Thrifty

All opped at Grey Street Sacred Heart yesterday. I am in love with the politically incorrect canisters. They are Nylex and they must be from the 50s. The coffee one is my favourite. They just needed a half an hour session with a scrubber and some BiCarb. Interestingly it's missing one piece but the lid for that piece is still there, so I have one lid that's too large and am missing the Tea lid.

Also the Scandinavian oil never lets me down and transforms any old table into something lovely and shiny. 

My Creative Space

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The battle is still on! My brain versus fabric, not working so well together, constructing my inaugural disnumeric quilt. I have decided to make a little cot sized version to check if I can do the machine  quilting myself using a darning foot.  Personally, I think it will be a disaster but who am I not to give it a try. 

And I had three projects on the knitting needles this week, one of which I finished yesterday. Made with the most exquisite yarn, Tahki Rio in Fog. I had to have some of this stuff. It's soft as a cloud and completely delicious. I was after a simple cowl so I just cast on 140 stitches with a size 8 circular needle and knitted until there was no more of the stuff to knit. I used two skeins in total. Now I really want to make a very wide chunky cowl and looking at the sky outside I think I could make one for myself and still use it this year.

More spaces here!  

Quilting for the Disnumeric Crafter

So I am working on my first ever queen-sized quilt. I’ve only ever completed a scrap quilt for my niece and a very basic cot quilt before starting this project so I was a bit apprehensive about getting on with it. 

I have the utmost respect for people who can quilt, particularly, like, geometrically. But I knew from the start that I was never going to be able to produce a quilt made from evenly squared quilting blocks. Because I am completely disnumeric and can’t even properly use a calculator, let alone add or multiply seam allowances or create something that resembles an even square. I just lack the vision for geometrically shaped things. So I figured out quite quickly I was going to have to do this a bit differently.

My main inspiration for the layout of the fabric on the quilt top came from the Gees Bend quilts – I love everything about them, including their history, but I particularly love the way they are bold and colourful and how they use bold strips of fabric. And I love their wonkiness. 

Then I decided on a piece of fabric for the middle of the quilt top that I could then add strips to. 

Before I cut into the fat quarter, I read this very helpful tutorial on how to cut fabric so it’s roughly even.

Because I figured if I went all Gees Bend I would end up with something that would not resemble a square whatsoever.

And then I started to cut strips, one at a time, in varying widths, and pieced them to the square. It was literally cut and sew, cut and sew. My new Bernina comes with a quarter inch foot and that has been unbelievably helpful. I can only recommend getting one if you don’t have one. I didn’t know they existed and I was overjoyed when I discovered it. Light bulb moments are awesome (clearly I did not read 'Quilting For Dummies' before I started this project).

I really do love the result so far. I am about 40% done. I guess I am really bad at following any kind of pattern not because I am against patterns in general or anything, just because I have such a hard time understanding instructions. So this one step at a time method really works for me. It takes long so this quilt will be a true labour of love!

A Room of Bernina's Own! Yeah!

Every Bernina needs a room of her own, I think, so I finally kicked all the junk out of the study and put some cheap Ikea shelves in there. Some nice things and vintage spools and jar filled ribbon on top -  and suddenly it's a lovely space for me to work in. I picked up that big roll of lace from the oppy for a fiver - not quite sure what to do with it but it soothes my lace-obsessed nerves. I also neatly stacked my fabric (which nearly drove me insane) but it turns out my stash, of which you can only see a small percentage, is not too huge after all so I am officially allowed to get more. I think. Hurrah!
Wondering how long this will stay neat. I give it about a week.
I have one hell of a cold including very bad sinusitis and my sister said that thyme fixes this. So I have been making wild thyme tea using a few fresh thyme twigs, honey and a bit of lemon, and I think it is working. Just sharing this in case you also have completely blocked sinuses and sound like kermit!

My Creative Space

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More creative spaces at Kirsty's

Cherry Blossoms

Spring is on its way! We have proof, purchased at South Melbourne Market!

Things I like

First up I should mention things I don't like: for example that my husband was made redundant and that really, I think we've had enough rubbish to deal with for now. 

But that's ok because we are optimistic and happy people and we are rather relaxed about it. It may be down to the flu relief drugs we have been eating. Or that we got some perspective on things this year. 

But we are good. I am busily setting up my own thing and doing exciting things such as sourcing organic jersey and talking to fabric shops and creating labels and making patterns. I am really nervous, but it feels nice. 

The husband has decided to paint heaps while he is looking for a new job and he has done some ace stuff which he wants to start selling around galleries. I am quite happy with that!

Other things I love are: the FireBrand bakery near where we live. They bake organic bread and you have to arrive there at particular times for particular bread. I love the sacks of organic flour stacked on the floor and the bread is always warm when you buy it and it heats up my hands and makes the car smell great. I love their bread. It's so delicious. 

Loving being back at the beach.

And today we treated our unemployed behinds to Baked Eggs at Birdman Eating. 

I love their baked eggs. 

My Creative Space

The only thing to keep my cup from running over at the moment is breaking out into occasional fits of calm knitting and crocheting. I finished this beanie for my older niece (the camera decided to give these photos a yellow tinge). I want to make myself a similar one in the same sailor colours!

                                          please note the extra girl power on top

And I am reading this

 It's full of delightful Zakka projects. Did you know that Zakka is a Japanese word for "lovely things to surround yourself with"? Why don't we have a word for that?  I love all the projects in this book. There is also the great Zakka blog Zakka Life with lots of cute tutorials.

ps: apologies to my husband for reversing the car into a pole. again.

ps: more spaces at Kootoyoo

Yeah.

Campo

These are some photos I took in Campo, in Italy. It's a deserted village in the mountains near the Lago Di Garda where we spent some time relaxing. Much needed time may I add. We hiked up to the little village and I hiked too despite the fact I only have 9 toenails. Yay for me and my excellent toe-wrapping skills! And then we had a peek inside the church which was built around 1024. Look at those amazing paintings. It was truly spectacular. Then we met an old lady who drives up to Campo every day in her Fiat Panda to look after her grandma's house. She let us sip a coke in her living room/cave and showed us her little  kitten called Nerone. And she showed us the inside of her house but I didn't want to be rude so I didn't take photos. I have no idea how she drives the car up there since the only path up there is an old narrow road full of rocks. I think her Fiat Panda can actually fly. It wouldn't surprise me at all.

In completely unrelated news, i would really rather like this Marimekko teapot found at Nordic Fusion. 

back from the past

We are back in Melbourne. It is good to see that life goes on.  

But also sad. And a bit strange. I miss my dad. 

Here are some pictures from last week's mini trip to Venice, one of my all time favourite cities. I am always surprised people actually LIVE in Venice. If you lived there, wouldn't you just stare out the window all day and go "Yay me - I live in Venice!" or break out into a beautiful serenade or try to jump on gondolas? But nope these people work. The post men work on DHL boats and the plumbers on emergency plumming boats and people have letterboxes and 'beware of the dog' signs and chats with their neighbours, and there are electricity problems and newly painted road signs and door bells. And all these things go on behind the scenes while the tourist stroll around.

We happened to find this lovely place for dinner, and then we found this little square in the part of the city where our hotel was, and there was a festival on with dancing. We saw this elderly couple Fred and Ginger'it on the dancefloor. They were so brilliant. The had all the moves and were waltzing like there was no tomorrow. And they looked just as they must have done 50 years back when they were probably busy being courted and courting on just the same square. I was enchanted. I wanted to dance with my husband but I only have 9 toenails left and he was busy carrying beers. I suppose romance has changed with age, hasn't it. But on the way back to the hotel he said on special occasions in the future I could get an acrylic nail put on and be a completely able-feeted wife and he would get dance lessons.

Aaaaww.

                               Fred and Ginger!