made on the granny square blanket. This one's going too slowly for my liking, but perhaps I just need to accept it for the tortoise-speed project that it is. Maybe it'll be finished in time for next winter.


And guess what new craft I've learned this year?! Claudine came over a few weeks ago and taught me the knitting basics. So now I know how to cast on, cast off, do garter and do stocking stitch. Hopefully, that's enough for the moment until I can actually finish a project within days, let alone months. For someone so used to whipping a little something in no time, I'm still a tad slow.


And while we wait for the real birthday pressie to arrive, the kiddo will be tearing into this package tonight. After cake (I told the geezer to hunt for one at short notice...this one has crept up on us) and candles. Hopefully she likes it!


Now I really need to attend to the laundry.

Cheerio!

Heavenly

Driving up the scary road......in a rental car.......by myself......in the darkening late afternoon.....eek! It's enough to give a girl conniptions. But the drive was so, so worth reaching the top of the mountain. It's like heaven, the crafty kind, of course. More weekend wrap-ups here and here.

And the rest of the photos courtesy of our in-house picsnapper here. With big hugs and thank you's to all these ladies who made the weekend a blast!

Hokay! Must attend to the laundry now. Cheerio!

Down the fun drain

What do I do when there are more pressing matters I want to ignore? I windowshop.

I see a dream theme of high heels recurring in this wardrobe, what I'd normally call "one-hour shoes". Cos I know that's how long I'd last in them before I'm itching to slip them off.

Beautiful nonetheless! I'm wanting that ombre skirt and the tan Philip Lim jacket.....and all four pairs of heels.

Okay, I'm going back to reality. Cheerio!

Yarn attack

I had one of those when I spied Louise's most recent project on-the-make. I remembered last year wanting to get on the granny square bandwagon, but I wasn't brave and was still very unskilled in the art of crochet. Nowadays I'm a bit more fearless. Don't know about the skill. Ha!


Last weekend, armed with my trusty hook I did a bit of yarn hoarding over at my local in town to make up a car/travel blanket, justifying that not one inch of it will got to waste...after all this one's going to be treasured for years to come. When it's finished.

I'm crocheting the blocks together as I go, a la this super excellent tutorial. I'm hoping it'll end up with a mishmash organic feel when it's done 'cos the layout is pretty much unplanned.


Of course, I've piled myself with another project on-the-go. Gah!......when I really should be binding the new quilt (yep, its back) for the kiddo.


Instead I'm strangely compelled to make more small "grannies".


Hope your week is good! Cheerio!

Leftovers

Leftovers can sometimes be fun..... fabric scraps that is. And these two now make it seven house blocks all up. Here they are posing with some toys I borrowed from the kiddo.


I'm aiming for, ummm let's see, about twenty blocks? Or even twenty-four. At this rate, it'll take me forever to frickin sew the entire top.

Each one eats up about an hour to sew and each one is frustratingly fiddly. The roof patches are constantly confounding me each time I start a new one. That one up there took me three attempts to get the okay nod.


At this slowpoke rate, the quilt might end up gifted to the kid when she's a teenager. Or to the grandkid, good heavens!

And as slow as each one takes to make, each one of these is also infinitely satisfying to finish.

We're all a bit snotty and flu-ey around here. So, I'm going back to the couch with a hot cup of lemon tea to banish the germs and watch this fun romp of a show.

Cheerio!

Growth spurt

The kid has been needing trousers lately. What with this growth spurt, she's turning into quite the weed.

I had been a neglectful mummy and ignoring the ankle view she had been showing me from the last lot of trouser sewing I did.....until I saw how shabby she looked next to her friends at child care last week. Good thing this easter long weekend shindig. I really got stuck into revving up the machines.


I even chose a new trouser pattern from this superb japanese craft book. This one has pockets and a slight boot leg.


And here's trouser number two (same pattern) being road tested this morning while we were at the park.



Both trousers were transformed from japanese fabrics from my stash. The pros of having a decent sized stash being I didn't have to step out of my craft room for this session. (Not even for some notions) I think the first one was from Reprodepot and the second is from Leslie's etsy shop.

Hope everyone's having a good week.

Cheerio!

Building houses

Hey folks! Is it time for a new house block? I think so.


One with lots of autumn colours. All fabrics were taken from the scrap heap, which is begging to be tidied up.

There's another few blocks on the go, so stay tuned for those.

Cheerio!

Korshay

Us crafters, don't we just love our toys? And as I was playing with this one, I couldn't help hearing that humming base tune Sully was hopping to part way through the movie.

Pom....pom....pom....pom....pom....pom


Those Clover folks have done it again! And no doubt I'm the last on the planet to have discovered this wee pom-pom gadget thingy. 'Cos it looks so cute adorning the kiddo's newest korshay (her word, not mine) scarf.


The scarf was a super-quick project......hmmm, four teevee viewing evenings? Yep, thereabouts. It's made of some pretty 8 ply cotton I picked up at my nearest Spotlight, but the pom-poms are made of leftover fuschia Zara wool from another project. 'Cos after a few goes, the cotton just wasn't making nice, ball-shaped ones.


On other news, we've been having so much rain and damp our little patch of grassy yard has turned into a field of mushrooms......Yuck! I know mushrooms are normally very twee and whimsical and cute, but our garden just looks vile. Any suggestions please?

If you have any, please email your garden fungal annihilation tips to jade(dot)ghenzer(at)gmail(dot)com. 'Cos the mushroom infestation is doing my head in. I and the geezer much appreciate it.

Cheerio!

Lazy days

I'd rather sew than exercise. That's nothing new. My near-new trainers which I got two months ago to play volleyball in are sleeping in a deepening dust pile. Must jog sometime soon! Next weekend maybe?

Either way, the weekend hasn't been a loss. I plundered my inordinate hoard of fairytale japanese fabrics and finished this cute quilt top for the kiddo's toddler bed.


I originally collected these to put as trim on smocks, back in the days when I sewed baby smocks. Seems so long ago. And she really needs a bigger quilt.


I just need to get some spotty flannel for the back, then send it away to be quilted.


Now, I'll retire to that worn-in dip in the couch to weave in these ends. So maybe not so lazy, hey?

Hope your weekend is good, too. Mine's the top banana.

Cheerio!

Kiddo blather

Life is so hard, I think I'll pull faces. (Cos mummy forces me to say please when I want a biscuit)


Ack! No! I'd rather you remember my natural face. What's going on there?


Strike that. I'd rather watch the bumblebee movie.

Bunnies on my mind

It's coming up to easter after all. An excuse for chocolate and cute floppy eared bunnies.


I had a maddening compulsion to do something arty. So I gave in and broke out the new paintbox.


Finito! (Except it's wanting some thought bubbles, methinks)

PS. I've switched off the comments, peeps. I'm trying to get back to turning this blog into my online journal again, like in the beginning. If you're wanting to say hello, please drop me an email via my profile page.

Coming up apples

Lots of apples.....in her kitchen (hello bloggy peeps!)


And on the kiddo's apron. We popped over to this market on the weekend to say hello to Belinda and Marina. I had to nab this apron and this perfect little skirt. The cheeky kid wanted to put it on the moment we got indoors.


So that was summer, hey. Dry, hot January, then wet, soggy February. Can't win them all. But as chance would have it, I had the perfect excuse to stay indoors and stitch inch-by-fricking-inch to finish the new couch quilt.


This may be the last time ever I attempt hand quilting on this scale. I'd love to hope that my hands are getting softer and supple with age (like old leather, he he he....borrowed that line from a friend, hope she doesn't mind), but the skin on my fingertips seem to be getting tougher.


Ha! Get it?! I'll be a tough old bag one day.


There are other finished projects loitering here and there. Just gotta get back into the groove of pic-snapping. 'Cos every spare minute we're lazing around in bed. Get up lazybones!

Cheerio!

Summer break

Hokay! Whose idea was it to start crocheting a woolly something in the middle of stinking hot weather? Ooh yeah, that was me. Sheesh!


The stripey thing is now stalled in favour of reacquainting myself with the ole book case. The only newbie in that pile up there is The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Everything else I'm reading again for the (take you pick) nth time.

As for Mr Gaiman's book, I devoured it in a day and if I were a writer, I'd wish I could tell a story like him. I *gushing* loved it! I haven't gushed about a book for a long time. This is just the sort of book I can't wait to share with the kiddo when she gets older.

Anyhow, work and real life has taken over this part of blogdom again. I could kinda see this coming from a mile off, but I was in a bit of denial. We've just been too busy being out and about, that I haven't been doing the usual housekeeping here......including replying back to your comments. Don't worry I won't be gone long, just for the rest of summer.

Keep well & as I always say.....cheerio!

The rudeness

So the past week has been a rude and abrupt awakening. (The geezer should just throw a bucket of cold water at me in the morning, but lets not encourage that) Back to the blah humdrum of corporate life and I struggled. Oh, how I struggled! I’m a bit of a sleepy grump in the mornings. One caffeine hit a day isn’t enough.

But I’m persevering with keeping up the creative momentum. A row or three every night, in front of the boob tube. See here the beginnings of a stripey thing.


It’s way distracting to pass a yarn shop on the way home everyday and not venture in for a look-see. This inevitably results in me venturing in, imagining a new project in my mind to match whichever wool hank I’m petting, handing over some dosh and failing to exert will-power again. Resistance is futile!

I’m finding there is a direct relationship between my resuming the crafting and the increased lure of the craft supply shops. Using up the stash equals the need to replenish. No creativity, no stash movement equals piles gathering dust, forgetting what’s in the stash (where did I hide those buttons?) and potential for said fabric stash to be transformed into a nest for rabid spiders………….by the way, the geezer valiantly gassed and squashed five large huntsmans (vile cretins!) since we moved five months ago, even though he’s secretly a quivering mess inside when he sees them, too. Ain’t love grand? Anyhow, more incentive for me to keep up the crafting.



This weekend I swear to reply and/or comment back to everyone who’s popped in here. I’ve been abysmally poor at the replies. So rude. And although I’ve apologised before to you bloggy peeps for the poor standards here, I'm very appalled at myself for letting it get to this state. Thanks again for understanding and continuing to visit.

One more tidbit before I sign off, here’s an interesting article I came across via this great site. Cos I need to wash my mouth out every now and then. The kiddo, all innocent-like, said the f-word back to me the other day. (Mum, she only said it once, and she knows its a naughty word now) Guess who she picked it up from. Gah!

Cheerio!

Bingeing

Would you believe it?! Within a week of my last visit here I finished three projects! Wot!!! Methinks it had something to do with a crafty mini bootcamp we had a few days ago. I was so feeling left out of the monthly blogmeets that I invited Belinda (with her sister Nicole) and Claudine to pop over for a day of fabric play.....and the opportunity to finish off some projects sans geezer. (I kicked the husband out for half a day)

What a great day it was! Ladies, we need another one of those please.


I finished the little scarflette above for the kiddo. It's a super quick project! Just half a ball of yarn. The pattern is from this craft book. I finished it off with a velvet ribbon for tying around the neck. The winter wardrobe collecting is starting early.

And the other fabric creation is what I ended up tacking that bunny stitchy thing to. Remember the boxing bunny? I put it on the yoke of this wee summer dress.


I added the bunny with a bit of needle-turned applique. (We're a bit old-school on the applique technique around here) And it's come up a treat! I used some natural coloured Italian linen for the yoke and the boxing bunnies dotty print fabric that I got from Leslie when she opened up her shop ages ago. That is one of the prettiest fabrics I've ever come across!


I finished the back with my favourite loop closures. The pattern actually called for a zip, but buttons are a lot sweeter for little girls' frocks.


And here's a view of the full dress. I'll get a snap of the little tike wearing it one of these days. She's gone to sleep now. The pattern is from another japanese craft book.


It's my most current favourite.......of all the bits of clothing I've made for her, this one is definitely tops.

I've pretty much used up all of that cute bunny print fabric now. Wah! If I want to make anything else out of it, I'm going to have to wait until she's outgrown the dress to cut it up. That is, of course, if I get the courage to cut it up. Maybe not.

Oh well! I always say, if you want the best results, use up the good stuff.

Cheerio!

PS. Ooooh yeah! Project number three is a quick quilt top....with sadly no photos to show. But I'll save that post for when its finished and bound.

Two weeks down

One week left of my time away from work....and I finished this couch cushion! It's only been, ahem, three months since I cut up the fabric.


There's a bit of lotta fabric, something from the japanese stash and aqua linen. I threw in the stitchy rows to complement the white in the lotta print.


The back has a plain lapped zip closure, which took me several goes to get right. The secret was in the basting stitches. The lazy arse way of pinning it down just wasn't getting me anywhere except a lot of wonky ugly. But now it looks neat.....it may even look store bought. Maybe.


And just for you, Corrie, here's a photo of the kiddo looking serious...


then cheeky (and fuzzy). They're my new faves photos of her taken on Christmas day.


Now, which fabric pile should I cut up next?

Hope everyone's having a great holiday season!

Hiding in the real world

Ack! Has it been almost two months already? I stoked up the inbox this morning and saw some "where and how are you's" in there. Should've really checked in briefly during the madness. Thanks so much for your thoughtfulness!

You see, bloggy peeps, as much as I love my job (and yes, the reason is that trite) November nearly killed me. Long days, late nights, doing endless revisions on endless ginormous spreadsheets to meet a deadline set by some head honcho in another country. You get the picture?


I've been crafting none and the dinners have been deplorable, too. I think the geezer and the kiddo are now sick of takeaway.

But we have been enjoying the real world the past seven days. We've just come back from a Melbourne trip. The wet and nippy conditions didn't stop us from sightseeing. We even got to check-out Louise's Tuesday digs. And I was restrained.....amid all the riot of gorgeous fabric and me, very restrained. Heh! I haven't been sewing very much lately, so that scuppered the hoarding instinct.


I've planned to stay at home for another fortnight before heading back to the melee that is my work. And I foresee lots of catching up between me and my sewing machine. And lots more blogging than in the last few weeks. And perhaps whittle down the thousands (Ack! Ack!) in my bloglines. And maybe, just maybe, some finished projects to show. Cos the pile of unfinished projects is the new bane of my craft existence.

Must not let work take over the better stuff of life again!

PS. Thank you, Claudine, for your gift. The place mats are very well loved!