got my breath back

I am still over the moon with my quilt but as I have some other things that need doing the yo yo baskets and binding are waiting patiently.

It has been a busy few days...

Last Friday I went to meet up with Elyte and Susan (thimblestitch) at Tranquility for some retail therapy and lunch together as Susan was visiting Melbourne for a few days.

We had such a lovely afternoon and of course, it passed too quickly.

Susan and Elyte had arranged a mini swap and I could have quite happily kidnapped both of them! (the quilts not Susan and Elyte)

Susan also made me a gorgeous little pincushion to add to my collection. We share a love of hexagons.

A super mini hexie flower and blue and cream fabrics-Perfect! All the little cross stitches around the top and bottom are a beautiful touch too. I love it.

 Yesterday I managed a trip to GJ's for their sale and found these lovely linens and fabrics.
They are all going to be used together with my vintage hexies. I also bumped into a few familiar faces....the other members of the city girls.

Just wanted to share these new treasures...
Nearly 30 years ago we went to Tasmania for our honeymoon and hub just had to buy some raw Huon Pine from a Saw mill we visited. One day..... he would turn them into something.
Well that one day has arrived, thanks to a friend who has wood turning equipment. So together they made a pepper mill and a beautiful wooden bowl.
The wooden bowl shows the beautiful silky sheen of the pine. These are going to be heirlooms in my eyes.
Who knows how old the wood was before we bought it, so amazing.

Still loving looking at my Swan Lake quilt.... thankyou for all the lovely comments and for all your support along the way. There were times when I didn't know if I would get there but the encouragement and shared enthusiasm helped a lot so thanks to all of you. x
There has been a request from one friend that they be considered for a bequest of the quilt should anything happen to me. It has been noted. What are friends for.
cheers for now
Marina

rain, glorious rain!

Well the rain has arrived today and it is most welcome too!
Since the fires last Sunday we have been living in a horrible haze all week, with unpleasant humidity to boot.
Today is the first day this week that you could actually see the clouds and the prospect of a clearing sky.
Some more rain would be wonderful but I am grateful for what has fallen so far. I wish we could send some North to the poor farmers who are desperate to have some 'liquid gold'.
The poor lawn in the backyard is barely existent and looks more like straw scattered on the dirt.

 A few weeks ago Hub and I went to a trash and treasure market and I kept my eyes open for some treasure. There were lots of tools, old school tools and it made me sad to think of who had treasured these tools and worked hard with them.
I found this gorgeous ruler that was begging me to take it home. It reminds me of my dad and I must admit I teared up when I found it. This one is special in it's own right as I think it is from the early 1900's and is made in Holland by 'Sybren'. It's previous owner has stamped their initials on the different sides. I am hoping that my friend Els in the Netherlands might shed a little light on this ruler if she sees this post.

 When I got home I showed No 3 son the ruler and he said he was sure that he had one of my Dad's old rulers in his tool box and sure enough he did. It was probably one of the last ones he used before he had to stop working. It may not look like much but to hold it is priceless. I can picture him with it.

Enough of that morbid stuff........Yes there has been some crafting happening as well...
The 1/2 square triangles and I have been spending some quality time together over a few nights this week but we had to have a break as trimming so many of them took a bit of a toll on my hands and arms.
I have trimmed down all the fig tree quilt ones and am about half way through the comma ones.
Don't they look lovely and tidy now...

While I was trimming away Hub came and sat down to watch and said "what's wrong aren't you doing hexagons any more?" Well who says they don't pay attention to my crafting endeavours.
This did spark an urge to seek out my neglected novelty hexies. The need for some new green stepping stones were holding up this project. So after some cutting and trimming there are heaps ready to go to keep this project moving for at least another few rows.

 One row was added to the top.....

Whenever I pull out these hexies it makes me want to go and get some more novelty fabrics  to make more.
I should have enough made already though to make it into a decent sized quilt.
So what else have I been up to?
Quilting!
I have nearly finished another row of quilting on my park avenue hexie quilt and quilted my 'Be mine' mini. It is still waiting for the binding so it didn't make the stand for Valentine's day. :(
I started quilting my table runner which is a Quilted Crow pattern.

A little experimental project has also joined the list of works in progress...
Stay Tuned for some progress on this. It may work out and it may not....The fun will be in trying. I am looking forward to working with some lovely wool. I love Paton's wool. My mum always used Patons wool for our jumpers. It has always been a little more expensive but always wears really well.

Well hopefully I haven't bored you to tears with such a long post.....

I am off to start some stitching. 

Next week is Mill Rose get together at Ballan!!! Can't wait to see all the wonderful girlies again. It seems like ages since the last one.

First I should pop out to enjoy some more of that rain, my little garden princess is and so is Coffee in the background!

Happy Stitching!

Marina

treasures for the tree....

I received a lovely little decoration in the mail today and thought I should show some of the home made decorations that are making my tree looks so beautiful.
This little munched on fellow arrived today. I just love him thankyou Fiona! He definitely puts a smile on your face.

this little fellow arrived a week or so ago from the lovely Michelle

this santa was from Fiona last year and this one on the right was from Els

 this ornament was made by my mum probably over 25 years ago. The little beaded bell was hand made in Indonesia.

 This heart is woven from beech tree bark all the way from Sweden.

this little star is also handmade by the same friend in Sweden

 this beautiful hanger came from Els in the Netherlands last Christmas.

 Here are some bought decorations. I found this jar of red cookie cutters reduced to $8 at Safeway! I bought two and emptied one jar by making them into decorations and adding them to a card for a gift for the craft group girls that I will be seeing this weekend. The rest will hang on the tree. They are quite cute.

 Here is a non Christmas item....This little treasure is something I picked up in the city on Saturday.
I just couldn't resist it! As you can see from the picture it is tiny and the detail is so pretty.
for those that are unfamiliar with Australian currency a five cent piece measures about 2 cm (3/4 inch) in diameter.

Not much craftiness to show and tell but I have managed a hexie flower for my Swan Lake stock pile.

I am so enjoying my Christmas decorations, they are so beautiful I want to leave them up all year!

hope your week has started well!

marina

Tassie Treasures...

Thought I should show you my Treasures that I bought from the Quilted Crow.
firstly there were so many inspiring projects I didn't know where to turn.
I spied a few that really caught my eye and they all happened to be in their new book.  So that was a must have, then seeing as I was in felted wool heaven I thought it would be great to buy a bit of a starter selection of wools.

 I need to be able to make a start on a gorgeous project if I want to, Don't I?

these colours should be a good starting point.
Now they were my treasures, but what about the 'man treasures'...

Apparently these have a huge 'wow factor'. they are imperial measurement something or other, blah blah. I retained as much about them as what Hug did about the difference between felt and felted wools. But apparently they are really great and were a great buy. Yeah ok whatever rings your bell....

 I did love the tin they came in. the artwork around the sides is very art deco. I love the setters on the tin, shame it is so damaged.

 Hubs' next buy I can appreciate fully, it's this Gladstone bag. My dad used to take  his lunch to work in one of these as did Hubs' dad. I remember dads thermos with hot soup and one for coffee too, his sandwiches wrapped in greaseproof paper. It really brings back so many memories for both of us. It is in mint condition and the tartan lining is perfect, even has the key to the lock! Big winner here!

so there are my Tassie Treasures...
I think I managed to applique around four dollies while we were away. I definitely need a plan if I am ever to play with those gorgeous woollies!
I am working on a few last dash Christmas decorations. I just realised today that there are about three weeks till the end of the working year! OMG
Better get motivated on all fronts
Hope you are having a great week
cheers
marina

ps for those that are interested the man treasures are imperial screw taps, there you go.

new shoes and childhood memories.....

Meet Crissy She was made in 1969 by Ideal, holds her age well I think. I don't know how she has managed to maintain that girlish figure either?

A work friend and I were reminiscing about our Crissy dolls. We both didn't have our original dolls but had bought replacement ones.

My mum bought me mine about 16 years ago at a doll show as she knew I desperately wanted one.

My friends doll had the original orange dress. This pic shows what a new Crissy looked like. Isn't she gorgeous.

My poor girl has a homemade replacement that she came to me with. As for the shoes.... They arrived yesterday with thanks to 'evilbay'. I think she is rapt to have her original shoes. Now to find that dress......

In case you are interested in a quilting update....

71 flowers quilted
26 leaves quilted

I didn't get any done the last two nights but roll on the weekend and I will get stitching....
Tomorrow I will pick up a quilt that has been machine quilted. Life is beautiful will be coming home after two months at the quilters. Can't wait to pick it up.
I hope to drop off another top to the quilters. It is a beautiful hexagon quilt that I adopted from Nicki from plushcat. The quilt was made by Nicki and started when she was 14. (so it is about 20 years old.) She wanted to rehome her quilt top and I was lucky enough to give it a home. I bought some fabric for the backing so it is ready to go.I don't think I could face hand quilting this one as well so machine quilting it is. Here are some pics... it was hard to photograph as we have strong winds here today.
I just love it!!

this is the backing fabric I chose on the right. Thanks to Sandi at Crafty lady.

Happy day!
Marina

bringing home treasure...

Yesterday we spent the day clearing out an old shed at my mum's place. It used to be our old cubby house when we were kids but ended up as a depository for old furniture, books, old toys, fabric, you name it, it was in there. Pigeons had been roosting in there too and had damaged a lot of the stuff so there was a lot of 'chucking'.
We found a few treasures and re-sorted and tidied them up so she knows she has them now.
I got to bring home some goodies, always a dangerous thing, but I am sure I will rehouse, recycle or use the things I did bring home.
There some beautiful small balls of crochet cotton.......already started something to do with some of these....
Some crochet hooks... I have quite a good selection of hooks in most sizes but these filled the gaps, I have some extra fine ones spare if anyone would like them. Just email me and let me know.

The final treasure is this beautiful piece of tatting. Mum says it was done by my great grandmother. I have become the keeper of the family doilies as I love them so much and mum thought I should keep it with the others I have. How precious!
My mum's grandmother taught her how to do many hand crafts when she was a child, we know where the gene came from.


There were also some beautifully smocked gowns that mum had made years ago for some porcelain dolls, that just need some finishing off. She was going to throw them away (this is someone who throws nothing away mind you!) I didn't have the heart, it is close to criminal, so I brought them home and washed them and when they are nicely ironed I will put a picture up. They may be a good size to donate to wee care.
Only two more days to go.......So I better make the most of it.
Have a great day.
Cheers
Marina