vintage sheet quilting bee love

Just look what is possible to create with vintage sheets, some love and a sewing machine!
These are the quilt squares i have received so far as part of Deb from Works in Progress's Vintage Sheet Quilting Bee. As an utter quilting newbie, i am in absolute awe of these ladies skills. (My first attempt at quilting can be seen here. ) I love the colour and pattern combinations and seeing what squares are possible to create is just blowing my mind.
Tracey's.

Brenda's

Melissa's

Leslie's

Skooks

Can you just imagine what this is going to look like as a complete quilt? Sigh (of happiness).

Thank you so much lovely women for your work, it is suitably admired and adored here! Please excuse the creases, my iron has gone on holiday. Now, if i can only get myself onto our flickr group a bit more often...ahem. I am afraid my thoughts are with you more than my actual words/images are, but then ask those i love dearly...i can take months to reply fully to an email these days. Time. Hmpf. These are full days.

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sneak peek

What's on the crafting table? Here's a sneak peek.
There are usually a pile of projects cut out and waiting to be sewn/made.
These appliques are in various stages of becoming trousers for the market stall or etsy store.

My sewing machine and laptop share the craft table space. I often feel torn between the two machines. I think less computer more sewing is required in the little time i do have. I don't like modelling being in front of a screen alot to Jed. That's been slipping lately. He was probably two before he saw me writing on keyboard. No mean feat for an avid writer with a little-sleeping dependant. I do like him to be part of the sewing process though it is a long journey to learning how to create in small sneaky snatches of time. You know, rather than those long meandering weekend afternoons that run into the night that crafty childless folks casually drop into conversation. Ahem.

What i am going to try is to grab long moments and stretch them out more. For no other reason than to sit with whatever comes up, meditation style. Far too much attachment to do, do doing around here lately. And, i will try my darndest not to feel guilty about sitting silent and still. Yes!

This yumminess has been fueling the crafting.

You think i am some kind of supermama for whipping these up in no time flat? Try it yourself before you think again. Mine are not art. In fact, this plate is particularly messy, but it did the trick. Sushi is super easy super healthy food fast. One of Jed's favourite foods. Takes a bit of preparation (i have been known to keep a container of sushi rice in the fridge) but once you have the technique down you can whip them out in doubletime.

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beach therapy

Nothing like a little fresh sea air and sand play to shift any grumpiness....

New Zealand has been truly buffeted by some super strong storms lately. We were without power most of the weekend and even now are still on generators as they try and fix the problem. It made me think of the folks in Christchurch and what they've been going through post earthquake, and those in the South Island living with unprecedented snowfall.

As always after a powercut (which happens fairly often out here), i am left humbled by the forces of Nature. I am grateful we rely on rainwater and septic tanks. I am grateful we have a wood fire and a gas hob for emergencies. Grateful too, for the sense of adventure, magic and peace (the house is so very quiet with out the humming of electricity i realised) the power cut gave us. I am left reflecting on how frail the infrastructure on which we base our lives is in the face of Nature.

My imagination runs to how different life would be if we had no main grid of electricity to draw from.

Oh, and grateful too for the wild and wacky clothes combinations that a three year old dressing himself comes up with!

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the theatre

We have been talking about making a puppet theatre for awhile. Jed's uncle Alex gave him a cardboard box that was the ideal size and strength for the project and it had been sitting under the stairs waiting for a rainy day. We have plenty of those so...

...we used a penknife to cut a rectangle for the front stage and door for backstage.

Jed chose the colours he wanted it to be and we learnt how to make a brilliant turquoise. A lot of blue, some white and a large dash of green. Jed's favourite colour at the moment.

Great fun was had painting and after our rest (a daily ritual) we got out the fabric Jed had chosen from the fabric shop bargain bin for his stage curtains. Turquoise! I dug out some bright orange vintage heavyweight linen for the back. We sewed the curtains and found some old velvet strips to use to tie the curtains back. Once the show had started, of course.

The first show was unplanned and a little sedate (above) but the pace soon picked up...

One cardboard box, a little paint, a little fabric, a little creativity, a little time = much fun.

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sneaky treat

I found a super soft corduroy skirt in the op shop and although i loved how it fitted around the waist, i didn't like the cut of the lower skirt. So...

I rummaged in my stash for a vintage fabric i loved and custom made it into a skirt for spring. I had the perfect amount of fabric. I just gathered the top slightly, fitted it to the waistband, finished the seams and hemmed. An easy, sneaky treat!

There has been alot of creativity here lately. Paint spattered first thing in morning still in our pjamas, mama bleary eyed late at night and some exciting projects done side by side with breaks for dancing. ALOT of crafting. I look forward to sharing it with you.

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from sea to mountain

SNOW!
Okay, so this wasn't the scene in our soggy west coast rainforest back yard. We took a much needed change of scene and headed south.
I peeked outside at 6am to see a fresh dump of snow. We were very lucky, it rarely snows this far down in the National Park. The look on Jed's face was priceless. We were out there, rugged up, in a flash.

We headed up to Whakapapa later that morning. Blue blue skies and powder snow. Made a very welcome change from the grey skies and rain we've been having on the West Coast i can tell you!

Tobogganing, skiiing (involves all the right moves, with ski poles and very long imaginary skis), snowball fights, building, eating icicles, digging for treasure, making mountains, narrowly saving small people from certain injury from out of control toboggans, learning about yellow snow...

...and i am still amazed i managed to get so many clothes on him. This is someone whose superhero name is The Pantless Wonder.

I didn’t even hear about the earthquake in Christchurch til late on Sunday, terrible news. Aftershocks are still coming. Thanks for all the concern from overseas but we are fine, well out of the way here. Thinking of you Kim and John with your very little ones.

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