Search Results for: quilt

Craft studio clean up!

Aren’t I cheeky, calling it my studio when in reality it’s a table in the corner of the room. Still, it’s my creative space and I’m grateful for it.
So, my space had gotten messy to the point of me being unable to sit down at the table without feeling overwhelmed and totally creatively stifled. Take a look for yourself!

Oh, the clutter!

How could I let it get so bad?!

Yuck!

Transformation!!

Hooray!

See that? Clear space on the table!

A $35 set of plastic drawers from the Reject shop has helped immensely.

I even have things on display now.

Some cheap but pretty gift boxes (also from the Reject shop) now house my hand embroidery stuff.

This is my new “currently working on” basket.

And to top off the thrill of a clean space these fabrics arrived from Carol today. Carol makes exceptionally lovely cushions, quilts etc in the shabby chic style for her business Antique Rose Designs.

Now I feel really inspired, thank you for these beautiful fabrics Carol!

Not only do I feel fresh and inspired, I’ve realised how much craft stuff I have that hasn’t been used yet. Gets me thinking.

How about you? Have I inspired you to do a little reorganising in your craft space? It’s so well worth the effort!

Birthdays and sunshine

by Kelly 3 Comments

July is the month of birthdays in our family, with 4 out of the 6 of us celebrating. This means I spend a lot of July in the kitchen, but is there a more perfect time of year than Winter to be baking?

A 2 year old girl must have heart cookies!

Mmmm!

Red velvet cake recipe from Joy of Baking (I dare you to go to that website and avoid drooling all over your keyboard!) I used whipped cream and buttercream frosting instead of the traditional cream cheese frosting. A little hint – next time I’ll decorate with cream and buttercream frosting the day before, it was much better on the second day.

I even found time to sew and dye at top for myself, what a rare occurence! I won the Ottobre women’s top pattern from the Crafty Mamas blog. Highly recommend – excellent pattern!

So after all the fun and excitement of games like being dragged through the house on a quilt by a mother

who is feeling very unfit, this little princess conked out early and missed her own birthday dinner!

Thanks for reading along, bye for now:)

Winds of change

by Kelly 9 Comments

This week I have done things differently – you may have noticed my absence here and it has been deliberate. Time away from blogging, facebook, twitter and all things online has allowed me some breathing space this week. Not only that – but I have committed myself to taking the children out every day while the weather is fine. What an improvement this has made! Yes, I’m totally exhausted but in a good way. Now to share some of our week with you:

Lemon and poppy seed drizzle cake, recipe here

I love how my 5 year old has such a strong mothering instinct, she attracts little ones wherever she goes.

I love how my children are growing and changing and feel so blessed to be a part of it.

Op shop finds + daytura flowers = happiness!

Enjoying local sights.

Jar makeovers with paper, mod podge, colour papers and ribbon.

I printed out an old picture I like, soaked in tea and dried. Then coloured lightly with watercolour pencil and sealed with mod podge. Attached and layered with mod podge also. Tied a velvet ribbon around and placed some dried poppy heads in. Easy!

I’ve re – committed to my desire to live fully on baked bread. I’m going pretty well with no bought bread for about 2 weeks. I bake it every second day.

Slow and steady wins the race. I hope I’ve finished stippling this quilt by M’s 4th birthday next month!

Rock cakes are a constant favourite here. I’ll try to post the recipe on my other blog sometime soon.

If I haven’t visited your blog lately I do apologise – I don’t want to become one of these bloggers who expect comments but don’t give any. Perhaps you’ll decide to remain silent today in protest!

Hope your week has been as productive as mine. God bless!

My Creative Space

by Kelly 3 Comments

Every now and then I’m seized with songwriting inspiration and go for it. One of the reasons I don’t write much anymore is I find it hard to deal with interruptions from the children and lose the flow. One day I’ll actually get around to recording something for you all!

My husband’s workplace is soon having a handmade homegrown auction to raise money for a very good cause so I think I’ll make a couple of bags. I’m winging it with this one so hopefully it turns out OK!

To be teamed with the Maisy quilt I’ve been working on this wool felt design for a matching cushion. The quilt has stalled because I’m in need of some flannel for the backing. Meanwhile, I’m enjoying a bit of hand embroidery on the quilt, which is looking pretty good even to my too harsh on myself eyes.

Grab some inspiration from these other creative spaces. and have a most wonderful day 🙂

Happy Easter! + a lot of baking and a little crafting

by Kelly 9 Comments

I’ve been busy preparing for Easter this week, so don’t have a lot to show for myself. The kitchen has been constantly occupied, preparing tasty treats for Easter Sunday as well as our regular meals.

These buns are awaiting their piped crosses.

And because I’ve been in the kitchen so much my craft time has been very limited, so I’ve been making smallish embellishments that will come in handy sometime.

I’m thinking brooches, hair ties, quilt attachments?

The children and I are going to try this tutorial for dyed eggs this year – they look great!

I’ll be having a little blog break over Easter so I hope you all have a joyous and peaceful Easter. See you soon and God bless you all.

AQC wishlist

by Kelly 3 Comments

Sarah Fielke’s new book

You Sew Girl Nikki’s new book

I was really taken with the work that Kim Bradley does with Cretacolor pastels – just beautiful. The pastels, however, are very expensive!

I had set myself a budget but ended up spending very little as the miser in me tends to kick in and disallow frivolous or impulsive purchases. Some of the above may be attainable sometime. I did buy a little purse kit from Nikki’s stall, a few more buttons to add to the collection I’m saving for my girl’s treasure boxes and a little bit of fabric to make the purse. So now I have money left over to buy some nice batting for the Maisy quilt, which is coming along quite nicely thank you!

Happy and holy Palm Sunday to you all, I’m looking forward to a great Holy week.

Today is a good day!

by Kelly 2 Comments

Sometimes it can feel that the happy days are few and far between but when they happen it’s a wonderful thing!

The sun doth shine.

The tired grouchiness of a certain 5 year old that made yesterday so awful is gone and has been replaced with smiles and good cheer. Pheeeeewwww!

The little one is having a long sleep to respite from her teething troubles.

Before husband left for work we teamed up so that most of the housework is done and I can have some relaxation ie. stitching time this afternoon. Hooray for good, selfless men!

Something about sticking my hands into a beautiful piece of soft and sticky dough makes me happy.

I’ve baked fruit bread and pikelets for the Lord’s Day and roasted a fresh batch of coffee beans.

I’m looking forward to the Quilt Convention tomorrow. I’ve saved my pennies and set myself a budget. It’s so long since I bought some nice new fabric, so that’s a priority!

I hope you’re having a good day too.

I’ll be back later to draw the giveaway, good luck!

Be kind always

by Kelly 7 Comments

One of my mother’s favourite sayings (I’m sure we’re all familiar with this one) was “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”. I couldn’t agree more. It doesn’t take much effort to keep your mouth closed rather than ruining someone’s day (and may be even more).

I’m writing this in support of Tracy. Tracy has a wonderfully large family and is a talented sewer, quilter, knitter and spinner to name a few things. She spends a lot of time sharing her own patterns and tutorials and if you visit her blog you can see what I mean, she is very generous.

Lately some bloggers have left unkind and negative comments on Tracy’s blog, specifically about her patterns and fabric choices. Now, one of the great wonders of God is that He created us all different with individual tastes. He didn’t give us these differences in order to judge one another but in order to appreciate one another!

What I’m asking today is that we all be a little kinder. We don’t have to be fake or over the top, just kind.
Happiness can be spread so easily, but so can hate.

Blessings and happy faces to you all!

My Creative Space

by Kelly 5 Comments

I’m having a go at the dual image applique technique from Dilys Fronk’s book.

I like the fact that you can use up scraps and there is no waste. I’m free motion quilting around the shapes which takes quite some time!

I’m using my dyed and painted fabrics. The idea is to use this technique for bags, quilts etc, but I’m taking baby steps with a teapot rest. I think I’d go nuts doing a quilt with all these tiny applique pieces!

Note to self – make sure fabric used for applique doesn’t fray quickly!!

My first foray into polymer clay with some cutesy buttons.

I think someone missed us while we were away!

For some wonderfully creative spaces take a look here.

My Creative Space

by Kelly 11 Comments

I thought it was about time I made some more gowns and blankets for Bonnie Babes. Unfortunately some dear people will be needing them over the Christmas period. These lovely soft knits were donated to me by Peta.

I must say this is one of the coolest salt resists I’ve done so far. I hand painted blue and purple on cotton in a wavy sort of a pattern then laid on the rock salt. I think this piece needs to be free motion quilted and made into a journal cover.

My darling daughter of 5 years has been desperately waiting for me to turn this redwork into a cushion for her bed ever since she saw me working on it. I might even get to it before Christmas – amazing things can happen! (ie. I’m procrastinating on this one!)

Thanks for visiting me today and don’t forget to check out other Creative Spaces here.

A reminder that my Christmas giveaway ends Saturday!