Another Birthday Quilt

Yesterday was my eldest son Tristan's birthday. He and Sylvia, and their little girl Eve live and work on a dairy farm, and their home is a rather tired 70's house, with a 80's colour scheme. Their bedroom is dominated by the colour brown, and I chose this range of Denise Schmidt 's fabrics...Flea Market Fancy, because I knew that it would be perfect to jazz up their room a little, and I am hoping it will.

It has been rather a long time in the making, mainly because of the size... and oh boy, it was a bit of a headache quilting this on my little sewing machine...how I wished for a "long arm machine".

Never mind, it is all finished now, I just have to attach the label and hand it over !

For a newborn

The above little vest is the subtle colour of Pearl Lavender ( which funnily enough is also the name of a resene paint that I rather like ).

It looks white in the picture, but I can assure you i'ts definitely not.

You might remember that a couple of months ago I was experimenting with some flower and plant dyeing, using my book Eco Colour by India Flint as a guide and I produced this very subtle colour with these purple pansies.

After picking the fresh flowers I popped them into a little plastic bag and put them into the freezer. Once frozen I put them into a small muslin bag and poured a little warm water over them to defrost them and squeezing gently to release the colour. I didn't add a mordant, but I am happy with the result, and I think I will wrap this wee vest in some tissue and put it aside for the new baby coming in February.

It's about time there was a newborn in the family again !

Pumpkin Spice

Pumpkin Spice started off as several handfuls of soft, rainbow coloured squishiness,

which I spun on two bobbins like this

and the result is :

Pumpkin Spice 80%merino and 20%silk, 300 yards, 10wpi.

A little luxury to slide through your fingers and on to the knitting needles.

A blue blanket

I know this isn't a very good photo of the blanket I made today, I took the shot in the late afternoon and the sky was threatening rain, so the blues in the blanket look more grey than blue.
Then I brought it inside to take some photos for the Etsy shop, and I am not very happy with these either.

I hoped to have it finished before the weekend.

I have busy gardening plans for this weekend, lots of weeding, weeding, weeding. Traditional Labour Weekend is usually time when all the gardeners in New Zealand plant their seedlings and potatoes and peas, so that they will be ready in time for the kiwi Christmas dinner. Mine have been in for a few weeks now, but I think I have to replant the peas, the snails have got to them first.

Then again I might not be weeding, if it is raining again, I could be stuck inside with a good book, my knitting and listening to music like this....Ravel String Quartet .
Have a great weekend !

Amidst the pink

I have long been an admirer of the blog Resurrection Fern and I was surprised and delighted to read an article about the author in this magazine.
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Margaret Ooman shares three of her beautiful crochet patterns for the little stones,

and I thought I would have a go at making one myself, here it is sitting amidst the pink.

Shades of the ocean

The other day I found myself stuck inside on a rainy afternoon with two children. We had had enough Snakes and Ladders and a certain little boy thought that perhaps we could watch "Finding Nemo". They had both seen it before, but I hadn't and I was quite startled to watch at the very beginning of the movie little Nemo's mum and all his brothers and sisters being killed, leaving just him and his Dad.

I thought that it was quite a sad thing for little ones to see, but they were totally unpertubed, and took great delight to watch from time to time my reaction to the exciting , and scary bits in the film.

I guess I just have to harden up !
While all the action was happening under the water with Nemo and his friends I was spinning rapidly and yesterday produced this skein which will go in my etsy shop. It is 80 %merino and 20% silk and has turned out to be a luxurious skein of loveliness.

A very big thankyou

What wonderful people you all are.

So many messages to encourage me and wish me well for my new Etsy shop, I am rather overwhelmed...... wow, so much love and good will out there, it is very heartwarming.

Thank you all so much !!

Melissa received over three hundred comments on her birthday post and all in all it has been rather an exciting time for the two of us in blogland !

This morning I was in my studio thinking about little things that I could make and I had a happy time creating these.

A needlecase made from a woollen blanket and some wool felt and flannel lining.

A little scissor keeper made with the same fabrics and some pink ribbon.

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More rain is forecasted for tomorrow and we have two little grandchildren staying the rest of the weekend. It could be a day for snakes and ladders and chocolate chip cookies I am thinking.

Have a great weekend everyone!

A Birthday Greeting

Melissa (tinyhappy) has a birthday today, and I have made her a quilt.

.The fabrics are mainly Japanese with solid small blocks of colour in between the larger squares. I hand quilted it with different colours of perle cotton no.8.

This morning I have been thinking back in my memory of that special day when she was born.

I felt so elated and excited and could hardly believe that she was mine.

My father came to see her when she was just two hours old, bearing a huge bunch of black tulips like these ones

and a very large bag of chocolate goodies, and Melissa and I were terribly spoilt with lots of visits from family and friends. What happiness I can conjure up just thinking about that magical time.

Ka nui taku aroha ki a koe dearest Melissa

Lilac

I adore lilac and a few days ago the blossoms were just starting to appear on my small bush in the garden. I picked these blooms when the sun was shining and the birds were singing, and it made my heart very glad.

Today it is very stormy and cold. The rain has been pelting down incessantly, but in between the noise of the rain on the roof I believe I can hear the birds still singing, and the fragrance of the lilac is a sweet incense.

I have spent the day inside working on the computer and I would like to introduce you to my Etsy shop.

The craft stall that I went to last week was rather disappointing and I have decided to join the ranks of the Etsy hand crafters.

I am feeling very excited about this new adventure, probably more so than when I had a physical shop selling patchwork and quilting things.

I shall be selling handspun wool and knitted things, maybe some eco dyed wool, patchwork picnic blankets and other bits and pieces.

If you would like to have a look at what there is today just click on the link at the righthand top of this page.

A Knitting Story

I have just spent a few rainy days at the end of the school holidays with five of my grandchildren.

We had so much fun, and it became a special time for me with one little girl who asked if I would show her how to knit.

I don't have a photo of Keira knitting...she was tucked into my side sitting on the sofa, her little hands dwarfed by my larger ones and her wee feet crossed at the ankles, every inch of her concentrating very hard. If I had a pic, it would be very cute !

Keira is four, and I started her off with ten stitiches on a pair of doublepointed needles with a knob of blue tack stuck on the end of each one...that was all I had with me at the time.

Her cousin Esmae is seven and has been knitting for a while now... here she is providing us with inspiration.

I managed to find time to cast off on a pinwheel blanket I have made for Esmae's new brother or sister that we are all looking forward to meeting in February.

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After two miscarriages earlier I thought I would wait this time before mentioning the exciting news !

I have made several of these blankets before and have found them to be excellent for wrapping a newborn in...and the mum too, when she is feeding in the early hours of the morning.

I handspun some angora rabbit /merino mix and dyed the wool before I knitted it up in the pinwheel design that you can find here.

Simply Red

I have had a busy week preparing for the stall tomorrow at Founders Park.

Our Creative Fibre group are having their AGM and everyone is invited.

I think there will be displays of handspun. woven, felted and knitted goodies for people to see as well as treats to eat, and certainly there will be many fibre related things to buy !

I also made time to baste this quilt top that I finished last year at this time ...in the Spring.

I had to show these pics because they go very nicely with this flower that I have been enjoying all week.

I call this waratah flower Simply Red but I think it's "proper" name is this.