Quilt top finished

This has been sitting in the to-do pile for far too long. Earlier this week I finally dug it out and realised that I only had to sew the strips of triangles together and add a border for the top to be finished.

This quilt came to me in pieces via a Trade Me auction (and the person I bought it from told me she had bought them at an op-shop) - the pieces were already cut out and I had to try and figure out what pattern was intended. In the end I opted for large triangles, with lots of white in between. The white fabric also has a history - it played a part in our wedding 7 years ago. We got married in a forest clearing in Rotorua and I walked down an "aisle" of white fabric strewn with rose petals. I'm slowly using the 20m or so of white cotton in my craft projects.

In retrospect, triangles were not an easy choice for a first quilt - it is really difficult to line up the triangles with each other without loosing the points in the seam allowance. There are rather a lot of truncated triangles in this quilt, but I think it just adds to the charm...

Next up, backing and quilting. I think that in keeping with the thrifted/re-used theme, I should really back it with a vintage sheet. The hunt is on for the perfect sheet to use.

Shop updated

I have just updated the 20cmixture felt shop with some new bib prints and a couple of pinafore dresses.

Raindrops on roses

It has been pouring with heavy rain for most of the day here, but I managed to snap these photos of our rose bush during one of the few spells when the rain stopped. It was only later that I made the Sound of Music connection.

Where oh where has my blogging time gone?

Sorry about the length between posts. I'm still working out when I'll get time to craft and blog while being a full-time student (I'm actually doing the readings and going over my notes this time, unlike the first time I went to University, when studying was secondary to socialising, ahem...). I know it is possible to do both, because there are some amazing bloggers out there who are managing to craft, blog about it, take care of their children and sometimes even go to work. I just need to find the right balance for me.

We spent the long weekend in Rotorua celebrating my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary - a stellar achievement if you ask me. Congratulations again, Nana and Poppa, you are an inspiration to the whole family. I also got to have more cuddles with my 4-month-old niece who I swear is getting cuter by the day.

While in Rotorua I caught up with a friend who is due to give birth to a little girl in a few weeks. I sacrificed some of my study time to knit the baby a matching set for winter.

Booties and hat knitted in bamboo-cotton blend yarn. Booties pattern can be found here (or here on Ravelry). More details on modifications etc on my Ravelry page.

I managed to get some sewing done today. I should be able to update my shop with some new items on Friday.

Pink and red

It was only when I finished sewing today that I realised I had a colour theme going. Pink and red together used to be a no-no when I was at primary school in the 80s. But I do love how they look together...


New skirt


My favourite almost-falling-apart pj pants - now with new waistband


Fabrics to cut out for baby dresses for the shop

Edited to add: for those of you that are interested, yes I did make the skirt. The pattern was drafted by me at a pattern-making course I went to. Fabric is "nouveau bouquet gold" from Anna Maria Horner's wonderful Drawing Room collection. I bought it at Juniper Gallery in Newtown a couple of months ago.

Tear-water tea

A couple of weeks ago I happened to catch the childrens books Saturday morning segment on National Radio and Kate de Goldi was talking about Arnold Lobel (click here to download the podcast of the segment). I didn't recognise Arnold Lobel's name, but during the segment she read out a wonderful sounding book called Tear-water tea, which Alex remembered from his childhood. In the story Owl thinks of lots of sad things so that he can fill his teapot with tears. Things like pencils that are too short to use, mornings that no-one will see because they are still asleep, spoons that have fallen behind the stove and are never seen again, and songs that cannot be sung because the words have been forgotten. The quirkiness of the story and the things that Owl found really sad appealed to me, and I decided to search out a few more Arnold Lobel books. In my internet searching I discovered that he was actually quite a prolific author and wrote a lot of the "I Can Read" series of books (including the Frog and Toad stories, which I had as a child).

I managed to track down a second-hand copy of Owl at Home, that includes Tear-water tea, and another couple of Arnold Lobel books and I thought I'd share some pages with you. The stories are actually quite funny and appealed to me as an adult reader (very important I think - reading out loud to children is much more enjoyable if the adult likes the story too). These are going to go in my growing collection of books for my future primary school classroom.