Tuesday 30 March 2010

First encounters of the patchwork kind....



Day two of the holidays and not much creativity happening here yet, let me tell you.
I thought I would share a pic of my first taste of patchworking. This quilt is my first encounter with patchwork. My mum had decided to do a patchwork course and the project was a sampler, now, not one to do things by halves she decided that she would make a queen size quilt to be our engagement present. It was completed in 1985 and back then the colours and fabrics available weren't what they are today but I love it. She hand sewed and hand quilted the sampler blocks and when we were married and moved into our new home it went straight on our bed and was proudly displayed there for ages. Now it is desperately in need of a clean so I pulled it out of the wardrobe and it will be off to the dry cleaners. I don't put it on the bed often as I don't want it to fade anymore than it has.
It is a treasure.
Here is where I am at with the latest Sweet nostalgia block...
I wasn't to keen on the girls colours that I picked but they don't look as bad now that there is some stitchery around her. And yes the little dog makes an appearance again in this block. She will be next...
I wasn't careful enough when tracing the pattern and forgot to trace the checks for the girl's skirt, I had to freehand the lines on and decided to make it a pleated skirt instead of tartan. Doesn't look too bad...........

Have a great day!
Cheers
Marina

Friday 26 March 2010

LIfe is beautiful......



Well the title is true on quite a few levels. All is good in my universe, I have two weeks holidays, I am healthy, happy most of the time, have a wonderful family that I love, good loyal friends and did I mention I have two weeks holidays! Oh sorry about that, I did didn't I?
I have managed to finish my stitcheries for the Life is beautiful quilt and so these holidays I can start to attempt to sew them together. Now comes the hard part! I am looking forward to that.
I am only going to make it 7 X 7 rows as I would like it square so have not stitched all the designs.
If you check out the life is beautiful blog and go to 'show and tell' you can see some other colour combinations being used for this quilt. They are just wonderful. If you take a look at Ingrids blog she has made the most incredible quilts. She has a translator button which helps as her blog is in Dutch. It takes a bit to work it out as I think it translates literally so it can take a bit to decipher but it is well worth the visit.
I must admit it was the colours used by Helen that drew me to want to do this project but the other fabrics used are just so inspirational, I wish I had that talent to convert colours used like these other crafty ladies have done. I am not always very adventurous in my colour selections.
Here are some pics of the latest finished stitcheries....


(not sure if you can see the fabric clearly for the pineapples.... it is a fabric I chose for the background squares but it has a design just like the pattern of the outside of a pineapple. Just meant to be.....)
Well it is time to get off the computer and start some housework (shudder) and put out a tonne of washing, then off to shop for groceries, try to fit in a walk for the dogs, yada, yada, yada...... I don't know who calls this a day off? I think it is called a woman's day off-I wish I had a man's day off!
Have a good one!
Marina

Saturday 20 March 2010

from that to this





Last Saturday I had the bestest sewing day. I was determined to get most of my Heart and Home top put together and boy what a day it was. I am just missing the outer pieced border which will be a job for the upcoming holidays. Talk about concentrating!
But I am so happy with the results. I just love it.

Now for that final border........
Have a lovely weekend.
Marina

Friday 12 March 2010

Thank God it's friday.....


I have finished my Sweet Nostalgia block! (but I have just realised I missed the feet on the cardinals Oops!)
I have really enjoyed stitching this block. So cute.
I just wish I could get a good photo of my stitcheries. Perhaps it is the background.

Roll on Monday....I am ready for the next block.










Today the postman brought this package. I have been hanging out for the last week for it to arrive. This is the last pattern in the Heart and Home bom.
Here are all the fabrics ready to go. Lucky I had the day home today, wasn't it.

And this is what it transformed into.
All cut and ready to sew.....
Tomorrow I am queen of the castle once more so hopefully I can get stuck into sewing the bits together. I can't wait.
Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.
cheers
Marina

Monday 8 March 2010

Loving the stormy weather!

In Melbourne we have a long weekend this weekend and today is the Labour Day holiday. A perfect opportunity to get some therapeutic crafting done. We have had incredible storms hit Melbourne but luckily we didn't cop the worst of it. Just a lot of rain and thunder and lightning. It was beautiful. The dogs were having a ball running around in the rain trying to chase the thunder! What twits. I am grateful they aren't scared, they don't mind fire works either. Needless to say we didn't see miss Maisie all day!

Friday kicked off a crafty weekend for me. I wanted to catch up on my Heart and Home blocks that I was behind on. The final pattern arrives this week and it will take a while so I didn't want the other blocks unfinished. I am quite proud of myself with these blocks as the seams matched up so well. I just love them. I don't know if I could manage a whole quilt of them but I do love them and I didn't think I could do them so well. Bonus. I just need to do the applique on the flower.

Saturday I had the day to myself hubby and no 2 son were away for the day, Woohoo! The other boys amused themselves quite well with work and bike riding. My job for the day was to make the four patch blocks for the Life is Beautiful quilt. I laid them all out on a sheet first to make sure they would look good and after the first two rows I decided I need a few more fabrics of dark and the light. There just wasn't enough variety. I quickly dashed out and bought six more fabrics and I don't regret it at all (as if I would). There was that attention deficit aspect again of making repetitive blocks but I managed to get them all done. They looked great. When I put the medallions on them to have a look I was just so happy that the colours in the stitcheries complemented the fabrics so well.
So that job is done! Next will be the hard job of sewing the medallions and cutting out the circle at the back. I have almost finished my latest batch of stitcheries and then there is only one more batch to go. I can't wait.
Last on my wish list to get done were these........

When I received the Paris cats fabric in my goodies from Mistea I knew they would go perfectly with these tea towels I had bought. The colours matched just right! Now I have two new snazzy tea towels. Boy that sounds sad only crafty people will understand, I hope my eldest son doesn't read this I can hear him mocking me now doing a hilarious voice impression 'Oh don't use my special tea towels, you lot don't appreciate crafty things, they're just for me to use!'(and he would be right, sadly)
This is as far as I have gotten on my Sweet Nostalgia block. I am sure it will be done by the 15th in time for the new block. I am really enjoying this block, but Life is Beautiful has kept me busy this week. I am on the last stitchery in this batch. I have been doing them in batches of 5 or so to break them up like a block of the month so I always have something to work on.
well this has been a long post....
Hope you have had a great weekend too!
cheers
Marina

Friday 5 March 2010

goodies.

these are the lovely goodies I received yesterday. I already have a project for the lovely 'cafe cats' fabric and all the lovely embellishments. How did you know I would love these colours?
Tomorrow I will have a fantastic day to myself and I am already making plans for my craft fest!
My lovely Annie angel has a lovely place on my craft shelf that no 3 son made for me in woodwork class. You can see why she was welcome yesterday.
After yesterday's tragic news I just can't stop thinking about how 'temporary' our stay in this world is. How we can be lost to our loved ones in the blink of an eyelid.
Sorry for being so morbid will try to cheer up by next post....
Marina

Thursday 4 March 2010

some sunshine on a dark day....

When I went to work this morning I was confronted with the news that a work colleague was killed in a car accident last night. She was a lovely, gentle, caring woman who died tragically.
I just felt pretty numb all day. I came home at lunchtime to find a lovely parcel in the mail from Mistea that I had won as her special giveaway. I will post a pic later on this week to show the loveliness. One special thing she sent was one of her Annie Angels. This was a little ray of sunshine in what was a very dark day.
Thankyou so much Tracey. Everything is just beautiful!
There is a lot to be said for the kindness of others-and how they can be so well timed.

for now
Marina

Monday 1 March 2010

Plodding along....

Monday is here again and I am getting to spend it at home. I have swapped my day off so that one of the other girls can take Friday off instead.
Feels a little strange being home on a Monday. I have flitted around tidying up and what to do next....... I know-catch up on blogs, obvious wasn't it?
I thought I would post my latest Life is Beautiful finishes...



I couldn't add much applique to the daisy block as the pieces would have been a bit small so I used a contrasting colour to make it a little different.

Bug in progress but I just love the fabric for the body. The original had stitched circles making up the body but I knew I wouldn't get them perfect so I thought a nice paisley would look good.

I am still waiting for an oppurtunity to sew up the four patch blocks that go behind the stitchery medallions, they are cut. This Saturday I should have to myself so the old Janome will be out and purring. I also have gotten behind with my Heart and Home bom. The last pattern should be out next week and I have to catch up. All the pieces to be sewn from last month are cut and safely put in marked zip lock pockets. I felt a little obsessive compulsive doing this but there are so many little pieces of different sizes. Just to get that machine out....
If I could have the rest of the week off, perhaps. I can imagine asking my boss.. could I please have the rest of the week off as I need to catch up with my bom's. ????
Well best get fired up and get ready to go hunting and gathering or there will be no dinner in this place tonight! What a waste of a day off.
Have a great week.
Marina

Time is flying....

 Seems like my blog has become a little neglected again, this doesn't mean a lack of crafting though. Progress has been achieved on most...