Our Creative Space

After months of procrastinating, I had to get on with it and cut up fabric for my month in the "Oh Beehave" MMQG quilt block swap.  The reason - Marg is going on a lovely sailing holiday and won't be back for a while, so wanted her fabric before she left.  But my revised month is not that far away (August) so the fabric has to go out by 15 July anyway.

I've decided that preparing to make a quilt is like painting - the preparation is a drag but the doing is OK.  Cutting up the fabric takes quite a long time but once you get going it's not too bad.  Not like preparing for painting at all, come to think of it.  Next job is to divide it up amongst the other girls.  This will hopefully become two quilts for the single beds in one of the spare rooms.

I just hope this stack of fabric (with some white as a neutral) all look good sewn together.

To see what other clever folks are up to, head over here.

Birthday Boy

You know those times when the trickle of milestone birthdays becomes a flood?  Well, it's one of those years.  Two big birthday celebrations a week apart - last week a family member, this week a friend's - with Stos's next milestone due in the next few months.  But no celebration, he tells me.

Anyway, this was a fun night out with old friends.  Who like a dress up.  Fortunately the birthday boy obliged by telling guests to wear what they would have worn to the Royal Wedding if they had been asked.  There were the predicatable long frocks and tiaras but honourable mentions go to the gent in ecclesiastic robes and our friend C who donned the outfit that she wore to the birthday boy's wedding MANY years ago.  She gets extra points because it still fits.

 We sang, danced and did some silly things.  As usual.  A great time was had by all.

Teddy Bear's picnic

We have a new resident in the house.  He's not here for a long time, but we hope it is a good time.  Meet Marty:

Marty is a gift for my new niece or nephew due in September.  If I can bring myself to part with him. He is a fully jointed, handmade mohair bear created by lovely Jess of Teddy Bears Wednesday.  I think he will be a very good first friend for the new arrival.

Brothers in Arms

I'm not sure what happened to this Queen's Birthday long weekend.  It has literally zoomed by.  But it has been fabulous;  full of family and good times.  The NY STLT fan is out here for a fleeting visit and one of his (many) friends organised a bus trip to a wine region north of the city on Saturday.  We were looking forward to going because it was not only a chance to see G, but also his mates who we have got to know quite well over the years and only see on his trips back to Aus.  They are a very entertaining bunch which makes the mass get togethers a lot of fun.  Surprisingly, the weather was beautiful and quite warm once out in the sun on what we had expected to be a chilly winter's day; perfect for a trip to the country.  We tasted wine, had a delicious lunch, caught up with old friends, looked at lovely scenery, met some fun new people and sang songs on the way home (but I never want to hear "Only Girl in the World" ever again). 

We miss our NY fan.  But he hasn't finished with the Big Apple quite yet.  The distance makes the infrequent times that we catch up even more special.

Sitting around

We've gone a bit quiet on house updates because, other than putting up some of our pictures, we haven't done much other than gradually plant up the garden.  And after being told that I couldn't have a beautiful Arts and Crafts sideboard because it won't fit into the house, I'd given up on buying more furniture.  However there is one spot for stuff to go; under the kitchen bench.  I actually hate the concept of the "breakfast bar".  We eat at the table.  But I do like people talking to me while I cook, dish up etc and am quite amenable to them having a seat close by, so we thought that some stools without backs that fit neatly under the edge of the kitchen bench would work nicely.  We spotted some lab stools on the Grandfather's Axe but by the time we got around to looking at them, they had been sold.  But look what we found at Know Your Product!

All we know is that they are Scandinavian, possible 70's and they have nice joinery (even I can see that).  And there was a sale on all current stock so even better!  The vinyl seats are a bit ordinary but I'm thinking of getting them recovered in the bark cloth shown on the stool on the right.  Bought from lovely Retro Age Vintage Fabrics.  This is a match made in heaven - combining stuff from two of my favourite shops.  Now I think that we really are at our furniture limit.  But I'm still trying to work out if a sideboard would look good in a bathroom.....

Our Creative Space

I am feeling quitely smug that all my "Oh Beehave" blocks are up to date.  Last weekend at the MMQG retreat, I finished Shirley's Mondrian block and popped it in the post on Monday:

This is a deceptive block.  A wolf in sheep's clothing.  I thought I could get away with making it up as I went along, but a bit of planning would have been useful.  This spontaneous approach resulted in running out of the black borders, however once more was received, order was restored.  I was relieved to hear that other, more experienced quilters ran into strife with this one.

For other crafty bibs and bobs, head over here.

Our creative space

Yet more MMQG "Oh Beehave" blocks.  This is the June block for Helene and I am going to give it to her at the inaugural MMQG craft retreat this weekend. It is really pretty and easier than some of the blocks we have had recently.

 I think I would rather hand blocks to the recipient in person after Rachel's blocks went missing in the mail.

Baby it's cold outside

We spent the weekend with Stos's family to celebrate birthdays.  But one of the birthday boys couldn't be with us and we missed him.  But overall we had a good time and did lots of lovely things together including:

• Had a delicious lunch with good company in a picturesque location.
• Went on a ghost tour.  Despite a corny stunt at the end, it was fun.

             

• Ate lots of homemade and local treats.
• Went to a local market and bought treasures and delicious berry jams
• Found fabulous furniture that I was not allowed to bring home because we don't have room (but I'm working on this one)

The weekend was a lot of fun and we plan on another visit soon.

Swaps

It has been a bit dull at STLT HQ this week (lots of work and cold weather) but things brightened up considerably when this lovely creature arrived in the mail:

This is Henrietta, who is a gift from Kelli, my partner in the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild pincushion swap.  I adore tortoises and she is decked out in my favourite colours.  Now that she has been photographed, she is going straight to the study to take pride of place on top of the sewing cabinet.  Thanks Kelli!

The pincushion below is what I made for Clair as part of the same swap. This is made from autumny vintage fabrics sourced from Retro Age Vintage fabrics.

I'm looking forward to the next swap and am hoping that the output is a doll quilt as I'm in need of some wall hangings for our vacant wall spaces.

My Creative Space

Yet more MMQG bee blocks, this time for Marg.  I was a bit scared of the task set - to incorporate flying geese, squares and half square triangles but was provided with a set of good tutorials that would produce a block of the required structure and size.  Naturally, I picked the what I thought was the easiest but it only had three fabrics and I had to try and fit in five.  So I adapted the tutorial for the final block, having done a practice version in red, and instead of a single centre square, pieced a four patch square to squeeze in the other two fabrics.  But all of those seams were a challenge both for me and Grandma's jolly Janome.  This has been posted back and I hope Marg likes it.  Assuming it arrives safely, unlike Rachel's blocks!