Journal cover variation

I stitched this whimsical girly some time ago and she has been sitting patiently waiting for me to make her up into a journal cover. 'At last', she declares!

I have used my previous journal cover tutorial again for basic dimensions. 

The stitched panel was too big to include a scrap-pieced strip on the front cover, so I sneaked one in on the back instead:

And another on the inside:

And I used some ric-rac to trim the top & bottom edges:

The stitchery design comes from the lovely Elsa Mora blog, as a free pattern here. 

Of course, you can use any stitchery design you desire to come up with a similar result.

I have had some great comments from several girls who have made up journal covers from my tutorial. I will be back soon to showcase some of their fantastic interpretations.

My Brunsvigia josephinae is flowering!

Yes, I probably need to get out more! But I was very excited to find, on a quick trip back to our farm garden on the weekend, that my Josephine's Lily (Brunsvigia josephinae) had shot up two wondrous flower spikes for the first time.

It is difficult to capture this amazing plant in a photograph. It has similar growth pattern to a Naked Lady (Amaryllis belladonna) in that the flower spikes appear from large, bare bulbs with the foliage appearing well after the flower is gone.

It is a rare bulb, and was given to me by a gardening friend with the instructions to 'guard it with my life'!

It supposedly takes many years before it will reward the grower with blooms, and yet mine has flowered within two years. How special!

The lily was reportedly named after Empress Josephine, Napoleon's first wife, who was a patron of horticulture & established famous gardens at Malmaison in France.

Silly Gilly lists Frilly Dilly

I know, the title is a shocker, but I will only ever get one chance to use it! Gillian of Silly Gilly has listed my Spring Frilly Dilly bag on eBay.

The listing ends on 13th March, so there is plenty of time to get your bid in if you are interested. 100% of the proceeds (apart from postage being charged at cost) from this auction will be sent to the Red Cross 2009 Victorian Bushfire Appeal. The eBay listing for my bag can be found here, and there are many more items being auctioned on behalf of other crafters here. An enormous thank you to Gillian for organising the auction for such an important cause.

Fun at the fair

There were lots of treasures to be found at our annual school fete on the weekend, the highlight being this gorgeous old pink dish for $2.50 on the White Elephant stall. I have no idea what era it is from, but it reminds of my Grandma's depression glass.

I spoiled myself with a new necklace made by Picadilly Designs.

And I found wonderful fresh quinces & rhubarb. The quinces are destined for quince paste, and the rhubarb is screaming to be teamed with new season apples in a crumble.

So there is no shortage of things for me to do today. There is one more frilly dilly to be finished, this one for my daughter ...

And I need to get back to finish this ...

and this ...

Although I'm really tempted to pop over here & make one of these sweet pincushions!

Have a great day. I'd better get to it!

Sweet & swanky giveaway at V & Co

A quick post tonight as it is late & I need some sleep after a day of financial reconciliations - oh joy! Just letting you know about a very sweet giveaway over at V and Co. The lovely Vanessa is giving away two very cute honey buns, so be sure to pop over to visit her before Thursday.

Spring Frilly Dilly to be auctioned for Bushfire Appeal

The winner of my recent giveaway, Rebecca of Edward & Lilly, chose the Winter version of Frilly Dilly for her very own. This means the Spring Frilly Dilly (below) will be auctioned on eBay with the proceeds to be donated to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal. 

 

The lovely Gillian, otherwise know as Silly Gilly, has offered to put together a 'monster eBay listing' of items from crafters all over Australia on the evening of 6th March. The Spring Frilly Dilly bag will be listed then. I will post a reminder as the date draws closer. In the meantime, if you'd like an early peek at other items to be listed, pop over to Gillian's blog.

The stitching strategies of a desperate woman

I get a bit stir-crazy if I don't find time to stitch in a day. It's not pretty! To save myself & everyone around me, I devise little strategies to squeeze in some sewing amongst the busy-ness of the every day. I have been making these blocks. 

Even if I only get one made per day, I feel satisfied to have at least accomplished something!

I keep a small plastic box of 1" scrappy strips readily accessible. I use Melly & Me's scrappy challenge tutorial, but employ freezer-paper foundation piecing as it is infinitely quicker. I can make one of these 5" blocks in 20 minutes flat!

And slowly, but surely, these little blocks are accumulating. They make me happy!

I have even taken to using some selvage strips in the blocks which is fun -  Ric Rac, the selvedge queen, would be so proud!

What tricks do you have to scratch the stitching itch on a busy day?

Coin quilt quandry

I am inspired by the many beautiful coin quilts that are appearing around blogland, and am sorely tempted to make one! 1. Coin Quilt, 2. stacked coins baby quilt, 3. The Back of Zig Zag Quilt, 4. ava coin quilt If you are tempted too, Orangeflower Sketchbook is organising a Coin Quilt Piece-a-long so that you can share your progress. The group's Flickr page is here.

And Crazy Mom Quilts has a fantastic pattern made from charm squares, just posted at Moda Bakeshop.

But of course, I will not be swayed from my resolution to finish some of the quilts I've started ... I will not be swayed ... or even slightly tempted to start something new, fresh & beautiful ... I will not ... will I?!!

Giveaway winner

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway. It has been great fun reading your comments & my list of blogs to read is even longer now! I would love to have made each & every one of you something special, but of course, there can only be one winner. My trusty random number generator has come up with comment #98:

By my calculation, this corresponds to: edward and lilly who said... I'm in Brisbane, Australia and giving makes me happy. The sight of your bags makes me happy too, they're fabulous! FEBRUARY 18, 2009 6:19 PM Congratulations to Rebecca of Edward & Lilly who makes the most delightful stitched creations with linen. Be sure to go over & visit her - but no naughty comments about her winning & you not!

Rebecca is also making 'Bushfire Bunnies' for children who have lost their toys in the Victorian bushfires. For every $20 donated to Red Cross on her community fundraising page, she has pledged to make a very cute bunny like this:

What a brilliant initiative! If you are keen to support the Bushfire Appeal in this way, you will need to be quick as Rebecca is fast approaching her $500 target. Details here.

Thank you girls! The giveaway has been lots of fun. Will have to do it all again soon!

Giveaway finishing in less than 24 hours!

At last, some sun today to take some more photos of the giveaway bags. Please comment on the previous post to enter. I am overwhelmed & humbled by the response to my giveaway. Thank you, each & every one of you. I am having a lovely time reading all your comments & visiting your blogs. So much fun!

I will be back tomorrow to draw the winner. Stay tuned!