Quilt while you're ahead

yesterday...

2009-11-22T16:23:05+00:00

all my troubles seemed so far away...

- take an early start, and a fabulous friend.

- take some Christmas decorations to get you in the mood

- take a bear with paper fur

- and a wise old hare

- take a deer with huge antler tangled in yarn

- take a skirt of broken blue china (... Alice? are you there? this is for you...)

- a chandelier of recycled plastic

- take a divine crochet blanket

and then another one (not too mention the chunky knit one... sigh)

- take a stuffed cloth tree

- and an amazing yo-yo blanket

- take a gorgeous chair

- and a beautiful lampshade

- take lots of laughters, great food, an obscene amount of shopping...

Shake it all up and pour it onto an ordinary Saturday and you get the most fantastic day. You should try it. It's a good recipe.

Thank you, Ali.

hats

2009-11-20T10:51:41+00:00

The boys demanded hats. Warm hats. With stripes. "... but not itchy..." hats.

We spent hours in the yarn shop talking about colours - sparkly? perhaps not. Fluorescent red acrylic? went to the whole static problem with them blah blah blah and then they discovered baby alpaca... and that was it...

Out of the window went all the ideas of rainbow hats/spotty hats/green pom pom hats. The softness of the wool won them over and we left the shop with a much lighter wallet but a few balls of heaven.

No 2's hat:

No 3's hat:

No 1 decline. He never wear hats.

I used the 'Kim's hat' pattern in 'Last minute knitted gifts' and they were very quick to do, a few hours each and I'm a slow while-in-front-of-the-tv knitter.

Baby Alpaca (king cole), 5mm needles

so very very soft.

glimpse 3

2009-11-18T13:13:45+00:00

... and another one...

Rowan Little Big Wool, olive green, 2 skeins. 5mm needles.

Something is doomed to happen... this level of organisation is out of character, highly unusual and cannot be sustained.

I'm scaring myself.

glimpse 2

2009-11-16T10:05:25+00:00

more knitting for the holidays...

I'm on a roll, people, get out of the way.....

Christmas... 'idees'

2009-11-14T15:26:31+00:00

I don't speak French. At all. I can understand it a little because of its similarity to Italian and I'm learning by osmosis through No 1's homework (I'm very good with the days of the week and numbers up to 12!).

This lack of knowledge has never stopped me from religiously buying Marie Claire Idees season after season, and the latest number is brilliant.

Check this out:

those little birds on a branch... and the scrappy ribbons...

Also I'm a firm believer in seasonal wreaths:

felt, buttons, ribbons and little pincushions; what's not to like?

simple, green and with origami paper stars

very sophistiscated... felt leaves and flowers... (gotta find me some decent felt)

of course this is the boys' favourite... but it wouldn't last long, me thinks...

candy canes decorations... genius

and what about a simple hanger full of gorgeous decorations?

I HAVE TO DO THIS!! how cool is that? a wrapped door? (Mr M is looking at the ceiling wishing time to skip to Dec 26th...)

washing up cloth animals? why didn't I think of it? they're the cutest stocking fillers!

And these are just my favourite pages... seriously if you find this issue, grab it, it's brilliant. I've been stalking my newsagent for days and even so I just about managed to get my paws on the last copy.

What are you waiting for? get going!!

lights, camera... action

2009-11-12T09:25:25+00:00

This is what was in the hallway a couple of days ago.

No, I don't take my blogging photographs that seriously, you'd be right to have me interned if I ever did that. The think was my house (MY HOUSE) was being photographed for a magazine...

I KNOW!! How crazy is that?

A few months ago I was contacted by this lovely lady (hi Hazel) who reads my blog and happens to be a journalist and who asked me to send her some pictures of my house and the whole thing snowballed from there. So sometimes next year my little home will have its moment of glory. I'm disproportionally proud about this.

I spent days de-cluttering the place and filling the garage with all sort of stuff. Stuff that is still in the garage, stuff that nobody missed and that most likely will end up being taken to the charity shops in town. (I recommend doing this... it's quite scary and a little sad to see how much we surround ourselves with things we don't need at all...)

And then the photographer brought all sorts of 'props' with him.

(pak choi and tomatoes? enough to make my kids running away from home!)

But it was fun. Lots of fun. And kind of strange too seeing my house through somebody else's eyes/camera.

(the orchid in front of the fireplace? not my idea.)

glimpse

2009-11-09T12:42:26+00:00

Hi.

Still here.

Crafting but in secret.

Shhh...

Rome

2009-11-03T17:22:25+00:00

Rome is beautiful.

We were guests in a convent right next to the Colosseum and the Forum.

Right. Next. To.

See? Told you. I don't lie. Not in Rome... Too close to the Vatican.

The view from the other side of the garden was this:

Not bad either, me thinks.

The convent itself was 1900 years old. It was the palace of the emperor 'Domiziano' and it's been a Franciscan convent since the 1700. Big numbers always make me feel small.

One of the friars is a famous contemporary artist and he's got the most amazing 'atelier' on the top floor

But let's talk about my little brother and his most amazing day:

Actually, I don't know what to say. It was moving, and real, and surreal.

And humbling. (he's the one of the right, flashing his calf)

The boys are demanding their dinner now, I'll have to go, I'll just leave you with images of Rome...

and just for the fun of it...

Can you smell the lions from there?

all roads lead to...

2009-10-30T09:39:42+00:00

Rome.

I'm off to the eternal city for the weekend. My brother is becoming a 'professional' monk (in the words of No 2) and I want to be there with him...

I'll tell you all about it when I get back.

a rethorical question

2009-10-29T14:05:18+00:00

Have you ever started a project and subsequently abandoned it for whatever reason (including boredom, lazyness, life, stupidity etc.) and then when you started it again you finished in no time at all?

And wandered what was all the fuss (and boredom, lazyness, life, stupidity etc.) all about?

Today I finished covering my kitchen chairs cushions. All 4 of them. Yeah I know, huge number. Four.

I didn't have to make the cushions, cheap IKEA ones who were supposed to washable. Well they 'are' washable allright, the stains just didn't wash off... or maybe it's my children that produce particularly resiliant stains... either way, they were disgusting and needed covering.

Enter lovely-piece-of-bark cloth-which-looks-perfect-against-the-wall found at the local car boot sale... in May. Yes, May.

One chair got covered fairly swiftly, still drunk with excitment and enthusiam.

As I said before the last one was done this morning. In 15 minutes (don't look too closely and the craftmanship). One five.

Doh.

Guess who feels like a wally.

half term

2009-10-28T08:51:24+00:00

So... how are you filling your half term days?

we're enjoying the crazy colours

and the woolly socks come out to play (grazie mamma!)

we're playing football in the park till the light fades

we've discovered the pleasure of card games and absolutely love throwing pigs around...

and you?

a week away

2009-10-25T09:00:25+00:00

and now we're back.

The boys had a week off school and so we took a little family holiday in Tuscany to see my parents.

Relax was the name of the day and nothing much was done.

We walked a little

in the cold Autumn air

We, well I, shopped

and went to a concert with my sister

We discovered a wonderful restaurant

(and if my camera hadn't died I would have shown you the food.... oh how glorious... sigh)

We spent time together, we laughed, we played, we saw long lost friends.

We woke up and smelt (or smelled?) the roses...

baktus - modified

2009-10-14T18:25:23+01:00

It goes without saying.

New winter = new scarf.

in shades of blue (Colinette, 1 skein from the stash)

stockinette stitch with regularly spaces purl rows

like the sea.

A shallow triangle

or a vase

???

small things

2009-10-11T15:24:03+01:00

football, tennis, cinema, walking

Autumn leaves

in a jug

eating, washing, laughing, playing, sleeping

quilting

rugby, partying, reading, homework,

raining

Beauty in the small things.

there are no shortcuts

2009-10-08T18:15:18+01:00

Quilting is a lot like life.

For example, the old adagio: 'measure twice, cut once' ... what it basically means is think before you act. Agreed? Good.

Now reflect on this for a second and admire the only remaining branch of my beloved Japanese maple (victim of an anonymous stray rugby ball... the case is still open)

So today, when I found myself with some precious time to spare I sat down at my desk and started cutting fabric and sewing fabric and .... aaaarrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhh

In my haste to tackle the UFO - now upgraded to WIP - of my previous post I completely ignored any measurement and elementary mathematical functions and basically made a huge/enormous/gigantic mess.

Take a moment, like I did, to mourn the loss of precious fabric and the temporary and hormonal loss of any rational mental faculty with a delicious (and posthumously regretted) chocolate biscuit

This brings me to my next point of simili: there are no shortcut. I wanted to finish this project quickly and what I did achieve instead is a big fat juicy waste of time. Doh. I wanted to ignore the little voice in my head pointing me to the right direction because it meant slow progress and fiddly sewing.

How many times has this happened in real life too?

So, no shortcuts is my new mantra.

Even if this means endless rows of little borders...

I'll get there in the end.

And I'll smell the flowers

mariner's compass

2009-10-05T18:03:00+01:00

This is not a UFO... it's more like a fossil. It precedes any grey hair I might have. It is older than two of my children. A relict from the days when I had only one child to look after and thought I had no free time at all - the charming ignorance of youth...

Anyway, I 've been trying to de-clutter. And honestly, is there anything more poisoning than a great big pile of UFOs staring at you with their mean/sad/why-don't-you-love-me-anymore beady eyes? Right, we all know the answer to that one.

So I exhumed the oldest and probably the biggest of these monsters and tried to re-kindle the old flame.

I must have been mad, this quilt was most likely designed in a daze of sleep depravation and baby love (do you remember those days... when you spent all night awake with a screaming baby and all day awake looking adoringly at your sleeping baby?... doh.)

Anyway, it's not my style really... but I can't just let it languish in a box forever so I'm thinking perhaps if I can ignore the fact that not all the point touch the outer circle (it's painful) I might be able to make a medallion quilt out of thise one? Help?

I don't have much in terms of the original fabric (mostly Kaffe Fasset) but I do have four badly assembled blocks called, according to my notes, 'Martha Washington's squares'. But that is not necessarily the correct name...

Should I use them? how? where? in the corners? in the middle of the sides?

(And yes, I'm standing on the table... don't tell the boys)

'therapy'

2009-10-02T18:30:07+01:00

It's been a challenging week around here. One of those weeks that makes you question your ability as a mother. One of those weeks that makes you questions your decisions, your words, your actions.

Nothing major happened. Just boys being boys, children being children. Just a long chain of small incidents that collectively, in one short week aquired the strenght of an hurrican and that have left me drained and breathless and full of self doubt.

It'll be fine. We'll be fine. We are fine, better already.

We welcome the weekend with open arms and a full teapot...

because my new china tea cups are waiting.

Today in between 'incidents' I treated myself to some shallow retail therapy at the local charity shop.

Two small china cups beautifully shaped, delicately painted and...

perfectly balanceable on a gorgeous tower of new books.

'Therapy' at its best.

there's something magical about yellow and grey

2009-10-01T17:38:35+01:00

I've joined a gym - applause please.

I've been going to classes twice a week for three weeks - standing ovation please.

The gym is less than a mile from my home and so I don't bother showering there anymore. I've been carrying less and less each time. I'm down to a bottle of water, car keys and phone, and the membership card.

Card that I'm terrified of losing by the way. Because I lose things. It's what I do best.

Enter Mr Grey Wool and Miss Yellow Scrap,

joint in perfect bliss to form a little 'pouchette' for that pesky card and the ridiculously small and thin booking slips.

Will I ever tire of that combination? Not in the foreseable future.

whirlwind (2)

2009-09-30T09:56:59+01:00

The day after the (karaoke)night before we got taken to a famous - locally famous/not tourist famous - restaurant.

I wonder if the chef left his heart there... or ever visited with flowers in his hair..

apparences can be deceiving

very, extremely, totally, completely and utterly deceiving

Phew, eh?

We sat down and our gracious host washed?warmed? the tea cups for us.

And we were away.

The food was gorgeous.

Spicy

mysterious

exotic

We were well and truly stuffed.

It was a great ending to our stay in this lovely country full of the nicest people and the most contradicting images...

from this

to this

We'll be back again. I have no doubt.

whirlwind (1)

2009-09-29T13:20:23+01:00

Mr M and I abandoned our children to kind family members and got on a plane to Malaysia

just the two of us (well, plus a wedding and a few business meetings...)

It was great to have breakfast in solitude (one prepared by others and one I didn't have to clear away afterwards)

relaxing, taking in th view from the 13th floor (I'm not superstitious, we got married on the 13th..)

We had the most wonderful food

and drank the juice of a dragon(fruit)

We visited Mr M's new business venture

which had the cutest temple in the courtyard (what's with the drinks bottles?)

The wedding was a grand affair

with an interesting menu

The bride changed outfit three times (from white to red to yellow), we watched a movie of the happy couple... and we rounded the night away at a karaoke club till three in the morning. Mr M and I sang 'Let it be'... and let's just say that although they politely clapped ... we weren't offered the microphone a second time.

The memory of that experience is too painful. I must retire for a while.