Time flies when you’re having fun!

What a difference a week makes! Finally, I’m feeling more like myself again and on Sunday I had the most productive day I’ve had in weeks. By 10am I had done 4 loads of washing, made more of the Scrummy Slice, homemade apple and raspberry jam and was about to start on a bunch of pikelets for afternoon tea.

Hubble and I enjoyed afternoon tea under the shade of my favourite tree in the garden. Although Hubble did have to go back inside for more pikelets.

I also started the very long process of tea dyeing the lace tablecloth I’ve been babbling about for a few weeks. The difficulty I had in this process was that I didn’t have a big enough pot to put the tablecloth in, so I had to boil the water and steep the tea bags in one pot and then transfer it all to a bucket. I added salt to this water to help the dye set and I put in 28 tea bags with the strings cut off.

Then that is where it sat for just over 3 hours. I checked it occasionally to ensure none of the cloth had risen out of the water and to agitate it a bit to try and ensure the tea soaked into all bits of the cloth. I then rinsed it really well, about 4 buckets of fresh water before I was satisfied that the tea was all out. I then soaked it for 10 minutes in a bucket of cold water with a splash of vinegar to further set the dye and then rinsed it again a couple of times before laying it out on an airer to dry.

Once dried I ironed it and had a good look at the colour and I must say I was pretty impressed with the job. It was fairly even throughout.

Here are some photos of the table done up with the cloth. I love that the tablecloth has been refurbished and now has a new purpose.

The candle is from the Yallingup Candle Co. Click on the photo if you want to check out their website. Soy candles that have a lovely smell.

I have been also working on my next design for The Paisley Hummingbird, which I can’t show you yet but it’s very pretty. I also caught up on some of my Stitch Therapy 365, although I am now about 11 days behind at the time of writing this post.

I keep forgetting to show you a little pouch I made some time ago. It was a free pattern I got off Angela Walters’ gift along she held on Bluprint. It was so easy to make and is a good size. I’ll definitely be making a few more.

Last night I started a class with Lena from the Knit Purl Yarn Boutique in Kalamunda. It is a 5 week class to make the Grinda Shawl. It was so much fun and the ladies were lovely. I’ve always wanted to crochet a shawl but looking at the patterns just totally confused me. So when I saw the advertisement for it on Lena’s facebook page I knew that I just had to take part.

I’m also taking another class on Wednesday to get some instruction on how to do mosaic knitting. I can’t wait to show you the little sample I will do in class.

Well that’s it for this week. I will be mostly concentrating on my designs and hopefully catching up on some more of the Stitch Therapy 365. Miss M’s quilt top is still brewing in the back of my mind about what type of border I’m going to put on. Oh and I want to have a go a crocheting a zig zag blanket. So I have some sampling to do there.

Have a great week and until next time…get creative!

Oh the dreaded lergy!

All fabulous plans must be made to be changed and after my last post with my grandiose plans to dye and stitch and sew, I ended up getting hardly any of it done because I caught the dreaded lergy. Sore throat, headache, cold, aching body and racking cough! Most of my Australia Day long weekend was spent in bed. It was sooo disappointing. Oh and to top it off I had an asthma attack on the Saturday before our guests arrived and then put my back out a couple of days later when I was having a coughing fit! Oh the joys of getting older…

Before I got sick though I managed to make some of the Scrummy Slice. It’s a date slice with a lemon icing and oh my Lord it is so addictive. I got the recipe from this blog I follow, Elefantz. Jenny, the business owner, makes the most delightful stitcheries and really has the domestic goddess thing stitched up. If you’re interested check out her website (www.elefantz.com).

I haven’t had a chance to dye the lace tablecloth yet because I had Miss D & B Boy stay over on Saturday whilst their parents went to a wedding. They were, of course, angels. We had so much fun scootering through the park, drawing, reading stories, watching movies and best of all, giving both of them a sewing lesson on my sewing machine. They both made a little pouch (with my help) which they then filled with my buttons. I think Miss D is hooked. She can’t wait for the next lesson.

We then spent Sunday lazing the day away under the shade of a tree at the Core Cider House in Pickering Brook. It was such a lovely day.

I caught up on some more of my Stitch Therapy 365. I’m still 4 days behind though.

I’ve been working on another design for the Paisley Hummingbird, which I can’t show you yet but it’s getting closer to when I will start setting up my website and selling my designs.

Miss D was the first child to get to sleep in the refurbished bed and she gave it the thumbs up. I have just put a temporary quilt on the bed until I finish the hexi quilt for it. It’s very pretty but I want something a bit brighter on the bed.

Well that’s about it for now. I’m hoping to get some inspiration for Miss M’s quilt border so I can finish it. I’ll be trying to catch up with my Stitch Therapy (still) and I would love to get that lace tablecloth dyed but we’ll see how we go. My main aim for this week is to get my back fixed.

Have an inspirational week and until next time…get creative!

A stitching we will go…

Wow! This week has gone quickly. Our weekend was an absolute scorcher. Hubble and I spent Saturday looking at mattresses for the single bed we just refurbished. We thought it would be a great way to keep cool. WRONG! Major blackouts in the area we were shopping so it was hot and chaotic! And the stores with air conditioning just couldn’t handle the heat. In the end we ended up ordering one over the net. It should be here by next week so I will show you the bed made up then. We bought the most gorgeous blue green sheets to go on the bed. It’s going to look so cute! I have to pull my finger out and finish my hexi quilt.

Because it was sooo hot, Sunday was spent mostly indoors and I actually got to do some sewing. I put all the rows together on Miss M’s quilt. I think it needs a border so I’m letting it sit and stew for a bit to decide what type of border to do. It will be a good excuse to go fabric shopping next weekend.

I’m thinking a white border with some appliqué on it. Not sure…

I’m still trying to catch up on my Stitch Therapy 365. I’m really enjoying it. I like that if I don’t want to think too much, I just copy what Helen Stubbings has done, but if I’m in the mood I can tweak it a bit.

That’s about it for this week. I’m researching how to antique a lace tablecloth I have and I’m brewing some ideas for some placemats I’m going to make. I went to use the lace tablecloth the other week and I found that it is stained and yellowed (I haven’t used it for a long time). I was very disappointed until I realised that this gave me the potential to recreate this cloth, so I’m thinking of antiquing it with tea and then adding some hand painted dye to bring out some of the pattern. I have some gorgeous dusky pink and antique gold dye that I use to dye lace for my quilts and stitcheries, so I may use them as well.

So onward and upward we will go this week. I am endeavouring to stitch every night this week so I can eventually catch up. This coming weekend we have along weekend for Australia Day. We hope to have the family over to watch the fireworks from our deck and have a barbie and then I want to really get into my creative groove, sewing, stitching and maybe even a bit of crocheting…and make a date slice recipe I saw the other day.

As I’m writing this, the weather has turned and it’s cool and spitting rain. Bring it on! Where’s my Stitch Therapy?

If you’re celebrating Australia Day this weekend, I hope you have a fantastic time and be safe!

Until next time…get creative!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

I’m afraid to say that I haven’t got much further with my unfinished projects. My day job has been busier than usual and I haven’t had the energy to do much else in the evenings except go to bed!

I’ve managed to do about a half of the Christmas gift tags and made a couple of ornaments for the tree from some left over Christmas fabric from last year.

I haven’t decided what to do with some other fabric I have so I might pack it away until next year. I have some beautiful Christmas designs as well that I might make into a Christmas wall hanging or maybe a bed quilt. 

One thing I did get finished was block 5 from the Homespun BOM. In the end, I decided to use some flowers from a fat quarter I had and use them instead of the embroidered ones that were in the pattern. I just don’t have time to do all that hand embroidery. I would like to finish this quilt top by the end of January so I had to make sacrifices somewhere. I was pretty pleased with the finished block. Now I can move on to the last three blocks. 

I have also made some gingerbread Christmas trees but the icing was crap so no pictures this time but I’ll make my second batch next week some time.  Oh, & I have nearly finished my Christmas shopping, so that’s a bonus. My feet are killing me from today’s effort. My lovely Hubble kindly massaged some peppermint oil into them. 

This week I need to finish the Gift Tags for the kids presents and hopefully make up some more ornaments.

I hope you’re all on schedule for Christmas. 

Until next time…get creative!

Where did September go?

Oh my Lord, I just realised I haven’t written a post for over a month. Time has just flown so quickly these past few weeks. I feel busy but don’t seem to accomplish much which is really frustrating and we’ve had a few sunny, warm weekends too so I don’t really want to be indoors.

When life gives you lemons…

Life certainly has been giving Hubble & I lemons lately and as much as you try to make lemonade out of them, sometimes you just have to face the fact that they are lemons and it sucks!

Just when you think things are back on track after the last curveball, you get thrown another one and it can be very stressful. Thank God for my rescue remedy and stitching. My sewing room has become my sanctuary, my little piece of what’s right in this world. So as I try to keep my chin up and carry on I have created the following items over the last few weeks.

I finished block six of the Homespun BOM and it is gorgeous!

I’ve also completed block five up to the hand sewing which I haven’t started yet because there’s a lot of it and it’s rather overwhelming.

I’ve also been doing some stitching. The little bee at the top of the post has been put into a hexi frame and I wear as a necklace. I was really pleased with how he turned out. I’m also making a brooch, so hopefully that will turn out as good.

I have also been designing a lap rug with some wool I got from a local yarn store.

It’s a very portable project and with my new crochet hook it is crocheting up really fast. It’s a Kollage Square Hook and it’s great for relieving hand fatigue.

Hubble and I after a particularly stressful week, decided to go hiking in our local area. Being out in nature was just what my soul needed and I felt rejuvenated (at least for a little while). If it ever stops raining, we’re hoping to explore other parts of our suburb.

Well that’s all for this week.

Until next time…get creative!

Another project finished!

Just a quick post today. Finally finished my cross stich. It’s very cute. I have two more designs to do and then I will get them professionally framed in one big wooden frame to hang in my sewing room or office.

Well Hubble’s out & bringing home fish & chips for dinner so I have an hour or so to start on my next Homespun BOM block.

Until next time…get creative!

Catching up & taking a breather…

It has been great to catch up on some of my other projects, in particular the Homespun BOM “The Butterfly Patch”. I finished block 4 and it is so pretty. These Tilda fabrics are gorgeous and I love working with them. I can’t wait for their next range to come out in September.

Charity quilt done!

I can’t believe that it’s been over a month and a half since I last wrote a post. I have been busy finishing the charity quilt and I’m sooo happy to say that it’s done!

On the home stretch.

Well I’m on the home stretch with my charity quilt.