Daybook entry #11

Outside my window ... not today exactly, but recently, the first blossoms of our new crabapple, Malus 'Mattom' (Tom Matthews).

I am thankful for ... the many positive comments about my Strawberry Fields quilt of my last post. Your encouragement keeps me motivated! Yes, it is my own pattern which I am writing up at the moment. Can't wait to see what Belinda does with the quilting. Itching to get this quilt bound and finished :)


From the kitchen ... I am eating leftover rhubarb & apple pudding with my morning coffee. Ooooh yeah!

I am stitching ... repairs to Miss 16's Year 10 formal dress. It is brand new, unworn, and needs fixing - hate that! Whether detachable straps of said dress will be worn on the big night is a matter still under negotiation! 

I am reading ... 'One Day' by David Nicholls. A very readable book, about the exasperating relationship between two friends who just can't seem to get it together. I suspect it will end annoyingly unfulfilled. I am enjoying this book, but I just want to slap the characters around the head at the same time!

I am hoping ... to spend some time reading 'A Field Guide to Fabric Design' which arrived today. I have no intentions of designing fabric, I just love to learn :)

I am listening to ... the new Coldplay album, Mylo Xyloto. Youtube link enthusiastically provided by Miss 16 who is studying graffiti art at school right now, and thinks this is very cool.

I am learning ... about Banksy from Miss 16. Banksy is a controversial and anonymous British street artist whose works split the world into those who think his work is 'art' and those who dismiss it as graffiti. 

'Sweeping it under the carpet' in London (source)

The Melbourne City Council caused outrage when they inadvertently removed one of his works from its streets in 2010 - this video link is an excellent summary of what Banksy is all about. 

'Flower' (source)

His works are thoughtful, political, cynical and often funny. They are always painted in a location which will provoke reaction. You can see more of his works here.

'Flowerchucker' in Palestine (source)

Does Banksy's work constitute art? Does a woman giving birth in a public gallery constitute art? The day we can define 'art', we will perhaps be able to answer these questions! 

Here endeth the art lesson for today! Have a creative weekend. Bloom x

Strawberry Fields quilt

I love the muted, softly washed vintage colours of many of Joanna Figueroa's fabric ranges. Her Figtree & Co fabrics and patterns are amongst my all-time favourites. When she recently released her 'Strawberry Fields' range, I was in love all over again! 

I finished my 'Strawberry Fields' quilt top this week, which is now with Belinda-the-weaver-of-quilting-magic.

You may remember this solitary little block a few months ago.

Thankfully, it found some friends and they finally got their act together to produce this:

Sorry, the photos are awful as it was a very windy day and this quilt is very big - the biggest I've made to date.

I am thankful Belinda is quilting it and not me! I will post some nicer photos when it is quilted, bound and more photo worthy.

In the meantime, I will endeavour to resist Joanna's newest line, 'California Girl'. It will be a tough ask!

A murmuration

Perhaps you'll know about my thing for birds. This lovely film only intensifies it!

Fabric storage regime #173,905

A regime of a different sort for this post. I have embarked on a new storage system for the larger cuts in my stash. This was necessitated by a frustrating search of my fabric mountain for a piece sufficiently large to back my most recent quilt.

The system? I intend to fold any cuts larger than one metre, to stack them immaculately, and label with ducky little tags detailing the meterage. I will then be able see, at a glance, what I have. Easy peasy!

That's the plan. Could take some time to accomplish. No appreciable dent in the mountain as yet :)

Regime #5032

As a mother, I am continuously reviewing the lifestyle of my family, and coming up with new and improved means for ensuring that my three children somehow emerge from their upbringing as well rounded individuals. Concerned with the increasingly excessive time spent by my three in front of the computer (Facebook, online games etc) or on their iPods (more games), I have imposed a new regime: one half hour ONLY of techno gadgets per child per day. Homework related use is exempted. Of course, it takes a whole lot more energy on my part to impose this regime than to give in to their pleading, but that's parenting huh?!

On the upside, I witnessed the first fruits of the new regime this week:

My eldest daughter and her friends love to exchange birthday presents. My eldest daughter is usually skint, spending her pocket money with abandon (mostly on her friends, I have to admit). 

I told her she could have free reign with my fabric stash if she wanted to sew gifts for her friends. And so her 'Love' pillows were born.

They are a simple, but sweet design - a single heart, raw-edge appliqued onto linen and finished with running stitch. They are a hit with her friends as she carefully colour coordinates them to her friends' bedrooms - important when you're sixteen :)


These pillows exist only because of my new 'get-off-Facebook-and-do-something-productive' regime. So proud!

A brief distraction

I have a thousand things to do, but have been briefly distracted by this clever little clip - a fantastic journey in 90 seconds of fashion, music and dance in the last 100 years.


So at the risk of distracting you too, I thought I'd share it :)


I could also distract you with this ...

... but that would be bordering on irresponsible. Have a great day!

Feeding the fabric fetish

Since moving to town four years ago, I would guess I have visited my local quilt shop at least once a week. Yet in four years, I've not managed to spot this treasure ... until today! It is a rare piece of 'Up Town' Paint by Number by Erin Michael for Moda, and incorporates two of my favourite things, birds AND blooms. If your heart misses a beat at the sight of this fabric too, I'm sure the girls at Marally can help: their email is info@marallycraft.com.au

In other fabric news, I picked up these pieces over the holidays. I am loving using grey just at the moment, and I have these ear-tagged to make up a boy's version of my Little Abracadabra. They are mostly Michael Miller fabrics ('Zoology', 'Play Dot'  and 'Play Stripe' in sea, 'Dumb Dot' in grey, 'Feeling Groovy' in charcoal) with a little bit of Jenean Morrison's 'Silent Cinema' thrown in.

Before the holidays, I had the enormous pleasure of playing with some pre-release fabrics from Amy Butler's new line, 'Lark'. This line is everything you've come to expect from Amy - dynamic, bold, large-scale, colour-saturated gorgeousness.

This is another one of those annoying 'secret projects', I can't reveal too much just now. But I can tell you that there was some applique involved ... 

 

 ... and that there is much excitement afoot for next year's issues of Australian Homespun. Just sayin' :)

May I introduce ...

... some of my farm beauties to you? School holidays usually mean some time in our farm garden. And the October holidays mean sitting back and enjoying the benefits of working hard with the winter pruning.

The lovely Margaret at The Home Patch reminded me that I should take some photos of the garden for the blog. Well Margaret, you asked for it :)

I love to take macro shots of my flowers, but I thought with these photos that I would also pan back and give you a sense of place - some context as to where each of my flowers sits within the garden. Enjoy!

This is our lovely David Austin rose, 'Golden Celebration', a favourite.

She sits proudly at the very front of the house, nestled next to the beautiful strong pink 'Othello' rose.

The roses are quite early this year, and I think this lovely is called 'Jumpin' Jack'.

It shares its bed with some delicate mauve irises, the soft grey foliage of Russian sage and sedums, and the sparky lime green of Duranta 'Sheena's Gold'.

Robinia pseudoacacia 'Purple Robe' is wowing us with its display this year - beautiful pendulous purple blooms hanging gracefully from its branches. 

It is planted at the entrance to the garden with the intent of draping across the driveway to welcome visitors. It stands sentinel at the end of a row of standard 'Iceberg' roses.

Looking at it from the house you can perhaps get an idea of how stunning this robinia is. I love the contrast it achieves against the purple berberis on the right and the lime greens of the pom pom tree and salvias in the foreground.

The Betchel crabapples are just starting to bloom and have the bees a-buzz.

We have these planted close to paths so that we can admire their prettiness up close.

Oooh, we interrupt the garden introductions with some noise and frivolity - the cousins are over from next door and there are some serious chasings in progress ... I love that we have a garden for them to enjoy :)

The very first 'Burgundy Iceberg' rose is blooming and will soon be joined by its neighbours.

Forty roses form a hedge along one side of a lawn path and are protected by a taller hedge of Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Stirling Mist'.

Callistemon 'Perth Pink' is also just starting to flower, and is promising to be stunning. 

We hacked this gorgeous thing ruthlessly in the winter, and it hasn't looked back.

I think this sweet thing is Lavandula stoechas 'Marshwood'. It is neglected badly, but rewards faithfully with blooms year ofter year.

It sits at the foot of a purple foliaged prunus tree and is next to yellow flowering irises.

I love these tiny gladiolus. They too are terribly hardy and pop their cheerful heads up despite how little attention I give them.

Their bed fellows are arum lilies, irises and roses, with some mondo grass nipping at their toes, threatening to take them over.

Poor Margaret ... are you still with me? Never again will she suggest I take some more garden photos! I'm almost done :)

Hot pink valerian is pretty much a weed, but it earns its place.

It contrasts wonderfully with the yellowy lime of the gleditsias which tower above its head.

And finally, this wondrous plant, a gift from a gardening friend. She said it is called a cardoon. It is the most fabulous and flamboyant thing.

I love how it lends some serous architectural interest to this corner of the garden. See it standing splendiferously in the background? "Look at me, look at me", it yells.

So you see, there are many personalities in my garden. Some are as common as muck, but resilient to the death. Some are show stoppers, stealing the limelight from their neighbours. Some rise to the occasion, no matter how poorly you treat them. Some selflessly provide a stage for others to shine. But many are there quite simply for their unadulterated beauty, having survived a hard winter prune and bouncing back cheerfully to gladden my world. My garden, how I love thee!

Back from the wild, wild west

School Term 3 = Primary Musical at our school. This year's was set in the Wild West of 1800s USA.

I help with the costumes each year, 

and love every minute of it. 

This year was especially challenging as our usual 'wardrobe mistress' flew to Morocco the weekend before the production, taking all her experience and expertise with her, and asked me to stand in her place. Her shoes are big to fill. 

 Thankfully, all three performances went off with much drama, but thankfully none in the costume department. 

I am feeling my usual tired and shattered self on the first Monday of school holidays, but nothing a good sleep for a few days won't fix :)

Looking forward to some warm weather and time in the garden and at the machine ... after sleep!

Daybook entry #10

On my mind ... Headache, headache, go away ... I really have too much to do today.

In my hoop ... some monogram action!

In my garden ... hardy arctotis waiting patiently for their springtime friends to pop their heads up and blossom.

I am inspired by ... Sam Stosur's win in the US Open. Inspired not only by her powerful forehand, but also by her poise, grace and understated manner. 

I am miffed ... by my apparent inability to stitch a straight line today. I am blaming it on a useless 1/4" marking on my walking foot! More reverse sewing for me.

I am reading ... 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks', on Lily's excellent recommendation. It is a warm but poignant account of Henrietta, who died of cancer in the 1950s. Cells were taken from her cancer tumour without her knowledge or permission, a common occurrence at the time. These cells have since been cultured to create an immortal cell line for medical research. These so-called HeLa cells have generated billions of dollars for the medical industry; they have helped uncover secrets of cancers, viruses, fertilisation, cloning, and gene mapping and yet compensation or acknowledgement for her surviving family were minimal. A thought provoking true story of medical ethics versus scientific progress and at what human cost?

In contrast, I am listening to ... four-hand boogie wooogie on Youtube - part of a music assignment for my littlest bloss. Cool!

Making me laugh today ...

... my Sweetness walked past and asked, "Who gets to pick the two"?!!