Sunday 27 January 2013

STAY FOR A CUPPA TEA AND..........

We are starting to get to know each other now, you have seen my bare feet and listened to my waffle conversations, so lets imagine you have been invited in for a cuppa tea.

We start with the "how are you"?s, we talk about the weather, very dry and no rain to speak of for weeks now! Other parts of Australia in dire flood crisis.



Then you politely say, "thats a nice pin cushion"...as someone posted in my comments lately...( I love comments so thank you for the lovely bloggers who leave them)

Uh Oh, because that is all the encouragement I need to reply, 
"Sit there, I will make you a cuppa" and I race off to bring you all my pin cushions to show.....( think large enthusiastic puppy)




 This is my everyday favourite, made from a Better Homes and Garden pattern many years ago. Really plump and filled with wool roving. I find wool holds the pins in unlike synthetic toy stuffing. Once you try you will understand the difference.





 This is a design by Helen Daftner, I bought it as a kit, hand dyed velvets, its all yummy and barely a pin has been put in it..purely decoration this one. Also deceptively simple to make.



These also are kits by Annie Downs of Hatched and Patched, I have given some of these as gifts and this year a stitching friend suprised me with one as a gift!! Hers is the doggie and she used her own wool fabric.


Made this at a craft show workshop....very cute.

Made this for number one daughter, and she now sews so its in good hands.



Bought this a while back, designed by Elanor Peace Bailey, note the thimble necklace and safety pin earrings. Very quirky, but she has lost the feathers from her hat...must replace them.



This is a reminder of my childhood, a friends mother had a pin cushion like this and I must have spent hours playing with the pony tails and loving the colours and the way they hug the pin cushion....I know very strange child!! But lovely memories of a lovely family.


Ebay find.

I made this from a kit by Gail Wilson, she stands quite tall...and no pins in her either. Love this one.

Another Ebay purchase, I hope none of you find this offensive, I think she is beautiful and I love her expressions, sometimes she looks exasperated and sometimes wistful. I have given her a comfy shelf.





Started this in a class and its designed by Helen ?????? I have so forgotten her name... she is famous for her thread painting....aaargggh dont you hate that? 
It will come to me and I will rectify that gap in my knowledge.

Have you dozed off yet?


Here is a little scrap pin cushion I made after seeing similar on the internet at Life under Quilts
This is its polite side.
......and this is its prickly side! 

Well I laughed.


Just as you were looking for the nearest escape route from my home, the kids arrived and as per usual were asking,
 "Whats to eat around here?"

So my daughter (she is the one in polka dots) has very kindly whipped you up a Victoria sponge.


I hope you enjoyed you tea and cake, visit again soon.....



Sunday 20 January 2013

AHHHHH SUMMER TIME........

and the living is easy, so easy in fact that time gets away from you and before you know it another day has passed.

I have been reading blogs but just not motivated to add to mine until now that is.

Those blogs I do follow came up with some interesting facts over the festive season.....I appears that those blogs and bloggers I find most interesting and resonate with me....wait for this spooky occurrance.....it appears we all....you'll never believe this , we all have ....BIRTHDAYS around Christmas.........we are a majority of hard headed Capricorns!!!.......I KNOW...SPOOKY!!!!

Well here is a big hello to all you fellow festive birthday babies.



This is a project that has bubbled along, I have appliqued hearts slowly over the year and it appears I am getting close to a finish here.
The pattern is by Sandy Klop from American Jane and her book, 
"Quilts for all seasons...and some for no reason"
I love this book and have my eye on several other projects in her book to put on the list.


This is another I have been itching to start and this is the year I venture into its complexity.

It is from Material Obsession two by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke.

I love the whole scrappy thing going on there, so in that spirit I dove into my scraps and started to sort and prepare.




And I am using the bench my wonderful husband built over the air conditioning duct......its been awesome.

This new year has also seen me sort out a lot of my materials and try very hard to reduce and take some direction.
I have over the years boarded on "hoarding" in the true sense of the word, I struggled to relinquish those scraps that really were not going in the direction I wanted, and they were holding me back.

I would sort them, and stroke them and sigh, not knowing what I could do with such a mish mash of styles. I wanted to do scrappy but didn't have the time. I didn't want to "waste" good fabric that I had spent dollars on, but they no longer sang to me and if truth be told I often bought them in a frenzy because they were a bargain.

So I got organised.... and let go......it was a great feeling.

Now I can see what direction I want to go, what makes me happy and doesn't hold me a state of guilt and "must do"....I have come to realise that I have the right to do what makes me happy. 

My load and stash is lighter, I am tired but not pressured to use those uninspiring fabrics just because they are there.
It is a conundrum because so many of you are finding uses for the vintage hoards that others kept.....but as they say one mans treasure .....

My feelings about hoarding are well known by my family, but I have a parent who hoards and I can see how she makes do with broken and worn out items, how she holds herself prisoner by stuff that she deems valuable.
I vow not to be held back by things and only to have items that make ME smile, that I use and want to look at every day.

Dont get me wrong, I am no minimalist, I adore the cluttered look of so many inspiring blogs and photos that are shown....but I have decided to develop a place that I am happy in, and it is only having to satisfy me.

Phew that was a huge download and confession! If you are still here, Thank you for listening!


See pretty things that make me smile


Friday 4 January 2013

FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE.....





Yep, its that time of year when we all take stock of what has been and what may become.

For us in the land down under, this festive season coincides with our end of school year and the long hot holidays, a time where the weather forces you to slow down, it is just not the time to rush when temperatures soar.



And it is the time of year when my husband takes time off his 12 hours a day job and rediscovers the insides of his eyelids, the dog is optional but he makes sure the place is secure.

It is a time when I rediscover the pleasure of my husbands company  and try to imagine a time when he can retire and we can again be a couple.


A time to stick your toe in the water..... ( being ultra lazy and waiting for the tide to reach me) and re assess simple pleasures.



"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom"


I hope to continue to blossom and watch my children do so as well, but this does not signal frantic over achieving but for me a slow and steady unfurling and before you know it something else has been achieved.

It is this philosophy that saw me do away with lists and promises, resolutions and musts.......now I am gentle on myself, a little here and there, a lot of what makes me smile and enables me to be true to myself.......no more "shoulds".....just "I would prefers" but if it is not to be then that is OK too.

I have met lovely bloggers here and continue to be inspired by their particular talents and energy, I hope to continue to use this blog to learn more about others and myself.

The best of the new year to you all!