Create

I came across this today, and I thought the essence of the message was beautiful:



Be inspired, create, make something truly beautiful in this world.

Back at Work

I knew it would be a difficult day, but I didn't expect to be so tired and sore.

Yesterday I bought 8 litres of ceiling paint. It was on special, and I feel like I got a very good deal. The sale continues until April, however once all stock is gone - it's over. I noticed that they only had a few buckets of paint left, and I needed one more. But the second one needed to be colour matched, and the bucket of paint tinted. Today I went in with my colour sample, and got it sorted. I also bought some filling compound to address the various jobs around the house.




Some of the other things that I was working on while off work were the vintage jumper, a jigsaw puzzle, and the yo-yo quilt.

As you can see the sleeves have been finished on the jumper. I need to sew the pieces together, and complete the band around the neck.


Mum and I made great progress on this jigsaw puzzle.

Mum also helped me colour match the yo-yos. They will be joined into 9-patches later.

I had thought I might spend the evening watching TV and working on some hand crafts. Nothing really inspires me, and I am so tired. So it will likely be an early night tonight. So far I haven't been able to sleep through the night - I'm hoping that tonight will be different :)

Missing Mum

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was about to have surgery, well on Wednesday the 17th it was done. In my mind, I thought that I would recover much more quickly than I did. Even today I feel really washed out and tired. Might have something to do with doing the edges on my lawn. (Don't worry Mum, I didn't mow the lawn as well).

There have been many people who have been supportive during my recovery, and I am thankful to them all. From my craft groups, church home group, to friends - everyone has been wonderful. But I would like to say a super special thanks to my Mum!!!

My Mum is a very busy lady. She works full time, maintains her home, and has an active social life. I was so incredibly blessed that she came down the day before my surgery. That's in itself is a mission - as I am over 6 hours away by car.

Mum did so much for me; like taking me to and from the hospital, driving me around to places like the Doctors and pharmacy, doing the grocery shopping (several times), all the cooking and cleaning, making cups of tea, and bringing me glasses of water, making sure I had my medicine, helping me walk, helping me out of the chair, and heaps more.

My Mum left on Friday, and at 40 I'm not ashamed to say that I really miss my Mum. I don't miss her because of what she did for me, which by the way I HUGELY appreciated. I don't really want to admit this - but I really wasn't capable of looking after myself. I miss my Mum's company, I miss being close to her, and my life is a little bit empty when she isn't around. I love my Mum :)

Vintage knitting update

Well it turns out that the mistake I thought I made wasn't one. The front and the back of the original garment was inconsistent. I have made other mistakes, but I figure no one else will know... Except for you :)


I've finished the front. So glad that the "tricky" part of knitting is over. You wouldn't believe how time consuming it is using more than one colour. My personal preference has always been to use one colour of yarn, and be challenged through a pattern or stitch complexity.


Just starting on the sleeves.


There will not be a lot of progress on my crafts for the next few weeks, as I am scheduled to have some surgery (my gallbladder will be removed), and don't expect to be up and about for some time. This is because I don't respond too well to anaesthetic.

Thanks Mum for coming down to look after me. I don't know what I'd do without you. Love you heaps.

Vintage improvement

The great thing about using an existing garment as the pattern, is that you can see areas that you would like to improve or do differently. For example, I've decided to "knit-in" the hem, rather than sew it down after I've finished. Replacement on the left, vintage on the right.


Changing the placement of the increases to be sympathetic to the design elements was something else I wanted to do.

Vintage increases.


Replacement increases lining up with the "pyramids".


New and old side by side. (Yes I have already noticed THAT mistake).


So now I am working on the front... here's where I am up to... I call it "the danger zone" because it gets so tricky, and tension is really important.

Farewell to the old

For years I have worn a vintage sweater which was made for my Mum by her mother. Mum wore it for about 20 years before handing it on to me. Well, I wore it for another 20 years. As the years went by, I did a number of repairs. However after 40 years - there is nothing more I can do to keep it going.

Now it wasn't the best made item, it had some glaring flaws and was ill-fitting all the same, I valued the love that went into that sweater. Each time it was worn was like having my Mums love with me. A great comfort, especially over the last few years.

Anyway, over the Christmas break the local wool store had a sale on. I went in and took this item, just to see if they thought it was beyond repair. Unfortunately they agreed. So, I have decided to remake this item, using the garment as the pattern, and using some new colours.

Here's the vintage sweater:


and this is its replacement in progress:

Titirangi sunshine

Last year I asked the ladies in my quilting group if they could give me any left over fabric or scraps that they no longer want. The ladies were very generous. I've been holding onto the fabric, and will combine them with my own scraps to make a scrap quilt.

My search began looking through the quilting block books and resources that I have at home. Nothing really "spoke" to me, so I looked online. I am mindful that I have many small pieces of fabric - a repetitive type quilt is not an option. After a long search I've found one I really like. To be honest, it was a toss up between a triple irish chain, and Darlingoldlady's block. In the end I went for Darlingoldlady's - check out her photo here.

I've decided to call mine "Titirangi sunshine". I reminds me of a dappled sunshine streaming through the bush/forest. A kind of textured cheer. This quilt is going to pose a few challenges as I don't have a pattern, so I will have to draft from scratch.

The plan is to make this quilt will be big enough for a queen sized bed. So I'm aiming for a 90 inch square. Last night I did a rough draft layout using pencil and paper. The block size will be 10 inches. The bed top I will have at least 6 squares across, and I'll have a 15 inch drop on either side of the bed. As yet I haven't decided if the drops will be borders, or a continuation of the blocks. I'll let that idea perculate :) If you look at Darlingoldlady's picture, you would have already noticed that my finished blocks will be smaller than hers. I'm not sure what size hers are.

As I work through this quilt, I'll document my progress.

So this is what I did last night - drafting the block.


Next step... make a test block. Or should I say - what you should do... What did I do??? Purchased fabric! I needed white and beige for the squares. I don't have a large enough supply of this to do a whole quilt. Probably not a smart move, because I should have made a test square first just to see what the measurements would be, and how much fabric would be required. Also, to see if the block matched up to my expectations.


The next part, which was really quite time consuming was determining what sizes these patches should be cut (after adding the 1/4 inch seam allowance). I was then thinking about a cutting strategy. For example, if you have a large scrap, you could cut a square, then either cut it in half (diagonally) to make 2 triangles, or if the square was super large, you could cut it into quarters to make 4 triangles. All of these require different sizings. Then I also had to think about the "mini" scraps I had, and what was the smallest size that could be used. So I guess this all boils down to planning.

Yes, it would be easier with a pattern, but half the fun is using what you have on had, and your brain! :)

Okay, now that the thinking was done it is time to pull out the scraps. Here's the scraps I will be working with.


Then I choose fabric that is large enough to make at least 8 triangles to go around the centre.


Scraps are then ironed.


Now I'm ready for the cutting.