thornberry

You all know what my absolute best op shop find is - the Golden Hands series that I found a couple of weeks ago!  My other favourite op shop find isn’t quite from an op shop - it was from one of those second-hand/bric-a-brac/”antique” places - but it was still a bargain (around $5 around ten years ago) and I love it.

Yes, it’s an ash tray, and no, I don’t smoke - but I love objects made of glass.  It has a lovely weight, and the gold flecks inside are a gorgeous contrast to the red and clear glass outside.

I had a theory at one stage that I was going to collect heavy glassware.  The collection hasn’t really grown past two pieces, mostly due to lack of room (and finances) but I do also have a divine Kosta Boda bowl that I bought in Sweden many many years ago that was extremely bloody heavy to cart around in a backpack, let me tell you!  Thanks again to Angela for hosting and to Lino Forest for this week’s theme.

To celebrate turning 40 I got my hair cut short.

At the back it is REALLY short!  I am quite happy to be turning 40, maybe because I am very happy with where my life is at.  I am a bit stunned that I have been an adult for over half my life, and also a little stunned that I am possibly half way through my life.  But overall - it’s great to be 40!  Happy birthday to me!

Michelle thought that this week we all needed to have a look at the spaces in which we create.  Here are some photos of mine, which will be familiar to many - I’ve posted pictures of my sewing room before.  This is how it looked on Sunday night:

The ironing board in it’s permanently up position, waiting for me to actually do some of the ironing that is piled up beside the overlocker.  The dress on the mannequin (thanks Nikki for lending me Dolly) is waiting to have the waist seams let out.  I bought it to cut up for the fabric, but other than the waist it fits really well so I will eventually alter it.  You can just see the edge of my tiny old portable TV that I watch when ironing.  It’s right next to hubby’s old couch from his bachelor days (which badly needs recovering).

And here it is from another angle!  I was very lucky that when we renovated our house a bit over a year ago we included a nice large sewing/craft room.  It makes such a difference to have a dedicated space to leave all the works in progress (and the never-ending ironing piles).  It is relatively kid-friendly - Clare does lots of craft at the pine table, which my Dad made for me many years ago.  He’s a great wood-turner and has made most of the furniture in our house.  I also have a couple of boxes of toys for Stella, but she prefers to play with fabric scraps and tape measures.

The chair in the front of this photo was the first chair that Dad made; Mum did the upholstery.  And look, more piles of ironing (incidentally, the ironing piles are now double the size, still waiting to be done).  And there is (some of) the fabric stash in the cupboards at the back.

The other space in which I create is my lounge-room corner.  Crochet, hand-sewing, embroidery.

Thanks again to Michelle of Quilting Mick for this week’s great theme and to Angela of three buttons for hosting this meme!

I have a relatively free weekend ahead, so am hoping to start (and finish) some sewing.  Maybe if I put my plans in writing I might feel compelled to follow through!  These fabrics arrived this week from the Amitie blog VIP club.  How incredibly cute!

I plan on using the fabric with the numbers to make a childcare bag for Stella.  There is a lot of stuff that a one year old needs to take with her to childcare!  I’ll combine it with a similar print that I bought from Retro Mummy, and I’m still deciding what plain fabric to mix them with.  I’m planning on using the Large Tote & Satchel pattern from Nicole Mallalieu, with loads of extra internal pockets, and I may incorporate some clear PVC over the exterior of the bag to protect it.  The delicious little red riding hood print will possibly become the bodice of a summer dress for Stella (which won’t be made this weekend - it’s way too chilly here in Melbourne to be thinking about summer clothes now).

This top is still cut out, waiting to be sewn.  Maybe I’ll get to it this weekend.  Clare also needs a pair of school pants - once again, fabric and pattern are all ready to go, and I can whip them up fairly quickly with the overlocker.  I’ll be embarassed if I don’t get at least that project done!

Speaking of school clothes and chilly Melbourne winter, I finished Clare’s school scarf and beanie.

The scarf was done without a pattern - it is just US double crochet (Australian treble) using two balls of Patons Superwash 8 ply.  The beanie is a modification of a pattern I found somewhere on the internet, worked entirely in double crochet like the scarf.  Easy peasy.  Elsewhere on the crochet front I have almost completed the Mossy Cowl, and hope to start on a scarf using the Pear Tree yarn.  There is also the matter of two June CAL blocks to complete (but I’ve got the rest of the month to finish them off, surely).

My fat quarters are all ready to send for the Vintage Sheet Patchwork Swap.  I’m looking forward to seeing what patterns I receive in return - and thinking of what I will do with them all.  Elizabeth has promised to have some great suggestions on her blog next month.

And to finish off - another op shop dress pattern.  This one is from 1977.

Wow ladies, bad hair.  And I’m still cacking myself at this post by Jodie of Ric-Rac.  So beautifully put (or should that be sung)?

It’s Stella’s birthday today.  Now she is one.  Oh my goodness.

The past year has flown by.  I know that is a cliche, but it is so, so true!  Stella is such a delight and such a blessing.  She is a bubbly, happy little baby, curious about the world, wanting everyone to chat to her and interact with her.  Because she’s so tiny it seems strange to see her walking around, clapping her hands and waving to us.

This picture is her first birthday gift from us - something that will hopefully be special to her as she grows up.  It’s painted by the lovely Tiel of Tsk Tsk. 

Happy First Birthday my precious little one.  We are so incredibly lucky to have you.

Rather than go to Magnolia Square on Thursday and look at things that I couldn’t afford to buy, I decided to go op-shopping.  And the op shop gods were smiling on me!

A vintage sheet to add to the fat quarters I’m sending off to the vintage sheet patchwork swap; some buttons; vintage hand-embroidered linens that will become part of clothing or a bag; a pillowcase that will become yet another pillowcase dress; extremely old knitting/crochet books; and a girls dress pattern that I’m sure I remember from my childhood.  Mum, did you make me a dress from this pattern?  The one with the short sleeves?  But the most exciting find of the day was this:

A complete set of Golden Hands craft magazines!  Oh joy oh rapture.  They are from the early seventies - Mum had a set when I was a child, and it went off to an op shop somewhere about ten years ago after I reassured Mum that “no, I won’t want these”.  Well, fast-forward ten years and yes, I do want these!  I had a look through a set at Brown Owls last week and realised what a fantastic resource they are.  I was absurdly excited to find them in op shop number three (of six for the morning) for the grand total of $12.

Clare was most excited with my other (unphotographed) op shop find - a pair of Barbie roller-skates for $5.  She has barely had them off her feet since.  I am also very proud of her - she wore her patch at school for two hours on Friday.  It is proving difficult to get enough hours of patch wearing done with only before and after school, so I suggested that she could take her patches to school and wear them there too if she wanted to - and she did.  What maturity for a five year old.  Thank you also for the lovely comments about Clare’s glasses and eye patch - they are all very touching and much appreciated.

As you can all tell, life has got in the way of sewing and craft in recent weeks.  I’m back in paid work two days per week, and between hubby’s new business, old business, and the kids, I’ve really only had time to dream about the things that I’d like to create.  Apologies also to all those people whose blogs I normally comment on but appear to be ignoring at the moment - I’m not really ignoring you, I’m still trying to keep up with your doings, but something has had to give and rather than it be my sanity (although some people would say that went a while ago) my internet time has become a little more limited.

But of course, I haven’t been able to resist doing a little bit of crafting!  I’ve had this little kit for “sweet treats” for a while, bought from eBay, and finally put it together.  It would have taken about an hour tops if I’d had uninterrupted time.  As it was, it took me three days.

These can now join the chenille chocolate cake and chenille cupcakes!  Hubby can’t understand why I’d want to make fabric food when I could be cooking real food that he could eat.  I did manage to fit in a couple of other crafty activities as well; another red crochet necklace as a gift for my cousin (no Freya, not you) and I cut out a few fat quarters for a vintage sheet patchwork swap.  And does ordering fabric count as craft?

 Nicole Mallalieu had a launch for her new Beach bag pattern on Sunday - what a brilliant morning, full of lovely nibbles, superb bag patterns, clever crafty people and generous giveaways.  It’s a good thing that you can never have too many bags - because each time I look at her range, I want to make more!  And last night was Brown Owls - yay!  I manage to get there once per month, and it is such a relaxing and friendly time.  This time the inimitable Aunty Pat was teaching us how to knit - except I was a rebel and continued with my crochet - I’m much better with the hook than with the pointy sticks!  I am rather excited that I am starting to build a new group of crafty friends through Brown Owls - thanks so much to Kirsty and Pip (& friends) for running it; I can’t quite get over their energy and generosity.

I have a huge list of things to do before I can go to bed this evening, so had better stop blogging and start ironing/hemming/folding/sorting/tidying/accounting.  Magnolia Square Market starts on Thursday; I’m considering a visit, but maybe I’d be better off saving my pennies for the Handknitters Guild mini wool expo at Brunswick Town Hall on Saturday 31st May (from 10.00am to 3.00pm).  Magnolia Square is a good place to get ideas, but the prices are way too steep for me to actually buy anything there.  But yarn, that could be another story …

We recycle in the usual ways.  Compost bin for food scraps; recycling paper, glass and plastic in the recycle bin; recycling garden waste in the garden bin.  Although I have to admit to buying plenty of new fabrics, I also use old ones in my sewing.  But one of my guilty pleasures is fashion magazines.

My way of recyling?  I didn’t buy any of these myself - I have a friend whose husband works in the fashion business, and they are a business expense!  She passes them on to me.  I pass them on to my cousin.  She passes them on to her niece.  And eventually?  I suppose that they end up in someone’s paper recycling bin!

This is a change to my usual type of blog post!  My husband and I (gee, I sound like the Queen) took over a business, Austral Quality Products, two weeks ago.  It wholesales high quality Australian designed and Australian made cards, gifts and stationery, all themed with Australian flora and fauna.  Our clients are predominately galleries, botanical gardens, gift shops, information centres, etc right across Australia.

We are looking for some new suppliers in time for the Melbourne GHA trade fair at the beginning of August.  So, if you (or someone you know) designs cards, prints, stationery, maybe even tea-towels that have an Australian flora and/or fauna theme (anything with Bue Wrens on it sells well apparently!) and would like their products exposed at this hugely popular pre-Christmas trade fair, contact us!  You can reach us via email on info at australqualityproducts dot com dot au.  Or leave me a message here with your contact details.

Thanks very much - we are looking at growing this business and adding a modern interpretation of “Australiana” to the products that we wholesale.

Back to normal crafty blogging next post!

I did manage to get a gift made for Mum for Mother’s Day.  A set of four placemats, and matching coasters.

The fabric is from Amy Butler’s Nigella line, once again.  Fantastic fabric!  I used a layer of fusible wadding in the centre of each placemat and each coaster.

Both the placemats and coasters are reversible.  Although Mum doesn’t have much blue in her decor, she says that they look terrific on their timber dining table (which was made by my dad).

And my Mother’s Day?  My parents came down from the country to celebrate the day with us.  I had to work in the morning, but got home at midday to a meal cooked by my Mum.  Clare made me some lovely cards at school, and bought a little gift at the school Mother’s Day stall.  She told me many times how much she loves me.  What a sweetheart!  Stella is now walking (gasp - she’s only just 11 months old) and had a lovely time with her grandparents.  I hope that she has as much fun at her first day of childcare tomorrow … and that I don’t cry.