catching up

well it's been a few weeks since my last post but i've been waiting for some sun to take photos of the New Quilt - and today after many dreary grey days the blessed Sun returned. Here she is in the fig tree



my favourite quilt - both in the creation and the final product. She was based on Kaffe Fassett's columns quilt in his Museum Quilt book - blissfully easy with no points to match and the wide stripes really make the most of the beautiful Picadilly fabrics. I've decided that Free Spirit are my favourite fabric makers - soft, smooth, drapey and fabulous rich colours. I pieced the back with fabrics from my stash that went with the front - again an easy process using big pieces.




And thanks to Yarnstorm I handquilted it - but for her example I would never have contemplated handquilting a 88 by 68 inch quilt but it only took me a week of evenings in front of the tv to stitch in the ditch (luckily there weren't too many ditches!) and around the outside. I would also highly recommend bagging the quilt instead of doing the usual sandwich and binding - this is a quilt to be used not judged so I'm happy for it to have some quirks.




Here is my attempt at a felt pincushion - like the New Quilt a little quirky - but I'm happy with it. Made from the most luscious wool felt from the Steiner shop in Kew and stuffed with even more luscious wool roving.



Thanks to Soozs for the inspiration. Also to littlebirds whose intriguing post about her aversion to polyfill and preference for wool prompted me to try it. I must say that the wool feels much nicer and has a depth and warmth that you certainly don't get with polyfill. I'm just not sure how practical wool would be for toys or items that need frequent or comprehensive washing.

Here is some wonderful eye candy from Buttonmania in the Nicholas Building (corner of Flinders Lane and Swanston Street



- the tiny pink roses and larger red roses are glass buttons (although I don't think they're really old) The stripey ribbon is from Clegs in Elizabeth Street. Nothing like haberdashery to cheer you up after a stressful meeting.