Small Projects

I have been snatching time lately to make some small projects. While writing this post to share them with you, I came across photos of something I made a few days before Lily's accident. Using two of my favourite fabrics, I made this apron for my dear friend Anna (inspired by the utility belt I made for her son). Ironically this was the last photograph I took before Lily was in the car accident. The next photo in my iPhoto library is of her in hospital.



On a happier note, the first thing I made since Lily's return home and finishing my friend's quilt, was this long promised belt for her. As requested, it's for her to carry her iPod and notebook/pen.





I also finally made an apron for myself, using the remainder of the panel from Be Be Bold that I used in a previous project. I made it to wear at home, to carry my iPhone (so that I would be more inclined to capture moments for my other blog), my ever-present daily list of things to do, lip balm and other such Important Things.



I made this top using the free Museum Tunic tutorial on Anna Maria Horner's blog. Create with a panel of her gorgeous, soft Square Dance toile, it was the perfect gift for my Mum's birthday earlier this month.


Cutting into my precious new collection of Flea Market Fancy fat quarters for the first time, I made a camera strap cover using this tutorial on design*sponge.



Last weekend Lily got her first wobbly tooth. Like a woman obsessed (me? never!), I stayed up late whipping up a tooth fairy pillow. I had one as a kid, made out of white broderie anglaise. This crazy patch one is my version! After my late night feverishness, it was almost a week between the first wobble and when the tooth finally fell out. In the end, the pillow ended up not being used for the toothfairy's first visit! I know though that there are many teeth to come.



I've now put aside anything non-Christmassy and launched myself into Christmas sewing. Go here for a sneak peek of the fabrics I'm using. Oh for more hours in the day!

Back with old friends

Well, it's been almost three months since my last post. For those who don't know, my daughter Lily and my husband were in a car accident in early August. Lily sustained some serious injuries and was in hospital for almost 7 weeks. Thankfully she has recovered, but it was a real rollercoaster. It took everything I had to get through it, and it didn't leave time for much of anything else, including my beloved sewing. I loved reading your blogs though!

I am thrilled to be sewing again! I finished off the quilt I was in the middle of when the accident happened, for a lovely boy's 6th birthday. It's a scrap quilt, and the fabrics remind me of past projects and gifts from friends.



I'm itching to keep going with my list of projects, especially as Christmas is only just over two months away! And includes some rather daunting needle felting. Eeep!

I have also started a new photo blog called Great-Full. It's inspired by Hailey and Autumn at http://365grateful.posterous.com/ It's a fun format which I hope will have a profound impact on my life.

Flower pinwheel quilt & good news

It's been a long time between quilts! Well, three months feels like a long time to me! I have had a couple on the go since finishing Mary's which I completed in April. It feels so good to finish another one!

This was for my cousin Charlotte's one year birthday. I made it completely out of fabrics from my stash. The fabrics used in the pinwheels are beautiful Lecian Antique Flower Collection prints given to me by my friend Sarah at Kit Bik Quilts. (Thank you!).

The cream rose fabric is from a large bolt I bought when I started the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler (which I don't think I'll get back to any time in a hurry!). I was making that quilt with my Grandmother Laurel Bloomfield in mind, who passed away in 2002. Charlotte is named after my Grandmother's mother so it felt meaningful to use that fabric in her quilt.



And my good news - my husband got a job today! Sewco here I come!

Kids' utility belt

Ok, so I AM still quiltmaking! I have three quilts on the go but have been finding it really hard over the last few weeks to sew. If I am home, Mia wants to be with me. Which of course is fine, it's the gig I signed up for! She's also waking up earlier, so I am working my way towards getting up even earlier than her so I get a good daily dose of creativity.

I did manage to make this utility belt for our friend Dex's 6th birthday. I used a strap from a conference bag plus velcro and fabric from my stash. Paul made the sword (plus another for Dex's sister and two for our girls). It has a little Maglite torch sewn on a strap plus a pocket to keep it in. Apparently Dex slept in it that night, so it's safe to say it was a hit! Now his lovely mumma Anna and I want similar versions for our own essentials like lip balm!

{this moment}

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{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. - via soulemama.

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Book: The Home Maker by Dorothy Canfield

I recently read the book The Home Maker by Dorothy Canfield. It was another recommendation by the lovely Jane Brocket in her delightful book The Gentle Art of Domesticity.

It was written in 1924, and is an amazing, compassionate take on family and relationships then (and now). It's the story of a wife who is unhappily trapped in domestic drudgery and a husband who loathes his job. A tragic "accident" leads to him being injured and the wife going to work. What unfolds is an incredible journey for them all, including their children. It said so much to be about how we communicate with our children, how we think about homemaking, how important it is to follow our joy, even about school and learning. I just LOVED it!


Dorothy Canfield was an educational reformer, social activist and bestselling American author. Eleanor Roosevelt called her one of the ten most influential women in the United States. I think this book is a perfect foil for her radicalism. I just also read online that she Dorothy Canfield brought the Montessori method of child-rearing to the United States.

There are so many bits I want to reproduce that I really think I need to buy the book. But here are some gems. The first is a conversation between the husband and a well-meaning neighbour.

Mattie turned, saw what he was doing and pounced on him with a shocked, peremptory benevolence. "Oh Lester, let me do that! The idea of your darning stockings! It's dreadful enough your having to do the housework!".
"Eva darned them a good many years," he said, with some warmth, "and did the housework. Why shouldn't I?" He looked at her hard and went on, "Do you know what you're saying to me, Mattie Farnham? You are telling me that you really think that home-making is a poor, mean, cheap job beneath the dignity of anybody who can do anything else."
Mattie Farnham was for a moment helpless with shock over his attack. When she slowly rose to a comprehension of what he had she she shouted indignantly, "Lester Knapp, how dare you say such a thing! I never dreamed of having such an awful idea."
She brought out a formula again, but this time with heartfelt personal conviction, "Home-making is the noblest work anybody can do!"
"Why pity me then?" asked Lester with a grin, drawing his needle in and out of the little stocking.
"Well, but..." she said breathlessly, and was silent.

In another part of the book, Lester is realising how frustrating his wife must have found the "unfinished" nature of parenting.

But you couldn't put through the job of bringing up children. No amount of energy on your part no, not if you stayed up every night of your life, could hurry by a single instant the slow unfolding from within of a child's nature...

I've also discovered that Dorothy Canfield wrote a collection of short stories titled "The Bedquilt". A blog post about the book says "there can be no better story than The Bedquilt for conveying the joy and thrill of creativity". Think I have to find more by this wonderful author!

In quilting news, I haven't sewn for couple of weeks. I seem to be stuck in a rut of going to bed late and getting up too late (I do most of my sewing early in the morning). I have two quilts on the go, including one that was meant to be for my cousin who turned 1 yesterday. Some serious re-prioritising of joyful sewing is what I need!

Sleepy fox feltie

It's my Dad's birthday this week. As he lives in the States I usually buy him something on Amazon. However in line with our new frugality, Lily and I made him a card and present from materials we already had.

Lily sewed this felt house and I turned it into a card.



I made a little Sleepy Fox from a book from the BCC library called Felties: How to Make 18 Cute and Fuzzy Friends. His bed is a repurposed tin with Amy Butler scrapbooking paper. Lily sewed his doona and pillow out of felt.



There are lots of other cuties to be made, check it out on Amazon. I love this Babushka doll.