Yesterday two parcels arrived from Etsy sellers in Finland.
I finally found a copy of Tove Jansson’s The Dangerous Journey for a very reasonable price - in Swedish, yes – but clearly I am turning into an obsessive collector because it doesn’t seem to bother me.
Fabric from Tillukka (via My Paper Crane) and the book plus the beautiful stamps on the package are from Hapsitukka.
I’ve finally finished Amelia’s quilt! I’ve been working on it for about 2 years… coming to a grinding halt at some stage when it got to the hand quilting. As with all these things, when I actually sat down and got to it, things seemed to get done quicker than I had imagined in the lead up. The hand quilting was not so arduous when done chatting to my friends or the girls. The binding was a debacle, as usual for me, but it came together when I firmly told myself that if it wasn’t perfect it really didn’t matter. I started off following the Purl Bee instructions and Heather Bailey’s pdf instructions, but then decided to wing it, which was a big mistake. So it’s a little lumpy in parts but it’s done. Of course, I was seized by the desire to sew on the binding when access to my machine was at its most tricky – all the books and dvds from the rest of the house are currently piled all around and under my table while we are painting – so even pushing down on the foot pedal meant my whole body was at an awkward angle. But did I stop to rearrange? Clear my desk of extra bits? Of course not! I just cursed and swore and shouted at people who dared interupt until it was done (20 minutes! Not weeks on end as I might have imagined somewhere along the line).
And tonight Amelia is snuggled under the new quilt and loves it. While the full-on nature of the design is kind of “Me 2 years ago”, and I would probably come up with a different kind of scheme or combination now (a little more subtlety perhaps?), it’s done! I can cross that one off my “Big List”.
*** Most of the fabrics are Denyse Schmidt beauties – mostly Flea Market Fancy. There are a couple of Kaffe Fassett solids in there too. All were a pleasure to work with ***
This blogging every day in September gig is ridiculous! Especially when I am throwing stuff together for a birthday party and hanging out to watch the conclusion to Green Wing. So here’s some fabric… I am using this fabric to make some more Marshmallow Bunnies… ain’t it pretty? And now the chocolate crackles are cooling to hard lumps in the fridge and I have a date with my husband, the couch, the tv and a cup of rooibos!
Sheer delight!
Ben brought me back such a lovely piece of fabric from London – I am dreaming of Moomin pillows on the girls’ beds. Lil’s room is in blues and reds so this is just perfect.
On my desk today is a little pile of Japanese fabrics from Patchwork on Central Park — the strawberries are very, very cute. That’s also a bit of Rosa’s ribbon draped casually across it. Under that is a Moleskine dedicated to “ideas for my online store”. Under that is a canvas for a painting I am going to start working on today. Under that is my folder of patterns which needs to go back on the shelf.
To the right, sitting on my sketch books, is a little removable thumb drive which contains my NOVEL. In moments of enthusiasm I am writing a modern Chick-Lit tale of love, loss and umm.. bad writing, mostly. I started it last September and haven’t written very much since. However, I have just finished reading Melanie La’Brooy’s Serendipity which was quite fun, and was inspired to read Room with a View again, so now I am contemplating tackling chapter two, in which my heroine (and her two children) move to the mountains. The hero is a rugged, forest dwelling type. The bad guy is a washed-up television writer with stone washed jeans and nicotine stained fingers (of course). Her mother, who is gorgeous and bohemian (and looks like Miriam Margolyes), is a botanical artist (I might have to pick your brains some time Prue!), and her father, a retired country doctor, (who looks like Bill Nighy) is a pessimistic old bastard who has lost his joie de vie, and plants seeds of doubt as he has nothing better to do. I think he might be healed through vegetable gardening. That could work.