Quilt WIP

I've been struggling along with this quilt since the intended recipient was a few days old - back in February that is. But hey, she's not even crawling yet so it still counts as a baby present right? RIGHT? Anyways, after many fits and starts and crises of confidence about fabric choices and trips to the quilting store it's finally ready for quilting. I've also passed through various ideas about how to do that, seeing as I've never quilted before, but have discarded stitch-in-the-ditch as being too hard after doing it on my pencil crayon rolls, and I think free motion would detract from the geometric nature of it, so I've decided to go with a line of stitching on either side of the seamline. I saw it on a quilt on someone's blog a few weeks ago (if it was you speak up so I can give proper credit!) and I thought it would give the same effect as SITD but be more forgiving of slight wobbles. I'm quite excited about it all now, the end is in sight, in the final stretch, light at the end of the tunnel etc. etc. Then I can start thinking about Xmas stuff har har.

Outstanding in their field

Taken by Mat in a field somewhere in New Zealand. I found it on the camera when I downloaded some of my photos.

Moooo.

Oh how sweet!

Ume Komachi 'Blossom', originally uploaded by Ansis68.

That's what I said when I opened up the package from Cotton and Cloud - not only did it contain my Ume-Komachi 'Blossom' fabric, but there were a couple of perfectly-matched zips (much closer in RL than they look in this photo) and a cute assortment of mismatched little white buttons. Suddenly the fabric has gone from "maybe a bag or a pillow" to "wouldn't a top look fabulous?" I'm going to have to ponder this a bit, but that's part of the fun isn't it. Does anyone have good patterns to suggest for tops?

Does this mean I'll have to learn how to put in an invisible zipper? Eeep!

ETA: in one of those perfect moments of internet timing, Kirin Notebook posted a tutorial on making cushions with an invisible zipper. And look, I've got fabric AND invisible zippers. Howzat!

A cover for Hazel's chair

This is the chair we were given:



Stylish eh! I really like these kinds of chairs, and this one has wee rubber stoppers at the front to stop it tipping forward as they are wont to do otherwise. I think it must be an older version (from about 15 years ago?) of a style Ikea still sell, the Poäng. I actually like the lines of this one better, although the padding on the current one does look more comfy! Still, you can see the white canvas isn't exactly the most child-friendly. The first thing Hazel did when we got it was to spill hot chocolate on it, and even after washing and many dire warnings about spilling and standing on it, it's grubby again.

I bought some Fredrika fabric from Ikea when we were in Edmonton last year with the intent of using it on our kitchen chairs, or making cushion covers, but it seemed like a good match for this chair and I think it looks great! Now I just need to change the rest of the living room to match these colours...



It's very simple, with fabric backing top and bottom to slip over the frame and a single layer of fabric otherwise. I did think about padding it with some batting but that was starting to get a bit complex! It would be easy enough to add in at a later date though. I still need to add ties to anchor it at the curve and keep it sitting straight on the chair. I notice that J. Caroline Creative sells covers for the current version of the Poäng and they look gorgeous!

Featuring me!

I'm appalled I forgot to mention this because it was really very exciting to be asked - Hazelnuts was the Meet Me at Mike's Forum Focus a few days ago. Not only did I get to see a couple of my photos up on someone else's blog but I got to talk about myself and who doesn't like to do that? Actually isn't that what a blog is about really? Ok, let's not go down that path too far, it makes me feel too self-conscious! If you haven't checked out the Meet Me At Mike's forum you should, it's a fun place.

Today I started out with great intentions to use that bit of embroidery I did the other day but I was defeated by the water soluable marker I'd used. I'd erased the marks with water but when I ironed the embroidery they came back. I dabbed at them again and then I got like a big blotch with blue margins. !!!! So I wet the whole thing and left it to dry. That was very annoying, not impressed Clover! I went on to doing a cover for a lovely kid's chair Hazel was given a few months ago. Looks good but who designs a kid's chair in white? That you have to dismantle to get the cover off to clean? Yeah, more style than sense for sure. Having an easy-to-remove cover will make a huge difference.

Holmegaard suncatchers

When I was a kid we had a set of blue glass suncatchers hanging in the kitchen window. My parents bought them in Denmark when we were there in 1976. I never thought about them much except that the blue was the same as the curtains, and they were always there. Last time I was home for a visit I came across them in the attic, all packaged up in bubblewrap. I told mum how much I'd always liked them and she I could have them if I wanted. I thought hard about whether I could get them home (via New York and West Virginia) safely, but decided I could if they went handluggage only! They made it fine and now hang in the spare room window and I can admire them every day from my desk.



I like them more and more each time I look at them, they're so simple and the most gorgeous blue, which unfortunately doesn't come through well if you expose for the design. The official colour is "Ocean Blue" and it truly is.


Please ignore the horrible clear dots I have on the back to stop them banging on the windows

I finally went looking to see if I could find anything out about them, and googled 'blue glass noah ark denmark' and followed a couple links to discover that the were made by the company Holmegaard Glasværk, designed by Michael Bang in 1969, and produced between 1970-76. They are referred to as 'Noah's Ark' for obvious reasons!



There are some other lovely suncatchers done by this glassworks, some have leaf and branch designs. Would love to get ahold of some like that, but until then I'm very happy with my three. Thanks mum!

New books on my wishlist

I added a few books to my Fishpond wishlist today and thought I'd share them:

Twinkle Sews: 25 Handmade Fashions from the Runway to Your WardrobeI added this one solely on the strength of the review over at Whip Up, and the gorgeous dress on the cover. Plus in an interview on Burda Style she actually voluntarily mentions women who don't have model-like figures! I have no idea what the other clothes look like but I've put it in here in the hopes someone will post a few photos of the book contents and I can then justify buying it!














Bend the Rules with Fabric I like the first Bend the Rules, although don't exactly love it, the projects are a bit on the simple side for me. Not in a pejorative sense, but I don't feel challenged by them exactly. Or something. But I'd like to have a look at this one anyways, it sounds fun from the reviews I've read of it.
















Carefree Clothes for Girls - again, not entirely sure what the projects are like but the review of it (wherever that was I came across it first) sounded interesting. I know I know, I can hear people saying "back away from the little girl's clothes Jacqui, just baaaaack away" but a woman can dream can't she? Plus this looks like a Japanese pattern book in English which should be encouraged I think.














Lastly, I have A Second Helping: More from Ladies, a Plate. The first book Ladies, a Plate is fabulous and not only is it a great recipe book but it's great New Zealand social history and I'm very big on social history, particularly where it pertains to what might traditionally be called a "woman's sphere of influence". There are lots of books on the history of New Zealand cooking around at the moment, I think I saw one in the bookshop the other day that was something along the lines of "first catch your weta" but don't quote me on that!

I don't know if I need to explain the term 'Ladies, a Plate' or not, but if I do then it simply means that women are expected to bring a small plate of food to a gathering. It's pretty old-fashioned although most people still understand it. Sometimes it was shortened even further to just 'Ladies...'. Talk about social short-hand! There are tales of new immigrants turning up to parties with a bare plate, probably more apocryphal than true in most cases, although I'm quite sure it happened on occasion!