Black and whites

Posting this for my sister, E, as she's a black-and-white devotee. Love the patterned pillow case with the block colours everywhere else.

WIP

This must be the longest I've ever spent doing one quilt. I seem to manage about a half hour every weekend, which is bad, and working the hours I have been, there's no time at night. But, progress continues, albeit slowly!

Make up pouch

I did a screenprinting course back in May, and had some leftover fabric that I made. I love the pattern so much, and finally had a chance to make a small pouch. I lined it with pale pink fabric and am really happy with how it turned out. Feels good to be making things again!

All images mine.

Em's Quilt

Finally! After starting this quilt for my sister Em in May (!), I managed, in between starting my new job and planning the wedding, to actually get it finished. It's a patchwork front, with plain black backing (and white stitching). You can just make out the black and white polka dot binding, too.
This is my first black and white quilt: I've never been really into black and white, but this one's changed my mind entirely.

Message on a Tote

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Love these letter-themed totes and wallets - stationery and fashion love. I wonder if I should just wear an envelope and call it even...

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Mexican Suzani Bedspread

I know this doesn't fit my "not busy" brief, but gee it's very pretty. What a delicious bedspread!

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Frankie's Quilt

I am so excited - this is for the baby of my delightful friend K - and I can't wait to take it to her today when I meet her for the first time! The fabric is Santorini by Lila Tueller for Moda - and the back is just one fabric from the range (above) while the front is patchwork (below). I'm very proud of my straight seams!!
I also made two small face washers with matching binding - couldn't resist a silly stylised pic with these little ones!

Castle Linens

I've been looking into getting some new bed linen, so there might be a few bed linen posts coming up in the next few weeks! I love these designs by Castle, which are fun without being too busy. I am wondering, with my new-found love of cushion-making, whether I could make some pillow slips of my own in this style. Hmmm. New project, perhaps?

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Kimono Fabric

For Easter, my Mum bought me these beautiful vintage kimono scraps from a shop she discovered in Leura. I am completely smitten with them (you can't see the gold very well, but they truly shimmer).

Very unsure what to do with them yet, but excited to play around and come up with ideas!

New Cushions II

Inspired by my last attempt, I finished off my last cushion re-coverings. Many thanks to my lovely friend A, who worked out how to attach zipper heads to continuous zippers - not as easy as it sounds!!

The bunting fabric is from Ikea - and also happened to be on sale, so each pillow (two small ones for the spare bed, and one larger one for the lounge) was very reasonably priced.
These two long pillows are the ones of which I'm most proud. I've been in love with the Florence Broadhurst fabric with black and white horses for such a long time (recently re-inspired here), but at $143/metre, I knew that wasn't an option for me at the moment. But on the website, you can buy an A4 sample of the fabric for $7 each... So I bought the horse stampede sample and the green sample above, and am enjoying have some Florence Broadhurst in my life! (Is it just me, or is it even nicer when you know it was inexpensive?!)

Pillow Love #4

Aren't these pillows fantastic? I love the long, people shaped ones above. Actually, I love them all.

Thanks for all your lovely comments. It's taken me a bit to rejig and get back into life again - I am doing lots of part-time teaching, so in some ways, life feels much the same, but the adrenaline is starting to leave!

I'm off to Melbourne tomorrow for the weekend to catch up with some lovely friends - see you Monday!

All images via the ever fabulous Bloesem.

New Cushions

Ok, so this is one of the most exciting projects I've done in a while. Inspired by this most excellent and instructive post on how to make pillows, I made two throw cushions from some more of my new fabric.
The inspiration was in part brought on by a slight disappointment in some of the new pillows I bought late last year. Specifically, the crocheted ones (second from the right in that post) never 'sat' right, and always looked lumpy and sad.

So I 'borrowed' their purple zippers (which, by the way, I love with the yellows and limes of the fabric) and some Ikea heavy duty white fabric I picked up ages ago and got to work. I have never felt so gratified sewing for such a short amount of time!
Even if you think that zippers are beyond you (I thought they were) - you should definitely try them out. You'll be surprised at how easy it is! I want to put zippers on EVERYTHING!

By the way, some of you may be wondering why I've been making so much lately. I have had a week of no writing while my supervisors read over my latest thesis draft, so I've been frantically doing paid work, all the while getting up early to craft. I know. Attention surplus disorder strikes again!

Dinner Napkins

Apologies for the slightly dark photo. I've already started to use up some of my new fabric: I made six lovely serviettes with some of my stash. Very easy and very satisfying - I wonder why I've never done this before?!

Purple Rug Quilt

I have a confession to make. It might upset you quilting purists, or even people who like angora rugs. I was given two magnificent rugs for my 21st birthday (now some years ago!). I love them: they are the perfect weight and warmth and for years I've snuggled with them. But I've never been able to cuddle them without being covered in tremendous amounts of fluff. I mean fluff like you've never BELIEVED. If I happened to be wearing black, I looked like a lamington post- cuddle. So I decided to do something rash and quilt one, just to see if it worked. That way, I figured, the blanket would be more useable, and I would still love its weight and warmth without the fear of the fluff.
Here are some in-progress pictures. I used Tula Pink's Hush a Bye range for Moda and the backing is from the same range. I'm really thrilled with how it's turned out, and am really happy it'll be all ready for when winter arrives.
And finally, the finished product, bound and ready to go!
I know the pictures of quilts of this chair must be getting old. But it's hard to take pictures by yourself in good light, and here just seems to work!

New Tray: Before and After

I've been looking for a large tray with edges for ages and was really unsuccessful in my search. The other day, I found this tray put out with the garbage near my house. Horrendously decoupaged, I saw some potential behind the ugly turquoise...

I spent a good hour or so stripping back the layers (layers! I tell you!) of lacquer and sealant to reveal a knobbly tray with no paper left on it.I sanded it back, then sprayed some black gloss enamel paint all over.
And, ta da!
I made a place mat with some of my new fabric just to cover up some of the bumpy parts of the top of the tray, but I'm really happy with it. It now makes our ottoman a lot more useful - half ottoman, half coffee table. Hurrah!

New Fabric Splurge!

Well I did it. After falling in love with the Nani Iro fabric, I put an order in with the lovely Matatabi from Japan and went on a little spree! I'm not even sure I can make myself cut up these pretties, but I'll keep you posted on what I make with them. In the meantime, thought you might like a vicarious swoon.

New Quilt

This is a gift for one of my best friends. She's been unwell for a while and I hoped that this would be a good comfort for her to snuggle with. I made it from Moda Authentic fabric and am really happy with how it turned out. I chose the fabrics for her based on the fact that she loves reading and maths (hence words and numbers) and the environment (hence flowers and the highlight colour of green). Hope she likes it!

Christmas Stockings

This Christmas is the first that the Pal and I have lived together. We have spent previous Christmases in together in Australia and all over the world (two in France and one in Vietnam), but never have we woken up in the same apartment THAT WE LIVE IN on Christmas morning.

Which I think is pretty exciting.

Taking Naomi's Green Christmas to heart once more, I made Christmas stockings for us both from remnants and scraps I had already, and the result is a pair of muted, felted stockings which I think are kind of fun.

Sneak Peek: Japanese Inspired Quilt

This is a sneak peek of the new quilt I have made. Recently, a number of very close friends have become engaged, and I chose the fabric for this quilt with one of my affianced friends in mind. I was feeling quite good about the whole enterprise, when The Pal mentioned we should probably supplement the gift with a more boyish present for the groom. And then I realised: will I look like a crazy, Tonia Todman-esque* "I made you a present" kind of freak?! Is this quilt far too girly to give as a wedding present?
*For my lovely international readers, Tonia is Australia's 1990s answer to Martha Stewart. Our Tonia is decoupage queen, and, as I discovered with a cheeky google, a very busy entrepreneur these days. I really use her name with love: if I was a little older, I would absolutely be her, sans decoupage.