What a gorgeous weather-wise weekend we had here in Perth.  Temps under 30 both days.  It was lovely to open the house up and let the sunshine and fresh air pour in, rather than closed up with the air-con on and avoiding the boiling sun at all costs.

 

I had a quiet weekend, mostly spent at home mooching doing loads of washing.  My daughters cleaned there rooms and the floor-drobe contents made its way to the washing basket.  I know, I am such a nice mother, still doing their washing!

 

I had time to get my Liberty Strippy Quilt ready for pinning and hand-quilting.  I'm just planning on straight rows of stitches in various shades of blue thread. 

 

Here it is ready for pinning, which I later achieved. I'm tacking it as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Tilly was yet again my helper. Following me around, sitting patiently while I hung out washing. Jumping on the vacuum cleaner, licking the dishes in the dishwasher - the dirty, tasty ones, nudging for pats, when they weren't forthcoming in the required time frame.  Yesterday she did some sunbathing in the spot of sunshine in the lounge room.

 

 

 

 

The weather felt more Spring-like than Autumn-Like.  I moved some furniture around and put the old smelly blue sofa out on the verge and put the white sofa bed in  its place and draped it in my aquablue quilt.  It looks soooooooooooo much better.  You can lie on this one - finally a sofa we can lie on- and I did just that for an hour reading my book club book which is great.  I finished another book on Saturday night - my first David Baldacci - Zero Day.  It was as if I was watching a CSI episode without the ads.

 

 

 

What else?  Friday night I went to see Pam Ann - a comedienne.  Quite funny in places - good for a giggle.  And Sunday a quick cuppa up the road at my besties.  All in all very nice.



 

 

I hope you had lovely weekends too!

Blue Farm Quilt....Ta Dah!

So here it is....finished and bound for its home in Scotland....only 4 more sleeps until I fly off.

I had a lovely time with a photo shoot in my back yard yesterday afternoon.  It was the most glorious day of winter sunshine. Here it is over the railing outside the granny flat.

A few close ups of the blocks.

There's a little boy on the quilt representing Jamie, my Godson.

A full view.

My assistants for the shoot, having a bit of fun....after prying them off the sofas and away from their mobile phones....teenagers today - I tell you!....they had a little bit of fun.  I collected up my other quilts and took photos of them, making good use of my assistants, as they're rarely around in daylight when I need help to photograph finished quilts.

It's taking shape

It's morphed again....I just wasn't getting my groove on with the quilt. I was feeling really pressured to make a BEAUTIFUL quilt...I want it to be very special and I think I was trying too hard, getting all het up about it.  So I did some deep breathing, grounded myself, drank a cup of reviving tea and sat and reviewed the blocks I'd made and took stock of the situation :)  Finally clarity and direction.  I would revert to blue and white - my original colour palette, drop all the green and pink and yellow....pattern wise stick with my version of  a half-log cabin as I'm loving the pattern and it represents crop lines. I can still link it the farm, the woods and fields, a boy and a girl, some animals, the domesticity of life together - cups of tea.... I've decided to use about 5 or 6 hero fabrics and base blocks around them. I've use Liberty Birdsong, Elevenses and the Scandinavian farm - can't remember the name of that one for the life of me.... so far with another couple to come...here's a progress pic....

I've now done quite a bit more but you can see the jist of it above and now I"am totally feeling the love, the mojo is on and it is all systems a go-go.

I had a lovely weekend, mainly due to lots of time sewing, me thinks, with sprinkles of cooking and baking and an evening of musical theatre seeing Jersey Boys LOVED it! 

Upon reflection of my weekend,,,,I realise I'm so much more content when I am creating something.  Having a purpose (ie deadline) to making the quilt has given me full permission to totally immerse myself in its construction.  Which makes me wonder whether I'm not giving myself "permission" to craft away when I'm merely doing it for pleasure.  (Don't get me wrong this purpose is totally pleasurable).  I'm just wondering if my underlying psyche is that expressing myself creatively and indulging myself in pleasurable art forms is a very selfish act and I shouldn't spend my time so?  I must work, work, work...keep housekeeping up-to-date...see that there is food for everyone, run the household, and deny myself other facets of my life that make my heart truly sing. Again, I don't want to sound as though I  begrudge all that I do...I don't.... it's life and bits bring me joy...clean washing...Am I weird?  But is there an element of self sabotage at play here or some deep seated Presbyterian/fundamental religious ideology?  Fun is not right...seriousness abounds.  Only when the jobs are done can we allow ourselves to relax.  Sounds crazy as I write these words...that I think I need to give myself permission to enjoy myself????  OMG am I sounding like a  martyr!! Maybe I just operate better with a sense of purpose?  Apologies for the stream of conscious mad ramblings!
See what creative play time brings out in me!  :)

Seeking inspiration

I mentioned I am wanting to make a quilt for my Godson's wedding.  He and his fiancé are farmers in the Scottish borders.  I'm told that blue features a lot in their home...so I'm thinking of a blue quilt, with some purple for Scottish thistle, yellow for the rapeseed they grow and green for the green patchwork fields that abound in the UK.  I have some wonderful Liberty fabrics which I'm going to work in.  I started by fussy cutting a piece of Liberty Glencot House and that's as far as I got on the first night! 

I have no pattern in mind.  I thought I'd start with a few feature fabrics and build blocks around them.  I want it to reflect their life together on the farm, so I've got fabric with tractors, farm animals, houses, tea cups and domesticity, trees, crops, dogs, barns.  I also have their initials...but I don't want it to look too twee.  I'm thinking cutting a mixture of squares and rectangles to reflect the fields that they work in.

Last Saturday I popped into Materialise to pick up some bits for it and Sophie had this quilt on display.  I love, love  this quilt and it is serving as inspiration for mine, although mine won't be as strippy, but I like the idea of the larger feature blocks.

 

Apologies for the bad photography.  Aren't the fabrics to-die-for?  Sophie has made a border in her signature Boho style.  I love the mosaic effect and how it marries styles/ideas/fabric together and tells a story.  My visit made me nostalgic for my days when I worked in the shop one day a week.  I LOVED working in such a creative space - it was sensory overload :)) Here's a close up of the house. Perhaps I'll incorporate a bit of applique....

 

I hope the inspiration flies tonight - I totally need to get my groove on with this quilt.  It will have to be machine quilted as I can't imagine I'll have time to hand quilt it....I'm hand delivering it in July!!

 

Slowest blogger in the world

 

So if there was a competition for the slowest,most erratic, inconsistent blogger in the blogosphere it would be me.  After years I have barely any followers or any comments - a very sincere and heartfelt thank you to those who do follow, stop by and leave the odd comment - I LOVE YOU! You make me feel a part of something  which is why I started my blog in the first place  ...to feel a part of a creative community and share and learn and inspire and be inspired.

 

I haven't had much time of late to blog.  My addiction to Pinterest has got in the way!  And some actual craft time which thrills me to bits.  I've become a bit disheartened with blogland too - I know I'm taking it too personally, but there are far more interesting blogs out there.

 

Anyhoo in typical me style this is a very random post.  I have a new phone - an iPhone which takes much better photos, so I've taken some of my liberty quilt - much better resolution - to record here for posterity.  I'm looking foward to hand quilting it - yes you read right - I am going to hand quilt my first quilt!  Check back in a year or 2 and see the results!  Just in case there is a reader of this blog out there :))

My first Liberty quilt

errrr or rather a very bad picture of my first all-liberty-fabric-quilt.  I so need a design wall!  and it has changed since I took the photo.  It was a lovely couple of hours  to spend a sunday afternoon.

Major excitement.  I am collecting a quilt from the my quilting man on Thursday and delivering him 3 more!  I finally pulled my finger out and pieced together the backs for them.  One I plan to give away, one I plan to hang on a wall in the house and the other 2 I'm not sure.  Maybe they'll just become part of the household. 
I have been asked by a couple of visitors if I would make them quilts, but I simply can't be under the pressure of time frames etc.  But I did think that if I put together a few perhaps someone would like to buy them.  but I'm not always sure I could part with them.  Anyhoo for now I'll just keep playing and having all the fun of making them :))

Fabric Stash

Me thinks my stash needs a bit of organising!  My dilemma is .... HOW...?  Anyone got any helpful suggestions? 

The problem is I regularly play with it.  I pull out different fabrics and put them beside others and rearrange them.  Then another colour catches my eye and I start on another pile of cuts that might make a great quilt.

Like these... I so want to put these in a quilt. It will be a very dramatic colourful quilt.  The colours don't quite work for me just yet, a bit more playing and arranging...and I'll finalise it.  Squares  I think surrounded by a border, surrounded by rectangles, surrounded by a border.  Or is it time for me to branch out to triangles....?

Away I play, then I run out of time and realise I'm overdue to cook a meal or pick up a child or go to work, so I throw them back in the cupboard and shut the door.  And I don't think any amount of organising is going to change that habit.  My stash is destined to be one colourful, chaotic, temptress of a pile.

I'm beginning to think there will never be enough time for me to use all this fabric.  I had a one-day-a-week  job at a fabric shop where I got paid in fabric which is when I accumulated the bulk of it.  The job completely and utterly fed my fabric addiction, which had festered for years, but the job meant I completely lost myself to it.

And then there is my box of Liberty...

I think it's time to USE it not just admire it...

Then there's the Christmas stash and the black and white pile and the retro cowgirl range and a few pieces of Chinese brocade floating around the mezzanine.

I think this stash says a lot about me.  Chaotic, full of ideas and possibilities ......



All in the family...

Liberty love is being passed on!

These were our first purchase when we were in London last year.  The girls and I flew in on a Saturday afternoon, made our way to our hotel.  Found food and then crashed for a big long sleep.  Next morning we were up bright and early ready to EXPLORE! 

I decided being a Sunday to take them to Camden - in particular - the markets.  I forgot one minor detail...that they don't open until lunch time! So we arrived to deserted streets and dead quiet!  Barely a soul in sight.  Quite surreal for the girls who had just flown into one of the biggest cities in the world!  The perfectly still waters of the lock, with only a ripple from a passing duck were hardly the bustling beginnings they were expecting!

Slowly we wandered and watched as the street came to life.  One of the first shops to open was a shoe shop so in we tramped.  And joy-oh-joy they sold Liberty Nikes!  Eek.  3 pairs were purchased in record time. The girls opted for high-tops and I opted for the norm!  The girls wear theirs a lot for hip hop dancing!  And they borrow mine! They are well worn for sure.

Here's some more views...I would have liked the girls to model them, but getting us together, with camera and time is proving very tricky these days. (Ths is a post I was going to write when we got back last October!)

And then this pair have been in Miss G's wardrobe for several years.  Lucky her shoe size hasn't changed - we are talking about the child that wore the same brown lace-up school shoes for 5 years of high school!  (The hem on her dress uniform never had to be altered either).

Two loves - shoes and Liberty in one product.  What more could a girl want!

One of these days, I'm going to share/record my Liberty stash with you too.  And all my plans for it...although Liberty fabrics bring me so much pure pleasure from just being.  I'm not sure I need to do anything with them ever - just owning little pieces of heaven is enough.